Recap;
"Orochimaru's eyes narrowed and he tilted his head, "Let's see if you can stop me. Hyuuga Hinata."
"Hinata?!"
Xxxxxxxxxx
Hinata closed her eyes and dropped the genjutsu on her, "I'm flattered that you actually remember me, Uzumaki." She looked over her shoulder to the blonde Genin who had just jumped into the clearing.
Naruto stood next to his shocked team as Hinata looked towards Jin and Sai, "Send word to Danzō-sama, my cover has been blown and the Hokage will most likely know if Neji is within the vicinity." Hinata couldn't contain the venom in her voice when she spat her cousin's name out.
Sai nodded and pulled out a scroll, he wrote down the message and made a hand-sign, the message took on the form of an ink bird and flew toward the direction of the ROOT bunker, "Hinata we need to make a genjutsu over you once more. The Hokage won't like knowing that Danzō-sama has recruited you."
Hinata sighed heavily and nodded, her eyes closing once more, "Hai, but I must finish something. You two go build up your chakra to prepare for the genjutsu, I'll take on Orochimaru."
Sai nodded and Jin frowned slightly, "We'll be a few meters north, you know how to reach us." Hinata nodded and gave him a smile, it was fake of course, but it was the best she could do.
The two jumped away and Hinata activated her Byakugan, she shot a glare towards team 7, warning them, "Leave now, I'll spare you three as long as you keep my identity secret."
Sasuke growled, his Sharingan activating and his eyes widening in shock at her chakra reserves, Sakura was crying from fear and shock of seeing her old best friend(1) and Naruto was shaking from anger with his fists on either side of his body, "No! I'm not leaving you, Hinata!"
Hinata just stared at Orochimaru, who was amused by the dramatics, "Leave. I'm only the weirdo who isn't a ninja anymore, right?"
Naruto flinched as Sakura hiccupped, "H-Hinata, I missed you so much!" Hinata nearly cringed but got down into a fighting stance.
"I won't allow you to turn Uchiha-san to the dark, that's a promise."
Orochimaru's smirk only became bigger as he sped forward, "Let's see if you can keep that promise, Hinata-chan." The snake-like man stopped and raised his arms, snakes shot out from his sleeves and sped towards Hinata. Said female weaved her way through the flying snakes and rushed at Orochimaru, she raised her palm and struck Orochimaru in the abdomen with a gentle fist.
But his body poofed away and a log fell to the ground, Hinata turned around quickly and weaved some hand signs and brought her fingers to her lips and shouted, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
Fire spewed from her lips and engulfed the snake-like man, but the greasy snake slithered his way out of burning to death by unhinging his jaw and a new Orochimaru came out of his mouth, he was covered in his own saliva and quite frankly, disgusting.
Once more, Orochimaru unhinged his jaw and out came his sword; Kusanagi. Hinata deadpanned with heavy-lidded eyes and shivered involuntarily, "Gross."
Orochimaru glared at her and ran at her with lightning quick speed, he slashed at her and sliced the flesh of her abdomen, creating a large laceration in the pale creamy skin. Hinata didn't flinch, almost as if the pain didn't even register as she was cut once more on her shoulder.
Orochimaru smirked and weaved a few hand signs and slammed his palm on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!" Hinata expected Manda to appear, but the only thing that came into sight was a large, dusty coffin that came out of the ground. The snake grinned eerily at Hinata and licked his lips, "I was hoping to save this one, but now seems like a good time to use it..."
Hinata's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she couldn't see through the coffin with her Byakugan, her vision was distorted when she tried to peer inside it, "Enough theatrics, what's in the coffin." Due to her monotone voice, her question was a statement, demanding and firm.
The offending male only pushed the top of the coffin and it fell open, Hinata's eyes widened to their fullest extent as she stared at her seemingly dead mother.
"O-Okaa-chan...?"
Once in her prime, before her tragic death, Hinata's mother, Karua(2), was a well-known and feared shinobi. Most thought she died giving birth to Hanabi, but the truth was her body was never recovered after a dangerous S-rank mission.
The cracked, gray face looked at her, confusion in her cool lavender eyes, "Hinata? Where am I?"
Hinata's world came crashing down as Karua stepped out of the chipped, dusty box, "Okaa-chan... You're a reanimation..."
Karua growled and looked at Orochimaru, "Bastard! I thought I escaped!"
Orochimaru merely shrugged with a shit-eating smirk, "I have my ways, dear Karua-chan... But that shouldn't concern you right now, what should is how o have complete control over you and now you have to fight your precious daughter..."
Karua growled and glared at him, "Teme..."
Orochimaru made a hand sign once more and Karua flew forward against her will, she activated her Byakugan and tried to jab Hinata, "Hinata-chan, sweetie, watch out for my strikes, my chakra will ruin your pathways forever."
Hinata nodded, ignoring the gnawing feeling to hug her mother. She dodged with the fluidity of water and waited for an opening to disable Karua and seal her.
After what seemed like hours of defending the frozen team 7, and fighting off Karua's attacks, Hinata finally found her opening. She tripped Karua and slammed her palm down on her back, shutting down her main chakra point.
While Karua was on her knees, her chakra depleted. She smiled at her daughter, "You win, Hinata-chan..."
Hinata took a deep breath and made some hand signs, getting ready to seal Karua, "I'm sorry, Okaa-chan..."
Karua shook her head, her smile never faltering, "There's no need to be sorry, Hinata-chan. Just remember that I love you, and I want you to continue my technique, you can find my scrolls under the floorboards in my closet... Oh, and Tell your father and Hanabi that I love them."
Hinata nodded, not having it in her heart to tell her mother the truth, she slammed her hand down on Karua's back, sealing her. Kanji spread across the older woman's body, restricting her movements and setting her soul free.
Hinata took a deep breath and turned away from the random male who was sacrificed to bring back her mother, she glared at Orochimaru and shot forward at him with neck-breaking speed. She summoned her twin katanas and seemingly sliced Orochimaru into pieces.
His body poofed away and a log fell to the ground, Hinata snorted and turned around as Orochimaru appeared behind her, "Trying to sneak up on the Byakugan? You're pretty idiotic for a Sannin." With lightning quick speed, Hinata struck him in the shoulder, rendering his left arm useless, "But it's over. You're within my divination."
Orochimaru seemed to just take it as Hinata began to strike him, "Eight trigrams; Sixty-Four Palms!"
"Two palms!"
"Four Palms!"
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Pal-"
Before Hinata could finish, Orochimaru's neck extended and he sunk his teeth into her shoulder, "If I can't have the Sharingan just yet, you'll do for my next vessel. Come to me for power, together, we can take revenge on the Hyuuga." He glanced at Sasuke once more with a slimy grin, "I'll be back for you, Sasuke-kun..."
Hinata dropped to the ground from the pain, but didn't let it show on her face, she mumbled a small 'Ow' and rubbed her neck gingerly. Team 7 rallied around her, but she swatted their hands away and sent a pulse of chakra out, alerting Sai and Jin. The ex-Hyuuga glared weakly at the team before speaking, "Tell no one of what you've seen today, especially Kakashi, and Uchiha-san, meet me at the Hokage tower in a week at midnight, come alone. There's something you need to know."
Sasuke nodded slowly, still wary of her. How could the Hyuuga failure be more powerful than him? He didn't know, but he did know one thing. He needed to fight her.
Sai and Jin jumped out of the thicket of forest and rushed to Hinata, Jin held her up, but she denied their offers to help her stand, "I'm fine." She muttered this with one more glance towards her old friends before her team placed the genjutsu over her, "Tell Danzō-sama that Orochimaru gave me the curse mark, I must be sealed at once before I seek him out for revenge."
Sai nodded and sent another ink bird to Danzō, "We also got an Earth scroll, Let's head to the tower." Hinata nodded and the three of them began on their way towards the center of the forest, jumping from tree to tree. No one said a word, leaving Hinata to think about her life and how she fucked it all up by never showing her true strength.
-Flashback-
"Hinata, you're the rightful heiress, don't hold back. You must beat Hanabi, you have to assert your status." Hinata nodded, her face downcast as her father had his hands on either shoulder.
Hinata stood across the training field from Hanabi and tried to block out her maternal instincts. Her father stood between them, his face stern, "Hajime!" Hinata and Hanabi flew at each other, Hinata evaded all of her younger sister's strikes and tripped her, she had a clear shot to strike her back.
But...
She couldn't,
Hinata couldn't bring herself to harm her baby sister. She didn't strike her and let Hanabi win, she took the painful process of having her chakra points shut down so her sister wouldn't have to.
Hiashi sneered at her and led Hanabi inside, instructing the maids and servants to leave her there to learn a lesson.
So Hinata lied on the dirt for hours while her chakra points opened naturally and very, very painfully.
-Flashback End-
Hinata was brought out of her thoughts as the three neared the large tower in the center of the forest, she brought out the Heaven scroll and Jin took out the Earth scroll.
They read the riddle and figured it out immediately, they opened the scrolls at the same time and Genma poofed out of the scroll with a grin, "Congrats, you three pass. And you..." He looked Hinata up and down with a pervy smirk, and placed a hand on the wall behind her, "You should come visit me sometime... How old are you?"
Hinata deadpanned as she looked up at the attractive brunette, "Thirteen, Genma-san." Genma's eyes widened, but he didn't back off.
"You're almost there... You should still come visit me..." Hinata deadpanned once more and ducked under his arm, her and her team walked into the building and looked around. They were in a large waiting area with a few couches and a concession booth, Hinata noticed Danzō walking towards them and glanced at her team before following the old man into the hallway, "So you had a run-in with Orochimaru, did you?"
Hinata nodded, knowing not to speak, "He gave you the curse mark as well?" One more curt nod, "Well. Let's seal it before your hatred can fester and become stronger shall we?"
Danzō gazed at Hinata, expecting her to speak this time, "Hai Danzō-sama. What will be the next exam?"
Danzō hummed and tilted his head back slightly, "There will be too many contestants for the third round so, they will have preliminaries. I wish to test your loyalty and strength, so I rigged it and you'll fight your cousin, Hyuuga Neji."
Hinata nodded, rage coursed through her veins and the seal on her neck throbbed sharply. She winced and clutched the seal tightly, trying to find some way to relieve the pain, "Danzō-sama." She bit out, her voice strained, "Can we get the sealing done with now?"
Danzō nodded once and motioned her to sit in the center of a large circle of hundreds of kanji symbols, "This will be painful, this is the only time when I'll accept you showing your pain."
Hinata grunted in response and waited for the onslaught, she heard Danzō muttering something and felt his palm slap against the curse mark. The white hot pain soon followed and it course through her body and locked away any thoughts of revenge she had, Hinata couldn't contain it and screamed, the pain was too much.
After what seemed like hours, the pain subsided slightly, Hinata fell face first onto the ground, still conscious, but barely. Danzō prodded her with his cane, "You may purchase something to eat, you need to replenish your chakra and heal yourself. You have three days before the second exam ends, so use your time wisely."
With that, Danzō walked away from Hinata, who barely heard anything he said. Her head pounded, her body ached, her mind was numb and her throat was dry. She pushed herself up on shaky legs and made her way back to the waiting area where she collapsed on one of the couches while Sai went to purchase some food and water for her.
Jin propped her head up on his lap and pressed his hand to her forehead, he sent a cooling chakra pulse throughout her aching body, "I'm surprised the snake marked you, how're you feeling after the sealing?"
Hinata glanced at him, her glossy lavender eyes blank, "Nothing. What else am I allowed to feel?" Jin shook his head and ruffled her hair, but said nothing.
-Time Skip-
After eating and regaining strength, the other teams who had survived finally made it to the tower.
The dull throb of Hinata's seal gave her no problem as she and the other Genin were lead into a large, area like room.
There was a large cemented floor and behind it were two large hands forming the 'Ram' signs, along the walls, there were ledges above the arena with railings for the Genin to watch. In the center stood a young sickly looking man, his name was Hayate Gekkō.
The Genin were lined up in rows as Hayate coughed dryly, "Seeing as there're too many teams left, we will have preliminaries before the third test. And it will begin immediately."
Naruto, who had been watching Hinata with slightly guilty eyes since they showed up, yelled out, "What?! You won't even give us time to eat?! I haven't eaten ramen in ages!"
Hayate ignored his outburst and coughed into his hand once more, "If you would direct your attention to the monitor; the first match will begin."
Names began popping up on the screen before two were set in stone; Uchiha Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akadō.
Sasuke smirked at the masked man as the others made their way up to the ledges.
TBC
1: I know that it was Ino who Sakura was best friends with, but honestly, I love SakuHina; platonically or romantically. (NOT A HINT ABOUT THE PAIRING)
2: Hinata's mother doesn't have a set name so I made one up :/
I'll have the preliminaries and the third exam in the next chappyyyy.
Review Please!!!