: Challenger :
: A person who questions the power, strength, or authority of a (person).
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"Eh? What's going on over there?" Naruto wondered out loud as he stopped on his tracks.
As he turned around the corner, there he saw a rather large and muscly man standing outside the Hyūga compound, screaming his guts out.
"Come out, cowards!!! I challenge you, Hyūga Hiashi!!!"
- - - - -
Hinata sighed as she put down her cup of tea on the floor, with all the racket going on, she can't seem to relax.
"Huuuh?! He's still here?" Hanabi asked as she casually walked in the incensed room, Hinata closed her eyes and forced a smile "I'm afraid so. Lately, father had not been accepting challenges..."
"What's gotten into him?" The brunette asked as she laid on her sister's lap "I guess old age have gotten to him"
"That's not a nice thing to say" The bluenette scolded.
"Hinata" A stern voice called, the two sisters looked at their father in surprise with a yelp "Father!"
Hiashi looked into his eldest daughters eyes and said "Ask the man to leave. If he persists, I want you to fight in my place"
"M-Me?" Hinata asked in surprise, Hiashi nodded and said "You are in the verge of mastering the Jūken. All we have to see now is you in action to know if you have mastered it. I want you to practice on him if he refuses to leave"
"Nee-sama in action?!?!" Hanabi's eyes sparkled with stars, she patted and straightened out Hinata's pink and purple kimono and hair as she encouraged her sister "You have to do it, Hinata-nee-sama!"
"B-But-" "It's not a request" Hiashi sternly said "Daughter"
- - - - -
"I-I'm really sorry, but can you keep the noise down?" Hinata asked, the gates opened by two guards.
The man tisked and said "Step away, girly. I'm here to settle a score!"
"P-Please be on your way, Hiashi-sama i-is not interested" Hinata said.
The man hissed and threw his large meaty hands to punch the girl yelling "I SAID MOVE, YOU PORCELAIN DOLL!!! Huh?!"
His fist stopped, as if he was paralyzed. His eyes widen as he felt a soft hand holding his fist, a massive chakra wave shutting off his entire arm emitting from the dainty palm.
"If you insist" Hinata said as she looked at the man with an innocent closed eyed smile "I'm afraid I'll be the one you're facing... I-I don't want to hurt anyone, so please help me out"
His sharp black eyes turned round in surprise, as the air from his fist slightly blew back the meek girl's bangs, and before it fixed itself, he got a clear look of her unstained forehead.
"Ah, if it isn't the heiress herself" The man said in a daunting voice as he stepped back and rubbed his numb arm "I must say, I didn't expect her to look like a doll"
"I-I'm..." Hinata looked down the ground with a pout "I-I'm not a doll..."
Naruto hissed from afar, "What's that guy doing to Hinata?!"
"Alrighty then" The man almost twice her height said as he reached out to lift her chin "If- Ngh.."
"Back off"
The large man stopped as a kunai was pressed against his neck, he looked down to his side and saw blue eyes with a deadly look.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped in surprise.
And to his other hand, he's surprised to feel it paralyzed too, one of the guards paralyzed his arm and the other stood in front of Hinata.
"Here in the Hyūga" The man in front of Hinata said "We allow challengers. But we do not tolerate it one bit if we are belittled. No one is to touch Hinata-sama inappropriately"
"P-Please let him go" Hinata said as she softly grabbed Naruto's kunai by the blade and carefully pulled it away, "No need for violence"
"But Hinata-" Naruto was cut off by Hinata frowning up the man and said "Outside a battleground, that is"
"Tsk. Cocky. Just like all the other Hyūga" The large man said, Hinata bowed "P-Please leave and cause no more ruckus... I-If you insist on fighting, the gate is open for challengers tomorrow at eight in the morning"
"Heh" The man said, walking away, bumping shoulders with Naruto.
Naruto tisked as he stood beside the shorter teen "What's that man's beef?"
"A-Ah, don't worry. We get challengers l-like him all of the time" Hinata assured as she shook her head for Kō who's asking if she was hurt anywhere.
The blonde looked at the timid bluenette and asked "So are you serious? You're gonna fight him?"
"I-I don't have a choice" Hinata said "M-My father insisted I-I practice my Jūken on him"
"Hah! Good luck for that dummy then!" Naruto cheered "Looks like I won't be taking hits for training this time, dattebayo!"
"P-Please excuse me" Hinata said as she bowed before turning her back to walk away, Naruto jumped in surprise "E-Eh?! Hinata, wait! Don't you wanna hang out?"
"I-I'm sorry, b-but my tea's gonna be cold if I don't drink it n-now" Hinata said as she kept walking, smiling apologetically, Naruto kept walking after her and "Don't worry, I'll wait, dattebayo!"
Kō shook his head and sighed "Hinata-sama..."
His guarding partner chuckled and said "Don't worry about it, Kō. It's good exercise, and staying outside is healthy, might even give her skin some color. Now hurry up and help me close this gate"
- - - - -
"Here" Hinata said as she handed Naruto his own cup, he smiled and said "Thanks"
"So..." Naruto said "About that guy"
"I-I have no idea who he is..." Hinata admitted "I'm not even sure if... I could defeat him..."
The blonde grinned and said "Don't worry, Hinata! You're amazing! I'm sure you could do it, dattebayo!"
Hinata giggled and said "Y-You're always so supportive" "Of course!" Naruto nodded "I believe in you, Hinata!"
"... Thank you, Naruto-kun"
- - - - -
"Hinata" Hiashi said as he walked towards his daughter, waiting patiently for her opponent, Hinata looked at him and bowed, he put his hand on her shoulder and said "I don't want to see any fire or lightning techniques from you today"
Hinata nodded, Hiashi then continued "I want you to solely rely on your Jūken. I want to see all of your techniques that you could put into your fight"
"Yes, father" Hinata said.
"Hiashi-sama! The challenger is here!"
Naruto shunshined on the roof and sat quietly, "Oh, Naruto!"
"Kiba and Shino" Naruto said in surprise "You're watching, too?"
"Yep!" Kiba proudly said "We even got t-shirts!"
"Woah! Really?!" The blonde asked, the Aburame bluntly answered "No"
"Hyūga!!! I shall show Konohagakure how weak you are! Strongest of the Leaf my ass!"
And out of nowhere, the bulgy bald guy appeared "My name is Ono of the Stone! Meet your demise, girly!"
"Let's have a good, clean fight, Ono-san" Hinata said as she bowed, Ono only tisked.
"That bastard...!" Naruto growled, Kiba then yelled "Whoo! Let's go, Hinata!"
The Hyūga clan have gathered around the training grounds, there were some sitting on the hard wood floor and even some watching from the upper floors. Heck, even the guards all around the Hyūga compound were watching with their Byakugan.
"The first one to be knocked down to the ground loses" Ono announced, Hinata nodded and said "I accept your terms"
Hiashi tisked, "This man had come all the way from the Hidden Stone. He did some research, indeed. He recognized Hinata as a part of the main family just by seeing her forehead. I wonder, does he know that most of our techniques requires extreme amount of balance? Or does he have a secret technique?"
"Alright, begin!"
Hinata activated her Byakugan.
"He's inserting constant chakra to his feet so that he won't be knocked off his feet" She analyzed "His muscles are very large, that must mean he is physically very strong"
She hissed, "I have to shut down his chakra. At least, the ones in his legs"
"This girly has no chance against me" Ono thought "Knowing them, they won't even consider fighting with nature releases!"
Then he made a series of hand seals.
"Earth style: Earth wall!"
Ono built up four walls around himself.
"Coward!" Kiba growled at the same time Naruto said "He's playing dirty, dattebayo!"
Hinata nodded and took three running steps and gathered chakra into her hands, "Eight Trigrams: Twin Lion Surging Shot!"
They were all surprised of the one big shot she did that broke the solid walls, but it seemed that she wasn't done yet as she shifted from a Surging Shot to the wall to another right into Ono's chest, sending him flying off a couple of feet.
Kiba and Naruto both sat up in surprise with their mouths agape. Even the stoic Hyūga Hiashi flinched.
Ono tisked and dug his feet into the ground, only for her to pounce forward with a powerful Air Palm.
Ono managed to keep standing. Deciding that he won't last on defence, he finally ran forward and threw his fists and feet towards the petite girl.
With his size, Hinata easily twirled and bent around him, as if dancing through his deadly punches.
Hanabi had her hands clasped together as she watched her sister ballet her way around the man, her heart beating. To her, it was as if Hinata was dancing to the beat of her heart.
Ono hissed, he couldn't perform another Ninjutsu. He underestimated the power of the Jūken.
He underestimated this puny doll.
Whatever she did with that lion fisty thing she did, it surely could have killed him if he wasn't so strong.
He has to find a way to stop the flow of this porcelain doll. Something. Something!
Then it hit him.
He threw five different colored smoke bombs to the ground.
Naruto squinted his eyes. He was the only one who doesn't know what's happening inside the smokescreen now. Both Kiba and Shino are sensory ninjas while the rest are Hyūgas.
But why would Ono do this? These are the Byakūgan weilders, for heaven's sake!
Naruto was surprised to see Hinata jump out the smokescreen, clearly alarmed.
Suddenly, she waved her hands around, "Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!"
As if on que, millions of senbons flew towards her direction, her thin blade-like chakra breaking each and every one effortlessly.
Hinata pivoted her foot and performed another technique, "Rotation!"
The Kaiten blew off not only the smoke but also blew off Ono off of his feet.
Naruto gasped in surprise when he saw spiky weaponry embedded into the ground. No wonder Hinata jumped away.
As Ono barely landed on his feet, Hinata decided to finish it.
She ran across the field talently evading the blades in the ground and then landing a palm, "One palm! Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty two palms!"
It was obvious by now who won.
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!!"
The rest of the hidden smoke bombs in Ono set off. Covering the entire field.
Naruto got on his feet and asked "What happened?!"
He saw all the Hyūgas who had their Byakūgan on for the fight turn it off and sit emotionlessly. He couldn't tell what happened, not even Kiba and Shino would tell him.
Naruto jumped down from the roof to beside Hanabi who had her jaw dropped.
The smoke slowly cleared. But they could see two standing figures steady.
As the smokescreen was finally gone. Ono slowly swayed and dropped.
Hinata regained her posture from her stance and placed a hand to her chest, her eyes returning to normal.
"You did it, Hinata!!!" Naruto cheered loudly as he ran to her and twirled her around, Hinata laughed along proudly, pleased of her performance.
Kiba howled in joy as he grabbed Shino in a headlock ecstatically.
The entire compound slowly errupted in claps as the laughter of the two echoed.
The Hyūga elder closed his eyes and listened to his clan. Surely, the clan never was this so bright and cheery ever before.
He looked at the two in the middle of the field as the blonde made dramatic gestures of what went down in the fight. He chuckled. His son and nephew would have been happy.
- - - - -
Ono bowed down deeply as he stood outside the gate of the Hyūga compound.
"I respect a winner" Ono said as he smirked down at Hinata, now back clad in another purple kimono, "I now know how the Hyūga indeed is one of the strongest"
"Now, we expect you never to bother our gates again screaming like a lunatic!" Hanabi huffed as she crossed her arms "We're trying to enjoy a cup of tea here!"
Ono laughed, "I won't. I have to say, I'm afraid to face any Hyūgas from now on!"
Then Ono's eyes trailed towards that blonde punk. Surely, he wasn't a Hyūga.
Hinata noticed this and leaned forward, she then smiled and whispered "That's Uzumaki Naruto. Future Hokage"
Hinata didn't want Naruto acting up and blowing off her father's eardrums just because she said that, so she figured it would be better if she whispered it to Ono instead.
That name rung a bell. Ono smirked at the young man, he raised a fist and said "When you become Hokage, I'll be sure to challenge you!"
"Hell yeah! See 'ya soon then, dattebayo!" Naruto proudly said as he bumped his fist to Ono's.
- - - - -
Ono clenched his fists. He was outdone by a girl who isn't even eighteen yet!
Oh well. She was a Hyūga afterall. No shame in losing to a Hyūga.
He then thought.
Whoever trained Hyūga Hinata must have been as strong as her.
Surely, Hyūga Neji would have been proud.
- - - - -
"So you're telling me that this leucocyte stuff is good, dattebayo" Naruto said as he sat across Hinata from the table, Hinata nodded and said "Yes, because-"
"MY NAME IS ICHIYA AND I HAIL FROM THE HIDDEN SLIME AND I HAVE COME TO CHALLENGE THE HYŪGA!!!"
"Hinata, father is calling you" Hanabi said as she peeked into the room.
Hinata slammed her head into the table as Naruto rolled back into the floor.
"Not this again...!"
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Gosh, I'm running out of greetings and how I should say that this is the author speaking...
Psh, nevermind that!
Since there is that "Boruto: Naruto Next Generation" episode where Hanabi said that they 'get challengers all of the time', I figured I should show it here, too!
So, I thought, that before Hinata got married to Naruto, she's the one facing the challengers for Hiashi, and then when she got married, Hiashi took it as an opportunity to turn on to a 'new leaf' hehehehe and start refusing fights as a gift for Hinata and Naruto to show that the Hyūga did change.
Anyway, I'm thinking Naruto should get his right prosthetic soon, 'cause I'm running out of ideas for stories of him still stuck in the village since he's basically not allowed yet.
So if you want a chapter with one armed Naruto based on an idea of yours, comment it down bellow since Tsunade's already finishing up on that arm!
So basically, my brain's squeezed, and I can't even bid a good farewell now, so... Yeah, you should know what this part is supposed to be, so... Yeah.
-OrenjiRabenda