Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lacking Sight ❯ The Sweetest Reward ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Insotsu Kokuin: Raikou!”
With his Byakugan, it was easy for Neji to see the sixteen Ghostly Arms snake themselves around their master, but he could not guess the nature of the seal that was being carved. It was a mysterious looking seal, alien to the Hyuuga Jounin, written in an archaic language that he had never seen before. When finished, it gave off a faint yellow-white luminescence, but no other change was apparent, even to his superior eyes. The rest of the Arms continued to sweep the area around Keisuke, keeping tabs on the surroundings and on Neji.
Neji watched him, sitting relaxed in his Jyuuken stance, waiting for the enemy attack. Time was on his side; Keisuke's score would slowly degrade if he remained where he was. He would have to attack at some point, and there was no way that Neji would be surprised.
Keisuke seemed to know where he stood in all this. “Playing defense, as I expected. I can't say I blame you; it's much to your advantage in this scenario. Well, then,” he said, drawing a pair of kunai, “I'll be taking the initiative!”
He charged. Neji immediately went to work with his Hakke Kusho, attempting to blast Keisuke off course, unbalance him so that Neji could make an uncountered offensive. Keisuke apparently was no slouch, though, and he moved with subtle swiftness, dodging no more and wasting no more energy than he needed to. Within moments, he had reached the Hyuuga Jounin.
Wielding his two kunai with surprising proficiency, the blind one hacked at Neji, forcing him to take up his own kunai in defense. Neji recognized this strategy; by forcing him to use a weapon in response to parry the sharp blades that were so skillfully wielded, Keisuke was effectively occupying his hands so that he could not use his Jyuuken without leaving himself open in some way. A number of Neji's opponents had utilized this tactic. Most of them had fallen anyway.
Neji leaped across the water and onto the tree that had fallen, and Keisuke followed. The Hyuuga Jounin, temporarily out of range of the Ghostly Arms' perception, took his opportunity to concentrate a large amount of his chakra within his left hand. When Keisuke landed upon the log, swinging his blades, Neji parried the nearest with the kunai in his right hand, then swung his enhanced Jyuuken at Keisuke's side.
At the last moment, Keisuke's feelers finally caught on, and he moved desperately to evade. The result was a glancing blow. Keisuke grimaced, knowing that it would hurt quite a bit once his nerves registered the damage. Neji suffered more immediate consequences. The seal shining upon Keisuke's skin crackled, the friction caused by Neji's chakra prompting its angry response. The Hyuuga jolted backward as electricity sparked into his body.
Keisuke took advantage of his openness, planting a kick in his chest. Neji, though hurting, was able to use the momentum of the kick to sail onto a nearby tree branch. He rubbed his hand where the electricity had entered his palm. That isn't the best of feelings,he thought. He knew, now, the purpose of that seal.
“You must have figured it out now, huh?” Keisuke said, “My lightning seal isn't normally my preferred technique. It can be more dangerous than the fire or frost seals, it's true. But just as one never knows where a true bolt of lightning will strike, so it is impossible to guess when and where the lightning from my seal will lash out. It's unpredictable, uncontrollable, and therefore unreliable.”
Neji called back, “But against me, and all Hyuuga, it's the best one, isn't it? The Jyuuken... The raw chakra that is delivered by our unique taijutsu causes friction on the seal, triggering the lightning. Every Jyuuken hit will return damage to the Hyuuga that used it. It is an 'eye for an eye' technique.”
“Very astute, Neji-san,” said Keisuke, “Naruto was right when he told me you were a genius.” Although, he thought, there are ways to manipulate how much lightning is generated. The more direct a hit is, the less friction it will cause and the less electricity will spark. A truly skilled Hyuuga will notice this and move accordingly, only taking a Jyuuken shot when they are sure that they will not glance me.
Neji pondered his situation. Through his Byakugan, he could see that Keisuke was slowly pouring his chakra into the Ghostly Arms that made up his seal, as was obviously required to maintain it. If I could stop his chakra flow, he thought, then it will nullify the technique. But will hitting his tenketsus work? His eyes lingered on the tenketsus, where the Reiude joined with the inner chakra system. Or... does the Reiude block that power of ours?
Keisuke leaped up into the tree after him, whirling his kunai in an aggressive, coordinated assault. Neji through shuriken, forcing him to change course. Keisuke missed the branch, hit the trunk, ran up it to attempt to leap behind Neji. Neji saw this and ran up the trunk after him, drawing his second kunai. They fought vertically there for a time, neither side gaining ground, neither power losing it. Every now and again, sparks would fly threateningly from Keisuke's seal, but no lightning struck. Neji was surprised that the metal of the knives did not conduct electricity between them, but then he noted that the seal did not quite extend to Keisuke's fingers, stopping at the back of the hand.
So the danger comes only from the seal, Neji thought, not from the user.
When Keisuke left himself a small opening, Neji dropped one kunai and used his fingers to deliver a small jolt of chakra to the right side of his chest, where a small patch of skin was not covered by the seal. It was not enough to really damage Keisuke, but it had the intended effect; the blind man staggered back a little bit, and slackened his grip on his weapons. Neji was in position to try his next idea.
“Jyuuken Hou: Hakke Rokujuuyonsho!”
Keisuke's eyebrows arched in surprise. He hadn't had this used on him in a long time.
“Two Strikes! Four! Eight! Sixteen, Thirty-Two, Sixty-Four!” The blows all landed correctly, Neji was certain of that. He'd hit every tenketsu. Some of them had jolted him slightly with a spark of electricity, but the jolt was choked off as the Ghostly Arm was dislodged from its seal. Keisuke was driven back up the tree, trying desperately and in vain to mount some kind of counteroffensive. When it was finished, the seal was gone. Yet, Keisuke still clung to the tree with the chakra at his feet, though the Rokujuuyon Sho was supposed to stop all chakra flow.
Neji's eyes widened slightly in amazement. The possessors of the Rokujuuyon Reiude were completely immune to Hyuuga tenketsu manipulation.
“Impressive, Keisuke-san,” he said. “Your power prevents me from stopping your chakra flow. It is indeed a formidable ability against the Hyuuga style.”
“You aren't bad, yourself, young man,” Keisuke returned, “You didn't stop my chakra, it's the truth. But you hit all of the tenketsus accurately, and triggered a troublesome reflexive action. Haruka figured out a while back that pushing on a tenketsu will force the Arm to straighten itself, sort of like hitting a human knee joint will trigger the kicking reflex. You effectively broke my seal, Neji-san. The lightning that troubled you is gone.”
Neji nodded. He'd seen this himself with his Byakugan. “Your move, Keisuke-san.”
Keisuke started to form a new seal, but Neji saw it and launched a new assault, breaking his concentration. Gripping his weapons firmly, Keisuke parried and returned the favor. The two leaped from tree to tree, Keisuke's blades flashing, Neji parrying with one blade and readying himself to Jyuuken him with his free hand when Keisuke slipped up.
Numerous times, Keisuke attempted to form a new Kokuin seal, but always Neji saw it and stopped it by either attacking too furiously for Keisuke to be able to concentrate or by striking a tenketsu or two, disrupting the formation. Eventually, Neji managed to get a solid hit on the blind man, the Jyuuken hitting him squarely in the sternum. Keisuke fell several feet and landed on his back on a branch.
“AH! So you've come back for me after all!” cried a voice behind him. “Is the danger gone, great shinobi? It's very uncomfortable here; I've come close to being attacked by several man-eating mosquitoes and eye-gouging gnats, but fortunately, they've seen the powerful youth within me and known that it was not my time.”
Keisuke rolled his head back to see Gai behind him. “Eye-gouging gnats, huh?”
“Yes! Vicious, un-dynamic little beasts that would have rendered me more blind than you had I not been so youthful! Have you defeated the evil, horrible ninja yet?”
Groaning, Keisuke climbed to his feet. Neji was waiting for him several branches up. Emphasizing once again that he has all the time in the world, while mine only grows shorter. He was within striking range should Keisuke decide to try a new seal, but he obviously was interested in seeing what Keisuke had in mind next.
“No, Gai, I haven't.”
“That is no surprise,” Gai said, “The opponent that you face is strong in his youth. He will be impossible to beat unless you match that dynamic youth with your own!”
How's that possible? Keisuke wondered. The last time I checked, people grew older with time, not younger. He did not say this; he had no desire to have the man go into another impassioned speech as he had the last time he had been questioned.
What he said was, “I have one technique that I haven't tried on a Hyuuga yet. I've been trying to save it for more dire circumstances...”
“You should not hold it back!” Gai interrupted. “If these are not dire circumstances–you at a disadvantage before a genius, your career on the line–then what are?”
Keisuke thought about those words. He did have a point...
“My own student, Rock Lee,” said Gai, forgetting all pretense of being in character, “Wished to save his trump card for his greatest challenge. Yet he realized that if he did not use it then, there was a great chance that he would never arrive at that challenge! Though he lost his fight, his youthful spirit was a great and moving example to all who watched!”
A moment passed in which Keisuke finally began to consider the possibility that perhaps Maito Gai was not completely useless after all.
“You are right, of course,” he finally said. “If I don't make Jounin rank, then I will find my dream more difficult to achieve. If I use my trump card, I will ensure my success at this point, though I won't be able to surprise my opponent later. It's a choice between a challenge now and a challenge later, possibly being stopped here versus knowing you will at least have the chance to get to the goal...”
He glanced up at Neji. “Your student was wise, Gai, if not victorious. I think I'll follow his example.”
“Ah, the spirit of youth!” Gai cried. “I know you will be successful! Yosh! Keisuke... GO!”
Smiling, the blind man turned back to his opponent, and began the alterations that would turn the tide of the battle.
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From his perch in a young black walnut tree, Naruto watched Kiba and Hinata walk to a new clearing, the old one still suffering from the thorough soaking that Naruto had inflicted upon it. The fresh clearing was smaller, but mercifully dry. Shino walked with them, settling beneath the tree that Naruto was hanging from.
Naruto called a word of encouragement to Hinata, with pleasing results. Kiba yelled up to him in feigned anger and real annoyance, to which Naruto smiled evilly. Hinata, who's blood had climbed up into her face, faced him and responded affirmatively, swearing to give her all. Despite himself, Naruto felt that unfamiliar, pleasant feeling that he'd been getting around Hinata since his return. It's good that she's so self-confident now, he told himself.
In his mind he was convinced that he was enjoying seeing the once-self-underestimating girl grow into a self-assured woman while still remaining a good person. While this was a true fact, it was only part of the source of the feeling. His body had other ideas, ones that became more pronounced as the match began.
It was a warm day. Hinata had removed her jacket. Naruto, being a still-developing but fully functional young man, reacted accordingly.
He watched Kiba and Akamaru charge her, angling in at different directions. He saw Hinata dance around them both. He witnessed Kiba turn and fling a barrage of kunai knives at her, and saw her swat them from the air effortlessly with a brief slicing movement, her chakra lancing out like a sword to cut the projectiles down. Naruto observed Akamaru pounce on her from the rear, bore witness to Hinata's light somersault out of harm's way and her subtle retaliation.
Her movements were graceful, elegant, precise, and subtle. This was no battle. This was a dance, almost like an ice show, but that Hinata needed no skates to glide across the dirt. Within minutes, Kiba and Akamaru were completely forgotten, Naruto held in thrall by the beautiful dance.
This is better than that time Keisuke and Ero-Sennin went into the bar together to watch those women dance around that pole, he thought wistfully. Suddenly, Naruto was struck with a realization.
Jiraiya had waved money at those dancers, and the dancers had smiled at him. When the dance had ended, Jiraiya had gone with one of them through a door. When, after Naruto had attempted the same feat and Keisuke had dragged him out of the bar, he asked what was going on in the room, Keisuke had explained.
“Jiraiya-sama waved the money to show that he enjoyed the dance,” Keisuke said. “That room back there is where the dancer's safe is. The dancer was showing Jiraiya where to put the money so that it would be safe for her while she was working.”
While Naruto had not believed a word of Keisuke's explanation, recognizing the harried tone that he'd been using, he had seen the dancer smile at Ero-Sennin. Remembering that, and glancing at the spectacular show the pretty girl was putting on, Naruto was seized with a sudden desire to have Hinata smile that way at him. With his eyes still glued to the dance, he reached into his jacket for his wallet.
Then his eyes went wide with horror. “Aaahh! Gama-chan is missing!” he cried. Frantically, he took off his jacket, searched every pocket for some sign of his beloved frog-shaped wallet.
“It's gotta be on me somewhere,” he panted, tossing the jacket from the tree and proceeding to his pants.
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“Jyuuken!”
Hi nata slammed her palm into Kiba's gut, a direct hit. It was only a practice match, of course, so the blow had very little chakra in it, but the wild man got the message. He'd taken a direct hit twice now. Had they been real Jyuuken hits, he'd be out cold, possibly dead.
Kiba stepped back, fell to one knee, exhausted. “Good match, Hinata,” he said. Akamaru bounded forward to his master's side, woofing his agreement.
“Arrigatou, Kiba-kun. You, too.”
Hinata acknowledged the nod from Shino, then looked around for her team's guest. Concern spread to her heart as she realized that he wasn't nearby, and he wasn't in the tree he'd started in. Wha-? Where did Naruto-kun go? Could he have run away, afraid to tell her what he thought of her performance? Was it possible that he found it... unappealing? Boring? Not worth his time? She hung her head, and her eyes fell to the ground at her feet.
They came to rest on an orange and black jacket. Immediately, her mood perked up; Naruto had not left. He wouldn't forget his jacket or... his pants? She had now spotted the blond ninja's sub-belt garb, lying ten yards or so away and off to the left. Now she was getting a bit unnerved. He's naked somewhere... She turned a radical shade of red, imagining the boy strolling through the woods without any clothes. Then, a frustrated cry from above made her look up...
Right into the folds of a black tee-shirt, which fluttered down onto her head. Darkness enveloped her as the shirt's owner jumped from the tree he'd been searching, landing before her and her teammates.
“I've lost him! I've lost Gama-chan!” he proclaimed.
For about ten seconds, nobody said anything. Then, Naruto spoke again. “Huh? Hinata? What's my shirt doing on your head?”
Hinata debated whether or not she should remove the shirt. An inner battle raged between two sides of her subconscious. She could take it off of her head and spare herself some embarrassment–she must have looked rather ridiculous at the moment. On the other hand, though, taking it off and handing it back to him involved her seeing Naruto without his shirt and without his pants. Was she ready for that yet? Plus, there was the small matter of her never having had her face pressed into his shirt...
At that point, Kiba made a sharp whistle and said, “Whoa, somebody's been working out.”
Hinata's decision was made for her. Hurriedly, she whipped the garment off of her head, taking a step or two towards Naruto (who, thankfully, still wore his boxers) and held the shirt out to him. She made an effort not to stare at him. After the first glance, though, it was difficult not to. Kiba had not been kidding; though compact, Naruto's well-muscled chest, arms, and thighs would definitely have won him at least an honorable mention in any body-builder competition. She couldn't stop the blush from creeping up her face as he pulled his pants and shoes back on.
Naruto caught her. “What's the matter, Hinata? Is there something on me?” He turned to reach around his back, exposing his strong back.
“Ano... no... Nothing there.”
He looked at her in a confused, questioning way, wondering what the staring had been about. Hinata grew nervous watching his blue eyes search hers. Would he figure it out now? If so, was she prepared to answer for it?
Finally, the blond boy gave up, shrugged, and pulled his shirt back on, much to Hinata's relief. Not many things could reduce her to the verge of hysteria anymore, but this happy little situation was a rare and special occasion. The heavy crimson in her face began to fade away as Naruto turned to pick up his jacket.
Once fully dressed, Naruto began muttering something unintelligible. Hinata thought she caught the words “Ero-Sennin”, “wallet”, “money”, and “dancing,” but decided not to think much of it. Her real focus was on another set of words. Now, how to go about getting him to say them?
Kiba, again, came to the rescue. “So, Naruto,” he said, putting an arm around his old friend's shoulder, “What did you think of that little match?”
Naruto gave a nervous smile. “Well, uh... to tell the truth...”
This was it: he was going to tell her (tell Kiba, really, but she would hear it too, so what did it matter?) how he liked her display. Among the reasons she'd had to work so hard these past three years, this one moment was one of the most important. This was the man whose words had helped her to become the success she was today; his opinion meant the world to her, and he could propel her confidence through the sky or shoot it down in flames with a single remark.
“I really didn't see most of it. I lost my wallet, see, and I've been running around looking for it so...”
The pilot of H.M.A. (Hinata's Mental Airship) Confidence struggled to maintain altitude through the gray clouds. The co-pilot, reading the meters, was calling out, “I can't get a reading at all, Captain! All we can see in these clouds is the color gray!” Suddenly, the engine sputtered, and the propellers ground to a halt. “Damn it,” growled the Captain. “We need more information now, son.” H.M.A. Confidence hung suspended for a moment, then began to slowly sink.
“Hey, hey, but you know what?” Naruto said, “Those first few minutes were awesome! Hinata's moving this way, that way, nothing touching her, then BAM! Direct shot on dog-breath's guts! Oh, uh... sorry Kiba, you were alright, too...”
Kiba didn't really look that hurt. He'd been trying to get Naruto to talk about this, after all.
“...but anyway, that was really amazing, Hinata. You moved like you were gliding over some kinda cloud, or something.”
The clouds parted around the H.M.A. Confidence, revealing the sun. Its heat burned away the gray and kickstarted the engine. The propellers whirred to life once again. The Captain smiled. “Take her up, number two. High as she'll go.”
Hinata's smile and blush illuminated her face more brightly than the sun. Naruto, looking at her, forgot about everything else. Screw waving money around... Compliments do the job just fine. Better than fine, he added.
“Arrigatou, Naruto-kun.”
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Keisuke's face screwed up in concentration. Neji only wondered for a moment what he could be doing before dropping from his perch to attempt to stop him–whatever it was, it sure did seem to require much focus, and techniques like that tended to be either highly specialized or highly dangerous. Neji was betting on the latter.
Ready for this, Keisuke flung a kunai at the branch that Neji would land on in mere seconds. Not wasting his breath on a battle cry, he formed the seal that would detonate the chakra, blowing the branch out from underneath Neji, who was forced to leap backwards to avoid the wooden shrapnel. Unfortunately, there were no branches to cling to in that direction, so Neji had to wait for himself to hit the ground before he could run back up to Keisuke. That would take too much time; The Hyuuga Jounin would not be able to stop the blind man. Grim-faced, Neji watched Keisuke perform his change.
What he saw astonished him. Thirty-two of the Ghostly Arms had bent over double, each reaching over to one of it's neighbors. Neji fought to keep himself from gaping in awe as these neighbors were ripped from their tenketsus entirely and spun around the Arms that had freed them, being absorbed by them. Keisuke's chakra coursed through both sets of thirty-two with an alarming intensity, fusing them together. To Neji's eyes, the glow of chakra was blinding.
“Metamorphosis complete,” Keisuke said. “Behold: Sanjuuni Reiude!” (Thirty-two Ghostly Arms)
“Sanjuuni Reiude...” Neji murmured, “I see. By detaching an arm and fusing it together with another, you strengthen each individual Arm. The chakra capacity is more than doubled, and the Arms are even semi-solid.” He pondered a little bit. “I suppose that this would make your Kokuin seals more effective?”
Keisuke smiled wide. “Not only that, but the doubled strength of the individual Arms enables them to resist that troublesome reflexive impulse that comes from having their tenketsus struck. The chakra capacity of each new super-Arm is two-and-a-half times that of a normal one, and, as you say, the power of my Kokuin and trap seals is magnified by a similar factor.”
“Amazing, Keisuke-san,” Neji said. “Whatever the outcome of this battle, I have truly enjoyed seeing this.”
“I've enjoyed it likewise,” Keisuke said. Although, the Sanjuuni Reiude is far from flawless, he thought to himself. It's visible to normal human eyes, and it leaves me with less to feel around with. And over time, the abnormal amount of chakra pulsing through the Arms will slowly corrode them. At my current level, I can only make it last about five minutes. After that, all the arms waste away, and they won't grow back until tomorrow.
Grimacing at the prospect of being without his feelers for a whole day, Keisuke set himself to do what must be done. His kunai he raised high into the air, as if challenging the sky.
Neji watched and waited. That's a lot of power he's channeling. I wouldn't be surprised if he really feels drained after this. He must be planning a last-ditch, high-power offensive, to finish the fight as quickly as possible. I wonder what it is. He saw the bright super-Arms twist and writhe, shining with power, into a formation on Keisuke's skin. Lightning again?
When the seal finished, Keisuke brought the hand holding the kunai down hard and fast, cutting Gai's bonds. What? Neji thought. Surely his old instructor couldn't have impacted Keisuke so much that he was carrying him into battle now, so what could he be doi... Oh, no. The realization came too late. Keisuke had grabbed Gai by the waist.
“Chisoku no Kokuin!” (Carved Seal of Progression)
Dashing, running, sprinting... whatever word you could use for it, it wasn't enough. Keisuke's speed-enhancing seal, multiplied by two-and-a-half, resulted in a torso and a head with blurred-out legs cruising for the gate. He reached it in six seconds. Neji, who hadn't had quite the equivalent of Rock Lee's grueling speed training, arrived twelve seconds after that. Crafty as a Jounin should be, Neji mused.
When all of them stood outside of the enclosure together, Keisuke dropped Gai unceremoniously to the ground (which Gai approved, seeing as it was a “dynamic climax”). Neji did not look at Gai, however. He looked straight at Keisuke in wonder.
“You out-thought me,” he said. “I felt for certain that you would want to finish that battle, but you did as an elite shinobi would, achieving the objective with as little hesitation as possible. I acknowledge my failure.”
“Don't call it your failure,” Keisuke replied, “But rather think of it as my victory, Neji-san. And yours as well, if you buy into my dream.”
Neji recalled him talking about his dream earlier. “Would you explain this dream of yours for me, Keisuke-san?”
“It could take a while to tell you the whole story.”
“We'll send Gai-sensei to the medical unit for analysis, and I'll take that map you've got there,” Neji said. He motioned for an attendant to carry Gai away, and extended his hand for the paper. “Is that blood on it? Never mind. Turn off your Reiude and sit down–you can tell me the story while we wait for your score.”
Keisuke grimaced. “Unfortunately, I can't turn it off, Neji-san, or even reduce it. The change is irreversible.”
“Irreversible?” Neji asked, curious. “You aren't like this permanently, are you?”
“Oh, no. You'll see them fade out completely in about two minutes... they'll have corroded into nothing, and I'll be totally blind until they regrow overnight.”
“I see,” said Neji. “So like most power in the world, this one does not come without sacrifices.”
“Indeed,” Keisuke said. “But now, I have a story to tell. I'll tell you what I told Haruka and Sakura-san...”
It took a while to tell, but by the end of it, Keisuke had found himself another ally in his life's quest. And when it was finished, the attendant returned with Keisuke's score.
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