When Tomorrow Comes

Part 19

They'd say the devil made him do it, like Neji couldn't control himself. "She might die." Naruto was filled with angst, his fingers clenched around the metal bars overlooking the stadium.

He'd have to disagree with the other Hyuuga.

The devil isn't moving Neji's arms.

Isn't filling them with Chakra about to bulldoze his cousin.

Isn't smiling ready to strike her down.

Isn't about to kill her with a bolt to the chest. "Surely Neji won't actually do that, right?"

Sakura was beside him too, not nearly as worried as he was. He knew Hinata. She's quiet and keeps to herself.

Silent.

Helps him with his work back when he cared to learn from Iruka. She'd go slow, working him through certain questions.

Nothing massive, and on rare occasions.

Not often, once a few months, if that.

But possibly, maybe the devil did make him do it. "64 Palms!" He pulls it back, Naruto could see the Chakra raging off of the man's palms. Filled and a musky blue.

Like most Hyuuga.

Neji, Naruto and Neji aren't close. The boy is a year his senior, Naruto remembered being in the academy with them.

Who is the devil, but your own consciousness lacking a filter?

I didn't get how it was done. Naruto thinks silently. How you could get rid of a family of your own.

To rid the life of such a close person? Hinata Hyuga, she'd never hurt a fly. Not a bug. An ant. A beetle. A rat. Nor a roach

Yet, here now. Her life is in the hands of a boy not willing to accept the unfortunate cards he's been dealt.

In slow motion, Naruto watches his hands get closer.

It didn't matter if he thought any longer. There are only metal bars stopping him. And they break.

The same followed multiple other areas of the stadium, all for the same reason. To stop the death of the Hyuuga heir.

He's slower than the rest of them. "Neji!" As he flies at the boy three meters away, Might Guy intercepts the both of them as Naruto's foot stands in place.

Just a foot away from his head. Kakashi held Lee back, right before he too could make contact with his teammate.

Hizashi, he was behind both Kakashi and Might Guy protecting his daughter.

Before he knew it, Kakashi dropped Lee and tossed him to Might Guy, Naruto and him swapped places.

His Jonin instructor shunshined him back to the stands. Might Guy took Lee leaving Neji down in the stadium with the Hyuga Head and his Daughter.

Everyone was quiet.

"Call the match, she is unable to fight due to an illegal step in. By forfeit, I must pull Hinata Hyuga from the match." He calls out.

Taking his bleeding daughter in his arms and shunshining away.

"Well, you heard it folks. By forfeit: Neji Hyuga won!" Citizens and ninja clap alike.

…

"Neji would've killed her." Kakashi says to his students, holding Naruto tightly by the shoulder. "And he would've done so legally."

So he left nothing for him to say. No other thing for it to be interpreted as.

Sakura added nothing, she knew the rules. Learned them to the best of her ability, searched long and wide for every little detail to look for any loopholes.