A Growing Affection

Chapter 89: Who Shall Inherit?

"HINATA!" Naruto roared angrily. Sakura clasped her hands in front of  her mouth fearfully, while Kakashi grimaced sadly. Tenten prepared to  catch her friend, telling herself she should not feel guilty about the  joy blossoming in her heart.

"What are you doing, Hinata?" Naruto  shouted the question less loudly; despair replacing the ire in his  previous outburst. His words reached her this time, and her eyes snapped  open. The action was more indicative of her restored focus than of a  need to see, her Suigin Byakugan was still active. Hinata Hyuga placed  her hands together, summoning her chakra.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu,"  she said simply. Naruto's voice had inspired her to take a page from the  beloved's playbook. The clone appeared below her and placed her palms  to the bottoms of the original's boots, each pushing off the other. The  duplicate began to fly even faster towards the crowd, while the real  Hinata rocketed back towards the arena floor. The shadow replica  disappeared just before it struck Tenten, and Hinata was completing  another jutsu as she landed.

"Medical Arts, Accelerated Healing  Jutsu," the silver eyed woman incanted. In the same instant, she removed  the lightning projection lingering around Ginmaki. She met Neji's gaze  with a new expression. Instead of the grim determination she had shown  earlier, she had a deep calm, and appraised him openly.

"It's about time you started fighting, Hinata," her boyfriend grumbled softly, even though she could not hear him.

"What do you think she was doing before?" Lee asked, confused but cautiously smug.

"Sparring."

"What's that mean?" Choji prompted curiously.

"She  was trying not to hurt Neji, and over-thinking her moves," Uzumaki  explained, "That's why she was relying too much on Ginmaki. She normally  only uses the kote as a weapon when she's sparring, or if she needs to  cut something. But I know that look; she's finally gonna fight him."

Hinata  assumed the Gentle Fist stance, even as full flexibility and strength  returned to her knees. Neji did not want to give her any more chance to  recover further; he snatched up both of his tonfa from the earth, and  charged her.

She caught the first spinning bar with her right  hand, accepting the stinging pain to hold the tonfa. She pulled him in  by the weapon, blocking the second tonfa incidentally with Ginmaki as  her left hand stabbed at Neji's right lung, just under his rib cage. The  Jonin braced for the stunning impact of the Gentle Fist, building up a  mass of chi into the chakra point she was targeting, and then stopping  the energy flow in or out. It would not negate the effect of the Gentle  Fist, but it would minimize the impact.

At the last instant,  Hinata's fingers curled, and she sent an extra spark of chakra through  her muscles. Her fist drove into his gut, and his white eyes bulged as  the breath was driven from his body. She released his tonfa, quickly  tapping the thumb and index finger of his left hand as she did. Neji  just barely managed to keep hold of his weapon with the three digits  that were still functioning. He tried to retreat, spinning his right  hand tonfa repeatedly to try to keep her at bay.

"I am sorry, my brother," Hinata paused, letting him gain space, "I can't hold back any longer, so you shouldn't either."

"What  do you mean, Hinata?" he asked trying to hide the kernel of worry that  sprouted in his stomach. Short of techniques that would almost certainly  kill or maim his cousin, he was not sure there was much more he could  bring to the fight.

Hinata did not answer with words; she jumped  forward, aiming her hands at his neck. He expected a feint, so he  blocked lightly while watching for her follow-up. Unfortunately, her  attack was in earnest, and her left fist sent tingles up his left arm  where he caught it, and her right arm clipped the side of his neck. Neji  recognized that if he had not shifted to block the first blow, her  second could have rendered him unconscious, speechless, or worse. He  berated himself for blocking with his wrist instead of his tonfa.