Shades of White
By HBC2
Disclaimer: *crying* Somebody, HELP ME!!!! She does things to me! Horrible... *sob* ...things...
HBC2: Quiet, you, and get back in my closet! *smiles* Anyways... I don't own or claim to own any of the characters of the anime, Naruto. If I did, I would charge you all a fee to write all these fanfictions. (I'm completely kidding, of course.) The only thing I own here is the scenario I am forcing these characters into.
Oh, and one more thing. I like to get very descriptive, but if I get overly so, please write a review and tell me. That way, I'll know if I need to stop over-detailing my fiction. Also if there's any big, glaring spelling or grammar errors. I try to catch them all before I post, but there's always a few that slip by.
Enjoy. ^.^
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A lone figure drifted slowly through the dense forrest just to Konoha's south. The sun's rays shone crimson on the trees, casting their dark shadows over the forrest floor, over the figure. He halted, relaxed and ready.
He was completely surrounded
"Gaara of the Desert!" boomed a deep voice that rolled through the air, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
The red-haired boy gazed straight ahead, pale face blank. When he spoke, ice cracked and broke on his words. "What of it?"
Six shapes moved out of the shadows, all dressed in the standard black uniforms and animal masks of the ANBU, the sand village symbol emblazoned boldly on their jackets. Their leader cleared his throat and started his rehearsed spiel.
"Gaara of the Desert. You are hereby charged with crimes against the Vilage Hidden in the Sand, the Wind Country, and humanity; in addition to a number of murders too large to accurately count. By the order of the Kazekage, you are to be terminated at this time. Surrender and your death will be quick and painless." He paused for a moment to allow Gaara to voice his declaration of surrender. The boy just stared blankly into space as though he hadn't heard a word of it. "Very well. Any last words?" Still Gaara didn't move a muscle, even to blink. The ANBU squad leader gave a signal and they all melted back into the shadows.
Gaara remained rooted to the spot, monitoring the twelve separate chakra signatures that darted and flitted through the growing darkness around him. Only half of them had shown themselves. Probably some poor attempt to trick him. They were now preparing for attack, studying him, looking for possible weak points or openings.
It seems my father is finally almost saying what he really means. Gaara's sea green eyes skinned over with an extra layer of ice. All the ANBU leader's words boiled down to what he'd known the Kazekage had thought for years. Gaara was a mistake. Gaara was a threat. Gaara needed to die.
The cork in the mouth of Gaara's gourd pushed out and dropped to the ground.
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The world came crashing back to Hinata in a dizzying rush, ringing in her ears and bringing tears to her eerily white eyes. Her dazed mind refused to focus until she made an attempt to move her head. The knot at the base of her skull throbbed angrily and pain lanced down her spine. Her eyes watered even more and twin tears slipped down her pale cheeks, making little trails through the blood and dirt smeared over her face.
Her neck felt wet, so she brought her fingers to that spot and pulled them away covered in blood.
Her memory chose then to surge back. She was in the secret Hyuuga family training grounds, out in the forrest west of Konoha; an area reserved strictly for Main Branch members. She planned to one day bring Neji here to train, then maybe the boy would consider her more like family and not hate her so much. Uh, yeah. Sure.
Hinata had been training all day. She had found an old scroll in a storage room of the Main Branch mansion. It was a very detailed documentation of ever aspect of the Hyuuga family's kekkei genkai, the Byakugan. Such ancient and immaculately kept records were exceedingly rare, since near-constant wars and the ravages of time had destroyed so many of them; and since it was all common knowledge back then, their ancestors hadn't really bothered to write down important facts.
The scroll had described the Byakugan as being the all-seeing bloodline trait. It told of the kekkei genkai's ultimate skill of insight, the user's ability to view the chakra pathways, and the complete 360° range of vision.
As far as Hinata knew, no living Hyuuga, not even Neji or her father, possessed true 360° vision. Every Hyuuga had a small blind spot directly behind the third vertebra, a secret weakness. At first, Hinata was confused and thought that maybe the scroll was wrong. But as she read on, she found a small addition referring to the 'impure Byakugan', a condition found in children born of one Hyuuga parent and an outsider; a condition that weakens the Byakugan and causes diminished insight, occaisional inability to see the chakra pathways, and gaps in the field of vision. A footnote, in different handwriting, speculated that with the right amount of training, the flawed Byakugan of a 'half-breed', as it called them, could possibly be improved or even completely restored.
The more Hinata thought about it, the more excited she got. If she could train her Byakugan hard enough and make it as strong as her ancestors', become stronger than Neji, maybe her family would stop treating her like garbage and show her some respect. Right. That'll happen.
So, at the crack of dawn, she'd snuck out of the Hyuuga family mansion and made her way to the training grounds. Well, perhaps 'snuck' wasn't the correct word for it. She had gathered up the supplies she'd deemed necesary, fixed herself a healthy-sized breakfast in the kitchens, and calmly walked out of the front door, all without the slightest consideration to stealth. Her departure had not gone unnoticed, of that Hinata was certain. It was just that nobody in the Hyuuga mansion gave one gold-plated damn where she went or what she did.
The simple truth was that she wasn't strong enough to be worthy of their concern. Everyone was much more interested in her younger sister, Hanabi, who was quite a promising little shinobi. Proper heiress material. Which, of course, meant that the poor girl was barely allowed to go to the bathroom on her own, let alone make an unchaperoned trip to the training course at dawn.
Hinata made a series of hand seals and focused her chakra. The veins around her eyes bulged as the blood rushed to that area. Her pupils dialated as her Byakugan activated.
The world expanded around her in all directions. Almost everything within a hundred-meter radius became visible to her. Almost everything.
As Hinata watched, a sparrow flew through the trees behind her. At a certain point, it vanished, just for a second. There! The blind spot. No more than a degree or two, but just enough of an opening for a well-aimed attack to slip through.
The day of training was really taking its toll on Hinata's energy and chakra reserves. The few minutes of rest she'd gotten while she lay unconsious on the ground had done absolutely nothing to restore her. Fortunately, she'd had the foresight that morning to pack a few food pills.
Hinata moved to where she'd been standing before being knocked out. A small patch of trampled grass was surrounded by a wide circle of kunai and shuriken laying on or embedded into the ground. This particular trap was a self-resetting barrage of projectiles. It was as simple as it was effective at training defensive technique. All the shinobi utilizing the trap had to do was stand on a pressure-activated switch and deflect randomized attacks from any and all directions.
Two seconds passed after Hinata stepped onto the pressure pad before the trap sprung. A brace of shuriken whizzed through the air from her forward-left, heading straight for her torso. Hinata pulled a kunai from her weapons sheath and knocked the flying iron stars to the ground. Instantly, two kunai hurtled down at her from turrets hidden amongst the treetops, somewhere behind her and a little closer to her blind spot than was comfortable. These were defleted and spun harmlessly off to the side. Attack after attack flew at Hinata, the occasional weapon catching her clothing or scoring a small scratch to her hands or face, but all were turned aside with moderate ease.
Finally, the last and most important part of the excercise came. Hinata had modified this strike to always come from directly behind her, right in the center of her blind spot, and instead of a kunai or shuriken, she had loaded this turret with fist-sized rocks.
She could hear the rock whistling slightly as it sped toward the back of her head. Hinata stood stock still. The purpose of this was not to hear the attack, and not to defend or dodge. All she had to do to succeed was see the rock. Just see it.
The scroll she had read said that it was possible that attack after repeated attack to the blind spot of an impure Byakugan could cause the kekkei genkai to adapt and grow, eliminating or diminishing the inborn flaw for the sake of defending the user's life.
Wait, was that...? No, it couldn't be. Imposs- There! It was! A tiny flash of motion on the very fringes for her perception. Just enough of a warning for Hinata to duck as the rock passed bare millimeters from her skull.
As Hinata watched the stone bounce across the grass, then lose all its momentum and stop, she remained frozen in a crouch. The training- It had... actually worked. Only a little bit, but it was certainly a start.
She was eager to begin training even harder. Tomorrow. As it was, Hinata was hungry, hurt, and dead on her feet. And also in desperate need of a shower. Hinata walked stiffly to her gear and splashed some cold water from her canteen into her face, wiping mud and half-clotted blood away wtih her sleeve. Maybe two showers. And some ice for her head.
Hinata popped a couple pain killers, then slowly chewed a food pill. It was still a decent hike back to the Hyuuga compound, and she barely had energy enough to stand. Within a few minutes, the food pill kicked in, giving her a boost. It wasn't much, but it should be enough. If not, Hinata thought, she still had two more pills, more than enough to get her back home.
As her strength slowly increased, Hinata became dimly aware of a group of chakra signatures some distance to the south or south-east. To her knowledge, that area was largely uninhabited, just forrest with no homes or roads through it. Very strange that any one person, let alone a bunch, would be out there so close to sunset.
Hinata monitored the situation more out of curiosity than actual interest as she rummaged through her pack. Could it be a secret meeting? Some sort of club or perhaps a party? She dug out some candy bars and ate them ravenously. Always a staunch believer in being prepared, Hinata had packd some food, matches, and a small blanket in case she decided to stay at the training grounds overnight.
Whatever was happening to the south was apparently starting to heat up. She could sense the chakra flaring from several sources, one of them startlingly stronger than the rest. Did someone crash the party? Or was there an arguement at the meeting? As Hnata watched, one of the chakra signatures flared, stuttered, and went out like a candle. She nearly choked. Someone had just been killed. Almost immediately, two more were extinguished.
Hinata felt dizzy and her blood iced over. The village is being attacked! was all she could think. It was only recently that Konoha had been attacked by their once-allies, Sunagakure. Only recently that their proud and noble Hokage had been killed by the vile sound sannin, Orochimaru. Every civilian and shinobi in the Leaf Village had the some fear nagging at them from the back of their mind. That they were vulnerable, that it was only a matter of time before they were attacked again and pulled into a war with Wind Country.
A war that Fire Country had little hope of winning. Too many skilled shinobi had been killed and there were precious few who were even old enough to fight.
Frozen where she was, half of a candy bar dangling from her fingers, Hinata was consumed by her terror. Even moving at her top speed, fully energized and uninjured, she could never have made it to Konoha in time to warn anyone. In reality, she was closer to the happenings to the south than she was to Konoha...
She had to physically shake herself. Briefly contemplated slapping herself. Now was not the time to be scared. It would help absolutely nothing. Neji had taught her that.
Everyone was counting on her, she had to be tough and tackle her problems without fear. Naruto had taught her that.
Hinata grabbed her pack and leapt into the treetops.
