It was not a good fall. Her hands were numb: she couldn't catch herself and her face banged against the ground with jarring swiftness.
She lay there, dazed, then coughed, once, twice, and forced herself to rise, trembling, fingers leaving a tracery of blood against a block of limestone green floor. Above, in the sparsely inhabited stands, the only spectators were her fellow genin, the judges and the instructors and they were deathly quiet.
"Why do you stand?" cousin Neji asked.
Hinata sucked in a greedy breath and rose slowly, creakingly up past her knees. Her limbs were aflame as she took up the classic stance: muscles deprived of chakra acted very nearly like muscles deprived of oxygen; her eyes, meanwhile, were painfully hot, coils pulsing with pent-up chakra. Breathing hurt. She knew what a healthy heart looked like. Hers was not. It beat sluggish, irregular, too many associated tenketsu plugged, pressure uneven and dangerously unsteady.
When she coughed, the spittle which dribbled down her chin was bloody.
"If you keep pushing yourself, you'll die," cousin Neji said.
Maybe, thought Hinata, trying not to gasp for breath. But the difference was today was, someone important was watching her. The difference today was-
"YOU CAN DO IT, HINATA!!!!"a blond boy screamed from the stands.
-the difference today was, she wasn't going to give up.
She smiled as her opponent ground his teeth, annoyed.
They rushed at each other once more, two users of the gentle fist. It was almost a dance. Strike, block, strike, block, back and forth, no strength wasted, no savage blows, just violence and energy exchanged with painful precision. With her own chakra mostly inaccessible, she could not attack, but she could deflect. Three exchanges passed, then four, then, upon the fifth, when hope had stirred, when she began to think of what she could do with the tools at hand, she felt a blow spike through her guard, hit her chest and something went ba-dump and ruptured.
Once more, she felt a moment lacking weight, followed by a bruising impact against the ground. Her heart stuttered agonizingly in her chest.
"You don't understand anything," her opponent said, coldly contemptuous. "From the beginning, your attacks have done nothing."
'I know,' she wanted to say. 'That's not the point,' she wanted to say. 'I need to change,' she wanted to say. 'I have changed,' she wanted to say. Instead, she struggled back to her feet, taking long, long seconds to pick herself up. Her vision wavered.
"It's not over, yet…"
His eyes were cold. "It is. You can barely stand. You can only push yourself so far. It is time to admit it: you are weak, Hinata Hyuuga. You are weak and this will not change. People do not change. That is your Destiny. Let go of your suffering."
Her knees buckled. She wanted to. Truly, she did. What would Naruto say? Probably 'That's crap!' or 'If that's Destiny, I'll beat it to a pulp!'
But she couldn't refute cousin Neji. Not like that.
"Aren't you…" her voice cracked and broke into a long series of bloody coughs, echoed by the proctor. "Aren't you the one suffering the most… cousin Neji?"
Neji snapped, hands blurring with a blue haze of chakra as he sprinted towards her.
Four jounins leaped to stop him.
Inconceivably, they failed. The blow stopped her heart, and sent her spinning to the ground, in so much pain all she could do was try to breathe. Four jounin were wrapped around him and spoke in that very calm, very even way that suggested they were fine when they most definitely were not and even cousin Neji seemed to be in shock.
As she struggled, Hinata wondered, distantly: 'I hope… I…'
Then she took her Second Breath.
It was like breathing in the world.
Energy suffused her limbs while wild, impossible memories attacked her mind's eye. She coughed, spraying blood across the ground. A cold, silvery heat kindled itself near her heart. She didn't know how, but the world changed.
Fingers slammed into stone.
"It's… not… over…"she panted.
"Hinata," Kurenai said, as alarmed and relieved as she had ever heard her jounin-sensei, turning away from Neji whom she held,"you need to-"
The words died away, stillborn.
Hinata rose. Leaking through the pores of her skin, silver light eddied from her like smoke out of a pipe. Her chakra coils, usually a soft lavender, had been choked off by Cousin Neji's barrage of attacks, began to be overlaid by a network of silver that started near her heart and quickly spiraled throughout her body.
It was chakra, but not. Something else. Something more.
With a sound like a cork popping, she felt one of her tenketsu flare open, the plug formed by Cousin Neji's chakra unable to stay closed in the presence of so much raw power. Then, like it had released the floodgates, one by one they all started to go. Cousin Neji's eyes widened.
"Maa, this is embarrassing," said Naruto's jounin-sensei, a book in one hamd, the other clamped around Neji's wrist.
She took an unsteady step forward. The jounin-senseis relaxed, let go.
"It's not over," she growled.
"FUCK HIM UP!" Kiba shouted excitedly while Shino whispered encouragement, below his breath.
"GET HIM! HINATA!!!!" screamed Naruto.
She wiped the blood beading at her lip, smiled and set herself back into her familiar stance.
Silver and lavender fire poured out of her soul,
----
[ ] warping her flesh…
Charms: Totemic Self Announcement + Flicker Flash Flesh Phase. Appearance increased to 4. Caste: Changing Moon. Default Totem is a (physical) Lion Dog the size of a tyrant lizard. Because why not.
[ ] seeping into her fists…
Charms: Strength Excellency + Blow for Blow. Strength increased to 4. No Moon.
[ ] reaching her eyes…
Charms: Perception Excellency + Hidden Devil Parade + Crushing Gorgon Glare. Full Moon.
----
Hinata's Base Stats: Str2/Dex3/Sta2; Cha3/Man2/App2; Per4/Int3/Wits2
----
QM Notes: This is a terrible idea, but I have sat on it since @Crilltic started the whole wave of Naruto Nostalgia, and no one else seems to have done it. >_>
Those familiar with Lunars will have noticed that I'm using the Terrifying Argent Witches homebrew (link located here) which does a complete overhaul of the Lunar splatbook. Highlights include the Heart's Blood ritual being a simple 'What I Kill is What I Am' philosophy to grabbing new forms, new forms requiring a time-consuming point-by-point purchase of mutations, and no automatic totem animal. Also, the charms are different and each looks nifty.
The only thing I will be consciously changing is Changing Moon's Anima Flare (if you guys go with Changing Moons): People will not be overcome with lust, instead they'll be overcome with awe.
For the purpose of this quest, stats are more... guidelines than anything else as I work out how to put them all together. Also, I suck at Exalted mechanics. Putting them together with homebrew Naruto mechanics is probably a feat beyond my abilities.
Update speed will be erratic, sorry. I do have the very modest goal of getting past the end of the chunin exams, so we'll probably make it to at least there.
Once there was a girl who wanted to change. The Moon, whom some called Ever-Change and Dances Between Darkness, delighted in such an ambition and offered her her aid.
"You are descended from great warriors," said the Moon to the girl. "Perhaps you wish to be strong."
And the moon, who knew the secret to ten thousand shapes and ten, became a great black beast with four arms and eight legs so huge that it would dwarf even the great Kukla, snake that surrounded the world, prophecized to wake at its end.
"I CAN GIVE YOU SUCH STRENGTH THAT THE MOUNTAINS WOULD BE AS PEBBLES," the Moon-as-Destroyer said, in a whisper that could lay low cities, smash armies and split oceans. "IS THIS THE CHANGE YOU SEEK?"
And the girl said: "…n-no…"
The Moon who knew the secrets of all animals and all men, save those rare, dark things handed to the Maiden of Endings, who knew the secrets that lay beyond the realm of in-between, knew she spoke the truth. So the Moon-as-Destroyer shrank, becoming soft, losing limbs and size until she resembled nought save the girl's mother, dressed in mourning whites, eyes closed.
"You are descended from great kings and leaders, gifted in the ways rulership," said she, soft as a summer breeze during winter, gentle as a lover's kiss seen sideways. "Perhaps you wish to be as they, with the power to bring people together."
And when the Moon-as-Mother opened her eyes, they contained everything real and unreal. That which was, that which could be, and that which never was, but might have been, and that which never was and never could be.
And again the girl said: "…n-no…"
And the Moon who could weave the most glorious of tales from the most common of chaff knew how such stories must end and hissed and snarled as she took on her true form: the ever-shifting, ever-radiant, ever-dark maelstrom of possible and impossible that was Change itself.
"THEN TELL ME, GIRL, THAT CHANGE WHICH YOU SEEK."
The girl, who was not brave, cowered at the sight of her, but when she spoke, her voice was clear.
"H-Honored Moon, I want to change myself, by myself."
"IS THAT YOUR TRUE DESIRE?"
"Yes."
And the Moon smiled.
-----
Silver and lavender fire poured out of her soul, reaching her eyes, then through them.
Blood boiled in her veins, tore through her nerves, scalded her soul. She could see it settle into her bones, organs, cells, changing all that they touched. Her pupils shifted, then her irises, which took on a grayish hue. Then, like quicksilver turned into flame, it wreathed and engulfed her and violently exploded outwards: the jounin who weren't refereeing the match scattered, back to their place in the stands, while Neji, ever-vigilant, fell back twenty feet, feet hardly seeming to leave the ground as he pushed backwards.
She felt light, lighter than she had ever been. A great Lion Dog, fifteen feet tall, wrought of silver flame, flickered around her, settling its paws protectively in front of her. Save for contours and outlines, its body was completely translucent, but it was more than equal to any stone monument Hinata had seen.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
The moment of fascinated awe was ruined when the guardian lion then reached down and licked the top of her head, leaving behind a trail of quickly vanishing silver slobber and began to arrange her hair. Someone awww'd - probably Ino, Hinata thought, and she could see Kurenai grinning in smug bewilderment as Ino's jounin-sensei asked her 'what the hell did you teach her.'
Neji growled, eyes darting to her sensei then back to Hinata.
"This nonsense will not save you."
He dashed forward.
Hinata blinked, then blinked again, startled.
Had he always been this slow?
Chakra and Physique Tier Rating
Feel free to skip this.
There are ten tiers of advancement in both Chakra and Physique. Each Tier is sub-divided into three ranks: Earth, Heaven and Perfection. So you can have Earth Academy Students, Heavenly Lower Genin and Perfect Upper Genin and so on. No one in-story will refer to each other as such, this is purely to avoid any confusion from having overly similar terms.
Here are the Tiers:
0 - Civilian
1 - Academy Students
2 - Lower Genin -
3 - Upper Genin - Hinata is here. She's a Heavenly Upper Genin in Chakra and Physique.
4 - Lower Chuunin - Neji is here. He's a Heavenly Lower Chuunin in both Chakra and Physique. Most active chuunin are at around his level.
5 - Upper Chuunin - Despite the name, most ANBU and newly minted Jounin are at the upper reaches of this Tier.
6 - Lower Jounin - More experienced Jounin and certain teenage geniuses are at around here.
7 - Upper Jounin - It is rare for shinobi to make it to this level. The Sannin, when they made their name, were only 'Heavenly Upper Jounin'.
8 - Lower S-Rank - Here is where Kage-level shinobi start.
9 - Upper S-Rank -
10 - Legendary
In combat, you compare Tiers and Ranks. Opponents with the same Tier but different ranks add +1 auto-success/rank to the combatant with the greater rank. Opponents with different Tiers also count the differences in rank, but double the number of auto-successes per difference in Tier. (A Perfect Civilian fighting an Perfect Upper Genin would have a difference of 6 ranks, and a difference of two tiers, 2^2x6= 24 auto-successes for the upper genin.)
Physique is less formidable than Chakra. In a clash, Physique is always considered 1 tier lower than Chakra and there are many shinobi who do not rely on physique at all (on the extreme end, Sasori of the Red Sand simply did away with having a body altogether, relying purely on puppetry and ninjutsu).
However, increasing your physique permits greater upper limits and faster action. Although genin max out at five dots, each Tier above Upper Genin adds 1 dots to all physical attributes and skills as the new maximum as well as +10 feet to their move action. So the new maximum for physical attributes would be 8 for lower jounin and 12 for legendary shinobi. Chakra Ratings, on the other end, permits access to greater and greater stores of chakra as well as more formidable techniques, many of them exotic and the ability to add a dot to max Willpower per tier, as well as half as many dots per tier for mental attributes.
Finally, any difference in Tier, accompanies a difference in speed. Whether Physique or Chakra, a shinobi is permitted an extra action for each Tier they are at above their opponent. In this case, Physique is not penalized: the two opponents compare their maximum tier and for each tier difference, one additional extra action is permitted. An exception to this rule exists if the difference in tier is equivalent to the difference in rank - aka, a Perfection to Earth, in which case no extra action is permitted.
FINALLY, to put an exalted spin on all this Narutoing -
An Exalted's Anima acts as their 'super mode,' increasing both their physique and chakra rating. This is purely for combat purposes: an exalt cannot learn new, previously restricted techniques by increasing their Chakra and Physique through anima flare, nor will training allow them to increase their physical stats past their current maximum.
At the 8-10 mote level they increase their chakra and physique by 1 rank. Due to Hinata's inexperience, at the one-dot anima display she'll bleed 1 mote per action.
At the 11-15 mote level they increase their chakra and physique by 1 more rank (cumulative 2). Due to Hinata's inexperience, at the two-dot anima display she will bleed 2 motes per action.
At the 16+ mote level they increase their chakra and physique by an entire tier. (Cumulative 5 ranks). Due to Hinata's inexperience, the Totemic Anima display will bleed an additional 5 motes per action.
Also, because the anima does not need to be some weird 'Call A Wyld Hunt Beacon' you can turn it off at will, though in order to get it back up to snuff, you have to re-spend all those motes again.
Hinata's gained 5 ranks in physique and chakra, catapulting her from heavenly upper genin to earth upper chuunin. Compared to Neji's Heavenly Lower Chuunin, this gives her 2 ranks and 1 tier advantage, in other words 4 auto-successes, an extra action and some other miscellaneous benefits.
She blocked his first strike.
Then his second. Then his third, fourth, fourteenth, fourtieth. The Lion Dog paid him the worst sort of compliment as it ignored him, contenting itself to arranging her hair, as her hands followed his, dipping down, flowing up, swirling in an automatic haze of motion that mirrored the silver light which continued to dance and swirl about them.
Her form was not perfect - her strikes lacked precision - she nearly stumbled twice… but, even so, he could not touch her.
And with each failure her cousin grew ever more frustrated. When finally she grew comfortable enough with her new speed to counter him, he sprang backwards, like a scalded cat, clutching his deadened wrist.
She smiled wryly, then gestured at him to approach.
But, ah, she had forgotten.
He was a genius, pride of the Branch House. He didn't answer her provocation. Instead, he breathed out, closed his eyes. The veins around his eyes pulsed, then pulsed again.
When he opened them again, he was calm, and his eyes seemed milkier than ever.
He then gestured for her to approach.
She did so.
And though she had lost none of her quicksilver speed, Neji, who focused purely on defense was like an impregnable fortress: she could not whittle him down fast enough.
Doujutsu are considered formidable because they often, like anima, permit shinobi to fight at a much higher Tier than they would normally be capable of. Neji is right now using the Byakugan to mimic the Sharingan's 'High Speed Sight' - he can cancel out a certain number of Hinata's auto-successes, enough to put them on a more even footing.
"I am surprised," he murmured. "For the Heiress of the Main House to be using such… unconventional techniques. Your Father will no doubt be interested."
Her eyes widened, and in that instant, he slammed a hand against her stomach, deadening the area. She hit the ground rolling, and made it to her feet in one smooth motion.
What… what would Father think?
Neji nodded to her. "I will acknowledge it is a formidable technique. It is, perhaps, the right path for you to take." He settled back into the initial stage of the jyuken stance. "But it is not enough to beat me. Your chakra is nearly half gone and I remain essentially uninjured."
Through the top of her head she could see the Lion Dog above her give a great snort of affront.
And suddenly, she knew. Sometimes, a Guardian had to expel an unruly guest.
She took a new stance, putting her hands together. Above, the Lion Dog did the same with its paws. The silver mist around her grew thicker, nearly opaque.
"Cousin Neji," she said. "Be careful."
Then her eyes flashed true silver and she turned her argent-eyed glare upon him. His pale face turned to an unhealthy pallor, sweat broke out across his brow and then, finally, after an interminable moment, he collapsed backwards, breathing heavily as his rump met the ground.
"Wh-wha-what was that?" he choked.
"Nothing," said Hinata who, as far as she knew, spoke the truth.
He struggled to his feet, teeth chattering. "It's... not... over..."
She winced, licked her lips, then glared at him again.
Thrice more she turned possibility into nothing and with each glare he seemed to shrink and grow smaller, his very essence leaving his body. When he finally collapsed, utterly spent, the room exploded into confused cheers.
-----
When she was sure that Neji - besides being catatonic and exhausted of all chakra, was okay, Hinata finally permitted herself to smile. She had won. She had changed. She had…
What did she have, anyway? Had someone bound a Guardian Lion Dog to her? You heard stories, of course, demons, weapons, knowledge, even souls, bound into a ninja. Perhaps…
The sound of racing feet reached her ears. Then a voice: "HEEEEE - NAAAAA - TAAAAAAA!"
She turned, but clearly not fast enough.
Hinata stumbled as Kiba tackled her, grabbing the back of her shoulders as he leapfrogged over her head and spun to face her. Akamaru popped out of the top of his jacket like the end of strange, adorably poofy necklace, looking slightly the worse for wear, but still hearty.
"THAT FIGHT ROCKED," Kiba told her, gushing. Akamaru yipped his agreement.
"Kiba, please use your indoor voice," Shino said dryly. Hinata turned around: following behind her more exuberant teammate came the ever-stoic Shino. And behind Shino… "Why? Another match is about to start." He nodded to her. "Hinata. An excellent, unexpected performance."
"Th-thanks," said Hinata whose eyes were still riveted on the boy behind him who was grinning hugely at her. His name started with Na. Ended with to.
Um. Uh.
….UM!!!
"Ugh," Kiba said from behind her, ruffling her hair before he pulled down a lower eyelid and stuck out his tongue at the two other boys. "Nag, nag, nag. You're worse than my Sis. And you, Naruto, why're you even here?"
"Cuz' Hinata rocks?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kiba considered that. He let his lower eyelid snap back up into place. "Mm, fair enu -YEEEOWCH - HEY, WHAT THE HELL?!"
And that would be Kiba, being dragged off by Shino as he held him by the ear. Hinata simultaneously cursed and thanked her quiet companion-slash-wingman.
There was a beat of silence. It was proceeded by another.
Hinata begged the gods for inspiration. They were silent.
"W-we should p-probably h-head up too," she told Naruto.
He put both hands behind his head as if he were lying down the beach somewhere. "Yup!"
They walked towards the staircase. It was awkward.
"Uhmm - thanks for - ch-cheering for me," her voice grew smaller and smaller and she hunched over, looking down as she played nervously with her fingers. "It helped a lot."
"Really?" Naruto said, guffawing. You couldn't call it a laugh. Guffaw was the right word for it: big, bold, unhindered. "But you were awesome. And that silver chakra... was that like a super special Hyuuga technique?" Then he lowered his voice into what he probably thought was a confidential whisper. "Or was it like a… faw- errr… pheasant demon kind of thing?"
He looked at her and Hinata suddenly realized he was as nervous as she was, if probably for different reasons.
But. Um. Pheasant demon?
[x] "No? I don't think so?" (Standard Training)
[x] "Maybe? I think m-maybe someone sealed something in me." (Naruto will seek you to train together. This will have consequences, both good and bad.)
-----
Her answer given, he gave her another huge thumbs up and then vanished back to his teammates' side while she joined her own team.
Kiba, with a knowing look, started to ask "Do you have a daaaa-" before Kurenai's icy presence caused him to switch tracks. He was not very good at it. "--ueel? Yes, do you have a duel with that young, eminently respectable blond bastard who did not fart in my face with the force of a goddamn industrial accident."
Kurenai rolled her eyes.
"..." said Shino, who nodded at her.
"Congratulations, Hinata," Kurenai said warmly. Then she touched her wrist with a finger, injecting a spark of chakra.
Suddenly, the world bulged and split into two.
A genjutsu: one meant to permit a tactical conversation while appearing completely normal. Shino and Kiba were already here, looking interested.
In the illusory world, Kurenai said: "Hinata: what was that?!"
In reality, she said: "An amazing performance."
In both worlds, Hinata said: "Um…"
Kurenai, who had only recently become a jounin-sensei, often treated their team less like children or soldiers and more like a group of younger siblings. The gravitas and mystery that other jounin-sensei had she rapidly dispelled by discussing (and forcing them to discuss) everything from cosmetics to favorite yogurt brands.
Sometimes it was for practical reasons (cosmetics: surprisingly important!). Often it was just to promote 'group cohesion.'
"I don't know," Hinata finally said, concentrating on the illusory world. "It just happened!"
"You just happened to turn into a super Hinata and unlocked some sharingan-level genjutsu doujutsu bullshit-"
Someone coughed.
As a group, they all turned around. As a group, they all gulped. "Lord Hokage?!"
Hinata, even though she'd deactivated her Byakugan, could still see the Lord Hokage out of the corner of her eye, looking serene as he announced the next match-up. Lee vs Gaara.
Kurenai's eyes narrowed. "This is a genjutsu. A custom-made genjutsu that relies on physical contact. How did you…"
The Hokage, most powerful man in Konoha, tapped his pipe to the brim of his very large hat. "This hat is not completely for show."
"O-of course, Lord Hokage," Kurenai said, flustered. "I just-"
"You expected a few moments of privacy with your student. A reasonable supposition, but alas, my apologies, I must interrupt." His eyes twinkled. Hinata was fairly sure that was him cheekily manipulating the genjutsu.
"There is no need for you to apologize," said Shino suddenly. "Why? Because you are the Hokage. This is not a democracy: your word is law, your decrees are to be obeyed. You may ask and do what you wish."
Hinata winced: Shino could be surprisingly talkative when he was nervous.
"Shino," said Kurenai, in the ensuing silence. "Please leave something for the jounin-sensei to say."
"Apologies, Kurenai-sensei."
"I sometimes wish I could act the part of the dictator," the Hokage mused. "But that is a conversation for another time. I can see you are all curious about Hinata here - even Hinata herself."
"Yessir!" said Kiba while Hinata nodded vigorously.
He tapped his pipe on the illusory railing, then said: "From what I can tell, she is - you are - a natural Sage."
"A what now?" asked Kiba while Hinata blinked in confusion.
"A Sage," said Shino, sounding slightly awed. "One who can channel Natural chakra. The founder of my Clan was said to be one. The Sannin are all said to be Sages."
"Mmm," said the Hokage non-committal. "And as such, Hinata is now considered a critical asset to Konoha. Kurenai, I'll be upgrading your security clearance, Shino, Kiba-"
"You know our names?" said Kiba, amazed.
The Hokage snorted. "Boy, I saw them ten minutes ago on a big screen, and also on a much smaller piece of paper, also, I am the Hokage, yes, I know your names."
"Boys, shush," said Kurenai. The boys shushed.
"Shino, Kiba," said the Hokage. "I cannot emphasize this enough which is why I am here in person, or nearly so: Natural Chakra is dangerous."
Kiba didn't reply, but he looked mutinous. Shino's bugs buzzed angrily.
"As such, all three of you will be coming to the Hokage's tower to take personal lessons."
"Seriously?" exploded Kiba. He fistpumped. "Aww, yiss!"
Shino said nothing, but looked suitably gratified. Hinata twisted her fingers uncertainly.
"Oh dear," said Kurenai. "Is it with…?" when the Hokage nodded, she hung her head. "Oh dear."
"Finally, I must congratulate all three of you on your perf-"
But before he could finish, the arena exploded.
The illusion snapped. All of them were deposited back to reality.
"Ugh. Brain hurts," whined Kiba.
The current fight was still ongoing - Hinata sharpened her gaze. In the maelstrom of energy, she saw Neji's teammate, the one in green, turn bright red. She activated her byakugan and gulped: somehow he had forced all the chakra in his body to multiply several-fold, but that punishing amount of energy was doing as much damage to him as it was assisting him.
He was, nevertheless, incredible to watch.
It made his brutal loss to one of the Sand genin all the more disheartening.
When the rest of the fights had finished and the numbers were to be picked, Hinata tried not to gulp when she learned that in her first match, she would be facing the frightening desert genin: Gaara of the Sand.
Naruto, who was busy telling Sasuke he would 'kick his butt,' didn't even notice, but Gai-sensei, who looked like a man who had shattered and smiled despite it, told her to stay 'youthful' and 'follow her dreams.' She thanked him, a little confusedly and watched him trudge off.
----
Later, that night, during dinner, she hesitantly told her father of her victory over cousin Neji and her inclusion as a finalist.
Hanabi's chopsticks clattered to the table. "You beat cousin Neji?"
"Uh - umm, y-yes?"
"Don't mumble," Hanabi said, scowling.
She looked down. "S-sorry."
Her father, who made no sound until then, nodded briefly. "I heard, Hinata. As expected of my daughter."
Hinata's heart all but stopped in her chest.
"I understand that the Hokage will be offering you lessons as well. If you wish to practice your jyuken, I will also make myself available."
"Father?" said Hanabi, confused.
"Come along, Hanabi." There was a hardness in his voice he had never directed at her before, and Hinata could see Hanabi react to it, suddenly uncertain. "We should leave your sister to her meal."
"N-no." Hinata instinctively reached out, grabbing Hanabi's sleeve. She looked up to see her father looking down at her with an unaccustomed neutrality of expression. She smiled up at him. "P-please stay. It's nice. To eat. T-together."
"I don't see why it's nice," grumbled Hanabi, who sat down and wolfed the remainder of her food.
She was right. It wasn't nice.
But it was family.
----
There are four weeks left before the finals. What will you do during the first week?
As a No Moon, you favor the Mental Attributes: Perception, Wits, Intelligence. What are your favored attributes? (Pick 2)
Cribbing off of Crilltic's system which used a flat XP costs and reduced training times. To keep things reasonable, you can at most learn one charms a week. However, if a charm is 'paid for', it can manifest spontaneously during an event or during the finals at which point it will not count towards the 'one charm a week' limit. Excellencies do not count towards this limit.
- Attribute: 8 XP
- Ability: 4 XP
- Caste/Favored Ability: 3 XP
- Ability Specialty: 2 XP
- Background (1-3): 3 XP
- Background (4-5): 4 XP
- Virtue: 3 XP
- Willpower: 3 XP
- Charm: 5 XP
- Caste/Favored Charm: 4: XP
- Next Chakra Rating Rank: Tier^3+Rank^2 (36xp)
- Next Physique Rating Rank: Tier^3+Rank^2 (36xp)
- Next Chakra Rating Tier: Special Cost
-Next Physique Rating Tier: Special Cost.
[x] Accept the Hokage's offer of training. (Counts as 3xp of training towards 'Mote Reactor'. Mote reactor will cost 45 xp total. Additionally grants 3 general xp that can be applied to anything save the mote reactor and the Byakugan.)
-[x] XP applied where?
The mote reactor is a Kerisgame hack in which burning your anima restores motes per round. As Hinata is right now losing motes, the first 15 experience points will be devoted towards getting that number down to zero. It costs, 1,2,3,4 and then 5 xp per mote subtracted. 6,7,8,9 will start increasing the number of motes gained. Assuming anima flare goes between levels 1 and 3, for 6,7,8 and 9 experience respectively, anima flare will restore 0/0/1, 0/1/2, 1/2/3, and finally: 2/4/6 motes)
Your friends will also gain xp.
[x] Train with your team. (grants 4xp, can be applied to anything save the Byakugan. Also grants a new Form as you go hunting.)
-[x] Train what? (assign XP)
-[x] What animal will you hunt? (You can hunt for specific traits, e.g.: 'Something poisonous' or 'something that can fly'.)
[x] See if Gai-sensei would be willing to help you train. Kurenai wouldn't mind… right? (3 xp towards a physical attribute or skill, 1xp towards stamina, 1 xp towards mote reactor, 1xp towards Physique Rating. Possible complications)
[x] Train with your father. (3xp towards raising the rank of Hinata's Byakugan. 4xp towards Blow-For-Blow or Not-Quite-There-Atemi. Possible Limit gain.)
Hinata's Byakugan also has a rating. It is capped by her physical and chakra tier. To increase its rank, as much 3*tier XP must be spent on raising it
[x] Train with Naruto. There's apparently a super pervert who's super awesome…? (Encounter. Variable gains.)
Pick 2 Social Actions
[x] Go visit cousin Neji. There is something you have to talk to him about.
[x] Go visit Hanabi. There is something you have to talk to her about.
[x] Visit Lee. You don't know him well, but he courageously fought Gaara.
[x] Hang out with your teammates.
[x] Talk to Kurenai.
[x] Chill on your own.
[x] H-h-hang out w-w-with N-Naruto
QM Note: It's really late and I have work tomorrow morning so questions/answers/etc. will have to wait, possibly for a while.
TRAITS & ABILITIES:
Hinata is naturally observant and shy. She seeks to avoid confrontation, and desperately wishes to change herself. However, she is compassionate and helpful, always striving to be kind and caring towards others. This is especially true for her teammates, whom she cares for deeply and her family for whom she holds mixed emotions. Due to her average talent, Hinata is often made to feel like a disappointment and will unthinkingly obey her Father whom she holds in terrified regard. Despite this, Hinata is surprisingly determined, and willing to go to extreme lengths to accomplish her dreams, so long as she injures no one else in accomplishing it. She has a major crush on Naruto and becomes tongue-tied around him.
In combat, Hinata is an average fighter, but a superlative scout. Although no genius, she is naturally gifted at using her bloodline limit and has excellent chakra control. She is a defensive fighter, and focuses on suppression instead of killing blows. However, she has _______ strength and only average speed and stamina. She shows great skill with her family's Gentle Fist Taijutsu style, but her ninjutsu and genjutsu skills are merely average.
Jutsu is the manipulation of Chakra to accomplish feats of skill and ability far in excess of what a normal person could hope to achieve. Jutsu are taxing on the physical body and mind to use, and thus cannot be used if the User is currently at 0 willpower, or otherwise incapacitated.
Hinata has no known elemental affinity.
Substitution no Jutsu
Cost: 15 Chakra Difficulty: 1 Duration: Instantaneous Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user can replace themselves with an equivalently-sized object within their general vicinity (Ninjutsu Rank x 10 meters) in the moment of an attack. This creates an optical illusion for a scant few seconds like they've actually been hit by the attack. The user can also replace themselves with a person or possession of a person with a lower willpower then them.
Bunshin no Jutsu
Cost: 10 Chakra per clone Difficulty: 1 Duration: (Chakra x 10 sec.) Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user creates a number of intangible clones of themselves that act in according to their whims. These clones disperse with a touch, do not interact with their environment and do not cast a shadow, but otherwise are exact copies of their creator. They automatically disperse after a period of time.
Henge no Jutsu
Cost: 10 Chakra per minute Difficulty: 1 Duration: Indefinite until dispersed Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user channels Chakra to transform their body into the image of another person. The transformation is physical, but it can be dispersed by sharp physical contact or the user losing their concentration.
Wall/Tree Running
Cost: N/A Difficulty: 2 Duration: Indefinite Prerequisite Jutsu: None
By channelling Chakra into their feet, the user can run up or along verticle surfaces. And as long as they maintain concentration and have willpower and chakra remaining, they can stand on them or upside down as well.
Water Running
Cost: N/A Difficulty: 2 Duration: Indefinite Prerequisite Jutsu: [Tree Running]
By channelling Chakra into their feet, the user can stand and move along bodies of water, the same restrictions as Wall/Tree Running apply.
One of the foundational Jutsu of the Shinobi, by channeling chakra through their body the user can accelerate their movements to an extreme degree. Especially useful for moving through the field of battle, or for re-positioning in a fight. The amount of chakra expended depends on the distance moved, but in general the user can move up to (2xChakra Skill)x10 meters in the blink of an eye (in an unobstructed straight line). Often accompanied by smoke or other distractions to hide their movements.
Byakugan [Doujutsu]
The Byakugan is a special eye condition that can be awakened by some members of the
Hyuuga Clan. Any and all individual who carry the bloodline's power have white eyes,
even when the power is not active. Once activated, the nerves around the eyes will be
visible under the skin, making even the most composed and beautiful face suddenly
unsightly and intimidating.
Byakugan
Cost: 1 Chakra every 2 ticks (4/tick for implantation) Difficulty: 1 (4 for implantation) Category: Bloodline Limit, Combo-OK Duration: Varies Prerequisite: Hyuuga Bloodline or Implantation
Activating the Byakugan permits near a near 360 degree field of view that can be extended by 100 x [Chakra Tier + Byakugan Tier] in yards without penalty. The Byakugan grants a [Byakugan Tier] bonus to awareness, 1/2[Byakugan Tier] bonus to Parry and Dodge DVs, as well as High Speed Sight - for the purpose of defense, a Byakugan user is counted as being the 1/2[Byakugan Tier] higher in terms of chakra rating and physique rating.
Explosive Tags
Complexity: 1 Cost: 3 Chakra
Rules
GENERAL RULES:
Exalted Quick-Start Guides will go here once I go around to putting it together. Just a heads up though, I am using Exalted 2e for this Quest. Familiarity with that system is not a prerequisite for participating here, but it does help. Though, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how you managed to participate in Quests here on SV and escape without some general knowledge of the system.
STUNTING:
I encourage people to fluff out their votes with stunts, generally describing their votes in a way to utilize the surroundings and characters in interesting ways and, to put it simply, "be awesome". This needs to be more than simply a list of "Character X does X, Y and then finishes with Z" in order to gain benefits. There are three levels of stunts.
1d Stunts - These are the easiest to guess, and usually will come assumed in the vote assuming you guys to just band-wagon the blandest vote possible. So you know, don't do that. 1d Stunts regain 2 motes in addition to other benefits.
2d Stunts - These are for good bits of roleplaying, particularly insightful in-thread chatter while determining a vote or just in general managing to impress me with your writing. 2d stunts regain 4 motes or 1 willpower in addition to all other benefits.
3d Stunts - You did something that completely blew me away. An absolutely stand-out write-in that inspired me to tie the entire update around that scene. This will not happen often, but when one of these does pop up I will make sure to tell everyone during voting. 3d Stunts regain 1 willpower or 6 motes, and give you a bonus of +1 XP
Crilltic's Quick Guide to Rating Enemy Shinobi (AKA the "How Fucked Am I?" Index)*: *AKA Guide to Chakra and Jutsu in this Quest
Chakra is the mystical life-essence that runs through every living thing. (This is not to be confused with the actual Essence, which is currently only running through one very specific living thing). Mostly, it is used to murder lots and lots of people by villages of magical mercenary wizards (and also one group of magical samurai but we don't talk about them). It is Chakra that lets them casually murder dozens of non-magical soldiers (well, and also their stupid powerful martial arts that don't require any chakra at all, but that's another topic) and bend the laws of reality to their whim. THis guide aims to help you correctly identify just how strong one of the these Shinobi, and hopefully provide accurate advice in dealing with your newfound problem.
First off, there are several tiers of how skilled a user is in controlling and utilizing their Chakra. This is important because it influences how much of the stuff they can bring to bear against you, and also how confidently they can go tell the laws of physics and good sense to go sit in the corner and have a nice little cry. This is all helpfully summarized in one ten-point chart, split into two halves:
Chakra Rating:
The Normal Chart: 0 - You cannot manipulate Chakra. Good luck. Try not to die. Die anyway. 1 - You are a student, or somewhat who doesn't know what they're doing. You struggle with E-Rank Jutsu. 2 - Your typical Genin. You've mastered E-Rank Jutsu and can do some D-Rank Jutsu (this is where Hinata currently is) 3 - Your typical Chūnin, or particularly skilled Genin. Can do some C-rank Jutsu. 4 - The lower bound of Jōnin, also particularly skilled Chūnin and child prodigies. Can do B-Rank Jutsu. 5 - Your typical Jōnin, most medical-nins are here as well even if they don't usually fight. Typically have some A-rank Jutsu in their bag of tricks, maybe even an S-Rank Jutsu. The "You're so fucked" Chart: 6-10 - Above 5 is where you start getting to the heavy hitters. Your famous Jōnin, your Sannin, your Kages, your S-Rank Missing-nin. They have S-rank Jutsu in their arsenal, all which will probably do very unpleasant things to you if they hit you, and their other skills are such that unless you are also on this list they will hit you.
If you're fighting someone who is 7 or up, basically your recourse is to bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. Because you're about to be dead very soon (or depending on the Shinobi in question just wish you had died quickly).
Chakra Pool:
Now, that all skill is useless if you don't actually have any Chakra to use. Which is where your Chakra pool comes in. Four things play a role in how large your personal Chakra pool is. Your physical stamina, your mental toughness (Willpower), Genetics and your Chakra Skill. In short, your Chakra pool is equal to:
Chakra Pool = Chakra Rating*(2*Stamina + Permanent Willpower + Genetic Heritage^) x10 ^ Generally a poor genetic background is ~2, average is ~7, highest is typically ~12. Hinata has a genetic marker of 10, fitting for the Heiress of a major bloodline.
Completely exhausting your pool of Chakra is generally considered a bad idea and can lead to the following symptoms: Fatigue, Numbness of Limbs, Headaches, Dizziness, Fainting Spells, Coma, and Death. Likewise, as physical and mental resilience are important determinants of a person's chakra potential, if a person is physical or mentally exhausted or incapacitated they can find it difficult to impossible to utilize the chakra in their bodies.
Note: Because Hinata is an Exalted, and therefore bullshit, she can avoid chakra exhaustion by using her essence pool to recharge her chakra reserves at the rate of one mote for 10 Chakra. It is a desperation move, because it is horribly inefficient, but you know, better then falling unconscious.
Elemental Affinity:
There is also the Elemental Affinity. Some jutsu are divided by their elemental nature. Every person has an affinity for one of the Five Elements. (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning). A person has an easier time learning and using Elemental Jutsu within their affinity (Jutsu cost 20% less XP to learn and use 20% less Chakra when casting).
Jutsu:
There are four main types of Jutsu covered here.
Ninjutsu: Primarily defined by "It's not any of the other Jutsu". Ninjutsu uses Hand Seals to manipulate Chakra in order to accomplish all sorts of things. Either way, Ninjutsu is one of the two Jutsu types to use the Chakra skill (the other being Genjutsu). Ninjutsu is split up into six Ranks (E through S). Currently Hinata is capable of learning E and D rank Ninjutsu (provided she can find some to teach her)
Genjutsu: The art of using Chakra to manipulate an opponents mind. The other Jutsu to use the Chakra Skill. Much like Ninjutsu it is split into six ranks. Hinata can learn E and D rank Genjutsu (though E rank Genjutsu don't exist). However, she currently does not know any. Additionally, the Chakra skill serves in this instance as a defense against Genjutsu.
Taijutsu: Unlike Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, Taijutsu is all about the physical body. It does not use Chakra extensively (though some fighting styles do use Chakra to augment the physical body). Instead, Taijutsu takes the place of the Martial Arts skill. Because Fighting Styles are busted, besides, it's not exactly like there's anyone to teach you them.
Fūinjutsu Components are the seals themselves, explosive tags, item seals etc. Each type that Tenten knows how to make are assigned a complexity rating, which signifies how hard the seals are to make and integrate with each other. Seals can do, pretty much anything Ninjutsu or Genjutsu can do, but significant effects bring with them drastically increased complexity. Seals are incredibly versatile, but it is a trade-off, as seals require prep-time before hand in order to be effective. You can only learn seals with a complexity equal to or below your Fūinjutsu rating
Techniques are how Seal users actually utilize their Seals. Techniques are formed from various components, restricted by how complex the user can make them. With a Fūinjutsu rating of 2, Tenten is able make Techniques with a total complexity rating of 2. So, for example, she is able to make a sealing scroll (complexity: 1) that has explosive tags (complexity: 1) inside of it. However, she cannot add Explosive Tags to her Twin Rising Dragons technique, because that uses Mass Sealing Scrolls (Complexity: 2). And also because Gai has prohibited her from using Explosive tags outside of life or death circumstances after the Bandit Camp incident.
No one likes to talk about the Bandit Camp incident.
So basically how this works is you guys think of an effect you'd like to learn, and I assign the relevant complexity rating. Tenten has to make some checks to successfully make the Seal correctly, and if she does she can begin make that Seal component, and using it in various techniques. Some techniques are one use only (For example again, Twin Dragons Rising can be used once per fight, and then Tenten needs to spend time resealing all the weaponry.), while others are re-usable (Like Minato's Flying Thunder God techniques) but cost chakra to use each time. For the former, you pay the chakra cost of creating the technique beforehand, for the later it happens while using the technique.
EXP COSTS & TRAINING:
Like seemingly every other Exalted quest here, I'm using a system with flat XP costs and reduced training times. I'll put things that are available for purchase here in the character sheet once the first update comes around.
- Attribute: 8 XP
- Ability: 4 XP
- Caste/Favored Ability: 3 XP
- Ability Specialty: 2 XP
- Background (1-3): 3 XP
- Background (4-5): 4 XP
- Virtue: 3 XP
- Willpower: 3 XP
- Charm: 5 XP
- Caste/Favored Charm: 4: XP
OMAKES:
I do give rewards for Omakes, and other player created content. Provided I feel it is of suitable quality to merit a reward. If it is, I will treat it the same as the benefits of a 3d stunt, where the author or artist can apply whenever they wish. Only one omake bonus can be applied at a time.
FINALLY ANYTHING INEVITABLY FORGOT:
If you all have any questions do not hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer in a timely manner, especially if it's about a homebrew rule or otherwise that someone else cannot answer for you.
Hinata met Shino and Kiba by the western gate of her family compound before the sun had done more than comb the tip of the Hokage monument. While ornate by the standards of any other clan, it was simple by hers. The Main Gate, graced by a Tori said to be older than the Village itself, was the very embodiment of traditional elegance, the western gate was merely a very big door, modeled after the great Fire Nation temples.
"What do you think the Hokage will ask us to do?" Kiba asked, as they took the usual rooftop route to the Tower, Akamaru hanging out of his jacket, enjoying the brisk breeze with a look of doggy contentment.
This early, the only fellow travelers on the 'air road' they saw were official-looking ANBU.
"He has not taken any students on since the Sannin," volunteered Shino. "It is a singular honor."
"Huh, wonder why he hasn't?"
Hinata had wondered about that herself. The Hyuuga, while loyal to the Village, rarely held back when it came to matters of political import and the presumably ailing Hokage was something that came up more and more often during family gatherings. A lot could be learned by a quiet, unobtrusive girl who was too easily forgotten and whose clever eyes had learned to read lips by the time she was four.
Now of course, Hiashi should not become the next Hokage, no, they wouldn't even entertain the thought of him lowering himself to mere politics (though if he were requested, obviously he would have to accept for the good of the village) but even if the next Hokage were not to be Hiashi, it should be someone and the Hokage should clearly be training them.
It was taken as fact among the Hyuuga, that the Third should be more revered for his title of 'Professor' than 'God of Shinobi.'
When it came to gods, shinobi had many. The first two hokage were, in fact, 'god of shinobi' as well. When it came to teachers, however, there was but one who was acknowledged to reign supreme. Who else could have overcome the handicap of his ancestry, taught two students without any pedigree whatsoever, as well as a failure of the great mokuton bloodline and turned them into shinobi of a stature equal to any in the world?
Only the Professor.
As a teacher there was none better, and as a teacher, they had hoped he would take on more students. Instead, he did paperwork and played politics. Oh, to be sure these were important papers and important politics, but when the world was at peace, the Hokage was a man who needed to produce more elites and refine the geniuses.
The tragedy of the Uchiha, it was whispered, might have been averted if the Hokage had - but then, somehow, Hinata was always spotted and the topic of conversation would veer away to more pleasant matters.
Hinata was always obscurely grateful: for months, Sasuke had resembled a chakra puppet, inert and unresponsive until it came time to do battle.
"He probably has his… reasons."
"Well, we'll learn soon enough!" said Kiba cheerfully.
----
"Of course he's not going to be personally training you," said Kurenai-sensei, amused when they met her by the entrance of the Hokage's tower. "Heaven and Earth, do you know how much work setting up the chuunin exams is?"
"A lot?" Kiba hazarded.
"A great deal?"
"Try: that man knows a jutsu to stave off sleep and I haven't seen him stop using it."
Kiba's eyes alighted. "That sounds-"
"It requires chakra control so precise that if you were to try it you would probably make your brains come out of your ears."
Hinata and Shino shared a look of mild amusement as Kiba wrinkled his nose. Kurenai had been subtly and not-so-subtly riding on him to improve his chakra control and now it was practically a reflex for him to resist any attempt to improve. "Ugh."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, 'ugh.' Now, let's move. The Hokage won't be training you personally, but it'll be his tutelage."
Kiba's nose wrinkles migrated to his brow. "How would that even-"
"That'd be spoiling the surprise."
The mission office where the Hokage normally resided was emptier than usual. With the on-going chuunin exams, most of the mission intake had quietly been dropped as shinobi were called back to provide extra muscle while foreign ninja were invited into Konoha to display their strength.
Still, day-to-day operations had to be done, and even running lean, a Village still needed to put on a show of force and competence, so the Mission office couldn't simply be shut down.
Two ANBU operatives guarded the entrance, and a chuunin looked to be busy stamping and initialing reports, but save for those three, the Hokage was alone at the center of the mission desk, frowning deeply at the report he was reading. Some part of Hinata thought, uncharacteristically, that it'd be the perfect opportunity to attempt to assassinate him.
When Kurenai coughed, the Hokage lifted his head from the papers he was reading, his frown creasing into a wrinkly welcome. He stood. "Ah, excellent. Kurenai, I will need your help with this. These old bones aren't what they used to be."
"Of course," she said, moving forwards.
From the top of one of the great stacks of paper that lay atop the mission desk, the Hokage selected and took out three pages. Then, alarmingly, the Hokage bit into the meat of his thumb and pressed his bloody thumbprint firmly into each one.
The three genin watched him do so.
"Errr, what are we going to be doing?" said Kiba nervously.
The Hokage paused. Looked at Kurenai, raising a brow. "You didn't explain…?"
She nodded. "Two of them are going to be in the finals. Frankly, they need all the experience they can get reacting to new situations."
"Fair point. Here, then, Hinata."
Hinata blinked in surprise as the Hokage threw the piece of paper at her, the complex seal flashing hazily in her vision before the paper seemed to balloon open in mid-air, a festoon of rough, papery hands reaching out from the sheet, wrapping around her legs and arms and then covering her body before starting to pull.
She vanished into the paper with a pop.
----
It was very dark, wherever she was. Hinata's Byakugan, still in its developmental phase, couldn't pierce the gloom. While she could make out the humming chakra that slumbered beneath her skin, and the silver structures that vibrated madly in place, she could make out nothing else. The Byakugan's prowess, while well known, was not completely even. She needed some light in order to see.
Here, there was none.
She could hear the distant fall of a torrential amount water, and the faint smell of ash, dirt and moss.
Then, she heard a pop, a stumble and an: "--uuuuuuuuck!"
Hinata winced as her brain filled in the missing consonant to Kiba's yell.
"It's okay," she reassured him.
"Hinata?" She heard him sniff before he padded towards her, his chakra radiating anxiety. "Where are we?"
"We are underground," said Shino. Hinata started. Focused as she was on her chakra and Kiba's, she hadn't sensed his approach at all: he'd been using his kikai bugs to muffle his chakra again. Not a trick that would fool Neji, but she, on the other hand... "This cavern complex is quite large."
"I knew that," scoffed Kiba. "I mean where geographically. Cuz' the air here don't smell like Konoha or anywhere I've been."
Oh dear.
"Let me try something," Hinata said. Focusing inwards, she kindled her silver chakra. Faint light began to rise from her skin growing brighter and brighter until it was as bright as a lit torch. What was revealed was an immense cavern, mossy boulders piled as high as some hills, wreathed in mist, the upper ends of the cavern so far from the edges of her Byakugan that she doubted she'd ever see them.
On the largest of the boulders, split cleanly in half, was a monkey. It was a very big monkey, heads taller than any of them and heavier than all three combined. Long white fur extended from his head and tail, providing a clear contrast to the darker fur of its face, hands and feet. It wore a Konoha forehead protector and a strangely appropriate tiger fur vest, armored mesh and kimono.
Carried in the crook of his arm was a rather long staff, carved out of rock, looking more like it should support a building than be wielded as a weapon. Hinata eyed it uneasily.
"My name is Enma," in the witchlight of her burning chakra, his features took on a graveyard gauntness, "The old man said he'd be sending in some fresh meat."
The monkey smiled.
"Welcome to Hell."
----
Perception Excellency?
From what I can tell, the vote asking for a perception excellency won. Unfortunately, you already have a perception excellency. Normally I'd just ask you to vote for something else, but I think this is a good opportunity for me to slow down when it comes to the tempo of this quest. We'll probably do the rest of the week like this as well.
Reminder: Appearance and Stamina are now favored.
What will you train instead of the perception excellency?
[ ] Through overwhelming force.
-[ ] Stunt?
[ ] Through crushing conditioning.
-[ ] Stunt?
[ ] Through blind fighting.
-[ ] Stunt?
Training Stunts
In combat, stunts will work a little differently than they do in standard exalted, but for the purposes of training, you can try to write a stunt as well. Valid stunts (defined by 'the author found it appropriate to include in the update') will confer a +1 or +2 xp bonus, usually towards an attribute or skill. If I'm particularly impressed, it'll apply a second time towards physique or chakra rating. I'm not looking for 'coolness' factor alone: the more out of character it is, the less I'll be able to include it in the quest and the less it'll be worth. If I can't use it all, no xp is gained.
To help you craft your stunts, here's the context. If Enma teaches you through:
overwhelming force, he'll simply fight you with basic taijutsu while lecturing you.
crushing conditioning, he'll activate the seal array on the mountain and increase the local gravity and make you drill physically.
blind fighting, he'll ask Hinata to turn off her inner lightbulb and fight in the dark.
Your stunt should give the bare bones of how Hinata would react proactively, in a paragraph or less. Because this is less about Hinata acting cool and stunts just making it easier for me to pump out an update, I'd also accept a stunt for Shino or Kiba in its place though they're worth inherently less than a Hinata stunt because this is, after all, Hinata's quest.
What I do like about Exalted is that stunts allow you to add details. Perhaps there's a small memorial stone here that Hinata noticed. Perhaps there's a strip of ragged paper on the cracked boulder. So long as it's reasonable, or reasonably mythological, I'll allow it. ;V
Only one stunt will be accepted per update.
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4. Week 1: Hokage Training END Conversation with Neji Part 1
The monkey leapt from the immense boulder, crashing between them, dust rising as the stone beneath his feet cracked explosively. Lee had moved fast yesterday, but that was with a nerve-tearing, muscle-shredding, flat out impossible chakra flow. If her eyes spoke true then the monkey - Enma-sensei - was doing the same while suppressing his chakra.
One large, muscular arm lashed out, fast as a whip then paused and - almost comically - tapped her raised forearm block with two fingers. The force of the finger flick sent her hurtling away to crash against the wall of the cave with a glowy 'oof'.
As she slid down the wall, she whimpered, cradling her arm to her chest: she'd felt the bones grind and nearly snap. No fracture, but there'd be a lump there the size of kunai.
Another visibly underpowered tap sent Kiba and Akamaru in a different direction while a sweep of his staff made Shino explode into a swarm of kikai bugs.
"Ho ho, a thinker, but-" he stamped his foot, causing the ground to tremble, and Shino to burst out the hole he'd somehow secreted himself in, "this is not yet that sort of test."
"What sort of test is- oof!"
As Shino landed some twenty feet away, Hinata managed to gather both her wits and her silver chakra and let it explode out of her. She raised her arms, her left still throbbing with pain. Around her, her translucent lion dog roared.
"S-stop hurting my Shino!" Hinata cried.
She had meant to say 'stop hurting my friend,' but somewhere along the way, she'd gotten her words mixed up.
"Ahahahahah!" cackled Kiba, who was still knocked over and sounded a little concussed. For all that, she could see Akamaru's chakra boil and heat up.
For all his faults, Hinata could not say that Kiba had ever lacked guts. She had to draw his attention.
"I-I mean it!" she said, sliding one foot forward and taking up the third juken stance.
"Huh," Enma said in his deep, scratchy baritone. His eyes glanced up, towards the chakra-formed Lion Dog, then down, staring into hers. Hinata forced herself not to shrink back. "I see. So you are the Heiress."
There was a flicker-flash of chakra light.
In theory, there were as many stances to the Juken as there were ways to position the human body. The gentle fist was no barbarian style: it had been refined by countless generations (okay, eight) and was supposed to encompass not only itself, but every possible counter. It was flexible, elegant, powerful.
In practice, there were eight general stances, going from outer to inner and up to down.
The third stance, Lotus Root, was low and close, meant to react in the smallest amount of time to the fastest possible threat.
She still couldn't see Enma move. There was a spike of intent and then Hinata swallowed a shriek and threw herself back, abandoning her juken, barely avoiding a blow meant for her head. Her left arm, injured, banged against the wall, eliciting a bone-deep stab of pain that sent tears to her eyes and made her breathing ratchet upwards.
Her opponent looked on, unimpressed.
"Is that it?" he asked. "A puppy, a pupa and you?"
Akamaru growled.
"Well, don't count the puppy out just yet! C'mon Akamaru! Let's do this! Piercing Fang!"
The two Kibas drilled forward, twin tornadoes of claw and fang. To her surprise, they moved slowly: Enma was already twisting to intercept. She darted forward to touch his back, but his tail unfurled, smacking her hand and then slamming into her midriff, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped and pushed forward again as Shino's kikai army suddenly rose from the ground, buzzing angrily as they swarmed him.
It took Enma about three seconds to dismantle their entire team a second time. A blow of his staff to the ground dispersed the kikai swarm. Two swats knocked Akamaru out of his transformation technique, and Kiba on his ass.
Hinata he had dealt with through the exact same tail strikes he'd used the first time.
Panting on her back, air greedily sucked into her lungs, she stared at the faraway cavern ceiling before his face loomed over hers.
"Again, I ask: is that it?"
Hinata's fist palm curled into a fist. She struggled to rise.
"I could understand why Hiruzen would want me to train a new team, and I have honestly seen worse than the three of you… but I was expecting the Heiress to be at least better than average."
"You made three mistakes, Hyuuga," he lectured. "You were uncertain of your purpose which robbed you of your will, uncertain of your action which robbed you of your speed, and worst of all, you were uncertain of your power which robbed you of your friends."
He passed a hand through the silvery chakra. "Did you not notice how the Aburame's kikai bugs were affected, or how the Inuzaka's mutt was distracted?"
Her heart fell: she hadn't.
"You need to be better than this, Hyuuga. I give you one minute to rest and confer. We start again when I open my eyes."
What felt like many, many bruising hours later, Hinata and her teammates tumbled back into the Mission Office. From what she could tell by the sun, it wasn't even noon.
"I… never… want to do that… again," said Kiba, flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. It spun alarmingly. Akamaru yipped in tired agreement.
The Hokage chuckled from his chair, the wide brim of his hat rising an inch. "Have you given up already, then?"
Kiba sat up. "Woah, no." He put a hand against his temple. "I mean, no sir. It was… enlightening. Would be happy to do it again today, Lord Hokage sir."
"No," said Hinata through puffy lips. Her whole face felt like one big disaster area.
"A common sentiment between the three of us," said Shino, whose respectful mien and words were made just off by the fact that he looked more bruise than human.
"Well, I'm afraid today won't be possible. The path to Kanzeon Mountain is arduous. It will open again next week. Feel free to come by if you are free."
He waved them off.
Kurenai was waiting for them at the base of the Tower, looking slightly the worse for wear. This may or may not have had to do with the fact that the scary proctor from the second phase of the chuunin exams seemed to be harassing her.
"Kurenai-sensei-"
The two jounin turned. One squealed, the other winced.
"Aren't these your genin? Holy shit, the old man has grown hard in his old age, they look like they were put through a tenderizer and-"
"Enough, Anko," growled Kurenai. "We'll catch up later. I have actual work to do now."
After Anko left, Kurenai sighed and clicked her tongue. Hinata didn't have her Byaugan active, but could feel how sluggish Kurenai-sensei's chakra was. Had she been training too?
"Well, come with me. We should probably make sure none of you have concussions or something."
----
They definitely did not have concussions.
What they did have were a multitude of micro-fractures, bruises, abrasions and a look horrifying enough that they got treated by one of the junior medical-nin who nervously attempted to pass a green, glowing palm over the worst of their bruising.
Hinata was under the impression it was his first time treating anyone.
"Foo'll fe fin," she told him through thick lips.
This was probably less reassuring than she meant it to be. When the swelling finally went down, all three of them relaxed. Kurenai-sensei put them under orders of strict bed rest - no training until at least tomorrow - and then left to take care of some minor matters.
Hinata, who had been meaning to come here anyway, hesitated before blurting out her thoughts.
"I… need to go see cousin Neji," said Hinata. "Um. Alone."
This raised Kiba's hackles and even made Shino look at her dubiously.
"Stay away from that creep. He tried to fucking kill you."
"I find myself in agreement with Kiba," said Shino ponderously. "Why? Hinata, I may not have your eyes, but even I can see that your cousin is not stable. Not when it comes to you or the rest of your family."
"I - I need to talk to him, even so."
She thanked them. They left to go home, disgruntled. Kiba, she hoped would listen to Kurenai-sensei. Shino… Shino she was not so sure.
A quick scan of the hospital with her Byakugan told her where Neji was. It also told her that her boys had left for real and weren't just humoring her. Shino had left one of his kikai insects on her, but she couldn't really expect any less than that. She'd probably be keeping track of him if it turned out he had a cousin who wanted him dead.
She took a deep breath. Opened the door.
Neji was there, looking appallingly pretty. He was only going to be kept here until afternoon, for purposes of 'medical observation.'
"H-hello."
----
What will you talk about?
[ ] "I… I never thanked you for what your father did for me."
[ ] "Cousin N-Neji. They said I won, but that - that wasn't fair."
[ ] "C-can you teach me?"
Write in a stunt. Since this is a social stunt, I'll be a lot more willing to just completely scrap the stunt if I don't feel it fits their characterization. You'll have the opportunity here to gain presence xp though. To encourage you guys more, I'll set the minimum presence gain to 2xp for a stunt of any quality, and 3xp if I use more than half of it.
Option 1 is the safest, narrative-wise, option 2 is to leave the door open for him to duel you because you were 'saved' by the jounin interfering in your fight, option 3 is least likely to succeed, and has benefits and drawbacks up the wazoo.
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5. Week 1: Conversation with Neji END Jiraiya Training Part 1
"I… I… never thanked you for what your father did for me."
Neji's long, slim fingers bunched the fabric of his hospital covers together, but he didn't reply. He didn't even acknowledge her, head turned towards the window. Hinata refused to use her Byakugan to read his expression.
She wouldn't do that to him. Not here. Not now.
After a while, she began to speak once more.
"I… I… what you said was true, cousin Neji. I always thought that - I always thought that being the Heir to the main clan was a burden. And, more than that, I thought I wasn't… worthy. Of-of many things."
The sheets crinkled more, but Neji was quiet.
"I thought you would hate me. No, I knew you would hate me. I took away your precious person. Cousin Neji," she bowed down low, then lower still, forehead touching the ground. "I - I hoped you wouldn't hate me. But now that I know you do, I won't run away from it like I did my position as Heiress. No one chooses to be born, and, like our births, so much of our lives are out of our control."
"But that isn't Destiny."
She looked up. "Cousin Neji, please-"
A medicine bottle crashed to the floor. A pungent odor wafted through the room.
There was a stricken silence.
"Please go," Neji said evenly. "And do not thank me for my father's death. The Main House had him killed."
Hinata blanched. "I - he - rescued-" the words she had wanted to say evaporated on her tongue.
Neji growled. "Go."
Head bowed, she left.
----
Gains: +3xp Presence
----
Hinata leapt from roof to roof, thinking.
Neji believed that his father had been killed by the Main House? Why? Had he been? The Seal… could be used like that, but there were… agreements in place. Conventions. Traditions. A summary execution could only be done in times of war or when there was a direct threat to either the Main Family or the village as a whole, as during a coup or uprising.
For Neji to believe that that had happened…
"Father…" Hinata muttered.
Then someone crashed into her.
She hadn't been looking where she was going: an embarrassment out of proportion to the injury, and after skidding across and knocking roofing tiles of a local grocery store askew, she leaped to her feet. When she saw who it was that was rubbing his head and going 'ooof,' her heart leaped into her throat and lodged itself there.
"Ow, watch where you're go - Hinata?" As he caught sight of her, Naruto's expression transformed from disgruntled to pleased. "Heeeey! How did your training go?"
Hinata winced at the memory. "Um. It was very trying."
"Huh! Your teacher doesn't look like a hardass." He laughed. "But I guess that's why we're all ninja. Me, I met this awesome old fart today." His nose wrinkled. "Totally a pervert though. But, hey, hey, look, he let me sign a summoning scroll today!"
Um, you, what, Naruto?
"Look!" he dramatically rolled down one sleeve, bit into the meat of his thumb, and forced chakra into it. Ink popped out of his hand in circle above the roof.
A tadpole appeared. It wriggled briefly then vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Uggggh." Naruto crouched down, rubbing furiously at his hair. "I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. But, don't worry, I'll get it down! I'll beat that Sasuke bastard, even he wouldn't be able to handle a…"
"...do you need any help?"
Naruto blinked. Hinata, who hadn't actually realized she said those words, clapped new words behind them in a constant, self-defensive babble, mitigating the damage.
"Umm, I mean, that is, if you think you need help. Clearly I am not as great as the teacher you have, but sometimes Kiba found it useful for me to look at his chakra while he was performing the technique and-"
Hinata eeped as Naruto clapped his hands over hers. "You'd do that for me? Really??"
Hinata was pretty sure that if she could blush any hotter her face would explode.
"...y-y-yes."
"Awesome! Meet me by the hot springs this afternoon! Um, if you have time, that is! See ya!"
And he was off again.
Hinata shook her head.
Wait.
The Hot Springs???
----
Hinata wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but the Great Toad Sannin was not it.
"M-M-Master Jiraiya?" she exclaimed, sweltering in the steam of the baths. Her sweater was already soaked through. She wasn't always conscious of her upbringing as being particularly different from that of her peers, but when Naruto then asked 'oh, you know Pervert-sensei?' that she realized, yes, it had been a little different.
To call the Great Master Jiraiya 'pervert-sensei' - yes, it might have been accurate, but…!
He looked backwards over his shoulder.
"And who's this pretty flower?"
Hinata tried to hide behind Naruto without looking like she was hiding behind Naruto.
"My age," Naruto said promptly. "She's Hinata, and she's awesome, and she's going to help me summon!"
Jiraiya stroked his chin. "Oho, is that so…? Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds to it. I myself have some research I need to be doing-"
Hinata tried not to think of how many laws the man was breaking. At a certain point, rules stopped applying to strong enough shinobi. That didn't make what they did right, just that the cost of enforcing those rules became superior to the cost of not enforcing them.
But… letting him go about like this… it was… wrong…
He was a danger to all of womankind!
"Don't listen to him, he's a dumbass."
Hinata decided that trying to impress Naruto by all the great deeds Lord Jiraiya had accomplished would be fruitless, especially in the face of so much factual evidence that he was, in fact, a perverted idiot. She decided to let this one go, switched on her byakugan, examining the flow of Naruto's chakra instead.
"Umm, please try to summon something."
Naruto did.
A tadpole appeared in a cloud of smoke.
It flopped around a little.
"Are you… trying to use the least amount of chakra possible?" Hinata asked.
Naruto hung his head. "Arrgh. No. According to the old pervert I have two kinds of chakra. I need to pull out more of the second kind." He brightened. "Kind of like you! Hey, maybe if you use your silver chakra, I can get a feel for my red chakra and-"
----
During their joint training (pick 1)-
[x] Naruto starts using a hint of the 'red' chakra.
[x] Jiraiya notices and comments on Hinata's silver chakra.
[x] Hinata focuses on her tenketsu visualization with Naruto.
[x] Naruto starts using a hint of the 'red' chakra.
-----
Hinata had her hands clasped together in the Hyuga-modified snake seal: fingers laced together as if in prayer, right index finger extended straight up. It was the final seal to the set that was used to activate an immature Byakugan, Hinata often used it to help center herself and focus her chakra. She was using it now to free her 'second source' of chakra.
However, Naruto had gotten a really weird look on his face looking at the snake seal and for some reason instinctively covered his butt. This was significantly more information than Hinata needed or wanted to know about Naruto, but the Byakugan's insights were not optional. You read body language well, and given Naruto was already an open book…
Well, there was very little doubt that there was something about two hands clasped together and an index finger extended that made him, um, jittery.
She tried desperately not to speculate reasons as to why. This worked about as well as it usually did.
"I-is it helping?" she finally asked.
Having gotten over his odd reaction to the snake seal, Naruto was frowning, studying her chakra with an almost scientific air. He prodded at another floating mote of silvery light.
"Maaaaybe," he hedged. He closed his eyes. "Okay, let me think. It felt a bit like… this… maybe?"
Hinata watched his chakra. It hadn't noticeably changed.
"T-try again," she ordered.
He grunted, looking like he was taking a… looking like he wanted to go to the bathroom very badly. "Hnnng, okay, like… this?"
"Sorry, no."
His eyes popped open, annoyed. "Uggggh! What'll it take-"
There was a whisper of red emanating from behind his Gate of Wonder. Just a hint.
"There!" Hinata said excitedly, her silver chakra answering his red, flaring up. "Just now! You had it!"
He smiled slowly, goofily. "I did?"
"You did!"
"I did!"
"Ahhhhhh!!!" He grabbed her hands, dancing with her up and down. Given that they were currently standing on a hot spring, this involved a lot of incidental splashing. Finally, he calmed down, looking determined. "Okay, so it was that sort of 'argh!' feeling."
It took a lot of effort to consistently get to the 'argh!' feeling. Naruto worked well into the evening, trying to replicate that moment. Getting his chakra to exclusively flow from the red source was currently a hurdle far too high for him to pass, but he did seem capable of consistently pulling minute quantities of red chakra out from his source and mixing it in with his normal yellow chakra.
Results went from 'tadpole' to 'leggy tadpole'.
But Naruto never stopped trying. He became flustered and falsely furious, but he never gave in, never gave up.
A fond feeling stole over Hinata. This boy… really had no talent.
And this boy would never stop trying.
"Okay! I… okay! This time I've got it…!"
The result was a microscopically leggier tadpole.
----
Stunt reward: +2xp to Chakra rating
----
"You realize he's your competition, right?" Jiraiya asked later.
Naruto had wanted to walk her home (and treat her to ramen!) and Hinata had wanted him to walk her home (ramen optional), but Lord Jiraiya had intervened, saying that they were moving too fast, he'd seen it all before, terrible stuff, let him take her home instead.
She'd very nearly contemplated kicking him.
"Hey, Hyuuga? Still with us?"
Oh, she'd been expected to answer? "U-um, yes. But h-he tries so hard and-"
He smiled. "So, you pity him, do you?"
She stared at him, shocked. Why would she have reason to pity anyone? "N-no? I want to h-help him."
He stared at her intently for a few seconds. Then he laughed, a loud, round sound emanating from his gut. "Good lord, you have it bad."
"...?"
"Nevermind." He sighed gustily. "Fine, then. Who am I to stand in the way of young love. But while that boy is blind, I am not. A relationship that's all give and no take is no relationship at all. As his master, let me do this for him."
A piece of paper appeared in his hand. He held it out to her.
"It's a little early to be testing chakra natures, but I took a peek at the matchups. You won't be able to beat your next opponent with grit alone."
-----
Choose one:
[ ] The paper crinkles. (Electricity)
[ ] The paper burns. (Fire)
[ ] The paper moistens. (Water)
-----
"Interesting," said jiraiya, rubbing his chin as the paper reacted to her chakra. "Here's my advice to you, take it or leave it. You Hyuugas depend too strongly on your doujutsu and your in-house martial art. The kazekage has a bloodline as potent as yours, and from all accounts his son possesses an offshoot just as powerful."
"You don't have the reserves to make use of Naruto's ridiculous shadow clone tactics, but any nature-aspected clone is going to have a physical presence. With your abilities, against a magnet user bloodline, your best hope is to divide their attention and then strike at the opportune moment."
He selected a scroll from his seemingly endless collection and handed it out to her. "I can help with the distraction, but you'll need to figure the strike out yourself."
Hinata nodded, then bowed.
When she lifted her head, he had vanished.
-----
Hinata heads to the public training fields. When there she practises…
[ ] the clone technique
[ ] refining her basic ninjutsu
[ ] refining her basic taijutsu
(a stunt can be attached to any of these actions)
After that, Hinata returns to home late. There she…
[ ] catches sight of Hanabi practicing on the family training field.
[ ] walks in through the front door to find her father waiting for her.
[ ] it's late, she just goes to bed.
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7. Week 1: Jiraiya Training END Conversations with Father Part 1
[x] walks in through the front door to find her father waiting for her.
-----
Feeling somewhat disloyal for disobeying Kurenai's orders to rest - though she had, technically spent most of the day at the Hot Springs - Hinata sat down at her usual training ground, back to her old training log, scroll in hand. The sun was already a shadow of its former glory, a ruddy orange and sinking fast, but with the Byakugan she could read even by starlight. Unfurling the ancient paper she took a look at the string of characters…
And immediately realized it was too advanced for her.
"Lord Jiraiya," she muttered, tracing the archaic language with her finger, "step one is 'gather your chakra and perform an elemental transformation towards the lightning aspect'. I've never done any elemental transformation!"
It was an uncharitable thought, but in the privacy of her own mind, Hinata allowed it. Geniuses could be annoying, sometimes. You'd think he'd have known better than to just throw a technique scroll at a recently graduated genin.
Not that she was going to give up here.
Lightning chakra, lightning chakra… well, she knew the theory. Your chakra vibrated until it was moving at such an incredibly high frequency it mimicked lightning.
She clasped her hands together and focused.
"Hn!"
Learning a technique is complicated for shinobi. For Exalts, it's not. What you need to know is this: what has become easy for Hinata used to be literally impossible for her.
For most shinobi, learning a technique must be done all in one go. There's no point to trying again and again until you finally 'have' it, a technique is something you are either capable of doing or not. If you're not, then you need to train yourself until you are capable of doing it. The initial learning roll that determines that capability depends most upon your talent, and then somewhat less upon your attributes, skills and your teacher. Certain exceptions to this rule exist, but since this rule is being truncated as is, we don't need to go into it.
Hinata skips all that nonsense in favor of just purchasing things with xp and time, as she might a charm. The cost in xp is the rank of the jutsu, and the time is always a single training session.
E-rank = 0 xp (can learn as many E-rank jutsu in a single training exercise as she has points in intelligence)
D-rank = 1xp
C-rank = 2xp
B rank = 4xp
A rank = 8xp
S-rank = 16xp.
Of course, many techniques come with pre-requisites and minimum stats that Hinata does not meet, and having a tutor or an elemental affinity will give you a discount on your technique purchases. While difficult, nature transformation counts as an E-rank technique because there are D-rank techniques that require it. Each additional nature transformation learned increases the effective learning rank of that new nature transformation due to the inherent difficulty in learning additional nature transformations, but don't affect the rank of any of those techniques.
And her chakra… responded.
It was with something approaching wonder that she realized her chakra had begun to vibrate exactly in the way she'd pictured it. It crackled within her coils and beneath her skin. She focused on her extended fingertip and watched as chakra arced and buzzed away from it in the form of electrical light.
She let her chakra rest: slowly the electrical hum died away.
Well. Um. Errr.
If nature transformations were so easy, then why weren't they taught as a standard part of the Academy curriculum? Or was this new facility with molding chakra part of being a 'Natural Sage'?
She stared down at the rest of the scroll, drinking in the details hungrily.
Though she wanted to avoid getting a big head, it was hard not to be a little giddy. Hinata had never been 'good' at anything. Not to the point of praiseworthiness and being able to simply read and do something sounded distinctly praiseworthy.
So, this was… she looked at the ancient characters… Unified Lightning Clone Technique? Jiraiya had left some helpful notes on the margins. He had also left some not so helpful notes that involved a girl named Miyuki and her three suitors and what she could do to conquer each of them.
Her hands started to shake. And not because of Miyuki.
This technique was… she had known that clone techniques were difficult, but unless she was mistaken, Jiraiya had handed her a B-rank technique on what was essentially a whim.
B-rank techniques were jounin-level techniques. All chuunin had one as an ace in the hole, but Hinata hadn't even made chuunin yet! There was no way she could master such a complicated technique.
No. That wasn't right.
Hinata clapped her cheeks hard enough for them to sting redly.
Naruto had. He'd mastered the shadow clone technique.
She could do this. She would do this.
Ignoring Miyuki's spotty, self-inflicted plight, she began to read.
----
Unified Lightning Clone Technique
Creates a clone made of lightning that is linked to the ninja. Has a pool of chakra about equivalent to an advanced academy student. Will act on its own initiative, but can be directed by mental command. Immune to most physical attacks. Inflicts 1 bashing HL to anyone attacking it who is not somehow immune to electricity. Must remain within 10*Rank meters of the ninja at all times. Can use the user's lightning and non-elemental techniques at 1.5 cost using the internal pool or by siphoning chakra through the chakra link. Increasing the rank of the technique will increase its efficiency. If a wind technique wipes out all the clones HLs, it will be dismissed without its HLs being restored. Can use cooperative techniques.
Current Mastery Rank: 1
Cost: 300 chakra (pool: 150 chakra) + 25/min
Special: Has a pool of 150 chakra with which it can perform techniques. It automatically spends 15 chakra per HL filled with lethal damage. Bashing damage cannot be inflicted upon a unified lightning clone.
Duration: Until Dismissed
Prerequisite: Nature Transformation: Lightning
----
The technique was… Hinata wasn't sure what to think of it. To call it amazing wouldn't do it justice and gave it too much credit besides. She settled with 'focused.' That had the right feel.
It did one thing and it did it really well.
All its other aspects were kind of garbage.
Well, most techniques were like that - it was why, as Father had repeatedly drilled into her, that the Gentle Fist and the Byakugan would be all she ever needed. An Ultimate Defense, an Ultimate Offense, and an Ultimate Eye all rolled up into one. There was none greater.
Strongest Clan in the Leaf, she had heard the Hyuuga declare themselves time and time again.
To her it was as much of a burden as it was a hollow boast.
Hinata had grown up on the legends of her Clan, the stories of heroism, the great deeds, the great names. But it was not the usual collection of fables, carefully changed and molded by time: her mother had been as much a scholar as she had been ninja and recounted not only the ancient stories, but their hidden meaning.
"Hinata, do you understand?" became a common refrain before bedtime, as did the sight of priceless ancient bamboo scrolls, thinned by age, lit by candelight, scattered all over her bed as her mother tried to turn storytime into a scholarly pursuit. There had been a time, between she was three and five, where Mother would not let her leave her sight.
To her little assistant, she spoke often and passionately about her work.
"Hinata, the Hyuuga have only one legend involving a single hero. Do you understand the significance of that?"
"N-no?"
"The rest are even numbered pairs - the Tale of the Eight Virtuous Guardians, or the Four Directional Kings, and so on. The accepted interpretation is one half of the pair represents the Main House and one half represents the Branch House, but the available literature does not support such a convenient reading. We used to be brothers and sisters in truth rather than in name."
"That's… that's good, right?" Hinata had asked uncertainly.
"Obviously!"
"Only Grandpa says that true strength lies in-"
"Do not listen to him. Hinata, strength lies in your precious people. Never forget that. Never forget them. This family will try to tear you apart from those closest to you. Do not let it."
"How?"
"Heh. When I figure that out, I'll let you know."
But she never did.
Later, searching through Mother's things, she came across her research notes.
She had yet to read them. She had not, at five, been able to understand the dry, academic prose and when she had shown it to Father, Father had told her to throw the useless garbage away. She had kept them, of course: she could not bear the thought of simply throwing them away, as if destroying them would kill Mother all over again.
But if Mother had thought that the Hyuuga worked best in pairs, then this technique… this technique would help prove it. The clone produced was incredibly stable. And while of little use against other Hyuuga (Hinata saw at once that the chakra link between the clone and herself would be all too easily severed using even the simplest of her family's techniques), it could serve as a proof of concept during the Exams.
Maybe this… maybe this would be a first small step towards changing her Clan.
She breathed in, then out, and reminded herself not to get her expectations up too high.
This was a jounin-level technique with a punishingly extreme chakra cost. She would not be mastering it in a single night. Having it mastered before the exams would be impressive enough.
Snake. Ox. Rat. Sn-
Her fingers began flowing through the seals. There would be seventeen in total: on the low end for a B-rank technique, but even so, during battle it'd be a critical moment of weakness. If she trained at it, she would eventually be able to use fewer and fewer until she used none at all.
Halfway through the first set of seals she noticed something was wrong with the way she was molding her chakra and aborted the technique. It stole a healthy fraction of energy from her reserves, but not as much had she tried actualizing the clone.
Hmm. This might be harder than she thought it'd be. Even if she canceled the technique every time, she'd only be able to practice about ten more times before she ran the risk of chakra exhaustion. Assuming she couldn't just tap into her silver chakra instead.
Still, she'd need to be more effective, more efficient.
And… hey, it worked for Naruto, right? Turning on her byakugan, she observed her own chakra.
Somewhere, in the background of her mind, she noticed that her silver chakra was feeding itself into her eyes, strengthening her visual acuity.
She began forming seals once more. With her improved eyesight she could spot her own mistakes and fix them before they became critical. Her chakra vibrated in her coils then finally flowed through them. There was a 'bamf!' and then smoke, opaque even to her eyes, composed of wasted chakra.
When it cleared, she was staring at herself.
Hinata squeaked in surprise, her concentration snapping like a twig, and the clone vanished in a burst of scorched grass and singed hair.
-----
Gains: Lightning Release, Unified Lightning Clone Technique, +2xp towards chakra rating, +2 xp towards intelligence
-----
Hinata returned home in a daze.
Part of it was the near-chakra exhaustion. More of it was the fact she'd somehow actualized a jounin-level technique on essentially her first try. Rather than make her more confident though, it made her feel strangely hesitant. Clearly the technique did not deserve its rank if she had mastered it so easily.
And could she even say she'd mastered it, having had it appear for half a second?
An attendant from the Branch Family was by the door when she entered. Hinata blinked: no one waited up for her anymore.
Bowing low, the attendant said: "Lady Hinata, your father bades you see him in his study."
Hinata nodded, feet taking her there in automatic steps.
It was a sign of how… much of a day, her day had been, Hinata would later muse, that she didn't so much as fidget when she entered her home and noticed a steaming kettle with two cups by the entrance - a sure sign of a long talk coming. And maybe, Hinata mentally whispered to a portrait of her mother on her father's table, it would go fine this time.
"Honored father," she bowed, "you wished to see me."
He nodded. "I did. Please, sit."
Hinata waited as an attendant poured the tea, then left, closing the door behind him with a snap.
There were many things she wanted to talk about, but as always with her father, Hinata found the words deserting her.
"I thought you might wish to tell me about your day," he said.
He had not once in her entire life asked her how her day had been. She nodded guardedly anyway.
He gestured. "Please, then."
So she told him about her day, starting with her arrival at the Hokage's tower and moving forward from there. He did not do anything more threatening than slightly rise his eyebrows when she told him about Naruto training with Lord Jiraiya and how she had helped and been rewarded by him in turn.
"I see. You will, of course, thank Lord Jiraiya for his gift."
"Yes Father."
"It is, however, one you must return as it is one you do not need."
Hinata felt her hands start to shake. "But I-"
"Hinata. Do not mistake your good fortune for strength or wisdom. You may have defeated the pride of the Branch House, but that does not mean you can relax your training. You are not talented enough to attempt anything further than hone your existing skills."
But I already mastered it!
The words would not come out. If only she could just say it… but he would not believe her, demand a demonstration, and when she failed out of chakra exhaustion he would say 'see, I knew it,' with his eyes.
"Lord Jiraiya means well, but I cannot condone you wasting so much of your time aiding a competitor. Starting from tomorrow, I shall train you in the afternoons instead."
-----
[x] Agree
Perhaps you should get more instruction from your father.
[x] Disagree
You enjoy spending time with Naruto and while Jiraiya has not directly taught you, you feel that his insights are worthwhile.
-----
Stunt Gains: +3xp Performance, +1xp general (for meeting Father stunt and chakra paper reactivity stunt)
8. Week 1: Conversations with Father END A Day of Rest
"No?" Her father stood up. She took a step back. The tea, unattended, cooled in its cups.
Hinata felt herself start to tremble and clenched her hands, nails digging into her palms. Father… Father always sounded angry, even when he wasn't.
She just had to remember that.
Lamplight flickered, casting dull shadows. The Hyuuga shunned the veins of copper that ran through the rest of the Village, preferring the old, traditional ways. There was such a thing as wisdom and it was not to be found in ways that made you more reliant on others, not less.
Her father approached her, step by step.
Her eyes skittered around the room, focusing everywhere but his face. She grew smaller as he grew larger. "N-n-no. I think that's - I think that - that I might - that I have a lot t-t-to-"
He stopped before her.
She closed her eyes.
His sigh of exasperation was a familiar blow and her shoulders hunched as it landed.
She knew by now the words by heart.
"Hinata. Speak clearly when someone addresses you. Cluttered speech stems from a cluttered mind."
She bowed her head. "...yes, Honored Father."
"Better. Now, explain your reasoning."
A thousand thousand things ran through her mind. "I-"
As if it were hardly worth mentioning: "And do not think to hide your infatuation, either."
Fear and embarrassment went to war and embarrassment won. Her voice squeaked up an octave. "You knew?!"
There was a beat of silence.
"Yes."
Panic and anxiety went to war and ganged up on her.
"I- He's - I -" her composure, never very firm in the face of her father, cracked completely, and she began twisting her thumbs together in a way that she knew annoyed him, but calmed her down. "I - I - I"
Another sigh. "I will not forbid it. Little good will that do: you never listen."
She felt her eyes grow hot as she thrust her hands back to her sides. That wasn't fair. She tried. Every day she tried. "Father, I-"
"But I will not see you wasting this chance you have been given by chasing after boys. Jiraiya is indeed a formidable ninja, but you are not the focus of his training. The… Uzumaki is. If he is anything like his father, he will surprise you with how fast he grows."
"H-his father?"
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Did you hear anything else I just said?"
Hinata stared at her feet. "Y-yes."
"Speak, then."
"J-Jiraiya was teaching Naruto how to - how to reach for his second chakra. I-I think he might have insights f-for me as well. And-" she was grasping now, "I think my first o-opponent also has an odd chakra."
The enormous pressure her father possessed just by being in the room tapered off. "Are you sure of that?"
She shut her eyes and tried to remember. It had happened only yesterday, but between Enma, Naruto and Jiraiya, the fight seemed to be so far away as to have happened in the distant past and her focus, anyway, had been on Lee.
Still, the way the sand moved… She opened her eyes.
"He… wasn't controlling his sand. Not with his chakra. It looked… it looked like someone else's. Older. More mature."
She thought she saw her father relax ever so slightly. "An interesting point of trivia How will Jiraiya's ninjutsu help you take advantage of it?"
Um.
"W-with a lightning clone, I would be able to divide his attention a-and-"
"Strike a killing blow? Defend yourself? With what? Hinata, remain realistic. The sand, if infused with chakra as you say, can only truly be countered by the Gentle Fist."
Hinata hung her head. He was… he was not wrong. Father was never wrong.
"I… still want to try."
"Speak up."
"I still want to try!"
She took a stance. Without thinking, because she knew the moment she started thinking she'd fall apart, Hinata focused inwards. The day had left her spent when it came to her own chakra, so she'd have to rely on her silver chakra for this.
Unlike Naruto, hers came the moment she called on it.
Light spilled from her body. She saw the veins around her father's eyes bulge and his shadow grow and then she was moving through the seals, going step by step, her fingers in perfect synchrony, her chakra hissing and sparking through her coils like leashed lightning.
She funneled and molded it, seeing the future unfold. At the end, the lightning clone appeared by her side, a similar corona of silvery light shining around it, specked with motes of lightning.
For long, long seconds, her father was silent, gaze imperturbable. He was judging her, she knew it. He had always found her wanting before.
Hinata held her breath.
"Impressive," he finally said. "If these are the results of your training after so short a period… then I will allow it. Do not distract Uzumaki, nor allow yourself to be distracted by him. You are to show the world the pride of our Clan."
Her clone looked towards her as she did it, a smile on their faces. She'd - she'd done it!
Both her selves bowed. "Yes, Honored Father."
"Be off."
"Yes, Honored Father."
"But should you seek instruction in the Gentle Fist, I will make myself available."
"Yes!"
-----
+1xp Presence, +1xp 'essence reactor'
-----
Hinata woke.
And oh god, everything hurt.
She felt like she had after the first time Father had really put her through her paces when she'd been - three? Something like that - there was not a muscle she was aware of that wasn't a shrill siren of complaints. Her eyes didn't feel all that much better, but she still grunted and groaned and strained until she activated her Byakugan and gave herself a quick scan before gratefully cutting the chakra to her eyes.
Yup. It looked like she'd mildly exhausted her chakra.
Her silvery chakra was still present, but it seemed to rely on some other mechanism than her mere body and after using it to produce a lightning clone, it was much diminished as well. There would be no training for her today, not unless she wanted to turn mild exhaustion into mandatory two-week bed rest.
She stretched. Prepared and ate a big breakfast. Greeted Shino and Kiba by the door. Informed them that she wouldn't be able to train with them today. They took her to see Kurenai-sensei. Kurenai-sensei rolled her eyes and told her to skedaddle after she'd checked her with a diagnostic technique.
"This is why we don't train when our jounin-instructor says not to train."
After that, she wandered around town. Sat down at a ninja restaurant she'd never been to. You knew it was a ninja restaurant by the patrons who were all studiously pretending they didn't all know each other. She ordered a plate of the Day's Special and read through Jiraiya's technique scroll again. This time she had the free time to pore over Jiraiya's… other notes.
Poor Miyuki.
Now that Father had told her he wouldn't forbid contact with Naruto, she… well, she didn't know! She had thought people of her father's generation hated Naruto. It was so out of place, so hard to miss and Naruto soldiered on through all of it.
But Father was… fair. Harsh, but fair. It had taken Hinata a long time to realize that.
Everything he'd done he'd done for her own good.
Yes, everything.
And he was right… she needed to avoid distracting him, or letting him distract her.
But today was a rest day, so she could let herself to be a little distracted, right? Going through the rest of the notes on Miyuki, Hinata wondered how her story ended. Did she end up with the mysterious and exotic earl from the east? Or was she taken in by the wily western wizard?
And how was it that all of them had such alliterative titles?
Later, she stopped by the Hot Springs. Jiraiya had 'ho ho'd' when she'd gratefully returned the technique scroll.
"That's some talent you have, little lady. But, uh, take it easy next time. I don't want angry Hyuuga coming after my head because their princess overexerted herself."
She shrugged, but proudly. "Thank you. And I was wondering about Miyuki, did she ever-"
Jiraiya's eyes had begun to widen, but Naruto interrupted.
"Ne, ne, Hinata, look, I can summon a frog now!"
He did so.
It was the smallest frog Hinata had ever seen, but it was undoubtedly a frog. There wasn't even a tail.
"Ribbit," it said.
She clapped, impressed. Naruto bowed, grinning.
Jiraiya then hit him over the head, bowling him over. "Don't be proud of that, you no-talent hack! Get cracking, you've got less than thirty days left to master this. We're talking combat summons, not pet store purchases!"
Hinata wasn't able to help Naruto with his training today, so she watched him for a bit and then, feeling a little light-headed from the heat emanating from the pools, decided to go home.
-----
There are five days left before the week is up. How does Hinata train?
[ ] Lightly
[ ] With effort
[ ] As hard as she can
Author's Note: Gotta run, if I'm missing anything let me know, I'll get back to it later.
This was the difference between Naruto and her father:
The first lesson Hinata'd ever learned from her father was this: 'Do not lose.' The first lesson Hinata'd ever learned from Naruto was: 'Don't give up.'
When, inevitably, she lost, the fault was hers. Not fast enough, not smart enough, not tough enough, not strong enough - her qualities were a long list described by lack and she knew each and every one. From this, Hinata learned not to make excuses. Any weakness was hers and no one else's.
Upon learning of this, Kiba's opinion was: 'Your dad's a dick.'
Shino had given a less colorful, if more complete opinion: 'Parents should not set impossible goals for their children. Why? It can only hurt them.'
"But I am weak," she'd pointed out, nibbling at her thumb.
"You're twelve," Kurenai had responded dryly. A burst of spidery chakra across Hinata's thumb made her squeak and put it away. "And the boys are right, too much pressure is no good for anyone, even geniuses."
"I need to be stronger," Hinata had repeated. "Much, much stronger."
----
The Forty-Fourth Training Ground looked as massive and imposing as the first time she'd seen it, a monument to what was possible when the Mokuton bloodline went truly wild. In contrast, the chain-link fencing, tall as three or four of her, looked wholly inadequate for keeping the forest out, more a perfunctory nod than a security measure.
Kurenai-sensei stopped her, about fifteen feet out.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Her jounin-instructor asked again. Kiba, who'd gotten impatient, was already at the tent, busy signing away his family's right to sue (or at least stridently complain) if he died in there.
He was an Inuzuka. They took it on faith that they wouldn't.
Hinata nodded.
"I feel ready."
More than that, she felt like she had to be ready or she wouldn't be anymore. She'd mastered a technique she shouldn't have been able to, defeated a foe she definitely should not have been able to, spoken to her father and held her ground. It felt like a spell. At any moment it'd break and she'd turn out to be the weak, ugly, no-talent girl that she really was.
She didn't dare rest any longer.
Kurenai frowned at Hinata's expression, and then her gaze went lower, focusing on her arms, then legs. Her frown intensified.
"You're moving a bit stiffly. You're not doing something silly like wearing weights when going into the Forest, right?"
"N-no," said Hinata truthfully.
"Hinata! Ya comin' in or what?!"
"Coming!" she replied, tugging the sleeves of her sweater down and jogging to the tent.
Kurenai sighed and followed her wayward children into the tent to sign off for them.
-----
Team Eight was a good team.
People didn't always think it when first meeting him, but Kiba was an excellent team leader. He had a good head on his shoulders, solid battlefield instincts and an odd facility for making any team he was a part of mesh better. It was as much his sense of humor, as it was the implicit belief in his comrades and his fierce loyalty to them, but Akamaru's puppy dog eyes certainly didn't hurt.
Shino was quiet and… different. But not in a bad way. He just didn't see the world in the same way that she did. And it wasn't the Byakugan she was talking about. Shino looked at people and saw how best they fit into something bigger than themselves. He didn't always, of course, and could be incredibly petty, but he was still one of the calmest, most impartial judges of character she knew. He was a comforting presence, and she trusted him to plan and pursue just as much as she trusted Kiba to make the right decisions.
She was the useless one. The one that failed.
But when she was with them she felt like she could be better than she was.
"Holy shit! Way to go, Hinata!"
Hinata smiled, panting slightly as the the lightly scorched, venomous coati twitched spasmodically on the tree limb. Like lightning-quick raccoons, the creatures raced through the upper boughs of the Forest and god help the poor unfortunates that encountered them. A bite brought on weakness, then paralysis and, if no one was around to help you, death.
What made them worse was that they were technically endangered (ninja being fond of their poisons), so you couldn't kill any of them.
Shino stopped at the bough she was at, landing lightly. His sunglasses glinted as he examined the body.
"You learned an elemental release? Impressive."
Hinata nodded, breathless, trying to control her chakra.
While it wasn't quite a jyuuken technique yet, injecting lightning-natured chakra into someone was a paralysis technique so simple that normal shinobi did not even need to have the Byakugan to use it. Normally, a haphazard injection of chakra to the body was met with an equal and opposite resisting force, the two canceling out, and usually to the detriment of the attacker who lost more chakra than the defender. The gentle fist was like threading a needle through the eye of another needle - except not, that was the analogy Hyuuga used to explain it to non-Hyuuga and their inferior senses - instead of metal skittering off metal, you achieved penetration.
Elemental chakra skipped the complicated bits. Wind cut. Fire burnt. Lightning shocked.
"I only know one real technique," she murmured.
"Nice!" said Kiba, who leaped to another branch, Akamaru dogging his heels. "You'll have to show it to us once we get out of here. Shino! We almost there yet?"
The Aburame looked windward. "Not quite. Last known sighting of the target is another three point two kilometers due west."
"Then let's go!"
From what Hinata understood, their target was a species of Giant Raven that had become the animal kingdom equivalent of a serial murderer. Perhaps it was stress brought on by the chuunin exam and an absurd number of ninja running around underfoot, perhaps it was some sort of disease.
Regardless, they were to take care of it. It'd be an interesting challenge for all of them: none of them were long-range specialists and the Giant Raven was undoubtedly a flier.
Its aggression would help. If they were reduced to tracking it, they could probably spend the whole day watching it flit from location to location.
As it was, it took hours.
Hinata felt herself tiring easily, going through her canteens of water at an alarming pace. Kiba and Shino stopped and slowed for her, assuming it was the lingering effects of chakra exhaustion. In truth, it was not.
Hinata might not have had Lee's weights, but Kurenai-sensei was right in that she was doing something silly. Though she'd never taken advantage of the fact before, Hinata had access to an entire household of experts. One was a sealmaster. Early in the morning, she'd asked Old Habomai to write a weak Seal of Resistance on her.
She was going to do everything she could to train. She didn't want any regrets.
It'd weaken her, siphoning her physical energy to clash against itself. It was painful, not brutally so, just… painful. An hour into the forest and her legs felt like jelly and her arms like bags of soup.
She just hoped it'd be enough.
When they found the bird, Hinata was too worn out to help fight it. She watched as Shino weakened it and Kiba and Akamaru turned into twin tornadoes, cutting it to shreds. Black feathers flew about the forest.
They had to help carry her out.
"I'm- I'm sorry, I slowed you down," she told them, gulping. "I - I -"
"Ah, s'nothing. You'll do better tomorrow, right?"
Hinata subsided into a miserable silence.
----
Jiraiya took her aside, later, when she went to meet up with Naruto. She knew she looked like a wreck. Her muscles trembled, her hands were clammy, her face pale.
He sighed. "Lemme see it, then."
She blinked at him.
"The seal, kid, the seal. I know a training seal when I see it, there are maybe three people in all the world that are better at seals than I am, and two of em' are dead. Show me yours."
She lifted the forehead protector off her forehead. Lord Jiraiya groaned.
"Seriously? Are the Hyuuga capable of nothing else then variants on-" muttering complaints and dire imprecations, Hinata watched as his fingers began to glow.
"Try not to blink."
She nearly screamed as a feeling of molten metal slammed into the coils of her head, chakra raging against chakra, and then it was over, and she was on the heated stones of the hot springs, staring upwards.
She felt lighter.
No, it wasn't lighter - it was the absence of pain that had weighed her down.
"I turned it into a bastardized Suppression Seal. It'll last until you want it off - if you do, flare your chakra three times - once long, twice short: it'll unlock itself. I left the other seal intact, but maybe get rid of my seal before you show off the new design, sealmasters need to step lightly around other people's work."
Hinata frowned, working her way through the implications. The resistance seal was built along the same lines as…
She sat up.
"Lord Jiraiya, can you affect the Cursed Bird seal?"
He looked furtively about him. "Noooooo. I definitely did not say that. Naruto, did I say that?"
"Huh?" said Naruto, who was busy focusing his chakra while water walking, and like a man trying to pat his head and his tummy at the same time, was totally incapable of anything else.
He turned back to her. "See, I did not say that."
"Lord Jiraiya-!" she had not been sure before, fuinjutsu was not her area of expertise, but Jiraiya's reaction-
"Nope, didn't happen," at this angle, Hinata realized just how tall the Toad Sannin was. He truly loomed over her. "Because, if the Hyuuga Clan discovered that a sealmaster had worked out how to suppress the Cursed Bird Seal by the time he was like, twenty-two, twenty-three tops, things would get, mmm, how do I put this kindly… hectic. You're a good kid, but your Clan ain't in the healthiest place right now and I am not dipping my fingers into any of that crazy."
"But, if you can suppress the seal, then-"
"One, I've never tried; two, don't ask me to."
Hinata bit her lip. He was right. But Mom's dream, well, maybe her dream, at the very least a fond hope, to see the Clan united once more…
Still.
"I… I won't. I apologize for my mistake."
"Thanks. Now go help the brat. And, why not, here-" he tossed a book at her. "Read this at the same time."
She caught the book with clumsy hands. With her physical energy being suppressed it felt like she was wearing oversized gloves.
"How am I supposed to-"
"Use your brain. Literally. Aren't Hyuuga supposed to be aware of everything around them? You gotta be able to multi-task better than that brat if you want to do that."
She looked down at book. It was called: 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'.
-----
And that became her routine.
In the mornings, Team Eight would go to the Forest of Death and she'd hunt with them until she collapsed and they dragged her out; in the afternoons, she'd accompany Naruto while Jiraiya would give her odd tasks to do that seemed like yet another crazy request with no point to them ('now juggle these apples with one hand, read with the other, and try to make Naruto laugh - remember, I got my eyes on you') but did seem to help her, if ever so incrementally.
Then, one day, she finally managed to catch and kill one of their Training Area Forty-Four targets.
It was a bit anti-climatic, really.
Shino had weakened the giant demonic ostrich thing with a well placed bug clone that had enveloped it in chakra-sucking kikaichu, and then Hinata had fallen onto its back, slammed both fingers into its neck, and watched its heart explode. When she took her fingers away, something silvery leeched out from the corpse and entered her hands.
As exhausted as she was, she didn't think much of it.
----
The next morning, she woke up looking like a giant demonic ostrich thing.
-----
Positive Mutations: Large +3, Glider +4, Flier +4, Swift +3 (flying), Deadly +2, Acute Sense (sight)+6 = Total +22 Negative Mutations: No Thumbs -6, Fragile -6, Greedy -3, Sensitivity (cold) -2 = Total = -17 Overall Cost: +5
How do the people around Hinata react to this completely unforeseen event?
[x] Hanabi walks into her sister's room, expecting to call on Hinata for their weekly spar and instead discovers her sister's been birdnapped.
[x] Naruto wakes up and freaks out because there's a giant bird thing pecking at his window wtf.
[x] Neji and TenTen are up because Gai is being Gai and discover that there's a giant bird in their training area having what looks to be an emotional meltdown.
Neji was a Hyuuga. He considered this a fact as solid and immutable as the fact that the sun rose each day and set each night. As a Hyuuga, his eyes saw all: movement and motive alike.
That said, there was one man who would forever stump even him.
"My youthful students!" Gai cried.
This was literal. Neji raised a hand: moisture spattered against the bandages. Beside him, his partner TenTen had her face caught in an involuntary rictus of 'oh my god, it's happening again.'
"You have lost your battles against worthy foes!" He gave them a sparkling, teary smile and a thumbs up. From atop the Village walls, backlit by the rising sun, their jounin-instructor presented a strangely inspiring vision. "This will be the trigger that will propel you to even more youthful heights!"
Neji grimaced. There were many directions inspiration could go.
TenTen glanced towards her partner. Neji glanced back. He'd done it yesterday: it was her turn today. She sighed.
"Gai-sensei,"
"Yes, TenTen?"
"You told us all of this yesterday. As well as the day before yesterday."
He beamed. "Hoho, so you noticed!"
Her patience snapped. "Of course we noticed-"
"But I have not seen you seek out your rivals! Not that I am sneakily observing you during your downtime, that would be - ahem - inappropriate to the extreme, but such tales of youthful rivalry should have reached my ears should they have occurred!"
Well, they'd made it a step further than they had yesterday. That was progress. Of a sort.
There was a flaw in his logic.
"The Main House would see it poorly if I declared my undying rivalry towards Hinata from the top of my lungs every morning," he said dryly.
"As would our diplomatic relations with the Sand Village," said TenTen, mimicking his tone.
Neither of them could keep a trace of bitterness out of their voices, though Neji prided himself in thinking that he had kept his own more in check.
Gai-sensei was shaking his head. "Such is the spice of life that rivalry is made of! Rivalry is beyond politics and family! It is the very essence of youthfulness! Rivalry will find a way!"
You'd think the man was talking about love, not a devoted sparring partner.
He looked at them in a - for Gai-sensei- extremely condescending way. "But true rivalry takes time. Perhaps you have not yet found yours. That is fine. In the meanwhile, let us go train!" He took out a stopwatch. "The one who cannot beat their personal best will have to do ten laps around the Village as punishment!"
And they were off.
It turned out, Gai could not beat his personal best. Of course he couldn't, not while keeping an eye on his students, but he never let this stop him from doing yet more exercise. So, cautioning them not to slack in their training, he vanished, limbs a green-orange blur.
TenTen began breaking out her weapon scrolls. "So, how do you want to start? Slow? Fast?"
Before they'd been properly acquainted, she'd asked him whether he wanted them blunted or sharp, these days they were more familiar with each other's capabilities.
"I think-"
There was a sound like a dozen pigeons taking flight.
They both looked towards the origin of the sound, one by turning her head, the other by activating a bloodline limit.
"What is it?" asked TenTen.
He frowned.
The problem with having Gai-sensei around was that the world became as surreal as he did, as if the only way for someone like Gai-sensei to exist was for the world to move aside and allow him passage.
"I think I want a second opinion."
-----
"It's a giant murderbird," said TenTen. "Probably a native of the Forest of Death. What's it doing here?"
They sat atop a bough of one of the trees. Open interest turned what should have been an excellent hiding spot into a spectator sport.
The giant murderbird was not the hugest living creature he'd seen, but it was at least as tall as an adult bear, its wingspan was well over twenty feet, somewhat stumpy next to the length of its body, but still impressive. With a long neck and tail, it was undoubtedly lighter than it looked. Horns jutted out from either side of its flat, shovel-shaped head, while a strange yellow marking. It did not have a beak per se, but a rather more lizard-like mouth full of sharp, rasping teeth. Other than the yellow markings and red eyes, it was completely black from the tip of its claws to the top of its head.
They watched it as it desperately bashed its head against one of the training logs, then claw at it.
"It's wearing a Konoha forehead protector," TenTen noted.
This was true: wrapped around one of its glossy black horns was a konoha forehead protector.
"Mmmhm," Neji agreed.
"So, it's a summon?" she guessed.
He shrugged, non-committal.
They watched some more. Seemingly exhausted, it had lain its head atop the wooden training log, then its wings above its head, and appeared to be trying to breathe slowly or maybe go to sleep.
"That's one messed up a bird," was her final assessment.
"I believe it is my cousin," he said.
She whirled. "Your what."
"Lady Hinata, Heiress of the Main Branch of the Hyuuga, Princess-"
"Yeah, yeah, I figured. Why does she look like that. Is that a henge? Is-" the same horrible thought that occurred to him occurred to her. Her voice went down a gravid octave as she went into a low whisper. "Is she trying to be your rival?!"
He shrugged. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you for your opinion."
She stared some more at the bird. "You Hyuugas are so weird."
"Perhaps she is trying to show me that she is disowning the Main Branch," he mused, ignoring the jibe. "They certainly would not accept some sort of Animal Transformation Technique as being part of the arsenal."
"Why limit yourself like that?" she asked.
"Why limit yourself to weapons?" he shot back.
It was a common argument between the two of them and it wouldn't be resolved here.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Gai-sensei chose now to re-appear. He wasn't even slightly winded.
"My youthful students! What are you - oh, a Giant Crimson-Eyed Tinamu. What is it doing outside the Forest of Death?"
"That's his cousin-"
His eyes became very wide. His smile became very bright. He turned it upon Neji who winced at the sheer wattage put out by his luminescent visage. "Your newest rival-!"
"No, Gai-sensei," said Neji tersely.
"Yes, Gai-sensei," said TenTen, traitor that she was.
"Then let us welcome her!" He breathed in, preparing himself for a bellow. And you had not heard a real bellow until you heard Gai-sensei in full Power of Youth! mode. "HINATA HYUUGA! YOUR YOUTHFULNESS PUTS US ALL TO SHAME!"
The giant murderbird squawked and looked around and tangled over its own two feet and fell onto its equivalent of a bird butt.
"COME THEN, LET US SPAR!"
It shook its head in vigorous negation. "Awk?! Gn-n-n'awk! Gn'nawk!!!!"
"THERE IS NO NEED TO BE SHY!" Neji felt gravity lose hold over him as something picked him up by his collar. He saw TenTen be similarly picked up. "YOUR RIVALS SHALL BE WITH YOU!"
"Gai-sensei- Gai-senseeeeeeeei-"
But they were both already hitting the ground.
"NOW COME AT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"
Later, much later, when Hinata spontaneously turned into a normal-sized version of herself still wearing pyjamas and spitting out feathers, but with wings for arms, Gai-sensei shook his fist, crying about her dedication to the basics of the Academy Arts and how they could all stand to learn a little from her for he had never seen such a degree of mastery before when it came to the simple Henge.
Hinata mostly looked bewildered, but in the face of his personality, she couldn't get a word in edgewise. It took until Kurenai located her wayward student, that Hinata could be freed from her impromptu lessons with Team Gai.
Neji watched her go, thoughtful.
----
"I didn't realize you'd scheduled in some training with Team Gai," Kurenai said as they walked down the main boulevards towards the Forty-Fourth. Her voice was playful, but there was a bit of bite to it. There was such a thing as discipline and Hinata was not supposed to go haring off without at least informing her jounin-instructor. Especially not if her overbearing family was going to send a hawk complaining about her vanishing mysteriously with unlikely tales of summons and irresponsible jounin-senseis.
Not that she thought this was Hinata's fault, not with how she was dressed. Her family could take its sudden solicitude and stuff it.
Not that she'd say that to Hiashi's face, but.
Hinata looked down. Her voice was small. "I didn't either."
Kurenai took it as a minor victory that her shyest charge had not stuttered. "Did Gai kidnap you into one of his training sessions? I'll have a word with-"
As if unable to keep it to herself anymore, her student blurted out: "I woke up as a giant bird this morning."
As if gauging the effect this would have on her teacher, Kurenai noticed her eyes zip upwards and then downwards again.
Kurenai blinked. Well. That was… that was definitely new. "Did you now."
"Yes," said Hinata miserably.
"I see." As a genjutsu specialist she was well aware of the most likely explanation to this, but it'd take some serious genjutsu chops to get past a Hinata's eyes, let alone an entire compound of Hyuugas.
Weird as it was, the most likely explanation was… she'd actually turned into a giant bird.
That or her dad was being a dick again.
"Was it a test?" she asked softly.
In reply, Hinata focused, hands assuming a familiar seal.
And then there was a giant-ass bird in the middle of the street, easily ten feet tall. Civilians shrieked. Cars honked and nearly swerved into each other. Hinata immediately turned back into original edition Hinata.
"I'm sorry - I'm sorry!" she babbled, bowing in every direction.
Kurenai grabbed her by the shoulder. Hinata startled and Kurenai cursed herself. Well, no helping it. "It's okay," she soothed. "It's okay. Breathe, Hinata. Breathe."
Hinata took in a shuddering breath. She looked up. Kurenai felt her heart twinge.
"Sensei, wh-what's h-ha-happening to me?"
She smiled cheerfully. "Well, I can tell you that you are definitely not hallucinating or under the effects of a genjutsu."
"Sensei-"
"It isn't a henge?"
"N-no."
"Well, that's three things it isn't," she said. "Let's go ask an expert."
-----
The Inuzuka veterinary clinic was a feat of modern medicine and veterinary service. It more resembled a hospital than it did the waystation it had been just a generation past. When the Slug Princess had forced Konoha to reinvent its medicinal services, the Inuzuka had ridden that wave and transformed the primitive emergency room into one of the premier medical services for ninja animal in all of Fire Nation if not all the world.
Hinata had been here before, but never as a patient. The experience was a bit, um.
Well. It was an experience.
Kiba's sister Hana, who Hinata quite liked, wasn't in, having taken ill at some point - Hinata thought she heard Kiba say 'yeah, from what, alcohol poisoning?' - and apparently her mother was covering for her.
Kiba's mom was, in a word, intimidating.
She had the same clan markings that Kiba did, a red fang on each cheek, but where Kiba was cute and cuddly, she was all rough edges and predatory stalking.
That didn't make her any less competent, just scary.
"It ain't no animal transformation I've ever seen," she said, her voice hoarse, poking at Hinata's long, dark bird legs with the end of a seal-modified stethoscope. Without looking up from her work, the fierce-looking woman added: "Kiba, don't sit like that."
Kiba who was sitting on one of the examination benches with his head hanging off an end and pointed to the ground while reading a pamphlet, snorted. "Ma, you sit like that all the time- ow, what was that for?! Don't throw things at your son!"
Akamaru yelped his support.
"Mind your manners, you brats."
"Neh neh neh, 'Mind your manners, br -'"
"What was that?!"
"Nothing, Ma!"
"It better be."
Kurenai broke in before the mother-son spat could become even pettier. "What do you mean?"
Tsume sighed, removing the stethoscope from her ears. "The transformation's a little too perfect. She sheds feathers that don't vanish. Her eyes are not the exact same shape size and one leg's slightly longer than the other. Tail feathers are a little ragged. You can see the wear and tear of age on her feet. Hear them too. All of these details without doing it on purpose or concentrating? It ain't any technique I know of. Like I said, a little too perfect."
Hinata frowned. Or, internally frowned, the face she had on right now was not particularly expressive.
"My son tells me she looks exactly like the giant bird her team killed yesterday. Maybe she's got some sort of natural… corpse cloning technique swimming in her veins. Other than that, I can't think of what might be causing this."
"Awk!" said Hinata thoughtfully. "Awk! Awk - ptui!"
She spat feathers as she resumed her own shape. At five feet she had the very convenient human technology known as a mouth and vocal cords. "W-when I killed it, I thought I saw something enter my hand."
"Well there you go," said Kiba's mother.
"Maybe you ate its ghooooost," said Kiba with an exaggerated horror story quaver.
Hinata rolled her eyes as politely as she could.
"Kill something else and see if it happens again," was the veterinarian's recommendation after slapping her son upside the head. "It could come in handy."
"O…okay," said Hinata, only slightly dubiously.
Tsume saw it. "Ha! Don't tell me you don't see the advantages of being able to fly and shit."
Kiba burst out laughing. Hinata started to redden as the vulgarity rearranged itself in her mind to be read literally.
"I-I-think-"
"Ah, whatever. Get out of here you brats. Some of us have got real jobs to do."
They got.
Neji was waiting outside for them, looking characteristically grave.
"Ms. Kurenai," he said, bowing. "May I borrow my cousin?"
"Oi, bastard," said Kiba, stepping in front of them, baring his teeth and killing intent, Akamaru supporting him all the way, "I saw how you went at Hinata during that fight, you coulda-"
"Indeed. I could have. But I did not. Because she was stronger than I."
"And don't you forget it!"
Akamaru added in his own bark of assent. Cousin Neji mostly looked disdainful, but said, politely: "I doubt I shall."
Hinata looked up. Kurenai gave her a look that meant: 'Are you okay with this?'
Hinata nodded briefly.
"Very well," Kurenai said. "Hinata, I release you into your cousin's care."
"Thank you, Ms. Kurenai."
They walked for a while, in silence. It wasn't a dark, brooding silence, just a… silence.
Then, Neji said: "I did not mention it to Gai-sensei or TenTen, but that was no henge, this morning."
"It w-wasn't," Hinata agreed.
"And the doujutsu you used during our fight- that was not the Byakugan."
Hinata, who had not tried the strange, foreign doujutsu since her bout with Neji, remained silent. Then she said: "I-I don't think it is."
He nodded, satisfied. "The Main Branch will be furious if you fight the Sand genin without using the Gentle Fist our Clan is known for."
Hinata, who had seen the 'Sand genin' slaughter an entire team of genin single-handedly while within the Forest of Death, not to mention handicap Lee, was not sure that the Main Branch's fury was worth worrying about in comparison to dying in a coffin made of blood and sand.
"Many among the Branch House believe you cheated."
Hinata blinked at the almost non sequitur. "Wh-what?"
He tapped his forehead protector.
Hinata's eyes grew wide as she understood. She felt her heart beat faster in her chest. Even the thought of it, of using the Cursed Bird Seal against a part of her family - it made her want to vomit. "I - I - I -" her breathing was coming in large, hyperventilating gulps, "-wouldn't. I swore, I swore, I swore-"
After a moment she had to stop and sit down, her breathing an erratic mess. When finally she could look back up, Neji had a difficult expression on his face.
"You truly are not suited to this life, Hinata." There was no malice in his words. He looked away. "I wanted to… thank you. For taking the time to remember my father."
"H-he saved my life, Cousin Neji. I - I won't ever forget that."
He nodded.
"Your sister is of age to join the Branch House. If you continue on this… heretical road, she may be declared the true Heiress, regardless of your ability. If you do not, she will almost definitely be marked with the Cursed Bird Seal once the chuunin exams are over. Your ability is, if nothing else, sufficient to secure your position."
"C-cousin Neji. Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I think you might be able to change our Clan, Hinata. Because you yourself are willing to change."
Hinata blinked several times, touched. Then she noticed the small white tail wagging in one of the bushes. Her smile froze on her face.
"Hinata?" said Neji.
"I, yes, that's…" she recovered her calm. "I hope…"
-----
What is Hinata's long-term motivation?
[x] "-that when I am declared Heiress, I will be able to destroy the elements of the Cursed Bird Seal that permit the Main House to control the Branch House."
[x] "-that when Hanabi is declared Heiress, I will be able to work with the Branch House to conciliate with the Main House."
[x] "-that, in the future, there will be no distinction between the Main House and the Branch House."
-----
But with Kiba so obviously there, the words got tangled in her throat. After a moment of nearly offended perplexity, Neji noticed that someone was listening in on their conversation and activated his Byakugan. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Kiba, this is private," Hinata said.
Neji, meanwhile, looked hilariously offended, as if a team of mere genin specialized in tracking and reconnaissance should have been incapable of taking him by surprise no matter the state of his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah." Kiba said, emerging from his hiding spot. His camouflage technique was improbably good for what amounted to some mud and foliage. "We were just making sure he was on the level, weren't we, Akamaru?"
Akamaru yipped his agreement.
Neji sighed. "I will ask you again later then, Hinata. Please, have a good day."
After he left, Kiba said: "Man, what a dick."
Hinata kicked him in the shin, but not too hard.
-----
In the closing hours of the week, Hinata searches for her younger sister. She finds her…
[x] with her father, practicing the Gentle Fist.
[x] sparring with a foreigner? The Clan is hosting the diplomat from the Land of Iron.
[x] alone, fighting against an endless series of imaginary opponents.
Hybrid-Nue Transformation, +1 XP Stamina, +1XP Physique Rating, +1 XP Presence
