Bab 52: Nah, it won't...

AN*- long chapter, enjoy. [words-2534]

"What took you so long, Hinata?" Haku-chan asked as soon as I approached the gate.

"I was just talking to a friend, and he thinks you are a girl, hehe," chuckling gleefully, I looked at him and walked towards home.

"Did you tell him the truth?" he asked, following behind me.

I just looked at him and smiled.

"Right?" he asked again.

But I didn't reply.

"Ahhh," grabbing his smooth, silky, long hair, he grumbled, "Why does everyone think that I am a girl, and you, of all people, make the most fun of it?"

"Hehe, it's fun this way, Haku-chan. Imagine a boy proposing to you when you grow older, and then he finds out you are a boy—a big bad wolf in sheep's clothing. Wouldn't that be fun to see their embarrassed and shameful faces, with their fragile hearts broken in pieces, whom they considered their fairy? It was a devil all the time, hehehe."

"Enough," he yelled in embarrassment with a red face.

"Hahaha, you look even cuter when you get angry, Ha...ku chhhaaan," I teased him to my heart's content.

"You-you always make fun of me. What have I done to you? Why don't you make fun of Kimimaro? I-I am not talking to you anymore until you say sorry to me," he pointed his finger in accusation and ran ahead of us.

"Hahahahaha, walk straight, Haku-chan, or you might trip on some stones," I yelled back with a giggle.

Without saying anything, he just ran away, leaving us alone.

"Why do you always make fun of him?" Kimimaro curiously asked.

Tilting my head, my lips curving upwards as I asked, "Should I make fun of you, Kimimaro?"

A visible sweatdrop appeared on his face. Raising his hands, he nervously replied, "Haha, I surely don't want that. I am fine with Haku-chan."

"See, see, you also want to make fun of him," I accused him of my crimes.

After that, he just listened to me until we finally reached the gates of the clan compound. Not to my surprise, my dear brother Neji was waiting for me to return.

"You are finally here. What took you so long?" he asked with a smile.

"Nothing, the boy just ran ahead of us," I replied as we walked inside the clan.

Kimimaro went straight to his house. After he was gone, Neji asked, "So the academy was boring, as you said, right?"

"No, brother. I have my fun there," I betrayed his expectations with a mischievous smile.

"What?"

"Let me tell you, brother, hehe, you're going to enjoy this." With a punk-like smile on my face, I started to tell him about the scum-like things I had done.

Hearing my stories, he just looked at me and, patting my shoulder with a sincere look on his face, he spoke, "I should have known that."

"Hey hey, are you serious or being sarcastic here?" I asked him with a confused look.

"Don't act like you don't know." He obviously didn't fall for my tricks.

"Haha, you have gotten smarter, brother," I praised him with a pat on his shoulder.

"Huh, what do you mean by that? I have gotten smarter. Are you saying that I was dumb before?" he yelled back at me.

"See, see, you can understand the underlying meaning of my words, brother. Tch, I liked you more when you were a little kid." With a dramatic sigh, I shook my head and placed my hand on it.

Neji just looked at me, "Same for me. You were a very sincere little sister when you were a toddler, always playing with your big brother. And now look at you, tch, I wish you'd always remind me of the little kid." He shook his head in disappointment.

'Did he pull an uno reverse on me?'

"You two, stop bickering and come inside," my mother said from the kitchen.

"Coming," both of us said in unison.

There were many ice creams and fresh apples placed on the table; my father didn't disappoint me.

Sitting on the chair, I started to savor the taste of the cold ice cream which sent a shiver through my body.

Neji also sat beside me and took a bite of his apple.

"So, sweetie, how was your day at the academy?" she asked, preparing evening snacks for me.

"I behaved myself very well, Mommy. I didn't bully any of the students, and I obeyed the teachers and did what they told me. I did as you said, Mommy," I told my kind mother everything.

Neji, who was eating his apple peacefully, stopped midway and looked at me with a stupefied face. I just smiled at him sweetly.

"What happened, Neji? Why did you stop eating?" my mother asked him.

"Nothing, Aunty," he started eating, but his eyes never left my charming smile.

"That's my girl," she happily served the snacks for her good baby girl, and I happily filled my tummy.

After that, Neji and I went to the training ground, and the first thing he asked me was, "Why did you lie to Aunty?"

"Hehe, I didn't lie to her, brother. She told me not to bully my classmates but not the teachers. As for that kid, it was a spar. And as for behaving myself well, I behave as a clan heiress should behave. I cannot ruin the name of our clan, can I?" I explained to my foolish brother.

He was in complete silence before nodding to me, "You are right, sis," he agreed with me when I told him the truth.

"Now let's start our training," I said, activating my Byakugan and taking the Gentle Fist stance.

"Now you are talking," he said with a wide grin, assuming the same stance as me.

--Many hours later--

"Haahh," his palm passed by my head. Slightly jumping and performing a round kick to his shoulder, Neji blocked it with his forearm but sent him sliding some distance away due to the impact behind the kick.

Firmly landing in front of Neji, slightly lifting my body on my toes and spreading my hands wide, a smile appeared on my face.

"No, you don't," Neji yelled.

"Yes, I will," I spoke as my chakra burst out from all of my tenketsu points, and before spinning, I softly muttered, "What will you do now, brother?"

"Do you want to kill me?" he yelled, but to defend himself, he took the same stance instantly.

"Rotation," he yelled at the top of his lungs.

*screech*

The wind picked up, leaves spun around, and the ground ripped to shreds when two domes of chakra, which spun even surpassing the sonic speed, clashed with each other and created a loud explosion.

Not even a second passed before Neji and I shot out from the chakra domes like bullets.

Neji hit the ground many times before coming to a halt. Fortunately for him, he had protected each part of his body by expelling chakra around them even before they hit the ground.

As for me, chakra burst out from every tenketsu and took the form of mini strings. When I hit the ground, each time they worked as suspensions, so none of our bones broke.

Panting heavily, I walked towards Neji, who just lay there without any motion; his last bit of chakra was used to protect his body, so he was on the brink of exhaustion.

As for me, I was physically exhausted.

I dropped to the ground and looked at the starry sky.

"It was thrilling," I said, still thrilled.

He just nodded to me before chuckling, "That rotation of yours could have shredded me to pieces if it had actually hit me."

"Hehe, I knew you would bring out your own," I confidently said.

"You know, there isn't a single day when death hasn't touched me," he said, raising his hand as if trying to catch a star.

"You should be proud of how much you have spat in the face of death, Hehe," I said.

Chuckling to himself, he spoke, "You remember when your arrow was a hair's distance away from piercing my heart."

I just laughed without saying any words.

"Damn it, it took too much chakra to perform it. I hadn't wasted this much in our hours-long fight, but this one, ahh," he complained.

If I remember correctly, at the age of 14 to 15, Neji could spam Rotation for continuous ten minutes, so he was a monster in his own right.

But this time, hehe, he will be an entirely different kind of breed.

"Hey brother, have you ever thought of calling back the expelled chakra in your body after using Rotation?" I asked him.

He suddenly stood up, looking at me, and spoke, "No, I haven't thought about it, but if it were possible, Uncle would have told us, so it's impossible."

"Impossible, haha, what a joke. Nothing is impossible in this world, brother. Think, for normal kids, your level of strength is also impossible, but you have it, don't you?" I asked.

He nodded to me.

"So if anyone hasn't done it until now, it doesn't mean it's impossible. We just have to maintain our connection with our chakra, and when it is about to disperse, we have to instantly stop its speed and call it back into our tenketsus." I told him the theoretical process.

Raising a finger, I constricted a chakra string and called it back into my body, "just like this."

"Do you know how fast it spins? The moment we stop it, it will immediately disperse."

"But you have a point," he said, thinking on his own.

"Hehe, it's not impossible, but it needs an in-depth understanding of Rotation, and the control over it must be absolute."

"You are right. It will be a step further in our fighting stance. Imagine never running out of chakra and continuously spinning Rotation on Rotation," he said in a dreamy voice, but I could see the fire in his eyes.

"How much time do you think it will take us to create and master it?" he enthusiastically asked.

I raised three fingers, then four, and then five.

"Hehe, it's 3 to 5 months," he commented.

"Hehe, no, brother, it's 3 to 5 years," I poured cold water on his dreams.

"That long," he muttered again, laying on the ground.

"Of course, it will take that long. What do you think? If it was that easy, it would have already been done by someone. So it will obviously take that long. Remember, brother, patience is the key to success. Many great things didn't come out to the world just because people didn't have the will and patience to complete it." I told him the harsh truth.

"No matter how much time it will take, I will do it," he said.

"That's my brother."

But suddenly, he snapped his head towards me and asked, "Hey sis, why don't we use elements like fire, lightning, and any others using our Gentle Fist?"

"Oh, it's an interesting question. But you know, when we coat our palm or fingers in chakra, we can actually use elements. But it has many drawbacks. For example, if we use Fire Style in Gentle Fist, it could burn the skin of our palm and fingers by the heat. To prevent it, we have to mask our palms with a layer of chakra, and with this much focus split, we won't be able to generate enough firepower to damage our opponents—just a few skin burns here and there. So, the fire is out of the option," I explained to him.

"Then what about lightning?" he asked.

"It can certainly paralyze our opponents, and it won't harm us because it flows in the opposite direction to us. But it won't harm the chakra flow or tenketsus. The drawback is what if the enemy is wearing armor that isn't a conductor of lightning? In this case, our strikes would only serve as tickling," I said with a chuckle.

"So these are useless," he asked.

"Yup, most of the time they are useless, but can be used in some conditions," I said.

"So the Gentle Fist is best. It couldn't be blocked by any armor and does the maximum damage," Neji summarized.

I nodded to him.

"But hey, the Gentle Fist is also useless, useless to those who don't have the Byakugan."

Both of us chuckled.

But his curious mind couldn't stay still, so he asked another question, "What if we used the elements in Rotation?"

"Hehe, no, brother, it's also very difficult. Let me explain. If you want to use Fire Style in Rotation, do you know how much heat it would produce at such speed? And you will be at its epicenter, so you will take its full brunt, not your enemy. In just a few seconds, the heat will be so immense even your ashes won't be left behind."

Neji visibly shuddered.

"And as for Water Style, the sheer amount of water, and upon that, the immense magnitude it will generate due to its speed, it will be inhumane. One single and slightest mistake will crush you to meat paste."

He again shuddered.

"As for Earth, it wouldn't spin, so it won't be the ultimate defense then. Only the Lightning will work here, and it could damage on a large scale. But then again, its drawback is to harm our own people, so it's only usable when you are alone." I told him.

"I understand, so the lightning, huh…" he mumbled.

I nodded to him.

"But hey, brother, I have an interesting idea to create a new high-level ninjutsu. It will cover mid to long-range," I said as I suddenly remembered something.

"what if those Uchihas copy this with their foul eyes," he asked.

"No, they won't, because there will be no hand signs, hehe, only a Byakugan user can perform it."

"Now we are talking. Tell me," he said with a grin.

"You know we can expel chakra from everywhere, so what if we expel the chakra around our waist in a circular motion, and then spin it like we do in Rotation. Then, we turn this chakra into water, so a madly spinning water ring would be around our waist. Coating our fingers in chakra, we shoot out water bullets in every direction at a speed that exceeds the speed of sound. It will be a massacre, hehehe."

"You are a genius, sister, but hey, wait a minute. Wouldn't that be able to cut its user in half if he loses his control?" he asked.

I shook my finger, "Nah, it won't. It has two reasons. First, unlike Rotation, we could start it at a slow speed, and when it finally reaches the speed of rotation, and even then if some incident happens, it will shoot in opposite directions to its center. So it's safe for the user, but it couldn't be said for our enemy, hehe," I explained to him.

"I see," he nodded to me and finally closed his eyes, falling asleep on the ground