Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ghostly Eyes ❯ Second Coming ( Chapter 22 )

      Hinata could only stare at in the direction in which she had just sent Naruto flying. Her mind focused on only one question.

     What did I just do?

     She had just sent Uzumaki Naruto falling, very possibly, to his death. She wondered for a moment what on earth had possessed her to do that? She understood the answer just as quickly. Hinata looked at the old Ki’ge and understood. She had done it for him. For Da Iri’ga. For the Nimmori. For those who had acknowledged her talent and given her confidence and strength she had never known before.

     The Ki’ge, having watched all that transpired, was not surprised by the girl’s actions. He had felt such an outcome might occur. It was what made this girl such an ideal candidate for the Goddess. Even if the Purification was broken, he suspected she would still serve the Nimmori cause. When one desperately seeks acknowledgement above all else and receives it, she will do anything for those who give it. As he finished the final words of his chanting, he decided it was time to act, before the child wavered once more.

     “Kashghyu N’ga.” the Ki’ge said. The girl did not respond.

     “Hinata.” he said, using her name from Before. Her head snapped up and she stared at the old man.

     “Ki’ge…” ;

     “It is no time to falter. Are you ready, child, to fulfill your destiny? To become our Goddess?”

     Hinata’s mouth formed a thin line. For a moment, the Ki’ge honestly wondered if she would indeed be able to follow through. His fears were unfounded, however, as the girl activated the Ghostly Eyes and walked closer to him.

     “I am!” she replied, all the confidence of Kashghyu N’ga in her voice.

     “Then let the final stage commence.” with that, the Ki’ge took a deep breath, calling up his Life’s Flame to perform the technique that would provide the signal to those scattered among the Ley Lines’ focusing points. The man picked up a mound of leaves scattered near him. Some from the heat of Kashghyu N’ga’s battle, some just there because they fell on their own. He held them for a moment, channeling the Flame into the leaves. He next took a deep breath and blew as he opened his palm. What had once been leaves flew from the man’s palm in the shape of bright flower petals. A simple technique, one he used in festivals and celebrations to heighten the mood. People believed that when they caught the petals the Ki’ge made, they would be blessed with good fortune. As this would be the greatest moment of the Nimmori’s history, it was truly appropriate.

     The Ki’ge clapped his hands together. With the guidance of his Life’s Flame the petals scattered. They flew along the winds on a path that would take them all past the channelers hidden deep in the woods. They would channel their power into the lines of the forest. From there the power would flow along the lines until they reached a single point. A nexus in the system. One located on the plaza, where he and Kashghyu N’ga waited.

     In the woods, men and women, those with the most powerful and enduring of Life’s Flames, saw the flower petals fly by and understood. It was time. They summoned as much power as they could manage from their inner Flames. When its strength reached its peak, the put their hands down on the ground. Their target was the junction point of the Ley Lines. These points would absorb the power and send it along the complex pathways that would eventually reach the plaza. There, all the Nimmoris’ power would gather, creating a beacon great enough that the Goddess would know the exact location of their vessel. The location of She of the Ghostly Eyes.

     Kurenai had just been about to land her final blow upon Da Iri’ga when she heard Naruto’s scream above her. She immediately put her kunai back into her leg pouch and ran towards the direction Naruto’s voice came from. While she knew it was a problem not finishing her enemy yet again, her teammate came first. Kurenai saw him as she ran around the base of the high stump. He was plummeting to the ground. She didn’t hesitate.

     She ran as hard as she could to Naruto’s likely landing point. She jumped and spread out her arms and legs into a spread eagle position. She knew it was foolish to try and actually catch him, so she settled on breaking his fall. He fell on top of her as she did what she could to cushion his fall. Doing so, however, it took a large toll on her. Naruto’s weight, falling at the speed it was and hitting her body, caused, at the very least, severe injury to one of her arms as she hit the ground. She couldn’t tell if the bone was broken or not, regardless the arm was useless. She also felt some pain in her back.

     Naruto, however, got off relatively unscathed. There weren’t any serious injuries on him as far as she could tell. Naruto rolled himself off of Kurenai’s body and only just then noticed what he had landed on.

     “Kurenai-sensei!” he cried out. Kurenai sat up and reassured him she was more or less fine. She had him explain the events up above and why he was falling like he had. She listened silently as he quickly related his fight with Hinata and her condition after regaining her memories.

     

  &nbs p;  “No…” Kurenai whispered silently to herself, “We failed…”

     “Not yet we didn’t!” Naruto yelled, “it’s not over yet! I’m going back u-”

     “It’s over Naruto.” Kurenai said as she stood herself up, “Hinata is lost to us.”

     “But…”< br>
     “Naruto, you said Hinata was confused. She didn’t know what to do or even who she was. In that condition, she would have reoriented herself by seeking that which gave her the greatest comfort and direction. In that condition, she chose Kashghyu N’ga over Hyuga Hinata!”

     Both Shinobi were silent for a long time. Only Kurenai’s training kept her emotions from pouring out. Kurenai didn’t want to believe it. However, she knew it was true. The Hyuga Hinata they’d always known was lost to them. Even if they got her back now, for better or for worse she’d never be the same.

     Kurenai didn’t wish to have to do what she knew was next. But now, there was little choice. As they spoke, the Nimmori were finishing the ceremony that would bring the goddess forth. A ceremony that absolutely could not be successful, no matter what. They had to put an end to it somehow. They had to re-start the cataclysm that destroyed Morigakure Village so long ago. Even though it would mean their lives.

     Suddenly, the ground around them began to glow. A faint white hue began to emit from the soil. Kurenai scanned the sight and realized that the white light seemed to be almost a spider webbed network of pathways and currents.

     The Ley Lines! Kurenai realized. Chakra was being channeled into them at such a quantity that they were becoming visible to the naked eye. Looking at the stump, Kurenai saw the lines snake their way up into the tree trunk high into the air. She knew, at the top, was a great cluster of the lines. A focal point in the network. All the Chakra would gather at a specific point in that cluster. Though it would be near impossible to gauge exactly where.

     Near impossible, that is, without the use of the Byakugan. With a person of the Hyuga clan, it was possible to successfully complete the ritual. Which meant…

     “Mori… No…”

     Kurenai turned towards the sound of the voice and saw Da Iri’ga, leaning on his right arm and supporting himself against the large tree. Kurenai’s shuriken earlier had apparently done more damage than she realized, as his left arm hung limp at his side and his stomach still had small wound in it. Kurenai surmised it was the blood loss from the gut injury that made him have trouble moving. He wouldn’t be fighting any more.

     “Mori… no…”

     He staggered and fell into a sitting position, his back leaning against the roots of the tree.

     “Mori… no Megami!” he cried out, a smile on his face.

     “What?!” Naruto said.

     “Their goddess is about to be reborn!” Kurenai explained.

     “No…”
     Kurenai looked at the boy, whose demeanor had suddenly changed.

     “NO!!!” he cried out. He brought his hands together and began calling up Chakra. Kurenai wondered what he was thinking when she suddenly felt the rush of power coming from within him. She understood at once. He was calling on the powers of the Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed fox sealed within him.

     “Naruto…”

     “I won’t let her do it!” he cried out, “I don’t care what it takes!”

     He was about to rush up the tree full tilt when Kurenai called out to him. She considered trying to convince him not to go, but she knew it would be pointless. He was decided and Kurenai was in no condition to physically stop him.

     “Naruto…” she said, “Good luck. And, for what it’s worth, the Fox really wasn’t why we brought you.”

     Naruto turned and looked up at the tree.

     “I know. And thanks.”

     With that, Naruto, swathed in the red light of the demon’s Chakra, ran to take one last shot at keeping Hinata from destroying herself.