"Activate your Byakugan!"
Hiashi Hyuga barked out an order at Hinata who stood in a dojo opposite her younger sister while some of the Hyuga elders sat a bit further away, trying to look as if they were important. But Hinata could easily see the mocking glint in their eyes, the way they held themselves back from turning up their noses at her. Truly, if it was the old her, she would have been near tears by now.
She was dragged out of bed for this farce, at six in the morning. Simply, dreadful.
To think that the esteemed geriatric elders of the all-important Hyuga clan woke up this early in the morning and left their fluffy beds just to come and witness how she lost to her younger sister. She could almost feel the familial love and support.
It wasn't as if they were here to cheer her up or something. They most likely did not expect her to have a chance at winning. They just came to see her humiliated. She had fought her sister several dozens of times and she had never come even close to winning. Not once. And she knew that these 'sparring matches' were something the elders insisted on.
They knew she did not want to fight her sister. They knew she could and would showcase more of her strength against somebody who wasn't her younger sister. But they always said, 'If you can't defeat even your younger sister, then fighting somebody else from the clan who trained for much longer would be a waste of time.'
Hinata would be astonished at their sheer pettiness if it wasn't so pathetic. The highlight of their day was bullying a teenage girl. That was just sad.
"No. I'll fight like this." Hinata refused with a slight slouch in her posture, something that must drive those perfectionist elders sparse.
How dare she not show the perfect Hyuga grace when she is about to get beaten up! Right?
She let out a small tired sigh and turned her half-lidded eyes to her sister who was frowning at her. Honestly, Hinata was still half daydreaming about Ren's cuddles. His kisses. And his big di-, er, let's just say that they interrupted a nice and steamy dream when they woke her up, all wet and bothered. The jerks.
"Hinata! Take the fight seriously and activate the Byakugan." Hiashi ordered, completely nonplussed. Hinata could see that he was angry from how the skin around his eyes tightened even though his face was completely blank.
Despite being without her fabled eyes activated, she could still use the standard observation to figure things out. When she was a kid, she was so afraid of this man. So afraid to disappoint him. She wanted him to say a simple 'I am proud of you.' more than anything.
Now? She couldn't bring herself to care anymore. And no, Ino was wrong. She did not have 'Daddy issues!'
Ren told her that her father cared for her. And she could understand that logically. He was covering for her and his actions did prevent her from being sealed with the Cursed Seal.
But she just couldn't feel the love. Ren gave her more parental love than her own father while desiring to fuck her. Oh, she knew. She was a Hyuga. She had seen how aroused she made him right from the start.
At first, it was extremely awkward for her and she was happy that he hadn't shown his attraction to her outwardly during their early days. But now? It made her feel important. Made her feel that somebody wanted her and cared for her.
The fact that she could have been dreaming about having a steamy hanky-panky time with Ren right now made her even grumpier.
"Just start the fight already." She mumbled loudly enough for the ninjas in the room to hear. It didn't win her any allies and some of the elders in the room were now openly frowning.
Wow. Did she manage to get a reaction out of them other than look as if they were smelling shit? Score!
Hinata inwardly whined in imitation of Ino's voice when she saw the disappointed looks they were throwing at her. But Hanabi's angry look was what actually hit her. Right there. In the heart.
She gave her sister an apologetic smile but Hanabi's glare did not lessen.
Jeez. Her sister was getting her panties in a twist for no reason. It wasn't as if she could use her eyes. She didn't want to show her family that her Byakugan no longer needed her veins to bulge out. They would have questions she didn't feel like answering.
Worse yet, the second she activated Byakugan, her clansmen would know, bulging veins or not. Their Byakugan would notice the increased concentration of chakra around her eyes. They would recognize it for what it is despite the lack of bulging veins.
So, Hinata was kinda stuck and could not cheat.
She really didn't think this one through when considering all the ups and downs of operating on the chakra pathways around her eyes. This detail was not something that came to her mind. Alas, now she could only suck it up.
Unfortunately, her father looked like he would insist until she obeyed him, which was frustrating.
"Hiashi, start the fight. It does not matter if the girl refuses to use her eyes. It's not like she would have a chance at victory with them." A voice resounded amidst the elders and Hinata inwardly cheered.
Yay! Grandfather comes to the rescue!
'Thank you, you magnificent piece of shit.' Hinata thought in relief, channeling her inner Ino. She knew the man didn't say it to help her. In fact, he wanted her humiliated. But, eh, small mercies and all that.
"Maybe she finally understands her place." Her grandfather finished speaking and HInata's lips twitched.
'Well, fuck you too.' She dryly added in her mind as some of the elders agreed while others disagreed as if their opinion actually mattered to her.
She wondered what Ino and Ren were doing right now. Probably still blissfully sleeping.
Just for that, she was going to hit Ino extra hard during their training today. As a good sister in training, she should share her suffering, should she not? Of course, she would heal her afterward and even give her a massage as an apology because she would feel bad.
"Fine. Are you two ready?" Hiashi reluctantly asked, giving both Hinata and Hanabi a glance. When they both nodded and got into a fighting stance, he pursed his lips for a moment before shaking his head, "Then begin!"
And Hanabi instantly sprang forth, intending to hit Hinata in the stomach with her palms. Hinata inwardly smiled. It was so adorable. Her sister won several previous spars with this move and probably thought to use it as an opening move in hopes of instantly ending the spar.
Hinata just stepped to the side at the last moment, evading the palms. She was destined to lose this fight. But she would lose on her own terms.
Of course, Hanabi was experienced enough that Hinata's dodge didn't shock her. She simply flowed into another form and started relentlessly striking at Hinata with wild abandon.
She sent several finger jabs at Hinata's chest area and Hinata either blocked or redirected them, letting one pass and hit a tenketsu on her left shoulder.
Her outward wince only motivated Hanabi to try harder and she sent a palm strike at Hinata's abdomen again, only for Hinata to catch her arms in a vice-grip, and before Hanabi could react, Hinata spun on her heel before releasing her sister, throwing her away.
But as expected, it didn't do much. Hanabi flipped mid-air before landing on her feet like a cat, her expression severe but her eyes now held an excited glint.
A small smile wanted to emerge on Hinata's lips and she had to suppress it as she lowered herself into a defensive form.
Their fight continued as they traded blows. Hinata would always miss or get blocked. Hanabi would have to properly work to land a hit but in the end, Hinata allowed her to score before using it to throw her away.
Ten minutes passed like this.
Usually, Hinata had always lost by now. But today, she was having fun. She did for her sister what Ren did for her, subtly showing her the openings in her fighting style during the fight. Only Hinata also tried to make it seem as if she was desperately hanging on in the fight.
Her sister learned fast and by the fifteen-minute mark, she stopped giving Hinata the easy situations where she could just grab her arms and throw her away.
They still continued to trade blows like a whirlwind under the no longer amused gazes of the elders but at least their father looked somewhat relieved under his official resting bitch face.
Hinata inwardly chuckled. Yes. That was the whole, excuse her, fucking point. With this showing, he would have an easier time advocating for 'giving her a chance to prove herself'. Which was the excuse he used to prevent her branding.
She chanced a glance at her grandfather and the man looked as if somebody served him a plate of shit for breakfast. Hinata resisted the urge to burst into giggles and-.
Ow!
Hanabi landed a proper jab and blocked a tenketsu in her stomach because she was distracted. She really wasn't used to fighting without her Byakugan, huh?
That was a potential weakness and Hinata decided to ask Ren for some sparring where she wouldn't use her bloodline.
Twenty minutes into the fight, Hanabi started breathing hard from the high-speed close-contact battle between them so Hinata also pretended to match her sister's breathing rhythm.
But really? This was less intense than her everyday warm-up exercises during her training with Ren. She still had all of her weight seals active and hidden on her body and thank the sage that Byakugan could not see them.
It pained her to admit, but Hanabi was... slow. Way too slow.
With tiredness came sloppiness and Hinata inwardly frowned as her sister gave her several more unintended openings than was healthy for her continued existence in the fight. Suddenly, Hinata's arm shot forward, her chakra-laced fingers almost grazing Hanabi's cheek and missing it only by an inch. Hinata tried to make it look as if she aimed for the shoulders but messed up and almost hit her sister's cheek with a lucky shot. The younger girl yelped as her eyes widened in fright and alarm but on instinct, she jumped away, hopefully realizing how sloppy her form became.
For the next five minutes, Hanabi was having a hard time, barely catching her breath while still trying to match her sister blow for blow. Hinata was also panting and outwardly looking dead on her feet from exhaustion.
And hell, she didn't need to act much. The painful winces were half real. Her body was stinging somewhat fiercely from the blows she allowed Hanabi to land.
Seventy-two of her tenketsu were blocked, throbbing with dull pain. She was almost regretting letting her sister have these free hits. But she had an image to portray to the elders.
Their fighting got even sloppier and the elders were properly scowling and frowning now, highly displeased that Hinata was almost outlasting their little genius.
But... enough was enough. Showing this much should make it much easier for her father and it wasn't like Hinata exposed anything more than the fact she could keep up and was much faster than before.
She has only shown enough to prove that putting her under Ren's tutelage was having a very positive effect but she was still losing handily to Hanabi.
Well, kind of? Some of the elders would probably suspect that she is holding back. But as long as they don't know by how much, all would be well. At best, they will think she is genin-level material now with what she has shown. If only because of their own arrogance.
Hinata's forearm blocked Hanabi's palm strike, causing her to slide back on the ground but Hanabi did not press her offensive because she was almost swaying on her feet, looking like she would keel over any moment.
Hinata let herself flop on her posterior, letting out a pained groan.
"I surrender." She said out loud with a frustrated tone. "I can't continue. Many of my tenketsu are blocked and I didn't hit Hanabi even once."
The bland stare her father gave her after hearing her was amusing. With how she managed to throw Hanabi a few times during their spar, a half-blind man could tell that she could have scored a proper hit on her sister. She just decided not to.
"Are you sure?" Hiashi asked, very aware of the fact that if Hinata fought for just a half-minute longer, Hanabi would lose due to exhaustion.
He didn't know how to feel about this. On one hand, Hinata got so much better. On the other hand...
The fact she had almost won without landing even one blow or using her Byakugan was not lost on anybody in the room. It was pure disrespect. To her sister. To him. To the elders. And to their clan traditions. He should tan her hide for it.
But... he could definitely use it to his advantage in clan politics.
"Yes. My sister won this match." Hinata nodded, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead and making Hiashi inwardly wryly smile.
Hyugas were observant. Hinata was barely sweating, no matter how much she pretended to breathe hard and look as if death warmed her over. Hanabi, however, was drenched from head to toe in sweat.
Yet another thing the elders definitely did not miss, if their scowls were any indication. They really did not want Hinata to take the position of heiress and Hiashi could already see them trying to force him to end her tutoring under Ren and get her trained by somebody from the clan.
For the clan, they will no doubt call it. But just this one time, he refused to bow to their future demands. Hell, maybe he would hire Ren to teach his younger daughter once she got older if this was the result.
He was truly proud of Hinata.
"I see." He said with a straight face and nodded in acknowledgment. "Then, Hanabi is the winner. You need to train harder, Hinata." He gave her a reproachful look, trying to motivate her.
Hinata released a weary sigh and stood up, giving her father an expectant half-lidded tired stare. 'I am proud of you, daughter? You did well? No? Nothing? Not even a little? Come on, father. Your daughter visibly improved. Give me something.' She inwardly grumbled.
"You are dismissed." Hiashi evenly said before standing up and slowly walking out of the dojo under the flat stare of his eldest daughter.
'Right. Fuck you too.' Hinata dryly thought. 'Silly me hoping for more.'