Side Story – 1.2 To Be Worthy!

Five Months Later, Hyuga Compound

Tuk! Tuk!

The sound of the collision of palms resounded in the training hall as Hinata trained with Neji under the watch of the current Patriarch Hiashi and the Elder Hyuga.

As the Sun started to set, and an orange light permeated the training hall, Neji suddenly stopped, "Sigh!"

Hinata looked at Neji in confusion, "Neji-nii-san?" Wondering why he stopped suddenly.

Neji ignored Hinata, he looked at the Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan and spoke, "Her sparring partner doesn't necessarily have to be me," and requested, "Please let me carry out my own training!"

But much to Neji's annoyance, Hiashi immediately denied Neji's request, "No, not yet continue…" 

In fact, one of the main reasons why Hiashi wants Neji to continue to train with Hinata despite the disparity in their strength and talent is so that Neji can also listen to the pointers he gives to Hinata from time to time and learn something from them in order to improve himself. After all, Neji is the son of his late younger brother, and Hiashi feels guilty and responsible toward Neji, it's just that he doesn't want to break the traditions of the Hyuga Clan.

"Please, let's continue, Neji-nii-san!" requested Hinata, albeit with a hesitant and timid voice. Then, she took her stance.

"Tch!" Neji clicked his tongue in anger, but relented, "Understood!" and took his stance as well. It's just that he had something different in his mind at the moment as he looked at Hinata with cold eyes. He wasn't planning to let her off that easily, something that Hinata immediately realized the moment she noticed the look in his eyes and hesitated.

In the past few months, she has become very good at reading others' intentions toward her by observing the look in their eyes, it's just that even if she can see through Neji's thoughts, she doesn't dare to speak about it.

While Hinata was hesitating, and afraid, Hiashi's cold voice came from behind her, "What are you waiting for? Start!"

"Y… yes!" Hinata tried to suppress the fear in her heart and dashed toward Neji to deliver him a palm strike, "Aaaaaaaa!" However, her palm strike was violently deflected by Neji with minimal effort making Hinata take a few steps backward in fear.

Neji scowled at Hinata as he retook his stance, and mocked her, "What's wrong, Hinata-sama? This isn't child's play!"

Hearing his words, and noting the look in his eyes, Hinata became nervous and afraid, but she still tried to attack him and deliver the palm strikes. It's a pity that Neji dodged all her attacks with minimal effort, and then went on to deliver palm strikes on her.

One, two, three… four… five… one after another, Neji's strikes hit Hinata without giving her any opportunity to collect herself or defend herself. Stomach, shoulder, chin, forehead, and chest… Neji didn't care whether he would end up hurting her and continuously attacked her.

"That was nothing… and you expect to fulfill your destiny as the leader of the Hyuga Clan??"

In between his attacks, he did not forget to mock her.

As Hinata fell down, Neji raised his hand with intense killing intent and was about to deliver the final decisive blow that would end up seriously injuring her if not outright killing her.

Smack!

Hiashi intervened in the nick of time before Neji could land the strike. He held Neji with his palm and threw away the boy. Neji landed on his back and slid across the wooden floor of the training hall. Then without waiting for either Neji or Hinata to react, Hiashi raised his left hand and activated the Seal. Immediately, the cranial nerves around Neji's eyes and head swelled violently as his eyes widened in shock. The boy held his head tightly and shouted in intense pain and agony while rolling on the wooden floor.

Aaaaaaaaaaa!

"Aaaah…. My head… my head…!" Tears burst out of his eyes and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, however, the pain did not stop. He was in so much pain that he didn't even realize when he had removed the bandages tied around his forehead and exposed the glowing mark on his forehead.

The Caged Bird Cursed Mark!

The Cursed Mark ties down the destiny of the members of the branch family to a life of servitude.

Neji continued to scream, and his eyes started to pop out. If he could, Neji would have fallen unconscious, however, the Caged Bird mark doesn't allow the one being punished to fall unconscious. It was only after Hiashi had released the seal that Neji's cries stopped, and he collapsed back on the wooden floor.

"Fool… Go, you do not need to come over for Hinata's training any longer…!" said Hiashi as a servant appeared in the training hall and took away Neji.

With Neji taken away, Elder Hyuga also decided to leave the training hall. He needed to talk with Hiashi's younger daughter for she had witnessed the events that transpired in the training hall earlier.

Now left alone, Hiashi looked at Hinata in anger. He picked up the Wooden Sword and spoke to her in a deep voice, "Get up girl…"

"Otou-sama…!" Hinata murmured lightly as she struggled to hold back her tears.

"Not a drop of those tears should stain the floor… A ninja does not shed tears, that is something you need to get into your mind… and if you can't understand a fact as simple as that on your own, then you leave me with no choice but to beat it into you!" said Hiashi in a cold tone, and shouted, "NOW GET UP!"

Hinata's body trembled in fear, but it also obeyed Hiashi's command as she got up and took the stance despite the pain she was feeling after suffering several strikes from Neji earlier.

"Come… come with the intent to kill!"

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A while later

Smack!

A loud smack echoed in the training hall as Hinata crashed into the wall and then collapsed on the ground.

Looking at his daughter's pathetic state, Hiashi was fuming in anger, "Hinata… what are you doing? Why are you HESITATING? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS STOP AT THE LAST MOMENT?"

Trying every bit to resist the tears, Hinata tried to answer, "Otou-sama… I… I…"

Hiashi sighed, "Focus Hinata… you are the heir of the prestigious Hyuga Clan! You are not allowed to act timidly! Not get up!"

The girl got up again, "Y… yes!"

"Come!"

Hinata nodded as she rushed toward Hiashi with the Kunai in her hand. She pulled back her arm and as she was about to push it forward, she froze. 

This is where you belong, on the ground, you are nothing more than a useless freak!

White Skunk!

White-eyed freak!

Byakugan monster!

Ugly!

Freak!

Smack!

Once again, a loud smack echoed in the training hall. Hinata crashed into the wall, coughed out saliva, Cough-cough, and then collapsed on the floor. She no longer had any energy left to get up and was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Hiashi looked at Hinata in disappointment, and sighed, "Forget it, this isn't working…" He thought of something, then shook his head, "Maybe… Who am I kidding…?"

Hiashi looked at Hinata for a moment, then he put down the Shinai on the Bokken Stand and left the training hall.

Now left alone in the training hall, the tears she had been trying her hardest to stop finally couldn't be contained any longer and flowed down her eyes as Hinata cried silently. "Hahaue-sama."

Ever since her mother passed away, her life has started to become hell.

She has yet to overcome the void in her heart left by the sudden passing of her mother, on top of that she has to deal with constant bullying at the academy and extremely rough training at home. It's not that she is being forced to deal with these things for the first time, even back when her mother was alive, she had to deal with these things, however, the presence of her mother helped her. She would gently embrace her in her warmth and that alone calmed her heart. 

Her mother brightened her world with light and warmth, but ever since she passed away, her world has slowly been swallowed by darkness and coldness, so much so that she feels lonely all the time, except… except when… 

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A few hours later

"Are you hungry?"

"Huh?" Hinata was takenaback by his sudden question, and shook her head, "N… no…" Growl!

Unlike her, her stomach was more honest, it instantly growled in response to Sasuke's question making her blush in shame. "Sorry…" said Hinata as she looked down in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it…" muttered Sasuke as he sat down on the floor with his back resting against the wall and took out a scroll from his Shinobi bag.

Hinata curiously looked at the scroll that he had taken out. Under her watchful eyes, Sasuke unfolded the scroll and injected his chakra into it. Immediately, with a puff of smoke, a place of omelet rice on top of the scroll, and its aroma wafted in the storeroom.

Sasuke picked up the plate and handed it to Hinata, "Here you go…"

"Is it alright for me to eat this?" Hinata was reserved and wasn't certain if she should eat someone else's food.

"Hn," nodded Sasuke as he beckoned her to take the plate of omelet rice.

After a bit of hesitation, she accepted the place of omelet rice and sat down a step away from Sasuke. She joined her hands together, and prayed, "Itadakimasu!" then ate a spoonful of it.

"Sasuke-san…" Hinata cried out a familiar name as she opened her eyes "Was that a dream?" Hinata muttered doubtfully as she rubbed her eyes. The lunch inside the storeroom at the academy. She often has that dream.

Looking up she noticed the familiar ceiling. She was back in her room, and lying on her bed, she couldn't recall how she came back to her bed, last she remembered she was at the training hall, left there to cry on her own.

Hinata looked through the window and noticed moonlight spilling inside the room, 'It's already night?'

Feeling the sweat covering her body, Hinata thought, 'I need a bath…' and got up with some difficulty. Her body was still aching from all the beatings she had received earlier, and she was still in her training gear.

Resisting the pain, she walked out of her room and made her way to the bathroom while trying to be as quiet as possible. She did not want to wake up anyone from their sleep.

As she was passing by her father's study, Hinata noticed that the lights inside the study were still on and there were people inside. She wanted to hurriedly pass by so as not to alert anyone inside of her presence, however, suddenly, she heard something that caught her attention and made her freeze.

Hiashi questioned Kō with a frown, "Bullying? Hinata is being bullied at the ninja academy?"

Kō nodded, "Yes, Hiashi-sama…"

Hiashi posed another question, "By whom?"

"Three civilian girls…" answered Kō.

"Civilian girls?" mumbled Hiashi with a frown. Upon learning that Hinata is being bullied by three civilian girls, Hiashi finally understood the reason behind her poor performance in the training.

Kō nodded, "Yes… well… all three are civilian girls, although, a family member of one of the girls is a Jōnin."

There is a very good reason why Kō is reporting the matter of Hinata's bullying to Hiashi instead of directly stopping it himself. It's because things like bullying have been quite common in the Ninja Academy. It has never been discouraged as overcoming these situations is important for a child's mental growth while they train to become ninjas. 

Moreover, considering the possibility of undergoing torture if captured by the enemy and having to torture enemy ninjas to break their spirit and extract intelligence, ninjas have to be mentally prepared. In a sense, bullying is mild torture. For this reason, even the instructors at the academy turn a blind eye to such scenarios. Well, the premise is that as long as they don't directly stumble on the scene of bullying.

As for the problem, 'What if a child never manages to overcome their bullies?'

Nothing will be done for that person. 

The world of ninjas is a dog-eat-dog world, any form of weakness will get you killed or exploited. If someone cannot even overcome bullying, there's no way they are fit to become a ninja because a ninja needs to have incredible mental fortitude. 

For someone who cannot even overcome something as simple as bullying, it would be best to give up the dream of becoming a Shinobi and quit the academy to live a normal life because the village wouldn't waste important resources on such folks.

Understanding this, Kō asked, "Hiashi-sama… should I do something about the bullying?"

Before Hiashi could answer, Elder Hyuga who had been silent the entire time spoke, "No… let her deal with the matter herself."

Both Hiashi and Kō looked at the Elder Hyuga.

Elder Hyuga spoke, "That girl is the heir of the prestigious Hyuga Clan and has the solemn duty of protecting the Clan and the secrets of the Byakugan. If she cannot even deal with something as trivial as bullying from three civilian girls, then she wouldn't be able to protect the Hyuga Clan and the secrets of the Byakugan."

After pondering for a while over Elder Hyuga's words, Hiashi agreed, "Right, if Hinata cannot even overcome a few bullies, she really isn't worthy of becoming the leader of the Clan…"

As Hiashi made the decision, he noticed a shadow running away on the other side of the door. He recognized the owner of the shadow at a glance but chose to ignore it. 

In fact, it's better this way… If she understands what she needs to do, it will save everyone a lot of unnecessary trouble.

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