The Hyugas have just hit their heart-stopping (ahem) blow, and it looks like Hinata got the worst of it as she spits up blood. Neji blocks her return strike, and is going vicious as he just strikes the Chakra-lines in her arms every time she tries to hit him. His Byakugan is more advanced than Hinata's, he can hit the precise points to speed up or slow down and enemy's Chakra. Neji sends Hinata flying with a vicious palm strike, and Neji goes on again about how Hinata can't change, and gives her another chance to withdraw. Hinata shakily pushes herself up, and tells Neji she meant what she said when she wasn't going to run away any more, and that's her Way of the Ninja. Hah! Go, girl. She gives Naruto a look, drawing courage from our hero, and Naruto's suprised at how tough Hinata's turned out to be. Sakura and Lee can see her going this far, pointing out how much she's like him. Hinata uses the Byakugan, but it seems to backfire on her Chakra Network. Neji's completely shut down Hinata's Chakra, and while he might win this thing for the upper-classmen, Guy doesn't look that happy about it. Gaara just looks interested. I've mentioned that's a scary little creep, right? Ino's wondering if Neji's going to kill Hinata, but dismisses it, and Sakura wonders if this isn't cheating some how.
Naruto yells down encouragement, which gives Hinata the strength to leap to the attack again. We get some tender music as the Hyugas exchange blows, none of which connect, but with Gentle Fist that probably doesn't matter. Hinata monlogues about how long she's been watching Naruto's style and how he lives his life despite what others think, and she's taken that as her example. If it works for her, I say go for it, and we so want it to work for for her. Hinata, coming from privilige like she is, finally feels like she's worth something if she follows Naruto's example, and I'm not quite sniffly, but it's close. Neji blocks Hinata again, and gives her a vicious chin-strike. Kurenai reflects on this girl who used to train really hard, but would still wimp out when things got too tough, and Kurenai's never seen our (other) girl quite like this. Hinata steels herself up for another charge, but Neji just about impales her on his hand. Yikes.
Neji lets Hinata crumple to the ground, complete with her coughing up blood. Cousin Neji just can't let it lie about how useless Hinata is. Kurenai wants her to stay down, even though she's proud of her. It's all Naruto can do to not to throttle Neji, and we can all feel the same. Before Hayate can end the match, Naruto yells at him to stop. Sakura thinks he's nuts for wanting the match to go on, and we can't disagree. Then the impossible happens as Hinata gets back to her feet. Slowly, shakily, bleeding from her mouth, but back on her feet. Hinata refuses to look weak in front of the person she admires most. Remember when Rocky said he didn't have to beat Apollo Creed, he just had to go the distance? Yeah, this about as emotional for me. Hinata's ready to give it her all in front of the person she admires most, and Neji can't believe it. He calls her weak again, and tells her to just deal with the fact she's weak and fragile because she's suffering from the burden of being the Hyuga heir. Hinata awesomely turns it around and says that if anyone's suffering around here about who gets to lead what family, he is. This sets Neji off and no less than four Jonin have to restrain him, and Neji winges on about the heir getting special treatment. The Chakra damage surges over Hinata's heart again, and Naruto rushes to her side to hear her whisper if she's changed a little before she passes out. Wow. You'll pardon me a moment.
Neji's not done being an ass, though. He calls out Naruto, and gives him the same spiel he gave Hinata - only in this case, it's that a failure's always be a failure. Naruto charges at him, and we want him to kick Neji's teeth in, but Lee stops Naruto from making it. Lee understands that Neji's a bastard, but to save it for the tournament. He also asks if wouldn't it be a fine thing for the failure to beat the genius through effort? While Lee figures it's he who'll fight Neji, he'd be cool with Naruto doing the same. Naruto relents, we get awesome mirror thumb's up/smile-twinkles as Lee asks Guy if he did a good thing, and Guy says he sure did. Everybody's attention is drawn to our (other) girl as Hinata coughs up blood again, and her sensei says she's having a Chakra-based heart attack. Jeebus. The Ninja Paramedics cart her off as Naruto reflects on the change he saw in Hinata today. Then he makes a literal blood oath that he'll win no matter what. Fucking awesome.
Next Episode: ROCK LEE VS GAARA! ROCK LEE VS GAARA! HOLY CRAP, ROCK LEE VS GAARA!
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