Hinata had never been sent alone on a mission before, and while feeling proud and excited she was also terrified of going alone into the world with no back up.
Her father didn't like the idea of course, god forbid Hinata accomplish anything in life. She had just been accepted into the ranks of Anbu and her first mission was to be carried out alone and in complete secrecy.
It didn't seem like all that dangerous a mission however and it would only take a week to accomplish.
The thought comforted her slightly and she let out a gusty sigh of relief in response. Many things had happened in the last few years; she had passed her jounin exams at age sixteen, Naruto became hokage at age eighteen after the war was won, unfortunately with a few casualties, including her beloved cousin Neji.
She had given up on pursuing Naruto since the attack on Konoha where he had never responded to her confession. Instead she had become a close friend and one of Naruto's special people.
She was happy for him; he had managed to end up with the person he'd been in love with since before he was a Genin, Sakura. Who had after hundreds of failed attempts, finally accepted Naruto's invitation to a date. And she assumed she realised what a gem Naruto could actually be, childish tendencies aside.
She smiled and hoped one day she could be as happy as Naruto was, and avoid having to marry within her own clan as countless others had before her.
She stuffed the last of her provisions into a backpack and wrapped herself in a long white cloak that reached her ankles and had a fluffy pullover hood. Underneath she wore a metal mesh shirt, a long sleeved lavender shirt and on top of that the Anbu vest and pants.
Finally she placed her Anbu mask over her face, an arctic hare was the animal it was based on and it featured two small protruding bunny ears from the top.
She was rather nervous about where her mission took her. She was required to carry a sealed scroll that could contain anything from a hidden technique to a concealed item, to the land of Iron. She had never encountered the Samurai of the land but she hoped she would be welcome as they knew of her arrival and how she would be dressed.
She took another reassuring breath and pulled the backpack onto her back before sneaking out the window at the back of her apartment. She had recently moved out of the Hyuuga compound to escape the constant smothering of her father, much to his disapproval.
She left a small note on her dining table for anyone that might look for her to explain she was going away for a few days and stating when she should be back provided all goes well.
It was nearly midnight but she had to leave at night to ensure nobody would spot her, revealing your identity as an Anbu was considered a big no no. In minutes she was speeding away, scroll safely attached to her Anbu vest and backpack safely secured to her back as not to slow her down.
She hopped from tree to tree, her speed was unrivaled by all except Naruto himself when in nine tails chakra mode. It was one of the reasons she was both chosen to be a member of anbu and also as the person to take care of this specific job as stealth and speed were key.
She stopped in the afternoon at the border of the land of fire and took a few hour nap on a tree branch, ensuring to be out of view from anyone that might walk below her. And in the evening continued on until she reached the border of the land of Earth where she ensured to mask her chakra and avoid every person she could possibly come into contact with.
The nations were at peace after the war where they had banded together to defeat Madara but she did not want to and could not answer any of their questions pertaining as to why she was travelling through their lands.
She was warned of the complete secrecy she had to keep regarding this task. It took a day more of travelling but she managed to cross the border of the Land of Earth again and into the Land of Iron.
She slowed down and followed a path through the snow for another long day and sleepless night. She was nervous again and it was so bitterly cold that even her cloak couldn't stop her petite frame from shivering in the biting winds.
She was surprised when someone dropped down besides her and before he could even touch the ground Hinata had jumped back and already had her hand encircled around the hilt of her Katana.
She relaxed however when she recognised the description of the man and instead reached on her other side for the scroll. They exchanged no words but he accepted it from her and gave her a curt nod before literally disappearing from sight.
She blinked, trying to track the man's chakra but he was already long gone. She knew she shouldn't be, but she was curious what was in that scroll and why she had to deliver it to a nation they had no affiliation with and that has never taken any side in the war.
She dropped the dangerous thought and turned around to head back to Konoha. Quite frankly she was exhausted and in the last three and a half days she had gotten barely a few hours of sleep. But still it had gone well; she hadn't run into a single hostile person or had to exert any additional energy than it took to travel here.
She really would be back in a week if she managed to continue like this. She stopped and reached into her backpack, popping open a bottle of soldier pills and slipping two into her mouth. She needed all the strength she could get to get out of this freezing land before she froze to death.
She continued on but before long she heard a whistling noise and in a split second had rolled away from where she was, four shuriken now stuck out the snowy ground in her place.
"Byakugan!" she near whispered, again trying not to give away her techniques or identity.
She was surrounded by a group of four shinobi. One was Jounin level, two Chunin and one genin level.
Why they had attacked her she didn't know, and what she was even more confused about was why there were sound ninja in the Land of Iron. They had to be up to something, but then again could she really judge them after she had just delivered an unknown secret scroll herself just earlier.
She dodged as kunai were thrown directly at her face and regretted having to pull her katana from the sheathe. She hoped the entire journey would be smooth sailing but that was hardly ever the case with such distances covered.
She wanted to use the katana to limit her chakra use as much as possible but when she heard the piercing sound erupting from a snow white flute, she knew she needed to be faster and more sly if she wanted to survive this in one piece.
Her palms lit up a light blue and she knocked out the weakest one first with a gentle fist to the back of his neck, he instantly fell to the ground and she heard a hiss of anger erupt from the jounin of the team.
He then raced forward and managed to slice into her shoulder before she disabled the same arm by blocking the tenketsu points in his shoulder.
His arm hung uselessly by his side but this only seemed to enrage him further as he used his other hand, rather clumsily to turn the biting wind into just that, the solemn tune erupting from his flute used the winds to slice through her arms and legs and caused a chip in the side of her porcelain mask.
She gasped and was now bleeding rather significantly. She incapacitated the female Chunin that attempted to strike her own neck instantly and she fell to the ground.
She had always hated unnecessary killing and she had always preferred incapacitating threats rather than causing irreversible harm.
There were two left now and as the last standing Chunin attempted to deliver a would be fatal blow, she sliced into the side of said arm and the next hit was a gentle fist to the side of his neck.
And then there was one left, the biggest threat and the only one who apparently had a dangerous weapon. Her first plan of business was to disarm him, which she didn't think would be too difficult considering she had already disabled his prominent arm. The man had spiky black hair, beady eyes and an ugly red scar that travelled from the right of his bottom lip to his chin.
He really wasn't much to look at but Hinata had no intention of doing so anyway, she was on the last bit of her energy and desperately couldn't afford to spend anymore on useless fights.
She pushed chakra to her feet and charged at him, spinning a kick that knocked the small instrument straight out of his hand.
Before she could knock him out though he had managed to cut through her side with a tanto before he was knocked unconscious a split second later.
She resisted the urge to vocalise her pain and pressed a gloved hand to her side trying to stop the blood flow. It was worse that the shoulder wound but neither were too deep. She could tell from her extensive medical training that there was no damage to her organs but the bleeding needed to be stopped regardless.
"Itai," she mumbled as she prodded at the offending injury. She needed to wrap it but she had to get away from the bodies littered around her.
She wasn't worried they would wake up any time soon, the Gentle Fist technique tended to last hours, if not the unconsciousness, then the temporary paralysis that ensued from the severing of chakra paths. She was worried about being discovered by anyone else however; the team of sound ninjas that had found her had been bad enough. And had she been any crueller she probably would have ended all of them.
But instead she secured her pack and continued on her path as fast as she could carry herself at her current levels of exhaustion.
Before she could get even remotely close to the border of the Land of Iron the wind howled and she felt a giant blizzard begin to stir. She refrained from cursing, as was in her good nature and attempted to find shelter from the dangerous weather.
The snow was so dense and came down so fast she could barely see a thing. She was shaking like a leaf and her usually petal pink lips were a sickly shade of blue, not that anyone could see that through her Anbu mask though.
She had never been in such cold weather, and she hated to admit that she had not prepared well enough for it, especially with how shredded her current outfit was after the fight she had just been involved in.
The other team was in a worse situation however because she was certain they would freeze to death in their unconscious state. Not that she had time or energy to worry about them when she was at risk of just that herself.
She noticed the faint outline of a cabin through the snow and with the last of her energy she trudged towards it, hoping nobody was home and she could rest out of the bitter cold for a few hours.
She fell over nothing a few meters from the door and all but dragged herself the rest of the way, reaching up with great difficulty for the doorknob and slamming it not too quietly behind her.
She leaned back against the door and clutched her hand to her still bleeding side, self preservation kicking in before she passed out.
What she hadn't noticed however was a cloaked figure sitting on a bed towards the end of the room. Glowing red eyes studied her unconscious form with interest, he had just managed to get out of the snow a few minutes ago and hadn't expected an unwelcomed guest to share his space.
He examined the form on the floor and after ensuring that it was in fact unconscious he stood from his position on the bed and walked towards it.
He cloak covered most of it but as he bent down and pulled off her mask he thought he recognised her. He couldn't be sure because her eyes were closed but the long midnight hair and porcelain skin was reminiscent of a certain Hyuuga he had barely known years ago. Not that she had long hair back then.
He debated killing her or throwing her back out into the snow to freeze to death but somehow her peaceful face and slow breathing soothed him and decided on a whim to be merciful.
What he did though was pull the backpack off from behind her and removed the countless weapons from her vest, namely her katana, shuriken and kunai. He wasn't going to give her any advantages if she decided to attack him.
He did her a kindness and placed her gloved hand back over the most serious of her many wounds and returned to the bed where he lay in wait.
Perhaps being trapped in an abandoned cabin during this blizzard would be so boring after all.
oOo
Ooh I wonder what will happen?
Yes I started another story yet again, I know I'm terrible but I get too many ideas and often lose track of where I want to go with my older stories. Kind of feels weird to continue them because my writing style changed a lot and every time I try go back and read my stories to remember them I just cringe lmao.
Oh well please review if you liked it and want to know what will happen next, I will try to update this as soon as possible but no promises since I have 2 essays due this week that I have currently neglected to write because I'm a great student.
Until next time~
Jess.
P.S I'll probably just make up stuff that isn't true to the anime but you can consider it an AU
I haven't actually completed Naruto.