Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. This was written for the twenty-seventh Sci-Friday challenge over on Wattpad, where one had to focus on the subject of Nuclear Winter. The one-shot needed to be under 1,500 words as well. For some reason the fact Hinata reminds me of a shrine maiden got incorrporated into this one as well.

Nuclear Sands

Simply they needed to deliver the package ordered to the archeological team located in the land of deserts, but Hinata's team found themselves being led through some of the discoveries as the sandy haired Shinobi from Suna chatted away regarding the research going on. Kiba blinked back tears of boredom, and leaned over towards Shino. "Seriously? This is part of diplomatic relations between our village and Suna? This guy sounds nutters talking about how the land of wind wasn't always desert."

"Be that as it may," Shino started into a lecture about how important the ruins were to understanding the past.

Hinata's cheeks blushed slightly as the man said something about how the mural the found used the word earth a lot, and her fingers twiddled together while she looked at the back of her teacher. The man led them into a rather old structure, and her eyes took in the structure that varied from what she knew. The place gave her an errie feelings, and she felt her throat tighten as the wish to leave wouldn't go away.

The man finally stopped in front of a mural, and her eyes widened upon seeing a picture of the ruins on the wall, with lush greenery all around the place. Shino's voiced hummed. "Perhaps it isn't so much that the land of wind was green, but that this place was a major oasis in the desert?"

"Quite possible."

Hinata's mouth opened as her eyes drifted across the picture, and for some reason she felt like activating her Byakugan. Her breath tightened as she felt herself pulled into the picture, and her head spun. The place she found herself was strange, a place with strange tables configured in a manner which made no sense to her, and a large window looking out at a giant sphere floating in the stars. A squeak escaped Hinata's mouth as the people moving around were complete strangers.

One of the people passed right through her, and Hinata's eyes closed. "I must be dreaming then." A soft hand settled upon her heart, and she opened her eyes. The feeling that someone was watching her made her turn her head, and she let out another squeak upon seeing a woman with long, black straight hair staring at her. Hinata's mouth moved into a circular formation, upon realizing the woman appeared to also have the Byakugan.

"Um, excuse me."

The woman didn't respond, and instead turned her head to look to the front. "I don't believe this is a good idea, taking the colonies to task like this."

Hinata blinked a couple of times, before sneaking farther along to the front of the ship. Her eyes widened as she looked down at the land below. "Is that, I recognize the shape of the land there. That's the islands which make up the Land of Water, which means that to the left is the Land of Fire." Hinata's finger moved from one side to another, and stopped where the Land of Wind should have been. "That's not right. The Land of Wind is a desert, but this place is beautiful and green. So then the mural is true."

Her lips pushed together as she noticed where Suna would be in the future, but her attention was quickly drawn back to the conversation the woman was having with another person. The person's face was cloaked, and they spoke in a manner which sent a shiver down Hinata's spine. "You know full well that the colonies have gotten out from under our control. They're now developing even stronger weapons, including those beasts. Thus we need to send a message, and by that we bring out our strongest weapon against the station city."

"There are people down there who have kin. If you destroy the base for transporting goods..."

"We simply need to transport the supplies down which would create a new base."

"You're missing the point."

"We gave them time to comply with our demands. They've got a certain amount of time left. We're simply placing the targeting dot letting them know we are serious."

Hinata turned her head back as she heard the sound of machinery, and saw a red line appear heading down to the sphere below her. Her throat choked up, and her hands went to her mouth. "No! That's the place Suna is now!"

"Place the base on screen."

Hinata's eyes darted over to a rather large screen, as her hands remained over her mouth. Her body shook as she saw a place as big as Suna, but with strange buildings that were nothing like she'd seen before, but which were similar to the ruins down below, but more advanced. A clock ticked by, and she found herself waiting as the clock ran out of time.

"Fire the shot. We'll show that our new weapon is worth the trouble."

A rumbling came from the strange room Hinata was in, and she watched as a hissing sound was heard, and a light shot down hitting the city. Her body trembles as she saw a shock wave go over, tearing at the land, and pushing the ground where the city stood down, and burying it. Her eyes turned back to look at the world below, and her stomach lurched at the sight of the once lush green land now replaced with a wide range of land. The mountains separating the Land of Wind from other lands stopped the sand from spreading to the East.

"How..." Hinata backed away.

The people around her though sounded angry. One of the men approached the man, and pulled on the front of his clothing. "Captain! This! This is to much! We didn't just kill those at the base, but those in many of the colonies in the area!"

"This is to make a point, that we are the ones in power."

A sudden shaking occurred, and the building began to tip forward, and another visual was cued up. Hinata's eyes widened as a chain reaction occurred among these strange buildings floating in space, and she felt the building tip down towards land, and she reached out to grab the railing, but instead found herself sliding towards the window as her hand went straight through the bars. The woman looked at her coldly, but her words were for the man they called captain. "I warned you. This is the result of using power you don't even begin to understand."

Hinata found herself falling through the glass, but not breaking it, and then she sat up straight. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as Kiba and Shino knelt down beside her. The words, "don't let it happen again".

"Hinata, you look like you had a bad dream."

"I did, but..." Hinata swallowed. "I don't remember what happened."