More Than
Useless
by
ILikeSlushies
(Inspired
by the Relient K song)
Throbbing hands. Weary eyes. Heavy breathing. Hinata stood, poised and ready, yet looking as if she would collapse at the slightest touch. Her head leaned back and forth with each gasp for air, her midnight blue hair swaying in rhythm as it gleamed in the bright moonlight. Veins bulged around her lavender-white, widely-opened eyes; her Byakugan had been activated for a while. Clenching her teeth and narrowing her eyes, she lunged once again to attack her foe.
A log.
She had again snuck out at night to train covertly. Apparently, her internal organ-damaging attacks didn't work so well on wood. But when people train in the middle of the night, they can't expect to find anyone else to train with.
It didn't matter to Hinata though. Palms outstretched, she focused her power and attacked the lumber with her hands, shining blue sparks of chakra flying with each impact. Her quick movements almost evaded the naked eye: merely blurs of pink skin and blue chakra could be seen.
"Maybe..." Hinata thought as she trained, "Maybe, if I work hard enough, I can change myself..." Training sessions with her father. Missions with team eight. The chuunin exams. Failure and disappointment seemed to follow her wherever she went. But, she thought, perhaps with enough effort, she could become more than useless. Perhaps she would be acknowledged by her father, her peers, and most of all, Naruto. Her face flushed as she thought of him; just imagining the blond smiling proudly at her filled her stomach with butterflies. "Naruto..." she uttered as she continued her endless barrage of blows, her head lowered in determination.
Searing pain suddenly struck, causing the girl's next attack to miss as she softly cried out in distress. Gathering the last bit of her chakra in her hand, she thrusted it toward the training log in one last blow.
She fell to her hands and knees. Her arm gripped her torso in pain as she trembled, coughing and gasping for air. The girl had reached her limit. The Byakugan withdrew, her eyes though still clenched in agony. "I'm already out of chakra," she criticized herself and clenched her fist into the dirt, "and the log is still standing..."
Clunk. Hinata raised her head as she heard a sudden noise. A piece of bark lay before her on the grass. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked up just in time to see churned woodchips from inside the log spill out onto the ground.