Her senses returned to her in slow progression.

Smell. Though it was undoubtedly musty and had a certain pungent aroma to it, the far off sent of decay was still detectable.

Taste. Clotted, dried blood had found its way into her mouth. The bitter taste of iron was mixed in with collective dirt and dust and left her with a dry, harsh feeling in her mouth.

Touch. It was unusually damp, cold and clammy. The coarse, solid ground held traces of moisture within its creases, and was icy to the touch. Her body ached, lying upon such a ground, with sharp pains shooting throughout her worn frame.

Hearing. Unplaced echoes, inhuman wails, and distraught pleas plagued her ears.

Mustering up all of her remaining strength, Hinata Hyuuga wearily propped herself into a sitting position.

Sight. Lavender-tinted eyes opened slowly despite her body's protesting. It took a few collective moments before her surroundings could be registered. Her cell was completely obscured by darkness albeit a small flickering candle that illuminated the furthest corner of her chamber and produced long casting shadows upon everything else in the room. She could make out the outline of a filthy mattress pushed against the far back wall opposite the candle and of a bucket kicked on its side near the front of the cell.

Hinata rose slowly onto unstable footing only to fall back down again with an involuntary gasp of pain. Instead she crawled slowly towards the mattress and settled herself upon it. The Hyuuga brought a worn and bruised hand up and examined it. It was covered in dried blood, and her jacket sleeve was soaked in crimson. Her once well groomed long indigo locks were now matted with blood in jagged, uneven lengths.

Before she could stop herself a steady stream of tears cascaded along her forlorn face. She felt shame for ending up a prisoner. She felt pity to those she had let down. Overall, however, she felt the all too familiar stings of failure return to her conscience.

Memories, jagged and fragmented, surfaced back to her as she recalled the events of her past.

"Hinata!" Tsunade barked while looking up from her enormous stacks of paper work.

"You mission is to deliver this scroll to the daimyo of the Land of Woods. Now, this is a B ranked mission, so be on guard at all times, though I don't expect too much trouble. I want you packed and ready to depart in 3 hours. You should arrive at your destination in approximately 5 days, so don't dawdle! Got it?"

"Yes ma'am" was the reply of the kunoichi.

The journey there was very uneventful, but Hinata enjoyed the peace and quiet all the same.

It was the journey home however, that led to the position she was in now.

It was about 2 days into the journey when she was ambushed. As she was walking a single kunai drove its way into the trunk of a tree, barely skimming her cheek in the process. She reacted immediately by activating her Byakugan, and letting chakra course through her body.

She counted 8 attackers, all of which had completely surrounded her. 2 to the left , 1 to the right, 3 edging closer from behind, and 2 hidden amongst the canopy of trees overhead.

She instantly extracted several kunai from her pouch, managing to bury one deep in the chest of one amongst the tree while missing the other by mere inches. This, however, signaled the start of the battle.

"7 on 1" she thought bitterly "how fair"

The 2 ninja originally to her left emerged first. One was massively built with large, bulging muscles. His partner was closer to her in height yet looked like he had immense speed and agility.

Hinata leaped forward towards the pair and struck the smallest one first, as he seemed a larger threat at the moment. She sent sharp streams of chakra to each palm and began to disable his Tenketsu. With his chakra completely drained, the foreign ninja fell to the ground as dead weight. The larger ninja stepped forward towards the young kunoichi and gripped her from the neck, dangling her several feet above the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Hinata sent her own chakra throughout the man's outstretched arm, rendering it useless. She was immediately dropped to the ground as the ninja's arm slackened. She aimed a low sideways kick while on the ground, only for it to be dodged easily.

The 4 previously hidden ninja suddenly presented themselves suddenly in an onslaught of weaponry. Using her Kekkei Genkai she managed to dodge all oncoming kunai and shuriken, or so she thought. A thrown kunai crossed directly with her blind spot, managing to become lodged in her shoulder. Gasping with pain, she clutched her shoulder and ripped out the weapon. Crimson spread fast and steady from the wound. She tucked away the oncoming dizziness to focus on her battle.

Three of the ninja leaped forward to engage her in taijutsu combat while the other three hung back and began rapidly forming hand signs. She went on the defense, easily blocking all of the oncoming attacks. Her first priority was to stop the three ninjas who had retreated to form what appeared to be a synchronized jutsu; however, the three attacking ninja prevented her from thwarting the jutsu.

Overwhelmed was an understatement. She wanted to give up. Embrace failure in a twisted attempt to bypass oncoming shame. As she was ready to give in, a dazzling smile and bright blue eyes plagued her thoughts.

"I mustn't give up. I will never back down, for that is my nindo."

With new found vigor she plunged herself into the battle. Reforming the Juuken stance, Hinata began forcing her chakra into her closest victim. The ninja, surprised by her newfound energy, was ultimately unable to stop her oncoming attack, and fell over in a lifeless faint. She engaged the remaining two in simultaneously. She managed to land a blow to the lungs of one of her opponents, effectively shutting down his entire respiratory system. Her final opponent however had taken this moment to approach her from behind. Hinata felt a warm, tough finger on the back of her neck. The man behind her formed a hand sign with his available hand, which placed a small seal where his calloused fingertip was. Her attacker let out a low chuckle while leaping away from the scene. Hinata realized in horror that she could no longer move, as if she was bound to the ground.

"Chakra Sealing Confinement Barrier"

The three formally idol ninja has successfully cast their jutsu over the kunoichi. A hazy, white triangle encompassed Hinata, with a ninja standing at each corner. The sudden loss of chakra forced her shakily to her knees. The outer walls of the barrier progressively turned darker as more and more of her chakra left her body. In her final moments, Hinata looked up to the sky, wondering if she'd be missed, before her unconscious body fell with a lifeless thud.