The meditation room is the place where I do not look forward to go. The entire room makes me shiver and caused my heart to beat hard. No matter how old I get, I am always going to be afraid of my father's powerful voice when he's angry.

Sasuke was nonchalant as my father scolded him like he never did before. Even though he wasn't yelling at me, my heart pounded every time he took a breath. Each word after he took that breath got louder and stronger than the last. I think I saw the veins pop out of his neck as he got angrier from my guardian's nonchalant demeanor.

My father hadn't scolded me. He said that I've done nothing wrong and he's glad that I tried to do the right thing.

As we left out of the room together, my guardian rubbed his ears.

"Your dad sure can yell." He said.

"Y-Yeah…" I hadn't realized how shaky my voice was until I spoke.

"Calm down. It's not like he was yelling at you. I should be the one trembling."

"I know… Father is just so… scary. Doesn't anyone you know scare you?"

"Neji. He's got it out for me." He said seriously.

A small laughed slipped from my mouth. To me, Neji is not scary at all. He's the sweetest person I know.

I found myself staring at Sasuke. He took notice to my gaze and hit me lightly on the head. That was the softest hit I've ever received from him.

"Hinata." Neji called as he came out of one of the rooms.

"Yes?"

"Someone's waiting for you in the parlor."

For me? That's rare. I never get visitors.

I thanked my cousin then Sasuke and I went down to the parlor.

At first, we saw no one but then Sasuke tightly held my hand. His eyes quickly shifted with the coldest look to one of the chairs in the room. Soon, I saw a head of blonde hair sprouting from the chair. He stood up from the seat to face us. The surprise guest turned out to be Naruto Uzumaki.

The blonde boy approached us cautiously. My guardian looked as though he was about to pounce on him.

"Naruto?" I said. I felt pretty confused by his visit, especially since our incident today and hidden feelings, both good and bad, were revealed.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely, bowing for me. "My behavior was out of line."

"U-Uh, um… Apology accepted." I am not used to being bowed to. I felt uncomfortable.

Naruto said to Sasuke "I'm sorry." He held his hand out for my guardian to take it.

At first, I was worried he wouldn't take it. His face was blank so I wasn't sure what my guardian would do. He's not very forgiving. If Sasuke does take Naruto's hand, then I know that he'll still dislike him deep down.

To both Naruto's and my surprise, my guardian let go of me to shake Naruto's hand. They smiled friendly at each other as they shook hands. I hope they will become friends. Everything will be so much more peaceful then.

"So, Hinata?" Naruto asked. "About that letter, would you like to hang out with me some time?"

I smiled as nice as I could even though I remembered how he treated the note when I gave it to him with little confidence. The cruel way he treated my delicate feelings is definitely something I will not forget and will take me a while to forgive. I'm still a little embarrassed. Despite feeling heartbroken I spoke kindly to the blonde boy. "Sorry, I'm not interested in you anymore."

"Oh…" I noticed that his voice cracked in his speech. "I see… So… I'll see you two some other time then."

We waved good-bye to each other. The closest guard let him out of the main exit.

"Maybe he is sweet after all." I said.

"If you call that sweet."

"Well… you sure aren't."

My guardian scoffed at that comment. He knows it's true.

Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes turned black but his head didn't turn in a particular direction. After the darkness faded, he seemed confused.

He didn't give me the opportunity to ask the question since he already knew what I was going to say. "I don't know what's happening in Konohagakure but I think people are falling asleep. My vision showed me people sleeping in the middle of the street and I saw the teachers and other staff sleeping at school. I don't know what's going on."

"Really? You think it could be a tainted one?"

"Most likely."

Never had I thought a tainted one could take out a whole city with magic. No one seemed that powerful. Well… at least the ones I've encountered.

"It's not just normal citizens as the victims. Pure ones are also sleeping." My guardian added in.

"What a pain."

So far, all of the tainted ones that caused problems were named after deadly sins. This one must be Sloth. Water is the only element that can cause slumber, so this must one must have the water element. How could someone so evil carry such a pure power? It's unfathomable.

"Do you think we can follow the source of magic?"

"That is probably the worst thing to do. It could be a trap. We'll lie in wait since all evil things seem to find their way to you."

I laughed nervously. With that being a fact, it worries me a little.

"In the meantime, I should help you with darkness. I don't want to see another scene similar to Gluttony's."

"If you're going to train…" Neji said. His voice scared me. He came into the parlor with a smirk on his face. "Allow me to join in. It won't hurt to step the training up a level."

Sasuke scoffed. "Me? Work with you? That is the most…" I cleared my throat and looked my guardian in the eyes. "… the greatest thing I've heard all day. You're so brilliant Neji. Let's get started right now."

The "You're so brilliant Neji" part was definitely meant to sound smart-ass. I hate when he does that. This is why he has no friends.

We gathered out at the usual training spot. Two against one. Both and Sasuke are highly skilled with their magic. Why are they doing this to me now? I'm not strong enough.

"You can only use light against me and dark against Sasuke. Do your best." Neji said. It's hard to think fast and have control of elements that are the opposite.

My cousin signaled us to start. Immediately, I activated one element in each hand. Before I knew it, they were already coming for me.

My guardian performed a high flying kick. It just missed my face and he swerved behind me. Meanwhile, Neji glided down low and attempted to attack my stomach. Luckily, it was an easy dodge.

Neji came for me again down low. Another easy dodge, so I moved backwards away from Neji's strike but I forgot about Sasuke.

I looked back to get to Sasuke before he got to me but it was too late to move out of the way. My guardian's left fist met my right shoulder blade. It didn't hurt much but it knocked me off balance.

As I stumbled to catch myself, Neji came up behind me and hit my ankles. My face hit the ground. Now that hurt.

"Are you okay?" They both asked in unison.

"Y-Yeah…" I responded wiping the dirt off of my face.

We didn't waste any time to get back to the session.

After I looked up from the ground, I had to do a double take when I realized that Sasuke had disappeared. Like the last time we trained together, I couldn't see or hear him. My guardian isn't going to take it easy on me this time. He's not moving in a pattern at all.

Neji stood in the background. His eyes were glowing a bright white like his magic. He can see Sasuke's location and movements but I can't.

Out of nowhere, I stumbled backwards and felt light-headed. I didn't know where that phantom-like impact came from. To try to trace the next attack, I put up a dark shield in front of me only. This shield protected me from any magic attack, so I'll be able to tell if Sasuke is coming from any other direction, besides the front.

The light-headed feeling came from the right side of my body, so I quickly sent a wave of dark sound waves in that direction. Sasuke reappeared next to me. He was kneeling on one knee with his head down. He should be feeling heavy due to the effect of the waves.

Quickly, I raised my left hand. I conjured light magic to it. Unable to stop himself as he came charging in, Neji ran right into my hand.

I smiled saying "I didn't forget this time."

A gentle thrust was all I needed to push my cousin back. He landed on his butt.

Sasuke snickered at him. Neji threw a pebble at him.

"Hyuga!" Sasuke shouted.

"You've got a problem? Get up and solve it. Oh…" Neji then laughed to himself at my guardian's condition. "That's right… You've been bound to the earth with your own element. How shameful."

"Bastard…" Sasuke mumbled.

"Guys!" I interrupted. If I let this continue, they'd go on forever. "I thought you two were fighting me, not each other. Let's continue."

Neji sighed as he got up from the ground. He released the gravitational pull that the darkness had on Sasuke.

My guardian snarled at Neji. My cousin returned the rude gesture. All I did was huff and they looked at me like I killed just someone.

"What? All I did was…"

"Not you." Sasuke said to me. "That."

He pointed at the sky behind me. Thick, gray clouds were rolling in abnormally fast. The clouds were bringing rain along with them.

"It's the tainted one's doing." Sasuke said.

Before it could reach us at the manor, I put up the largest, hottest (literally) fire force field around the manor's perimeter. If I put up a shield of any other element, the toxic water would sit on top of it.

It worked too. The rain evaporated before it even touched the fire. However, one drop landed on the fire. It didn't pierce through or extinguish the flames, but it was the only one to touch the force field which was rare.

Sweat beaded down my face and arms. It seemed to be raining over in our area only. Holding up the fire took a toll on my body. My palms began to burn already from the heat.

My guardian noticed the strain on my face. He wanted to help somehow but there is no way at the moment.

The rain didn't seem to die down and the tainted one was nowhere in sight. Without the tainted one in sight, Sasuke and Neji couldn't assist me. As I thought about the situation more, I came up with a plan. It will take a lot out of me but it is worth a try to protect everyone.

I had the force field shoot out fireballs at the clouds. The clouds dried up a little but with all of the moisture in the sky, they swiftly recovered. It's exhausting to keep up while exerting so much power.

My legs could hardly support me. They were shaking terribly. It kind of felt like being kicked multiple times in the knees.

The rain got harder all of a sudden and all of the drops touched the blazing flames. Steam rose up from the shield. I tried to raise the heat to save the shield, but I, unfortunately, didn't have enough strength.

My cousin and guardian gasped as the flames extinguished.

A headache overcame me. I couldn't feel anything on my body. The next thing I know, Sasuke had me in his arms. Neji stood in front of us. I looked in the direction that they were looking in.

It had stopped raining for sure but the water on the ground looked a little strange. It seemed like blobs of light blue jelly. It came together and formed a person. It was a woman. She yawned and stretched her out her arms. She seemed so… tired.

The woman observed her surroundings. As she did so, her body remained still and her head turned to her left and right stiffly. Her body was hunched over like she didn't feel like standing up straight and her knees were bent as if she couldn't support her weight, which is funny because she is skinnier than Sakura.

"Who are you?" Neji demanded.

Her tired blue eyes focused on Neji's.

This woman's speech was slow. She spoke slowly. It was somewhat like she didn't want to talk or even be here for that matter.

"My name is…" She yawned for a long time. "… Sloth." Her lazy eyes focused on me. "Gifted one… The wielder of all six elements… Come with me… Pride is waiting…"

"Pride?" I repeated. "Who's that?"

"My master."

"That's too bad." Neji said. "Hinata isn't going anywhere with you."

Sloth yawned loudly. She laid down on the ground on her belly despite the mud.

"Fine… You asked for it…" She said.

The ground began to rumble viciously. We all wondered why since she couldn't possibly have earth magic too but we soon realized water was rising up. It looked like water came from several different places.

The water Sloth conjured up smelled like sea water. The water had to have come from the ocean at the beach. There was so much of it.

Without thinking, I summoned a wall of fire. It hurt so much to do it that I yelped. Good thing it wasn't in vain.

I had my hands out in front of me because it hurt to touch anything. They were quivering. It felt like my hands were on fire. Do all wielders of fire feel this way?

My fire wall extinguished and Sloth's water evaporated.

"Stop it." Sasuke said. "It's hurting you."

"S-Sorry…"

"Neji and I will handle this one."

"He's right." Neji agreed. "This one won't have the chance to escape."

My guardian carried me to a safer place. I begged him to let me see the battle. He sighed and let me because he knew I'd be bugging him all day if he didn't.

I'd have healed myself a long time ago but using any type of magic hurt. I really want to fight with them.

Without any signs of hesitation, my guardian and cousin fearlessly faced Sloth. Her lazy eyes focused on their eyes. Hopefully they can work together without arguing about something stupid.

Sloth stood up. She hunched over and yawned again.

Sloth has brown wavy hair that is shoulder length. Her eyes are blue like the deep part of the ocean. She is skinnier than Sakura and also paler. This tainted one wore all black just like all of the other ones we've seen so far. She has on a large trench coat. The oversized coat looked like it could eat her in one gulp. She has on black, baggy leather pants and a simple black T-shirt that is also too big for her.

The tainted one slowly took a step forward. To be cautious, Neji and Sasuke took a step backward.

She smiled wearily and raised a hand. Water shot out of the ground right under their feet. They were able to dodge it in time. Sloth moved her hands like she was painting a picture. Her blue eyes focused on Neji. I'd say the fastest thing on Sloth's body is her eyes looking from target to target.

Her palm raised slowly in Neji's direction. She spread her fingers wide open, then, with surprising strength, she balled her hand back up into a fist.

Water circled around Neji's feet. It made its way up to my cousin's head. I gasped as I noticed the water morph. It was going to crush his head.

Immediately, I lifted up a hand to stop it, but then I realized that Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

Out of nowhere, my guardian reappeared in front of Sloth. His entire arm was black. With that arm, he grabbed Sloth's boney face and slammed her down head first onto the ground. Her head landed harshly on the muddy ground as she laid lifelessly in front of my guardian.

The water from around Neji's body lost form and fell to the ground. I sighed in relief.

The two boys gave each other a high five. The battle appeared to be over.

They were happy from killing the tainted but then we heard snoring. Not too long ago the woman wasn't breathing.

The little pond nearby emptied. All of the water came out and shielded Sloth's sleeping body. Does she have the ability to fight while she is asleep?

Tentacles of water formed on the spherical shield. One of them whipped at Neji and Sasuke. They moved in time but I got nervous when that deadly attack left a deep dent in the earth.

"We have to take her out quick." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, I know."

The area where Sasuke placed me was near the two of the manor's glass windows. I shrieked and ducked when the windows broke and large amounts of water came bursting out of the manor. The water added to Sloth's shield making it bigger. The tentacles became bigger too.

Sasuke stood in the shade. Neji kept his distance as he stood out in the sun. They both drew energy from their element. My guardian's eyes turned black and my cousin's eyes turned whiter than they usually are.

The shadows gathered around Sasuke like an aura. It was like an endless supply of darkness. In groups, the shadows hit Sloth's shield. Only a few could pierce through it though. Some darkness almost hit Sloth on the inside.

Neji had the sunlight gather around him. Just like Sasuke, it was like an endless supply of light. Instead of the light hitting the water shield, the light restrained any tentacle that interfered and the rest went through and attacked the sleeping Sloth. Her defense fell and splashed everywhere. She sat up from the muddy ground and rubbed her eyes.

Just as my cousin and guardian were about to perform the finishing blow to the vulnerable intruder, Sloth escaped. She let the ground absorb her.

I was relieved that my friends were okay but for how long? All of them are escaping and we all know something big is coming. This "Pride" person that Sloth is talking about must be really strong. I hope that Pride doesn't decide to come to get me personally since the minions can't get the job done.

With the help of my clan, they used their light to wake up everyone in Konohagakure. After I recovered, I restored the manor to its former glory. I had not realized how damaged the land was until I fixed it. Sloth hurt our property more than she did Sasuke and Neji.

Sloth made me realized something though. For a gifted one, I'm pretty weak. To protect everyone is the number one job as a gifted one. I have to train harder… Even if it costs me my life…

To be continued…