A/N: Sorry for posting this a day late, I'm visiting my family and my old-school dad doesn't even have internet access -_-. I'm posting from a Starbucks. All praise free Wi-Fi! Enjoy the chapter.
One Month Later…
Hinata raced along the treetops, the world passing as a blur. She had increased her speed substantially training in the last month, but her opponent was still keeping up with her. The Hyuuga put on a burst of speed to try to get some more distance between them.
She scanned with her Byakugan and found her opponent thirty yards to her left and keeping pace with her. In the treetops the foliage was so thick there was no way her opponent could see her. The girl had no idea how the enemy could track her so well without the Byakugan… but there were still advantages with her eyes she could exploit.
The young Hyuuga palmed a kunai from her pouch and threw it in an intercept course with her opponent. At this distance and speed it would probably be off by at least a foot, but it didn't matter. She watched with the Byakugan until the blade came closest to her opponent… and used the weapon as she had been taught.
"Kai!" she screamed while forming the half-tiger seal. The result was instantaneous. The kunai exploded, buckling and shattering tree trunks from ten yards around. She lost track of her opponent, and for a second Hinata thought she might have actually caught the enemy shinobi in the blast.
A second later she spotted the enemy, now ten feet above her in the canopy and racing towards her, closing ground fast. Hinata cursed inwardly, and made a dash for the forest floor where she might stand more of a chance. The Byakugan user could not use her full speed on the tree tops yet, and her opponent had a huge advantage on her in that department.
As she landed she palmed another kunai from her pouch and threw it up at her opponent who was now jumping down after her. Hinata detonated the kunai as came within inches of her opponent. "Kai!" she said, again with the half tiger seal to detonate the custom-made tag on the handle. The blast of the explosion was so close it almost knocked her off her feet.
With her Byakugan she could see the form of the enemy disappear instantly without a trace. A Bushin. She would have groaned at wasting such a precious weapon on an illusion, but the enemy was still out there waiting for the chance to strike.
Hinata spotted one person in the trees above, and another behind her on the forest flood hidden behind a large tree. At least one of them was a Bushin, or maybe Kagebushin this time. She decided to go on the offensive, as had been repeatedly pounded into her she needed to for the last month.
The girl gathered the chakra to her feet, pulled out a kunai and launched herself at the one behind the tree. One step took her next to the tree, and with a second step she changed directions to strike.
Her kunai struck the enemy in the chest and it puffed into white smoke. Kagebushin. However Hinata had not yet really mastered how to stop instantly, and she kept going and stumbled for another five or so feet the Body Movement, struggling to stop herself. The other figure above her took the chance.
The young Hyuuga saw as the enemy jumped directly above her, and in the air went through a lightning fast series of seals. "Futon: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough). A great gust of wind came down on top of the girl and lifted her off her feet. The girl struggled to make a seal as she was thrown around like a leaf in the wind, and was eventually slammed into a tree a good hundred feet away.
However, as Hinata's body struck the tree, her figure turned in to a log that fell harmlessly to the ground.
Hinata hid some distance away, observing the figure of her opponent as she examined the log that she had used for the substitution technique. She was breathing hard, from the Jutsu and techniques she had just used and how close she had come to getting seriously injured. Hinata concentrated on slowing her breathing down and observed her enemy as she planned what to do next.
"Not bad Hina-chan. But you must have known that Kagebushin placed so conveniently for you to use Body Movement to attack was nothing but bait" she heard a voice say behind her.
Hinata moved to whip around and turn but a hand that seemed as strong as steel grabbed her behind the neck and kept her in place. The girl arched her back painfully as the hand squeezed harder. After a second she felt almost paralyzed, and feared something in her neck might break.
"Sensei… le- let go, you win…" she pleaded somewhat painfully (and maybe pitifully) as she continued to arch her back as she tried instinctively to move to a less painful position.
"Make me" came a reply. Damn, this always ended badly.
Hinata grabbed the hand holding her neck and twisted her body so her whole weight would be against Sensei's thumb. The woman was forced to let go. At the same time she turned and brought her leg up to kick her Sensei. She ended up getting thrown and flipping once in the air, before landing on her stomach painfully.
"Well, I guess we're done for the morning. It's almost time for you to go play house with your little boyfriends anyway" Anko said, dusting off her hands before turning around and starting to walk off, "come on, let's go."
Yea right, thought Hinata, Like I'm going to fall for that again. "Hai Sensei" she said, and dutifully got up and began to walk after her Sensei. She kept her Byakugan activated while trying to still look relaxed, though the veins around her eyes bulging kind of gave it away. Something was coming. Probably.
Not two seconds later while still looking at her Sensei's back she saw it… Sensei in front of her wasn't leaving footprints. A Bushin, most likely. She looked around quickly, knowing what to look for. And then in between the trees ahead she saw it. A well concealed trap where "Sensei" Bushin had just walked through. Hinata gave herself a small smile. That whole "we're done" and then getting attacked right after only worked on her the first couple of times.
The girl took out a kunai and was going to throw it at the mechanism of the trap… when she felt something grab her feet. She looked down. Gloved hands were gripping her ankles, coming out of the earth. Her eyes went wide. She had been paying attention everywhere, except underground. Crap!
Before she could try to struggle free she was being pulled downwards, hard. However, the only thing that got pulled underground was another wood log… it ended up with just a bit of the top sticking out.
"Kawarimi… she's been getting good at that" Anko mused to herself, as she hid in the trees with a genjutsu that made her invisible to even the Byakugan. However, that only applied if she stood still. Against regular eyes, she could move and still retain a high level of camouflage. As soon as she moved an inch in this situation however, the White Eyes would spot her. Still it highlighted one of Hinata's… and the Hyuuga's… weaknesses.
Rely too much on one tool… no matter how good it is… and it can be used against you. I wonder how much longer it's going to take her to figure out I can hide from her Byakugan? The Snake Jounin thought to herself with some amusement.
Well, but she was getting a little bored of just going easy on the girl even if that was what was needed to train her. It was time to go at it a little bit more seriously. It was almost time for her to go meet Kurenai's little team and play genin anyways. Anko smiled to herself. She always liked to end their little sessions with a little tough love… needed to make sure the brat didn't get a big head about her progress, after all.
The older woman jumped from where she had concealed herself down to the forest floor, and then ran to where her genin was hiding. She made no effort to conceal her approach, and the Hyuuga saw her coming, readying herself for the fight.
As Anko ran full speed at Hinata, the woman dropped to the floor and slid under the girl's guard, and allowed her momentum to carry her through kicking the girl in the stomach. The girl flew back some ten feet away with a muffled cry.
While flat on the ground the girl struggled to move and get up. The girl eventually managed to get herself up to her knees, but she dubbed over and held her stomach painfully, coughing over and over again. Anko for her part frowned a little, being somewhat disappointed it had ended so fast. That kick wasn't even quite what she considered to be full power. Downing her student with only one blow like that, she had to admit, was a little disappointing.
But then again, Anko reminded herself, the girl had been coming quite far from when she first started. And the runt was quite talented in her own right. The girl's chakra, stamina, speed and toughness in a fight had all improved considerably in only the five weeks they had been training. Hina-chan was also amazingly good at Fuinjutsu (seals), having surprised her with her insight into the material she had learned and skill in drawing seals a couple of times. Anko even felt confident that the girl would finally master stopping instantaneously with the Body Movement in the next few weeks, dramatically increasing how dangerous she was in a fight. That would only be a week or two longer than it had taken her to master the skill.
She also looked different. After some discreet and not so discreet hints from her, the girl decided to stop cutting her hair like a salad bowl and only leaving some long hair to frame her face. Instead she had been letting her hair grow out and it now almost touched her shoulders. The "bangs" that framed her face had also grown, going down to the about the middle of her chest. The hair made her look older, and in Anko's opinion a hell of a lot hotter. As hot as a girl turning thirteen could be at any rate. Anko smiled as she knew some boys around town had started to take notice, though her apprentice was almost completely oblivious to any of the looks she got more often now from boys her age.
Another improvement had been the wardrobe. After a couple of weeks of seeing her in different versions of the same stupid hoodie, the snake Jounin told her to get something a self respecting shinobi and assassin might actually consider being caught decomposing in a ditch wearing.
Thankfully being a Hyuuga had at least some advantages, because the girl had absolutely no shortage of funds to buy gear like many young shinobi did. The girl ended up with a thick dark blue keikogi top, made by an ex shinobi in Konoha that was as famous for his tear resistant materials as he was for his exorbitant prices. The girl's forehead protector had even been stitched directly into the upper left arm of the vest. Anko had insisted she buy the highest quality outfit she could. On the lapels she had gotten one small Tai Chi symbol in red on either side, saying it was the symbol of the Juken style. Anko made her change it to black which Hinata had not been too happy about, but the girl knew better than to argue. Bright colors, even a tiny bit could give you away if the conditions were right Anko had explained.
Underneath the girl wore a simple black top. Black shorts (much like the style her cousin Neji wears) and black shinobi sandals completed the outfit. Though Anko was not really one to worry too much about anyone's looks, she had to say she was much more pleased with Hinata in this outfit. It made her look more serious and more badass (of course Anko's apprentice had to look badass). And more importantly it made her look more like an actual shinobi. With some more training, who knows? She might actually deserve the name sometime before the end of her life.
There was also another reason it was good the Hyuuga clan had such ridiculous amounts of money. Buying a new kunai every time she blew one up and constantly buying Fuinjutsu (Seal) making materials was extremely expensive. But it wasn't Anko's money, so what the hell did she care? As far as she was concerned losing a bit of money was the least possible thing that should happen to the Hyuuga. Hell, what Hinata spent to replace the kunai she blew up almost every day in training was probably not one tenth of what they paid their small army of servants each and every day. She doubted anyone at the household even batted and eyelash when they saw how much she was spending.
Besides, anyone from the main house looking good with expensive equipment and clothes could only reflect favorably on the clan, even if that person was the weak discarded reject of the main branch. Yea. That made perfect sense. It made Anko want to puke… all over their pretty shoes.
As she watched her charge struggling to get to her feet, Anko suddenly sensed a presence approaching behind her. A few seconds later, she recognized the chakra. "Yo, Hayate. What you want?" she called out without turning around. One of her old teammates from her days in ANBU, a man she actually had a small bit of respect for as a shinobi.
Hinata saw the man as she struggled to her feet. She spotted who Sensei had been talking to, a Konoha shinobi standing by a tree a respectful distance away. That Sensei didn't even bother to turn around must mean that she trusted the man… or at least trusted him enough that he wouldn't attack her in the back.
On closer inspection, the man made Hinata a little concerned. He looked sick. Almost like he would collapse and keel over any minute now. This was reinforced when he broke into a fit of coughing. It made Hinata want to go over and help him… but it's not like she knew even one lick of medical ninjutsu.
After the coughing fit stopped, the man spoke. "Hokage-sama wants to see you as soon as possible Anko-san. That's all."
Anko looked over her shoulder at Hayate and actually smiled at him. "Hokage-sama have you running errands for him now Hayate? How the ANBU have fallen nowdays."
The man coughed violently a few more times before he was able to answer. "Just on a way to a mission. Finding you was a little side trip before leaving. Well, I'll be off then." The man made a hand seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
As soon as Hayate had left, Anko turned and started walking in the direction of Konoha. "We're done for now, I have to go see Hokage-sama" she called without even turning around, "we'll meet tonight where we usually do. See ya runt." The woman jumped up into a tree and disappeared without waiting for a reaply.
Hinata sighed with relief, as she was not in the mood for much more training this morning. It could get rough. The girl got herself together and headed towards field 14 to meet her team…
Until she got her foot caught in a rope trap the pulled her by her ankle almost one hundred feet in the air. The girl sweatdropped as she hung there. Just had to get one more dig in before she left, didn't she? Sensei could be so immature.
000
Kurenai had supervised the team's training in the morning, being very pleased how the teamwork and the abilities of her entire team seemed to be coming along.
Shino seemed to have become the unofficial leader of the group, and though Kiba had resented it at first, the boy had grown into it after recognizing that the intelligent silent boy was indeed very good in that role. Now the three of them seemed to slide into their own roles whenever they were on a mission, Shino delegating the few times it was necessary and everyone sliding into a steady work rhythm. When one person finished their task they would go help the other without complaints, like it was natural. And the team was becoming very close. Yes, things were going very well.
Now they were walking to the Hokage's office to receive their mission for the day, though it would be a little different this time. They had been doing one or two D-Ranked missions every day. But now they were about to take on something a little more challenging.
"So, anyone know how many D-Ranked missions we've done so far?" Asked Kurenai to her team as they walked slightly ahead of her.
"Pfft… I lost count Kurenai-sensei. Forty? Fifty?" said Kiba.
"We have completed 53 missions to date." Said Shino.
"That's right, 53 D-ranked missions. Does anyone know how many are needed before we are eligible for a C-Rank?" asked Kurenai.
"Fifty." Said Hinata. Kurenai smiled. Though the girl was still on the shy side and remained very soft spoken, she didn't stutter and wasn't shy to speak up within their group. There was no shyness or hesitation when she spoke to them anymore. It always pleased her a great deal to see what progress the girl made.
"Woa, so… that means we can do C-Ranked missions now, right?!" said Kiba excitedly, pumping his firsts in the air. Akamaru let out one of his cute little barks to share in his master's excitement. His reaction was not a surprise, Kirenai though amusedly. The boy made it almost a daily pastime to complain about how stupid the D-Ranked missions they were made to do were.
"Yes, that's right Kiba. Though we probably still will do a majority of D-Ranked missions as a young genin team, we will now also get some C-Ranked into the mix. I'm just letting you guys know that I officially requested we receive our first C-Rank mission today. When we get to the Hokage's office, that is what will be assigned to us." Said Kurenai.
"Kurenai-sensei," spoke Hinata "are you sure we're ready for a C-Ranked mission yet?" She didn't seem frightened by the prospect of a C-Rank mission Kurenai noted. It was more like she was concerned. The girl still had confidence problems, but she was no longer afraid to engage in any of their trainings or in things that needed to be done. It was kind of hard to be really anxious over D and C-Ranked missions when you had to train with Anko everyday, Kurenai though to herself with a small smile. Though she was not as confident as maybe Kurenai would like her to be, this Hinata was tremendously better than the shy wilting flower she had first met over a month ago.
"Don't worry Hinata," began the red-eyed Jounin, "the worst that you'll encounter in a C-Rank mission will be brigands and robbers. The highest end, maybe some civilian soldiers. Something you three should be able to handle without too many problems. And if anything goes wrong, you'll have me with you. So yes, I'm positive Team 8 is ready to handle any C-Rank mission we might encounter." Kurenai flashed a reassuring smile to the young girl.
Hinata for her part was sure the other members of her team, Kiba, Shino and of course Kurenai-sensei could handle the missions without any problems. She just worried a bit about herself. Hinata knew she could handle something as simple as what Kurenai-sensei just described… but a small part of her still wondered if she would choke when a real life situation presented itself. She signed. Well, if she could survive Sensei (remember Sensei=Anko) she supposed a bunch of brigands wouldn't have much to bring to the table.
Soon they arrived at the Hokage's tower, and went inside to receive their mission.
000
Namikaze "Naruto" Sarutobi and his team of Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino (annoying fangirl!) and his uncle (not blood-related, but they had always been family since Naruto was adopted by the old man Sarutobi) Asuma were leaving the Hokage tower after receiving another C-Rank mission, this being their fifth. Naruto, being the strongest of his team and in fact the strongest of all Konoha genin, wished they could have at least a B-Rank mission. However, Asuma reminded him his team wasn't quite up to his skill level, so he kept from pestering his adopted grandfather to give him something more challenging. He could never forgive himself if he put Choji or Ino in danger in any case.
Though he would never tell that to Ino, he though with a shudder. He wasn't sure he would survive the tidalwave of declarations of love and attempted hugs plus occasional stalkings he had to put up with from his teammate on a regular basis. Ino had a lot of good qualities and he had grown to appreciate those, and he actually liked her as a teammate… but having one of your fangirls on your team really sucked. He wondered how Sasuke was doing with Sakura on his team.
The Namikaze wore what had become his staple, a long crimson trench coat with black flames at the bottom. It was much like his father's trademark duster had been, except the 4th's had been white with orange flames. Underneath he wore a long sleeved black shirt and matching crimson pants. Black sandals completed the outfit. It was a flashy costume, to be sure… but he had a flashy personality. And he had the skills to back it up. Though Naruto was generally kind and humble, much like his father had been, no one could doubt that he was one of the most talented youths in a generation.
As they headed out the last Namikaze noticed that there was a line of three or four teams waiting to get their missions… and then he did a double take when he saw the last team standing in line.
There was Kurenai who Naruto knew because she was a kind of a friend of the Sarutobi's and also from all the time she and her uncle were spending together recently. His excuses for when he went to meet Kurenai were becoming more and more lame everytime. Kurenai had also been the first one to teach him a little bit about genjutsu a few years ago.
Standing next to her were two of his old friends, loud Kiba talking loudly to Shino, and of course the stoic and quiet Shino being his other good friend.
It was the last member as he looked at her from the side that he could not recognize.
She was standing with her hands on her waist, waiting patiently and just generally looking around. Her shoulders were held back and her chest was slightly forward in an easy but confident pose. The girl looked confident and like she was really comfortable being in her body, unlike many others their own age. Her head was held high, and from what he could see from the side she looked proud and strong.
For the first time… maybe ever, Naruto stopped in his tracks at the sight of a girl. Thankfully Ino was walking in front of him yammering about something so she didn't notice.
He looked at the girl again, trying to figure out who it was. Much to his exasperation she turned her head away from him instead of towards him so he couldn't look at her face.
As he looked, he noted there was a quiet confidence in the way she carried herself that told him this girl actually trained, probably trained hard down to the bone. Unlike Sakura and Ino and every other fangirl I can think of he thought to himself, growing more intrigued by the girl with the blueish-black hair.
Then, to his surprise, out of her keikogi crawled out a very long, very thin green and yellow snake. The girl casually stoked its head before the snake wrapped itself gently around her neck, like some kind of living choker. Everyone on her team acted like this was normal. To him, this gave this strange girl an air of further mystery, and it intrigued him. Maybe it was a ninja snake? Though he didn't know if any snake summoners existed in the village.
He grabbed Choji's arm who was walking past him. The larger boy stopped and looked at him curiously. Naruto leaned in and whispered cautiously, "Hey Choji, who is that girl with Kiba's team? Do you know?"
Choji looked over, and turned to his teammate, "What's wrong with you Naruto? That's Hinata. She was in our graduating class. We met her with Kiba and Shino's team at Ichiraku's a while back, remember?" the bigger boy pulled away and started walking after their sensei who was getting ahead of them.
Naruto for his part did a double take of the girl. That was Hinata? Finally she turned more in his direction and he looked at her face, noticing her pale almost-white Hyuuga eyes. His jaw dropped. That girl was Hinata?
He remembered seeing her in class at the academy, how she was almost always by herself, looking down at the desk and looking like she would rather melt into the wall than be sitting in the classroom. He remembered seeing her at Ichiraku's a while ago, still looking the same. Always with that frankly ugly (though he would never be mean enough to say that) haircut, hardly having enough self confidence to look anyone in the eye, always hunched over and being painfully shy. And always wearing that white hoodie.
The girl before him seemed like someone totally different. She seemed confident, someone who obviously trained maybe as much as he did. Her hair was different (much better in his opinion) and wore clothes that not only looked better but actually showed that the girl had some curves. Not many girls their age actually had curves. And now that the girl actually looked up instead of looking down all the time, the Namikaze could actually get a good look at her face. He thought she was very, very pretty.
Naruto caught himself staring, and adverted his gaze before anyone could catch him at it. But damn, he though to himself. Hinata is pretty hot. And the way she seemed to be so different from all the fangirls that fought for his attention intrigued him.
Unfortunately for him, the other blonde on his team had turned and had caught him looking at Hinata. Jealousy coursed though her, and she stormed over and practically dragged the Namikaze away by his arm. "Come on Naruto-kun, let's go. Asuma is leaving us behind, we're going to be late."
"Oh… oh ok." Said Naruto intelligently, embarrassed at being caught staring and let the girl on his team drag him away.
Hyuuga Hinata, eh? I hope we get a chance to see her again sometime…
000
Though Hinata did now look very confident to almost everyone on the outside, the people who knew her knew that she wasn't quite as sure of herself as her outside seemed to suggest. Still, one could confidently say that she was more confident in a fight now than any of the other girls in her graduating class.
Their turn had come up, and they were now before the Hokage. The man sat on his desk in the missions hall, with Iruka sitting by his side assisting today.
"So," began the old Hokage, "time for your first C-Rank, is it? Ho, ho… well, let's see what we have available. Iruka, what do you recommend?" he said, asking his temporary assistant who held all the mission files.
"Well…" he said, scratching his head, "there aren't many C-Ranks left for today that might be appropriate Hokage-sama. The only one that looks like it would be suitable for a first time team would be a long deployment though… probably about three weeks."
The man looked over at the Hokage, who motioned for him to continue.
"Well, the client is a merchant conglomerate that operates near the border of what used to be the Village Hidden in Hot Water. Apparently a large group of bandits in the area have been growing increasingly bold. These merchants have a once per year large trading expedition along the border towns near the Hot Water Village, where these bandits operate. The merchants in this trading expedition seem to have little faith in the guards they can hire around those parts, so they requested shinobi to protect their caravan for the duration of their expedition. That would be about one week" finished Iruka.
"I see…" said Sarutobi, "So one week to travel there, one week for the mission and one week to return, is that correct?"
Iruka hesitated for a second, and then said, "Yes Hokage-sama. Perhaps we should wait for a mission of shorter duration, or one closer to home? Since it is their first time and all Hokage-sama. "
"Nonesense Iruka, Kurenai's team is perfectly capable of handling this mission. And it would be good experience for the young ones." Said the Third.
"But…" said Iruka.
"Iruka, there are risks in every mission. Being so far from any backup is worrisome, but a bunch of bandits is nothing these shinobi can't handle. They are qualified, so I am giving it to them."
"H-Hai, Hokage-sama" said Iruka, wanting to keep arguing but knowing it would be futile and rude to do so.
Kiba for his part was positively quivering with the need to make lots of noise about being given such a great mission. He would have, except Kurenai in her own way had put the fear of the Shinigami in him when the boy kept acting up in front of the Hokage. Being made to think he had been turned into a girl for a whole day with genjutsu was not something he would soon forget.
Shino… well, he was Shino. He took it in stride and would do his job carefully and methodically.
Hinata for her part, much to her surprise, was not really worried about the trip being extra long. They would be travelling inside the Land of Fire after all, it's not like a great deal could go wrong. What actually came to mind was how this would disrupt her training. Worse, she wondered if not training with Sensei everyday might somehow lessen the skills and confidence she had gained. Hinata resolved to train as much as she could while on the mission. And to be sure, being away from home for a while would be a welcome change… though being away from Sensei really wouldn't, she thought with a hint of sadness.
"Well, Team 8 would be happy to accept the mission Hokage-sama" said Kurenai on their behalf.
"Excellent. You are to leave tomorrow at dawn, so take the time from now until then to make preparations. The rest of the day is yours to do as you like. Good luck." Hinata was surprised to see him smile at them, but for some reason she thought the Hokage smiled at her specifically with a kind twinkle in his eye. "Dismissed" the leader said.
000
Hinata didn't have any camping gear of her own, so Kurenai had taken her to buy some. The boys all had the gear they needed at home, so headed there to make preparations and to enjoy their afternoon off before their three week mission began the following day.
After they had bought the gear, Hinata and Kurenai were walking together in silence trying to decide what each would do next, when Kurenai spoke up.
"So Hinata, how is the training with Anko going? I haven't seen her in almost a month, so I thought I would ask you. And so you know, whatever it is you are doing, the results are showing. You have become much more dependable Hinata-chan."
The girl blushed a little bit at the compliment. "Thank you Kurenai-sensei" she said.
Still Hinata thought, what did she say about her training? "Well…" she began, "Sensei… I mean Anko (It seemed odd calling Sensei by her name, but referring to Sensei while talking to Kurenai-sensei seemed confusing) is pretty much like you said Kurenai-sensei. Some days I still feel like I'm going to die in training, to tell you the truth" the girl said with a smile. Kurenai noticed this. Good. If the girl could smile at that it meant a lot… it meant she had gotten a lot tougher. And it also meant she trusted Anko not to kill her for real. It also meant they had bonded a lot closer than probably either of them realized. For a second Kurenai felt a small pang of jealousy, but quickly put it down. Both of them really needed this. She was really happy for both of them.
"But… in truth I'm afraid I'll end up disappointing Anko-sensei one of these days" Hinata confided, this time dropping her gaze. "She asks a lot of me. I just… I just hope I don't disappoint her, that's all." All of a sudden Hinata found herself getting emotional talking about this. In a way Hinata felt that disappointing her father and her family was at the root of all the problems she had with them, and why she was now a veritable outcast within the Hyuuga. The idea of the same thing happening with Anko-sensei… was almost too much to bear.
As if sensing her inner turmoil Nigiri once again crawled out of her vest and wrapped itself around her neck, nudging her chin with his head. It made her calm down a little, having the affectionate thin snake with her. That's right, she had to remember Sensei wasn't her father. Anko-sensei had faith in her and kept pushing her, even when she screwed up. Even if it was sometimes… she didn't want to use the word cruel… how she did it, the fact was that Anko-sensei never once accepted that she couldn't do something and kept pushing her to the next level, kept pushing her to get it right, telling her the whole time that she could indeed do it (always in her own peculiar way). And after a while Hinata started to believe it. It was because of that attitude that she had been to come as far as she had with Sensei's training.
Still… the fear of disappointing someone and being tossed aside because of it was very deep rooted in her…
Kurenai put her arm around the girl as they continued to walk, which surprised Hinata. She looked up at her other sensei questioningly.
"Don't worry Hinata. Anko and Team 8, me and Kiba and Shino will always be there for you. We don't support you because of how strong you are or what you can do for us. We support you because you are our comrade, and there are strong bonds between us. So don't worry about it, ok? Even if you do disappoint one of us, you'll get it right next time, isn't that right? And none of us will stop supporting you just because of that" said Kurenai reassuringly.
Hinata looked down, and a little smile crept up on her face. "Thanks Kurenai-sensei."
It was Kurenai's turn to smile. She loved helping the girl when she could. "You're welcome Hinata."
000
Hinata found her Sensei waiting for her at the designated time in the field they always met. The woman was sitting up on a tree branch, reading a book. As Hinata approached she got a closer look at it. Icha Icha Paradise? What kind of book is that? The girl wondered.
As if reading her mind, Anko spoke without looking up. "It's a book a pervy acquaintance of mine has been reading for years. The curiosity finally got to me and I decided to give it a chance. The smut isn't all that bad actually. Who would have thought this kinda stuff could have come from that lame-ass Jiraiya."
The older woman snapped the book closed and looked down at Hinata. "The fact I knew the author fairly well kind ruins the whole thing for me though. So I heard you got your first mission. Tell me about it."
Hinata began, "Well…"
"Wait, hold it until later. I haven't eaten today, and I better not run you too ragged for tomorrow or Kurenai will be barking up my shit when you guys get back. She can be a pain in the ass when she wants to be. Anyway, let's eat first and do a bit of training afterwards, then we'll be done for the night." Said the snake woman.
Going to eat? With sensei? The idea was kind of odd to her. She had never done anything with sensei or been anywhere with her outside of training. But, it's not like she was going to refuse.
"Oh… ok sensei" she said.
"Follow me then." The woman disappeared the curious little orange book somewhere in her jacket and jumped down off the tree. Without waiting for her she started walking back to town. Hinata followed behind her. They walked in silence for a few minutes
When they were getting closer to town, Anko stopped suddenly. Hinata looked up at her curiously.
"Hinata," the woman spoke, "I want you to Henge (transformation technique) into some generic chunin. It wouldn't do to have us seen walking together all throughout Konoha" Anko gave her a meaningful look, "mostly because it would go bad for you if it became common knowledge. We'll head to the civilian sector of town, and there you can drop the Henge and maybe just change your eye color. It shouldn't be a problem since shinobi typically don't go there."
Hinata looked up at her oddly. She was going to ask why but Anko cut her off and stalked off walking. "Hurry up, we don't have all day."
Puzzled, and instantly worried something was wrong, Hinata used Henge and made herself a plain looking dark haired, brown eyed woman in a chunin vest. She followed her Sensei as they walked into Konoha.
Hinata got the distinct feeling from Sensei that she should stay quiet until they got into the civilian sector of the village, so Hinata kept her peace. She then remembered the warning that Kurenai-sensei had given her when she first started training with Anko… that she should make sure her family didn't know Anko was training her. There was indeed, it seemed pretty clear, some kind of connection between Sensei and her clan, given her knowledge of the clan and of the Juken. But was skulking though town in disguise really necessary? Was it really all that serious?
The young Hyuuga looked around as they progressed through town and started to notice something odd. A lot of the shinobi, especially many of the older ones, were giving sensei dirty looks. Some of them even gave her openly hateful looks to the girl's utter surprise. Occasionally groups of people would whisper to each other as the woman walked past, looking to Hinata for all the world like a bunch of gossiping academy students. Occasionally a hateful, suspicious or pitying gaze would find its way to her, seemingly only because she was walking with Sensei. What was going on?
She even once heard one old woman who was sweeping the front of her store yell at them as they passed by, "Snake whore!" With one sharp look from Anko the civilian woman (probably an ex shinobi) dropped her broom and ran back into the store.
Except for that one incident, the whole time Sensei completely ignored the reactions of people and walked along as if she didn't notice and didn't have a care in the world. Hinata wondered if that was truly how she felt.
Eventually they moved out of the shinobi and shinobi serving sections of Konoha, and moved into the part of town that was purely only civilian. The people who lived here were ones who farmed in the surrounding area, as well as potters, carpenters, makers of clothes, and just about everything a town needed that was non-military. There were clothing shops and pottery shops and all the rest in the shinobi section of Konoha that just existed to serve the shinobi population, but the establishments in this side of town were primarily to serve the needs of civilians. Shinobi rarely ventured over here without good reason, simply because they usually didn't have a reason to. Equal or better quality of just about everything was available in the area where the shinobi lived.
"You can change your Henge to what we discussed now Hinata" said Anko.
The girl complied, did another Henge that restored her back to her normal looks, except now she had brown colored eyes.
Eventually Anko led them into a small restaurant almost at the far edge of town. It was a small place, only with five tables, and a burly looking bear of a man as the proprietor that looked to be in his early fifties. The place was completely deserted.
"Sup gramps" said Anko as she walked in and went to sit down in the table furthest from the door.
"Sup kid. How's your ugly face treating you?" the man replied.
"Same as always. Still getting laid more than you. How's business?"
"It was just fine until you walked in. The usual?"
"Yea. And an extra two orders of dango and some miso soup while you're at it."
"Sweetheart, you got it."
"Yea yea, I know I'm hot, just get on with it grampa."
Hinata for her part was a little taken aback by the whole exchange. It certainly hadn't been how she was raised to interact with people. The whole actually seemed to be very rude and crass to her. But they were obviously friends, if not friendly at least, so she decided to just not say anything.
Besides, she had more pressing questions in mind. Like for example, why did so many of the villagers seem to have a problem with Sensei?
The man came back with a tray with three bottles of hot sake and a glass of milk. Anko looked at the glass of milk as he placed it in front of Hinata and placed her hand in front of her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. For once, Hinata wasn't amused. A glass of milk? Really? Add that to the fact that she hated drinking milk.
"Stop scowling Hinata, it's just Yonta's idea of a joke. It's just 'cuz you're a kid, get it? Hehe it's pretty funny though, gotta admit" the older Jounin said with a grin. Hinata, as said previously, didn't find it very funny at all.
And to her surprise Hinata realized she was scowling, just like her Sensei said she had been. Huh? When had she ever scowled in her life?
Hinata pushed the glass of milk aside and just watched while her Sensei downed one of the three bottles of sake (it didn't take long). Then as Hinata was going to ask what was on her mind, her Sensei beat her to it. "So, tell me about this mission. First C-Rank? Exciting I guess," it was pretty clear Sensei did not think it was the least bit exciting, "at least you wont be in any danger of scooping up shit as part of the mission at any rate." Hinata shuddered as she remembered some of the farm work they had had to do.
"Well," the girl began "not much to tell really. It's a three week mission, with one week travel time each way. Some merchants want protection from some large bandit group in the area. It'll be close to the border with the former Village Hidden in Hot Water. Other than that…" the girl shrugged, indicating there was not much else to tell.
The snake woman started in on her second bottle of sake before she spoke, "Well, turns out our honeymoon is over on my side too sweet thing, I'm back on missions and active duty. Don't get me wrong, training you can be fun but I don't want my skills to get rusty, you know? And not killing for over a month can feel somewhat unnatural after a while" she said, pausing long enough to take another couple of shots of sake. Hinata's eye's widened slightly as she realized just how fast her sensei was going though those three bottles of sake.
"So, I got a mission too, leaving tomorrow. Maybe a three week job in total. Exercising our craft, some Lord's advisor in Waterfall that has been diverting some funds into his own pocket and messing around with the Lord's wife. However the advisor… stupid dumbass… is from an old family and too well connected for anything to be done in the open. Naturally because of politics a Waterfall shinobi can't be used. So if the guy is found dead by obvious assassination no one can point the finger at the Lord but all will fear him and think twice about crossing him. Yatta yatta yatta, political points in the favor of the Lord, you know the same old story that plays out every time. Run of the mill hit job. You'd think people would learn not to piss off the powerful by messing with their wives and daughters and stealing from them, but none of these guys ever seem to learn." The woman took another long drink and finished her second small bottle of sake.
Hinata for her part, was kind of happy that Sensei would share so much about her mission. It made her feel like a confidant, and that kind of trust felt really good. In her own way, Hinata realized, Sensei had been trying to be nice to her and open up to her a little bit today. Or at least she thought so and hoped she wasn't reading too much into everything.
The girl felt she should reciprocate, say something about her own life or something, though nothing good to say came to mind. Maybe she should think of something to ask Sensei? Suddenly Hinata felt very socially inept.
Well, she guessed asking what she was wondering about instead would probably be good enough. "Sensei," she began, "I noticed that a lot of people seemed to… be somewhat hostile to you. At least some people did as we walked across town. It's almost like… some of the shinobi have something against you. Why is that Sensei? Did something… happen?" she asked.
Anko picked up her third bottle of sake and was eyeing Hinata out of the corner of her eye. Obviously the woman was deciding what she was going to tell her so Hinata just sat in silence and waited. Eventually the snake Jounin stopped looking at her and to Hinata's shock drank the entire contents of the sake bottle right out of the bottle in a single go, not even bothering to pour it in a glass first. When she was done she yelled over he shoulder, "Another round when you get out here gramps!" The girl didn't hear a reply.
The woman crossed her arms and crossed her legs as she readied to speak. That was a surprise, it made Sensei actually look very feminine and well… she was always a good looking woman Hinata supposed but it was not something she actually took note of until this minute. It kind of jarred her that her Sensei was actually an attractive woman and she had never noticed before. It was do unlike Kurenai-sensei who was a downright gorgeous woman who no one would ever fail to notice. She supposed being scared to death of her all the time while training and Sensei acting as unfeminine as possible all the time were why she had never really noticed before.
"I'm going to give it to you straight, because I'm not a big fan of bullshit," Sensei began. Oh yea, thought Hinata, the cursing also threw the femininity out the window. "My Sensei was Orochimaru" she said, opening her hands in a 'so what' gesture.
Sensei looked at her like it should explain everything. It didn't. It sounded like she had heard the name someplace, but at the moment she had no idea who that man was. Obviously what she was thinking showed in her face because Anko made an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.
"Orochimaru? Hello? One of the three legendary Sannin? Hero of the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars? The greatest traitor this village has ever known? Damn you stupid girl, what the hell are they teaching you bratty fucks at the academy nowdays?" Anko made an exasperated sound and looked like she was getting more and more upset.
It stung Hinata to hear Sensei calling her stupid, but Hinata understood that the woman was just getting upset and Hinata was confident enough to feel pretty sure her Sensei didn't really mean it like that. But that she was the former apprentice of a man turned traitor didn't fully explain why she was so disliked by others in the village. The girl stayed silent and waited to see if Sensei would contribute anything else… she didn't feel comfortable enough to prod her further when she was this upset.
Eventually, Anko continued, "So while I was his apprentice I did some pretty stupid things for Orochimaru. I didn't really realize the consequences of what I was doing, or what a real twisted fuck of a traitor my sensei was at the time. Maybe I should have known. But in any case, people just won't let that shit go. And the end result is the shit you saw," she turned her body towards the kitchen and screamed"YONTA! HURRY UP WITH THAT GODDAMN SAKE!"
The girl got the impression that Sensei didn't want to talk about this anymore, and it was clearly a sensitive issue. But the girl couldn't help but feel bad for her Sensei. She could sort of see herself in her Sensei's position when the woman had been younger. Truth be told Hinata thought with a little shame, she knew she would do almost anything her Sensei asked her to do, even if it was something she didn't particularly want to do. That's what a Sensei and student relationship was supposed to be like. The student trusted the Sensei, was devoted to the Sensei, and obedience was expected. It seemed kind of cruel to her that Sensei would still be paying for pretty much doing what was expected of you to do.
The girl suspected there was more to the story… but she knew she had gotten as much info today as she was going to get. If she was patient, maybe she would find out more at some other time.
Hinata wanted to find something to say to express how she felt, that she felt her Sensei was being treated unfairly by the villagers who held a grudge, but before she'd come up with anything Yonta had come back carrying a very large tray.
Hinata's eyes almost popped out of her head as she saw what the man started putting on the table. There were eight large plates completely covered with skewers of dango, each plate piled up with a little mountain of them. They each also got a small bowl of Miso soup… she guessed so her taste buds wouldn't burn out from sweetness overload after a couple of plates of dango. Anko got more sake and she thankfully got a glass of water.
The man left and Hinata stared at the feast before her. That's it? They were just going to eat a mountain of dango?
Sensei's sour mood seemed to have disappeared almost at once, her eyes having little stars in them and rubbing her hands greedily as she looked at the dango before her. "Let's eat!" she exclaimed, and started digging in.
Well, the moment to say anything about what Sensei had told her had passed, and Hinata felt a little sad she had not said anything supportive or reassuring to her. But it just felt awkward now… so Hinata tentatively picked up a dango skewer and started eat.
It was… surprisingly good.
000
After they had finished eating and Anko had made Hinata pay by putting it on the credit her family had in every business in town (the girl was a little mortified but Anko insisted no one would really notice or care… and she was probably right Hinata realized) the two left for the outskirts of town. Anko said she wanted to show Hinata something for her to train on while she was away on her mission.
They arrived in a clearing in the woods, and Anko motioned to Hinata to stand next to her.
"Watch this" Anko said with one of her trademark you-don't-know-what-I'm-thinking-but-it-could-be-violent smiles. Hinata was glad the tension of their earlier conversation seemed to be forgotten now. Very slowly the woman did a series hand signs deliberately. Dog. Money. Hare. Tiger.
Anko inhaled and took a huge breath into her lungs.
"Katon: Wakai Kasai no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Young Fire Jutsu).
The Special Jounin blew out a ball of fire out of her mouth that went about three feet in front of her. She kept blowing fire in a steady stream with the flames going everywhere in front of her and stopping after about three feet. It looked like a small flamethrower coming out of her mouth. After about five seconds the Jutsu stopped.
"This is one of the most basic of Katon jutsu. It's not used for much other than maybe lighting a campfire most of the time, and most people don't even bother teaching it. It certainly isn't a combat jutsu. It can however be used for training. Now watch again" said Anko.
Hinata watched as Sensei went though the same seals again slowly. Dog. Monkey. Hare. Tiger. She took a deep breath and blew out.
"Katon: Wakai Kasai no Jutsu!"
What came out this time wasn't something that looked like a small flamethrower, but a tight beam of fire. The fire coming out of Anko's mouth looked almost like a welding torch, it was so thin and so straight. This time the flame extended almost seven feet this time, ending in a small of fire the size of maybe a child's fist at the end. Hinata looked on with her mouth open as Anko executed the technique for a handful of seconds and then terminated it.
"So, that's what I wanted to teach you. The tighter the beam, the more degree of control you need. This will also train you to use the fire element while improving your control. There is a particular Jutsu I want to teach you. But you won't be able to have a chance in hell of learning it until you master this one" said the Jounin.
So Hinata had to learn this one before she learned a more advanced jutsu. It seemed logical. "So, can I try it now Sensei?" she asked.
Anko didn't show it, but inside she was pleased. The girl was starting to show a little initiative. "By all means, go for it."
The Special Jounin was glad to see the girl actually paid attention to what she had been doing. She went through the hand signs. Dog. Monkey. Hare. Tiger. The girl took a deep breath, and blew out.
"Katon: Wakai Kasai no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Young Fire Jutsu).
What came out of Hinata's mouth was only a lot of black smoke. At the end of the jutsu Hinata was a little surprised by what had happened, and inhaled sharply by accident. She sucked in a lot of smoke, and started coughing violently because of all the smoke in her lungs. Anko for her part was cracking up, trying to keep from falling over laughing.
"Hahaha, Hinata… you should HeheHAHAHA… oh wait that was too… hehe…" the woman couldn't help but laugh, what the girl had done had the most rookie of rookie of mistakes and to choke on her own smoke… it was just too much.
"Hina-chan… haha Hina-chan… thanks for that entertainment," began Anko as the girl was still having coughing fits and her face was turning red, "but before you are so eager to try out a new Jutsu, you should ask exactly how to do the Jutsu. There is often more than just hand seals involved, especially with elemental jutsus."
The coughing fits of the girl had stopped and she was looking up at her Sensei with a miserable face. The woman smiled. She was a bit of sadist, she had to admit. "OK, I'll tell you what you did wrong. With fire style jutsu, the hand seals alone aren't enough. To have to deliberately will the fire into existence at the same time. The fire is created from your chakra by your will, it doesn't just happen automatically. Without the strong will to create the fire, all you get is smoke… like what you just did!" Anko proclaimed with a grin.
"O-Ok" Hinata finally managed, her voice hoarse. Honestly, she was glad she was getting thicker skin. Sensei could be so… insensitive sometimes. Really.
"Little Killer-chan, with Katon jutsus that come out of your mouth, you have to will the fire into existence in your belly. Then when you exhale, have the fire come out of your belly and out your mouth. And that should be enough for you to figure it out." Said the older woman. She thought for a second, then added, "One more thing about this Jutsu. It's really unusual because the hand seals can be done even with a few seconds in between them. Just some info, it might come in handy sometime. Alright Killer-chan, show me what you got."
"H-Hai Sensei. I'll try it again then" said the girl, now more or less fully recovered. She took a few breaths to calm herself and began again. Hinata made the seals again, took a deep breath, and willed the fire to come into existence in her belly.
"Katon: Wakai Kasai no Jutsu!"
What came out this time was a lot of smoke again, except this time some sparks came out of her mouth as well. She held the jutsu for about five seconds before she had to terminate it. Smoke and some sparks. She didn't know if she should be happy she had gotten some sparks or if she should be disappointed it was so far off from what it was supposed to look like.
She looked over at Sensei to see her reaction. The woman was nodding her head approvingly. Hinata's heart soared and leapt to her chest. Yes! She almost wanted to pump her fist in the air… except she thought she'd look kind of silly doing it.
"That's good enough twerp. If you can get sparks then you just need to keep practicing to get the full flames. Only after that you can practice tightening the beam" the older woman said. Hinata looked at her, and though that the woman seemed distracted by something. Abruptly the Jounin turned and walked off. "That's all I wanted to teach you," she called as she walked away "master it by the time you get back. And don't forget to practice Body Movement and finish mastering that. See you in a month kid."
Hinata was a bit taken aback by her Sensei's abrupt leaving. The woman was just unpredictable. The girl got her wits back about her as her Sensei was at the edge of the clearing. She called out, "Hai Sensei! Thank you! Good luck on your mission!". The woman waved with one hand without turning around, and then she was gone.
The girl sighed, all alone in the dark woods now. Nigiri wasn't with her now, he had gone off somewhere by himself. Suddenly she felt a bit lonely. The girl shook the feeling off and started heading back home. She needed to get ready for tomorrow. It was going to be a big day.
000
The girl arrived at the gates a few minutes before dawn, and found her whole team already waiting for her. Kiba looked excited and anxious. Shino seemed to be, predictably, like Shino always was, calm and not showing any emotion. Kurenai was leaning against the gate with her eyes closed. As they saw her approach they all greeted her.
They all had their packs with all the supplies they needed, and everything was set. Hinata looked at the city gates. In all truth, she had never been more than a few miles from Konoha her whole life. She adjusted her pack, and tried to ease some of the nervousness she felt. It was allright. She could handle this.
"Allright team. Let's head out" said Kurenai. The woman turned and walked out through the gate. The boys followed behind her without a word. Hinata turned to take one last look at Konoha, and then walked out after them.
000
A/N: Wow, this is the longest chapter I've written by far. Hope it was not too long for anyone.
Next Chapter: I try to stay away from a lot of FF cliché's , but in the coming chapter I'm going to fully indulge in one; the first C-Ranked mission gone wrong. Predictable maybe, I will make it entertaining. Wait for it. And don't forget to review while you wait for it =)
THANK YOU everyone who reviewed last chapter. It really is a huge motivator for authors, and a great pleasure for us. I welcome constructive criticism as well, or compliments, or pretty much anything you want to jot down! I just really love hearing from you, my readers. That's all =]