Underlined speech is thought.

Italicized speech signifies emphasis put on words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character.

CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.

These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.

Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.

Bold words are author notes.

(Previously on "The Ultimate Shinobi." At the start of the new day, Arashi went out to find Hinata who was now wearing her new outfit. They left Yuki no Kuni with the aid of Arashi's speed. This knocks Hinata out cold. She wakes up to find herself tied to a tree. Arashi takes this chance to give her a little talk. After untying her, he tosses her a pebble so she can begin some new form of training. In the end, Arashi had to give Hinata a hint by destroying a boulder. Later that day, the pair head into a village where Arashi runs into Jiraiya and Naruto. He takes this chance to advise the pair to take Naruto to Kumo for some special training. When done there, Arashi found Hinata and decided upon yet another scheme.")


Sorry for the long wait, but I really needed that break. I am wondering why the number of hits for the chapter didn't reach one-hundred on the day it was released. Maybe too many people were away from their computers for that day. Oh well; thanks for your patients and here is the next chapter.

"Water and Swords."

Hinata slowly woke up to the first light of a new day. When she opened her eyes, she could see a figure in front of her blocking some of that light. As she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with one hand, she tried to get a better look at the figure. A pair of sleepy looking blue eyes appeared before her. "Hey Hinata-chan. Would you like to check on our kids this time?"

Hinata jumped back with a squeal and landed on her rear. When there was enough light for her to see, she saw what looked like a half naked Naruto but much older. The baby fat was gone, making him handsome to a ridiculous level. "He said our kids. NANIIII!" A puff of smoke surrounded 'Naruto.' Arashi came out of this cloud and fell onto the floor. He then began to roll around and laugh loudly. Hinata scowled deeply as a rarity pooled out from the depths of her soul; killer intent."

The laughter eventually died down but Arashi still had plenty of mirth in his voice. "You should have seen your face Hinata-chan. I really freaked you out this time." Arashi snickered at the scowl he saw on her face and the killer intent aimed at him. "Wow, I really got her this time. Well, I think that it is time that we get going."

Hinata's hands started to tremble in frustration. "As soon as I'm strong enough, I am going to kill this man. I would write in my letters about what he is doing almost all time, but I am sure that is what he wants me to do. Besides, I want him to myself."

She followed him out of the hotel and of the village. They traveled west by northwest. Arashi suddenly picked Hinata up and bolted further west, much to her annoyance. This only lasted for a second as he stopped on the side of a tree. Not a moment passed before leaping off of that tree and into a small clearing. "Hello you two; I'm sorry for the surprise."

When Hinata looked, she saw two battle ready shinobi in front of her. By their headbands, she could tell that they were from Kiri. The one who was obviously older had a simple zanbatō tied to his back. The younger one had a katana twice normal size. "That must be for preparing for a zanbatō."

Both had their hands on their swords ready for use. The older one, most likely a jonin, spoke first. "Who are you?"

"My name is Arashi Ayama. This little girl here happens to be my student. Unfortunately, she hasn't had many chances to spar with anybody else. Would you be so kind as to offer the little guy over there for this service?"

The jonin narrowed his eyes. "And what if we refuse."

"Lets just say that I don't intend on taking no as an answer."

The Kiri jonin's eyes left Arashi long enough to get a good look at the fidgety girl in his arms. His eyes widened when he got a good look at her eyes. "That girl is a Hyuga. If I manage to capture her, she can be a great prize for my village. All that I have to do is kill this man. That shouldn't be too hard. I studied bingo books endlessly and have never seen his face once. The fight will also tire her out." The man smirked and nodded. "Fine, we have completed our mission anyways. This shouldn't take too long." He faced the teenager and nodded.

The teen nodded in response and watched as Arashi put his opponent down. "I have to fight this little princess. She looks like she belongs in a palace; not on the battlefield. I would like this to be a challenge at least."

Hinata looked at Arashi with a slightly worried expression. "Do I have to fight him?"

Arashi gave her a coy smirk. "If you don't, I will double my antics for a total of four weeks." She let out a sigh before facing the boy who looked two years older than her. Arashi only chuckled in response. "Here are a few hints. First, make sure that you keep an eye on that sword. Three at full strength should be enough with four having a removing effect. He is also from Kiri, meaning that he most likely uses water style jutsu. There isn't much water here so don't worry too much. Watch out for the possibility though."

Hinata nodded as Arashi jumped out of sight. The Kiri jonin did the same. It was now just her and the other teen in the clearing. Hinata slowly took up the stance for her original jutsu after activating her Byakugan. "Eight Trigrams: Chakra Blade Barrier."

The teen scowled at her slightly. "I guess that I will make the first move." He charged forward and swung his sword down at his stationary foe. Hinata made three chakra blades between her and the sword. "What in the world." This bounced the large blade in the direction opposite of its original movement, almost making him lose grip of it. Pivoting on his right foot, he sent a kick for Hinata's mid-section.

This was barely avoided as Hinata leaned out of the way by moving her left foot back. This was followed with a Jūken strike to his left shoulder. He jumped back to get out of range of another attack. "I missed his chakra point." Instead of dwelling on that, she reassumed her stance.

The male scowled slightly. "I have to avoid getting close unnecessarily. I doubt she is very good long range." He raced through a series of hand seals ending with the one for bird. "Water Style: Torrent." He braced himself on a tree behind him as a powerful water jet spewed out of his mouth.

Hinata prepared chakra blades in each of her hands while trying not to focus on them too much. She then trusted her hands forward causing the blades to fly out. Due to their unstable nature, the blades disappeared in a small explosion in the instant they entered the water. Both jutsu canceled each other out. "That actually worked. Wait, could that be it."

With her eyes, she could see him using a new set of hand seals. "Water Style: Geyser." She quickly searched the area around her in search for the attack. It was too late when she saw a large amount of water coming from under her. The attack sent her flying back. "Water Style: Torrent." The burst of water hit her directly in the abdomen, knocking her breath out.

Hinata crashed back-first into a tree. She wheezed in an attempt to get a proper air supply. She had to duck to avoid an attack that would have beheaded her. This didn't help the side kick to the right side of her face.

By striking the hilt forcefully, the male removed his blade from the tree. He then ran in the direction his kick sent Hinata. "Time to finish this."

With her Byakugan, Hinata could see the older teen approaching her quickly. The distance gave her enough time to focus her chakra. Before she could act, a strong fear gripped her. The teen stabbed his sword next to her neck before grabbing her there. The free hand was placed on the back of his blade. She could see the Kiri jonin approaching her with a smirk on his face. "Don't move. He can remove you head in an instant from there."

She scowled a bit despite the strong hand around her neck. "Quit, … quit joking Arashi-…shishō." The grip on her neck grew a bit tighter.

The jonin laughed darkly at her. "I am afraid that your shishō is indisposed at the time. This is no joke." He looked his younger partner after seeing Hinata's eyes widen. "Knock her out."

The teen let go of her neck so he could put all his power into a punch heading for her solar plexus. Hinata closed her eyes as the punch flew for her. Anticipating the hit was for naught as she felt nothing. She opened her eyes to see Arashi to her right. "Didn't I tell you to never close your eyes?"

She looked down to see Arashi's left hand on the teen's fist, which was in contact with her solar plexus. She saw him tense his hand in preparation for chopping her head off. Arashi had his hand on the blade just as it touched her neck. An un-seeable fist into the male's solar plexus knocked him out. Arashi tossed him and his sword to the side. The Kiri jonin glared and growled at Arashi. "I thought I killed you."

Arashi chuckled at this. "Don't tell me that you were fooled by a simple Replacement Jutsu. That is the oldest trick in the book." The jonin's response was to release a burst of killer intent and to charge. Arashi rotated to his right a full 360 degrees, causing his windbreaker to flap behind him.

The jonin swung his zanbatō down on Arashi. His blade was suddenly stopped by a loud clang reminiscent of connecting metal. He could see Arashi holding a simply designed katana against his blade in a reverse grip. Three things about this infuriated the jonin. First, the katana's blade was facing away from him. Second, Arashi was only using his left hand as the other hand was as far from the katana's hilt as possible. The third was the void in Arashi's eyes. No matter how hard the jonin tried, he couldn't find even an inkling of emotion in a pair of eyes that shimmered like a blue lake's surface.

He jumped back to gain some distance. He just had enough time before Arashi came down on his zanbatō with his katana. The jonin then noticed that the blade was being held completely normally this time around. "When did he do that?" Arashi continued to swing at him relentlessly with the katana. Despite the fact that the jonin's weapon and body were bigger, Arashi was still pushing him back with his powerful blows. "Where is all of this coming from?"

Arashi instantly took up a stance and brought his katana as far as his arms allowed. The jonin knew a powerful downward strike was next. Planning match power with power, he began to swing his sword upwards. Let's enter slow motion mode. The blades seemed to pass through each other after crossing paths. A second passed before most of the zanbatō's blade went flying. Slow motion mode over. Arashi brought his blade up so it faced the jonin directly. "Kōsaka Style, Descending Flay Cutter."

A moment passed before the jonin regained enough of his senses to say anything. "How?"

Arashi spoke with a voice as emotionless as his eyes. "A zanbatō's weakness.. is its lack of flexibility." The blade was stabbed into the ground, giving Arashi a chance to form some hand-seals. "Lighting Style: Taser." Arashi punched the jonin in the solar plexus. The combination of this blow and the electricity knocked the jonin out instantly.

Hinata approached her shishō with a worried expression on her face. "Arashi-shishō, are you okay?"

An uncomfortable moment of silence passed before Arashi placed his hands behind his head and smiled. "That was easy." This caused Hinata to nearly face-fault. "Now all I have to do is make sure that these two can't tell anyone about us."

Hinata's eyes widened. "You're not going to .. kill them, are you?"

Arashi gave her a sideways glance. "I am going to let that one slide Hinata-chan. As for your question; I am not going to kill them. Can't you remember what I did to the previous Raikage?" His hands formed a cross shaped hand-seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." An extra Arashi appeared at the original's side. The clone walked towards the teen as Arashi stood over the face down jonin. "Shockwave of Forgetfulness."

Arashi slammed his wrists against the side of the jonin's head. Hinata turned to see the Shadow Clone doing the same thing with the other one before disappearing. "So just like that, they forget."

Arashi took his sword out of the ground. "Let's go Hinata-chan. I would prefer not being here when they wake up."

Hinata followed Arashi as he leapt into the trees. They didn't go far before stopping. "Arashi-shishō; will they truly forget everything that just happened."

"My attack did mild damage to the short-term memory sections of their brains. Every memory from the moment they woke up this morning to the moment I struck them is gone. They will have no clue what happened to them."

"Oh, I see." Hinata looked down with a forlorn expression.

"Hinata-chan, there is absolutely no reason that you should be sad right now. What's wrong?"

"I lost."

Arashi only chuckled in response. "You didn't lose Hinata-chan." She looked at him in confusion. "Near the matches end, you were preparing to create four chakra blades. If his sword connected with those, it would have flown out of his hands. You would have then followed with a finishing counter attack. The only reason that you didn't do this was because you froze up. You froze up because that Kiri jonin was focusing his killer intent on you. Technically, he interfered with the match. Looking at the whole thing this way, you won that match."

After a moment, a smile began to slowly grow on Hinata's face. "I won that fight. I can't believe that I actually won." She enjoyed the feeling of victory until she noticed a small sheen. "Where did you get that sword Arashi-shishō?"

Arashi began appraising his blade. "This katana was a gift. It is called Setsunamaru. I actually received it from Shigure, who's father forged it. In return for being able to wield this sword, I had to follow one stipulation."

"What was that?"

"The condition was that no mater how extreme a situation is, I must never allow this blade to ever again take life. Even drawing blood has great limitations. I am happy to say that I have yet to fail this condition. I hope that I never do."

Hinata watched as Arashi put Setsunamaru in a sheath that was hidden in his windbreaker. "I can't believe that I never noticed that."

Arashi looked at Hinata seriously. A bruise was beginning to form on the right side of her face. "She is going to be feeling that in a few minutes. Hinata-chan, shouldn't you get back to the pebble training from before." He turned forward after seeing her eyes show some realization. He then looked down thoughtfully. "Even with a sword that is as strong as Shigure's, I am still unable match her. If it were her in that fight, that zanbatō would have been sliced apart with the first blow. Even with chakra enhancing the blade's sharpness, I still needed to create a fracture spot on the zanbatō. There is still great room for improvement." He looked back at Hinata. "Well I'll be; she has figured it out."

A few seconds earlier with Hinata.

She placed the pebble in-between her hands as per-usual. "If I tried to make my chakra more unstable, it won't be able to pierce the pebble." She became very contemplative. "Now, the water from his attack turned into water droplets thanks to my chakra. My chakra did this by exploding within the water. An explosion is just rapid expansion." Her eyes widened with realization. She focused on making the maximum amount of chakra needles as she could. While they were still connected to her, Hinata willed them to expand.

She lifted her hand to reveal the results of her attempt. Although there were a few tiny fragments, her hand was filled mostly with dust. "Congratulations Hinata-chan, you completed the first stage of this training. Although you didn't meet my highest expectations, you were very close. I guess that your fight with that Kiri chunin was just the inspiration you needed."

"Hai, I guess it was." She stopped for a moment as her eyes widened. "HE WAS A CHUNIN!"

"Didn't you know Hinata-chan? Kiri shinobi are only allowed to start using swords larger than usual katana when they become chunin. Considering that match, you are also at chunin level."

"I can't believe it. By simply training to perfect the use of my jutsu, I am this much stronger." A small smile began to grow on her face. "Itai." She brought her hand up to the right side of her face.

Arashi noticed this and laughed as a result. "Why don't you sit down for a moment? I may not be an expert, but I do know a few medical ninjutsu. My doujutsu seems to be made for medical ninjutsu. I just didn't spend much time on it." Arashi formed two hand seals before placing a glowing green hand on Hinata's injury.

She closed her eyes as she felt the pain lessen. When it was nearly gone, she felt Arashi remove his hand from her face. "Can you teach me what you know?"

Arashi looked a bit thoughtful. "I guess that it wouldn't hurt to spend a little time on it. With as little as I know, it should only take a day or two. After that though, I want you to get started the second stage of the pebble training."

Hinata let out a sigh. "I guess that continuing that training is unavoidable." A small smile then graced her face. "Even so, I am finally going to learn something that is useful to others and not me." It was then that she noticed another problem. "Do you have any extra clothes Arashi-shishō? These need a chance to dry."

Arashi chuckled at her. "There is no need. That clothing that I made is very special. Just feed you chakra into you clothes."

Hinata did as she was told with surprising results. Her clothes became fairly warm all of a sudden. On top of that, they dried very quickly. "Amazing."

"I see that you are impressed. This is special clothing that only I can make. Whenever it gets wet, the owner can feed their chakra into it to dry it. In the process of this, their clothes will be cleaned of all foreign material and repaired of all damage. The best part of all this is that the outfit will actually resize itself to match the person whose chakra is used on it. Don't ask how I did this because it would take too long to explain."

"Wow, this is a better gift than I thought. I don't even have to take it off. It is perfect for the life of a shinobi." Hinata smiled at Arashi. "He isn't too bad sometimes."


This is a good place to leave off at. The medical jutsu training will be skipped. I will just have another time skip like the one I had for chapter 27. This time skip will be much longer though. After that, the story will get even better and a lot darker. As for if I will be having another break, just kidding. That shouldn't happen for a while.

Next Chapter: Hinata's Nature.