Two palms!

The White Zetsu, formerly disguised as Shino, fell with a thud.

Four palms!

Down went another disguised as Neji.

Eight palms!

Three more dropped like flies.

Sixteen palms!

Ten down.

Thirty-two palms!

Sixteen down.

Sixty...sixty...

A wave of drowsiness slammed into her. The world went spinning sideways.

"Hinata? Are you okay? Hinata!"

Naruto's voice seemed so close, but so far.

Hinata collapsed just as she was about to land a hit. A pair of hands caught her before she could fall to the ground.

Even though they were glowing a molten gold with his Kyuubi chakra cloak, Naruto's hands still did not scorch her.

The one she was supposed to protect had propped her up against a rock, a little bit away from the raging battle.

Naruto frowned, his hand warm against her forehead.

"Hinata," he said, his voice filled with worry. "You're burning up. You have to drink some water, ya know?"

An overflowing self-loathing erupted within her stomach.

The one she was supposed to protect. And yet he was the one who ended up protecting her. Again.

"HEY!" Naruto yelled at one Iwa ninja, similarly propped up against another rock. "DO YOU HAVE ANY WATER? MY FRIEND'S IN TROUBLE."

The Iwa ninja could barely bring himself to grunt out a feeble "yes," so exhausted was he.

Hinata braced herself as she waited for Naruto to leave her side so that he could go and get the water flask.

He didn't. He just opted to use his new ability, those Kyuubi chakra tails, to simply retrieve it from the Iwa guy's grasp.

The sight made her self-loathing rise from her stomach into her lungs, taking away her ability to breathe.

Here Naruto-kun is, developing new powers and using them to protect everyone, while I can't even finish the Sixty-Four Palms, she thought miserably. I really am useless, aren't I?

Hinata gasped a little as Naruto gently cupped her chin.

"Here you go, Hinata." He tipped the water down her parched throat.

She gulped it up like it was air.

Naruto counted up to four on his fingers, then grinned at her. "Now we're even."

"What...what do you mean?" she asked hoarsely.

"Our saving each other score. We're tied 2-2!"

She had no idea what he was talking about. And besides, his smile was painful to look at, so she glanced away.

"I bet you're thinking that you're useless, right? That you don't know what I'm talking about." He sat down next to her with a sigh. "You always beat yourself up so much, Hinata. It makes me sad to watch."

"I...I wasn't beating myself up," she protested.

"How long have you been fighting?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject. "When was the last time you slept? You look like a tanuki, or...or like Gaara, with those rings around your eyes, ya know?"

She frowned, trying to remember. After a while, all the fighting started blending together, making everyone lose their sense of time. She'd taken night patrol duty along with Shino while Neji collapsed, so...

"I think...two days?" she guessed.

"See, that's what I mean," he said. "You fight for two days straight without any sleep, even when everyone else collapses, and you think you're useless."

She looked away again. He was always talking her up lately, like she was some kind of amazing ninja, and to be honest, sometimes it hurt. Because she always kept letting him down when he needed her the most.

"Besides..." He lowered his voice. "If anyone's useless, it's me."

"What?" Naruto was the least useless person she knew.

He glanced at his hands, still a flaming yellow along with the rest of his body.

"Um...you may think that these new powers of mine are really awesome and all, but..." He sighed. "I still can't do so many basic things. Like...I can't even do a Rasengan one-handed, even now. Pervy Sage and Kakashi-sensei, they could both do it, but I can't. It's embarrassing, ya know?"

"That's nothing to worry about, Naruto-kun," she said. "Having one small weakness doesn't make you useless." Not like me.

"Wow, Hinata, you should really take your own advice." He frowned. "But...uh, seriously, I think you need to rest right now. What if you pass out in the middle of the fight? Then we'll all be in trouble."

Her eyes drooped a hundred times more heavily with his words. She really was on the verge of passing out.

"I...I don't..." Want to be useless.

"And I keep saying that you're not," Naruto said, seemingly reading her mind again. "I'll make some more clones to fight the enemy, so just rest. I'll watch over you until you wake up."

Her eyes closed against her will as if waiting for his cue and she found herself collapsing onto him.

Next time...I'll complete the Sixty-Four Palms...and protect you, she thought tiredly.

Naruto gently adjusted their positions. Her head dropped onto his shoulder and he smiled. She was out cold, hopefully getting a rejuvenating rest.

He couldn't help but stroke her dark hair.

"Don't worry, you already are."

A/N: Set during the Fourth Ninja War when all of Naruto's Shadow Clones arrived on the battlefield to get rid of the White Zetsu...you know the scene...

Once again, I tried to combine the two prompts of the day together ("Battle Couple" and "Sorry I just sort of fell asleep on your shoulder"). I wasn't able to combine prompts for every upcoming day, though...sorry.

Thanks for all the reviews last chapter, everyone! :)