Let's start this from the beginning

Kabasawa Mines

VIII

Forcing all her doubts into the furthest corner of her mind until they were nothing more than a silent whisper in the back of her head that she could ignore, Hinata pushed herself off the ground with as much power as she could muster.

Unfortunately, rather than being caught off-guard, Yuwaku merely grinned as she clasped her hands together in front of her before Hinata had crossed even half the distance between them.

"Genwaku Taiyō!"(Blinding Sun)

A moment later, a radiant light flooded the area.

The blinding light that radiated from Yuwaku bothered Hinata in more ways than one.

Just like any other person, she had no other choice but to instinctively close her eyes in face of the bright glow. What distinguished her from other people, however, was her Byakugan, and where they usually gave her an advantage, they now made the situation only worse.

Her clan's Dōjutsu was sensitive to bright light in general to the point where the stimuli triggered by a flash bomb could be enough to force a Hyūga to deactivate their Kekkei Genkai whether they wanted to or not if they didn't close their eyes quickly enough. Yuwaku's technique was much more dangerous than a flash bomb, though, as it was ultimately still something powered by chakra.

Very bright chakra at that, too.

Due to the Byakugan's ability to see chakra, this meant that even if she were to close her eyes, Hinata couldn't escape the light as long as she kept her Dōjutsu activated.

The only thing she could do was to deactivate them and keep her eyes shut.

Unfortunately, no sooner had she done that than she was already being punished for it, the short moment where she was distracted by the burning sensation in her eyes and her sudden blindness being enough for Yuwaku to close the remaining distance between them and throw Hinata back with a kick to her guts that was strong enough to almost make her throw up.

Her body reacted on its own, righting itself while still in the air and ultimately allowing her to land on her feet instead of crashing to the ground even though her legs almost buckled beneath her from the impact. Regardless, it was thanks to this that Hinata was in a position to immediately jump away and dodge the projectiles that then harmlessly sank into the ground.

"Oh~?" Yuwaku cooed, and although Hinata couldn't see it, she was sure the other kunoichi had plastered a belittling smirk on her face. "Not bad, sweetheart. Not bad at all. But how long will you be able to dodge if you can't even see?"

She didn't give Hinata the time to reply before continuing her onslaught.

With no other choice, Hinata began to run, not stopping for even a second so as to not make herself a target while simultaneously trying to keep her movements as unpredictable as possible. Nevertheless, she wasn't naïve enough to truly believe that this would be enough. That she would be able to continue to dodge like this for long. The only reason it worked at the moment was that Yuwaku wasn't taking this fight seriously. The moment the other woman grew bored and decided to end this, Hinata wouldn't stand a chance.

She needed to do something.

Fortunately, while most strategies the Hyūga Clan had come up with to fight a Taiyō over the years were beyond her abilities, the most fundamental one upon which everything else was built wasn't.

Dedicating every ounce of focus she could spar while continuing to dodge Yuwaku's attacks, she cautiously reactivated her Byakugan.

Now, it was hard to describe her clan's Dōjutsu to someone who didn't possess it. It was a bit like explaining what colours looked like to a person that had been born blind.

Just like regular people could see things in the corner of their eye even when they were focusing on something right in front of them, a Hyūga was vaguely aware of everything that happened within the range of their vision even when they focused on something in particular. In that, they were similar. The important difference, however, was that Hyūga not only had a much greater range but could – for a lack of better words – zoom in and out on certain areas if they wanted to as well. Their control over what they saw was much better than that of a regular person.

It followed that a Hyūga would be able to simply not look at a certain area when activating their Byakugan, and right now, Hinata did her very best to ignore the bright spot where Yuwaku stood, standing out like a sore thumb in the otherwise black-and-white world of her enhanced vision.

It wasn't easy. As aforementioned, a Hyūga was always vaguely aware of everything that happened within the range of their Byakugan, so it was impossible to ignore the blinding light entirely. However, while it still stung, it didn't interfere with her ability to keep her Dōjutsu activated as long as she didn't focus on Yuwaku or the area directly surrounding her.

Thus, she now could not only make out her opponent's approximate position but also the projectiles she was shooting at her. After all, while these chakra constructs were bright enough to sting when she focused on them, their glow wasn't as intense as whatever surrounded Yuwaku, meaning Hinata would have no problem deflecting them if she needed to.

Regardless, for the moment, she simply continued dodging as she had been doing for about half a minute now.

Itachi-sensei had taught her team to use their opponents' weaknesses, which in this case meant Yuwaku's tendency to underestimate her, against them as well as how to fight without their greatest strengths, which for Hinata was her sight. The latter focused on close combat, though, so until now, that training had been not all that helpful.

Hinata intended to change that. If her opponent wanted to underestimate her, that was fine with her. She would use what she had been taught and make Yuwaku regret her carelessness.

She could do this!

From one moment to the next, Hinata changed direction, jumping straight towards Yuwaku and slashing through her attacks instead of dodging them. Then, not wanting to give her any time to react, she reached into the conveniently placed weapon pouch hidden under the servant's kimono she was wearing to pull out a smoke bomb which covered the area in a thick layer of smoke a moment later.

After all, if her opponent took away her tension, it was only fair that she returned the favour, right?

Hinata would be fighting blind once she broke into Yuwaku's defence, but as previously mentioned, she had been trained for that. She was far from a master in that field, of course, but from what Itachi-sensei had said, learning to fight blindly was a surprisingly uncommon practice, so the odds of Yuwaku, who came from a family that specialized in fighting by blinding others to gain an advantage, being able to do the same were slim. In such a confrontation, Hinata should have an advantage.

The emphasis was on 'should'.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to use the Gentle Fist to close her opponent's tenketsu when she couldn't even see her, Hinata raised her hands to form hand seals, intending to use another technique her sensei had taught her instead when she noticed an immense build-up of charka right in front of her.

"Issen Niidoru!" (One Thousand Needles)

It was only because she had noticed the build-up of chakra that Hinata could react in time.

Hakkeshō Kaiten!" (Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation)

Where her opponent had previously only shot about half a dozen projectiles at once, there were now more than she could possibly count. In fact, to Hinata, there were so many of them that it almost appeared as if it was a wall of light that was flying right towards her instead.

It was fortunate that they were flying aimlessly in every direction rather than being focused all on her, at least. She wasn't sure she would have been able to block all of them if that were the case.

It was a close call as it was. Hinata continued to rotate for longer than she could remember having ever done before, blocking the attack while simultaneously blasting the smoke cloud away she had created herself just a few moments earlier. Five seconds quickly became ten, then fifteen, and ultimately a little bit more than twenty before the onslaught finally stopped.

Hinata came to a halt gasping for air and desperately trying to keep her balance as the world around her continued to spin. She had never used this technique for so long, and the amount of energy it had required to do so was nothing to scoff at. If she was forced to do this just three or four more times, she would be out of charka in the blink of an eye. However…

"Using a smoke bomb to blind me in return, eh?" Yuwaku said. "How clever of you. But tell me, where's your pride as a Hyūga? Y'know, I thought with how proud your clan is of these ugly eyes of yours, something like using weapons or tools would be beneath your notice."

"I might be a Hyūga, but I'm still a kunoichi as well. Not using everything in my arsenal would be stupid."

Even while she replied, Hinata focused on something else. Namely, the fact that Yuwaku, despite her best efforts to hide it, had been slightly out of breath when she spoke up.

Apparently, that last technique of hers wasn't without cost either. The reason Yuwaku hadn't used it before was probably the amount of chakra necessary to use it, so this at least meant that she couldn't simply spam it to beat her that way.

Hinata ignored the voice at the back of her head that reminded her that Yuwaku, being a few years older than her, most likely had larger reserves than her and consequently could, in fact, beat her if she truly made this a battle of attrition.

"I wonder what your family would say about that."

"I like to think they would congratulate me for doing everything in my power to survive."

Yuwaku scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. They would probably scorn you for disgracing your clan and yourself or something silly like that."

While her clan took great pride in their fighting style, they were smart enough to understand the value of other methods. Yes, as heiress, there was more pressure on her to focus primarily on the Gentle Fist, but not to the point where she should rather die than use something else.

Her opponent's remark supported Hinata's suspicion about her upbringing, though. In all likelihood, she probably felt her family had stifled her growth by limiting her to their family's techniques – although it was a bit weird that she had yet to use anything else for the duration of their fight even though she had assumingly been a missing-nin for a while and thus theoretically had more than enough time to study a variety of other techniques.

Maybe her feelings for her family were more complicated than she would like to let on.

Regardless, this gave Hinata an opportunity. If her opponent was so sensitive to that topic, it was something that could be used against her.

"I'm sorry," she said while trying to borrow some of the acting skills she had witnessed Itachi-sensei demonstrate in their first conversation with their client shortly after they had arrived at the mansion to sound sincerely apologetic. "You didn't have it easy, did you?"

In all honestly, she felt like an idiot saying that. Would Yuwaku really buy that?

Apparently, and much to Hinata's surprise, she actually did.

"What?" Yuwaku's voice was unusually quiet. "Why would you-"

"Your family hasn't been nice to you, have they?" Hinata continued, not allowing the other woman to finish. "It's only natural that you weren't happy with them. You don't need to be embarrassed about it. It isn't your fault."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but-"

"Oh, I know!" Hinata exclaimed, channelling her inner Kiba to sound excited as if she just had a great idea. "Why don't you come with me to Konoha? I'm sure Sandaime-sama would gladly grant you asylum if you tell him what terrible people your family are! Wouldn't that be great?"

For a few seconds, there was silence, and Hinata almost believed she had either misunderstood or miscalculated something when Yuwaku finally replied.

"Y'know," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I did feel a bit sorry about having to rip your eyes out of their sockets. It's always such a shame to ruin a pretty face." She paused. "However, I changed my mind. I think I will actually enjoy doing it now."

Before Hinata had the chance to even process that her plan to rile Yuwaku up had somehow worked, the other woman pushed herself off the ground to rush at her.

"Sanbīmu Yari!" (Sunbeam Spear)

Hinata had wanted to make this a close combat fight, but that was before Yukawa used some kind of technique she didn't know. She unfortunately didn't get a choice on that matter, though, as her opponent closed the distance between them before Hinata had the chance to jump away, forcing her to adapt on the spot.

Yuwaku was still radiating bright light, meaning Hinata couldn't see her attacks coming, but she had trained for this. Trusting her ears, Hinata twisted around and crossed her arms in front of her just in time to block a kick, surprising herself when she could actually keep up with the strength behind it instead of being pushed back. If Yuwaku didn't have the power to overwhelm her, then she might actually be able to-

Hinata didn't get to finish that thought. She had just raised her left arm to block another attack she had noticed thanks to the sound of fluttering fabric from Yuwaku's dress while simultaneously preparing to attack with her right one when a warm sensation on her left hand made her react on instinct:

Instead of going through with her initial plan to block whatever attack was coming, she instead pulled back and jumped away.

It probably saved her both her arm and her life because although she had managed to dodge the worst of it, Yukawa's attack still grazed her, cutting through the fabric of her kimono and leaving a small gash on her forearm. Had she not moved, she wouldn't have been so lucky.

She made herself a weapon, she realized, her blood running cold. A weapon made from sunlight. She could probably destroy it if she managed to hit it just right like she had done with the projectiles earlier, but without being able to see it, it was much more likely that she would end up maiming herself.

Which meant she couldn't go on the offensive.

Hinata continued to dodge and defend herself as she backed further and further away; she listened to the flutter of clothes to predict Yukawa's attacks, paid attention to the sound of crunching earth beneath their feet to predict her position, and strained her senses to their absolute maximum in order to notice the heat that always heralded the approach of Yukawa's weapon.

She slapped an incoming fist aside before taking a step back; she ducked beneath a kick by crouching low to the ground before trying to sweep her opponent's legs away beneath her only to abandon that plan when she noticed an incoming strike of the weapon at the last possible second and fell further back instead; she blocked her arms to defend against another kick which she allowed to push her back to get some more distance between them.

And during all that, she was collecting more cuts and gashes by the second. None of them was a serious injury yet, and none of them even impeded her as the injuries she received during training were often more painful than this, but given enough time, they would still bring her down. It was only a question of 'when', not 'if'.

And yet, Hinata didn't feel panic. Quite the opposite, in fact. She still felt an ounce of fear at the realization that she was fighting a missing-nin, and she was well aware of the danger she was in, but even with all that in mind, she didn't panic.

It wasn't the same focus that had taken over her mind during her fight against Lee or even the boars, but she still felt much more focused than even during her team's regular training sessions.

The reason for that was that her current exchange with Yuwaku proved that she wasn't as outclassed as she had initially feared. Yes, she was on the backfoot, but even though she was fighting blind against her while Yuwaku definitively fought to kill with all her might, Hinata held her own. She wasn't simply overwhelmed and killed off.

Yuwaku, for all that she was older and surely had more experience, wasn't all that much stronger than her. If Hinata was being honest, she might even be weaker than she weren't it for that one technique that made it impossible for her to use her Byakugan to its full potential.

It was this realization that made her draw new courage.

Hinata would later blame the impulsiveness of her next action on that.

The next time Yuwaku slashed at her with her weapon, Hinata didn't step back after avoiding being cut open by it and instead jumped right at her. That immediately resulted in a fist to her gut, but as that was clearly just a knee-jerk reaction rather than an intentional attack, it hurt but also lacked the power to stop her.

Thus, Hinata could come close enough to aim a palm strike of her own.

She still couldn't see her opponent, of course, so there was no way for her to close her tenketsu. She might be able to do some damage if she got a lucky hit and used enough chakra, but that wasn't its true purpose. She didn't even use chakra whatsoever in this attack. No, she simply wanted to get rid of her for a moment and create an opening.

And to do that, she channelled her lightning nature into her palms. Her control wasn't good enough yet to use this method for a lethal attack without using a weapon as a medium, but judging by the pained cry as her palm connected with Yuwaku's chest, it was more than enough for her purpose.

Using the short distraction, she immediately began weaving the hand seals for the only Ninjutsu aside from the Academy ones she knew:

"Raiton: Amigumo!" (Lightning Release: Spider Web)

Hinata slammed her hands on the ground and released a surge of electricity that then poured in every direction to form a web around her, electrocuting Yukawa who had been caught in it.

The attack wasn't particularly powerful, but it didn't need to be. Its purpose was to stun an opponent to allow the follow-up attack to hit, and for that, it was just strong enough.

Or at least, it should be.

Unfortunately, rather than stunning Yuwaku, it resulted in her body falling apart in a pile of rocks.

A clone, Hinata thought numbly. That wasn't what her mind focused on, though. The true problem was the figure of the real Yuwaku that had now been revealed. She has been hiding at the edge of the light emitted by her clone's technique, she realized. But since when…

Hinata wanted to immediately continue with her offensive, taking advantage of the opportunity now that she could actually see her opponent, but the surprise of the sudden turn of events was enough to make her freeze for just half a second, giving Yuwaku enough time to take the initiative.

"Issen Niidoru!" (One Thousand Needles)

There was only one thing Hinata could do in response.

Hakkeshō Kaiten!" (Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation)

Just like the last time, the attack continued for longer than Hinata was comfortable with, and although it lasted for only fifteen rather than twenty seconds this time, her own diminished reserves meant that it felt just as, if not even more exhausting than the last time to keep her own technique up for that long.

However, if there was one good thing about this situation, it was the time it gave her to plan. Thus, the very moment the onslaught stopped, she made her move.

"Hakke Kūshō!" (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)

Yuwaku had just been in the process of raising her own hands, probably intending to use the same technique her clone had used to radiate blinding light, but she was forced to abandon that idea in favour of trying to dodge.

She actually managed to avoid the brunt of it, the wave of chakra only hitting her shoulder instead of smashing straight into her chest, but that was still enough to throw her backwards for several metres before her back hit the ground.

Hinata didn't hesitate and began rushing towards her at once.

"Don't get arrogant you stupid brat!" Yuwaku yelled, the panic both in her voice and on her face making up for quite a contrast to her earlier attitude. "One lucky hit means nothing!"

She then raised her hand to shoot some more projectiles made from sunlight at her.

That was of no concern for Hinata, though. Compared to her earlier attacks, these half a dozen projectiles were nothing. She could easily defend herself against them. Not even bothering to dodge lest she slowed down and gave Yuwaku even one more time to prepare herself, Hinata lashed out with her left hand to destroy them.

The moment she made contact with it, however, pain shot through her hand and up her arm all the way to her shoulder when she found herself with a senbon stuck in her palm. The only reason her face and upper body weren't hit by the remaining five projectiles as well was that she got lucky as her flinch at the sudden pain resulted in her left arm getting in the way and getting hit instead, and while that hurt, she was still aware enough to understand that this was preferable to the alternative.

She has wrapped the senbons with her technique to hide them, Hinata thought. Because the light is so bright, I could impossibly see them. She knew I wouldn't bother with dodging and used that against me.

And the worst of all? This attack had stopped Hinata's offensive, giving Yukawa more than enough time to collect herself.

"Genwaku Taiyō!" (Blinding Sun)

Once again, radiant light erupted from the other woman's body, and once again, Hinata's Byakugan was rendered more or less useless.

And just like that, we are back at the very beginning…

"I can't believe you cause me this much trouble," Yuwaku muttered while trying to catch her breath, a far cry from the playful and condescending façade she had put up earlier. "Dammit, just you wait. Not even Kumo will want you when I'm done with you!"

Hinata barely listened as she crouched with one knee on the ground about twenty metres in front of her, her own breathing as laboured as Yuwaku's while she absently-minded began to remove the senbons stuck in her left hand and arm with only the slightest of winces at every pull.

Had she gotten too overconfident? She thought she stood a chance when she realized her opponent wasn't all that strong at all, but what if it was just because of that realization that she had rushed into her own defeat?

Hadn't one of Itachi-sensei's first lessons been to correctly assess their opponent's strengths and weaknesses and then act accordingly? To judge whether it was better to stay and fight or turn around and flee?

While it wasn't as if she hadn't done that at all, she had certainly not paid as much attention as she should have.

Hinata hadn't been in a position to flee, so staying to fight while waiting for reinforcement – and on that note, shouldn't some have arrived by now? – had been her only option. Yuwaku's strengths were clear as well: she had a slight physical edge due to her age, possessed intimate knowledge about Hinata's fighting style, and also practised a style of her own that was basically tailormade to beat Hyūga.

Her weaknesses, while not quite as clear, hadn't been too hard to figure out and exploit either: she underestimated Hinata and had a weak spot for the topic of her family.

However, couldn't she have done better? She might have riled Yuwaku up by speaking ill of her family, but after that, did she have any sort of plan? Did she have anything else in mind to really exploit that weakness?

The answer was no, she hadn't.

And before that? Sure, she did try to use her a smoke bomb to hinder Yuwaku's sight as well to use her sensei's teachings about fighting without access to all of one's senses to her advantage, but that approach had been thwarted quickly enough. By itself, the idea of taking her sight as well might have been a good one, but it was of little use if Yuwaku could simply use that technique where she shot projectiles in every direction to defend herself. If she did that, Hinata had no other choice but to use her Palm Rotation, effectively dispersing all the smoke in the area and consequently rendering the plan to hinder Yuwaku's sight useless. It would be an entirely different matter if there was another way to blind her, but unfortunately…

Wait a moment, she thought as a figurative ray of light broke through the dark clouds that had formed inside her mind. But there is one way!

It was risky because she hadn't fully mastered that technique yet, but it wasn't completely hopeless. Hinata had realized a while ago that Yuwaku wasn't a very powerful kunoichi, so even if the strength of the technique she had in mind wasn't yet as great as it could be, even the limited version she could use would most likely be enough. If nothing else, it should at the very least create the opening she needed.

It would require a not-insignificant amount of chakra, though. It was to the point where she would be able to use maybe one more Palm Rotation afterwards before being left with too little for another one. That, in turn, meant she would be capable of defending herself from her opponent's attack only one more time.

And yet it was also her best shot at still emerging out of this victorious. She just needed a plan regarding how to continue once she had taken away Yuwaku's vision. She couldn't – pardon the pun – blindly rush forward as she had done before.

"Oh, no more clever remarks from you? Don't you want to plea for your life? Appeal to my conscience?"

Hinata didn't reply, still deep in thoughts. Yes, this might actually work…

"Really? Nothing at all? How disappointing." Yuwaku said, now sounding merely annoyed rather than angry or even exhausted. "I hoped for a few more tears and cries, y'know. You're my first Hyūga, so that would have been the least you could do. Especially after all the trouble you caused me." She paused for a moment. Then, "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

It was at that exact moment, assumingly when Yuwaku readied herself for one final technique, that Hinata struck, ignoring the pain in her left hand where the senbons had hit her as she waved hand seals.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu!" (Bringer-of-Darkness Technique)

This was a high-level Genjutsu; an A-Rank technique. However, Hinata was not yet skilled enough to utilise the full potential of this technique. Because of that, it was effectively closer to a C-Rank when she used it. Her sensei had taught it to her for a reason, though, and which one became quite clear soon enough from Yuwaku's reaction.

"What the-" she exclaimed before getting a grip on herself and trying – and failing – to break free from the illusion.

Hinata didn't waste any time and began rushing towards her once more, ignoring how weak her legs felt beneath her as she tried to close as much distance between them as possible before the inevitable happened. I might not be able to use it as well as Sensei, but it's still a powerful Genjutsu. She felt a warm glow of pride in her chest as she recalled his praise for her progress during the very training session in which he had first informed her team of his intention to take them on their first C-Rank mission. You won't break out of this one, Yuwaku!

"You stupid girl, don't think this changes anything! Just die already!"

"Issen Niidoru!" (One Thousand Needles)

Just like Hinata had predicted, the other woman used the same technique she always used when things were getting perilous for her. She had managed to cross a bit over three-fourth of the distance between them by then, though, so it wasn't much of a problem.

"Hakkeshō Kaiten!" (Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation)

Hinata was acutely aware of her quickly dropping chakra levels as she spun around herself, but while she felt a tingle of anxiety, Hinata managed to keep her cool. She had anticipated this, so there was nothing to worry about.

The onslaught was even shorter than the previous one, lasting for only about ten seconds before subsiding.

The moment the attack stopped, Hinata pushed off the ground to close the remaining distance in one big leap while trying her hardest to keep her Byakugan activated and ignore the black dots that were starting to appear at the edges of her vision.

"Damn you! Sanbīmu-"

Hinata was upon her before she could use the technique with which she had earlier created a weapon made from sunlight, forgoing her usual style in favour of throwing a punch with her good right fist towards where she assumed Yuwaku's face must be.

She would never have believed it if someone had told her just an hour ago that she would one day feel like this, but the resulting crushing sound and painful scream was the most satisfying thing she had experienced all day.

And the best part? The direct hit was apparently enough to disrupt the technique that made her radiate bright light, meaning Hinata could now actually see her!

The shocked expression on Yuwaku's face while blood ran from her obviously broken nose wasn't one that she would ever forget.

Neither was the angry one she adapted a moment later.

Yuwaku did not even insult or shout at her. Instead, she let out a furious scream before lunging in her general direction, all restraint forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Hinata was more than ready for it.

The first swing went wide without her having even to dodge, and the second and third ones were easily avoided by simple steps to the side. Then, when Yuwaku threw her fist at her for the fourth time, Hinata made use of the fact that she could now see her opponent and thrust her fingers upwards to jab them against her wrist.

The other kunoichi let out a cry when the tenketsu there was forcefully closed while simultaneously lashing out with a reflexive kick that Hinata simply evaded by crouching low to the ground.

Following that, she tried to sweep Yuwaku's legs away only for Yuwaku to take a hasty step backwards at the last possible moment. Not to be deterred by that, Hinata ignored the protest of her muscles as she propelled herself into the air from her crouched position to deliver a roundhouse kick that Yuwaku barely managed to block.

Even so, it was still enough to force her to take a few steps backwards and unbalance her.

Hinata almost buckled when she hit the ground again, but she knew that she couldn't let such an opening go to waste, so she merely gritted her teeth at the effort it took and rushed forward once more.

Yuwaku, still not having found her footing again, could do nothing to avoid the three jabs to her right arm and shoulder, and the only reason she didn't get hit even more often was that Hinata didn't dare to use her injured hand for the Gentle Fist as well.

Letting out another pained cry, Yuwaku stumbled back, but Hinata didn't let her escape.

A moment later, the other woman's right arm went limp as two more tenketsu were forcibly closed, leaving her with only two legs and one arm, the hand of which was useless as it was the one Hinata had previously paralysed when she hit the tenketsu on its wrist, to defend herself with.

Three more seconds later and the left arm went limp as well.

"You can't do this!" Yuwaku exclaimed, but while she clearly tried to sound angry and commanding, no one would have mistaken her voice for anything but panicked. "I-"

Hinata didn't wait for her to finish before preparing one final attack; gathering all her remaining chakra into her right palm and even adding lightning nature to it for good measure, she thrusted her hand forwards while holding it almost like a claw.

It hit her mark on point, closing five tenketsu – one with each of her fingers – surrounding her solar plexus at once.

This time, Yuwaku only let out a quiet grunt as the force behind the attack threw her backwards until her flight was forcefully stopped when her back hit the wall that surrounded the mansion and its accompanying grounds.

She had lost her consciousness even before she hit the ground.

For a few seconds, Hinata kept standing where she was, her arm still extended and her breathing unnaturally loud in her own ears. Then, when the realization that Yuwaku was truly beaten, that she had won, finally set in, all strength seemed to leave her body all at once as she collapsed to the ground.

"I won," she muttered, not quite believing it herself. "I really won…"

Sure, she had decided that using that Genjutsu to first blind and then overwhelm her opponent would be the best possible approach she could make, and she had been confident that she was actually more skilled than her opponent and would have a clear advantage once Yuwaku's vision was just as limited as her own, but there had been a small part of her that had still been hesitant. A part that had been unsure whether it was really the right thing to do.

Hinata remembered all the times she had been unsure about her own abilities; all the countless hours she had spent training the Gentle Fist – sometimes alone and sometimes with her uncle, cousin, or even her father – to be at a level that was expected of the Hyūga heir; all the sleepless nights she spent studying to stay on top of the Academy curriculum; all the gruelling training sessions with Team 8 that were just as rewarding as they were exhausting…

Somewhere in the deepest corners of her mind, she had always been unsure whether she truly deserved to be where she was, as heir to one of Konoha's greatest clans and student to one of the village's most famous shinobi.

Unsure whether she truly had the abilities to back a dream as big as hers.

And now here she was, having just used the abilities she had spent all these years improving to overcome her very first life-or-death battle.

The load that fell off her mind was impossible to describe with something crude as mere words.

Even as the adrenalin wore off and she began to feel both the exhaustion from the fight and the pain of the wounds she had received in it for real, a smile fought its way onto Hinata's face.

Then, a second later, she rolled around to lie on her back and look into the sky before she suddenly began to giggle. She just couldn't help it. At first, it was just a single gurgle that made its way out of her mouth. Hinata tried to suppress the impulse at first, immediately clasping her uninjured hand over her mouth, but it quickly became a battle she had no chance of winning.

So, with no other choice, she let it all out.

It was probably a good thing that no one was nearby to witness her very unsightly behaviour right now. Her lying on the ground while covered in blood from all the countless small cuts on her body and giggling like a madwoman couldn't possibly make for a good picture.

I can't wait to tell Hanabi about this, she thought, her giggling intensifying even more when she remembered that she had thought there wouldn't be much to tell back when her sister made her promise to tell her everything once she returned. Heh, I'm sure she'll love hearing about this.

"She won."

"So it seems, yes."

There was a moment of silence. Then, "Do you think we should check on her? See if any of her injuries are serious?"

The second person, a woman wearing a raven mask, tore her gaze away from her still giggling form of the Hyūga girl to look at her partner. "You have seen the fight, haven't you? None of the cuts the Taiyō has inflicted on her are in any way serious."

"I'm more worried about her head, actually."

The woman rolled her eyes, and although she couldn't see her partner's face behind his own fox mask, she was sure he was currently spotting a smug grin. He loves to make stupid jokes, doesn't he? "Don't be like that, Fox. Can't you remember how it felt coming down from that adrenalin high after your first real fight?"

"Yes, yes, I know. It was just a joke."

"And a very bad one at that."

Everyone reacted differently to this experience, depending on both the circumstances and result of the fight as well as the person's individual character. Some, like the Hyūga, began to laugh like mad, others began to cry, some became silent and stared holes into the air for hours, and yet again others tried to act as if nothing had happened in the first place. There were countless different reactions, and compared to some Raven had seen before, giggling in relief was a relatively tame one.

She took a moment to wonder how the girl would eventually react to her first kill before dismissing that thought. That wasn't her responsibility, so there was no reason to think about it.

"Whatever," Fox said with a shrug, clearly unbothered by her comment. "I didn't expect you to understand humour in the first place."

"If that's what you call humour, I doubt there's anyone who would understand it."

"Anyway, wasn't all of this a little bit too much? I mean, it isn't as if the girl was in any real danger at any point of the fight considering we were here the entire time, but she didn't know that. Seems a bit cruel to make her think her life might actually be in danger, don't ya think?"

The change of topic couldn't have been done less subtle, but Raven decided to go along with it anyway. "A bit, maybe, but who are we to judge how to train a Genin? I was never a Jōnin instructor, and neither were you."

Fox snorted. "Please, I wasn't even part of a Genin team, much less its instructor! However, that doesn't mean I can't have an opinion about this."

"I guess," she said with a shrug before tilting her head in thought. "I still don't see a problem with this, though. I mean, it's just as you said; regardless of whether she knew it or not, she was in no real danger at any point, so it should be fine, right?"

Itachi Uchiha had sent one of his crows to the nearest ANBU outpost – Raven didn't even bother trying to find out why he even knew where they were – with a short message about some underhand ploy going on at the Kabasawa Mines and a request for aid. After a short consideration, their squad leader had decided to send her and Fox to support the Uchiha in taking care of it.

Neither of them had expected that all he asked them to do upon their arrival was to remain out of sight, observe, and only act if absolutely necessary. At first, they disagreed, arguing that they had more important things to do with their time, but after he explained the full plan to them, they understood his reasoning and ultimately agreed.

Thus, they had played secret babysitters for the Hyūga girl ever since.

"He could have spared her a lot of emotional distress if he had just told her about us, though."

"But then she wouldn't have gotten this experience. To me, having one's first fight in a controllable environment seems like a pretty good thing, to be honest."

Fox shrugged. "Maybe. Still seems like a weird thing to do to a Genin if you ask me." Then, he snorted. "Well, I guess we can just blame it on him having been a child prodigy. They always do weird stuff that somehow ends up being a good thing. Just look at Hatake."

"Sure, whatever you say." To be honest, Raven really didn't want to discuss this any further, so she simply didn't bother to disagree with her partner lest he started another discussion. The sooner we finish here, the sooner we can return to our post. "Shall we go and take care of the rest, then?"

Thankfully, Fox agreed without making a fuss. "Sure."

With that, the two disappeared in a whirl of leaves without anyone being any the wiser that they had ever been there to begin with.