Naruto VS Hinata
Hinata didn't quite understand what Naruto was telling her.
"You look perplexed Hinata. All I'm asking for is a sparring match. Nothing complicated." Naruto explained with a large grin across his face.
"But I can't fight Naruto-kun. I don't want you to be hurt."
"Come on Hinata. I just want a friendly practice match." Naruto continued to insist. "Ever since I was a kid I always trained by myself and enjoyed sparring with others whenever I got the chance. But my opponents always told me that I was either too fast or too strong. It was a bit of a bummer since I never got to fight anyone truly skilled as I got busy with other aspects of life. Nonetheless I've always wanted to test my own physical capabilities and I know for sure that you are incredibly strong because of your lineage. So please, let's have a match."
"But if it's Naruto-kun then I can't…"
Before she could finish Naruto grabbed her right hand with both of his own and gave her the dreaded puppy dog eyes. "Pretty please!"
"Ah, not the puppy dog eyes." Hinata recoiled in retaliation before finally making up her mind. "Okay…if you truly want to do this then I guess I have no choice but to agree."
"AWESOME!" Naruto took a few steps back as well and took a stance with clenched fists. "This is going to be fun. I get to fight an alien one on one."
"I did agree to spar with you, but I have no intentions of using my eyes or my exounit for this." Hinata now focused her attention on her A.I. partner. "That means you're not taking any part in this Himawari."
"Awww what? I wanted to help you whoop his backside real bad. Such a bummer." Himawari sighed.
"I hope that is okay with you Naruto-kun."
"Of course. While I do appreciate a challenge, I don't think I could face up any of your super powers." Naruto couldn't hold back his excitement. "You know, I don't remember the two of us ever having any kind of marital discord. I suppose we can call this our first fight as a couple. So come at me, my dear wife."
Hinata nodded with a little bit of reluctance and moved in to initiate the battle. She threw a couple of punches, but they were slow and lacked much force behind them, allowing Naruto to evade them with ease. As she tried to land another hit, Naruto gained some momentum and did a complete backflip over Hinata, using her shoulders to propel himself further along the way, landing right behind her. The move caught Hinata by surprise and just as she turned around to face Naruto, he grabbed her by the collar and flipped her over his shoulder, slamming her on to the ground.
Hinata laid flat on her back in awe. She couldn't believe Naruto was capable of such quick feats. It was only when he extended his hand towards her did she snap out of her daze. She grabbed hold of the hand and Naruto pulled her up in an instant, moving back several steps afterwards.
"Come on Hinata, I know you're stronger than this. If you're holding back because it's me then don't." Naruto had a look of disappointment on his face. "Didn't you say something about fighting for those you care for? Do you really think you can protect your precious people like this?"
His statement made her remember exactly why she trained so hard in the first place. It made her realise once again for whom she needs to fight for. Thus Hinata now had a determined look in her eyes as she stood firmly with her right palm outstretched in front of her body.
"I like that look in your eyes." Naruto said with enthusiasm in his voice. "This time I'll start."
He dashed forward at her throwing a few punches but she pushed them all to the side with her palms easily. As Naruto ducked down to perform a low sweep, Hinata used Naruto's shoulder as support to flip her entire body over him with one hand just like Naruto had done earlier.
It was now Naruto's turn to be surprised and just as he turned around to face Hinata, she landed a powerful blow to his midsection with both palms that sent his body sliding back several feet while bringing him down to his knees straight after.
"I can do it too." Hinata stated with seriousness affixed to her eyes and voice.
Naruto picked himself back up with a smile on his face. "Now that is exactly what I'm looking for. I knew you could do it. So let's keep it up."
Both sides gave a quick nod as they both dashed towards each other this time without hesitation. They started landing hit after hit at each other while blocking or dodging them at the same time. As the battle continued their blows only got stronger. Without even realising, Naruto was now moving and performing attacks at a speed that would not be possible by the average person on Earth. Similarly, even though Hinata had not intended to use her eyes, she was forced to use her special ocular abilities just to keep up with Naruto's pace without even realising it.
The battle was a tug of war between Naruto's offense and speed against Hinata's defence and evasion. After having continued the clash to a stalemate for an extended period of time both sides backed away several steps to catch their breath.
It was at this point that Hinata took a unique stance. She joined her index and middle fingers together on both hands and stood sideways with her arms outstretched, her left two fingers touching the ground in front of her while her right two fingers raised in the air behind her.
"If I don't use the power of my exounit, this should not harm him badly. But I want to see if I can truly manage this technique against an actual opponent." Hinata thought within her mind.
"What're you doing Hinata?" Naruto asked out of curiosity for he had never seen a stance like this before.
"You're strong Naruto-kun, even more so than I imagined. As such I will honour your strength by showing you the Hyuyan's unique fighting style – the Gentle Fist, which uses the "all-seeing" capabilities of our eyes to deliver precision strikes to shut the opponent down completely."
Naruto quickly got back in position, his excitement now at its peak. "This is what I've been waiting for Hinata. Show me what you are truly capable of."
The veins in Hinata's temples bulged even further, her eyes focusing absolutely on Naruto, everything else fading into the background.
"GENTLE FIST ART: 64 STRIKES!" She shouted while charging at her opponent.
Naruto tried to block the incoming attacks but two jabs hit him at an opening where he wasn't expecting. Two more hits landed at a completely different part of his body. Four hits followed straight afterwards, aimed at another area. Each time the counts doubled and the jabs from her fingers did an increasing amount of damage. However it wasn't so much the sheer power behind the technique that made it impressive, it was more the unpredictable nature of the assault and how each hit was aimed at a different point of the body that made it very difficult to predict or evade.
Eventually after landing 32 hits, Naruto's guard was completely broken and he was left open with no remaining line of defence. Thus Hinata went in for a heavy onslaught of another 32 hits, finishing her last attack with an upward thrust of her palms straight to his chin, sending him soaring backwards several feet through the air.
It was at this point when she had landed the final blow that Hinata came to the realisation that she had perhaps gone completely overboard with her attacks on Naruto. She had forgotten that in the end he was just another Earthling without any special powers. Hinata feared that she may have hurt Naruto badly even though she had held back considerably.
On the other hand, as Naruto was about to fall on his back he felt a sense of remorse. The little bout with Hinata had pushed his limits more than ever before. But it wasn't enough. He wanted to take it one step further. He knew intrinsically that there was more he could achieve. As such for only a brief moment he tapped into a power that he himself was not aware existed.
With a sudden flash of yellow Naruto landed on the ground on all fours from mid-air.
Naruto's movement was so fast that Hinata missed it as she blinked her eyes. The last thing she noticed was Naruto raising his right hand in front of him and immediately following it her body was hit by a powerful burst of wind that sent her flying into the wall behind her and bringing her to her knees.
Naruto was in a state of unawareness for the few moments it took for these events to unfold, but when he came to his senses he saw Hinata on the ground and rushed over to her in worry.
"HINATA ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" He shouted and kneeled down beside her to get a better look. "Are you hurt? Is everything okay?"
Hinata shook her head lightly and looked at him with a smile. "It's okay Naruto-kun. I'm fine."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was so scared there for a second. I didn't know what just happened."
"Yeah…I'm wondering the same thing. It felt like I was hit by a powerful gust of wind. What happened?" Hinata was just as perplexed as Naruto.
"I'm looking into it right now." Himawari said to them both. "I myself am not too sure. I've never seen anything like it and everything happened so quickly. There definitely was some kind of anomalous activity with the air in this room. Maybe it was some kind of issue with the air flow or ventilation. Not sure. Database is not finding anything."
"Leaving that aside, Naruto-kun are you alright as well? I didn't mean to go overboard with my attacks. I'm really sorry if I did. I got carried away."
In response to her concern, Naruto gave Hinata an awed look.
"That technique of yours – IT WAS AWESOME!" He yelled out of joy. "I have never seen anything like it and you caught me completely off guard. That was the most amazing technique I've ever faced. Thanks for letting me see it."
Hinata blushed lightly in response. "Thanks…it was my pleasure."
"Heh, you're lucky the princess didn't go all out because she was thinking of your wellbeing." Himawari chimed in. "If she used the full potential of that technique which disables the major nerves in the victim's body with each strike, you would be lying on the floor completely immobilised right now."
"So there was more to it that I didn't get to see?" Naruto asked out of surprise to which Hinata nodded shyly. "I should have known. I mean you didn't use any of your crazy abilities. I know I wouldn't be able to stand up to them but it would be really interesting to see how you could use them in battle. Actually Hinata, I have a request."
Hinata looked at him curiously. "Anything for you Naruto-kun."
"I would love it if you showed me one of your attacks that uses your special abilities. I really am curious about it."
"Special attacks…" Hinata thought for a second before giving him a nod. "Okay, since you're so adamant about it I'll demonstrate to you something very special. What I'm about to show you is a secret technique that was once used by a now extinct race. In fact I'm the only Hyuyan who can use it…maybe even the only person in the entire universe. I only mastered it recently after quite a bit of training."
Naruto gulped down in anticipation.
"Please look at my hand." Hinata raised her right hand in front of herself and grasped the wrist firmly with the left hand. She focused her eyes on to the palm of the outstretched hand.
Naruto's eyes were also affixed on to Hinata's hand. What he saw made his eyes widened in disbelief. A spiralling blue ball of condensed energy formed atop the palm of Hinata's right hand.
"We Hyuyans can release the energy stored within our body through our nervous system. This technique condenses that energy into the form of a rapidly rotating chaotic ball." She explained as the energy glowed with a bright blue colour. "It is known as the Spiralling Sphere. Translating that name to your language, it would be called…"
"Rasengan!" Naruto and Hinata said at the time as she dashed towards a human sized metallic target on the other side of the dojo.
Hinata pushed the rasengan into the target causing a spectacular explosion of energy that shattered the metallic object into small pieces through the sheer force of the impact.
Naruto's jaw dropped from the display. He was lost for words.
"So, what did you think?" Hinata asked as she made her way back to Naruto.
"WOW! I didn't know you could use an attack so powerful. I want to use it. I want to use it so badly. Is there any way for me to learn it? I am willing to work extremely hard and follow whatever instructions you give." Naruto gazed at Hinata with a glint of hope in his eyes.
"Even though I would love to teach you, the rasengan isn't something just anyone can use. We Hyuyans can use it because we have the ability to naturally release the energy stored within our bodies. The people of the extinct race that created this technique could use it because they were able to do something similar with the help of highly advanced and specialised technology. So I'm very sorry to break your heart Naruto-kun. I really wish there was a way for you to use it, but…"
"You have no reason to apologise Hinata. I was just being overzealous and impractical. However I'm a bit curious how you managed to learn a technique used by an extinct race that no one else knows."
"That's a very good question." Hinata admitted. "The reason I managed to learn the rasengan was because of my mother."
"Your mother?" Naruto had a very confused look on his face. "I thought she passed away a long time ago."
"That is true, but my mother used to write a journal when she was alive which I have with me right now. Within it my mother wrote about this incredibly powerful race that one day became extinct overnight. Their planet was left in a state of utter destruction, not a single survivor left over. It was a horrific event that happened during the time of my birth and it left my mother in despair, because her best friend was a member of that race who died during the incident." Hinata explained with sadness within her voice. "The two of them were incredibly close ever since childhood. My mother described her friend as a woman who had bright red hair and a short temper. But at the same time she was an incredibly kind and caring person. During the time of the incident my mother was expecting me, while her friend was about to give birth to a son. The two of them were incredibly happy and hoped that their children would grow up to have strong ties just as their parents did. Unfortunately that hope would never come to pass as my mother's friend, along with her entire race would meet their sudden demise shortly."
Naruto listened attentively, his heart going out to the people of the race that were no longer.
"The rasengan in particular was a gift given to my mother by this friend of hers. A long time ago when they were both younger, my mother wanted to give a very special gift to her friend. Being a talented A.I developer, she made a very special A.I and gave it to her friend as a present. In return her friend also wanted to give her something unique. As such she gave my mother a detailed set of instructions on how to use the rasengan, a secret technique that was mastered and used by a select few within her race." Hinata continued. "Although my mother was never able to learn the rasengan, since she left her journal to me, I was able to master the rasengan myself."
"I see, so now it all makes sense." Naruto stood up and brought Hinata up along with him. "I think your mom would be very happy to see her daughter being able to use the same technique her best friend left her. After all, the rasengan is a relic of her best friend's memory, which is why she wrote it down in her journal. And you have done well to keep that memory alive in your mother's place."
Hinata was in awe from that statement. She had never thought of it that way but Naruto was absolutely right. Hinata was glad that she got to fight with Naruto and show him the rasengan. Because of it the two of them were able to get even closer.
"Let's go get refreshed. I'm starving as well." Naruto said to Hinata.
"Yes, let's have some food." Hinata replied with a smile as the two of them headed out of the training room together.
It was very interesting seeing your guesses to what role Bolt will play in this story. Some of you got it right exactly while others are in the correct ballpark. Eventually you'll find out the back story behind Bolt. In fact if you were keen, this chapter actually hints towards Bolt's origin. I guess I'll leave it up to you to find it out. This chapter also hints towards some of Naruto's powers as well ;)
As always it's a lot of fun for me to get to know your thoughts on the chapter. Thanks for all of your support and nice comments. Love them all and I shall see you all next time :)