Sleepless D: Next one's up, hope you like. Peace out.

The group were within the underground temple, many corridors led deeper underground, making the young people wonder how deep they went. After a minute, they reached the main hall, seeing several people eating at stone tables and some watched from above. "Lord Norio has arrived!" Someone yelled, gaining everyone's attention.

"New meat!" Another yelled and gained demonic smirks that made Hinata and Susumu nervous by their smirks.

"Follow me brats." Strife tells the younger people with Norio.

"We're near your age dumbass." Susumu tells Strife, knowing that he was at least a couple of years younger than him.

They did as he said, walking down the steps and began passing other teenagers who walked away from the centre and formed a circle. Norio walked around, having the concerned Ko follow him as he reached the front of the hall, seeing other older men and women standing near a large, stone throne. "My students, fellow members of my order, we have new members for this academy...and you all know the beginners test." Norio says, gaining a few cheers and chuckles from the younger people. "Kim!" Norio calls, having one of the younger members walk out.

The person wore a dark blue cloak and a hood that covered their face, they soon removed the cloak and a very slim person stood there. Kim wore a white tank top, white bandages wrapped around their shoulders and neck, a dark, camouflaged trousers and combat boots, Kim also wore leather armour around more vulnerable areas. Their facial features were strange, looking feminine, yet dark eyes and a shaved head with several fresh cuts throughout their scalp.

"What's going on?" Susumu asked, seeing Strife walk away quickly.

"You three, you'll have to fight Kim, one of the best within this temple, so we can assess your strength and ability." Norio tells them.

Ko was confused. "But there's three of them...I know Hinata's capability...even though she is skilful, she can't fight in front of a crowd this large." Ko tells him.

"Don't worry, they always lose and it usually takes a week for them to recover, some rare cases were death." Norio says, making Ko look in shock, Norio noticed this and chuckled. "Don't worry; I'm sure Hinata will survive." Norio tells him.

Kim started cracking her joints while the three new members were still confused, but Susumu soon chuckled and pulled out a knife. "Let's get this over with!" Susumu yelled, charging towards Kim, he jumped and sliced at Kim's cheek, he landed and quickly moved back and licked his blade. He stopped, having a disgusted look on his face, looking at the knife and saw that part of it was liquefied and was shocked. "What the fuck happened to my knife!?" He yelled, spitting out the liquid metal out.

Kim turned to him, showing her cheek and showed something shiny on her cheek, soon shrinking and vanished. "She's got something in her...I'm not sure what..." Eri says to Hinata, she quickly activated her Byakugan and saw that she was right, her veins filled with a liquid, soon realising that it was a metallic liquid.

"Y-Yeah...liquid metal..." Hinata says, nervous and gets in her stance while Eri does that same.

Kim holds her hand out, liquid metal coming out of her hand and taking form of a large knife, making Susumu feel a little scared now. Kim charged forward, swinging her weapon at him, managing to make light cuts on him, but he kept moving away from her. He hit a stone table and Kim quickly stabbed him in the shoulder, pushing him back and soon piercing the table and pinning Susumu to the table.

"FUCK!" Susumu yelled in pain, quickly grabbing Kim's arm and looked at her. "Leave me alone...kill yourself..." Susumu says, clenching his teeth in pain.

Kim released the blade, grabbing her jaw and twisted her neck and caused a snapping sound, Susumu sighed in slight relief, but another snap was heard. Susumu looked and was shocked that Kim was looking at him, a smirk on her face and her neck looking slightly deformed.

Hinata was scared now, knowing that her neck was broken, but she snapped it back in place. She left Susumu pinned to the stone table and began walking to the two girls. "One down, two to go." Norio says from his seat.

Kim charged forward, slightly disorganised steps and a bit wobbly, Eri took a step forward and sent her palm forward, hitting Kim in her chest. Kim shot backwards, crashing through stone tables and crashed into the wall, leaving everyone to stare in shock at her strength. Hinata thought that it looked similar to the Hyuga Gentle Fist, but did some kind of force that destroys its targets.

Kim coughed and ripped herself out of the wall, cracking her joints and Eri was impressed. "You managed to withstand my attack? Impressive..." Eri says aloud.

"She can solidify her body with metal!" Strife yells, enjoying the fight.

Kim charged once again, Eri fucused solely on Kim and waited, trying to sense where Kim will go next, she sent her palm forward once again, aiming for Kim's abdomen. Kim was ready however, having a long needle grow from her abdomen, cutting through Eri's hand, but it went badly for both. Eri's hand seized up and the needle went straight through Kim, Eri yelled in pain and held her palm, Kim ignored the pain and chopped her in the throat. Eri grabbed her throat, gasping for air and fell to her knees, Kim had three small needles come out of her right knee, smashing her knee in Eri's face.

The Monk girl fell backwards, trying to yell in pain, her cloth also flew off, having blood coming from her face and three long scars on her forehead now. Hinata was scared now, unable to move while Kim walked towards Hinata, her arms outstretched, looking like she's about to hug Hinata. Hinata felt the older girl wrap her hands around her, becoming scared and wondered what was going on. Pain was soon felt throughout her body, feeling her body being pierced in several areas and soon felt her lungs filling up with a warm liquid. Hinata coughed up blood before her eyes went blurry, seeing Kim pull back and Hinata fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

Kim was covered in large needles around her body, they receded and Kim moved to the closest stone table and sat down, holding her wound which still bled. "Someone get the medic!" Norio calls, seeing Ko run towards Hinata when he saw blood.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It's been over a week since that day, Hinata had to have surgery to repair all her organs, Eri was made to stay on the bed since her skull had deep gashes, Susumu required one surgery and was up and about. Hinata was scared of the academy, sending three people against someone that didn't seem to know how to die.

"So, how are you healing up?" Susumu asked, looking at Hinata and Eri, confused since she was in the corner, meditating and didn't have her cloth on, yet they haven't seen her open her eyes.

Hinata looked at him, having kept Susumu away the entire time. "I'm f-fine..." Hinata says.

Someone walked in, they looked and saw Norio, not wearing a cloak and was wearing a very worn down, dusty suit. "Hello, it's been a week, you'll begin your training...and Ko has managed to get a single room for you and will guard you." Norio tells Hinata.

She nodded, glad that she has her own room since she had to keep an eye open with Susumu near her. "O-Okay...thank you..." Hinata says.

"Okay, now...get out of the beds and meet with your tutor for the first lesson, you'll meet him and the others at the hall." Norio says, taking out a small ball. "Better move, this stuff is like tear gas." Norio says, throwing the ball and leaving.

The ball explodes and a white smoke quickly explodes, filling the room and the young people started coughing hard, their eyes stinging and quickly ran out of the room. Susumu ran into a stone wall by accident, getting up in pain and crawled out of the room, his head bleeding slightly.

Xxxxx

The three students of the academy reached the main hall, Susumu having a large headache and they saw a man wearing a blue cloak in the middle. They saw several other students near their age talking, waiting for them and some hated glares from the others. "Now then, seeing as you're all here then, the test is the same as usual, working in teams to hit me." The man in a blue cloak says, gaining a few annoyed sighs.

Hinata recognised the man as Strife, wearing his cloak over his clothes and had a metal mask in his right hand. "Can't we do something new? None of us has been able to hit you!" One of the other students complains, making Hinata, Susumu look in slight shock, not noticing Eri rub her head in pain.

"You can't hit this guy?" Susumu asked, bemused that they haven't.

"Trust me newbie...he's Norio's right hand...man for a reason." An older person says, making him and Hinata look, becoming slightly shocked to see someone that resembled a fish, having a sealed, ring container wrapped around his neck, seeing a bit of water coming from the container.

"Shut up, I'll hit him in less than one minute!" Susumu yells, charging forward, pulling out a kunai and launched forward, aiming to do a small cut.

Strife wasn't even looking and dodged the attack, Susumu cursed and started swinging wildly at Strife, but Strife was dodging the attacks quickly. Eri shot forward, her palm outstretched as she aimed for Strife, but was confused since Strife wasn't trying to avoid her attack. Susumu launched forward, aiming to kill Strife this time since he was pissed off, knowing that Strife couldn't dodge since he was in midair.

Strife chuckled and vanished, Eri was freaked out and Susumu became shocked and quickly tried to dodge. However, she brushed his shoulder and sent him flying, crashing into stone tables and hitting a couple of students.

Eri was holding her head, freaking out while Hinata was nervous now too, having keener eyes than most and Strife just vanished. Eri still had her eyes closed the entire time, not trying to sense where Strife was, but couldn't and freaked out since she couldn't follow him. After a few seconds, Strife reappeared where he was before, spinning this time and smashed his heel into Eri's back, making her scream in pain and hit the floor.

"Now then, two tried, both failed, anyone else?" Strife asked, seeing Susumu get up, coughing hard and looking at Eri.

"What the fuck happened?" Susumu asked, looking at his shoulder and seeing it out of place. Someone soon grabbed his shoulder and twisted it, making a horrible cracking out and Susumu screamed in pain, falling to his knees. "THANKS!" Susumu yelled, realising that it was dislocated.

"No problem." The guy says, having the characteristics of a tiger.

'Is everyone in this shithole a freak or something?' Susumu wondered.

"He's a good medic." Strife says, looking at the tiger man. "Nice work Felix." Strife smirked, soon placing a mask on his face, having yellow sockets.

"It's Neko..." The tiger man says in annoyance.

"Whatever Felix." Strife says and looks at Hinata. "Want to try your luck girl?" Strife asked, but getting a scared 'no' from Hinata. "Come on, try me." Strife says.

Hinata was still scared and walked forward, Strife chuckled and picked up Eri with one hand and threw the unconscious Eri to Neko. Neko caught her and placed her on the table, his hands glowing green and checked over Eri. "This should be quick." The fish man says.

Hinata activated her Byakugan, watching carefully and got in her stance, Strife waved at her to come. She charged and swung her palms at him, trying to hit him, but he was dodging her easily and charged forward, trying to punch Hinata, but she dodged his attack. "Good work..." Strife says, coughing slightly.

Hinata was now on the defence, dodging the older man's attacks, the others were impressed that she was dodging the attacks, even astounded that she blocked his disappearance and reappearance attack. Hinata was getting braver and she knew she'd be safe if she keeps focused, but she was getting exhausted and was beginning to worry about Strife, seeing him cough up blood under his mask. "Come on Strife! You're making yourself look weak!" Neko yelled.

Strife quickly grabbed a stone table and swung it at Hinata, she quickly took a stance and started moving her palms rapidly. 'Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!' Hinata said to herself, creating a sphere of chakra lines and practically vaporised the table, Strife also vanished and she kept her eyes focused.

The barrier stopped when someone grabbed her wrists, she was freaked out as Strife was standing behind her, having grabbed her wrists and smashed his knee in her back. "Nice try." Strife tells her and began to walk away, but he stopped when Hinata grabbed his ankle.

Strife sighed and pulled his other ankle back, ready to kick Hinata. "Lady Hinata!" A man yelled, he looked to Ko running towards them. Strife sighed and pulled his ankle away from Hinata and sat on a chair, watching as Ko was fussing over Hinata, glaring at Strife while Neko started checking on Hinata.

"Alright people, lesson over, meet by the Bottomless Spring in half an hour." Strife tells them, vanishing and making Ko confused, not seeing him anywhere.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she's alright and ready for the next part." Neko says.

"But she's just been hurt! Wasn't he the tutor!?" Ko yelled in anger.

"Yes, but that's training, she did better than most did on their first time." Neko says, glaring at Ko for arguing over their methods. "Argue with Lord Norio if you don't like it." Neko tells him. "This is to test your skills in dodging and attacking."

Ko just stayed by Hinata's side, worrying about her and wanted to make sure she was alright. "W-What happened?" Hinata whispered, feeling weak and painful.

Xxxxx

It's been over half an hour, the students were in the deepest, darkest part of the temple, a large room with several stone chairs, there is an alter behind a dark, seemingly bottomless spring. A woman sat in the middle of the stone chairs, watching the group carefully as the three newest students looked at the spring. "Welcome to the Springs of the Rift...to the new ones, you're to drink from the spring...which increases your body's capability." The woman tells them.

"Who's she?" Susumu asked, looking at the woman, having pale skin, shaggy, midnight blue hair, amber eyes and wears a black-half-top and black sweats with a dark blue trench coat.

"Midori...rouge ninja from the Mist...she's deadly...don't ever piss her off..." Neko whispers.

"Drink from what spring?" Eri asked, making Hinata step to her.

"It's right in front of us..."Hinata says, believing she can only sense people.

Eri soon looked worried, soon having the students go forward, placing their hands in the water and drinking from it. The students moved away, soon grabbing their heads in pain. Hinata and Eri could sense chakra exploding from the students that drank from it, becoming worried as they walked closer to the spring. Eri took a deep breath, reaching down and drinking the water, Hinata was scared, but did as the others did, drinking the water.

The water seemed colder than ice, making Hinata confused by what was so wrong with it, she heard people collapsing and saw Susumu hitting the floor, screaming in pain. Eri walked away, looking ill and held her stomach in pain, collapsing and hitting the floor hard.

Hinata soon felt her chakra coils burning, her head starting to feel like it was splitting in half, she soon screamed in pain, falling to her knees, but she was too close to the spring and fell in. Midori stood up and cursed, quickly walking towards the pond.

Hinata felt cold, seeing nothing but darkness, she tried to breath, but her body started burning greatly and for some reason, she felt like she was freezing to death. Hinata closed her eyes, feeling like she should just die, but she saw Naruto, feeling slightly at peace, but her eyes shot open, seeing a dark roof and Midori glaring at her. "You're a real pain, everyone moves away from the spring, you? You do something that not even I should do, enter the springs." Midori tells her.

Hinata's joints were sore, feeling tired and her body was cold, she wondered what happened, she looked and saw the other students looking weak as well. 'Now then...best get some sleep, it'll be a tough day on training tomorrow...' A voice in her head says, making her slightly confused, looking at Midori and wondered if she talked or if she was hallucinating.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It's been a couple of months since Hinata fell into the Spring, she was tired, exhausted and her body couldn't warm up, no matter what, she even took a bath in boiling water, but that didn't help. Hinata and her 'group' were being pushed, having to fight most of the time, learn through experience. Some were training with Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and other stuff, exhausting everyone quickly, but Hinata was increasing in stamina and were okay with Eri, everyone else were still hostile.

Hinata walked slowly from her room, finding it odd that Ko wasn't there when she woke up, she shivered and heard fighting going on. Hinata thought that it was just the usual, angry students trying to kill each other again, usually happened every week or so.

Hinata walked into the main hall, seeing a small group of people punching and kicking a man, she was worried but she learnt fast on not to stop them. After a few seconds, the man they were beating up pushed them away and stood up, weak, bleeding and a frustrated. Hinata was shocked when she recognised the man. "Ko!" She yelled.

Ko got into his Gentle Fist Stance, his Byakugan active and charged, smashing his palms into the man that looked like a fish. The fish man chuckles and grabbed Ko's wrist, soon causing a snapping sound and Ko yelled in pain. "That kind of attack...won't work against...my, skin Hyuga." The Fish man says, kneeing Ko in the chest.

Ko fell to his knees, winded badly and looked at the three attackers, the Fish man, Neko and a young man with bandaged up eyes. Hinata rushed forward, wanting to stop what they were doing to Ko, the bandaged up eyes tilted his head, raising his hand at Hinata and caused her to fly back, destroying a few stone tables at the same time.

Hinata coughed up a small amount of blood, some other students just watching as Neko chuckled, smashing the back of his hand against Ko's face. "Should never question Lord Norio's will, he's our saviour, he saved us from our lives, and you fight for a little girl that will end up dead." Neko says, grabbed the back of Ko's neck.

"W-What are...you d-doing..." Hinata says, her body still weak from training and fighting all the time. She falls to her side and starts crawling towards them, Neko chuckled as he placed Ko on his knees, seeing blood drip from his face.

"We're getting rid of useless weight." Neko says, standing behind Ko, grabbing the top of his head and jaw, smirking as he pulled away in opposite directions. Hinata paused in shock, hearing a sickening snap, Ko slowly falling to the ground and hits the floor, unmoving while blood came from near his head.

"Now...it's your turn." The Fish man smirks, walking towards her.

Hinata stayed there, her eyes emotionless and the world seemed to darken around her, unknowing activating her Byakugan and slowly stood up. "Wow, girl knows how to stand after your attack Ridd!" Neko chuckled.

"It doesn't matter, I'll kill her in one blow!" The Fish man says, charging and pulling his arm back.

Hinata stood there, nothing going through her head and she looked at him, her eyes cold and emotionless, she pulled her hand back and launched it forward. The Fish man was still several feet away from her, but he was hit by what seemed to be an invisible wall, causing him to fly back and caused Ridd to wave his hand to send Fish man in a different direction. Neko just stood there, shocked by what just happened. "The fuck was that?" Neko asked.

Hinata shot forward, faster then she has ever been before, surprising Neko as he jumped back to avoid her attack, but he too was hit by an invisible wall from the direction her hand shot. He soon hit the wall and Hinata looked at Ridd, still emotionless while Ridd did nothing. Hinata's hand shot forward, causing Ridd to do the same and the air between them seemed to thicken, making everyone look in shock and wonder what was going on.

The space between them explodes, sending them both flying and Ko's body sent flying as well, the two hit opposite walls and both went unconscious. The students were shocked by what happened and the middle of the hall was destroyed entirely, leaving Norio who had watched the entire thing with interest.

Sleepless D: Hope you like, review and finally. Peace out.