A/N – This chapter takes place when Hinata was 15.
Hinata shook her head to get the water out of her eyes, the rain obscuring her vision. She spread chakra over the soles of her feet, taking care to not slip on the thick mud forming on the ground.
"Hinata, how far?" Shino called back from the front.
"2700 metres and closing in." Hinata's Byakugan was not quite at its limit from the continued use over the past couple of days, but she would definitely be suffering a headache tonight. "W formation."
"How many?"
Hinata counted and winced internally. She did not feel good about this. She pushed her perception deeper to make sure she wasn't missing anything. "7."
Kiba smiled maniacally as he heard that, Akamaru bounding silently not far behind him.
"Understood." Shino addressed Hinata, not stopping, but slowing down. "There is a cave up ahead, a few kilometres or so. Henge a rock into the artifact and wait there. We will drive them in and box them. Akamaru, with her."
"Understood!" Hinata took the strange, sundial-looking artifact that they had been tasked with retrieving, from him. She breathed in deep to centre herself and sent another boost of chakra to her legs to run faster, Akamaru following her as she looked to see what cave was nearby.
'3 kilometres, 460 metres. This will take effort'
Moss-covered trees passed her by as she ran, and she couldn't help but idly wonder at how different the trees in Kiri were from the ones in Konoha. Konoha's trees were not nearly as... wet... as Kiri's trees seemed to be.
Hinata could see the shinobi coming up behind her. Around a kilometre now, Kiba and Shino following them at a discrete distance. With the speed the other shinobi were going, Hinata was sure they didn't know they had lost (most of) their quarry.
As Hinata and Akamaru were closing in, she thought about what to do with the artifact. It was already sealed inside a normal containment scroll, so theoretically, they shouldn't be able to follow it. She didn't want to send any chakra through it, especially since they didn't know what it actually did. Because of that, she had no idea if the enemy shinobi were simply following them or the artifact itself.
'I do have another containment scroll prepared...'
The containment scroll she had was a heavy-duty one. It made her feel better to have something sealed against most of the things she could think of, just in case (water, blood, enemy shinobi, rabid squirrels, mysterious ooze, etc). Kushina like to joke that it was sealed against the Apocalypse itself.
They reached the entrance of a cave (she was unsure whether it was the one Shino was talking about, but it was a cave), and, making an executive decision, she sealed the artifact in the heavy-duty scroll.
'Just in case'
"Akamaru-kun." Hinata whispered, gesturing towards the cave with her head. He went in, and gave a low bark to indicate that everything was clear. Hinata followed, grabbing a rock that seemed about the same size as the artifact.
Hinata henged the rock, hid it behind another rock which was close to the mouth of the cave (panicked a little about whether it was too conspicuously hidden and they would be able to tell that it was a trap), and went outside with Akamaru to join the fight that had reached closer to the cave, by the sounds of it.
"Fall back!"
Hinata immediately stopped at Shino's command, looked at Akamaru, who growled in the direction the order came from, and ran back into the cave.
She went in further, Akamaru staying a little behind to wait for Kiba (because Kiba had to be dragged out of every fight he insisted on getting into).
Hinata found a nook to hide in, and as she crouched, her foot slipped on... something (there was nothing there! What did she slip on!?)
She tried to brace herself, (not wanting to hit her head on the rock wall and get a concussion at this particular moment), to no avail. She fell.
And hit water.
_
Kiba and Shino entered deeper into the cave, hiding as Shino finished draining the shinobi with his kikaichū to replenish his own low chakra reserves (enough to incapacitate, but not kill them).
"How is your injury?" Shino asked, eyes on the entrance, where the shinobi were swaying with exhaustion and knocking into the walls.
"I'm fine, everything's good." Kiba pressed a hand to his shoulder, where the blood was oozing sluggishly onto his hand. "Oi, Akamaru! Quit whining like that, I'm fine!"
Concerning, given Kiba's 'I'm fine' ranged from 'top of his health' to 'a sneeze away from death'. Although the injury was to his shoulder... So, maybe, closer to 'top of his health'.
Shino pushed healing chakra to his hands and got started on healing Kiba, glaring when Kiba suddenly jolted.
"Fell where!?"
"Report."
"Akamaru says Hinata fell into a wall!" Kiba answered, vibrating in place with the need to move.
"Is she hurt?" Shino asked, grabbing Kiba's shoulder tightly with one hand as he finished healing him, making him cringe at the sharp pain that went through him at the tight grip.
"She's not there?"
Shino looked up. To Kiba's credit, he sounded just as confused as Shino felt.
"Akamaru says that she fell... through the wall..." Kiba reported, looking at him uncertainly.
Shino finished healing Kiba and stood up. The enemy shinobi were drained. They would not be getting up any time soon.
"Show me."
_
Hinata gasped as her head broke the surface of whatever body of water she was in, the shock of the cold water making it feel as if her blood was frozen.
Thankfully, the scroll was securely attached to her thigh and waterproof, so losing it wouldn't be a concern, but Hinata's jacket was getting heavier with all the water it was absorbing, and pulling her back under.
Hinata tried to open and remove her jacket, her limbs heavy like lead. The pressure of the water around her made it hard to pull the zipper down, and her arms hurt with the effort being exerted to move.
Eventually, she managed it, and the jacket fell to the bottom. She rose back up and broke through the surface again, taking a couple of deep breaths.
She swam out to dry (relatively) land, panting as she violently pulled breath into her lungs. She rubbed her chest in an attempt to sooth the pain she was feeling, and ended up vomiting the water she had swallowed.
Hinata sat there for a while, taking stock of herself. The pain in her chest had receded somewhat, although her ears felt weird. Must be the water. She pushed her fingers into them to get the water out. Her limbs still hurt, but there was nothing to be done about that at the moment. She looked around herself as she wrung the water out of her hair.
She was near a lake with water that was crystal clear, but also looked more shallow than it had seemed when she was in it. Purple, blue and pink rocks were strewn all around her, going high up into the sky. There was only a small hole at the top through which the Sun was shining, casting light onto the lake. The rocks were covered in green plants and moss, and she could see what looked like a tunnel lead off from the grotto.
Hinata stood up and made sure that the scroll was tightly fastened to her thigh. She went to remove another scroll from her back to take out her spare jacket, and stopped halfway through.
'That was my spare jacket!'
Hinata looked back at the lake despondently, then turned back to follow the tunnel. She would mourn both of her jackets (the first one had been irreparably damaged on her last mission), but she was not diving back in to get it. She looked down at herself. The mesh shirt, thankfully, was not as transparent as some kunoichi preferred, and she wore bindings under it, so she was still decent. Somewhat.
She exited the tunnel into a lush forest and walked for a while, the Sun thankfully drying her. However, five minutes in, she was facing another problem.
She was fairly sure she was being hunted.
The silence in the forest was raising the hair at the back of her neck, and she could feel herself being followed. She wondered whether she should activate her Byakugan. The chakra spike might alert whoever was following her, if they were a shinobi. But if she suppressed it...
Hinata activated her Byakugan.
Nothing.
'That can't be right!'
She was sure she should have seen something. Now Hinata was getting nervous, her heart racing. Whoever it was must be very powerful to be able to mask their chakra to this degree.
Hinata kept walking nonchalantly (at least she hoped it seemed so) and activated her Seishin-me.
Alert. Focus. Disgruntlement. Curiosity.
"That is enough, Ningen."
Hinata jumped in surprise, caught up in the fleeting emotions she was getting from her stalker. She turned around to face where the voice had come from.
"Please show yourself." Hinata tried to be as polite and respectful as possible. She, unfortunately, was trespassing into whatever this place was. "I came here by accident. I-I am not here to cause any t-trouble."
"We will see about that."
The speaker walked out of what seemed like nowhere. It was a tiger. Bright white like the full moon, with purple stripes and piercing gold eyes, its head nearly reaching her chest. Its ears were pierced with tiny hoops, which moved with every flick of its ears.
Upon closer inspection she saw that there were tiny, intricate seals shaved into the fur of its stripes, the purple of them just the slightest bit lighter than the rest of the stripes. To anyone not looking closely, it would just seem like a trick of the light (and, Hinata assumed, by the time most people got close enough to distinguish the difference, they wouldn't be in any position to do anything about it).
"Hello," Hinata bowed, hoping the tired (and fearful) tremor in her arms was not noticeable. "I-I am Yūhi Hinata."
"I am Isao." The tiger bowed his head, giving her what could possibly pass as a considering look. The power in his voice pierced her chest and hit her heart like thunder. If she had known him when she was younger, she was certain she would've died of a heart attack the moment he spoke. "What brings you to Zenchōdō, Ningen?"
'Where on earth is that!?'
"A-Ano," Hinata pushed her fingers together nervously, then quickly separated them and held them behind her back. No showing her nerves to prospective enemies. "I-I didn't mean to. My team and I were on a mission, and we had retreated to a cave, when I s-slipped and landed in the lake." She pointed back to where she had come from.
Isao hummed contemplatively, studying her. She quickly and viciously pinched her purlicue in an attempt to stop herself from blushing when she remembered that she was only wearing her mesh shirt.
'It is fine. It is fine! I almost died, and I am most definitely trespassing! Being potentially topless is the least of my concerns. Not that I am! I am not topless! I am wearing a mesh shirt with bindings, Anko-san wears just mesh with a trenchcoat! If she does not feel shame, I should not either – '
" – Ningen."
Hinata snapped to attention, mortified at her absent-mindedness. 'Kami help me, this is how I die...' "I-I-I am sorry, could you please repeat that?"
Isao gave her an unimpressed look, then repeated. "Was it the lake with the blue stones? In what you call Kirigakure?"
Hinata looked at him blankly, her mind stuck on the 'what you call'. "S-Some of them were blue? There were also purple and pink ones?"
Isao hummed. Hinata felt like she was a Genin taking ANBU exams (did ANBU have exams? She didn't think so).
"Come with me."
Isao walked past her down the trail, tail lightly swaying from side to side. Hinata quickly followed, keeping a respectful distance (not that it would help if he, what? Decided to eat her? Summons didn't eat people, not that she knew of, which of course meant nothing, since she didn't know a lot of summons in the first place).
"I-Isao-san," Hinata started, almost squeaking her throat shut when he gave an inquisitive hum. She tried (and failed) not to sound frantic. "I-I would just like to return to... to the cave in Kiri, where I fell from. My teammates are still there, and we were being chased by enemy shinobi – "
"They will be fine, young Ningen." Isao said matter-of-factly, which did not, in fact, make her feel better. At least not entirely. She would keep worrying until she saw them with her own eyes.
"A-Ano, where – where are we going?" Hinata asked, trying to gauge the tiger's mood (not that she had a lot of experience with cats beyond Tora, which seemed like grim foreshadowing, now that she thought about it).
"We are going to the Great Tora Sennin."
"Why!?" Hinata quickly slapped both hands over her mouth, but the words had already left.
"Because we have not seen a Ningen since Shinichi of Iwa a few centuries ago."
_
"This is where she fell?"
Akamaru barked a miserable agreement, his tail (and everything else, really), drooping low.
Shino investigated the corner, tilting his head in consideration. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and his kikaichū were not detecting any chakra (understandable, Hinata must have been suppressing it, since she was hiding).
Kiba pressed a hand against the wall, pushing it lightly, then a little harder, making disgruntled noises.
"Kiba, I would appreciate if you did not do that." Shino informed him with disapproval. "Why? Because I do not relish having to lose two teammates to unknown circumstances."
"I'm still here, aren't I?" Kiba grumbled, but stopped trying to push the cave wall. He addressed Akamaru. "You said she slipped on something?"
Akamaru barked, sitting near where Hinata had slipped and pawing at the ground.
Both Kiba and Shino investigated the area. There was nothing there.
"What now?" Kiba asked, frowning in worry.
"I suppose we will have to wait." Shino didn't seem any happier than Kiba was.
"We should do something!"
"Like what?" Shino asked, meeting Kiba's glare. "We have no leads on where she could be. There are no secret passages. Akamaru does not have her scent, my kikaichū do not have her chakra. All we can do at the moment is wait, Kiba."
_
All the awe Hinata was feeling at this strange place she had found herself in, as they reached what looked like a temple, was not enough to suppress the worry that she was going to be eaten.
Should she just ask? But what if that was rude? Isao could think that she was treating him like an ordinary animal rather than an intelligent summon.
"You will not be eaten."
Hinata stiffened, staring at Isao in poorly concealed horror. "I-I, well, I – "
"Ningen have predictable concerns." Isao informed her casually. "You will enter on your paws."
That was all that was offered to her. She tried to figure out what that meant. Did she have to crawl on all fours? That did not seem right.
Or maybe it did, considering.
Still...
"Do, Do I need to take off my sandals?" Hinata asked, looking down at her feet then back up at Isao. Isao only looked back at her. Hinata decided to not take any chances and removed her sandals.
They entered (on two legs for her, thankfully), and wandered through a maze of corridors that seemed unlike anything she had seen in any temple before. The place had looked huge from the outside, but the hallways were built in a way that truly made it seem humongous.
They came across a set of Shoji doors, and stopped in front of them. Isao sat at the doorway silently, and Hinata wondered if they were going to be announced or if something else was going to happen.
Suddenly, following no change she could sense, Isao stood up again, and the Shoji doors opened. The room they entered into was huge, easily the size of her apartment building. The height of the roof made her feel faint. Fragrant smoke came out of an incense burner in the corner. There were paintings of tigers hanging on the dark painted walls, and off to the side there was an open door that seemed to lead into a courtyard. But she noticed all of this later.
The moment they had entered, they came face to face with a huge tiger lying on a lotus-shaped seat made of polished wood. The tiger was pitch black, with the stripes blending into the rest of its fur. It was wearing a veiled straw hat with strings of pearls coming down from the rim, its bright orange eyes piercing through the veil as if it did not exist.
Hinata tried to ascertain if this one had seals shaved into its fur as well, but a headache started building behind her eyes. Curiously, the headache faded away after she stopped trying to look for the seals.
"Who have you brought to me, Isao?" The tiger asked with a voice that seemed feminine, if you looked from far away, upside-down with one eye squinted.
"A Ningen fell into the Aoi Shizukesa, Shuryō-sama." Isao pressed his forehead to the ground. Hinata quickly bowed deeply seeing that, taking her cues from him.
"The Aoi Shizukesa. Hmm, I see." She growled. It didn't seem threatening, but Hinata had very little experience with tigers to be sure. Hinata snapped to attention when she was addressed. "I am Shiori, little Ningen."
"I-I," Hinata cleared her throat anxiously. "I am Yūhi H-Hinata, Shiori-sama."
Shiori shifted all of her immense attention to Hinata, who had planted her feet to the ground like weeds to stay upright.
"Yūhi Hinata," She rumbled. "It is a pleasure."
Hinata was sure it was not, but she was not going to disagree with a tiger half the size of her apartment building. Her face was nearly as big as Hinata herself!
Shiori shifted again, her tail waving through the air behind her lazily. "Could I possibly trouble you for a game of shogi?"
'Absolutely not! Please, for the love of Kami! I cannot do this!'
"It would be an honour, Shiori-sama."
_
Hinata was losing. She was losing so, so badly and this was after she had finagled some tips and tricks from Shikamaru in the past.
'Will I be eaten if I lose? I should have asked before we started, damnit Hinata, why don't you think before you agree to things!?'
A click. "Your turn."
So it was. Hinata had determined that she would lose a few moves back, and only her stubbornness was still keeping her fighting. Shiori had been asking her casual questions while they were playing, about herself, where she came from, what her teammates were like, and so on. Hinata was sure that she was trying to fish for information, and gave non-committal and vague answers, no matter if it was going to get her eaten.
Hinata moved her silver general back. Shiori kept giving small comments, saying 'interesting' or 'hmm' or 'I see', which skyrocketed Hinata's anxiety.
'Jishin. I might die here today and no one will know what happened or where or how but, jishin. Jishin'
In a few more moves, the situation was completely hopeless. Hinata went through the configurations and placements, once, twice, thrice. Shiori did not rush her. There was no point when the outcome was so clear to see.
Hinata decided to accept a graceful defeat.
"I lost." She bowed her head.
"So you did." Shiori stated simply, growling... hungrily? Satisfactorily? Hinata had no idea. "I am satisfied."
'Here it comes. This might be the worst possible way to die. I have done nothing to deserve this, not that it changes anything'
"If you wish, Yūhi-san, you may sign the Tora summoning scroll."
Hinata was sure she had an incredibly stupid look on her face, but she couldn't force her face into a neutral expression. How did she go from shogi to signing a summoning scroll?
"A-Ano, Shiori-sama, I do not – do not understand." Hinata stuttered, her hands fisting into her pants, eyes moving around, trying to see if – what? It was a prank? A mistake? There was no one in the room other than the two of them and Isao, who had planted himself in a corner and had followed the game with sharp eyes.
"I have found, Yūhi-san," Shiori explained, moving the board away with a giant paw. Hinata saw what looked like a bracelet, but was not given enough time to focus on it. "That shogi is a very good way of understanding what makes a person."
'Oh, she was absolutely fishing for information'. Hinata thought, despairing. 'And apparently I gave her what she was looking for'
"The Aoi Shizukesa is sacred to us." Shiori explained with a reverent tone that clearly showed the level of importance attached to the lake she had landed in. "It has, throughout many centuries, provided us with all we might need. Similarly, it has provided for everyone who might need us."
"You are the first the Shizukesa has brought to us in centuries." Shiori explained. "And you have the potential to take to the jutsu we practice. We are willing to allow you to become a summoner, if you wish to take that opportunity."
Hinata thought about it for a long moment. This was something that required a lot of thought, and at the same time, no thought at all.
It was always an honour to be a summoner. The jutsu that would be revealed to her would be unlike any anyone had seen in a while, if there being no summoner in centuries was correct.
But the old insecurities reared their ugly heads almost immediately. Why her? What could she possibly have presented in her shogi match that made Shiori want to take that risk? What if she was not good enough? What if she disappointed them? They had offered first, but –
'Jishin' Kurenai's voice cut through the noise in her brain.
Hinata had had these thoughts before, and she had defeated them. She had learned Uzushio seals, she had learned Genjutsu, and Ninjutsu. She has nearly perfected the Mizu Hari and she will create many more jutsu, she knows that.
'Shiori-sama is offering, and she seems certain that it will work out.' Hinata thought to herself, palms lightly rubbing against her thighs. 'If I fail, which I won't! But if I do, then it will be her miscalculation, not mine.'
The last part was thought with not a lot of certainty or heat. Hinata faded back into reality to see both Shiori and Isao patiently waiting for her answer, eyes unerringly on her.
Hinata decided to accept.
"It would be an honour, Shiori-sama."
_
Kiba and Shino waited outside the cave, wondering what to do. Night had fallen and there was no sign of Hinata. They had tied up and stored the enemy shinobi in transportation scrolls for interrogation, and had decided to wait for a while, in case Hinata came out by herself, but it seemed more and more unlikely.
Kiba tapped his foot on the ground faster and faster.
"Maybe those guys knew what the cave is?"
Shino huffed in irritation. All the chakra he and his kikaichū had absorbed was still running through his system, making him fidgety as they tried to convert and store it. "They are unconscious and I don't feel comfortable waking them up. Why? Because we are down one member already and it is best we don't push our luck."
"Bugboy, we have no idea where Hinata-chan is or what is happening to her!" Kiba yelled. "We should at least – "
He was interrupted by Akamaru rushing in, barking loudly and happily.
"Oi, Akamaru, what – Hinata-chan!"
Hinata came out, her hand resting on Akamaru's back, fisting into his fur. She was shivering a little without her jacket, and she brought both of her hands up to her arms, rubbing them to generate some heat. She looked around in surprise.
"How long was I gone!?"
"7 hours and 44 minutes." Shino answered her, running an observing eye over her. He noticed a new scroll slung across her hip, looking older than any she had carried before, but put it aside as Kiba quickly removed his own jacket and threw it across her shoulders, hugging her tightly.
"Hinata-chan! Where were you?" Kiba asked a bit manically, looking her over for any injuries. She looked fine, if a little tired. "Akamaru said you fell and disappeared?"
"Let us begin our return." Shino ordered, nodding at Hinata, who gave him a relieved smile. "We are already late. We can discuss this on the way back to Konoha."
A/N – Poor Hinata was so sure she was going to get eaten throughout this chapter.
'Zenchōdō' is, once again, bad Google Translate for 'Cave of Portents', whereas 'Aoi Shizukesa' is 'The Blue Serenity'.
So, backstory. For the sake of this fic, Team 8's mentors are as follows:
Kiba – Kurenai (Commander); Tsume and Hana (Ninjutsu); Kakashi (Nindogs)
Hinata – Kurenai (Commander); Kushina (Uzushio seals); Obito (Ninjutsu, some help with Dojutsu); Isao Shiori (Senjutsu and Kenjutsu)
Shino – Kurenai (Commander); Shibi (Ninjutsu); Rin and Shizune (Medical Ninjutsu)
I really like the idea of Shino draining chakra from enemies with his kikaichū and then using it to heal injured comrades. Makes him an absolutely terrifying field medic.