The Girl Who Spun Through Time
Chapter 15
Perhaps too brave, and too fast. But there's no time for regrets now.
###
When they returned to reality, Hinata nearly lost her footing.
To her all-seeing eyes, the sensation and sights of being thrown through an alternate dimension and reappearing somewhere else just seconds later was overwhelmingly strange. She'd caught a glimpse of an infinite, lightless place concealed behind Tobi's eyes, impossible geometry stretching out in every direction forever, before she'd been thrust into a rainstorm, the masked man holding tight to her arm.
Now, she was instantly soaked and freezing, but that wasn't the most concerning thing. The rain pouring down on them was shimmering with a thick, burning chakra, an energy she recognized; it was certainly Pain's, Nagato's, the same chakra that had been filling the rods he'd impaled Naruto with. It was like a smokescreen, baffling even her Byakugan: her vision was reduced to merely a hundred meters.
That was still enough for her to tell where she was. It wasn't floating in the sky like the last time she'd seen it, but the architecture was unmistakable, and the weather wasn't a bad clue either. She'd returned to Amegakure, and so soon after her departure.
Drawn to the same place twice, Hinata wondered. She wasn't like Neji. It wasn't in her nature to attribute things to fate rather than the random cruelty of the world. After all, Amegakure was Pain's base by all appearances. He was probably the village's leader, of a sort. But still, it was difficult not to feel something beyond her was at play here. She was always dropped in Konoha; would she always be shuffled to the Land of Rain by forces beyond her control in the same way, or would she be able to figure out a way home sooner than that?
"You seem nostalgic," Tobi said, his deeply serious voice tinged with amusement, and Hinata flinched, focusing on centering herself instead of wondering about an uncertain future. She was in the hands of a terribly dangerous man; the only thing she could afford to think about was the present.
"I've been here before," she offered, and Tobi let out a surprised grunt as he started walking forward. They'd appeared on some high balcony on a tower overlooking much of the city, and wide double doors were already swung open, waiting for them.
"I'm surprised to hear that," he said, not sounding surprised. "I can't recall any Hyuuga stepping foot in this place."
"I'll be happy to explain it to Pain," Hinata said. Tobi chuckled.
"I'm glad you're not stupid," he said. "It increases the odds of you being useful."
To that, Hinata didn't have a response. Tobi tapped something out with his fingers, brushing at the ring adorning one of them. Even without the Byakugan, Hinata would have felt the pulse of chakra. It was some sort of messaging jutsu. The rings were a direct connection to Pain, then? She'd noticed them on both Tobi and Pain, but hadn't had time either time to give them special notice. Now, with the Byakugan, she could see the invisible tether of energy they were letting off, something that stretched until it became invisible, attuned to the natural energy that suffused all the earth.
Definitely some sort of a communication jutsu, and a powerful, long range one.
'Maybe I should steal one of them,' Hinata thought to herself, the boldness of the idea shocking her. 'If the opportunity comes up.'
But there wasn't any chance of that now. Tobi led her deep into the building, up winding staircases and down circuitous halls that seemed designed to confuse intruders. The walls and ceilings of all the chambers were covered in fearsome designs of gods, demons, and spirits from every country, and the building was suffused with the same chakra as the rain, blunting the Byakugan's acuity. Rather than struggle against it, Hinata allowed her eyes to rest. It seemed to put Tobi further at ease; he released her arm, allowing her to walk beside him without forcing her forward.
"I feel that you know me," he mused, and this time Hinata kept her face expressionless. "But that's quite impossible. I'm sure I would recall meeting you. I never forget a face."
"The Sharingan allows for perfect recall, so you're probably right," Hinata allowed. Tobi chuckled. "But I'm sorry to disappoint you; I don't intend to tell you anything. Only Pain."
"And why is that?" Tobi didn't miss a step, but there was a bit of an edge to his voice. "I gave you such a generous offer-"
"He's the leader, isn't he?" Hinata asked, marveling that the decorum and debate lessons that her father had insisted upon were coming in handy in a spar against a member of the Akatsuki. "So it was his generous offer."
"Ha!" At that, Tobi let out a bark of a laugh, his head shaking unsettlingly beneath the mask. "Fair enough. Well, it will be just a moment."
And indeed, it was. Down another spiral staircase and across a hall completely bereft of ornamentation, Tobi pushed through a tall door that didn't have a handle, opening it into a wide circular room ringed with squat, modest round chairs with black cushions decorated with red clouds.
Akatsuki decorations on pillows, of all things. Hinata would hardly have been able to believe it if her attention wasn't dominated by the two people waiting in the room.
The primary Pain, the young man with orange hair, and Konan. It wasn't really a surprise, seeing them together; the world of the dead had shown her that Konan and Pain were close to one another, closer than other Akatsuki members. She was perhaps the Akatsuki's second in command, for she certainly had the bearing for it. But had they really been prepared for a meeting so swiftly, or were these just clones or illusions? If they were, even the Byakugan couldn't tell the difference.
"A Hyuuga indeed," Konan said after a moment. Pain stared at Hinata, the Rinnegan burning through her, but she didn't let the legendary eyes intimidate her. After Pain and Madara, the novelty of the sinister rings had worn off. "Tobi, leave us."
Tobi gave an overly theatrical bow and closed the doors behind her, leaving Hinata trapped with two S-Rank ninja.
"You know of me," Pain said, his voice just as she remembered. She had the advantage in this initial conversation, however miniscule, but Hinata knew she had to move cautiously. She recalled how she'd felt the same way in her initial verbal spar with Madara, before he'd proven otherwise. "The name is not a secret, but is certainly unusual for a Hyuuga to know it, let alone my position in the Akatsuki." He leaned back, hands folded over one knee like this was a mundane business meeting. "So I would know your name. Take a seat."
Hinata did, settling down into one of the circular chairs on the other side of the room. "I know Konan as well," she said, nodding to the woman respectfully and taking note of the sudden stiffness in the room. "Don't worry: I intend to be fully honest with the both of you. I have no illusions about my ability to leave this room alive, if you wished otherwise."
That was a lie, but Hinata couldn't tell if they could see through it; hopefully, her frankness had thrown them off.
Konan narrowed her eyes. "We have never met," she said, ice cold. "Have you been spying on us, Hyuuga?"
"My name is Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata said diplomatically, giving a bow that was much less theatrical and much more sincere than Tobi's had been. "And I have not been spying on you. Frankly, I think the rain throughout the city would prevent that, which was likely your intention. The truth will be far harder to believe."
"Which is?"
"I am a time traveler."
Konan arched an eyebrow: Pain settled back, his eyes boring into her.
"The Byakugan is capable of time travel," he surmised in a shockingly cautious tone after a moment, and Hinata nodded. "There is something indeed odd about you. About your chakra. You're familiar with my eyes?"
"The Rinnegan," Hinata said, and Pain nodded, pursing his lips.
"The Rinnegan," he confirmed slowly. "But what proof could you offer of this outrageous claim, Hinata Hyuuga?"
"None that would be instantly acceptable," Hinata said, laying her cards on the table. Straight dishonesty would get her killed in this conversation between ninja; dishonest honesty was the path to victory. "But how many people know your true name?"
Pain gave no outward reaction beyond a twitch of his mouth, but Konan blinked.
"Which is?"
"Nagato," Hinata said, wondering if she'd be able to spin into a Sixty-Four Palms before Nagato obliterated her if it came to that. But no jutsu came; instead, Pain seemed earnestly fascinated.
"Very few people know that name," Pain, Nagato, said eventually, with an expression that even Hinata couldn't read. "How did you come across it?"
"I met you for the first time when you destroyed Konoha," Hinata said. "Which, of course, hasn't happened here. That was what I first traveled back in time to prevent."
"Then you seem to have done so ably," Nagato noted dryly, and Hinata shook her head.
"My actions had consequences beyond my understanding," she said, trying to ignore that it was Konan herself who had told her how what she was saying couldn't be true. "I undid Konoha's destruction, true, but in the process created a future that was even worse."
Hinata spoke for several minutes in a quiet, level tone, explaining the nightmare of the world overcome by Edo Tensei and how Amegakure had become the last bastion of life in it, and Nagato and Konan listened without interrupting bar the occasional clarifying question the whole time.
"Now," Hinata finished, "I've managed to undo my first mistake, but seem to have made another. My clan has been wiped out: I'm a pariah in Konoha." She allowed some of her nervousness and despair to show through. "I know you were my village's enemy, Nagato, but now I'm the village's enemy as well. I've seen that you're capable of great things: knowing that, it seemed like turning to you for help would be the most obvious thing to do."
Nagato pondered that for an agonizingly long time, before Konan spoke up. "It's a dreadful story you've told," she said. "But the utility of such a thing is obvious. If you could travel through time freely, Hinata, there would have been no need to seek help from us." She pursed her lips. "Which means there are conditions to be met; moreover, that you have personal ambitions."
"There'd be no point in lying about that," Hinata confirmed. "I can only travel through time with assistance from the Rinnegan. But I want to make a deal before agreeing to do it for you."
"What if we were to simply control your mind and force you to follow our will?" Konan asked, like they were discussing the weather, and Hinata forced herself to suppress a full-body shiver and turned it into a shrug.
"After seeing what you've accomplished, I don't think you're that kind of person," she said, thinking it was a clever lie but realizing after a moment that it was the truth. Despite obliterating her home, there was a spark of nobility to Nagato: a light that could only be seen when everything else had fallen into the abyss.
She couldn't deal with those contradictory feelings right now though, so she kept speaking. "If that's not true, well, that's my mistake. But the Akatsuki as I know it wouldn't function if that's how you operated."
"Mutual cooperation is, of course, the Akatsuki's means and goal," Pain said, like that made sense or justified flattening an entire village. "Then, what would be your condition?"
"There would be two," Hinata said, her heart speeding up. Was this actually going to work? "The first is probably more important. I need to travel to the Land of Demons."
"Why?" Konan asked.
"Respectfully, I'd prefer to keep that to myself," Hinata said, and to her shock Konan nodded. Was this how negotiations with rogue ninja worked? It was so straightforward that it felt like she must be missing something.
"And the second?" she asked, and Hinata faltered.
"The Kyuubi Jinchuriki," she said, the dehumanizing title tasting like sewage. "Naruto. He was… I don't want him to die."
The sentimentality of the request obviously surprised Konan, who leaned forward, her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees. "That goes against our mission," she said quietly. "You've had a unique experience, Hinata, but I would be surprised if you knew the true purpose of the Akatsuki."
"I don't," Hinata admitted. "It's never been explained to me. I'm aware that you're hunting down each of the Tailed Beasts, but the specifics are a mystery."
"Would you like to?" Konan asked, and Hinata blinked, unable to hide her surprise.
"Really?" she asked, and Konan laughed. "I mean…"
"Most members of the Akatsuki are in it for their own reasons," Konan said, sitting up. "Money, power, ideology, protection: very few are truly aware of its goal. But you have a unique perspective, Hinata. If you intend to do us service, I think perhaps our aim could provide you motivation." She smiled. "And with your ability to travel through time, avoiding a Jinchuriki's death is perhaps not as difficult as it would seem. Capturing the Beast before it is implanted could be possible, no?"
That's true, Hinata thought. But could I kill someone else to save Naruto's life, if that was how my time travel worked? The Kyuubi had had a Jinchuriki before him, surely; how would that person feel, knowing that Hinata was killing them to save someone they'd never known?
"Why, then?" she asked, channeling her uncertainty in the question. Nagato was the one to answer.
"It's simply a matter of world peace," he said. Hinata blinked.
"Sorry?" she said, the gears in her head catching before they began to turn again. "Wait, do you mean a monopolization of power?"
"Your schooling does you credit," Nagato noted with the barest hint of a smile, the rods in his face poking out strangely at the clearly uncommon expression. "Precisely that. The Bijuu are unparalleled powers to each of the Villages. I have the means to forge them into a single, terrible weapon."
"With which you'd dictate terms for an armistice?" Hinata asked.
"No, of course not." Nagato had never seemed more triumphant and more ominous, not even when he had been looming over a pinned and helpless Naruto. "The weapon would be unleashed, left to the strongest claimant. It would be used, most likely, again and again. And it would grow in those who witnessed it a fear of power, and a respect for the supreme violence of shinobi and the Bijuu. That fear and respect would be the foundation to a lasting peace."
Hinata stared at him, not sure how to feel. On the face of it, the plan was clearly insane: moreover, Nagato, who clearly believed in it wholesale, was clearly insane. But there was an awful sort of logic to it. Keeping such a weapon to yourself would unite the world against you, so leaving it for anyone to use would result in a cascade of unimaginable destruction. The villages and nations of the world would take lessons from that. Like how shinobi were feared in the Land of Water, the whole world would come to dread the power of chakra, and that could start a movement that would suppress it entirely.
Without shinobi around, there would still be wars, of course. But would they be of the same scale as the previous three world wars? Hinata didn't know, and she felt sure Nagato saw the uncertainty at her core.
After what she'd seen, the Will of Fire used as kindling, her own clan eradicated, was such a thing so unthinkable? Of course it wasn't: Hinata Hyuuga was a girl without a home, only possessing a distant guiding light that she knew she hardly understood herself. Even the most awful idea could take root in her now.
She seized on that, trying to both hold the loathsome idea at arm's length and consider it on its own merit. "That's…" she said, trying to pick the words carefully. "Well, I can't lie to you and say that I agree with it."
"Of course not. You are a product of one of the major villages. You were raised unable to question its power," Nagato said without cruelty. "But you do see the merit in shattering that power."
"I do. And with my clan wiped out… well, it's difficult for me to say what I believe now," Hinata said, shocked at the sincerity of the conversation.
"Consider it, then," Nagato said, rising, and Hinata hurriedly rose to meet him. "While we facilitate your request." He lifted up a hand. "If you would?"
There was a swirl in reality, and Tobi reappeared. Hinata stiffened, but Konan raised her hand in a comforting gesture.
"Tobi," she said, and the man looked over at her. "Take Hinata to the Land of Demons, and assist her in whatever business she has there. Then return her here. Do you have any objections?"
"None," the masked man grunted. He held out a hand to Hinata, moving brusquely, and she found herself watching it cautiously. She could feel a sort of energy in the air, one that Nagato and Konan seemed blind to. Tobi was staring at her intensely, but without malice. She couldn't figure out if she was in danger or not.
But she didn't have a choice, and so she took his hand and was drawn out of reality.
However, this time there was no sense of transposition. Hinata found herself in the infinite void behind the Sharingan eye, with Tobi standing there and staring at her. She tried to pull her hand away, and found that she couldn't. He was gripping her with inhuman strength.
Instinctively, Hinata averted her eyes, looking away from the glaring Sharingan. They stood like that for a horribly long time, nearly a minute, before Hinata found the courage to speak.
"Don't you have somewhere to take me?" she asked. Tobi didn't say a word, but he did slowly release her hand. Hinata took several steps back, shaking out her wrist; his fingers had pressed bruises into it, despite her own superhuman strength. She was helpless here, trapped in this unknowable space, but showing that wouldn't help any.
So instead, she closed her eyes and activated the Byakugan, watching him from behind her eyelids. It was one of the safest ways to prevent Sharingan genjutsu, and he clearly understood what she was doing. She wouldn't fall for the same trick Madara had used on her.
"I was listening," he said, which didn't surprise her one bit. "You're a time traveler."
Hinata didn't say anything; she had the feeling that words wouldn't change a thing here. She found chakra circulating through her body like it had a mind of its own. Her shinobi instincts were screaming that she was in savage danger, flooding her body with power. Her own chakra and the chakra of two of her dead selves was mixing and combining completely, forming a potent blend that was stronger than the sum of its parts.
Tobi took a step forward, and Hinata took a step back. She couldn't see his expression through the mask: only his manic eye.
"You're going to do something for me," he said, so threatening and so purposeful that Hinata almost threw up from the force of his will crashing over her. It was like having a bucket of razor ice dumped onto her exposed brain.
"If you were listening," she said, trying to speak slowly and keep her composure, "then you know I can't do anything without Pain."
"Without Nagato, yes," Tobi said dismissively. "That doesn't matter. I'll make him do whatever you need."
He started to say something more, but Hinata cut him off, desperate to keep control of the conversation however she could. "I'll do whatever you want," she said, and Tobi stopped, eye narrowing. "After my business in the Land of Demons is done. It's time travel: it doesn't matter when I do it, it'll have already happened, right?"
Hinata was desperate, and she sounded it. Tobi could tell she was afraid of him. Maybe it was that fear that made him relent, if only slightly. He was someone who functioned off of domination, Hinata thought. And he knew Nagato's name: more than that, he didn't respect Nagato or Konan one bit. The masked man wasn't some flunky, but a malevolent agent in his own right.
She was in infinitely more danger here than she had been with them.
Tobi laughed, crossing his arms. "I suppose you're right," he said, nodding his head towards the void behind him. "Now or later… why, I'll not have to wait a second either way, won't I? You won't put up a fight or betray me, will you, Hinata Hyuuga?"
"I couldn't," Hinata answered honestly. "My family is dead; my allies despise me; I'm alone in the world. If I betrayed you or Nagato, where would I go?"
"We're all alone in the world," Tobi said, still staring at her. "It's the way humans are meant to be. I'm sure you'd find your way."
Hinata didn't have a response to that, so she started walking, and to her immense relief Tobi did too. The crushing menace faded, and they trudged for several minutes through the void, cold sweat clinging to Hinata's neck.
She didn't deactivate her eyes. Not for a second.
###
About twenty minutes later they were back in the real world, and Hinata quickly gained some distance from Tobi, scanning the surrounding area. The Land of Demons was thickly forested and mountainous, and colder than the Land of Fire even at this time of year. Tobi had deposited them near what could be called a large town or a small city that wound along a river between two larger mountain ranges to the north and south.
"Why here?" Hinata asked, and the masked man shrugged. He was leaning against a nearby tree, continuing to watch her with his predatory eye.
"You didn't tell me where we were going," he said, which Hinata had to acknowledge was true. "Tell me: do you even know yourself?"
"I have a name," Hinata admitted, and the masked man scoffed.
"A name," he said derisively. "Well, what is it?"
"I'm not sure I should tell you," Hinata said frankly, and she could feel the loathing of the hidden face intensify. "But… Miroku."
"I don't know it," Tobi said after a tense moment. "Perhaps they are famous in this country: the Land of Demons has never contained anything of interest to me. No Bijuu." He laughed, a low and deep sound. It was a little funny, Hinata thought. The Tailed Beasts were the most famous demons in the world, but none of them called the Land of Demons their home. That was ironic, right?
"I'll ask in town then," Hinata decided, and Tobi shrugged.
"Don't take your time," he warned her. "We have things to do."
Why wasn't he simply forcing her to follow his will, Hinata wondered as she slipped into the town and started exploring. The streets were full of every kind: it seemed to be a center of trade. Not surprising, given the river. The masked man had a Sharingan. If he desired, he could probably control her and convince Pain the mission had been a failure.
But the Sharingan might be able to see something she couldn't, Hinata realized. Itachi, Madara, the Uchiha police: they'd all noticed something about her, even if they'd explained it as something else. Rationalized it, perhaps? It was possible Tobi was as wary of her as she was of him. He'd treated her cautiously when he'd first approached too.
But Hinata could feel the gap between them. If it came to a fight, she wouldn't have much of a chance alone. For now, she just had to pray that Tobi didn't realize that.
She wandered for several minutes, not wanting to start accosting people in the street, and tried to figure out the best place to ask a kind of question like this. A police station? A hotel?
A bar, Hinata realized, spotting one. Places like that were where rumors and news always swirled: if Miroku was someone important, someone in there would know the name.
It was practically a saloon, like something out of the old movies she'd never been allowed to watch but had occasionally caught glimpses of in other people's homes. At this time of day, there weren't many people inside; a family eating and drinking in the corner, several young men playing cards in another, and a middle-aged woman manning the bar itself.
"Excuse me," she asked, drawing the bartender's attention, along with a couple of the patrons. She looked her over, obviously instantly recognizing her as a shinobi. Between her unusual eyes, her flak vest, and her age, it wasn't a difficult deduction. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."
"I don't want any trouble, girl," she said after a moment, cautious but not frightened. "There haven't been any shinobi through Kappa in years. If you're looking for one, you're out of luck."
She was perceptive. Hinata did her best to make herself look harmless, clasping her hands behind her back and looking earnestly into her eyes. It seemed to have a mixed effect.
"Is that the name of this town?" she asked, and the woman gave a confused nod. "Well, that's good to know, thank you. I am looking for someone, though. I'm not sure if they are a shinobi or not."
The bartender's face betrayed a sudden curiosity. "You're not sure if they are or not?"
"I'm not sure who they are at all," Hinata said honestly. "But their name is Miroku. I was told to come to this country to find them."
The bartender stared at Hinata for several seconds, long enough that she started to get uncomfortable. Eventually, she spoke, even more cautiously than before.
"I know that name," she admitted. "But if you're looking for her, you're probably gonna be disappointed."
"Why would that be?" Hinata asked, wondering why the atmosphere had shifted. Everyone in the building was listening in now, even the children in the corner.
"She's dead," the bartender said bluntly. "She died three years ago."
"Oh!" Hinata hadn't expected that, but it wasn't shocking by itself. After all, her whole family was dead here. And indeed, now that she thought about it, the message she'd received had been twelve years in the past, in a way. If Miroku was older, there was no guarantee of her surviving another decade and some. "My apologies. But you knew of her? Who was she?"
"She's the Divine Priestess of the capital. Yurei," the woman said, warming up very, very slightly. "It's an old position. You know, to deal with the demons." She said it like there was nothing strange about that whatsoever.
"Right," Hinata said, wondering what she was getting into. Priests and priestesses were all over the world, of course, but rarely figured into the lives of shinobi: the realities of shinobi life did not leave much room for spiritualism of that kind. The Hyuuga had worshiped their ancestors and paid respects to the devils they'd slain in mythology for as long as Hinata knew of the clan's history, but it was a practical practice.
But could this priestess have been connected to something deeper? She must have been, to call upon Hinata as she had.
"Is there another Divine Priestess then?" Hinata asked, following the natural path laid before her, and the bartender nodded.
"Her daughter, Shion," she confirmed, seeming glad to be nearing the end of the conversation. "She took up the position in a ceremony two years ago: it was a big thing."
"Well, I suppose I'll speak with her instead then." Hinata bowed, fishing in her pockets for some money. "Thank you for your time."
She only had a couple hundred Ryo bills, but she left one of them behind, and the bartender seemed satisfied enough with that. Stepping back out into the sunny street, Hinata let out a sigh. Things could never be easy, but at least she had some sort of lead.
She trekked back to Tobi, wondering if the man had any idea where the capital was. She certainly didn't have a map herself.
"I've memorized the world," the masked man said shortly, when she asked him herself. "I can get us close enough." He held out his hand again, and once more Hinata took it, quelling her hesitation and fear.
The journey was much shorter this time, and they were back in reality in just moments, on the edge of a forested metropolis higher in the mountains. Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked around, searching for a temple or similar structure.
And there it was, to the capital's south: a towering and traditional shrine festooned with all manner of golden decorations. A huge series of red torii gates, 5 in total, led into the main building from a wide courtyard, and it was guarded by nearly a hundred soldiers, some patrolling around the compound and seeing off what seemed to be pilgrims or tourists while others stood guard throughout the shrine.
"I think I've found it," Hinata said, stepping forward. Tobi followed after her. "Will you let me go myself?"
"I will not," the masked man said with an undercurrent of cruel amusement. "I'd like to meet what has caused this waste of… time."
Meet, and perhaps kill her. That may have been why the masked man had been allowing her leeway: to punish her. Unconsciously, Hinata began to prepare herself for a fight.
"There are guards," she said, trying to mask her tension. Tobi shrugged. "I'm sure we can evade them…" She trailed off, not quite sure what to say.
"What is it?" Tobi asked.
Someone had left the temple: a girl Hinata's age, cloaked in silk regalia and wearing an ornate golden headdress. She had long gray and white hair, like she was prematurely aged, and purple, pupilless eyes, almost like the Byakugan itself.
And she was alone. She strode to the fifth torii gate, sending away any of the guards that approached her with a firm shake of her head, and then stood there, hands clasped before her in a patient vigil.
Shion. It had to be.
"I think she's waiting for us," Hinata said. She started moving towards the temple, and Tobi followed after, trailing her like a menacing shadow. "She's sending her guards away."
"A sensor, then," the masked man surmised. "Very well then. Let's see this meeting of yours, Hyuuga."
They were at the temple in less than five minutes, and entered through the front gate. The soldiers had shuffled off the pilgrims and tourists, and left the gate unlocked. It was like they knew someone dangerous was here, Hinata thought, but had folded and fled rather than put up a fight. Could Shion know, in the same way Hinata did, how dangerous the masked man was?
They followed the path to the torii gates, and Hinata made eye contact with the priestess from fifty feet away as they slowly approached. She didn't shift, nor unclasp her hands: just continued to observe the both of them as they walked through the suddenly quiet and still temple. The soldiers were still present, but hidden away; Hinata could see dozens of them holding their breath, fighting the urge to leap to their charge's protection.
They came to a stop ten feet away, and Hinata resisted the urge to press her fingers together.
"Are you the Divine Priestess Shion?" she asked, and the girl smiled. "I'm-"
"Hinata Hyuuga, right?" Shion had a measured voice, authoritative despite her age; the kind of voice Hinata had once dreamed of having. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"Sorry?" Hinata asked, not quite sure how to take that, and Shion shifted her gaze to Tobi, tilting her head.
"It's strange, though," she said, the smile not fading. "I never expected that you would come to this place, Obito Uchiha."
The masked man froze, and Hinata looked over at him, now even more confused. Obito? It wasn't a familiar name, but it obviously elicited a reaction. He looked trapped between paralyzing surprise and murderous violence: his whole body had short-circuited.
"How-" he growled, like a chained dog.
"Could I know that?" Shion said, doing the impossible: she turned her back on both of them, putting two shinobi in her blind spot, and started walking back towards the main temple. "Excellent question, and one I'll be happy to answer. Would you two like some tea?"
Shion went back into the temple, and Hinata and the masked man had no choice but to follow.