Neji saw Hinata. She stood in front of them with a dull look on her face. She had quite noticeable dark circles under her eyes and seemed to have no energy to move.
"Onee-san!"
Hanabi put aside the training and walked up to Hinata. She looked at her for a second before looking up at the sky.
It had been a long time since she had left that room. She felt like the sun was hurting her eyes, that the heat that this very star caused was going to burn her skin. The sound of the birds singing could deafen her. In short, she felt pain. Pain, more pain than she had ever felt.
She sighed and moved a little away from Hanabi. Right there, she raised her palms, adopting her fighting stance. Hanabi's eyes widened in disbelief at what she was seeing.
"Hinata-sama. Please, you must calm down. You haven't had your breakfast yet. How about before you train together with your Hanabi-sama try to replenish your energy a little?" Keeping calm, Neji understood that Hinata was not in her best condition. Mentally and physically she was a wreck, she couldn't over exert herself. He wasn't going to allow that if he wanted to apologize for all these years of acting like an idiot.
Still, Hinata didn't seem to hear what Neji said. At the same time, Hanabi felt nostalgic about this. It had already been quite a while since the last time she trained together with her sister. 'Onee-san... I feel worried about you. I know you love Nii-san, I love him too as if he was my own brother, but... what you're doing is not healthy for you. Onee-san...if this at least helps you overcome this crisis...I will fight you, I will fight my sister' Raising her palms, Hanabi looked seriously at her older sister.
She seemed to still not listen to anyone. Though now, none of that matters. Neji decides to take a few steps back, as even though this is unhealthy for Hinata, Hanabi is willing to take responsibility.
"Onee-san... Are you ready?" Feeling a little nervous, and remembering that Hinata hasn't eaten anything since three days ago, Hanabi thought that her older sister couldn't even move, and even though Hinata didn't respond, she was still standing. "I understand, then... Let's get this started" Interpreting her sister's silence as an affirmation, Hanabi raised her palms and launched into the attack in less than a second.
When she appeared in front of Hinata, Hanabi spun around and slammed her palm into Hinata's face. Although...
Surprisingly Hinata stopped him using the palm of her right hand. She then raised her other hand and tried to hit Hanabi, who at the same time stopped him with her hand and stepped back.
'Onee-san... there's something strange about her.'
The moment Hanabi stepped back, Hinata appeared in front of her. She touched the ground with both hands and lifted Hanabi off the ground with an upward kick.
"Uh?"
Neji's eyes widened at the sight. It's rare to see a Hyūga using his legs to fight, but seeing Hinata using another limb of her body other than her arms left him shocked.
Hanabi also felt the same as Neji, surprisingly the force of the kick was so much that it made Hanabi's feet off the ground and lifted her almost two meters in the air.
After this action, Hinata jumped on top of Hanabi. She raised her hand and looked up.
Hanabi could see it at that moment. A gaze without light, a bloody Byakugan that looked with intent to cause harm. She reacted instantly and covered herself with her arms before Hinata's strong slap sent her hard to the ground.
When Hanabi fell to the ground, running out of air because the blow on her back when she made contact with the ground was too strong, she saw how at that very moment, Hinata was about to hit her with her chakra imbued hand.
"HINATA-SAMA!"
Paf...
But Hinata's hand stopped an inch before it touched Hanabi's heart. Neji was there, holding Hinata by the hand, resisting with all the strength he had. The vacant gaze on Hinata slowly regained the light as she felt the force Neji exerted on her right wrist.
Hinata looked at Hanabi, who was lying on the ground just below her. She had some bruises on her arms, but ignoring that she was perfectly fine. However, Hanabi looked at Hinata with concern, this brought her older sister back to reality at last.
Drip, drip, drip.
Two tears fell on Hanabi's forehead. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked her older sister in the face.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Forgive me, Hanabi. Forgive me..."
Hinata clenched her fists tightly. She didn't realize that her actions hurt her sister. This all got to the point where Neji had to intervene.
"Onee-san... it's okay. Don't cry anymore..."
Touching her older sister's face with her palms, Hanabi smiled. She understood her sister's pain and didn't want to see her suffer. She didn't want to see Hinata cry, she didn't want to see her hurt. Hanabi likes it when Hinata smiles, because after all that smile is always because of Toru.
Hinata fell to her knees and cried for a few minutes. Neji looked at this and sighed. 'She has become very strong, but...'
Although Hinata wasn't in her best condition, she was extremely fast and strong. Plus she used something different in her taijutsu. Neji was surprised, Hinata always had potential, however, she never knew how to get stronger until Toru came along.
Shaking his head, Neji decided to do something about this situation. It's all so confusing and somehow it bothers him quite a bit. He had no idea what Hinata's relationship with Toru was, but seeing this it was obvious what's going on.
"Hinata-sama... Do you wish to fight against me? If you need to calm your heart, you can do so by using me as a punching bag. The only difference is that this punching bag is also capable of attacking."
Hinata looked up upon hearing the proposal. Neji looked at her, and waited patiently, but she didn't know how to respond.
Still, this was not a problem. Neji stepped back a little and raised his guard. Hinata, though she wasn't sure about this, since she almost hurt her younger sister, got up from the ground, wiped her tears and raised her guard.
While all this was going on, Hiashi listened to everything behind the paper door that led to the garden of the house. He sighed and shook his head, after that he left to who knows where.
-Present-
Seven hours since the test began passed and no one appeared before team 11. Not even a hint that anyone had been around showed. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Night had already fallen, everything is dark except for the small bonfire Ino lit among some rocks.
"I'm tired..."
Taking some warmth near the campfire, Ino sighed tiredly. The team had been walking everywhere without finding anything.
"Sorry..." Hinata said.
"You don't have to apologize, Hinata. It's better to do something than sit around somewhere doing nothing. I'm sure Ino thinks the same" Even though Sakura said this, Ino doesn't think so at all.
Ino had a bit of a tanned skin due to the afternoon sun. They were walking for hours without finding anything after all, this burned her skin plus she lost much of the energy she woke up with in the morning.
Silence was maintained in this group of girls for a few minutes. In this situation, it was difficult to bring up a topic of conversation that would be interesting or last more than fifteen seconds. At the end of it all, no one was able to say anything.
Although there was still something interesting left to do.
The stars in the sky were beautiful in all the darkness of the night. They faintly illuminated the entire field, leaving even a small chance to see the surroundings.
Hinata looked at the brightest star in the sky and thought, 'Is Toru looking at the same star as me?' It was beautiful to imagine the boy she loves so much looking at the same star at the same time she was looking at it too. This was just a trivial thought that brought a smile to her lips.
Ino saw it and smiled too. 'It's not as bad as I thought. I guess for now I'll continue to follow Hinata as if she was the leader of this team' Since this test started, Sakura and Ino followed Hinata. It's obvious that girl is the leader in this team. Although Hinata wouldn't think so.
Sheeeesh... Shaaash...
"¿...?"
As the girls looked up at the stars, strange movements were heard near the arena. This caused them to stand up and look around, expectant of what was about to happen.
Shadows began to run violently around the team. The wind caused by the shadows hit them hard. The campfire went out, and stars began to fall from the sky.
The sand began to swallow everything and right there, two multicolored eyes showed themselves observing everything from the darkness.
"Ino, Sakura-san, there's a genjutsu user, we're under attack!"
Activating the Byakugan, the veins swelled around her eyes and it was possible for her to see the shinobi attacking at that moment. Three hooded silhouettes, one of the silhouettes was a bit far away, hands clasped together executing a jutsu. The two remaining silhouettes, running around the team with katanas in their hands.
Reacting after Hinata's words, Ino and Sakura broke the genjutsu easily, after all it wasn't such a hard thing to undo.
When the genjutsu dispersed, the two mysterious shinobi attacked Sakura and Ino.
Clang!
The enemy didn't know who this team of girls were, so they attacked without thinking other than the strategy of locking them in the genjutsu and killing them while they are distracted. That was their gravest mistake, after all here, in this desolate place, two pupils of the Legendary Sannin and the princess of the Hyūga clan met.
To one of the attackers, it was surprising how in less than a blink of an eye Ino pulled out a kunai, stopping the attack. Immediately Ino grabbed the edge of the katana with her hand and snapped it as if it were a small twig. The eyes of the mysterious shinobi widened like saucers at the sight.
Clang!
Another metallic crash was heard. This time it was Sakura parrying the attack of the second mystery shinobi.
"..."
Walking towards the shinobi who was farthest away, hidden in the shadows of the night, Hinata's hands were wrapped in chakra. She faithfully trusts that Sakura and Ino will be able to repel the attacks and defeat the enemy. With this, it only remains for her to defeat the one who seems to be the leader of the team.
The wind moved that person's hair and one of his eyes illuminated an inorganic light. Her hood fell down, revealing the face of a girl no more than 17 years old. One of her eyes was blue like the sky, while the other was green like a glowing emerald. The latter was an artificial eye, which is why it glowed strangely in the night.
That girl's hair was pink with a black lock covering her artificial eye. She wore clothes that exposed her cleavage, where her large breasts were hidden. She had the Sunagakure bandana tied around her waist.
"Kunoichi of Konoha, hand me the scroll and let's avoid unnecessary fights."
Hinata didn't believe any of the lies that girl was telling. It was obvious that when they attacked, they tried to kill them right away. She and her team are dangerous shinobi, people to be cautious with.
"Hey, Trish, this crazy blonde broke my katana!" Leaping backwards next to his teammate, he pulled off he hood and bared he face.
Although everything was quite dark, the dim starlight allowed them to make out the appearance of the people present.
The guy who had just spoken, whose name was Josuke had a strange hairstyle, although more than a hairstyle it looked as if an animal with tousled hair had died on top of his head. His hair was black in color as were his eyes. He had the Suna bandana tied on his forehead, besides wearing clothes that looked a bit like the Sunagakure military uniform, only this one had several modifications that somehow looked extravagant.
"Hum. What a wild woman. She was probably dumped by her boyfriend."
Hearing this, a vein swelled up on Ino's forehead. This made her look in the direction of the guy who spoke so nonchalantly.
The guy took off his hood, revealing his face. He had black hair, with the Sunagakure bandana covering his entire forehead, this bandana was modified, as it had zigzag edges, besides being pink. He also had two thick chains on his waist as a belt, a black military vest, sandals typical of a shinobi and gray pants tight to the middle of the calves. This guy's name is Rohan.
"They're from Suna... they tried to kill us..." Sakura looked at the three shinobi and clenched her fists. Although killing was allowed, for someone to attempt a murder in this exam and after hearing the Kazekage's words was cruel, somehow.
"Killing them was the easiest way to get the scroll, but we didn't count on you to be so strong and your reaction time to be so fast. The shinobi of Konoha are indeed unsurprising. Even the Kazekage had trouble with two of the Konoha ninja during the chūnin exams two years ago."
Trish, looking at Hinata curiously, folded her arms and thought of a way to end this quickly. Certainly one shouldn't underestimate one's opponent, but overestimating him was also something she shouldn't do. In the end, if she makes one false step, they will lose to these girls.
Gaara made the same mistake during the chūnin exams when fighting Toru, that was why he almost lost.
"Well, leaving aside the fact that we tried to kill them. It's time to decide, which would you rather, fight my team or hand over the scroll quietly?"
Trish was clear with her words. The expression on her face was serious at that moment. Trish, since she was just a child, always had a more adult character than the other children, that has remained to this day. That's why she is the leader of Sunagakure team 27, well, at least while sensei is not around.
After hearing this, Sakura and Ino looked at Hinata. Hinata is the leader of the team, or so Ino and Sakura unconsciously decided.
The decision whether to fight or not is Hinata's alone.
She looks at Trish with an expressionless face and the veins around her eyes disappeared. She sighed and dropped her arms around her shoulders.
"Handing over the scroll... that's something I'm not going to do. We're here to become chūnin. If we hand over the scroll, that would be forfeiting our chance for promotion. So..."
Crack...
The veins around Hinata's eyes swelled again and her hands glowed with the blue light of the chakra in her body. Trish smiled slightly at hearing Hinata's response, so she did something no one expected.
"Then... so be it."
Team 11 watched as the sand rose from the ground and began to surround Trish. Sakura and Ino were surprised, as this was a jutsu much like Gaara's, only with many limitations.
Still, this did not intimidate Hinata, who raised her guard and watched her opponent without blinking. She gave a long sigh and then... "Omoiken [Heavy Fist]." The fight began.
To be continued
______
It's been 84 years... but I'm finally back.
I always come back... >:D
I also wanted to tell you that the chūnin 2.0 exam arc has ended in my P atreon. And well, I'll go back to mo cave, bye bye.