Planswalker

Then there was the translation ability. She had taken the opportunity in the library to make some tests and tried to speak in a language of a place that she only saw in the map, only to later check in some scrolls in the language of such place to see if she had spoken correctly; she didn't. It seemed that she only learned a new language after having direct contact with it. It was necessary to actually hear or read it.

She was very much aware of the fact that it was impossible for her brain to keep the knowledge of so many languages down to the point that she could correct the grammar of a language that she didn't even know existed ten seconds earlier. She had honesty lost count on the number of languages that she now knew, but she was probably past twenty by now. She tried to see if she felt something different when reading a new language but it was such a automatic thing that she presumed whatever had happened to her made learning new languages a fundamental part of her very being, like hearing or smelling.

However, not all languages could be translated. Hinata discovered that when she found a dusty scroll of Old Valyrian that seemed to contain an ancient spell. It appeared to be written in a variation of the Valyrian language specifically adapted to make spells and the like. Hinata could not read this but she had some vague idea of how to read the spell after studying it for some time and comparing it with other similar, if far more incomplete, scrolls.

However it seemed that the spell in question was a protection spell for a house, one that involved human sacrifice, so Hinata gave up on figuring out if she could use it to test this land's 'magic'. Other scrolls of this nature were far more incomplete. From what she could figure, the majority of the old scrolls and books of spells of the Targaryens were still in the island of Dragonstone, while the majority of the ones in King's Landing were taken to the Citadel in Oldtown after Robert's Rebellion. Oldtown was a great city in the south, and the Citadel was home to the order of the Maesters, the scholars of Westeros.

It was probably for the best however, from what she could figure out reading the (admittedly very biased) accounts on magic it seemed that it almost always involved some short of sacrifice or some very bizarre rituals.

There were also a lot of scholars that seemed to downright not believe in magic. Even those that did believe seemed to agree that magic was weaker now that it was in the past. Some accounts said that it started to die out when the Dragons were gone but…

Hinata forced herself to keep her eyes on the book in front of her even as she noticed that someone was looking at her from behind. She calmly put one hand close to her thigh, where she kept her weapons, and activated her Byakugan.

She resisted the urge to sigh as she noticed a young child watching her from one of the library's secret passages. It was one of the 'little birds' working for the King's Master of Whispers. He apparently liked to train young children to run around the secret passages of the castle spying on everyone at almost all times.

As a ninja Hinata didn't object this method, even if she thought the children were too young to be spies. She could see that some of the passages were too small for adults or people of her age. However the sheer frequency of having someone watch Hinata as she went about her day was frustrating. Especially the few times they came in middle of the night when she was trying to get some sleep.

Hinata seriously considered placing traps in the secret passages, at least at the Tower of The Hand. But Lord Stark was against the idea, saying that they were simply children with no choice but serve Lord Varys, the Master of Whispers. He did however have guards placed at his and his daughters' rooms at night, just in case the children attempted something.

Hinata had noticed the 'little birds' on her first day at the castle, but she noticed that they seemed to have taken a greater interest in her after her conversation with Ser Suzaku.

Remembering her conversation with Ser Suzaku made Hinata narrow her eyes. As relaxed and friendly as he acted, his message was clear: he was a protector of the King. He knew what ninja were, and he would protect the King no matter what happened. As Lord Stark and the King were friends, there was no reason for the knight and the ninja to be enemies. But he would not underestimate her if that changed.

Hinata felt that he should have kept quiet about the fact that he knew what she was. That's what she would do in his position. That way, if things took a turn for the worst, he could surprise her. Telling her what he knew to her face meant that he was either not very smart or completely confident that he could defeat her.

It could be simple honor but Hinata preferred to prepare for the worst. Lady Sansa and Lord stark had told her of his reputation, and it seemed impressive enough: he was found at age 10 by Ser Barristan and made a page, then a squire at 14 before being knighted after his impressive actions on the attack at Old Wyk at the age of 17 during the war called 'The Greyjoy Rebellion'. He was made a member of the Kingsguard by King Robert that same year after the war was over.

Ser Suzaku was now 26 years old and had built a reputation as one of the greatest knights yet living in Westeros. He had won numerous tournaments and entire songs were dedicated to his actions during the Greyjoy Rebellion.

This man was a complete mystery to Hinata. He was clearly from the elemental nations. Not only did his features show that, but he also spoke her language and knew what a ninja was. Yet he had no chakra, much like the people of Westeros. Could he possibly be for somewhere between the Elemental Nations and the Shadow Lands? If so he could be the key to her finding her way back home.

But even if that was true, Hinata was unsure of asking him about it. He seemed friendly enough but even when he pointed out that he knew what she was he didn't give any clues as to where he came from. He seemed to be hiding something, so Hinata didn't think she could trust him to answer honestly if she asked about the way to the Elemental Nations

There was also the likelihood that he was able to use the same land energy as Hinata. His aura seemed to at least point in that direction even if Hinata had yet to see him actually use the energy. This could point out that he, like Hinata, had awoken that ability and teleported here at random, which would mean that he too had no idea on how to go back to his home.

This also added the question of how he was able to awaken those abilities. His lack of Chakra indicated that he could not possibly be a distant relative of Hinata, so that was one point against the bloodline theory. Unless, whatever this ability is, it stayed dormant under many generations since the time before chakra or something like that…

Hinata sighed, things were getting complicated. She originally only intended to stay at King's Landing for as long as it was necessary to get the money and the information that she needed to start her journey home. She was beginning to suspect that to get the required information on the Shadow Lands she would need to go east. Surely the people there had more contact and knew more about what existed beyond Asshai than the people of Westeros.

The money issue however was becoming a problem. Lord Stark had given her a considerable raise after he discovered her abilities. But by Hinata's count it would take at least a few years to achieve what she thought was a reasonable amount of money to fund her trip back home and prepare for all the little problems that could happen on the way there.

And that was unacceptable. By now the people in Konoha must already fear that she was dead or lost forever. She refused to keep her friends and family worrying about her for longer than necessary.

Fortunately she had recently figured out a way to solve this problem.

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In honor of Lord Stark's appointment as Hand of the King, a great tournament was being held. The event had many contests for the Knights and other great warriors to complete against each other and prove themselves as the best in the eyes of the nobles and the common people.

Lord Stark himself was the main opponent to this tournament, saying that it was unnecessary costly and the Kingdom could not afford to waste money. Perhaps that was why he had no problem in helping Hinata with her plan, only once asking if she was sure it was what she wanted.

The competition would take place outside King's Landing, next to the river close to the city. Hundreds of tents were arranged for the competitors and their squires. Banners and flags decorated the fields as thousands of commoners came to see the greatest fighters of the Seven Kingdoms competing in combat.

The first day of the tournament was dedicated to the Jousts, a competition were two people at a time attempted to knock the other off his horse. The competition lasted for the entire day and at the end of it only four had remained: Ser Suzaku Kururugi, Ser Loras Tyrell, Sandor Clegane and Ser Gregor Clegane, Sandor's older brother who was probably the tallest man that Hinata had ever seen.

Hinata, however, didn't watch the jousts. She was busy preparing herself for the next day.

The second day of the tournament opened with the semi-finals of the joust. First Sandor Clegane managed to, much to Hinata's surprise, beat Suzaku in the competition. The girl had observed the fight with the Byakugan activated and saw that Suzaku did not use any land energy. In fact, he seemed not to be very invested in the whole thing and probably didn't really try to beat the younger Clegane.

Next Ser Loras managed to beat Ser Gregor Clegane only for the giant of a man to react violently to his defeat. After killing his own horse, he tried to attack Ser Loras. Surprisingly however Sandor Clegane came to protect Ser Loras and fought his older brother until the King ordered the madness to stop. This made Ser Loras conceded the tournament to Sandor Clegane, something that made the crowd applaud him, much to Hinata's annoyance since she had come to detest the man that had killed young Mycah.

After the whole joust was over it was time for the archery competition. Hinata took her time during the whole thing to spend some last minutes practicing before it came time for what she was waiting for.

The winner of the joust gained 40,000 gold dragons (the term for a gold coin in Westeros), the runner-up of the joust gained 20,000 dragons and the winner of the archery contest gained 10,000 dragons. But the winner of the melee would win 20,000 gold dragons. All of those were very high value prizes and, for Hinata, the melee's competition prize represented a chance for her to advance her planning to go back home.

This was why Hinata made a deal with Lord Stark: he helped her by paying for the equipment and she would pay him back if she managed to win (she promised him that she would compensate him if she somehow lost). If she could keep the rest of the prize money, she would have more than enough to start her journey home.

Lord Stark only asked her to play fair; he knew that her abilities were far above the normal of the men of this land, but because she was born (and trained) as such this was not a problem. However he would not accept if she somehow cheated in the competition.

Given the rules of the fight she really didn't know how could she possibly cheat on it but she agreed none the less.

In a melee all fighters, which could number anywhere from twenty to one hundred and beyond if there were enough people fought against each other on horseback until only one remained. In this case there were around forty. The competitor was disqualified if he fell off his horse, bled or yielded but, aside from that, everything seemed to be valid by the rules. One of the fighters, Thoros of Myr, for example was famous for fighting using a flaming sword.

Hinata was confident that she could manage a win except for one detail: she didn't know how to ride a horse. Fortunately she had a way around that.

With Lord's Stark help she selected the best warhorse that she could find and copied a pattern out of it. She knew that it was good horse because this one required two white lands to summon. This was the first time that she had found a summon that required two specific types of land.

After that she practiced for a few days with the summoned horse in the forest close to King's Landing. As she expected the fact that she could command the horse as easily as moving an arm made the act of riding it incredibly easy. The horse would even go against his own instincts if she commanded him too, like the one time that they had found a snake in the patch and she ordered the horse not to be scared of it.

The practice still helped quite a bit however. It was useful to know for a fact how fast could the horse go, not to mention that she had to get used to the armor.

She couldn't very well simply enter the competition under her own name; she was a commoner and also a young girl at that. Lord Stark could use his influence to allow it but Hinata preferred to spare him the trouble and instead simply decided to enter as a 'Mystery Knight'. According from what she had heard from Lady Sansa and confirmed with Lord Stark it was common for some men to fight in disguise in tournaments for various reasons.

She considered using a henge, a transformation technique, but dismissed the idea as fast as it came. The henge would end if she got hit once, and if the competition really ended up lasting for hours it would probably be best to save as much chakra as she could.

Most of the money that she had borrowed from Lord Stark was invested in the armor. At Lord Stark's insistence she first tried a heavy model but it limited her movements too much so she opted for a light armor. There were greaves made of metal to protect her legs, faulds also made of metal to protect her waist and hips, a metal cuirass in her front to protect her chest, metal vambraces in her forearms and finally a closed great helm. All of this together with boots and the lightest coat of mail she could find.

She was going for mobility: she made the blacksmith adjust the cuirass so that it would not limit her arm movements and he also did the same for the faulds so that she could freely use her legs. He argued that, since she would be mounted the whole time during the competition, this was unnecessary but Hinata insisted and the man ended up accepting it.

Incidentally Hinata asked Lord Stark for a blacksmith that could keep a secret and he recommended one person. Tobho Mott was considered by Lord Stark to be 'as trustful as we can find in this stinking city'. He seemed good enough in Hinata's opinion, certainly polite even if his assistant, a boy named Gendry, was a bit on the rude side, even asking Hinata if she wanted to play with her armor instead of fighting with it. When he heard that she was going to be competing as a mystery knight in the melee of the Hand's Tournament he also laughed and say that this he had to see.

The blacksmith also suggested, heavily, for her to put some short of personalization to her armor. Apparently mystery knights did not always fought with blank symbols and Tobho liked to add something different to every armor or weapon that he made. After some consideration Hinata asked for him to add the Hyuuga's Clan symbol in the vambraces and Konoha's symbol at the forehead of the closed great helm.

The end result ended up being heavier than what Hinata would have liked but it was nothing that the use of chakra could not compensate. She certainly had dealt with worse when she had to carry heavy backpacks in long missions back with Team 8 since they usually liked to carry a lot of equipment to build traps. She could barely see anything with the helm but, thanks to the Byakugan, this would not be a problem at the actual fight.

She opted for not using a shield, so one of the last additions to her new equipment was a short sword. While she could use a normal westerosi sword just fine she was already carrying more weight that she would have liked and a short sword was more adequate for her size.

However her main weapon during the fight would not be the sword, which was only a precaution. No her main weapon was something that she had to make a special request for the blacksmith to produce: a metal stick as big as any knight's lance made of the hardest material that the blacksmith could produce in the given time. That was to be her trump card during the melee.

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As she waited for the melee to start Hinata had to deal with quite a bit of mocking and laugher from competitors and other people who passed by her. She supposed that it was to be expected. After all a clearly young person in armor on top of a fully equipped war horse was probably very funny next to so many knights that were easily twice Hinata's size.

Fortunately the person responsible for managing the inscriptions on the melee did not question Hinata much; apparently he thought that she was some irresponsible lord's son playing at being a knight or something of the kind.

Despite the laughter and mockery from her fellow competitions, who had taken to calling Hinata 'The Tiny Knight', Hinata stayed silent; thankful that no one could see her face under the great helm. As she waited for the contest to start next to the other competitors Hinata was a bit nervous but what really bothered her was the heat. Thanks to her armor, she was sweating like crazy before the whole thing even started. The strong smell of horse's feces around the entirely of the tournament area also didn't help to make the situation any more pleasant.

As the competitors gathered Hinata noticed that Lord Stark was already in his place at the reserved part of the audience, sitting next to Sansa and Arya. The King had not come yet but, after a quick look with her Byakugan, Hinata confirmed that he was already heading towards his place on a wooden throne made for him close to where Lord Stark was.

Since the competition was about to start Hinata decided to take a look at her adversaries and, as she expected, many of them were pointing at her from behind and laughing and it seemed that some looked at her with interests and friendless smiles. It seemed like they thought that she was an easy target.

As she saw King Robert finally sitting in the wooden throne Hinata took a deep breath and clutched her long metal stick with more strength. Now was the time.

They gave the signal for the competitors to start riding and get away from one another and, as soon as everyone was positioned in the big arena of dirt and mud that was prepared for the melee, the King shouted for them to begin. More than forty riders in armor carrying all matter of swords, lances, maces and other weapons immediately charged each other in a frenzied confusion not at all unlike what a real battle of riders must be like.

Hinata kept herself from charging and tried to keep her distance, there was no reason why she could not let other people deal with the competition. Looking around with her Byakugan she saw that she was far from the only one that had adopted a cautious strategy.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the other riders would not let the smaller of them remain at ease: seconds after the competition had started three men charged against Hinata, riding side by side against what they believed would be an easy target.

The three of them had relatively light armor and open visors in their helmets, all carried swords and their shields had the same sigil; two blue towers united by a bridge on silver-grey.

Seeing the charge Hinata commanded her horse to turn around and run away from then and, as they starter to pursue the young Hyuuga, she did something that made the people in the audience scream in surprise: she stood up in her horse.

For her this was actually pretty easy to do, Genin learned early how to use chakra to climb on walls even upside down and in her case she was taught such technique while still in the academy since the Hyuuga had an easier time with this type of chakra manipulation. All she needed was to apply a tiny bit of chakra to her foot and her boots were firmly glued on the horse's saddle.

Even if it was easy to remain standing thanks to chakra however it would still be a crazy plan since she would not be able to command her horse if wasn't for the fact that, as a summon, the horse was always fully under her control. However at this point the members of the audience only laughed at what they thought was a silly circus trick in the middle of a tournament melee. The three riders that were chasing her also seemed to think that her little act was funny.

They stopped laughing however as soon as she picked up her metal stick and struck the rider to the right in the head with such strength that he fell off his horse. It really was amazing how imbuing her muscles with chakra made a difference in a fight against chakra-less opponents.

The other two knights seemed at first to think that this had been a stoke of luck as they continue pursue in the same formation as before instead of breaking off to try to surround her. This allowed Hinata to repeat the feat from before against the rider of the left, who tried to block her stick with his sword only to be unable to contain it and also receive a hit to the head.

The third rider now looked angry and as he charged to Hinata he blocked her stick with his shield, managing to avoid falling off the horse at the first hit. The young Hyuuga however was quick to adapt and swung her stick to hit him in the other side, pushing it towards the ground, horse and all.

This made the audience cheer for her, but she had no time to appreciate it: two new knights in full plate armor were charging against her, both carrying lances and shields with a red ox painted on them. One was coming from her right and the other from her left.

She planned on simply outrun then but soon she noticed another knight in full plate, this one carrying a mace and a shield with a white ram as his sigil, charging at her from her front. With no other option Hinata sent the horse the mental command to stop and, as soon as the knights started to get close, she swung her stick as fast as she could all around her. The knights however managed to stop their charges in time and started to surround her, searching for an opening.

She commanded her horse to keep it up, searching for a way out while still pointing her stick to whoever got too close but the three knights seemed to be patient, probably thinking that she would not be able to control her horse well enough while on top of it and certainly she would make some mistake and give them the opening that they needed.

This ended up going on for a while, the three knights circling her while she kept them away. At one point another rider, carrying a great sword and a tunic with a brindled boar, came to join them and this made then confident enough to try to attack her from all sides.

This charge forced Hinata to act fast: she took down the rider in front of her, one of the ones with a lance and the sigil of a red ox, with a strong push that detached his right leg from the saddle's pedal and threw him to the ground. Then she ordered her summon to run at full speed ahead.

As she escaped the other three knights she was able to turn around while her horse kept going forward and hit the knight with the mace and the sigil of a white ram in the back of his head before he could recover and started to chase her, taking him down with the blow.

The other two knights gave chase and soon they were surrounding her by the two sides while riding at high speed in the arena. They keep their distance and seemed to try to direct her towards the other competitors, probably so that she ended up surrounded by more knights again.

Seeing their plan, Hinata stopped her horse and turned him around, only for the two of them to also stop and turn to continue their pursuit. This however was something Hinata was prepared for. Her horse suddenly changed direction towards the other knight with the lance and the sigil of a red ox, who was still busy trying to turn his horse around. He barely managed to lift his shield in time to block her fist hit but he still ended up going down when she followed that with strong blow to his neck.

She then turned around to go against the last rider, the man with the great sword and a tunic of a brindled boar, only to find out that he was now being attacked by three other riders. The first was a strong young man in plate armor who also carried a great sword and had a purple tunic with the sigil of a silver eagle. The second, equally young, rider was mounted in an impressive black stallion, had copper color skin and used light armor with a tunic that covered part of his face; he used a lance and a small circular yellow shield that had a sigil of a black adder biting a heel. The last of the three rider's assisting her was the smallest of then: a young man of white hair in light armor with a long sword and a small shield with a sigil of red crabs strewn on white.

The three of them manage to knock down the brindled boar's knight pretty fast and soon they turned at her direction. However instead of attacking the man with the sigil of the red crabs raised one hand and slowed down.

''Peace, Tiny Knight!'' The man shouted. ''We only wish to form a temporary alliance with you.''

Hinata narrow her eyes behind her great helm. Lady Sansa and Lord Stark told her that temporary alliances during the melee were very common, as the last two groups going against her proved, but they could end just as fast as they had begin. With the byakugan she could see the expressions on the three young men's faces: the crab rider was smiling as if he had something in mind, the adder rider seemed to be having fun and the eagle rider had a serious and focus expression.

As far as she knew they could be plotting to go against her as soon as possible but their expressions could mean anything. However she had an idea: she called for a bit of green to make so that her eyes could see the aura of the three riders. The crab knight had a blue aura with bits of white, the adder rider had a red aura with bits of green and the eagle rider had a white aura with bits of red. While she still had no knowledge of what blue and red meant the lack of black counted as a positive point in their favor.

''I accept.'' She decided to answer to him after some consideration, but added: ''But I will not tolerate betrayal.''

''Fair enough.'' The crab rider told her. ''Name is Aerion of House Celtigar of Claw Isle.'' He told her as the other two riders got closer.

''Wystan of House Wyl of the Boneway.'' Said the adder rider and then he smiled behind the veil covering his mouth. ''And when we are finish here you must tell me where you found such fine and well trained stallion.''

Hinata choice not to answer to this with more than a nod as the final rider, the eagle one, also presented himself; ''John of House Malliester of Seagard.'' He told her in a strong voice and then stayed quiet.

All of them seemed to be waiting for her to say something so she told them: ''Just call me Tiny Knight, I have reasons to hide my identity.''

''As you wish.'' Aerion told her, seeming to find the whole thing very funny. He looked behind her. ''And it looks like we already have company.'' And indeed looking behind herself Hinata saw five other riders charging at then.

For the next couple of hours the four of them kept their alliance and together they fought quite a few riders. Fortunately Aerion, the leader apparent of the group, was smart and kept the group distance of the stronger competitors and let they fight one another until they tired. Not that Hinata was afraid to go against them but she knew that it was better to play safe than sorry.

As she observed the fights of the melee with her Byakugan however one thing called Hinata's attention: Ser Suzaku was also participating in the melee but he was dismounted by a man in a red tunic with a flaming green sword that could only be the famous red priest Thoros of Myr. It looked like Ser Suzaku's horse was scared of Thoros's flaming sword, something that indicated that his horse was not a summon like Hinata's. Could it be that he had yet to figure out the abilities of summoning? Or maybe he simply though that it was unfair to use a summoned horse?

Regardless, the fact that Suzaku was now out of the competition was a relief to Hinata as he was the only opponent that she was really worried about. The competition continued for a long time, her group managed to drive off anyone that tried to go against them. After what seemed like two or maybe even three hours there were about ten riders left in the whole competition and this made Aerion call for the others' attention:

''Well, good friends, seems like we are almost at the end of this competition. I believe that now is the time for us to go in our separate ways and try our luck for ourselves.''

''Indeed, it was pleasure as always Aerion. Good luck for you all.'' Wystan told them.

''It was an honor, hope to see you all at the closing banquet.'' John said while nodding his head.

''Yes.'' Hinata said, smiling behind her great helm. ''I thank you all for this alliance and wish for good fortune at us in the rest of the competition.''

The four of them then went each on their separate ways, in a display of good sport that made some people in the audience cheer as normally melee alliances were broken with far more violence.

As soon as they got away from one another however the other competitors, except for the ones that were already fighting someone else, immediately starter to charge at them. John managed to take down the first knight that came for him but the second managed to put him down. And Wystan and Aerion didn't have a much better luck as they were unhorsed by the first rider they each fought against alone.

Hinata had to deal with a rider herself, who she took down with no problems. When she got to the riders that had defeated her former allies they were fighting amongst themselves and one was already down. She took care of knocking down the other two and turned around in time to see what was happening on the other side of the arena.

Thoros of Myr had just taken down a great knight using a tunic that had two swans; one black and one white. The bald red priest then turned to face Hinata across the field. He raised his flaming sword and pointed towards Hinata, soon ordering his horse to charge at full speed since the two were now the only competitors left in the arena.

Hinata also charged at full speed, fully intended on taking down the last opponent on her path to get the money necessary to funding her trip back home. Her eyes behind the great helm were now full of determination: she would not lose!

Their horses ran by each other side by side, much like if it was a joust, and their weapons collided as soon as they got close enough. There was a very loud crack noise when Hinata's metal stick met with the green-flaming sword of the red priest.

Hinata's eyes widened as she watched her metal stick break under the pressure of the flaming sword, half of it ending up flying over her head. It was true that that metal stick had taken quite a few hits by now after hours of competition, but for it to break now of all times…

The Hyuuga looked at Thoros, who had managed not to fall after the impact, even if was a bit of a close call. He now smiled at her and once again raised his sword and initiated a charge in her direction.

Looking at the sword more carefully now Hinata noticed something; there was a strange energy in those green flames that seemed to be slowing melting Thoros's own sword. It was not like chakra and it was also not like land energy, but it was defiantly not normal fire.

Magic, it was the only explanation, those green fires were magical. No wonder her metal stick, already not in a perfect state, did not resist. Especially since Thoros was a great swordsman by himself and must have aimed for some weak point in the stick that he had noticed.

Regardless of how he did it, he was already charging at her again and Hinata decided to respond in kind. The two prepared to meet again like they had before, Hinata still on top of her horse but now with half of her metal stick, and Thoros with his green-flaming sword preparing himself either cut off other part of it or maybe even attack Hinata with his sword.

However the young Hyuuga decided to change strategy; before they met Hinata jumped high in the sky directing herself towards a now very surprised Thoros of Myr.

He raised his sword to protect himself but it was too late; Hinata hit his unprotected head with what was left of her metal stick and he soon fell on the ground unconscious thanks to the extra strength that Hinata put on the strike.

As for Hinata herself she landed on to top of Thoros' own horse for a moment only for immediately jump back to her own horse, now finally sitting down on him again.

It was only then that Hinata noticed how silent the audience was. She started to worry immediately; since she had jumped out of her own horse did that meant that she had disqualified herself? Or maybe…

Hinata's line of thought was interrupted abruptly as the entire crowd started to cheer for her in a sudden explosion that took her completely by surprise.

As she looked around, Hinata seemed to finally realize that there were thousands of people seeing the competition and almost all of them were now screaming and cheering for her victory.

Normally this would be the moment that the young Hyuuga's shyness would show itself. But she was too shocked by the crowd's reaction. She should have expected it, but the idea never crossed her mind and now all that she could do was smile like a fool behind her great helm. After this long, long competition Hinata was sweaty, tired and in desperately need for a long bath but she was more happy than she felt in a long time: she had finally made genuine progress to get back home, and the crowd's cheer seemed to reflect the happiness that she herself felt for this accomplish.

Someone in the crowd then started to scream 'Tiny Knight!' and soon others follow until the entire crowd was also screaming 'Tiny Knight! Tiny Knight! Tiny Knight!' as loud as they possibly could.

And Hinata reacted to this on the only way that she possibly could: by laughing loudly and happily.

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Originally Hinata planned on getting out of the site of the tournament as soon as she got her reward, but when she came to receive the bag of gold she was surprised to find that the King himself would give it to her. He then started to talk about how it had been, in his own words, the 'best damn melee that he had ever seen in his entire life'. From there he invited her to sit next to him in the table of the closing banquet of the tournament and, well, she couldn't very well refuse an invitation like this from the King himself could she?

The main problem, however, was that she could not take off the great helm or her identity would be revealed. She still wanted to avoid unwanted attention, especially since this could cause problems to Lord Stark as she was his servant.

She considered the possibility of just using a Henge, the transformation technique; Lord Stark already knew about the technique so he would not be surprised but her Chakra reserves were not particularly high at the moment. Both the technique she used to stick herself to the horse's saddle and the reinforcement of her own muscles used very little of her reserves but since she had been using them for hours non-stop together with keeping the Byakugan activated she was wary of using another technique for however long the banquet lasted, and having seen the banquets of King Robert at Winterfell she knew that it would not be a quick affair.

She could just ask for a hood and some scarves to cover her face but her white pupilless eyes would betray her disguise easily. So in the end she was forced to sit by the banquet without eating anything, which was quite a shame as King Robert was very generous with the food at his banquets and it all seemed especially delicious: crispy and fresh bread accompanied by tablets of butter and cheese. A thick soup made of leeks and other vegetables. A salad composed of herbs, dried fruit and grated cheese, seasoned with vinegar and oil. Boiled quail eggs in cream sauce and herbs. Pigeon pie and eel with sauce. Roast beef, seasoned with herbs and garlic, accompanied by roasted vegetables. Fruit tarts, lemon icy cakes and frozen fruit with honey.

She could tell that King Robert was mildly annoyed by her insistence in keeping the great helm, and therefore, not eating anything. He even told her that if she was hiding her identity because of security reasons he, as King, could guarantee her protection. When she told him that this was not the reason he made her a discreet question at the banquet table:

''Are you a lowborn, is that the problem?'' He asked in a low voice.

Hinata did not confirm nor she denied the question and this seemed to be enough answer going by the look at the King's eyes.

''I could just make a quick knighting ceremony if this is the problem, it's hardly something unprecedented for a common or even a bastard to be knighted after winning a tournament competition.''

''I am deeply honored by your offer, your grace.'' Hinata told him, forcing a thicker voice while bowing her head a bit. ''But I am not a follower of the Faith of Seven.''

''I can think of a few followers of the Old Gods who are Knights all the same.'' The King insisted.

''Let the lad be, your grace.'' Lord Stark, who was sitting to the other side of the King much to Hinata's relief, told him. ''Jon Arryn, may the gods have him, could have made me a Knight but I too refused because I am not a follower of the southern gods.''

''Not the same thing and you know this Ned.'' The King answered but then shrugged. ''Well, your loss then but just because this stupid helmet of yours does not allow you to eat it does not mean that you cannot drink some of the good stuff!''

At this point Hinata knew it would be incredibly impolite of her to refuse it so she was forced to, with the help of a metal straw, try the famous Arbor Gold, which was apparently considered to be the best wine in the entirety of Westeros.

While Genin were technically considered adults in Konoha Hinata was never one for drinking alcoholic beverages, only drinking sake a few times in clan ceremonies as was customary and only in small quantities. Wine seemed not to be as strong as sake, and actually had a pretty sweet taste, but the young Hyuuga didn't intend to drink too much.

Problem was that King Robert was not one for collaborating much with such a plan of action.

''Come on, drink some more lad!'' He said while signaling for a servant to fill her cup before she could protest. ''You must be tired after all that standing around on your horse! And by the way, where did you find an animal as good as that? Most well trained horse I've ever seen, that one! Bet that it's from Dorne. I swear they have the best horses in the whole Seven Kingdoms! Hey, Ned! Remember that time when they brought that Dornish stallion as a gift to Jon and…''

Despite her first impression of the King having been not exactly positive, since she was expecting that the ruler of all Westeros would far more formal, Hinata could not help but enjoy his openness and good humor. The young Hyuuga did not talk much and Lord Stark, who was in a surprisingly good humor today, was a silent person by nature, but the King talked enough for the whole table. He would share stories and tales about a number of things: horses, tournaments, wars, hunting and much more.

And he was a fine storyteller too, even the reserved Hinata found herself having to hold herself to not choke on her own wine at some of the funny stories that he told the table; the one about the three donkeys, four farmers and a jar of honey at the throne room when he was holding court had been especially hilarious.

Then again this might have something to do with the fact that she was already feeling a bit intoxicated. But what could she do? Every time that she tried to go easy on the drinking King Robert took notice and complained. Plus the wine had such a sweet taste…

During the banquet Hinata also managed to meet once again with her three former allies during the melee: Aerion Celtigar, Wystan Wyl and John Malliester. They congratulated her on the victory and actually invited her to become part of their group, apparently the three of them were actually all former squires that for a reason or another had to leave the service of the knights that they served, and now they traveled together around the Seven Kingdoms, since none of them were the heir of their families. Hinata, obviously, chose to politely decline the offer.

The hours started to pass and King Robert, already heavily drunken but showing no sign of stopping drinking anytime soon, kept on being the magnanimous host that he was. However even if she was slightly intoxicated Hinata had the good sense to excuse herself off the table when the King started to tell far more detailed accounts about his exploits with certain 'ladies of the evening' than Hinata wanted to hear.

The world was not yet spinning around as she directed herself to her horse so Hinata thought that this was a good sign. So after bidding farewell to the other people at the banquet Hinata put herself on top of her horse and ordered him to go to the forest. She then unsummoned him and got herself back to the Tower of the Hand by jumping roofs in the city like she would normally have done back in Konoha.

Given her current state Hinata was pretty sure that she would have been unable to avoid the castle guards if wasn't for her Byakugan. Eventually she managed to quietly go back to her room, and after hiding the armor, money and sword, she fell in her bed heavily, already tired beyond belief. She would spend that night having strange dreams; something about her being a great knight rescuing a familiar-looking blond-haired blue-eyed prince from a great white bird.

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The next day Lord Stark let Hinata take the day off, much to her happiness since she was experiencing her very first, and hopeful last if she had any say on the matter, hangover. So it was only on the day after that, that Hinata could finally start looking into ways to travel to Asshai.

This ended up taking almost the entire week as she had to go consult with many merchants and other people at King's Landing Port. Unfortunately, thanks to the great distance, there was no way for her to go directly to Asshai, so she would have to take a boat to cross the Narrow Sea towards the city of Tyrosh, then Lys, then Volantis, then New Ghis, then Qarth, then Yin in the Jade Sea and finally Asshai where she would have to find someone crazy enough to bring her across the Saffron Straits or cross the Shadow Lands by foot. Thankfully all these cities were great commercial ports so it should not be too hard to find transport to any of them.

Hinata more or less already had everything planned out but one thing made her hesitate: she promised Lord Stark that she would protect his daughters. He told her that he understood perfectly if she wished to go back to her family as soon as possible and that he could not, in good conscience, keep her away from her journey that was already going to be long enough as it was.

Truth be told King's Landing was proving to have a remarkable lack of danger. Aside from one day when Lady Arya found one of the secret passages and lost herself in it for a few hours until Hinata retrieved her there was a complete lack of incidents. Even Suzaku kept on acting friendly towards her and everyone else, and like he had told her, since King Robert and Lord Stark were good friends there was really no reason for any conflict to exist between them.

So, with a heavy heart, Hinata started to prepare herself for her long journey back home. She knew for a fact that, thanks to the great distance, she would probably never come back to Westeros so, even if she missed her home and family terribly, it would be sad to leave Lady Arya, Lady Sansa and Lord Stark as well as everyone else in the Stark's Retinue that she had gotten to know.

She chose not to bring up the topic with anybody but Lord Stark. She knew that Arya would react badly to it since the two of them had gotten so close. She needed to think of a way to say goodbye to her, maybe giving her a gift of some sort?

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On one particularly rainy day Hinata was again by the port of King's Landing talking with some merchants. As was usual for her, when she got to the port she was dressed in long brown boots, black pants, short beige men's cotte, a black half-cape and a sword belt with her short sword. Lord Stark had warned her that it would be safer to travel disguised as a young man, not that Hinata was not able to deal with it but it was better to avoid unwanted attention.

The clothes were actually of above-average quality, something intentional as this made the merchants take her more seriously. Like the man that she was talking to at the moment: a merchant with curled and perfumed hair dressed in rich clothes who had blue eyes.

''We will go to Tyrosh in three days milord. We shall spend around a week there before going back to Lys.'' The lyseni merchant told her in his native language. People seemed to be far more well-disposed to talk with her if she spoke in their native language, a great advantage that her new powers gave her. ''From there I know many colleagues that could bring you to Volantis.''

''I am happy to hear that, thank you for your help in providing me with this service.'' She told him.

''Oh the pleasure is mine milord.'' He told her, even if both of them knew that he was doing this for the gold coins that Hinata had promised him.

After talking with the merchant Hinata started her journey back to the Red Keep. It was raining but, as she got on her horse, this did not bother Hinata one bit because her mind was already racing as she thought about how in three days she should finally begin her journey back to Konoha.

She started to wonder how everybody was dealing with her disappearance, and how would they react when she arrived safe and with a lot of stories to tell. Hanabi, her little sister, was probably worried sick about her but knowing her sister she would probably, after the initial shock of having her return passed, try to pretend to be mad a few days. Hinata could not help but laugh imagining the face that she would make; maybe she should buy her a small gift as a way of apologizing for being so late.

Her father was also probably worried, he and Hinata did not have exactly a warm relationship like Lord Stark had with all of his children but she knew that he cared for her and only acted rigid because he wanted her to be strong. The young Hyuuga could not help but wonder if he would be proud of her for managing to survive on her own in such distant lands.

The members of her genin team, Team 8, would definitely give her a warm welcome back, hopefully with some cinnamon rolls involved. She was anxious to meet Kurenai, her Sensei, again and tell her all about the wonders that she saw on her unexpected journey, and she knew that she would gladly listen to everything and also tell her what she'd missed. Kiba, always acting tough, would probably complain that she made Akamaru, his nin-dog, worry and pretend that he himself wasn't worried, only to cry a bit when he thought that she wasn't looking. And Shino would definitely give her a warm welcome in his own way but he would also definitely never let her forget that she missed his fight during the Chunin Exam.

Thinking about the exams for the first time in so long she also wondered what Neji would think about this whole thing. Whatever her new powers were they definitely triggered because of her fight with Neji. As she remembered the final moments of the fight she couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in her mouth; her cousin had most definitely tried to kill her with that final assault, hopefully it was just a rage-induced decision but this still made Hinata worried and also a bit upset. That Neji hated her was something that she'd unfortunately learned to deal with, even if she missed that sweet boy from her childhood that she called a brother. But trying to kill her? Even if she understood his motives she was still upset about this. Then again to be fair she had probably provoked him too much near the end.

She wondered how the fights of the final phase of the exam had gone. And also if a certain noisy blond had managed to impress the judges and get himself a promotion, hopefully he did. As her face got a bit reddish Hinata could also not help but wonder if he missed her too, he had after all cheered for her during her fight.

As her horse kept going Hinata noticed that the rain was getting worse by the moment. She was already soaked so the young Hyuuga decided to stop by a tavern to wait for a bit, maybe they would have some non-alcoholic beverage that she…

As soon as she entered the tavern, after she tied the horse up outside, she started to hear a song that she unfortunately had become familiar with on the last few days coming from the bard that was singing and playing at a table near the center of the tavern.

''The tiny, tiny Knight had a long, long stick! He shoved them in their asses when they came in quick!'' The bard sang cheerfully as high as he could while everyone around him laughed and some even tried to follow the lyrics.

Hinata turned around immediately and got back to her horse; her face now completely red with equal parts of embarrassment and annoyance. Does every bard in this city already know the lyrics to that song?!

The story, as far as she managed to figure out, is as follows: some random bard, that probably had nothing better to do than to embarrass Hinata, had made that song after the melee and the thing had ended up becoming quite popular among the taverns and brothels (not that Hinata had visited any of the latter). The young Hyuuga would not have minded at all that she had a song about her, she might have even been flattered, but this song in particularly had a obvious double-meaning to it and, knowing that it spoke about her even if anonymous, made so that 'The Tiny Knight With the Long Stick' was the single most embarrassing thing that Hinata had ever came into contact with.

The young Hyuuga tried to ignore the song as she got back on her horse and started to go back to the Red Keep at a greater speed; being soaked was a welcome inconvenience if she did not need to hear that song again.

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She was barely off of her horse when Arya came running towards her, her face desperate.

''Rinata! You have to come, father was wounded!'' She screamed as she got close.

''What?'' Was the only thing that Hinata had time to say before Arya grabbed her hand and brought her to Lord's Stark quarters at the Tower of the Hand. As soon as she entered she understood Arya's desperation: Lord Stark laid unconscious in his bed and his now bandaged leg seemed to have two times its original size thanks to a wound of an unknown source.

The only one besides Arya in the room was Sansa, who was crying next to her father's bed. When she saw that they had entered she raised her head to look at them.

''Rinata? Arya what…''

''Lady Arya, close the door.'' Hinata asked and the girl quickly obeyed. Soon afterwards Hinata got next to Lord Stark and, calling for some white energy, she touched the Lord of Winterfell.

Lady Sansa's eyes widened as she saw the strange white aura that enveloped both Hinata and her father but she was too choked to say anything. And if she was going to ask something the question was forgotten as soon as Lord Stark opened his eyes and got up.

''What did…'' That was the only thing that Lord Stark managed to say before both his daughters jumped at him and hugged him, crying in happiness now that he was ok.

It took some minutes before the two young Starks calmed down, afterwards Sansa seemed to finally remember what Hinata had done.

''That… White light? What was that?'' She asked, a bit wary.

Before Hinata could say something Lord Stark told his daughter: ''That was a little secret that you shall tell no one about, understand Sansa?'' She nodded in response which made Lord Stark smile. ''Good, now the two of you please excuse us for a moment, I need to talk with Rinata. And call…'' He seemed to recall something that made his smile vanish. ''…My captain of the guard, I need to speak with him too.'' This made Hinata narrow her eyes, the captain of the guard was Jory Cassel but the way that Lord Stark called for him could mean that…

As soon as the two young girls were out of the room, Sansa giving Hinata a strange look just before she got out, Lord Stark turned to Hinata.

''I believe that I must thank you once again Rinata.'' He put a hand on his leg. ''I really feel no pain anymore.''

''It is of no concern, Lord Stark.'' Hinata told him and then looked at him more seriously. ''If I may, milord, I would ask how did you obtain such wound?''

Lord Stark took a deep breath. ''Jaime Lannister attacked me and my guards when we were coming back from an investigation. He wanted to make me pay for what happened with his brother so he killed Jory and the others…''

Hinata clenched her fists, she was never very close to the guards but Jory was a kind man. Yet she had more questions to ask: ''His brother…?''

''It started months ago when I got news that someone back at Winterfell had made an attempt at Bran's life.'' He revealed to her, making her eyes widen.

He then told her the whole story; an assassin had tried to kill Lord Brandon using a dagger of valyrian steel months ago, Lady Stark had secretly come to King's Landing just to tell him this. Here they had gotten confirmation from a reliable source that the dagger belonged to Tyrion Lannister.

Lord Stark had no idea why Tyrion would try to kill Lord Brandon but apparently, on her way back to Winterfell, Lady Stark had met with Tyrion and decided to arrest him so that he could be questioned about it.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. Lord Tyrion had been kind to her so she would not expect something like this coming from him but there was also something that her mind, sharpened by years of living amongst shinobi and being one herself, could not help but notice: ''This makes no sense.'' She said, making Lord Stark raise an eyebrow. ''Lord Tyrion seemed more intelligent than this, I mean… It is not very wise to arm an assassin with a weapon that can be traced back to you.''

Lord Stark's eyes widened at this but, before he could say something Alyn, a guard that Hinata presumed was the new captain, arrived at the room.

''Lord Stark, did you send for me? Maester Pycelle told us that you would be unconscious for a few days.'' He said, surprised to find Lord Stark in good health.

''Yes, I guess that I was lucky.'' He then looked at Hinata. ''We can finish this conversation later, and I thank you once more.''

''Yes Lord Stark, and there is no need to thank me.'' She said while bowing her head.

Hinata got out of the room and she was going to return to her own room but then she stopped and started to think about what had happened. For Jaime Lannister, a member of the Kingsguard and also the Queen's brother, to attack the Hand of the King like this was definitely a terrible signal that things were likely going to get really bad, probably sooner rather than later.

Hinata could not help but sigh when she thought about what Lord Stark had told her about Lord Brandon. He should have asked her for advice, she may not be an expert on assassination but as a ninja she had a good notion of it… Then again she had, from the very beginning, tried to make ninjas look more like warriors than assassins so it simply may not have passed by Lord Stark's head that this was an option.

As she waited by Lord Stark's door she heard footsteps and to her surprise she saw four people coming: King Robert himself, Queen Cersei, Ser Meryn Trant and Ser Suzaku.

''Your graces.'' Hinata bowed her head even as she noticed that they seemed to find her garments strange.

''I was told that Lord Stark is already awaken?'' The King asked her.

''Yes, I will inform him of your arrival.'' She said and then knocked on the door. Soon the King and the Queen entered Lord's Stark room and Alyn got of it and then excused himself to go see something for Lord Stark.

The door had barely closed when Ser Meryn looked at her and laughed. ''Did Ser Jaime kill so many of the Stark's guards that he had to arm little girls?''

''Don't be rude, Ser Meryn.'' Ser Suzaku told him and then he looked Hinata in the eyes, his expression serious. ''In the name of the Kingsguard I am very sorry for what happened, Ser Jaime was acting on his own and should not have reacted violently like this.''

''I understand.'' Hinata told him, her expression also serious.

''However…'' Ser Suzaku continued. ''To arrest Lord Tyrion was still an unjustified action that could only lead to unnecessary violence.'' His eyes narrowed at saying this and Hinata responded in kind.

''I do not question Lord Stark decisions.'' She told him. ''I just obey his orders.''

''Even when those orders could lead us towards war?'' He questioned her and then he suddenly switched to the elemental nation's language; ''Do you have any idea of how many people will die if the Starks and the Lannisters fight each other?''

Ser Meryn made some question about what Suzaku had said but Hinata paid no attention to it and responded Suzaku in the same language; ''It is not my place, nor it is yours, to question what their decision is.'' Ninja obeyed their orders; such was how she was taught.

''I see… So this is the kind of person that you are.'' His eyes now seemed judgmental. ''I suppose that I should have expected as such, shinobi have no sense of honor after all.''

This irritated Hinata, something hard to achieve. ''My honor is to fulfill my mission and my mission is to serve, and protect, Lord Stark… By any means necessary.''

''Even if those means…'' He started to said but stopped when they heard a loud noise and the King called for a guard. Ser Meryn entered the room and some seconds after it he returned with a now very angry Queen, half of her face now red from a recent slap. The Kingsguard then escorted the Queen out of the tower and now Suzaku and Hinata found themselves alone.

''I don't wish for a war to happen Hinata.'' Suzaku told her, still in their mother language, as soon as Ser Meryn got away. ''Nothing could be worth it.''

''I have no interest in it either'' She was not heartless; of course she understood that a war would be terrible for everyone. Yet, one thing bothered her; ''But, Ser Suzaku, regardless of what will happen or not, it was my belief that you served the King and not the Lannisters?''

''I serve the realm and his people.'' He answered with no hesitation. ''And take care so that no unnecessary harm comes to them.''

The two looked at each other's eyes for a long moment until King Robert got out of Lord Stark room and signaled for Suzaku to follow him. Hinata watched them walk away before going back to Lord Stark's room. She found the Lord of Winterfell staring at the brooch of the Hand of the King but as soon as he noticed her he shook his head.

''Lord Stark, as I was saying before, if Lord Tyrion really…'' She started to talk but stopped when he raised a hand.

''Forgive me Rinata but I believe that it was hasty of me to talk with you about such things.'' He smiled then. ''You were getting ready to start your journey back home were not you? I cannot in good consciousness keep you here because of my problems.''

Hinata understood what he was doing and it made her smile. ''Lord Stark… Your family took me into your home, gave me food, clothes and, more than anything else, you gave me your kindness.'' She bowed her head. ''I could never live with myself if I did not return the favor in full; until this crisis is solved I will gladly delay my trip back home so that I may help you.'' Before Lord Stark could object she continued. ''Protecting Lady Arya and Lady Sansa is not the only thing that I can do, with my eyes I can help your investigation.'' Something that he knew from the beginning but his good heart stopped him from asking, no doubt wanting to keep Hinata away from the pit of snakes from King's Landing. ''But, first, I need for you to give me as much information as possible.''

Lord Stark seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. ''Would you really keep your family waiting for an even longer time just to help us?''

''I am in your debt Lord Stark.'' She smiled again. ''And honor is not at all a completely foreign concept to me.''

Lord Stark also smiled. ''Then you are a rare find in this stinking city, but you are mistaken about one thing Hinata; I am the one that is in your debt, and something tells me that I will be in a greater debt when all this is over.''

Hinata did not correct him even if she thought that he was wrong; it would be impolite.

He then started to fill her in about his investigations in full detail.