Chapter 16: Twisted History

Hinata lay panting against the hard ground, her face was smudged with dirt, her clothes were torn, cut and burnt in several places. There were also hints of red, indicating that she was also bleeding somewhere.

She weakly opened her eyes as the tip of Naruto's scimitar touched her exposed neck. "I remain disappointed." He drawled.

Hinata glared at him through her exhaustion. She struggled to stand, her leg muscles protesting against the strain.

Naruto, though he wouldn't admit it, was mildly impressed by her stubbornness. Most people he had hit that hard wouldn't get back up for the rest of the day, if at all. And yet here she was, a mere gennin upstaging them all.

"You have yet to complete your exercise, Hyuuga. I expected more from you."

Her glare increased tenfold. "I…cant...concentrate…if…you…keep…on…attacking."

"Do you expect your enemies to stand idly by and wait for you to attack? I suggest you begin your attack now before I decide to strike again."

Hinata grit her teeth, she officially decided, right then and there, that she hated this blond bastard.

She formed a fast series of hand seals making the water rise up behind her. As it began to take form however Naruto shot forward and began to attack her with simple Taijutsu…well…simple for him, for Hinata it felt as if she was fighting her father in a death match.

She tried to keep control of her Jutsu, but when she received a hard punch to the gut that literally had the air in her lungs screaming as it left in a hurry the jutsu predictably collapsed and her along with it.

She slumped over, coughing, clutching to Naruto in order to keep herself standing, as her legs had lost all strength in them.

Naruto stared at her, heaving and coughing. With a grunt, he slung her under his arm like a sack of potatoes.

Definitely not the most delicate person Hinata noted dryly, but she had neither the strength or the will to get out of his grip.

The trip was mainly done in silence when they were near Tazuna's house Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Hello you two." He said and then raised an eyebrow at Hinata's disheveled state and her seemingly unconscious form under the blonds arm. "Oh my god you did kill her." He said as he hastily picked up a stick and began poking her.

Hinata snarled and swatted the stick away since she didn't have enough strength to do much else.

Kakashi sighed in fake relief. "Oh good, she's not dead." He remarked tossing the stick, over his shoulder. "Well, come on. Tsunami-san made dinner for us."

That said, Kakashi lifted Hinata in a much more delicate manner, carrying her bridal style towards Tsunami's house.

Hinata mumbled, "Never train with that guy. Its bad for your health."

Kakashi chuckled. "I'm surprised you survived." He remarked dryly.

Hinata sighed, "Save me some of the food, I don't think I can eat right now."

Kakashi shrugs, "Sure thing."

By the time they made it to the house, Hinata was already asleep, Kakashi took her up to her room and laid her on the futon. He closed the door and walked down, joining the others at the dinner table. Naruto had removed his mask to eat.

The silence was somewhat tense, Tazuna and his family not knowing how to address either of the quiet boys.

Surprisingly it was Naruto who broke the silence. 'Uchiha, did you complete the exercise?"

Sasuke scowled. "No, I got up about two thirds of the way up."

Naruto was about to say NNot good enough' when Kakashi hastily intervened. "Ohh, Naruto, I was wondering uhhh…what did you train Hinata in today?" 'Nice save Hatake.' He mentally gave himself a pat on the back.

"Her elemental affinity."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Don't you think that might be a little much, it takes a great deal of both control and capacity in order to do anything even remotely damaging." He stated seriously.

"She has the control, but she lacks the power. Luckily, she will not need it." He stated cryptically.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything the young boy, Inari spoke.

"Why do you all even train if your going to die anyway?"

The table grew deathly quiet, Sasuke glared angrily at the boy. Tsunami chastised her son. "Inari, apologize right now."

"Why?" He said angrily. "It's the truth. Gatou will kill them all."

Naruto finished his food and began speaking as he once again placed his mask over his face as he wiped his hands. "Fool boy." He said, his voice once again hollow and uncaring. He turned to him making the younger boy take a step back.

When the blond finally turned and began walking up the stairs Inari regained some semblance of his former gusto. He was about to yell something out when Kakashi stepped in once again. "Listen Inari. You can either stay here and let Gatou roll over you or…you can stand up and fight. A great man once told me…there are no weak soldiers under a good commander."

Naruto and Hinata were once again going through the same exercise of Hinata attempting to complete her task when Sasuke emerged from the foliage. They both stopped and turned to him, Naruto being the first to speak.

"Have you completed the tree walking?" He asked simply, Sasuke nodded.

"Show me." He commanded. Sasuke narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly but obeyed nonetheless and walked up a nearby tree.

Naruto nodded. "Good, now, you will begin the second step of this training." He turned and stepped up on the water. "Water walking."

"What the hell is the point of all this?" Sasuke asked angrily. "Teach me something useful." He demanded.

"Without enough control, my training of you would be worthless Uchiha. I suggest you get to work, or find your own training."

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