Hinata's Journey

Hinata was in a very bad mood. The chest was heavier than anything she had ever carried in her life. Temari was starting to wilt from physical exertion and the group showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. They were about three hours from Grass Country and the sun was already beginning to lower considerably. The group sped up, Temari and Hinata both stifling groans at the newly increased pace and the steadily increasing weight of the trunk.

Hinata felt a sudden influx in chakra coming from the ground. Without thought, she knocked Temari out of the air as sand filtered up and the rest of the group was swallowed completely. Activating Byakugan, she saw the familiar chakra signature of Gaara. Silently she thanked every deity she knew as she landed with the trunk beside a barely conscious Temari.

The trunk started to shake violently as it touched the ground. Quickly Hinata used her eyes to peer into the depths in the trunk. A pair of eyes that had gray concentric circles looked back. A tattoo of black and red covered the left side of its face. Hinata felt herself being pulled in by those eyes. Every pain she had ever experienced ran through her head. Hinata opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.

The trunk’s lock clicked open slowly. Hinata heard Temari screaming behind her but she could not move. Unbearable heat began to erupt from the trunk, burning her skin. The heat entered her mouth as she felt her organs being eaten away by the fire. In her mind an image of herself closest to death formed. Her fight with Neji at the Chuunin exams the point of her death. She was dead then but something inside pulled her back.

The coolness of water came through her eyes as she watched again as her mother was buried. The watery tears swirled around her brain as she watched the event reflected. Everyone had been emotionless and still. No amount of punishment could have kept Hinata from weeping piteously at her mother’s funeral.

Hinata closed her eyes waiting for the pain and instead felt the earth in her hands and beneath her feet. The gritty texture reminded her of her fights to improve. She was constantly falling and rising again to continue. Her hands finding the ground the only constant. The thing that raised her to a level she could not otherwise have ever attained. The dirt under her hands signified her struggle to become more than she was.

The wind roared through her ears. Hinata tried to cover them but it was useless as she heard the voices of her family telling her how useless she was. Her cousin’s scorn and finally the voice that had led her to continue to fight. Her way of the ninja firmly ingrained in her head, the love for that person dying but remaining as a friendly love no longer passion.

Lightening struck her as she thought her trials were over. Hinata felt the lightening enter through the crown of her head. As the volts traveled through her body, the elements already within reactivated. They consumed her, healed her and started over again. The hatred of her weakness and self, chained in the lowest depths of hell. Her mind showed her greed for affection replaced by an incomprehensible thirst. She was a cat desperate for someone to love but dying to save the family that took her in. She was a deity struggling for a power that wasn’t hers but would help others. She became a god knowing only pleasure, knowledge and pride. The enlightenment of her other lives did not carryover until she had come back in this one human and weak of body though not mind.

The passion for another human being and desire to become stronger to protect those she loved dwelled within her. The doubts she harbored because of her passion and desires were nothing over the kindness she showed. If she could fulfill neither her passion nor her desire then she would be the next best thing for both. Helpful to the ones she loved and kind to the ones she wished to protect. Now as she died she realized her follies and took responsibility for her failures.

Hinata lost all abilities as she felt herself come back to life. She had gone through six realms of existence in the space of a couple of minutes. In her last as a human being, she had achieved many things. She was from an elite clan but she was treated as the lowest of the low. She was not good enough or strong enough yet she had gone through it all with grace and as much dignity as she could. No one would, could ever fault her for kindness either.

“This is a gift child.” A deep voice boomed, sounding weary of the world. “It has been given to one before you who has done many great things. Evil but great things. You have been tapped to counteract his ways. Now you must find within you the strength necessary to defeat your foes. He did it by killing off a village of people and that was his way. What child is yours?” The voice demanded before receding into Hinata’s subconscious.

Hinata slowly came down from the high that had been hers. She landed on her knees in front of the trunk. Her head bowed as the weight of the world landed on her shoulders. Her ears stung, her eyes twitched, her hands trembled and her feet would not and could not support her weight. Blood was dribbling from her mouth and her body was shocked and burnt from the residual lightening. As rain started to fall, Hinata looked up at the trunk. The man was no longer there. In his stead was a book that Hinata placed into her waist pouch.

Nothing else was in the trunk. No scrolls or anything but exploding notes that were burning down. Hinata watched this as if she was someone else. Forcing herself to stand she grabbed the arms of the now unconscious Temari and dragged her away. Their henges had run their course and both were back to their normal selves. Hinata just managed to get Temari into another clearing when the explosion occurred. A wall of sand rose and stopped both of them from being hit.

“What the hell?” Kankuro demanded as he ran to them. Followed closely by Baki and Gaara. Dropping to his knees beside them, he quickly examined Temari. Hinata vaguely felt his anger boiling but she ignored it and instead focused on trying to remember how to speak. Baki watched Hinata’s struggle before walking to her. Gaara finished disposing of the bodies and Kankuro tried unsuccessfully to wake Temari.

Baki got right in Hinata’s face and blew into it softly. Hinata felt herself blinking before she came back into her body again fully. All the pain she had felt returned full force and she screamed loud and long. Even after Baki had placed a hand over her mouth to silence her. Hinata finally got it together and fainted.

“Well shit!” Kankuro said as he slung Temari over his shoulder. Baki did likewise for Hinata and the three set off towards Suna.


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“She shouldn’t be alive.” Hinata heard a voice saying as she struggled for consciousness. “The chakra depletion was at desperate levels and yet she is still alive and by all accounts should awake soon.”

“She is already awake.” A deep voice responded. Hinata felt a strong presence standing by her bedside as she slowly opened her eyes. They blurred before they finally adjusted to the light enough to focus.

“Temari?” Hinata croaked out and went into a coughing fit.

“Is alive.” Gaara confirmed sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Is she okay?” Hinata mumbled accepting the cup of water she was presented with and slowly sipping it.

“No.” Gaara responded studying her face.

Hinata accepted his statement and waited for him to speak again. She knew Temari could not be okay. The things she had went through not even psychological training could prepare you for or even help you imagine.

“Kazekage- sama, the council requests your presence.” Baki spoke from the doorway with a slight nod of his head.

“They will wait.” Gaara responded imperviously knowing that they demanded his presence. “What happened?”

Baki did not move to deliver the message as Hinata gave a brief outline of the events she and Temari had gone through. She skimmed over certain parts and completely skipped the section of what had happened when Temari was captured. When she finished silence filled the room.

“Temari is still in a coma from the shock.” Gaara supplied finally. “You will sit and talk to her.” Standing Gaara straightened his Kazekage robes. “Konoha has not been informed of your presence yet. Tomorrow someone will set out to deliver a message to the Hokage. Your presence here will be a part of the message.” Nodding at her, he left and Baki continued to stand by the door.

“Your reasons for being in that place are your own. I thank you for saving Temari.” Baki stated walking to her side. He placed her book on the side table. Looking down at her, he continued. “I will make myself available to you if you have any problems during your stay here. I recognize the symbol on that book.”

Hinata blinked at Baki slowly. She had never been introduced to him but suddenly he seemed familiar. Baki lifted the covering on his face and Hinata gasped. The tattoo covering that side of his face resembled the one she had glimpsed on the man in the trunk. Baki recovered his face and Hinata nodded.

“You will have approximately one week to be well and away from here.” Baki walked towards the door before he turned around. “That book will only help you if learn the secret behind it. Knowledge is only power for those who know not to ask how but why.”

“During that week you should learn some basic things. I put them inside the book. Only Gaara, Kankuro and I know about it. It should remain that way.” Baki left Hinata sitting up, deep in thought. Calling upon her newly formed determination, Hinata decided to get out of bed. After some careful movements, she realized two very important things.

The first was that she had an IV in one arm that was severely hampering her movements. The second thing was that her legs seemed to have lost the ability to stand. Taking out the IV, she began to examine herself. Hinata noticed that she appeared to have a tattoo on one of her feet for earth. Hinata blinked at it slowly before she lifted the hospital gown and saw below her belly button a fire symbol.

Hinata was struck with a new determination to get to a mirror. She hobbled her way to the door, pausing only long enough to put on a robe and slippers. She exited her room to find a Suna shinobi standing guard, smiling at the guard she shuffled next door where she felt Temari. The room as she expected had a mirror. Hinata blinked at her reflection.

Her hair previously had been down her back and was now only just past her shoulders. Pushing the mass behind her ears, she caught sight of a tattoo behind her left ear. A wind symbol. Hinata stared in the mirror, tried to see where the water symbol was. She blinked when she realized that a teardrop had formed by the corner of her right eye.

Well at least they were all easy enough to conceal. The book she had placed in her pocket was beginning to glow faintly. Hinata glanced at it before turning to see Temari. Going over to the other girl, she sat on the end of her bed Indian style. Hinata watched the girl’s eyes move rapidly under her eyelids.

“Don’t allow yourself to fall into despair. People that love you are waiting for you to open your eyes and come back to them.” Hinata called. Hinata noticed Temari’s eyes flicker at the statement. Hinata stood slowly and walked to the door. Turning on the light, she called to the shinobi in the hallway for how long they had been there. His reply was one week, nodding she went back in the room leaving the door open. Hinata went to the bathroom and came back to sit on Temari’s bed again.

This time she curled up on her side and whispered a story in Temari’s ear. Hinata started to fall asleep but continued the story of the girl with the giant fan. Hinata was almost at the end but did not finish. From her childhood, she remembered her mother doing the same thing to her in order for her to want to find out what happened next on the following night.