The Enlightened One Ch.62 (Patreon)

— Hinata —

She stared down the red-haired boy, her byakugan active. Both Kiba and Shino are a few meters behind her, ready for anything.

“I’m surprised you came for me,” Hinata said, breaking the silence. 

“Hm?” Gaara hummed. 

“I thought you would have gone after Lei first, especially considering those parting words you gave him.” Hinata sneered; just remembering the threat he said to her beloved pissed her off to no end. 

“Later.” Gaara said simply, uncrossing his arms. “His death…i’ll enjoy it, later.” 

“You believe you stand a chance against Lei?” Hinata asked, genuinely curious this time. 

“He will die like the rest.” 

Hinata’s stance tightened. Lei had already warned her against fighting Gaara should the altercation happen but said it was entirely possible to fight him if she had to. The fact that Gaara truly believes he can not only beat Lei but also kill him is what has Hinata on guard. 

“Your blood will quench mother’s thirst.” 

With those words, another blast of sand was launched at Hinata. She dodged it, but this time it followed her again, forcing her to plant her feet on the ground and shoot herself up to a tree branch. 

“Kiba, Shino, keep your distance from him!” Hinata warned. If he could rival Lei, Kiba and Shino didn’t stand a chance, and the last thing she wanted was for her teammates to die today. 

“Tch.” Kiba clicked his tongue and launched forward. 

“Kiba!” Hinata screamed at the rushing idiot. Kiba ran straight for Gaara. The dark eyed boy looked at the Inuzuka, completely unamused and sent a blast of sand at Kiba which almost caught him. 

“Let’s go, Akamaru!” Kiba grinned.

“ROOF!” Akamaru barked back, jumping off of Kiba’s head and transforming into him as they ran side by side, making their way over to Gaara. 

“FANG OVER FANG!” Their bodies spun fast, so fast that any normal civilian wouldn’t see two Kibas, but instead drills that could pierce even the hardest of metals. Their spinning forms quickly grew closer and closer to Gaara before stopping just inches away from him. 

Sand surrounded the youngest of the siblings as he stared at both Kiba and Akamaru drilling against his defense. 

“Weak. You aren’t worth my time.” With those words, Gaara went to lift his hand, but Hinata had no intention of letting Kiba die today. 

‘Air Palm!’ 

A blast of wind was launched toward Kiba, hitting him and Akamaru away as Gaara’s defense turned into long, sharp spikes. Had both of them still been there, they would be dead. 

“Kiba, stay back!” Hinata ordered. The Inuzuka boy’s eyes were fixated on where the sand spikes had formed in front of him. A look of fear plastered all over his face.

The Princess of the Hyuga dropped from the branch she was on and stared down Gaara from less than ten meters away. 

“Why save trash?” Gaara asked with a slight tilt of his head, as if he was genuinely curious. 

Hinata for the life of her couldn’t get an accurate read on him. He was around their age and he had just asked a question like that. She didn’t know if he was being serious or just messing with her. 

“He is my teammate.” 

“So?” He asked again, tilting his head even more.

Was…he being serious?

“Do I need any more reason?” Hinata narrowed her eyes dangerously, dropping back into her stance. 

“I don’t get it.” Gaara shook his head. “No, it doesn’t matter. Your mind doesn’t matter to me. Mother wants your blood.” 

Hinata jumped forward, dodging the blast of sand, and started her rush toward Gaara. Within moments, she was in front of him, going for a juken strike to his stomach to end this fight. 

Her fingers collided with a quickly formed shield of sand that appeared before the boy. The shield quickly turned into a weapon, blasting to strike Hinata, but the Hyuga easily and gracefully dodged. 

Gaara didn’t let up, sending blast after blast that forced Hinata to stay on the move. As she dodged, she turned her head to Shino, and the boy gave her a curt nod from his place on the branch above. She was glad that at least one of her teammates could understand her without needing to communicate too much. 

“Hinata, let us help you!” Kiba demanded.

“If you want to fight, deal with the other two!” Hinata ordered, jumping past a ball of sand and sending an air palm toward Gaara. 

The blast was blocked by his shield but the impact pushed him back. 

Hinata quickly realized that Lei knew what he was talking about with this guy. He was strong, and his defense was almost impenetrable. 

But there’s one advantage she has that he doesn’t!” 

Hinata jumped up to a tree branch, narrowly avoiding another blast of sand. Her eyes scanned the three sand shinobi. The older boy and the girl looked on with interest, but they didn’t seem to have any intention of helping their little brother.

Probably on his order. 

That makes things easier. 

Hinata held up a hand sign and smiled at Gaara. 

‘Release!’ 

Suddenly, her body felt light. Lighter than it has ever felt in her entire life. 

Hinata bounced on one leg a few times, getting a feel for her body now that it wasn’t burdened by the heavy-weight seals she had been training in for months. 

“Are you finally going to stop running?” Gaara asked with a straight face, but Hinata could see the anger in his eyes. 

“I am.” She confirmed before vanishing from sight. 

“ARGH!” Gaara shouted in shock and pain as Hinata’s palm slammed hard against his stomach, sending him flying tens of meters away through the forest.

With another zip of speed, she ran past the flying Gaara, appearing behind him and gave a close knuckled jab to his back that sent his face into the dirt, skidding away. 

Both Temari and Kankuro were no longer nonchalant. Both looked like they had seen a ghost as they stareda at the down Gaara. The redhead boy, laying on his stomach, eating dirt.

Hinata smiled slightly to herself. Her prediction was correct. The sand was durable, and strong, and it was pretty fast… for sand. 

But she was faster. 

— Shikamaru —

“This is crazy!” Ino whisper-shouted.

“Shhhh!” Shikamaru shushed an unbelieving look plastered on his face as he looked at his blonde-haired teammate. “Have you lost your mind?!” 

“I’m just saying the truth!” 

“SHHHHH!” 

“Hinata’s got some power, doesn’t she?” Choji swallowed a full handful of chips, forcing his teammates to stop bickering and deadpan. 

“Are you both trying to get us killed? Because if so, you’re damn good at it.” Shikamaru blinked, ignoring Ino, sticking out her tongue and focusing back on the fight. 

Hinata… was way stronger than he ever thought she would be, and that was saying something, considering she was the strongest kunoichi in their class. 

The fact that she was not only fighting Gaara, a guy who radiated such powerful bloodlust—but winning. 

Hinata was a different kind of beast, and it got Shikamaru thinking… just how strong were Naruko, Satsuki, and Lei. 

The group of three watched as Hinata waited for Gaara to stand back up. It was a long process, that seemed to put fear on the faces of his siblings, and it sent a chill down their spines. 

“Y-Your blood. I WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD!” Gaara shouted, his skin cracked and crumbled as he got to his feet. Out of his gourd poured a massive amount of sand. The sand was immediately shot at Hinata—who wasn’t standing there anymore. 

BAM

BOOM

Another quick close out and a fast punch sent Gaara flying into a tree hard. When his body dropped down to the ground, it looked as if his skin was peeling. Shikamaru squinted his eyes.

He had sand on his body as a protective shield beyond the normal sand defense he had. That would explain why he hasn’t lost consciousness to Hinata’s attacks yet. 

“Gaara, we need to go!” Temari shouted after a long moment of hesitation as she went to stand beside Gaara. Everyone could hear the fear in her voice, as if what she said just marked her death. 

“She’s right, Gaara! Things aren’t looking good as they are!” Kankuro defended his sister, heading over to them as well and pulling the puppet off his back to keep Hinata warned away from attacking.

“TRASH!” Gaara sneered as he rose to his feet. “I’LL HAVE HER BLOOD! I’LL HAVE EVERYONE’S BLOOD!” 

“Wow, I came in the nick of time, didn’t I.”

Shikamaru knew that voice, he had heard it way too many times. 

Everyone looked up to one of the towerign tree branches above and saw the forms of Team 7 looking down on them with varying expressions. 

Lei looked serious. Gravely so. Satsuki looked about the same, but as she looked at Hinata, there was relief on her face. And Naruko…she was smiling like an idiot. 

No matter how much training she goes through, she’ll still be a knucklehead. 

— Chapter End —

Author’s Note: I remember when I used to write these things so fast. So much shit has been going on that has slowed me down, but I’m trying to get back into the rhythm of writing several chapters a day.