Hinata faced her sister across the wooden panels of the main family dojo. As was normal, she seemed nervous and reluctant.
Hiashi had been briefed by Hinata, had visited the Hokage, and knew that the situation had changed. By how much he was not certain.
Hanabi only saw the same Hinata as before and was ready to demolish her elder sister utterly.
"Are you sure about this, Father?" asked Hinata.
"I need to judge your strength," said Hiashi. "Only Jyuken. Begin."
WHAP!
Hanabi slumped almost bonelessly into Hinata's arms.
Hiashi frowned. He had not blinked. His Byakugan was active anyway and blinking wouldn't have done anything regarding that. Yet even his Byakugan had just caught a blur of movement. "What was that?"
Hinata finished arranging Hanabi on the floor of the dojo. "When I was fighting some opponents, such as Shockwave Sally, it became obvious that letting them get off their attacks was unwise. So disabling them quickly was a better strategy."
"Awaken Hanabi and we will try again," said Hiashi dryly. "Your speed has been noted. Was that your limit?"
"No," admitted Hinata. "That was about half-speed. I was holding back in order to be more precise in my strikes and to allow you time to observe."
"I see," said Hiashi as Hinata tapped a couple of points on her supine sister and Hanabi groaned in response. "Hanabi. When you have recovered sufficiently, resume your position."
Hanabi did so, wondering what the HELL had happened. Had she fainted? That had to have been the case. Perhaps she shouldn't have skipped breakfast this morning after all.
"Begin," said Hiashi as soon as Hanabi had reached the appropriate position.
Hinata and Hanabi both went into their starting stances. They held that position for a moment before Hanabi dashed across the floor and began a series of strikes.
Hinata simply deflected each strike, treating the whole exercise as if Hanabi were moving in slow motion.
The pattern held for nearly a minute until Hanabi gulped air from the exertion.
Tap!
Hanabi stared at the single extended finger touching her forehead, her eyes crossing to do so.
"Perhaps I should get Neji," mused Hiashi aloud.
"Father, if you wish to judge my strength, it would be best to use nonliving targets," said Hinata.
Hanabi hadn't heard a declaration that the match had stopped, so she jabbed at where the tenketsu should be. It was difficult to see through the glare of light that Hinata was somehow putting out but she knew the tenketsu was right THERE.
Chakra pulsed out and failed to do much of anything. It was like poking a rubber band with one's finger. It moved but didn't break and snapped back into place the moment the pressure eased.
Hiashi's own Byakugan saw that and he nodded. "Targets then."
Now:
Hinata smiled through much of the babysitting mission. Kiba griped through the same period of time. Shino was less easy to read, but still seemed mildly aggravated.
"Something amusing, Hinata?" asked Kurenai as they waited to turn the mission in.
"That was fun," said Hinata. "Not nearly so difficult as the same basic mission for SHIELD."
"'Shi-ru-do'?" mouthed Kiba, his enhanced hearing picking that up and wondering what that was.
"Oh, was it that much worse?" asked Kurenai.
"One of the babies could fly and another one spat up green lava," said Hinata.
Kiba blinked. Oh. So she's done this before and with kids who had active kekkei genkai. Yeah, that WOULD be a pain.
"I can see where cleaning up would be somewhat more difficult," admitted Kurenai.
"I can also see the reasoning behind such missions," said Hinata, quite aware that Kiba was listening. Really, he was not very good at all at keeping expressions off his face.
"Oh? You're not simply assuming sadism on the part of your sensei?" asked Kurenai.
"The team's kunoichi can see the problems associated with the consequences of certain activities," said Hinata. "Also requires patience, remaining calm in stressful situations, and being able to locate haphazardly stowed supplies in an efficient manner."
"Well, that's part of it," admitted Kurenai. "And fence-painting?"
"Control, physical conditioning, and familiarization with Konoha citizenry. This helps the civilians identify with the ninja and the reverse. So community-building."
"Interesting," said Kurenai softly as the line finally moved. They were next now. "We haven't done it yet, but what about catching a stray cat?"
"Tracking and hunting," answered Hinata immediately.
"Very good," said Kurenai, her eyes flicking to Kiba. Good. Maybe he'll complain less on the next mission.
Past:
Hiashi looked at the boulder, marked with fuuinjutsu to simulate the positioning of tenketsu and lines of chakra. The fuuinjutsu tags which had just been pierced and were now thoroughly disrupted. "You did that from a distance."
"Yes, Father."
"Your precision with projected chakra is adequate," admitted Hiashi. "Now strike with your hand."
CRUMBLE!
Hiashi bit his lower lip slightly. No chakra spike. Sheer physical strength. Now a six-ton boulder had been reduced to pieces the size of his fist. "Adequate strength."
"Gk," managed the watching Hanabi, having an adequate picture of what would happen to her if she'd been struck like that.
Present:
Sasuke was actually somewhat bored.
His active Sharingan had already picked up four techniques used by various shinobi within his sight. He still needed to practice them, but they could be quite handy in certain circumstances.
Shunshin, two Fire Release techniques (Hiendan and Goenka), and one Lightning Release (Raigeki).
The ANBU showed up on time. "Good. You are making productive use of your time. We have a mission. C-Rank."
"Understood," said Sasuke, hopeful that this would be more interesting than those D-Ranks.
"Intel gathering," said Rat. "We will be using stealth techniques. Duration of one week. Be ready and here in three hours."
Sasuke didn't say that he was ready now. "Understood, sensei. Environment?"
"Include raingear but we are not going outside the country," said Rat, disappearing as soon as he'd spoken.
"Haruno. There is a mission," said Ram.
"Okay," said Sakura, dusting her hands off. "Details?"
"One week. Border patrol - Suna border area. Prepare for appropriate weather." Ram turned his head to look over the post. "Sculpture?"
"Precision training," said Sakura, holding up the kunai she'd been using to carve away sections of wood.
Ram nodded. "Pack. Three hours from now, from here, we leave."
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