Behind the Waterfall

#44 Back Home

It had been a week since the fight against them. She had some bruises but most of them had healed already, the only one that was still causing her trouble was on her elbow where she had been hit pretty hard by a water bullet. It didn't help that they had been traveling for most of the time since then, not giving her body the necessary time and rest it needed.

Shaking her head the girl cleared her thoughts as she watched her remaining teammate jump forwards. While there were only two people remaining in her team, the chunin knew that Tsunade and her staff in the hospital would most likely be able to heal Shino and Yamato.

She knew that she had failed her mission, which meant that there would most likely be some kind of repercussion from her clan. The Hyuuga didn't take failure lightly. Even though she was not at fault, since the Anbu team had engaged their targets without coordination or even notifying them, she knew that the elders would still see it as a failure because she hadn't been strong enough to adapt to the situation and still at least give it a neutral outcome.

When the gates of Konoha came into view, Anko let out an audible sigh, looking relieved. Hinata knew that the woman had been badly hurt in their fight with Fuu and Naruto, mostly because of the blonde's last attack, where she had only managed to keep standing because she was accustomed to the pain and torture from her time with Orochimaru.

"Oh my god, what happened?" One of the guards whispered while the other immediately threw an explosive kunai into the air, signaling that they needed immediate help. Anko mumbled something that Hinata didn't understand as she passed the stasis scrolls that contained Shino to the guard, motioning for Hianta to do the same. A few seconds later a squad of Anbu flickered into view, ready for anything. Quickly looking over the situation, the masked shinobi lowered their weapons and ran towards them, two of them catching Anko, who was falling forward apparently unconscious.

The captain talked with the guard and took the two scrolls, immediately dispatching the fourth shinobi to the hospital, with the two that were taking care of Anko following a moment later.

"Can you tell me what happened?" The hawk masked man asked as he approached Hinata, who was sitting down leaning against the wooden post.

"We were on our mission, the Anbu squad that was sent as a second team didn't communicate with us and we had to jump in before we were ready. The two targets beat us. I don't know how many of the Anbu survived but there was only one still standing after the battle. The targets fled." The girl answered, her voice weak as she felt the exhaustion kick in. Her body had been running on adrenaline and food pills for a week. She knew she needed sleep and a shower, but she had to fulfill her duties first and that included reporting back to the Hokage, since Anko was out of the picture now.

"What do you mean Anbu squad? There has been no Anbu mission for almost a month." The captain asked, kneeling down.

"There was a squad of masked shinobi that was to meet with us and take on the targets together. We were told they were Anbu, they wore plain white masks and standard Anbu attire." Hinata recounted.

"Odd." Was the only thing the man voiced as he stood up again.

"Are you fit enough to go to the Hokage?" He asked, earning a nod from Hinata as she stood up. He nodded back and flickered away, without another word.

She hoped that Sarutobi would not keep her there for too long, since her report was the last thing before she could finally relax a bit.

Jumping through the village, she tried to recall how the mission went, the tiredness making her mind race without direction.

"Come in." The Hokage's voice sounded through the door almost immediately after the teen had knocked.

Walking into the room, she smiled slightly seeing the old man smile at her.