Champion | A NaruHina Story |

Chapter 9

"Come..."

With a firm grip on her pair of blades, the assailant launched herself forward taking the taunt from the blonde. She closed the distance in a second to mainly wipe the confidence from this man. And before she knew it, within a blink of an eye, she was looking at the sky, confused, she noticed she was in the air. Then it hit her, the feeling of her body slamming the gravel road making her yelp and groan in pain.

"Saw that Hinata?" She only nodded in awe at what she had just witnessed, "Yes, I did use this on you too!"

Within a second Naruto had let go of his tanto before the assailant made contact with him, she barely saw it, but he sidestepped and smoothly grabbed the arm of the assailant and flipped her on her back. She was shocked by the fluidity of the movement, she could see how calm Naruto was under his straw hat. Not even a bead of sweat was rolling down his face. Suddenly, she saw the assassin below her grab a hidden blade near her ankle. Her heart raced at the realization, Naruto was just looking at her, he couldn't see behind him.

"Naru-!"

The shinobi woman tossed a blade straight to the back of the blonde's head, she smiled in victory, she had won this battle. Or so she thought. Her smile turned into a nervous one, she couldn't believe it. But the blue-eyed man had caught her blade without even glancing at her.

"Did you honestly think I didn't know where Shinobi keep their hidden weapons?" Naruto said before turning his head to look at the woman still on her back looking at him. Naruto then threw the blade straight at the woman below him only to have it blocked by her blade. She then rolled back and did a side flip to create distance; never once letting him out of sight.

She heaved and puffed while maintaining a view of her target just ahead, she had one hand in front with her blade while the other roamed her body to check for any fractures and vital cuts. She saw the blonde's stance turn into a relaxed one. He stood up straight and rested his left on the hilt of his tanto while his other mocked her.

"You're done shinobi-san?" Naruto mocked her in a sing-song tone "surely you didn't track us all the way here just to run now?"

Hinata looked like her soul had just left her body, she couldn't fathom how Naruto could be taking this lightly. The intense bloodlust coming from the woman just meters away from them. By the look of her face, she was pissed. She didn't know, but she held the hilt of her shinken tightly, she didn't want to show it, but all she felt was fear at this moment.

"You're no bounty hunter," said the assassin, taking her stance.

"So you finally understand huh?"

The assassin shinobi nodded, "I apologize for my assumption, may I have your shinobi name?"

Shinobi name? Hinata hadn't even heard it herself. She was now genuinely curious. Naruto had never mentioned this himself yet.

Naruto's demeanor suddenly turned into a serious one, his smug-looking smile turned into a nonchalant look, he took a stance one again and finally unsheathed his tanto.

"I'm master shinobi Tengu, son of Orangutan."

The air suddenly grew stiff, both women quietly looked in awe at what they had just heard. Both thinking the same thing.

Master Shinobi.

Hinata understood what that meant, but not as much as the shinobi woman that stood just in front of Naruto. If what he said was true, then her time was just numbered. She visibly swallowed in panic, she had to reply now.

"I'm shinobi Ushi, daughter of Great Shinobi Owl," she said hoping to at least instill some caution onto the blonde. Truth be told, she had never heard of anyone named Tengu, and for sure had never heard of any shinobi named Orangutan. She didn't know if he was bluffing or not, quite frankly she didn't want to find out.