A Mother's Knight

Part 13

Hinata lunged towards Naruto, her right palm glowing with chakra as she aimed a strike towards his right shoulder. The blond shifted to the left, side stepping the strike. Hinata's palm missed him by just inches as Naruto snaked around the girl, before hitting the outstretched right hand, causing her to fall forward a bit.

Hinata moved with grace and fluidity as managed to balance her feet before twisting around, aiming an index finger towards her opponent's forehead. Naruto dodged the strike by leaning back slightly. Hinata took advantage of Naruto's position, knowing that he didn't have much balance and swept her right foot through the ground, moving it towards Naruto's feet.

The blond allowed both his hands to fall to the sides as he allowed his body to fall down the ground. Hinata's leg sweep hit Naruto, lifting up both his feet into the air as his hands hit the ground. Hinata used her Byakugan with precision as she flashed towards Naruto's right side and attempted to hit him on the chest with her open palm.

In a speed that no longer surprised Hinata, Naruto brought out his right hand, leaving his left hand to balance his body. A kunai flung out from the sleeve of this cloak, causing Hinata's strike to hit with the wind cloaked kunai.

Hinata didn't retreat: she crouched down the ground, before attempting to sweep Naruto's left hand off the ground, knowing if she did, he would fall down on his back. Her Byakugan saw Naruto's fingers glow with chakra before he propelled his body above the ground, using the left hand.

When Naruto flipped once before gracefully landing on the ground, a couple of feet away from her, Hinata straightened up and stood on both her feet, hands held up in a stance with her breathing slightly laboured.

This was just part of training that Naruto was having her do. It had been a month since she started with Team 7 and already for Hinata it was like a year. Every morning, she had a training session with Naruto; it was mostly brutal, depending on the mood.

Honestly, Hinata had never felt so alive in her years of living. She was confident, striking with everything when she could, when she hesitated, it was abuse and she knew she would have to visit the hospital to get patched up. At least Naruto didn't go as far as to break her bones.

As he said, she seemed a little too fragile that he was afraid if he broke her bones, they would never mend again.

That had made Hinata flush. While Naruto could be so brutally blunt at times when in training, he believed in her ability, and encouraged her. When she failed to do something he wanted of her, he didn't hide his disappointment. No, he would let her know that her efforts were not good enough and that she had to get up and try again. He would not stop telling her to get up until she did it right.

If anything, he was patient with her and but not so gentle even though he said she was a fragile little thing. There had been at times that Hinata thought perhaps he saw her as something that needed to be protected. That was just her. Either way, she felt alive because Naruto spent hours training her.

Today, she had been told to just attack, and he would merely be defending. There was a rule, if she hesitated to attack, he would attack her. Naruto had gone as far as to nearly slit her throat and even once poked his sword right on her chest, where her heart was located.

There had been blood because really, he hadn't been just pointing his sword at her, it was pressed against her. The one day Hinata's heart had nearly exploded inside her ribcage and her eyes nearly bulged out was when again, she had hesitated and Naruto had hit her on the neck with a senbon.

She had been shocked to wake up in the hospital.

Hesitate and she would be dead. That was the message that he had brutally slammed into her head. Every time she thought of hesitating to attack, she saw those cold unflinching eyes looking at her as a sword cut through her throat or when his senbon pierced through her neck. The memories had become her instinct.