Chapter 56: The Grind Continues - 1

Chapter 56: The Grind Continues - 1

...He was back.

Even from outside the training ground, Hinata could hear the loud sounds of training, masculine shouts and the ground trembling slightly beneath her feet.

Hinata had come around yesterday, after she was done with her mission with her team, but Daiki was nowhere to be seen, it seemed he had been on a mission.

Her feet had only idly carried her here after morning training with her team, she hadn't felt like going back home to her clan compound to rest yet.

Reaching behind her, Hinata nervously smoothed down her now much longer hair.

She wondered...how would he react? She hadn't had the time to show him yet because of how busy she'd been with missions and training, the last she'd seen her former classmate had been over a week ago. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

'Will he like it?' she found herself wondering.

The last few weeks, she'd taken his words to heart and followed his advice and felt bolder than she ever had before. Kiba and Shino had been very taken-aback with her change at first.

Crude and crass as his words had been, very unlike the Hyuga Clan as a whole, that was nonetheless what made them stick with her, Daiki was bold and upfront, he had felt no need to mince words with her.

He was utterly genuine.

Shaking her head, Hinata swallowed the nervousness building up inside her and forced herself to boldly make her way into the training ground.

As she did, she was just in time to see Daiki shooting forward, spinning and lashing out with a knee strike that shattered straight through a large rock wall about twenty feet high and half a foot thick.

"Still needs work." he muttered to himself, before turning and looking at her, and it was then she noted a few changes that he had gone through since she last saw him.

He was wearing something akin to an armoured pauldron on one of his shoulders, but, shaped like some odd face, was it some form of animal.

Hinata dashed forward towards the boy, thrusting a palm out towards his lower left stomach with her right hand, she expected him to block with his outer forearm, catching her in the junction to leave her wide open for a counter and planned for it-

But, the taller boy stepped back a single step, easily avoiding her, but didn't counter himself.

That was fine.

She followed through, swinging her left palm out aiming for his right shoulder-

But his arm shot out, catching her wrist and stopping her in its tracks, before she even fully committed.

'What!?' Hinata's eyes widened.

Thinking quickly, she lashed out with a sweep at his legs, he jumped as expected, but did not let go of her arm as she wanted in the process. With her free hand, while he was in the air, she quickly took advantage to lash out at his stomach.

Or, that was what she attempted at least.

Just as her muscles tensed, his knee shot out and caught her in the cheek, letting go of her hand at the same time. Pain flared in her cheek and the force of the blow sent Hinata blasting backwards.

She grinded her feet across the ground, bleeding off the momentum and rubbed her cheek.

Daiki didn't pursue her, instead as he landed, he was grinning at her, wiggling his eyebrows as if to tell her 'come at me'.

That...something was off about how he countered her there.

Daiki was fast for sure, but...

That wasn't just speed.

Ignoring the pain in her cheek, Hinata spread one leg back behind her, before pushing off of it and launching back towards Daiki.