Snap Back To Reality 16

WARNING- Mention of rape/non-con. It's heavily pointed at, nothing graphic.

I blinked my eyes open slowly, feeling like my whole body was a stone unable to move. My blurred vision slowly came into focus on a cracked wooden surface, a fan creaked methodically above me as it blew barely any air into the hot room. Yama yipped and whined besides me and I forced my hand up to pat his head consolingly. His sounds seemed to stir sensei, who smelt like blood and sweat. I twisted my head to see his grim expression, none of the normal bravado or humour in them. He kneeled besides my bed and put a hand on mine, closing his eyes tightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What for?" I asked, my voice coming out more hoarse than anything.

"It was my duty to protect you and I failed," he said harshly. "You're my student—I should have—"

"I'm a shinobi," I interrupted, rolling my eyes. "Stop being so melodramatic Sensei. You know how I feel about all that emotion."

He chuckled, his eyes tearing up slightly, but he blinked it away quickly. He put on one of his standard feral smiles, but it didn't seem to reach his eyes this time.

"I'm glad you're ok. I thought I lost you there for a second," he said, his breath hitching at the admission.

I finally looked down at myself and understood why. I was covered from head to toe in bandages. My skin was covered in horrible dark blue and purple splotches. I remembered being cut into, but not beaten with blunt force so it was surprising to see. I couldn't feel the hole inside my abdomen or my palm where I had been stabbed through. Someone with medical ninjutsu capabilities had healed me then.

"How did the mission go?" I asked as I pet Yama's head which was on my lap.

"Orochimaru hadn't told us he was baiting an S class Kumo nin for a fight. Apparently, this town had been her birthplace. She brought a team of Jounin to crush us. It was a close fight, but we'd prepared several traps to catch them off guard. We didn't expect they'd come in from the west wing. It wasn't an optimal place of entry."

Ah, hence why I was there and not anywhere else. I noted that sensei didn't refer to Orochimaru with his traditional sama suffix. I guess he wasn't pleased with the man anymore. I couldn't blame him. I was annoyed and I was a Genin who shouldn't even expect to be in on the big boys table yet. To jump this on a bunch of professional Jounin without so much as a warning must have lost their trust in him. He deserved it for all I cared.

"You managed to take out a Jounin kiddo. This is him."

I took the bingo book from sensei and read up on Matsu Kazuki.

Matsu Kazuki

Kumogakure Jounin

Age: 14

Missions Completed

D-12

C-20

B-40

A-10

A primarily Genjutsu and Kenjutsu user. Mother is reported to be from the Kurama Clan, with the Kekkai Genkai 'Sense Ensare'. Use precaution when engaging. Best course of action is assassination as outside of his Genjutsu technique is around mid-Chunin level.

I let out a sigh. There wasn't much on him, not that it mattered now considering he was dead. I bet he was rolling in his grave after spouting all that bull about using me as a steppingstone or whatever. I put the book down and mulled over the events that passed.

"Sensei—when I was fighting Kazuki-san, I remembered something from a long time ago," I admitted.

"What is it?" sensei asked, an amused tint in his voice. He had every right to be amused, especially since I was only nearly 7 years old right now. I hadn't lived very long at all to him.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'breathing is the strength to the soul'?" I asked.

Sensei went into thought for a second before he shook his head. "No I don't. I can't say I have, but there are variations of that saying. Breathing is a good technique to clear your head and regulate your chakra."

"I was dizzy from blood loss and I didn't have very much chakra left, but I took in a deep breath and I managed to use more chakra than I did when I first attempted the Wind Walker technique."

Sensei paused and then sent me a look of disbelief. "How is that possible? Senjutsu?"

I shook my head and frowned. It wasn't Senjutsu, at least not to my knowledge. It felt like I had somehow managed to draw in whatever power I had inside of me to its ultimate limit, even if it was just for a moment.

"I can tell if chakra from outside is coming in. It didn't," I said. "It was like my tenketsu flared with extra chakra."

"That's because you somehow managed to flood your bloodstream with oxygen. You popped more than a few vessels."

I turned to the feminine voice and noticed a Hyuuga walk in. It was Mitsuri-san. She had her black hair tied up in a bun and the scratches all over her pointed to a look of exhaustion. I'd never seen a Hyuuga look so ruffled before. I turned back to my body and suddenly all the bruises made a lot more sense. So chakra was related to oxygen in the bloodstream. That kind of made sense. Fuinjutsu was often drawn with blood because of the chakra inherent in it.

"What you did was irresponsible," she said harshly. "But it saved your life so I will lay off. Just never use it again in battle.

"Ah, sorry Mitsuri-san," I mumbled.

She waved off the apology before she pulled out a list and began reading out my injuries. Broken legs, multiple stab wounds, extreme blood loss, a concussion, and several fractures. I paled as she continued, and sensei winced besides me.

"All in all, you're lucky to even be alive. I will not have you walking on your legs for the next two weeks."

"Ne, Mitsuri-san—why doesn't it hurt? Do I have nerve damage or—"

"Before you get ahead of yourself; no," she said bluntly, holding out a hand to stop me from talking. "I've put you on some pain medication. It'll be wearing out in a few hours. After shocking yourself alive with a soldier pill, the crash is expected to happen in the next two hours. The overabundance of chakra in your bloodstream from your little stunt had somehow stabilised it."

In other words I was one lucky fucker to even still be alive. I sent my old mother a big heartfelt thankyou to the heavens before I turned my attention back on the medic in the room. She looked cross but at the same time a thoughtful expression took her face, as if she was trying to figure something out.

"How did you pull the oxygen in?" she finally asked.

"I don't know, I just breathed," I shrugged.

"You just breathed," she said in disbelief.

"Well it felt a little—no, a lot different from a normal breath, but that's essentially it," I said with a frown of my own.

"Gaku-san, once we get back to Konoha get this girl some chocolate and hug her."

With that utterly baffling statement done and said, Mitsuri abruptly left the room. I turned to sensei with a confused expression which he mirrored equally. We both opted to shrug.

"How's Emi-chan doing?" I asked, trying to change the conversation.

"She's been having a hard time coping with nightmares."

"Wait—nightmares? How long was I out?" I asked.

"About 4 days," sensei sighed.

"What?! And we haven't left the village yet?" I asked.

"You weren't the only one injured. Himawara-san is in critical condition. We estimate she will die today sometime. We don't leave a Konoha Shinobi behind until we know they're dead."

Himawara-san… I felt my stomach turn a little. I knew her of course. She was from a smaller clan that specialised in traps. She was probably one of the people who helped Orochimaru rig the village before the enemy shinobi attacked. I sighed. What did I expect? Jounin or not, these were just people. They could die just as easily as I could. Kazuki was a reminder of that. If I ever became Jounin, I vowed to never underestimate any opponent, Genin or not.

"Emi-chan, is alright, though right?" I asked. "No injuries?"

"You've become attached huh?"

I nodded, unwilling to hide it. "She reminded me of something I lost."

"She's fine. Now get some rest. From now on Yama is not going to leave your side."

Said dog barked in affirmation, before sitting up and alert. I chuckled before leaning over painfully to pat him. Sensei was here… and I felt safer.

It seemed that despite everything Orochimaru had no heart. I was there watching helplessly as he blew up the mines, the source of income for the people here. The miners watched behind a line of Shinobi too, their expressions one of utter defeat. I winced in sympathy and mild anger. This was logical, but so heartless. It barely made a dent in Kumo's resources and yet it meant the world to all the people who lived here, scraping to just get by. We had destroyed their source of major income and worst of all their will.

I couldn't watch further so I gestured Yama to carry me away. I bit through the pain as Yama carried me back to the Furukuwa family home. Ryosai wiped her face with her kimono before turning around, her expression schooled. It looked like she had been crying. I sat on Yama, unsure of what to say or do.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

She took in a deep breath, the anger behind her eyes dying. "You don't have to apologise Hina-san. I should be thanking you for saving my daughter's life."

Emi popped up from behind her mother and sent me a teary look. I gestured for the girl to come and she did. I pulled out a kunai from my holster and Ryosai froze in sudden fear. Then I flipped the blade so that the handle was facing the little girl. She took the blade with wide tearful eyes.

"Emi-chan, do you remember what I told you."

She nodded, wiping away the tears. "Home is where the heart is," she mumbled.

"That's right, and your heart should always be with your family." Then I turned to Ryosai. "I know it's not much consolation for what we've done to your lives Ryosai-san, but there's a Kumo town by the Shingeku mountains that is in need of extra hands. I doubt there will be any business here in the future. You should leave there."

She blinked in shock. This information was not easy to come by, especially for poor miners or farmers. This was purely for the ears of Shinobi plotting war tactics, and yet I had told it to this woman, an enemy of our country. Yet, not an enemy of mine. She bowed low and I felt sick.

"Thank you. Thank you, Hina-san," she cried.

"Don't thank me, I don't deserve it."

"You're not like the others, you're better."

I really wasn't, but I didn't have the energy to fight so I just nodded and ran my hands through Emi's hair one more time. I gave the girl my best smile before waving and leaving. Yama took us both to sensei. A woman was crying behind him. Suki was grinning madly, twirling her kunai around her fingers expertly. I noticed the scent of blood and… sex. I wrinkled my nose in disgust as the implications hit me loud and clear. Definitely unwilling. My stomach roiled in revulsion, but sensei had it covered.

"It's not fitting for a Shinobi of Konoha to act this way," he said, voice sharp and hard.

"Come on, she's a lot of fun. Her husband was even more so," Suki purred.

"We're leaving now," sensei hissed, grabbing her by her forearm and dragging her away.

Suki looked over her shoulder and grinned at the sobbing woman like nothing was wrong at all. "See ya later Tsuru-chan," she sing songed.

The woman just drew her torn kimono up, hugging her arms closer to her body before sobbing. I looked away, unable to really come to terms with what I had just seen. It was so wrong. I'd read in my first world's history books what enemy occupation was like, the injustices that happened when someone who saw you as less than human had you at a gun point… when all the depravity of the world came out in full. I didn't see this in the Naruto anime, because well, it was an anime. It wasn't real life, there was no Talk no Jutsu in real life, no insane plot armour, and sometimes no happy ending.

I spared the crying, broken woman one last look, before sensei gestured for Yama to come. I buried my face in the dog's fur and bit my lip.

Why was I so angry?

The trip back to the Konoha border post was long and tiring. By the end of it I felt like dead weight. My legs were still broken so I was carried by sensei and Yama in turn. Thankfully because I was so small it wasn't so embarrassing. Shiro-san unfortunately was a grown man and being carried was a much different experience for him. He was passed around like hot potato between the other Jounin since he was pretty heavy, Uchiha or not.

My interaction with the team was much more regulated now, with sensei never leaving my side. He tried to play it off as a need to make sure he's around if anyone decided to ambush us again. I knew it was because he didn't trust me alone when Orochimaru and Suki were around. I didn't blame him, I didn't trust those two either, and I was desperate to never have to interact with Suki again, not after what she had done.

Disgusting

My mind liked to supply that word often when I thought of Suki and her actions. I wondered how many more people in this team had also done the same. Who here tormented a civilian just because they could? I liked to think I wasn't the most morally righteous person, that I was someone who wasn't afraid of getting my hands dirty, but I was wrong. There was a level of depravity that even I wouldn't succumb to.

Eventually though we managed to get back into the Land of Fire and I was grateful because dog or not, my thighs were numb from riding, and my bones being jostled around from tree jumping after just being barely healed was extremely painful. It was just my luck that I finally managed to succumb to a fever the day we arrived at the border post. I was shipped of to the medic room with Shiro and we both lay on the bed too tired to talk.

"Hina-chan!"

I turned to the familiar voice and noticed the person coughing was Hayate. I blinked in surprise when he came and sat by me. There were a few small new scars over his face. He must be seeing a lot of action too considering this was the border post closest to Kumo.

"You look sicker than me," he chuckled.

"Gee thanks," I mumbled, coughing a little as he made me laugh.

"What happened?" he asked curiously, looking down to my bandaged form.

"You should see the other person… well what's left of him anyway," I grumbled.

"Of course. You're too strong to let someone get away with this right," Hayate nodded smiling down at me from the toothpick in his mouth. Ah, another person from team Shisui treating me like a kid sibling. I didn't take it to heart though. Actually it was kind of endearing in a way.

"Is Shisui and Yugao ok?" I asked finally, trying not to let the trepidation get to my voice.

Hayate nodded much to my relief. He seemed to slump a little though. "After sensei—well the team just hasn't been the same. Shisui nearly got promoted to Chunin, but sensei was adamant against it."

"Shisui?" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah, but apparently he isn't even the youngest. Apparently a 7-year-old kid managed to get promoted too," Hayate said shaking his head in irritation.

"Kakashi," I breathed out.

"You know him, huh. You prodigies gotta stick together right," he chuckled before devolving into more coughs.

"Ah, are you alright?" I asked.

"You're the one in a hospital bed," he replied with an unamused expression. "Want me to get Yugao and Shisui here for you."

"If you could," I nodded.

I was once again reunited with the team I fought alongside. The will of fire wasn't entirely a lie. There was definitely something uniting about killing other people with your friends. In a morbid kind of way, war actually built up strong comradery considering you were trusting these people with your life. I had barely seen or talked to them in months, but they had a bond with me now that was hard to describe. It was like neither time, distance nor change would affect whatever was between us.

When I Shisui saw me again he pulled me into a hug, fever or not. His eyes trailed to the rather large scar on my palm where I had taken a sword through it. If only he saw my hip. His Sharingan activated for a second before he took deep calming breaths. Yugao patted me head and sat to the side silently, being the ever serious, silent pretty girl that she was. I noticed she had two katana now.

"We were worried about you," Shisui sighed. "After I found out where you were going to go—"

"Well we had Orochimaru-sama on the team. He's practically a one-man army," I said trying to defuse the suddenly emotional situation.

"And yet you're here," he said with a sad smile, the deep bag around his eyes similar to my own.

"Ah, well he's in a grave if you're wondering," I said with a grin.

"No remorse huh? You're brutal," Yugao smiled with… approval.

"We need to stop meeting here," I said gesturing at the hospital room. They all nodded in agreement. "Wanna play poker?"

They all got in a circle around my bed and we started a game, which much to the nurse's ire had the rest of the recovering shinobi join in. That was the story of how I lost my shin-guards gambling.

A/N

I recognise that this is a very small chapter, so I'll be updating tomorrow too. Also mostly because I reached 500 followers for this story and that's honestly so cool! Thanks for all the support guys! I keep seeing the same reviewers and it honestly makes me so happy, because it's weird to think people are actually engaging with my work like that! As a creator it's a good feeling.

Anyway review responses…

Immortal Potatoe- Hina is definitely going to be creating some interesting moves in the future. Also I'm not sure if she's going to be Naruto and Sasuke level of OP in the future, but she will become pretty strong.

RahvinsCage- Your pun made my day XD I always enjoy a good pun. I'm so glad you like that fight. It's my favourite one so far.

Perryleplatypus- Ayye, thanks for reviewing!

Hi Exclamation Point- I'm so glad you look forward to this! It makes my day!

RileyBlue00- Thanks! I did enjoy writing that fight, and I'm so happy you're liking Orochimaru! You'll be happy to know he had chapters following his perspective soon.

ita123- Thanks for reviewing!

gogo bananas- Ahh your comments were so fun to read through. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I do aspire to be a writer one day, so I try my best to make sure all my stories are good quality!

Matecito- Stop making me jealous! I totally wish I had a sibling who shares my love for fanfiction! And also thanks so much! Your comment made me smile!

.77770- Of course! Will do!

TheOrangeLord- I legitimately was stumped by this comment, but it made me crack up so hard. Honestly don't know whether to be concerned or impressed that you remembered something like that XD

Inheritance1990- Yeah, I've noticed it too. Honestly, it's highly likely that Gaku will die, but since this is a slow burn, and I'm rather evil, literally anyone from Guy to Kurenai could die too. Don't believe me? I'm evil enough to do it :D