A Growing Affection

Chapter 46: The Reformation

Hinata and Naruto tensed up in unison. They were surrounded by at least twenty other ninja, trapped. The young shinobi couple stood back to back in the small clearing, while their opponents stayed hidden in the trees, some stationary, and others slowly circling. Hinata was wearing Ginmaki, though Naruto was without Kitsune.

"They're coming," Hinata whispered, her Suigin Byakugan active, "Get ready."

Naruto nodded. Then, as if an invisible signal went off, the first wave of kunai, shurikens, and needles emerged from the woods from all directions. They both raised their right hands, pointer and middle fingers extended.

"Double Vision," they intoned in unison, "Protection of the Eight Trigrams, One Hundred Ninety Two Palms."

Their hands began to move, faster than most eyes could have followed. The streams of sharpened chakra were so intense and numerous, their afterglow gave the illusion of a fifteen foot dome around them. Another wave of weapons followed, faster and more numerous than the first, but these too were destroyed with ease. A particularly dense set of kunai blades came in front Hinata's left, and she turned slightly to face them directly. Naruto moved in unison, keeping his spine perfectly aligned to her, and continuing to knock down the attacks. A small barrage of stones flew towards his head, but he strengthened the energy blades he was shooting, and cut down the earth jutsu just as easily as the throwing weapons.

"Man, they are awesome," Kiba exclaimed, even as he opened the third pouch of shuriken he had been provided for the test. The pair had recruited most of their friends, teachers, and even a few other curious and willing Leaf shinobi, to help them test the new technique. A few feet away, Kakashi hurtled another set of six kunai, multiplying them sevenfold with the Shadow Shuriken jutsu, and on the other side of the clearing, Tenten did the same with her throwing stars. Konohamaru and Udon had run out of throwing blades already, too caught up in youthful enthusiasm, but they continued their part of the barrage with the Doton: Stone Bullets. Ino was mildly concerned by the enthusiasm with which Sakura aimed blades at Hinata.

"Why have you dragged me out here?" Hiashi Hyuga demanded of the Hokage.

"Just hold on a minute," she told him. She changed course slightly to avoid a dense stand of oak, and then stopped.

"There, I wanted you to see this," she pointed, "Of course, since you took so long, we're already late."

She moved forward, taking out her first set of partially blunted kunai, and throwing them at Hinata's right leg. Hiashi could not stop a small smile as he watched his daughter's defense. And the expression only became curious when he realized Naruto was part of the technique.

"What is this?" he asked evenly, "It looks like Hinata's Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms, but how is Naruto using the technique?"

"Kariname Jutsu," she answered, letting a handful of shuriken fly, "Actually, Hinata has created a stronger version, one that fuses their sight. So Naruto effectively has the Byakugan, and Hinata uses him to cover the Hyuga blind spot."

He nodded.

"But why show me this?" he asked, "I am impressed, but why not tell me beforehand."

"So your opinion wouldn't be colored. Such perfect teamwork as a rare thing."

He chuckled, "That was not necessary. I have already come to the realization that my daughter could do far worse for a partner than Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm glad to hear it," Tsunade smirked knowingly, "Very glad."

Shino moved his hands through the patterns, using the Shadow Clone Jutsu to create two copies of himself. The original stepped back, while the duplicates sent their swarms of cloned bugs to attack Hinata and Naruto. Hinata stepped forward to face the cloud with her superior speed, and Naruto picked up his own pace to cover the rest of the attacks. Besides their shared vision, each could tell what the other would do through their linked chakra, and the muscles of their backs. In less then three seconds, all of the replica bugs were destroyed.