The water flowed around her as she moved with the dance. At this moment, she seemed like a celestial being descended to earth.
Takumi watched with a burning gaze, captivated by Hinata's appearance, so different from her usual self.
But he didn't make a sound.
Breaking such a beautiful scene would be a real crime.
Unconsciously, Hinata stopped dancing. She stood on the water's surface, breathing softly.
Although it appeared to be dancing, Hinata was actually training her Chakra Control ability.
The Gentle Fist is a powerful combat skill based on the Byakugan, and its most praised aspect is the incredibly refined Chakra Control ability.
Hinata was not a genius, and compared to Neji, she was far inferior.
But she was extremely diligent.
So even when out on a mission, she would diligently train like this every night.
However, she absolutely would not have imagined that someone was watching her from the side at this moment.
"Beautiful dance!"
Takumi suddenly spoke up, also lightly clapping his hands.
"Ah!"
Hinata let out a cry of surprise, immediately crouching down to cover herself before looking up in a panic.
Seeing it was Takumi, she relaxed, but her cheeks became extremely flushed.
"Takumi-kun? When did you get here? How long have you been watching?"
The more Hinata spoke, the redder her face became. It even seemed like steam was about to rise from the top of her head.
"From the very beginning."
Takumi picked up Hinata's clothes from the side and slowly walked forward. "I was curious what you were doing up at night instead of sleeping. I didn't expect to see such a beautiful scene. Your dance is very beautiful."
He draped the clothes over Hinata, only to find that Hinata's eyes were already spinning in circles… she had fainted.
"This..."
Takumi was somewhat surprised. "Maintaining such precise Chakra Control even after fainting? Truly a hard-working genius."
He picked Hinata up in a princess carry, brought her to the shore, dressed her, and gently placed her back in the tent without disturbing Shino or Kiba.
Early the next morning, Hinata slowly opened her eyes.
"I am..."
She vaguely remembered that she should have been training at night as usual yesterday.
'Wait!'
Her face suddenly turned red.
She remembered yesterday's events.
"Awake?"
Takumi's gentle voice reached her ears. "Shh, don't speak. Since you're awake, we should get going."
Hinata looked up to see the three of them already dressed and ready, her face becoming even more flushed.
She hurriedly lowered her head and responded, "Mmm."
"What's wrong, Hinata? Do you have a fever?"
Kiba was still puzzled. She was fine yesterday, but today her face was so red, and unnaturally so.
"N-no, nothing."
Hinata hurriedly got up and walked forward with her head down.
"Nothing?"
Kiba was even more puzzled. "But you're walking in the wrong direction."
Poom!
White smoke rose from the top of Hinata's head. She turned around and walked quickly without looking at anyone.
"Why is she acting so strange?"
Kiba watched Hinata's quickly departing back curiously, not understanding her reaction.
"Perhaps there's a reason we don't know about."
Shino looked at Takumi, his gaze hidden behind sunglasses, inscrutable.
"Let's go too."
Takumi smiled, not minding Shino's meaningful words.
The rest of the journey was led by Shino.
Only Shino knew the habitat of the Bikochu.
Under Shino's guidance, they arrived at a large canyon inhabited by numerous insects a few days later.
"So the Bikochu is here?" Kiba looked around with curiosity. "But how do we get down?"
"Jump."
As Takumi spoke, he jumped down directly.
"This..."
Kiba looked at Takumi with an exasperated expression, then helplessly at Shino. "What about us?"
"We don't have Takumi's level of strength. Let's just honestly walk down."
Shino said, applying chakra to the soles of his feet and walking down step by step from the top of the canyon.
Takumi, who had arrived first, waited below for a while before Shino and the other two descended.
"Didn't I say to jump?" Takumi raised an eyebrow. "I was here to catch you. Nothing would have happened."
Hearing his words, Hinata's face suddenly turned red.
'Catch?'
A scene immediately appeared in her mind.
She was lying in Takumi's arms, and Takumi was carrying her in a princess carry.
The two looked at each other tenderly, their eyes filled with gentle affection.
Boom!
White smoke rose from the top of Hinata's head again.
"I prefer more stable methods."
Shino said.
"Alright, enough talking. We're at the destination now. Shouldn't we look for that bug or something?"
Kiba looked at the various insects visible everywhere around them. "There really are a lot of bugs around here."
"Of course. This is a dedicated habitat for insects. Naturally, there would be many."
Shino said.
Then, he took out a photograph and showed it to the others. "This is the Bikochu. We need to find it before the next rain."
"Why before the rain?"
Kiba looked curiously at the insect in the photo that seemed to have an elephant-like trunk. "This bug looks really interesting."
"Bikochu only lay eggs after it rains. Right now is their breeding season. If we miss it, this trip will be meaningless."
Shino explained.
Takumi took the photo, looked at it, confirmed the Bikochu's features, then handed it back to Shino.
"Then let's set off. This place isn't small. Finding such a tiny insect won't be easy."
As Takumi spoke, he walked out.
The others followed.
However, after Takumi and the others left, three figures quietly appeared on the rock behind them.
Two men and one woman.
Killing intent was palpable.
It seemed they had been lying in ambush here for a long time.
"Their target is also the Bikochu. Should we deal with them?"
The blond man with glasses said.
"Don't rush, Jibachi."
The woman in the middle, Suzumebachi, smiled. "Isn't this perfect? Let them find the Bikochu first, then kill that detestable Aburame Clan's member."
When she said this, her eyes were filled with hatred.
"In that case, let's follow them quickly."
Kurobachi, with darker skin, said.
Whoosh!
Their figures flashed and disappeared from the spot.
These three were Shinobi of the Kamizuru Clan.
The Kamizuru Clan was an insect-user clan from Iwagakure in the Land of Earth, once on par with the Aburame Clan. But the clan had dwindled to only a few members and was gradually forgotten by people.
The reason for the Kamizuru Clan's decline was precisely the Aburame Clan.
During the generation of Shino's grandfather, Iwagakure had launched an attack on Konoha. The vanguard forces sent were Shinobi of the Kamizuru Clan.
At that time, they wanted to use bees to cause chaos in Konoha and then seize the opportunity to launch an attack.
But their plan was detected in advance by the Aburame Clan, leading to a historically rare battle between insect controllers. In the end, the Aburame Clan emerged victorious.
This event consolidated the Aburame Clan's position in Konoha, but the Kamizuru Clan was cast into the cold palace by Iwagakure and gradually declined.
Now, only a mere few remained alive.
However, what Suzumebachi didn't expect was that the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind… meaning while scheming against others, one may be schemed against oneself.
After they left, two more figures appeared.
"I didn't expect to run into them here. What a coincidence."
Kakuzu mused. He had just obtained a heart nearby, significantly boosting his strength, and was about to head to Konoha.
He hadn't expected to encounter Takumi on the way.
"Kakuzu-san, there are other meddlers now. What do we do?"
Hidan rested his scythe on his shoulder, his face bloodthirsty. "Should we deal with them first? That woman is quite good-looking. Jashin-sama would probably like her."
"No need. Let's observe the situation first. If we can ambush Takumi when his attention is on these three, the success rate will be higher."
Kakuzu immediately said.
He didn't want Hidan to alert the enemy now.
Although his strength had greatly increased with Black Zetsu's help, he was a cautious person.
After all, someone who could challenge the Shodaime Hokage from eight hundred miles away with a shuriken was naturally extremely steady.
"Tch."
Hidan pouted, but he didn't refute.
The two concealed their forms and followed without a sound.
Takumi had noticed the three Kamizuru Clan's members but hadn't detected Kakuzu and Hidan.
After all, there was a huge gap between the Kamizuru Clan and Kakuzu & Hidan, and their concealment abilities were also not on the same level.
"Finding a bug in such a huge place is too hard, isn't it?"
Kiba couldn't help complaining. There really were too many types of insects.
Just along the way, he had seen at least a hundred different kinds.
"Maintaining patience is the key to success."
Shino said, pulling his hand back from under a log.
The insects he had attracted quickly scattered.
Takumi didn't want to wait too long.
He immediately activated his Observation Haki.
Soon, he found the Bikochu he was looking for.
He placed the found Bikochu in a ventilated plastic container. "I found it."
"What?"
Kiba turned around in surprise, then quickly ran to his side, looking down at the Bikochu in the container. "It really is."
"So quickly found?"
Shino was also taken aback.
Although the Bikochu had extremely strong tracking abilities, because it was on the verge of extinction, its numbers were very sparse. Even in this canyon, it was very rare.
He had already prepared himself for a search lasting several days and nights, or even failure.
But it had only been a few minutes?
Takumi had already found it!
He quickly stepped forward to check. After carefully confirming, he nodded. "It really is the Bikochu."
"Takumi-kun is so amazing."
Hinata said admiringly, but didn't dare look at Takumi, her cheeks still bright red.
"Just good luck."
Takumi said with a smile.
Suddenly, his expression changed. He jumped back.
A kunai was embedded where he had been standing, with an explosive tag attached to it.
"Scatter!"
Takumi immediately shouted.
The three reacted quickly, and even Hinata swiftly retreated.
Boom!