When the two-week escort mission finally ended, Hinata returned to Amegakure with her reward: the fixed commission, plus five brand-new swords.
They weren't legendary or named blades, but they were high-quality steel — reliable and well-balanced.
More importantly, the battle had given Hinata inspiration.
…
On her journey back, she began to experiment with new ways to fight.
Rather than wielding her swords conventionally, she treated them as extensions of her body. One sword between her elbows. Two tucked beneath her arms. One held between her teeth. One gripped between her knees. Another balanced along her neck.
Seven swords in total — and when she counted her own hands and legs as "blades," it became ten.
It was absurd. Unorthodox. Dangerous.
But for Hinata, it worked.
A blade was not only about sharpness — it was about force. Even a blunt weapon could crush when powered by overwhelming strength.
To enhance her leg-based strikes, Hinata commissioned a pair of fine iron boots, each weighing nearly a hundred pounds.
For most people, such weight would have been crippling. For Hinata, it was negligible. The only inconvenience was that the metal wasn't breathable — her feet often itched after long use.
She was careful about hygiene, though. When she wasn't on a mission, she would take off the boots, rub her feet, and soak them in hot water whenever possible.
Despite her ability to dive into mud or roll through blood if necessary for a mission, Hinata was naturally fastidious. She liked to be clean — though that never once interfered with her efficiency.
To conceal her scent from tracking ninjas and their summoned hounds, she regularly applied a strong, fragrant oil over her body — especially after bathing or washing. It masked her chakra signature and natural aroma completely.
Her daily life was disciplined and uneventful — but fulfilling in its quiet simplicity.
…
One day, as she traveled the dirt road back toward Amegakure, the distant thunder of hooves broke the silence.
Hinata stopped and stepped aside to let a large group of mounted men pass.
A gang of rogue ninja galloped toward her, their horses laden with stolen goods — sacks of food, chests of money, and women bound and gagged, their terrified cries echoing through the valley.
Hinata's eyes narrowed beneath her straw hat.
She raised a hand, tilting the brim slightly upward. Her gaze dropped to a pebble by her foot.
She picked it up, weighing it in her palm, flicked it once… twice… then, with a flick of her finger, sent it flying.
Whoosh!
Bang!
The pebble struck the lead rider squarely in the temple. The man tumbled from his horse, blood spraying as he hit the dirt.
The sudden commotion threw the entire band into disarray. Horses reared. Riders crashed into each other. The formation broke.
"Who the hell did that?!" someone roared.
Hinata said nothing.
In one smooth motion, she unsheathed her sword, biting down on another with her teeth. She clamped one blade at her neck, another at her elbow, one more beneath her arm, and the last at her knee.
Then, without a word, she charged.
Swish!
Splat!
Blood sprayed across the road as Hinata's figure tore through the group like a storm. Her movements were fluid, lethal — every swing, every strike precise and unstoppable, as effortless as slicing through soft fruit.
"Damn it!" the rogue ninja leader cursed, his voice trembling. He parried a flying blade with a kunai, but Hinata's form was already upon him.
She caught the deflected sword midair with her elbow, spun her body like a top, and brought it crashing down.
"!!"
The leader barely dodged. His horse, however, was not so lucky. The beast was cleaved apart in an instant — the ground beneath it splitting from the force of Hinata's strike.
Swish!
Hinata didn't hesitate for even a second. She charged after the rogue ninja like a streak of light. In a single exchange, her blades struck four times — one of them narrowly missing his heart.
Her relentless swordsmanship left the man no room to breathe. A sudden hand chop followed, powerful enough to shatter his shoulder blade in one strike.
What unsettled him most, however, was her feet.
Each time Hinata landed, the ground beneath her cracked with a dull rumble. The rogue ninja stared in disbelief at her seemingly ordinary fur boots — they were clearly not what they appeared to be.
"Stop! We have no grudge against each other! Why are you attacking me?!" he shouted, panic creeping into his voice.
Hinata gave no response. Her focus remained entirely on her blades — her expression cold, her eyes unwavering. She advanced step by step like an unstoppable machine, leaving corpses in her wake.
Ordinary bandits fell with a single blow. The leader, a trained rogue ninja, managed to last longer — but that only made his end more miserable. By the time he fell, he'd been stabbed more than a dozen times, two wounds piercing vital points.
His body collapsed into a pool of blood, his eyes wide open in disbelief.
Hinata flicked the blood from her sword in a single, smooth motion before sheathing it. She then pulled out the bounty list she carried — the same one she'd acquired from the black market — and flipped through it. Near the end, she found his name.
A bounty confirmed.
He had been worth money.
That was all the reason she needed.
"The grain and horses, I don't want," Hinata said flatly, looking at the terrified women huddled nearby. "But I'll take the money. Tell me where your village is — I'll take you home."
The women stared at her, too shaken to speak. Some trembled, their sobs muffled by fear, while a few braver ones managed to give hesitant directions.
Before departing, Hinata cremated the bandits' bodies.
…
By the time they arrived at the women's village, the scene was harrowing — homes reduced to rubble, the stench of blood still thick in the air. Many were injured, many more were dead.
Those who survived were hollow-eyed, trapped between despair and disbelief.
Amid the chaos, Hinata unexpectedly encountered two familiar faces.
"Huh? They're back?" Shinnō's expression softened in relief when he saw the rescued women. "That's wonderful news."
He immediately instructed Amaru, who was tending to the wounded nearby, to spread the word and lift the villagers' spirits.
Amaru nodded and dashed off, moving from person to person, her voice ringing through the ruins as she tried to rekindle hope.
The crying didn't stop entirely, but it no longer felt hopeless. Beneath the grief, a faint spark of light began to return — a small rainbow after the storm.
Hinata recognized them both instantly, though they didn't recognize her.
Her current appearance — the stoic samurai, cloaked in muted colors and steel — was far removed from the gentle girl they once knew.
"Thank you for saving them," Shinnō said without looking up, his hands busy tending to a wounded man pinned beneath debris. "And… what about the bandits?"
"Killed," Hinata answered simply.
Shinnō sighed. "I've devoted my life to saving others… yet the world still breeds those who use ninjutsu only to hurt. It's disheartening."
"Ninjas are the worst!" Amaru cut in, glaring coldly at Hinata. "All they ever do is kill! It's because of people like them that the world's a mess!"
She didn't know why, but something about Hinata's calm face irritated her — a strange, rising frustration that made her want to lash out. "You're a ninja, aren't you?"
Hinata's hand brushed against the hilts of the seven swords at her waist. "No," she said quietly. "I'm a samurai."
Amaru blinked, caught off guard. "Oh… I see."
She said no more, returning to assist her master with the wounded.
Hinata stood silently for a while, watching them work. Finally, she removed her sword and joined in, helping to lift debris and bandage the injured.
When Amaru learned that Hinata had taken the bandits' stolen money, she frowned. "Those people already lost everything. How could you take their money too?"
Hinata didn't hesitate. "Because I earned it," she replied bluntly. "I risked my life to get it. Besides, I'm broke and can barely afford to eat. If I don't take it, who will?"
Amaru opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. In a way, Hinata's logic was unshakable.
Once the rescue efforts were complete, Hinata nodded her farewell and watched the pair depart.
"…Not asking for anything in return," she murmured, half to herself. "Didn't expect to meet people like that."