Compared to their canon selves, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke had all grown considerably stronger. The medicinal body-tempering and the South Dipper Sacred Fist training had elevated all three of their physiques well beyond what their canon counterparts possessed at this age. And for a ninja, a superior body meant across-the-board improvements: greater chakra reserves, faster chakra gathering, quicker chakra release, more resilient muscles, longer-lasting stamina, and so on.
All told, these comprehensive upgrades were enough to let the current Sasuke and Naruto easily defeat their canon counterparts. Their jutsu arsenals hadn't expanded much—this was purely a stat advantage, overwhelming in its totality.
As for how strong Hinata herself had become, she had no exact figures. The Byakugan's bloodline ability gave her full spherical vision and the ability to release chakra from any point on her body. She was nowhere near Neji's level of chakra control—that prodigy had mastered the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven at thirteen—but against opponents like Naruto and Sasuke, who could only channel chakra through their hands and feet, her advantage was absolute.
"Now then, Naruto. We go until one of us concedes. Until that happens, neither of us holds back."
Expression blank, Hinata regarded Naruto from a short distance away. She raised both hands. The wide sleeves of her top billowed without wind as visible pale-blue chakra coiled around her arms—because her body's muscle memory demanded it. Only by concentrating extra chakra could she protect her hands from the searing heat of the iron sand.
"Alright! I'm not giving up!"
Naruto cracked his knuckles, eyes blazing. "Hinata's even stronger than Sasuke! If I can beat you, then taking him down will be a breeze!"
"Heh. Then come and try."
She beckoned. Hinata didn't mind ceding the initiative. Given the green light, Naruto let out a battle cry—more to psych himself up than anything—and charged in low with clenched fists. His Sacred Fist stances were still shaky, but his combat instincts had sharpened far beyond what they'd been in the original timeline.
"In any taijutsu exchange, you should always keep at least thirty percent of your power in reserve for adjustments. If you throw everything into a single attack without thinking, and your opponent has a counter technique..."
Cold eyes tracked Naruto's rush. Hinata's left hand shot up—striking after he'd committed but arriving first—and slid beneath his incoming right arm. A featherlight deflection was all it took to redirect the full force of his punch skyward. "Just like this! Nue Plucker!"
"Ugh!"
Naruto's entire body lurched off-balance. Exactly as Hinata had described: he'd loaded too much power into one punch, and now his own momentum was dragging him sideways like a dog yanked by its leash.
"Once the Nue Plucker successfully parries the enemy's attack, use your other fist—fully charged—to strike the solar plexus! In other words—Savage Bite!"
A sharp bark accompanied the command. Hinata's right arm drove forward in a lunging step—a blow of impossible weight that made Naruto's eyes lose focus. She'd pulled the punch at the last instant; what should have targeted his heart was redirected to the relatively safer abdomen.
Even so, the impact sent a violent spasm through Naruto's body. Hinata's striking power had clearly exceeded his tolerance by a wide margin.
"After the Savage Bite connects, your opponent will be at extreme close range. Now you need to destroy their balance completely—strip them of any foothold! Tiger Roar!"
Retracting her right fist from Naruto's midsection, Hinata's body flowed upward in a motion as natural as a swordfish cresting a wave. Her right fist—the same one—rocketed upward from below, crashing into the vulnerable underside of Naruto's jaw. The combined force of her upward momentum and the rising punch sent the blond's eyes rolling white as his body flipped backward into the air.
"If Tiger Roar also connects, the enemy should be completely defenseless—at their most vulnerable. Now deliver your strongest attack: a kick combining rotational torque and body-twist momentum. R.E.D. Kick!"
Pulling her right fist back, Hinata didn't need to turn her head—the Byakugan's full-range vision let her track anything she wanted. Calculating Naruto's descent trajectory, she spun and leaped, tracing a crescent arc through the air to intercept him. Her smooth, straight left leg whipped around like an iron flail and slammed into Naruto's chest. The blond—still airborne—let out a guttural cry as his body was hammered out of the sky like a stone. He bounced hard off the ground several times before finally coming to rest face-down, motionless.
Landing lightly, Hinata gazed down at the fallen Naruto. The boy who'd been so full of fighting spirit moments ago had been beaten into shock by that single combo. No matter how tough the body, successive heavy blows to the chest, abdomen, and jaw were simply too much to endure.
"I hope your body remembers at least some of that. Fighting without using your brain just makes you a punching bag for the enemy."
Walking to Naruto's side, Hinata's expression flickered with something complicated. Should she just leave the dead-last here? Given his jinchūriki constitution, leaving him out overnight definitely wouldn't kill him.
She stood there for a long moment. Then she sighed, bent down, and hauled Naruto's body upright. He was, after all, one of her current moneymakers. Might as well do some basic maintenance.
Besides, she'd just beaten Naruto senseless without her body exhibiting any anomalies. So maybe she'd been overthinking it? Perhaps it was just residual consciousness from the original owner surfacing in the occasional dream?
No. She should get it checked, just to be safe. And as it happened, she knew exactly the right person.
A sly smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Hinata shifted direction, hauling Naruto toward the streets beyond the Uchiha compound. It was well past bedtime, but she was confident she could rouse the person she had in mind.
As one of the three clans in Konoha's Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Yamanaka family lived nearby. Thanks to their exceptional psychic abilities, the Yamanaka maintained a quietly important position in the village despite their low profile. The ninja responsible for maintaining Konoha's sensory barrier—the one that detected foreign intrusions—was a Yamanaka. And one of Danzō's personal Root operatives was Yamanaka Fū. The clan's importance spoke for itself.
Ino, for her part, was still awake. Unlike Hinata, whose off-hours consisted of little besides training, Ino was a girl who cared deeply about her appearance. Even with medical ninjutsu studies eating up a large chunk of her time, the girl—bright as a cosmos blossom—still enjoyed sitting at her vanity table for a careful grooming session.
Especially now, with the generous pay she'd been earning from the crew, Ino had splurged on a haul of high-end cosmetics and was currently testing them one by one with visible delight.
But just as she picked up a bottle of toner—thwack—a shuriken punched clean through her window and embedded itself in her vanity with a sharp thunk. Ino shrieked and nearly flipped the entire table.
"What the—?!"
After a moment of shock, she collected herself, then yanked the shuriken free with an angry huff. A slip of paper was tied to it. She recognized the handwriting instantly. The message was succinct: "Come to the hilltop outside." Signed, Hyuga Hinata.
"Seriously... what kind of way is that to summon someone..."
Confirming the handwriting, Ino slapped a palm against her own face. But she got dressed without further complaint, skipped the front door entirely—no point waking her parents—and vaulted out the window. She was curious what Hinata wanted.
Before long, Ino's grumbling reached Hinata's ears on the hilltop. The blonde emerged from the darkness, brow furrowed in irritation. "What is it, Hinata? Calling me out this late? I just found a cosmetic that works for me, you know!"
"Nothing major. Heal this idiot first."
Hinata nudged Naruto with her foot, ignoring the complaint entirely. Ino's eyes went wide when she saw him sprawled out with his eyes rolled back. "What happened to this moron?"
"He challenged me and lost. I beat him up."
Hinata's deadpan delivery made Ino's face twitch. "Ah, what a wonderfully concise explanation."
"Fair warning—I've only just started learning medical ninjutsu. I can help wounds heal, but I can't guarantee the speed or quality of my work."
Kneeling beside Naruto, Ino extended her hands and began casting a basic healing technique. Hinata, standing over them, spoke quietly. "That's fine. A good beating will help him learn. Also, Ino—I have a question. I seem to have sleepwalked tonight. What's your take on that?"
"Huh? Sleepwalking?"
Ino turned to stare at Hinata, eyes narrowing. "That's... the real reason you came to find me, isn't it?"
"Precisely. As the clan most skilled in psychic techniques in all of Konoha, I trust you'll have an answer for me."
Hinata's white eyes met Ino's squarely. "It was as though... there's another 'me' inside my body. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I want to know: is this kind of mental state... normal?"