I laid in bed staring at the ceiling, my eyelids growing heavy, and by the time I blinked and opened my eyes once again, I was in a completely different location.
"Ah!" I screamed, taken aback as I jumped up from the cold floor.
"Dude who screams like that?!" A familiar voice exclaimed, practically dying of laughter.
I rolled my eyes, my gaze turning to Yukino, "I can't believe I ended up here," I mumbled to myself as I looked around the frozen forest, my mindscape.
"So, have you figured it out?" Yukino asked as she tried to stop laughing.
"Nope, just like Haku said, I'll soon reach my limit. I'll have to change my current path if I want to become stronger."
"Why don't you ask a Hyuga member for— oh, that's right, you don't even have a byakugan," she replied, adding salt to the wound.
"Shut up!" I exclaimed, she was probably the only person who could get on my nerves. "I'm leaving."
"Come on, Hinoka, I'm dying of boredom in here. Stay a little longer," Yukino said, pouting.
"I have a mission, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't stay."
"Well, that was just mean. I have an idea, you could always give me control. I'll complete the mission for you while you relax here."
"Being the main person in control of my body for 12 years wasn't enough for you?"
"I couldn't exactly have fun in the body of a tiny baby, so I'd say no, it wasn't enough."
"Too bad."
I sat up, back in my room, as I got dressed before heading out to the mission assignment desk.
As I entered the room, I saw a familiar figure leaning against a desk as he discussed with a few other ninja.
They all went dead silent, noticing my presence, "Hinoka, you're here earlier than I expected," the person standing said.
"Well, I didn't really have anywhere else to be or anything to do today," I replied with a smile, "It's good to see you again, Shikaku."
"You've grown quite a lot since the last time we talked. Your partner for this mission should be here soon enough," Shikaku replied, and just as he said, the door opened once again.
My blood grew cold as a fair-skinned boy with long black hair, and a familiar pair of white eyes walked in.
"I'm sure you're already familiar with him, Hinoka."
"Neji…" I mumbled, trying my hardest not to start a fight right there and then.
Shikaku handed us a scroll as he said, "We're running low on shinobi right now, so I'll have to ask the two of you to do a low-ranking mission, a C rank. It should be simple enough for the two of you, locate a few wild animals that have been terrorizing a village. It's a day's trip from here, and the animals shouldn't be too hard to manage; deal with them in whatever way you see fit, as long as they no longer cause any harm to the villagers."
Neji and I nodded before exiting the room. The second we were out of the building, I lunged towards him.
He barely managed to dodge activating his Byakugan as he caught my leg before the kick could connect. I jumped off my other foot, kicking him in the face as I fell to the ground, and Neji stumbled to the side.
I stood up, dusting myself, walking away, "You're really going to walk away from me after starting a fight, Hinoka?" Neji asked.
"That kick was for trying to kill Hinata during the exams, but going any further would make her more sad than happy," I replied, waving goodbye, "Let's meet up in 3 hours and head out."