Summoner Nin

Page 16: Legendary Summon: Tora

Part Two: The Search

Chapter Nine

She didn't know how long she had been at it. Hou-ou's fire was eating at the ice as much as it was eating at her. The glacier was a more formidable opponent than Hinata had first thought. She had imagined it to be like ice cream melting in the sun, but a glacier was not ice cream and Hou-ou was not the sun. Although, Hinata supposed, the Phoenix, if she tried, could probably burn as hot as the sun.

"Here, Hinata-chan," Tsume-sensei said softly. "You should take a seat."

Her pupil-less eyes flickered to the snoring Shikaku-sensei and knew, in the deepest of her heart, that her Shikaku-sensei was not sleeping. She knew, in the deepest of her heart, he was watching her, gauging her, testing her.

Therefore Hinata would not sit. She would stand beneath her Phoenix, feeding waves and waves of chakra into the great firebird until the ice was gone, until the Tiger was free, until Hinata had nothing left.

Because, she knew, this was a test of stamina, of chakra reserves, of perseverance.

Tsume-sensei seemed to know this as well, sighing before leaving Hinata alone, standing for hours on end. The contemptuous look the Inuzuka shot at the Nara was not lost on anybody's part, not even Hinata's.

Anko-sensei seemed to share her feelings, playing with the blow torch while eyeing Shikaku-sensei's ponytail much too avidly. Even Shibi-sensei's kikaichu were running slightly agitated.

The only one who wasn't the least bothered with Shikaku-sensei was Jiraiya-san. He was standing to the side, observing the Hyuga carefully. He was both perplexed and impressed by her.

"She can just..." he trailed, frowning, "keep going?"

Tsume-sensei nodded. She should know. She had been the one to train Hinata in her stamina.

Hinata blinked when a particular drop of sweat rolled over her eye. At the beginning of this endeavour of hers, she had been having fun. She had found it beautiful, how the red of Hou-ou's fire seemed to spark blue against the glacier, like a small private fireworks show. She had thought it lovely how the gentle glow of the light seemed to light up the cave, the faces of her senseis, the silver in Jiraiya-san's hair. She had wondered at the warmth of the flames and cool of the ice, how two opposites could fit together just so.

But that had been hours ago.

That was before Hinata started to sweat, before her muscles groaned, before the chakra being taken from her started to burn in her veins and strain her heart and lungs. It was all pretty and innocent before she had to grit her teeth, dig her feet in and clench her fists, putting all that she was and all that she thought she could ever be into violent flames that didn't seem to be affecting the ice at all.

"Okay," Jiraiya-san said. "Enough."

Hinata jumped when the Sannin threw several kunai at the ice, each carrying an exploding tag. Several things flashed through her head before the kunai hit. One: the blow back was going to hit her. Two: the collusion would collapse the cave. Three: the Tiger was going to be harmed.

She rushed forward, but it was too late, the kunai hit and the tags went off with a hollow bang. Hollow bang? She had expected a loud boom, if anything. She stumbled to a stop, surprised she hadn't been blown back or that the cave hadn't collapsed. Stopping Hou-ou's flame for a moment, she found that the Tiger had not been blown to pieces, rather only several chunks of ice had been shaved off. It made defrosting easier.