Chapter Text
There she was. The loser of the match between her and Neji.
Honestly she really didn't feel bad. She felt like she got a lot off her chest when confronting Neji and maybe in the future…JUST MAYBE, they could be a family again. Maybe he'll look at her with soft eyes again.
That was wishful thinking really, but a girl could still dream.
Really though, she was pretty proud of herself. She made it through the first, what, two phases of the Chunin exams before she fizzled out. Honestly she was feeling pretty confident that if she faced anyone else other than her cousin Neji that she might have had an insane good chance of passing to the next phase.
Still, even with all her accomplishments: Graduating the academy, making it to Genin, doing successful missions, it still seemed to not be enough for the Hyuga clan. She failed the exams and that will be something EVERYONE in her clan glued themselves on to.
She wished they were being real with themselves. A lot of people failed their matches. People that were a lot stronger outside their match had failed. Also…her beloved cousin Neji wasn't so superior that he lost against Uzumaki Naruto in the second match.
Aww yes. The promise he made to her to defeat her cousin in her honor.
It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for her. Aside from her own sensei and teammates. Comparing it to the rest of the world she could easily compare Naruto vows as being nicer than her own family was to her.
Realistically she felt maybe her father was coming around. Maybe he didn't hate her as much as she thought he did. Still…there was still that horrid realization that there would have to be a decision made soon over herself and Hanabi. Whether Hanabi was going to suffer the same fate as her uncle and Neji or would it be her.
It should be painfully obvious which decision the Hyuga clan was going to make on the matter.
Her father. Bless his soul was trying to do some last-minute tricks in abolishing the seal. He should know that it made him look bad. That is, it made it look like he was just trying to save his daughter. Just like so many other people try to 'save her'.
She wished he would let her make a choice on how to save herself.
Honestly. She didn't want the seal. She was terrified of the thought of getting the seal, but she loved her sister. She loved Hanabi a GREAT deal and would do just about anything for her sister. So, when the time came for her to get the seal, because she knew it was coming, she would not argue or throw a fit over the motion.
She was still very much terrified. It was like a burning feeling clawing at her back.
She would get the seal and be the shadow Hyuga they always wanted her to disappear and be. It was her fault anyways to be in this situation, she was the one that hesitated too much, she was the one that didn't want to hurt her sister and see her sealed. So, what did she honestly think was going to happen.
"Hinata."
She didn't jump at hearing her father approach her at the Hyuga training post. She stopped and looked at him. Thinking, maybe today was the day. The two of them never looked at each other so clearly.
It was fine. She got to see her beloved Naruto leave to go off and train with the legendary Toad Sanin. It was best that if they were going to do it, it would be now. That way he wouldn't have to see her shrivel away. Maybe they would at least let her have some dignity and take the Chunin exams again.
She followed her father into his study and noticed it was oddly…dark in his office. Her father was a man that liked bare minimum lighting in his room's, so she wasn't surprised it was dim lighting in his office.
She was concerned about the presence in her father's study. More so…a dark presence. When she was fully in his office she watched as her father made sure his door was shut and locked.
She also noticed there were no other Hyuga's in the room.
Oh fuck…what's going on. Her back was now feeling like it was on fire.
She tried not to look panicked, but really could you blame a 13-year-old girl for being a little bit paranoid with the life she's lived.
"Hinata please calm down."
She looked at her father for a moment and felt bad that it must have been painted all over her face how terrified she was at this point. Her eyes drifted back over to the dark aura in the room. It was a man. An older looking man that stayed in the dark corner of the room barely noticeable. She could only make out one of his eyes.
"This is what you want me to work with Lord Hiashi."
At first her father didn't say anything and continued to look at Hinata, almost like he was asking for forgiveness. "I trust you will be able to make something of use out of her."
She felt like the gulp she made was loud enough for both men in the room to hear her. Hiashi sighed a little and closed his eyes, "If anything she'll be extremely loyal to you. She'd do whatever you asked of her and wouldn't give you any hard times. You would finally have yourself a Hyuga. Something you weren't able to have…ever."
The man tilted his head as he stared at Hinata and slowly nodded his head. "That is true."
Finally the figure walked into the light and made his features visible to Hinata. Older looking man. Dark short unruly hair and with one of his eyes bandaged up. He had an 'X' shaped scar on his chin. Just because she could see his facial features now didn't help his dark aura fade away.
"Do you know who I am child."
She couldn't find her voice to speak. How pathetic. He was so intimidating that she couldn't find it in her to even breath right. When he continued to bore down on her she nervously shook her head letting him know she didn't have a clue who the hell this man was.
"Good. It's easier to train when you know nothing. You have yourself a deal Lord Hiashi."
Hinata's head snapped back to her father and her eyes widened like saucers. Her father gave her a look like he was telling her to get her emotions in check.
"Hinata…I will not have my oldest child branded with the curse seal. That will not happen. I know the potential you carry. I know what you do in your matches with Hanabi. I know there is nothing I can do to get that mindset out of you. You should know by now the elders have tied my hands and are making it down right impossible to get you out of the situation of being branded."
Even though she came to terms with having the curse seal, it still gave her burning chills just talking about it. She was honestly still terrified to have it. Fear. It made you think differently.
"I am giving you a choice Hinata. Only you can make this choice. You either stay in the Hyuga compound and within three months be branded with the curse mark. Or…you can leave tonight and work under Shimura-san."
Excuse me?
Leave…tonight? With someone she had no clue who it was? Was she…was she being banished? She had so many questions, one of them being what she had done recently to deserve being taken away from her home in the middle of the night.
She continued to stare at her father until she finally saw it. The crack in her fathers face. The look of a defeated man for a millisecond. He had no choice. She had put her father in a position where he had no other options. He couldn't keep protecting her. She was so pathetic that her father literally couldn't fight her battles anymore for her. He's been doing it for SO LONG. She imagined if he wasn't fighting for her that she would have been branded with the curse seal a long time ago.
"Okay father."
The elderly man in front of her looked impressed with her decision and her father looked a mixture of relieved and…heartsick.
"Very well…Hinata. I'm proud that you were able to make a decision. Please understand…this will be the last moment that we have with one another. Understand…that I love you Hinata."
She didn't react to his raw emotion. She'd change her mind if she did. Instead she gave her father a half smile and told him she loved him too.
"10 tonight I will send for you Hyuga. We will further discuss things in private when you get to the quarters and I will begin immediate training tomorrow morning."
With that he left Hiashi's study and the Hyuga resident not saying anything further. Hinata left her father's study as well. Refusing to stay and have her heart ripped any more than it was. She slowly walked to her room not almost in a daze. On her way to her room she closed her father's door to his study and saw up ahead the hall was someone she didn't expect to see.
Neji.
He wasn't exactly hiding. Yet he wasn't exactly making his presence known. "Hinata-sama…what is…what is going on?"
His face was breaking her. This was horrible. They were just starting to bond again. Gain that relationship again.
Hinata didn't look at him, more so looking through him down the hall to were her bedroom was. "Neji. Did you hear?"
He made a face that clearly showed that he heard, "I don't blame you for making this decision. If I was given the same choice I would have too."
Again she didn't make a reaction to this, surely somewhere in his mind he thought she was a coward for not going through with the curse seal. He had to, why not her. Another moment where she is saved by someone.
He didn't understand that she was living solely off of fear now. Her back was aflame.
"Hinata…seriously. I don't think you are weak for doing this. I would do what you're doing in a heartbeat. You do not see me as a coward, so that should speak volumes."
He gave her a rare smile and placed his hand on her shoulder. Since the exams, his loss to Naruto. Her losing her eyesight temporarily and his failed mission to get the Uchiha back. Somewhere in between all of this relationship with Hinata just…started to mend. Both didn't really know when, it just started to pick up off where they used to be when they were younger. Before his father passed.
Again Hinata didn't look at him or acknowledge the affection he was trying to give her, "I will not be coming back to the Hyuga compound…I do not believe ever again."
His hand immediately fell off her shoulder and he looked stunned, "What? I…I just assumed that what Hiashi-sama meant was this was all temporary. Hinata-sama-"
"I am not that to you anymore…I am banished. A result to my cowardly decision."
She smiled at him a weak, defeated smile. How could she feel anything else other than feeling defeated. "Please do not tell Hanabi who I left with. Please…be there for her Neji. Be the brother for her that you were always to me in my eyes."
Her jaw clenched and he could see she was trying her hardest to not cry at the moment. "Goodbye Neji."
She didn't say anything else and just walked away from him. He refused to say goodbye back because that would mean that he really wouldn't see her anymore. He had grown to like seeing her.
He had grown to having her as his family again.
Like instructed there were two people there to escort Hinata to where she would now be staying. She wasn't surprised she ended up in some mysterious underground location. Maybe she deserved to be surrounded by dirt, rodents and insects. Also, the man at the meeting with her father seemed like this would be his type of setup.
No one talked as they walked, and they only paused for a moment so Hinata could drop her belongings off to her room. She was told nothing too personal could come with her. Basic hygiene items and under clothing. Nothing more than these items.
She was than guided into a meeting room and there sat the man that started this journey with her. "Hyuga-san…may I call you Hinata? Please have a seat."
She just gave the man a brief nod letting him know she was fine. She doubted she had much of a choice. "Do you know how lucky you are Hinata?"
She felt horrifically nervous around this man. Something just wasn't right about him. "You were going to be sealed tomorrow at dawn Ms. Hyuga."
She could have sworn she felt her heart skip a beat. She knew for a fact she experienced a mini heart attack. This can't be true. This man was lying. Her father said in three months. It was like this man could read her mind because he stood from his chair and slowly started to walk around her.
"Your father lied to you. He wanted to see how much you wanted your freedom. Indeed you must have been desperate because knowing you still had three months to think of any other alternative you immediately took this offer. Everything else your father had told you was the truth though. He had indeed ran all out of options for you. He could no longer protect you. You should understand this was his very last option. He was just as desperate as you."
She was taking deep quiet breaths now. This was how she was 'saved'? By going off with a man that had the aura of Satan?! "W-W…What do you want me to do?"
He finally gave her an amused look. She was straight to the point. "You will be training under myself and the people around me and be a part of my organization ROOT. You will not be having contact with any of the people from your past and you will only take orders from me. This understandably will take time to understand. You have come to me older than the others but judging by what your father has said and looking through your records this will not be a problem. You will end up like the rest of my ROOT members."
She continued to listen to him with an owl-like expression. Not wanting him to see her breaking from the inside.
Her name will not be used. Forget it.
Her friends were now nothing to her. If in her way, than she must eliminate them.
Her alliance was to him and him only.
Always watch her back.
Her heart better not get in the way…if it did she would pay the heavy price of death.
The sad part was she would rather die than to have the caged bird seal placed on her. So either way…this was the best option for her. So this is what fear made people do.
"Think of me as your savior Hyuga. I saved you from a life of imprisonment." She stared at him because in reality he was somewhat right. There was little to no other options. This was a way for her to disappear and not be shamed for it. This was a way to keep the Hyuga's name still intact and not put her father in the hot seat. He tried. She knew he did. He tried to abolish the curse seal quicker than intended for her sake and it just proved to be too much.
She wasn't mad at her father and he wasn't mad at her. This was her choice by the way. She chose this route. She was the coward that wanted a way out. This was the repercussions for being a coward. For being WEAK.
The only thing Hinata could do was nod her head slowly at what this man was telling her. He did take her in when he didn't have to. He must have a strong political pull that he could do such a thing. He took the reject Hyuga princess into hiding the day before she was supposed to be branded. He must be a powerful man. He must be her savior.
"Don't worry Hyuga. You can thank me for this favor in the future. Until then, we have much training to do with you. First step will be to desensitize you. By the way, address me as Danzo-sama."
So fear had her crawling on her hands and knees to a man named Danzo.