Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She came to abruptly, being able to name only the feeling of motion sickness and the smell of blood. This wasn’t far from what she expected, but something felt indescribably off. As far as she could tell, she was sandwiched awkwardly under the arm of a large man who was running through a foreign forest at speeds beyond what normal humans ought to reach. She felt like a piece of luggage at this moment, being carted around under his arm. She didn’t think voicing her discomfort would change anything much in her favor, though. She was already bleeding and he didn’t care, so telling him that she was cold or that his grip was crushing her probably wouldn’t help. 

She tried to assess the situation. Though she couldn't recall exactly how, she felt certain that her current situation did not line up with her last available memories. The blood trailing down her forehead felt like it made sense, but nearly everything else felt wrong . A major clue was size; her current stature did not match her self-image of a grown adult, nor did her attire align with anything she owned. She seemed to be in some type of kimono. Her hair was pulled into a painfully tight updo. She attempted to turn her head to get a better image of the man carrying her.

He was dressed in black and wearing a headband with a funny symbol carved into it. The man was flanked by several other men wearing the same symbol. She craned her neck to get a better view of his headgear, but once he noticed she was conscious, she was unceremoniously knocked out once more. 

When she came to a second time, it was in a stark white bed surrounded by a mob of— what she assumed were—blind people. They all wore the same clothes, had the same hair, and were watching her expectantly with the same empty, blank eyes. Not making the same mistake she did before, she kept her gaze forward. 

“Hinata,” said a man, kneeling by her side. She didn’t know what he meant by that and didn’t want to assume much anyway. “Hinata, what did you see?”

Oh, that must be her name. She was pretty sure it wasn’t, but it didn’t feel like the time to argue with the man. He appeared troubled. 

“Not much,” She admitted freely. He frowned. The people around her bed frowned. It wasn’t much of a change from their previous expressions, just a slight wrinkle in the brow and lips twitching downward, all very subtle. “I... he knocked me out. A few times, I think.” 

The man sighed and stood up. Clearly on cue, the rest of the blind people filed out of the room gracefully (they must be familiar with the building to navigate with such ease) leaving just the two of them. It was a hospital room, she belatedly realized. She was in the hospital. She must have gotten hurt. She supposed this accounted for the dull, throbbing pain in her head and the bruising she felt alone in her ribs. She did her best to sit up so she could properly face the man, but the best she could manage was a slight incline by propping herself against the pillow and shimmying her way up the bed frame. The effort of adjusting her position left her dizzy, and she wondered why the man didn’t try to help or stop her as she very obviously struggled to sit up. Once she was satisfied with her new position, she blinked up at the man hovering by her bed, waiting expectantly. He continued speaking in the same bored tone. 

“Yes… we were worried you had died.” He revealed. “Your chakra signature… abruptly stopped while we were tracking you.”

“I see.” Replied Hinata. She did not see but hoped he’d continue. 

“It’s a miracle you’re alive.” He was stoic about this, as if he didn’t care one way or another. This was mildly upsetting, as she had the impression that this man should care for her, but she couldn’t name where that entitlement to his emotional state came from. She felt he was obligated to be distressed or worried on her behalf. He wasn't. 

He stared at her as if asking her to elaborate or shed some light on the current situation. She didn’t think she had the perspective he was searching for, but Hinata was willing to try. She felt an alien desire for his approval; some hidden instinct was rearing its head and vying for his attention.

“There were a few of them. About nine? They all had headbands.” She said helpfully. The man nodded, fixing his gaze on the window to the left of her bed. She followed his movement, taking in the outside world. It was like absolutely nothing she had ever seen. This was not particularly encouraging. Hinata felt more upset about this than she logically should have been.

“Headbands,” He echoed. “What kind?”

“The kind around your forehead.” Hinata helpfully supplied. There weren't many other types of headbands. The man looked at her blankly. “Like yours? But blue. The symbol was different, too.” His expression did not change. 

“Draw it for me.” He passed her a pen and paper, gesturing to the bedside table. Hinata appreciated his lack of leading questions. He was probably trained in interrogation; instead of asking if she recognized a specific symbol, he was asking her to provide one of her own. This was good. It meant he knew what he was doing. 

This was also bad, as she knew she was now being properly interrogated. Hinata did her best to replicate the image, which looked like a few meager scribbles and passed it over to the man. He nodded, pleased. 

“You did well.” He offered. She beamed at his approval and immediately felt disgusted at how much his praise meant to her. She didn’t know this man. 

“The drawings are not entirely accurate,” She admitted, feigning humility. “It was more round than that.” 

The man smiled, though not joyful. It was bittersweet if not entirely forced. He was trying to put her at ease, Hinata realized. He wasn’t doing very well. 

“No.” He corrected. Well, she didn’t think she did that bad of a job– “You handled the kidnapping well. I expected you to be more emotional about it,” he interrupted her train of thought to explain.

Hinata didn’t know what to say to that. She probably would be more emotional if she knew what was going on. It also didn’t feel like the greatest idea to encourage this level of dissociation after what was likely a traumatic event. She wondered if he was trained in interrogation at all, because having a more emotional subject had to be more beneficial in the long run, and he seemed to be discouraging it.

But he’d been kind, so far. He didn’t know what to do with himself for the most part and appeared primarily frustrated with everything rather than at her. She wondered if that was just part of his usual state. She wondered who he was and why he was lingering still. He had conducted himself in a manner that pointed to him being pretty important to the rest of the family. They were too similar to not have followed his commands when he silently directed them to the door. Either that or they’re a cult. It would explain the clothes, they were much too white and uniform to be a coincidence. She hoped she wasn’t in a cult. 

“I think I’m concussed,” Hinata said instead. The man turned his focus from the window to her and nodded. 

“You also have severe blood loss.” He offered as if he was telling her it was about to rain. “You almost died.” He remarked like he was telling her she should be dead. She wasn’t fond of his tone.

“Oh.” Hinata felt very small. “I’m glad I’m not dead, then.” 

The man said nothing, for a while. She expected him to agree, but he didn’t, which was concerning. And upsetting. Many things about this whole situation were concerning and upsetting. Did he want her to die? Alarm bells were ringing as he turned to her and examined her face closely. She could feel his vacant eyes flicker over her features, which was bizarre; she had assumed he was blind, like everyone else. Instead, his pupil-less glassy white eyes observed her with detail. It was uncomfortable. Then, he sat on the edge of her bed and made direct eye contact with her. 

Up until this point, Hinata had been under the assumption that he couldn’t see. Thus, making eye contact hadn’t been much of a feat. But in the presence of his suddenly intense stare, she couldn’t hold her gaze to his. Something about his eyes unnerved her— they weren’t natural. Upon shying away from his stare, he spoke: “You’re not acting like yourself. If I hadn’t confirmed myself, I wouldn’t believe you’re my daughter.” 

She couldn’t believe this man was her father. On top of looking very young, he also didn’t look very fatherly. He was focused on her, waiting for an answer, and Hinata did want to give him one, but she felt trapped. Not to mention, she had no idea what he meant by confirming her identity and wasn’t excited to learn what that meant. She didn’t know what any of this meant.

It all hit her at once. The strange man, expecting answers. The strange room with its fluorescent lights and the unfamiliar cityscape outside her window. The cultish family who wasn’t blind that no doubt stood outside in their perfectly bleached garments. The men who kidnapped and almost killed her. How she knew nothing and no one. Hinata felt very, very alone. 

The man— her father— was still staring at her expectantly, his eyes unfamiliar and unwavering. It was the kind of face that could make a child cry. 

Hinata, as if on cue, burst into tears. 

Fortunately, this satiated him, and he shortly left the room. Why this man, her apparent father, thought it was fit to leave his child alone, crying, after a kidnapping and possible murder attempt was beyond her. Regardless, she was pleased that she had some time alone to sort out her thoughts and feelings on the matter. 

Hinata’s hands balled in the starched fabric of the bedsheet that lay across her legs. She felt small and weak. Her fists were not nearly the size they ought to have been for someone her age (what was her age?) and they were much too pale. 

She glanced out the window again. Without her father’s form obstructing the view, she could get a better sense of where she was. 

Which of course, only confirmed that she had no idea where she was.

The village outside her window was quiet. It was just past sunrise, and if she were to romanticize it, there was something peaceful about how the morning glow illuminated the strange buildings and the odd mix of modern and outdated architecture. 

There was a strange sense of peace surrounding Hinata, which was welcome with all the undue distress she had just gone through. Logically, she knew this was not her home; she was nowhere near her home. But the same instinct that guided her toward the desperation for her supposed father’s attention nagged at her. She felt as if she knew— or, ought to know— the place outside her window, if only vaguely. 

At the very least, she wasn’t in immediate danger. Despite it being morning, Hinata was able to drift back off to sleep easily, if only to avoid her problems. 

Hinata was discharged only a day after her initial hospitalization, likely because she slept through most of it. Upon release, she was flanked by the same brigade of blind people who first swarmed her bed, although now she knew they were not truly blind and just had weird eyes. She was also startled to find out she had the same eyes, as did her Mother, called ‘Lady Hitomi,’ who never seemed to let go of Hinata’s hand. She liked Hitomi. At least her Mother was worried about her.

With her posse surrounding her, Hinata was marched through the village with what was likely a gross display of power. As if to say, ‘Try this again and see what happens’ to any unknown enemy lurking in the crowd. She didn’t like the idea of being a power play, but supposed she didn’t have much of a say in the matter.

Hinata couldn’t take in her new surroundings at the rate she’d prefer; instead rushed to a commune on what she assumed was the outer edge of the village. She was led to a house in the center of the maze of smaller homes. Her house was the largest. 

It was also quiet. Hinata felt the same instinctual ease wash over her, as if to say “This is right,” but the sterile environment was unnerving and was no place for a child— however old she was. The size of the place truly hit her, especially when combined with the less-than-lived-in state of the place. Everything was in white or pale grey, and it was in pristine condition.

Her mother took her hand and led her down a very long hallway to what Hinata found out was her bedroom. It was decorated the most warmly out of the rest of the house from what she could see, but even that was a stretch. The room was the same array of lifeless colors, save only for her light purple bedding and matching curtains. The curtains were new.

She could easily point out the window that was broken into, and piece together that this was the same room that was broken into. The same room that she was stolen from. 

The window had very clearly been replaced. The window panes did not match the ones on the rest of the house, nor did the level of security, as the wood appeared much sturdier than anything else in the room. The purple curtains only added to the level of suspicion she was now regarding it with. Her mother guided her gaze away from the window, no doubt assuming her daughter was getting flashbacks, and instead sat her on the bed and began changing Hinata out of the very nice nightgown the hospital had given her. Hinata was starting to doubt this was hospital standard nightgown more and more as it seemed to align with the traditional boring aesthetic her family had going on. 

Hitomi substituted one nightgown for another which was nearly identical and began brushing out Hinata’s hair. Hinata left her with some reluctance. It was odd, being dressed by someone after so long of doing it yourself, but she also lacked the energy to do it herself and her mother likely needed the contact. 

Her mother said nothing as she prepared Hinata for bed, only tucking her in and placing a brief kiss on her forehead before leaving. 

As Hinata lay in bed, waiting for sleep to overtake her, her gaze was drawn to the window once more. Pale moonlight cast a shadow over the room, making everything much larger than it was. She kept looking at the window as if expecting some monster to burst through it and start this nightmare all over again. Hinata thought it was cruel to stick her back into what was likely a crime scene so fresh after her abduction. She supposed she could wake up her mother and crawl into bed with her, but the much real consequence of facing her supposed father was more daunting than any potential shadow men. A fear which transcended her consciousness and was rooted in something much deeper. 

The next morning, Hinata took to following her mother around like a lost puppy, which was blessedly not considered abnormal for who she was supposed to be. She did her best to embody everything about her mother, from her posture to her cadence, and her wonderful habit of avoiding Hiashi; Hinata’s father, and Hitomi’s husband.  And Hiashi was equally interested in avoiding his wife. 

It was fantastic. Hinata didn’t particularly favor the man to begin with, so she had no complaints about how the man made himself scarce. 

She learned many things by following her mother around, namely, that they were a clan. And she was the heiress of said clan, and her mother the Matriarch. This, at least, cued her into why she was kidnapped in the first place and why everyone kept referring to them as ‘Lady Hitomi’ and ‘Lady Hinata’ respectively. Her high profile status was hard to acclimate to, but she was at least granted leniency for her displaced behavior on account of her being three and recently traumatized. 

Slowly, the world began to make more sense. As soon as she let go of what things ‘should’ be, it was easier to acclimate to what they were. Ninjas were a thing, a common thing, and she was expected to be one. She had magic eyes that could see through things and were in high demand by enemy ninjas. She was kidnapped presumably for her eyes (and hopefully no other sinister purposes, because even though no one had said anything, kidnapping a young girl has different implications than kidnapping a young boy. Especially in relation to acquiring genetic traits). 

The basic information was easy to come by. Context provided a lot, her mother the rest, and Hinata was doing awful but better than before.

“I wonder what you must think of everything right now,” Her mother mused one day as they took their daily stroll around the gardens. Hinata simply blinked up at Hitomi, questioning. Her mother laughed. 

“You’re so young, Hinata,” Hitomi explained, joining their hands. “And so much is happening.” 

“As it does.” Hinata agreed, in step with her mother. She tried to walk behind her for a while, but her mother’s hair kept accidentally whipping her in the face, so Hinata wisely moved to the side. Hitomi’s hair was long, and a dark purple very similar to her own. It flowed in the wind gracefully, and it was a wonder it wasn’t in knots every night. 

Hitomi laughed good-naturedly, squeezing her daughter's hand. “This… has changed you,” She continued somberly. “I had hoped to shield you, perhaps foolishly, for a little while longer.”

Hinata didn’t respond, waiting for her mother to continue. 

“I wanted you to have more of a childhood. In a time of peace, I figured it wasn’t too naive of me to want that for you. Still, I feel as though we failed you in allowing this to happen.”

“You didn’t fail me.”

“You nearly died.”

“Oh.” Well, she probably did die, but that didn’t seem to be the thing to tell her already concerned mother. Hitomi kept walking, her eyes fixed on the path in front of them. 

“I wanted to protect you for a little while longer.” She confessed. “You’re growing up so fast, and I…” 

If she were allowed to cry, thought Hinata, her mother would be in tears right now. But the woman’s face remained frozen. 

They finished their walk in silence, returning just in time for dinner.

Meals at the Hyuuga Household were absolutely bizarre. Most of the time, food would be waiting on the table at around eight in the morning and six in the evening. Hinata never saw who placed it there, nor who cooked it or poured the tea. But, like most things, she learned to not question it. 

Her father sat on one end of the table, and her mother and Hinata on the other side. It was about the only time the whole family saw each other, and more often than not, it was quiet. Hinata was released on a Tuesday morning, and it was now Friday. Four days, seven meals. And her father grew worse with every meeting and ate less and less each time. 

She supposed it made sense, as his only daughter was kidnapped. But his lack of concern for her well-being tipped her off that abduction and ensuing trauma wasn’t what he was agonizing about. 

She wanted to ask what was wrong. It wasn’t that Hinata cared- she was indifferent about the man in general. He was clear about his attachment to her (there was none) and Hinata didn’t doubt that he would trade her in for a son happily. Still, she felt odd about watching her father pick at his food every night. 

His hair was neat and his clothes pressed flat— visibly, nothing had changed. Hiashi’s posture stayed rigid, and there were no physical clues that something was wrong, but there was something about how he conducted himself that was disturbing. Her mother frowned, clearly she thought so too. 

Hinata was particularly thrown when Hitomi placed a single hand on his, offering her husband a small smile. The most affection she’d ever seen her mother show towards someone who was not herself. Hiashi glanced down at where their hands met, then up at his wife before pulling away and excusing himself from the table. 

The next two days were uneventful. Then Monday hit, and Hinata was split between passing out and throwing up when she learned what had happened.

Chapter Text

Hizashi Hyuuga’s funeral was quiet. Unnervingly so. Her mother held her hand throughout the ceremony, and her father stood in front of a large crowd saying quite a lot that was meant to make things better. It didn’t. She didn’t think even her father believed the things he was saying. She assumed it was his attempt at an eulogy, though it was very lackluster.

His twin brother had volunteered to die in his place, and this was meant to be a relief. He spoke of childhood memories and upholding Hyuuga values. It was odd, attending the funeral of an uncle she hadn’t known existed, but she felt sad that someone died regardless. 

A boy around her age stood opposite from her, eyes trained on the closed casket. There was no body to bury. It was ironic, Hinata thought, that in a crowd full of people who could see through walls, they bothered with the pretense of creating a grave that everyone could confirm was empty. The sentiment was nice, she supposed, but her father didn’t seem to be doing it for the sentiment. 

The clan members assembled around the site wearing all black— a stark contrast to their usual lilacs and greys. They stood in a private graveyard cut off from the rest of the village, laid wildflowers on the casket, and backed away. 

The boy came up to the grave. Glanced at the box, at her father, and then at Hinata herself. He wore bandages around his forehead and appeared like he had been crying, but no tears remained in his eyes as he turned to her.

The expression he gave her was poisonous. He glared at her as if to say ‘That should be you in this grave’ , which, coincidentally, he did say to her face a few days later. 

According to her mother, his name was Neji, and he was her cousin. Due to their fathers being twins, however, they were more like siblings in terms of relations. This was another revelation for Hinata. How she missed this, she had no idea. Much like her late uncle, she had no clue Neji existed up until now. 

And he hated her. After days of trying to initiate contact with the one child her age that she only recently knew existed and now hates her, she finally caught him in the afternoon, walking the same path she and her mother did. 

“I am not interested in speaking to you.” He declared immediately, upon seeing her approach.  He turned on his heel and started walking in the other direction. The sharp pivot was almost comical, but mostly concerning.

Hinata only felt slightly bad for harassing a freshly made orphan, but knowing he had no support system fueled whatever slim altruistic tendencies and familial values she had. She distantly wondered if this meant he’d living with her now that he had no parents, but filed that away for later. She first needed to speak with him.

“Wait!” She called out feebly, her small legs doing little to close the distance. He kept walking and started to pick up speed. “Neji!”

He turned to her, brows furrowed. It was odd how tightly wrapped his forehead was. “Leave me alone. I don’t want to play with you, Lady Hinata.”

“I don’t want to play! I want to talk!” She took his short pause to try and close the distance, but once more, he began speed walking away. She didn’t like how he called her Lady, especially since they were so closely related.

“Then I don’t want to talk to you.” Neji amended, continuing on his path. Hinata picked up speed as well. 

“Why not?” She was doing her best to match him but Neji had a bit of height on her, as well as the added bonus of being a year older and thus more in control of his limbs. 

“Because,” Neji snapped, once more turning to face her. “My father would still be alive if it weren’t for you. It should not be him in that grave.” He paused, then tacked on: “Lady Hinata.”

This was new information to Hinata, and Neji could see the shock evident on her face. She used this momentary break in his pace to catch up to him and grab his hands. She didn’t think it was the time to remind him that they did not, in fact, bury his father as his father's body was still missing. Neji noticed her blank stare.

“You didn’t know,” Neji looked down at where she held his hand, disgusted, and tried to pull away. “How sheltered a life you live.” He was losing his formality by the minute.

“Tell me, then!” Hinata’s grasp remained firm, using both her hands to lock around his wrists. 

“Let go!” He shouted, clawing at her fingers and trying to remove them.

“No!” Hinata was shocked at how shrill her voice came out and was once again reminded about how unserious the two must appear. They were children; to any onlookers, it was some petty squabble. 

In one singular motion, Neji kicked behind her legs and sent Hinata toppling down. Unfortunately for him, her grasp remained just as strong and he went down with her. The two went tumbling into the mud, no doubt ruining the nice white clothing signature for their clan. Neji fell on top of her, crushing her arms beneath him before quickly scrambling to get back up. He couldn't do much though, as she still had hold of his right arm. 

“Tell me—!”

Using his one free hand, Neji palmed her face away from him, trying to create some distance. Hinata couldn’t do much with both her hands still on her cousin, and trapped beneath said cousin, but much to her credit (and Neji’s shock), she quickly adapted.  

“No! This is insane! What are you—”

Within seconds of Neji’s hand pushing against her face, she bit him. Hard. Blood dripped down from her face and onto her nice white clothes. Neji gasped, quickly yanking back the injured hand and assessing the damage— her teeth sank into the meat between his thumb and index and broke the skin. 

She had never bitten someone before, let alone felt that blind, fighting instinct. Hinata sat still, if only for a moment, logging the aggression in her brain and noting it for later. Neji took this opportunity to kick her off, rather harshly, in her opinion. She hit the forest floor again and was sure the back of her head had some bruising. Neji stood himself up, eyeing her in quiet disbelief, still holding his injury. He’s putting pressure on it, she realized. Trying to stop the bleeding. Hinata stared at him. Neji stared back. He was mad.

Oh, I made him bleed. She thought distantly, connecting the dots in her adrenaline-fueled haze. That’s why he’s mad.

Hinata went to say something, but just ended up spitting out more blood onto herself. Perhaps he reacted with the right amount of harshness after all. 

Neji angrily went to walk past her, no doubt trying to salvage what little dignity he had, but in his distraction failed to notice, or didn’t expect, Hinata’s hand to lash out and grab his ankle. Neji stumbled, and then Hinata rolled over and threw her full force, an estimated thirty pounds, onto his unstable frame. Thinking fast, she hooked her arms around his neck to keep her attached to him. Neji hit the ground and attempted to roll over on top of her using momentum, clawing at her puny arms that were slowly (unintentionally) choking him. 

“That's enough,” A large hand gently lifted Hinata, and by extension, Neji, as she remained clinging to him, Hinata did not recognize the voice, but the cadence was similar to the many Hyuuga members lurking behind the scenes and avoiding her just as much as Neji was.

“Lady Hinata, if you would, please let him go.” She did, as holding the boy up was taking a toll on her physically. The person restraining her was being abnormally polite about it. Neji stumbled back and glared at her with the appropriate amount of spite. Perhaps a physical altercation wasn’t the way to go about extending an olive branch.

“We’re going to see Lord Hiashi.” The clan member stated. Neji paled considerably, which was impressive, considering how paper-white he already was. If he wasn’t caked in dirt and mud, he would’ve matched his tunic. 

The clan member set Hinata down and held their hand out for her to take. She did. The clan members then extended their other hand to Neji, who was walking off. 

“Neji, you too.” Neji froze, and an expression almost akin to sheepishness crossed his face, for but a brief moment before it was replaced with the same unimpressed expression he wore before their confrontation.

Neji did not end up taking the clan members' hand but did follow them to what Hinata now recognized as an office space. No doubt where her father resided. 

They entered the building and then were led down the hallway, and stopped in front of a sliding paper door. 

“Come in,” said her father from beyond the door. She tentatively slid it open. The clan member nudged them in.

The first thing Hinata noticed was her father's eyes. They were strained and veins lined his forehead, but he wasn’t angry or displeased. His face was carefully neutral. She figured this had to do with the family’s magic eyes. She peeked over at Neji, to gauge his reaction, but he was staring at something else entirely.

The second thing Hinata noticed was the window that directly looked out to the path she and her mother frequented. The very same path that she and her cousin had rolled around in. 

“Pathetic.” Was the exact word her father used when describing their scuffle. “Not what I expected from two trained Hyuuga clan members. Hinata, especially you.”

“I’m sorry,” She and Neji chorused. She didn’t know why he was apologizing, since she was the one who started it. And she expressed as much. 

“It was my fault. I attacked him.”

“I was provoking you,” Neji quickly amended. “I apologize, Lady Hinata.” 

She didn’t know why he was so quick to try and take responsibility, but she wasn’t having it. Did he want to take the blame so she’d owe him further down the line? 

“No, I grabbed you first.” She corrected firmly, turning to him and then to her father. “I bit him, too.” 

“That’s not the feat you think it is,” sighed her father, his eyes relaxing into what most would consider normal. “Hinata, we don’t bite people. You know better.”

“I’m sorry.” She had the decency to act ashamed, focusing her gaze down on the floor. 

“We use our proper katas and demonstrate correct technique. We’re not savages.” 

Her head snapped up to her father, searching for any sign of a joke. “What?”

“It’s like you’ve not learned anything from the past year.” 

“What?” She repeated dumbly. Her father pushed himself up from the desk and nodded at the clansmen who still stood behind them, presumably dismissing them from their duties. They exited the room with a quick bow and slid the door shut behind them. Beside her, Neji shifted awkwardly from one foot to another, still holding his wound from earlier. Her father moved from behind his workstation to stand in front of the large window overlooking the path. His hands were clasped behind his back.

She wondered, distantly, how many times he had watched her and her mother walk the very same path. Also, how the hell she missed such a large window to begin with. 

“Your training, Hinata. It’s like you’ve forgotten nearly all of it. Maybe you weren’t truly internalizing it in the first place.” Her father mused, keeping his gaze fixed at the scenic view. 

“And Neji,” He continued, turning to give his nephew the decency of eye contact that he wouldn’t afford his own daughter, “You need to learn how to adapt. Where Hinata did not rely on her training, you relied too heavily on it.”

Neji stiffly bowed. “Yes, sir.”

Hinata didn’t like that.

“I want you to fight again. Properly, this time.” 

Hinata really didn’t like that. As if sensing her protest, her father carried on as if he hadn’t just admitted his idea of a calming afternoon was pitting two children, one of which was his very traumatized only child and the other his newly orphaned nephew, against each other. Hinata didn’t want to fight her cousin to begin with— she just wanted to understand what was happening in the first place. But that was getting farther and farther out of reach as her father continued speaking. 

“Now that you’ve proved yourself ready, Hinata, we’ll continue your training at a more rigorous pace. Neji,” Her father examined the boy as if contemplating what he would say next. “You’ll join her.”

Neji had the gall to seem a little offended by this. He quickly smoothed his face over, but if Hinata caught that, there was no way her father wouldn't. 

“We’ll start tomorrow morning. You’ll be working with Kenta.” 

Kenta, as it turned out, was the name of the family member who broke up the fight earlier. They had long hair, though it was a lighter brown, and the same eyes as everyone else in the clan: empty and haunting. They appeared to be a teenager, but Hinata wasn’t sure since they carried themselves like an adult.

“So, I’ll be taking over your training,” they said calmly, with an air of authority that indicated that they might be older than she thought.

“What happened to Umee?” Neji asked. His hand was bandaged neatly and he stood a good distance away from Hinata. 

“Ah, well, Lord Hiashi wanted the two of you to work on sparring. You’ll still work with her one-on-one, but I’m overseeing the joint training.” Kento offered Neji a small smile, which didn’t appear to sate the boy. 

“Shall we begin?”  They asked, looking between the two children. Immediately, Neji sank into a weird crouch. Hinata did her best to mimic it. 

“Ah, no.” Kenta gently corrected, moving her back foot further down and slightly left. “And raise your hands. Does that feel better?”

“Can’t tell,” Hinata muttered. Neji scoffed. 

“You have something to say?” She asked with an aggression that was surely out of character. It certainly didn’t come out as intimidating as she thought it would. Kenta ignored their banter in favor of adjusting her form.

“No, Lady Hinata.” A perfect, practiced answer came immediately. 

“I will bite you again.” 

“No, you will not,” Kenta refuted, keeping their arm on Hinata still just in case. “We are civilized individuals.”

“I will hit you.” Hinata amended, glancing at her mentor to seek a reaction. Her teacher sighed but didn’t correct the statement. 

Hinata did try to hit Neji, but he was too fast. And, when restricted to “proper” movements, Hinata became easily predictable. She could not slap, bite, or pull hair, which was about all she knew how to do when it came to fighting. Aside from the rush of adrenaline that fueled her with unwarranted confidence, she was a lousy fighter. 

Neji thought so, too. He even went so far as to say it to her face in not-so-nice words. After spending the morning battling it out and getting her ass handed to her, Hinata was ready for a break. Kenta released them for lunch and wandered off to do something else— far, far away from them both. 

Hinata was sitting just outside of the training grounds, nursing a cut on her knee, when the boy came strolling over. Hinata guessed that her father encouraging  Neji to beat the life out of her took some misplaced anger away. 

“You should give up,” he taunted, standing above her. His smugness, though warranted, was getting on her nerves. She didn’t bother looking up, instead alternating between tending to her wound and picking at the bento that magically appeared with her name on it. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that her meals were catered by some unknown entity, and she was beginning to recognize the handwriting at least. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s an option,” she bit back, swiping at some gravel lodged in her cut with the handkerchief Kenta provided her. 

“Unfortunate indeed,” Neji agreed, settling beside her. “You’re unfit to be the clan head.” 

“I’m three.” It was a fact she had to repeatedly remind herself of, and a ridiculous one. Three-year-olds shouldn’t be duking it out on the playground at six in the morning. Three-year-olds shouldn’t have to defend their place in the world with violence. Three-year-olds shouldn’t be doing any of this. 

“And I’m four,” Neji reminded her. Well, four wasn’t much better. 

“By all means, feel free to take over,” she ground out, grabbing her nearby water bottle and flushing out the remaining dirt from her knee. It stung, but not as bad as being kicked down and across the training ground in the first place. 

“You don’t mean that,” he scoffed, voice lowering fractionally as if to avoid detection. Not that that would do much in a compound full of super ninjas with extra super eyes and sort of super hearing. 

Hinata simply hummed, fixing the bandage around her leg. “For the record,” she offered, “I think you’d make a great clan leader.”

Neji scoffed, clearly not taking her words seriously. “A branch member, clan leader? Right.” 

This was a term that was thrown around quite a lot. Branch family, main family. And despite her horrible track record with getting information out of Neji, he was likely the only person she could ask. Hinata pulled her lunch onto her lap and began unwrapping some rice balls. 

“Branch member?” She gently prodded, taking a small bite. Neji nodded, not realizing it was a question, waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, he gave her an expression she didn’t know how to categorize. It was equal parts shocked, angry, and confused— his eyebrows were doing something funny, and his mouth was twitching minutely as if trying to start several sentences at once to properly relay his reaction to her ignorance.

“Yes,” Neji answered, drawing his words out. “Branch member.” 

Hinata was a bit irritated that he was just repeating himself instead of shedding light on the situation. Neji was still staring at her, dumbfounded. 

“You’re part of the main family,” he explained. 

“Well, yes, but aren’t you my genetic half-brother?” 

Neji laughed openly, turning to her with a bitter smile that only emphasized how stupid Hinata was. 

“Ask your father,” he simply replied. “I don’t think I’m the right person to explain this to you.”

“My father tells me nothing,” retorted Hinata. “I’m kept in the dark on most matters, and if I’m told anything, it’s a gross distortion of the truth.”

Neji eyed her warily. “Oh?” He simply prompted. 

“Yes,” she reaffirmed. Neji paused, waiting for her to continue. Hinata changed the subject. “Where’s your lunch?” 

This was a bad thing to say. Neji’s face contorted into a scowl she was quickly becoming familiar with. 

“I don’t have servants to cater my meals, unlike you.” With the way he spoke, she got the impression that this had something to do with the whole branch family thing. She paused, wondering who was ensuring Neji was getting fed in that case. Not that everyone was entitled to servants, but he had no immediate family to prepare him meals either. 

“Oh.” Hinata reached into her artfully arranged bento and fished out a second rice ball. She held it out to Neji. 

The boy’s eyes darted between her and the rice ball before finally taking it into his own hands. 

“It’s salmon,” she clarified. 

“I hate salmon,” Neji mumbled, gingerly unwrapping the food. She doubted that, seeing as he eagerly devoured it with the gusto of a starved man but the manners of a dignified noble. She didn’t comment on it, instead passing him her water bottle. She wondered once more what he’d been eating in the days that passed since he lost his father. 

“You should come over for dinner,” Hinata offered easily. Neji choked, sending him into a very undignified coughing fit. This was probably the most damage she’d done to him all day.

Chapter Text

Hinata didn’t know what she was expecting. Neji joined her for the family’s evening meal, but she began to suspect it was only because she had given him a direct order as a main family member. She didn’t know the significance of Main versus Branch but Neji certainly did, so she trusted that he was acting accordingly, if not overly cautious about the whole thing. She didn’t discount the probability that he was overreacting, as he did with many things, but decided to respect his hesitance and not push the issue further.

The pair entered the dining room to find an extra seat and plate already laid out. Hinata wished she could have been more shocked, but this only confirmed that eyes and ears were everywhere. Hinata occupied her usual spot and instructed Neji to sit beside her, waving her hand at him with undue excitement. He regarded her with a flat expression, unimpressed, and gingerly placed himself to her left. The table was set with dinner already, though she and Neji knew better than to start eating without the rest of the family. 

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Neji reiterated. It was likely the seventh time he’d said so in the span of half an hour. It was also the most he’d talked to her in one go without things devolving into bodily harm.

Hinata waved her hand dismissively, as she’d seen Hitomi do many times when she was dismissing stupid remarks. Which she seemed to do a lot, especially when Hinata spoke. 

“It’ll be fine,” She reassured. Neji did not look particularly soothed. 

Her mother was the first to join them, wearing her usual formal kimono and looking pristine as usual. Hitomi glanced at the two children but elected to say nothing about it, taking it in stride. Hinata noticed the minute change in her mother’s facial expression. She wasn’t smiling, but it was the closest expression to a grin she had seen from the woman thus far. Her lips twitched upward and the crease of her brow lessened. She looked softer, and even a bit mischievous. Hitomi, if anything, was amused. This put Hinata at ease but only seemed to make Neji more tense.

Well, thought Hinata, even if things aren’t entertaining now, they’re about to be. Hitomi was kind, and she was a good judge of character except for having married Hiashi. Hinata was relatively confident that that had been not her choice at all, so she was more inclined to believe her mother was a victim of clan politics just as much as she was. 

Hitomi not being worried was a good sign. She only wished Neji could see that.

Hiashi entered the room like he already knew what was happening. He probably did, being able to see through walls and all that, and he wasn’t one to be caught off guard anyway. Hinata watched her father internally struggle to formulate a response, his eyes flickering over the duo as if trying to discern their motives. Hinata noted the small furrow of her father’s brow and gathered that he wasn’t too pleased with the situation. He quickly schooled his expression from his upset frown back to his normal frown. She turned to Neji to see his reaction. 

Neji was not having a good time. If he didn’t have such extreme control over his body at all times, Hinata was sure he’d be sweating buckets and shivering like a dog. At the moment, the only sign of his discomfort was the slight twitch of his leg as if he was preparing to leap out the window at any given moment. Hinata didn’t discount it; it was at ground level so the only real damage would be to the window. Which, at the Hyuuga residence, seemed to become more and more common. Hinata passively wondered how long it would be until all their windows were broken, and if she should get ahead of the curve and break a few herself before she missed her opportunity.

Either way, something about her father's presence was intimidating to Neji. This was fair, as Hiashi was an imposing man, but Neji seemed specifically afraid of him as a person and not fearful of the generalized figure of authority. There was something personal laced in with the tension strung through the boy’s body. He didn’t dare look up.

Ironically, her father seemed equally unnerved by the whole situation. He regarded Neji with all the caution one would a live wire, unsure as to how to proceed. It was odd for her father, a grown man, to be wary of a four-year-old, but it was more likely that he was uncomfortable with the social connotations than anything else. In a moment of what Hinata could only assume was panic, he uncharacteristically turned to Hitomi to take control of the situation. 

 Her mother, blessedly, broke the awkward silence by picking up the teapot, signaling to everyone that dinner would proceed as normally as possible. No one spoke. Instead, they all watched her pour green tea for everyone, starting with Hiashi, as usual, then continuing to herself and Hinata. And then Neji.

Which was odd, as Hitomi had to reach further out and skip over Neji to do so, which Hinata noted, and she was sure Neji did as well.

Then everyone served themselves from the larger family-style plates. In the same order as before, in absolute silence. Normally this is when Hitomi would gently prompt the family to talk about their day, but no one said a word. It was silent as Hiashi served himself, then her mother, and logically, she expected Neji to go next as they were working counterclockwise. He stayed still, hands resting on his lap and staring blankly ahead. 

Hitomi offered a strained smile at her and gently nodded. Hinata pointedly looked at Neji and then her mother. Hitomi shook her head.

Reluctantly, Hinata served herself. Then, before anyone could say anything, slid a fillet of salmon onto Neji’s plate as well, since she was sure that even given the chance he wouldn’t even attempt to touch the food on the table. 

Her father opened his mouth in protest, but before he could speak, Hinata then quickly scooped a generous amount of rice onto her cousin's plate. 

If Neji was anxious before, she was sure he was about to spontaneously combust. 

Hinata sat back, satisfied with herself, and Hitomi sighed softly and shook her head. A small snapping sound echoed through the room: the first noise that didn’t organically occur through the routine of a meal.

Hiashi had snapped his very nice bamboo chopsticks. Hinata knew these were special chopsticks as he was very particular about them, making sure they were placed at his spot every meal. Hiashi stood up immediately.

“I’m going to get another pair of chopsticks.” He hissed.

Hinata paused. “Can we eat?” She asked candidly. It was a valid question. Normally everyone waited until he took his first bite, but if he was going to disappear for an extended amount of time then she wanted her dinner. And it was likely the case that it would take Hiashi that long, because Hinata doubted he’d ever been in the kitchen long enough to know what was in their fridge, let alone where the chopsticks were.

Hiashi was not expecting that. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, as if he was worried that if he didn’t seal it shut some obscenities would come flying out.

Instead of answering her question, he responded: “Hinata, why don’t you come with me?”

She wanted to say, No, I want to eat my dinner while it’s still warm, but the look on her mother's face told her that was a very bad idea. So instead she shrugged and got up to follow her father who very confidently led her to the living room.

“This isn’t the kitchen,” Hinata informed him. She wasn’t sure if it was intentional, and didn’t put it past him to not know where the kitchen was in his own home. Yes, it was his house, but she didn’t know to what extent he actually lived there. He didn’t appear to sleep there and rarely ate with them. And dinner was likely only because he was socially obligated to. 

She didn’t ever go inside her mother’s bedroom but she was near confident that’s all it was. Her mother’s. 

“Hinata, we need to talk about dinner,” He uttered in a low tone. She was almost afraid of him but distantly knew there were no real consequences for her social faux pas aside from embarrassment, which Hinata never concerned herself with. 

“I was thinking the same thing. Neji doesn’t like salmon, so next time we should have tuna,” She replied at a normal volume. Hinata didn’t see the point in whispering when two rooms behind them were two trained shinobi. Well, Neji was in training, and Hinata wasn’t sure about her mother, but Hitomi moved with such grace in silence that she believed the woman had at least some training. Especially in a clan where everyone was expected to be combat-ready at all times.

“No, we need to discuss why you invited Neji to dinner,” Hiashi corrected her. His tone was level but Hinata could tell he was losing it internally. 

“Well, who else was he going to eat with? His dad’s dead and I haven’t heard anything about a mom.” That was a bit indelicate. Luckily, she was three and would take that excuse as far as she possibly could. Any other social misgivings were filed under the ‘traumatized’ umbrella. They were both great buffers to hide behind.

“Hinata! That is highly inappropriate!”

“Sorry.” She wasn’t, and Hiashi likely knew this as well. The man sighed, bringing up his fingers to press against his temples, no doubt trying to rid himself of a headache. It would probably have been more efficient if he just sent Hinata away instead.

“You can’t just invite people to dinner without telling us,” He tried again, attempting to appeal to whatever rational side his three-year-old had. 

“He’s my genetic half-brother,” Hinata helpfully reminded him.

“Yes, but he’s also a branch family member.”

There it was again. She had no idea what it meant, so she could only guess. Every day she grew more and more convinced that she was born into a cult. It was the logical conclusion. Despite his lack of charisma, her dad was the cult leader, and that made Hinata next in line to be a cult leader. It had to have been passed down to him as well because there was no way that many people would willingly follow this man into an isolated compound surrounded by forest. Regardless, she had no idea what elitist nonsense her dad was spouting and decided it was time to try and decipher it. She must have remained quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time because her father continued: 

“You are above him, and as such, will not lower yourself to his level. Bringing him to main family meals is unacceptable.”

“But why?” Hinata hoped her father understood this was a genuine question. Hiashi, fortunately, was still operating on the same set of beliefs that his daughter was incompetent. He bent down to her level.

Hinata was face to face with Hiashi for probably the first time in her life. Though her recollection spanned scarcely a week, she knew the gravity of the situation and wisely shut her mouth. Hiashi was probably in his early thirties, with a full head of well-kept hair and the beginnings of wrinkles starting to form. His cheekbones were oddly pronounced and he had a large forehead, accented by his widow's peak. 

But the most interesting thing was his eyes. Hinata knew logically something was off about them; something was off about every Hyuuga’s eyes, but she was finally able to put her finger on it now that she stood so close. 

They were empty. Milky white and pale purple combined to create an unnerving effect that most could see from afar. She had grown used to the glassy pupiless stare of herself and her kin, but her father was another story entirely. Up close, it was an utter vacancy. It was unlike the familiar gaze of her mother, or even Kenta or Neji; there was no warmth in his eyes. There was no emotion at all. Hinata had never particularly believed the saying that the eyes are a window to one’s soul, but if that were true, Hiashi was soulless. 

 There was no reflection in his eyes, not a hint of life. It was as if Hinata was looking at a corpse. 

And the corpse was looking back, rambling on about something she should have been paying attention to. 

“...responsibilities as a Main family member, meaning that trivializing yourself as such is not conducive to maintaining your status,” Hiashi droned on. 

“But, what’s the distinction?” Hinata asked. “What makes a family member Branch or Main?” 

Silence once more filled the room. Instead of responding, Hiashi stood up and took her hand, which was the most physical contact she’d ever received from him, and gently led her back to the dinner table, dropping her hand in the doorway. While Hinata wasn’t expecting a conversation, she was surprised to see her mother and Neji were locked in an awkward staring match. 

Hiashi approached Neji, grabbed him by the head, and began unwrapping the boy’s forehead bandages. Hinata watched in shock from the doorway. 

“This is what separates you from him.” He announced. Neji was shaking and on the verge of tears.

A green ‘X’ sat in the middle of his forehead, surrounded by lines spanning the length of it. It looked sensitive to the touch, inflamed, and painful. Angry red skin surrounded the pale green markings that were carved into the skin, not just painted on. Hinata was horrified.

“Hiashi!” Her mother, of all people, pushed herself up from the table in protest. 

“This is the caged bird seal, Hinata. It means he is beneath you. It seals away the byakugan after death, and more importantly, ensures loyalty to the main house.”

“Is that why your brother went in your place?” She blurted while hurrying over to Neji, who was crying silently, his hands shaking in his lap. Her father's hand remained on his head, still forcing his forehead up for Hinata to see. Hiashi paused. 

“Yes.” His tone was emotionless. 

Hinata grabbed the bandages from off the table where her father had discarded them and reached for Neji’s hand with her free one. She gently helped him up from the ground. Hiashi’s hand fell from his head as they both stood. 

“I’m going to take him back to his home for the night,” Hinata evenly informed him. Food was gone from both of their plates, so at least he’d had eaten some in her absence. If everything else went to shit, at least Neji had dinner. 

“That would be best, yes,” Agreed Hiashi. “We can have Kenta–”

“I’ll walk with him.” 

Hiashi blinked, not foreseeing her interruption. While he was carefully cataloging all the changes in her personality since the whole kidnapping incident, he did not ever expect to see her be as rude as to interrupt the clan head, let alone her father. 

 Hinata stared back at the man, not as devoid of emotion as she’d hoped. Neji was wiping his tears in the background. Hiashi appeared oddly pleased with the turn of events, likely misinterpreting her defiance as obedience. 

“Fine. Kenta will guide you both,” He accepted. Hinata nodded sharply and turned on her heel, dragging Neji behind her. The boy didn’t say a word as she led him out of the dining room and out of the main family home. 

Kenta was standing outside the doorway by the time Hinata and Neji emerged. They didn’t look surprised but generally weren’t expressive anyway. Kenta let Hinata take the lead by bringing Neji over to a bench and wisely did not speak up about the detour, even if it was a good distance from the bulk of the buildings in the compound.

She finally let go of his hand and took a good look at him. For everything Neji was, proud, confident, and capable, he was barely a shell of himself. This was the most his age she’d ever seen him look, and that was only because he was trying and failing to stop the tears silently running down his face. 

“You don’t have to put them back on, but here they are anyways,” Hinata placed the bandages in his lap, as his forehead was still exposed.  “Sorry about dinner,” 

 She waited for Neji to say something; she wanted him to bite back, to snap at her, but he just seemed broken. Hinata began by opening the dialogue. 

“I don’t know if he’s watching or listening right now, but what Hiashi did was beyond messed up,” Neji’s head snapped up, and she could feel the sharp gaze of Kenta’s eyes boring into her back. One, because she called her father ‘Hiashi’, and two because she so openly condemned him. 

 “I can’t… properly formulate it right now, but I’m angry and upset. I don’t think I’m better than you. I don’t think anyone’s inherently better than anyone, and I won’t pretend to uphold that set of values,” She said plainly. “And the whole seal thing is just stupid. Sorry, I don’t mean to trivialize it, but the whole concept of it is stupid.” 

“Lady Hinata,” Kenta cautioned slowly. “I’m not offering my own opinion or advice, but know that should your father ask me to report what happened I am required to tell him.” 

“Yeah, because if you don’t, he’ll use the seal!” Hinata shot back. “That’s what I’m saying! It’s awful! He’s awful!”

Kenta sighed, realizing their attempt at warning her did little to nothing. They shifted from foot to foot, clearly weighing the pros and cons of stopping her tirade and being on the receiving end of her fury, or letting it spiral and become a bigger issue later on. An issue that they hopefully wouldn’t have to deal with, and would fall to the clan heads. 

“That’s a simplistic way of viewing things,” Neji finally spoke up. His voice was quiet, and didn’t hold the same confidence it normally had. 

“Sure, but it’s also accurate.” Hinata began pacing. “I don’t need to pretend to have some deeper understanding if even on the surface level it’s already fucked.”

“Lady Hinata!” Kenta interjected. She turned to them, wondering why that was the sticking point.

“Go ahead. Tattle on me to my father. I know you must feel the same.” Hinata pointed a stubby finger at their forehead, covered by the leaf headband. “You can’t honestly say you enjoy being made to feel inferior and living in servitude.”

“Your language,” They sighed. “Speak your mind, but use your words wisely.”

“I think she gets to say ‘fuck’,” Neji commented idly. “I don’t get why you’re choosing that hill to die on.”

“Neji!” Kenta was horrified. Apparently, they took issue with cursing but not with familial insurrection. “Neither you nor Lady Hinata should be using those words!”

“To be fair, I think if my vocabulary is expected to be mature, I should be able to use mature words.” Hinata idly explained. “I also doubt ‘fuck’ is the most offensive thing I’ve said tonight.”

“Regardless, someone of your position–” They tried to appeal to her, bending down and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“Fuck my position!” She snapped, removing their hand.
“Yeah, fuck her position,” Neji added, lacking the enthusiasm of someone who truly meant it. He seemed to just want to say more bad words.

Kenta looked from Hinata to Neji, absolutely dumbstruck. They then made up their mind that any level of policing Hinata’s behavior was futile, from spouting revolutionary nonsense to vulgar vocabulary. They felt a headache coming on and sighed.
“Alright, setting that aside… Neji, we need to get you home,” Kenta held their hand out to him, but Neji pointedly hopped off the bench and briskly walked by them, not taking it. Kenta sighed again. They foresaw a lot of that in their future.

“Yeah,” Hinata agreed, doing her best to take control of the situation again. “Neji, where do you live?” 

“I haven’t moved,” Neji scowled, pointing south towards the compounds. 

“Yeah, but—” Hinata paused, registering what he said and quickly switching from defensive to curious. “So, you’re living alone?”
“I don’t suppose you’ve resurrected my father,” He countered, beginning to walk in the direction of his house. Kenta, in the background, was losing their mind. They had no idea what was going on right now, and how they were meant to survive the next few years of babysitting and training with the level of absurdity occurring regularly. 

“No, haven’t figured that one out yet,” Hinata shrugged, following Neji’s lead despite her insistence she would be the one to walk him home. “One day, probably. But a four-year-old shouldn’t be living alone.”

Neji shrugged. “I have my own space, but branch member living is pretty communal. I eat dinner with everyone, usually.”

“What about the rest of the meals?” She asked, trying to assure herself that it was because she was worried for Neji and not just nosy. 

“I make them myself.” 

“How do you grocery shop?”

“Haven’t had to yet.” Right. His father died pretty recently. Hinata felt bad that she kept forgetting that, even though that was kind of Neji’s whole thing. Perhaps that was a bit cruel, he had other distinguishing features besides being an orphan and a branch member. He was also kind of mean. Probably because he was an orphan and a branch member. 

“Why don’t you move in with Kenta?” She continued to interrogate him. Neji paused as if considering it.

“ Them ?” Neji turned his head to scrutinize the shinobi trailing the two. 

Kenta froze, clearly not expecting the spotlight to be on them. They were relieved to be dismissed so easily but also insulted. 

“Sure, they seem to like you well enough. They spend a lot of time around you.”

“I was directly ordered to.” Kenta corrected. 

“See! And they’re responsible, too,” Hinata added, feeling great about her new idea. Plus, I haven’t seen them hanging around anyone, so I don’t think they have any friends. They could use the company.”

 Kenta was panicking. They were too young to become someone’s guardian, they still had a whole life to live! Being a young parent wasn’t for them, even if they were already looking after the two brats regularly. Why didn’t they have a say in this? They felt like they should have a say in this.

“I–” Kenta tried to interrupt. 

“I’ll think about it,” Neji agreed, speaking over them. “It might be better in the long run if I don’t have to purchase food and do laundry. I could focus more on training.”

“I am not going to do your laundry!” Kenta protested, but the two children ignored them in favor of continuing to make plans about them, in front of them, all the way back to Neji’s house.

Chapter Text

Kenta wanted to spend their day off sleeping in. They had finally wrestled one Thursday away from the rigorous training schedule Hinata and Neji were on by pleading their case to the merciful Lady Hitomi and had planned a lovely day of nothing to celebrate. Unfortunately, they were woken up to the sound of a window shattering and something heavy being thrown across the living room. 

Kenta already knew where this was going. They grabbed their house slippers to avoid any broken glass and walked out to meet the very predictable sight of Hinata and Neji. 

Neji had a duffle bag slung around his shoulder, and Hinata had a brick in her hand. Kenta looked down at the floor. It would seem the brick she held matched the one that shattered their window and was on their, now-dented, coffee table. Hinata tracked their gaze and wisely dropped the brick. 

“Circumstantial evidence!” She was quick to claim. Kenta sighed. The headache was coming back.

“You should probably do something about the glass. It’s very dangerous to children,” Neji sagely advised, scooting the brick over from where it landed to set his duffle down on the table. 

“Good morning Lady Hinata, Neji,” Kenta said, instead of yelling the many other things running through their mind at the moment. 

“You look awful,” Hinata greeted. It was true. Kenta was probably the most disheveled she’d ever seen from a Hyuuga; it was still leaps and bounds from anyone else in society, but as a Hyuuga, one was expected to be well-kempt at all hours of the day. 

Kenta turned to Neji. Neji did not come to their defense. 

“So, what’s going on?” They groggily wiped the very un-Hyuuga-like eye boogers from their eyes. Hinata let out a small ‘ew’. 

“I’m moving in,” Announced Neji. 

“No, you are not,” Kenta corrected. “I live here. Alone. Thank you.”

Hinata lit up and fished something from her little bag. It was a small purse with a flower on it, worn crossbody, and didn’t seem to be able to hold a lot. She pulled out a wad of cash. 

“Here!” She shoved it at Kenta. 

“Oh, I can’t–” Kenta glanced down. It was an insane amount of money to carry on someone’s person so casually, let alone a child. It was roughly the equivalent of a genin salary. 

“Where did you...” They murmured, not paying much attention to Hinata as she placed it into the fold of their wrap top. She had to stand on her tippy toes to do so, and gently pressed it against their chest so the shirt held it in. Most of it fell onto the ground.

“Is this a bribe?” Kenta blinked, becoming more awake by the second. They didn’t particularly like that the young heiress had tried to put money down their shirt, nor did they want to know where she learned that.

“This is rent,” Neji corrected. 

“I’m not going to accept this,” They clarified.

Hinata wordlessly pointed to the bills sticking out of Kenta’s sleep shirt. Kenta sighed. 

“Let me show you your room.” 

Weeks passed uneventfully with Hinata and Neji continuing to beat the shit out of each other and further their bond. Kenta was a great mentor, and, according to Neji, a decent roommate. Neji ended up converting the small office space in their apartment to his bedroom, which meant a lot of Kenta’s art supplies now occupied the living room. Kenta fancied themself a painter and was pretty good at it. Their dream, apparently, was to make as much money as they could in their youth and retire early so they could spend the rest of their life devoted to art. There were a lot of landscapes. Hinata didn’t get the appeal of painting the dunes and sandy nothingness, but hey, it seemed to keep Kenta sane and that’s all she could ask for. 

Neji would be starting the Academy in April, which was just three short months away, and then Hinata would be put through the wringer until she started one year later. 

She knew this because Kenta wouldn’t stop waxing poetically about how nice it would be to finally get rid of them and go back to their normal routine of being a paperwork jockey. 

Well, those weren’t their exact words. 

“I just can’t see why you don’t aim higher,” Huffed Neji, out of breath from their match. After nearly a month of goading, Kenta had finally caved in and indulged them in a two-versus-one, in which Hinata and Neji were swiftly overpowered. 

Kenta wasn’t breaking a sweat. It was to be expected from a chuunin, but they moved with such grace and intentionality that it was hard to believe they weren’t ranked higher. 

“Why would I? Neither of you surpass four feet.” Kenta pointed out, lightly stepping over Hinata who was enjoying some quality face-to-ground time. They retrieved her water bottle and reached to pass it to her. Hinata dramatically flopped over onto her back and opened her mouth expectantly. 

“No.” Kenta knew what she wanted and was tired of pouring water onto her face. Neji, however, was happy to oblige and after taking a sip himself, dumped the rest onto his cousin. Hinata smiled up at him.

“Most of it didn’t even go into her mouth!” Kenta protested. 

“That’s not what I meant,” Neji waved his hand loftily above him. Kenta recognized the motion from Hitomi, who passed it onto Hinata. And now Neji, swatting at air like the two and dismissing Kenta just as easily. 

“You could probably make jounin. Why settle for less?”

“Yeah, why settle for babysitting?” Chimed in Hinata. 

“I don’t wish to see the front lines of battle,” Kenta admitted. 

“Boo,” She jeered. Neji hushed her, clearly seeing this as an opportunity to squeeze more information out of their mentor. 

“Why not?” He asked innocently. Kenta sighed. 

“I don’t see the need to.”

“You’re afraid.” Neji accused, pointing at him. Yet another quirk he picked up from Hinata. She was clearly a bad influence. Kenta gently tucked his finger back into his fist and lowered Neji’s arm. 

“No, I just don’t need to put my life on the line to validate my existence. I enjoy my missions, and I like that they’re boring. I want to retire, and I won’t get to retire if I’m dead.”

“You seem a bit young to be thinking about retirement,” Quipped Hinata. 

“Well, the average life expectancy for shinobi is around twenty, so I think I’m on target.” 

Hinata shot up, water flying from her face and hair as she did so. “What?”

“Hinata!” Protested Neji, having gotten caught in the crossfire and now slightly damp. 

“Wait, how old are you?” Hinata squinted at them. 

“Sixteen,” Kenta supplied. “And I’d like to make it to seventeen, so I’m afraid it’s delivery missions and babysitting for me.”
“You’re a paper-nin?” Neji was more confused than anything, brows knitting behind the bandana he’d taken to wearing around his head.

“I’m not a fan of that term.” Kenta sniffed. 

“Paper-jockey,” Provided Hinata. Neji nodded, satisfied. 

“No. I am a sane person who values their life and sees the benefit in a stable income without danger.”

“Then why become a shinobi in the first place?” Hinata helped herself to her feet, ridding herself of the rest of the water by running her hands through her hair. 

 Kenta was silent, looking ahead in the distance but rather blankly at that. She didn’t think this would be a very hard question. Neji elbowed her lightly. 

“What?” She hissed. 

“War!” Neji pointed out. This was news.

“Oh,” Hinata said rather lamely. “...Is there still a war?”

Kenta sighed for probably the thousandth time that day. “No, there is not. It ended before you both were born. But Neji was right— I was expected to enroll and defend our clan and Konoha.” In that order, Hinata assumed.

Well, that explained the traumatized look. 

“Oh. Why don’t you quit now?” Hinata suggested. “Go do something normal,”

“This is my normal,” Kenta pointed out. 

“Oh. Bummer,” Neji elbowed her again. She turned to him angrily.  “It is a bummer! You know, there are other ways to socially correct me that don’t inflict pain!” 

“I don’t think ‘bummer’ is an appropriate reaction to war!” Argued Neji. 

“I don’t know, I feel like war is a bummer if there ever was one.”

“People died!”

“Major bummer!”

Neji went to elbow her again, but she was expecting it this time and caught his arm and poked him in the shoulder socket. He withdrew. 

Kenta gave them a tense smile, trying to soothe the situation. “It’s alright, Lady Hinata. War is… a bummer.” 

“See?” She jabbed Neji again. He caught her finger and twisted it, and in return, she kicked him in the shin. Kenta stepped between them.

“That’s enough,” They commanded. Hinata and Neji obediently stilled. “Why don’t we go to the park?”

“Why on earth would we want to do that?” Frowned Neji. 

“Because you two can’t be the only form of socialization for one another. It’s creating a feedback loop and I’m getting a headache.”

“You always have a headache,” Hinata pointed out helpfully. 

“Around you,” Murmured Neji. Hinata went to swat at him but realized Kenta was still standing in her way. 

“Park!” They shouted, grabbing the two children by the hand and leading them away. Despite her initial hesitance, Hinata had to admit she was excited to leave the compound. The only two times in her recollection that she’d done so were when she was kidnapped and then when she was put in the hospital, neither occasion being of her own accord. Granted, she wasn’t being taken out of her home at her behest, but at least she was conscious and willing this time. She peeked behind Kenta and over to Neji. 

Neji did not look as willing. His heels were dug into the ground and he was literally being dragged. This didn’t seem to deter Kenta, as they continued as if there weren’t thirty-odd pounds of deadweight being lugged behind them. She was beginning to think that going to the park was more for Kenta’s benefit than theirs. 

The park was full of other children. To be fair, that was probably standard, but after nearly a month of just Hinata and Neji doing Hinata and Neji things, she’d expected fewer. 

“Go.” Instructed Kenta once they arrived. “Don’t be rude. And please, no biting.”

“Yeah, Neji,” Hinata agreed. “No biting.” Neji rolled his eyes, never having bitten anyone while Hinata had bitten him seven times and Kenta twice so far.

Kenta wandered over to a nearby bench and sat down with all the melodrama of a single mother worked to her last nerve. Hinata and Neji followed them, not sure what to do. 

“Go on the slide,” They shrugged. “Or talk to someone. Anyone. I don’t care, just leave me alone.”

Hinata and Neji turned to each other. After following such a rigorous schedule for so long, having free reign was a foreign concept.
“...I can push you on the swings?” Hinata offered. Neji snorted. 

“Absolutely not.” He said, starting in the opposite direction of Kenta. Hinata followed him and then paused. 

“I’m going to talk to someone.” She announced. 

“This should be interesting,” Neji remarked wryly, continuing forward despite Hinata stopping in her tracks. 

“I think so too! There’s lots of new people.” 

“Okay, well, don’t bite anyone.” He reminded her. “And try not to be too weird.” 

Hinata shrugged, taking it in stride. She watched Neji wander off to the nearby field, probably to meditate. Meanwhile, she scanned the playground, looking for someone to talk to. 

There were lots of kids, running around and shouting and generally doing kid stuff. It didn’t really appeal to her; a lot of them seemed like they wouldn’t be decent socialization partners anyhow. There was a trio of kids sitting in the sandbox that appeared promising, but on closer inspection one of them was fast asleep and the other was eating sand. She, against her better judgment, decided to approach the blonde girl sitting with them. 

“Hello, my name is Hinata,” She introduced herself. 

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” Blurted the little girl instead of introducing herself back. Hinata couldn’t be too mad, as she had the same thought upon meeting her kin. 

“That’s hypocritical. You don’t have pupils either,” She pointed out. The blonde frowned, anxiously tugging at her pigtails. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you have eyes like her.” Came a muffled voice from the sand. Maybe the other kid wasn’t asleep after all. 

“No! My eyes aren’t ugly!” She cried. Well, now Hinata was offended. She wanted to insist that yes, they were, and so was her attitude. But that seemed rude, and she was under explicit orders to not be rude.

“Good-bye.” She said instead, concluding the conversation and turning on her heel, wandering off in the other direction to search for her next victim. 

After peering over at Neji, who was indeed meditating instead of socializing, she decided that her best bet would be to poach any children who came up to him. She decided to approach him with her plan. 

“I’ll intercept anybody who tries to talk to you,” Hinata pitched her idea to him, leaning against a nearby tree and not looking nearly as cool as she’d hoped. 

“So far, the only person who’s bothered me is you,” Neji pointed out, still in his meditating position.

“Well, it’s not like there’s many other people to bother,” Hinata huffed. 

“You could try the kid trying to hide in the bushes behind us.” He offered, eyes still closed. “They’ve been there for a while.”

Hinata looked over to where Neji instructed her and hummed. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Use your byakugan.”

“Oh, right.” Using the byakugan felt weird. It felt like tensing all your facial muscles at once and also like pooping with your eyes. Kenta said it’s because her body is pushing chakra through her eye sockets and that sort of sensation only really happens when one uses the bathroom. Kenta also said to never describe the sensation like that again, and they had a hard time activating their byakugan for around a week after that without feeling grossed out.

Hinata was getting good at activating her byakugan— it didn’t take her as long anymore and she also could hold it for longer. She switched her eyes on, and then quickly off as a blast of energy hit her from the direction of the bushes. 

“Ow! What was that?” She cried, covering her eyes and turning away from the source. 

“I have no idea!” Neji laughed. “But it’s awful, isn’t it?”

“I can’t see!” Hinata complained, marching over to the bushes. Neji opened one eye and watched her curiously as she rummaged through the leaves. “No one’s here.” 

“What? No,” Neji got up and moved beside her. “I felt the presence.” 

“Maybe it’s even bigger, but far away,” She posited.

“I hate to say it, but you might be right,” Neji frowned, grabbing her hand. “Let's go.”

“But, Kenta–” She halfheartedly protested, allowing herself to be dragged through the brush. 

“–Can find us easily,” Neji reassured. “I think the kid went that way.”

“What makes you say that?” He didn’t have his byakugan activated, so she was curious as to how he deduced this. Neji wordlessly pointed to the muddy footprints in front of them. 

“Oh.” Hinata lamely said. “This means they’re not a threat because they’d cover these up and also make a better effort concealing their chakra.”

“Or they’re bait,” Neji suggested, following the tracks intently. 

“Then we shouldn’t be following them.” Hinata objected, not liking his outlook on things. Neji didn’t seem bothered, instead holding a finger to his mouth as they progressed forward. 

They moved through the grove with practiced stealth. They would be easily spotted by a trained professional, but Hinata was still proud that her footsteps were just as silent as Neji’s. She could also move faster than him in the quiet, while he was stuck watching each footstep still. They followed the path until it reached a creek. A small blonde boy was sitting by it with his feet in the water, kicking away happily and humming something. 

Hinata glanced at Neji. His byakugan briefly activated before he shut it off with a wince. He nodded. Hinata slowly crept forward, unsure of their game plan but given the go-ahead by Neji to do something. She silently grabbed a stick off the ground and snuck up behind the boy. 

“Hinata!”

On Neji’s cue, she grabbed the kid from behind and used a stick to press against his neck. “Got him! Now what?” The boy struggled. 

“Let me go!” He yelled loudly,  thrashing in her grasp. She put a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t alert anyone. 

“Hinata, what the hell!” Neji quickly closed the distance. She was confused; he was the one who gave her the signal. In her brief moment of hesitance, the boy bit her. 

“Ow!” She quickly released him, and then turned to Neji, now understanding. “Biting hurts more than I thought. I get why you don’t like it now.”

The boy backed up, eyes wide and searching for something to match the stick Hinata still had in her hand. She wanted to tell him that there were plenty of other sticks he could grab, but he panicked.

“Who are you? What do you want?” He demanded, pointing an accusing finger at her. Okay, she was also beginning to see why people didn’t like when she did that, either.

“Hello, my name is Hinata,” She said pleasantly. “This is Neji. He signaled for me to attack you.”

“I did not!” Neji exclaimed. “I was saying that he was the person we were looking for!”

“Oh, well then, classic misunderstanding.” She dropped the stick, shrugging. The blonde boy did not look convinced. He had sky-blue eyes (with pupils!) and weird whisker markings on his cheeks.  

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” He squinted at her, suspicious.  

Hinata sighed, looking at Neji for help. “Is this a common question? I’m starting to worry that it is. It’s the second time someone’s asked me that and I’ve only talked to two people.”

Neji shrugged. “I haven’t gotten it. Maybe it’s just you.”

“You have the same eyes! And that’s because you haven’t talked to anyone! All you’ve done is sit in the corner like a recluse.”

“It’s genetic,” Neji addressed the boy.

“What?” Right. Standard three-year-old vocabulary. 

“Nothing’s wrong with them, we were born like this.” She amended. “And, no, we’re not blind.” 

“Oh.” The boy nodded, seemingly satisfied. “I’m Naruto Uzumaki and I’m going to be the next Hokage!” He gave them both a grin and a thumbs up. “Believe it!”

Hinata certainly didn’t ‘believe it’, and anyone with half a brain cell could tell Neji didn’t either. He said as much.

“No, you’re not.” Neji corrected. “Even if you were going to be passed the hat, which you’re not, you’re certainly not next in line.” 

“I think you have to be a ninja first, too.” From what Hinata understood, the Hokage was the village leader and also the strongest shinobi. 

“Yeah, well, I’m gonna grow up and be super cool and super strong and then become the Hokage!” Hinata wasn’t impressed.

“Right.” Neji was not convinced and started heading back to where they came from. “Well, this was a bust.” 

“At least this wasn’t actual bait. I was worried I was going to be kidnapped again.” Hinata shrugged, picking her stick back up and following him. 

“Wait! Where are you guys going?” Naruto demanded, quick on their heels.

“To the park.” Hinata provided. Neji shook his head at her. “I mean, no?” She corrected, trying to read his expression. 

“Apparently, I don’t know where we’re going.” Hinata amended. 

“Oh! Can I come with you?” Naruto asked eagerly, falling into step with the Hyuugas. 

“No,” Neji answered bluntly. 

“We can’t gatekeep the park,” Hinata reminded him. “If that is where we’re going.” 

Neji let out a deep breath and continued walking. 

“So are we going to the park?” The blonde boy asked, leaning into Hinata’s personal space. 

“I think so. I guess we’ll see.” She took a few steps away from him. Naruto didn’t get the memo and wandered into her personal space again. Hinata placed a hand on his forehead and gently pushed him back.

Naruto laughed, clearly thinking this was a game as he stumbled away and then back into her bubble. 

“Don’t touch me,” Hinata grumbled, stepping behind Neji and using him as a shield. 

“I’m not,” Naruto frowned. “I’m just standing close to you. Not touching.” 

“Yeah, well, stop that, too.” She demanded. Neji huffed a laugh from in front of her, continuing back to the park. 

“Why?” The kid asked, still not giving her any distance. The trio stepped into the park once more. Kenta, upon seeing the small party, stood up immediately and power-walked over. 

“Because I like my space,” Hinata murmured, dropping her stick and shoving her bitten hand into her pocket as her mentor approached. 

“But–” Before he could ask another undoubtedly annoying question, Kenta caught up to them and grabbed Neji and Hinata’s arms. 

“We’re leaving,” They announced.

“Oh, okay. Bye!” She told Naruto. 

“Bye!” He waved at her. “It was nice meeting you! Sorry I bit you!”

Neji laughed loudly at Kenta’s startled expression as they continued back to the compound. They were a mix of shocked, worried, and more than anything, mad. Kenta hadn’t really been mad before. Mostly annoyed and frustrated, so the intensity of their furrowed brow was worrying to Hinata. Neji didn’t seem to think so, though. Probably because Kenta wasn’t mad at him.

“He bit you?” Kenta hissed under their breath as they speedily made their exit. “Never mind, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. If I know, I’ll have to tell Lord Hiashi, and I’m not telling our clan leader that I allowed his daughter to get bitten by…” 

Hinata opened and then shut her mouth. Neji was in near hysterics, openly giggling at what was going on around him. Hinata was displeased with how jovial he was about the whole thing. 

“It was Neji’s idea to go after Naruto in the first place!” She protested.

“That doesn’t make it better!” Kenta snapped. “And don’t say his name too loudly!”

“What, Neji?” Hinata whispered. Neji started laughing louder. It was upsetting that the most visibly joyous he’d ever been was at her own expense. 

“Hinata, what you did was not okay!” Kenta insisted. “Out of all people, why-?!”

“You said to talk to ‘anyone’!” Hinata defended her actions. 

“That child is not just ‘anyone’!” Kenta pointed out.  “Just— do me a favor, and stay away from him .” Kenta pleaded, finally releasing the two once they were a good distance from the park. Neji wiped a pretend tear from his eye, smile still wide on his face.

Hinata frowned. She didn’t see what the big deal was and why she was catching all the heat for it but Neji was fine. Kenta grabbed her hand and looked at it, activating their byakugan. There was still a visible imprint of the boy’s teeth.

“Luckily, he didn’t break skin,” Kenta murmured, dropping her hand. “Don’t bring this up to anyone. For both of our sakes.” 

“Sure,” Hinata stared at them strangely, not getting why they were so serious about it all of a sudden. 

“Promise me. Both of you.” Kenta’s byakugan was still activated. 

“I promise,” She agreed readily. Anything to get Kenta to stop freaking out.

“You have my word.” Neji nodded, voice still containing some mirth. 

Kenta visibly relaxed. “Good. Now, let’s get you both back home.”

Chapter Text

Hinata had started eating breakfast at Kenta’s instead of her own house once she found out that they bought fun items like pastries and cornflakes. Neji didn’t share the same sweet tooth that Hinata and Kenta both did, instead opting for the more traditional and ‘balanced’ meals Hinata’s mother provided her. So, each morning, Hitomi would send Hinata off for training with two bentos: one for dinner, the other for lunch. Hinata would make her way over to Kenta’s and trade her omurice for some cinnamon buns, and everyone was happy.

Except Kenta, because they didn’t want anyone else eating their food in the first place. 

“Y’know,” Hinata began between bites of her breakfast, “I was serious about giving you the clan head position,”

Kenta nearly spit out their morning tea.“Lady Hinata, you do realize what you are saying is highly improper! Should word get out–”

“Then don’t say anything,” Hinata suggested helpfully. “I do think you’d be a good clan head.”

“Please don’t say things like that,”  Neji placed down his chopsticks and stared at her blankly. “It’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking,” She clarified, spooning up some cornflakes. “And don’t say you can’t or won’t because of that stupid seal. I have plans to deal with that, too.”

“I shouldn’t be hearing any of this,” Kenta sighed into their chipped mug. They didn’t have fancy teacups like Hitomi did, but instead an odd collection of dishes and silverware that seemed pieced together by birthday gifts and second-hand shops. “But, Lady Hinata, how do you plan on ‘dealing’ with the caged bird seal?”
Hinata shrugged. “I said I have plans to deal with it, not that I have plans for dealing with it. I guess I’ll have to learn sealing.” 

“You’re serious,” Neji blinked at her, the rest of his face carefully neutral.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” She agreed, polishing off her bowl and drinking the milk very ungracefully. 

“You have something on your face,” Neji offered her a cloth napkin.

“Oh, thanks,” Hinata wiped at her mouth with her sleeve. Neji sighed.

“As much as I do love having conversations about destroying the very foundation our clan was built on, it is time for training,” Kenta spoke, finishing off the rest of their tea. 

The trio made their way to the Hyuuga clan training grounds, where Neji and Hinata were guided through their morning stretches and meditation. Kenta had a very soothing voice when they were not on the edge of a nervous breakdown, which wasn’t often. It was unfortunate that anxiety seemed to be their constant state.

Hinata didn’t like meditating, though it seemed to be one of Neji’s favorite hobbies. She often found her mind drifting away from whatever inner peace she was meant to be achieving. Instead, she began to explore and familiarize herself with her chakra, and the chakra around her. 

It felt like fire, lapping against her skin in irregular bursts. She could trace the very path it followed, from her core to her fingertips. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She couldn’t bend it to her whims, as Kenta and Neji seemed able to do, but she could recognize it and call it to specific parts of her body.

Next to her, she could feel Neji’s chakra. It ebbed and flowed like waves in controlled, precise motions. She could feel the tenketsu that lined his chakra pathways, counting out each one easily as chakra flowed from one point to the next. It was under control, easily circulating from his body in pulses matched with his breath. 

She reached out further. Hinata could feel the faint prickle of Kenta’s chakra, which was practically buzzing. They kept their energy constrained, so she couldn’t explore it like she did Neji’s. The most Hinata could do was recognize it and move on. 

But beyond Kenta, she hit a brick of nothingness. Not the gradual fade of chakra simply being out of her range, but a physical barrier that was blocking her from going any further. She was able to go around it, but whatever it was, it was not budging. 

She opened her eyes. It was her father. 

Hiashi was quietly standing behind Kenta, blank eyes carefully observing the meditation exercise she was supposed to be doing. Kenta’s eyes were also open, and although they didn’t turn, they knew Hiashi was standing behind them. 

“Hello, Father,” She said tentatively. They hadn’t spoken since the fateful night when he decided to be an asshole and further traumatize Neji. 

Neji’s eyes snapped open at her greeting. His eyes caught her father and then quickly ricocheted back down to the floor in front of him. 

“Hello, Hinata,” He replied evenly. “Kenta, Neji,” Hiashi greeted the other two.

Hinata could see that he was addressing them according to a hierarchy, and she didn’t like it. 

“Good morning, Lord Hiashi,” Kenta fluidly moved from a sitting position to standing so they could bow to him. Their voice contained the same usual tightness it had, and they spoke in terse, but polite, words. Neji bowed his head from where he was sitting. Hinata did not make any effort to move. 

“Why are you here?” She demanded. Neji’s eyes widened at her blunt question. 

“I was told you were progressing quickly and came to see your skills for myself.”

It was true. Hinata had improved in leaps and bounds from where she was before the kidnapping incident, but from what she’d been told, she had no practical skills at all back then. It wasn’t that the kidnapping had sparked the development of said skills, but more so that she was reborn with a base of knowledge to work with. 

Hinata knew she wasn’t a three-year-old. She had inklings of a past life as an adult and had all the logic and wit of an adult, but she was operating with a three-year-old brain and a three-year-old body. As such, she often said things she shouldn’t. Her next words fell into that category.

 “Oh. Well, that’s good. You can leave now.” 

Hiashi, unexpectedly, barked a laugh. “You’ve grown quite a bit, Hinata. But mind your tongue, before it gets you in trouble.” 

Something clicked for Hinata. The reason she’d been coasting by so easily with her bullshit is that whoever she was before wouldn’t have dared to do or say half the things she did. Hiashi, and by extension, the elders, must have hated that. So her new assertive attitude, even if it was rude, was welcomed as it was closer to what they wanted out of her than the polite yet meek girl she was before. The Hyuuga heads were willing to suffer her obnoxious disposition if it meant she was confident. 

“Yes, Father,” She responded absently. 

“I want to see you spar,” He demanded, looking down at the three of them. Kenta nodded and stepped aside for the two to get into position. 

Hinata and Neji had sparred many times before, but today it felt different. Obviously, because Hiashi was watching, but also because Hinata and Neji both still desperately wanted the man’s approval. 

Neji wanted to show Hiashi that even though he was a branch member, he was a compenent fighter and deserved just as much respect as Hinata. Hinata didn’t have a concrete goal in mind so much as she was fueled by the blind desire for her father’s attention and support. Which was weird, because she didn’t like him, but she still wanted him on her side. 

 Kenta went over the rules that they’d had to develop over the last few weeks: taijutsu only, and no scratching, biting, hair pulling, spitting, dirt throwing, shoe throwing, suffocating, disrobing, ad hoc weaponry, or the myriad other tricks Hinata had tried. Her father looked more perplexed and amused with each item listed. 

On Kenta’s count, they lunged at each other. Blows were exchanged and swiftly deflected. Even though Neji and Hinata were operating with the same skill set, their approaches were vastly different, which made each fight interesting, particularly this one with the emotionally charged aspect thrown in. 

Neji was the perfect student, and it showed. He took what he learned from his books and mentor and used it appropriately. He was strong, steady, and precise. Each action he took was a perfect imitation of something he’d been taught; he was able to replicate the katas Kenta had taught him and apply them properly. Unfortunately, Hinata had been taught the same moves, as well as when and how to use them, so she was able to predict what he was going to do and react accordingly.

Hinata wasn’t as great a student as Neji. She learned the moves but rarely stuck to them, instead using her knowledge and applying it more loosely. She fought more spontaneously, in short, sudden bursts of energy instead of Neji’s consistent stream of attacks. It was her flexibility that allowed her to get in hits and avoid attacks, and it was nearly impossible to predict her next move. She was innovative. While this didn’t always work in her favor, when it did, it gave her an unmistakable advantage. 

Hinata knew that given time, Neji would wear her down. He had more stamina and was a better fighter in the technical aspect. So when she fought, she tried to end the fight as fast as possible. And more often than not, that included fighting dirty.

Neji favored his hands over his feet, much like every Hyuuga. She knew he avoided kicking as much as possible and, as such, didn’t know how to defend against it. Hinata began throwing in the few kicks she knew, leaving Neji to duck and weave to avoid them. She kept him at a distance for a good like this, threatening him with her foot at him anytime he approached her. Hinata didn’t have too many kicks to cycle through, so after a minute of this, he was able to recognize her series of attacks and strikes. 

Neji swung to her with the standard front-facing punch. Instead of deflecting or blocking him, Hinata turned her back to him and got under his shoulder to use his momentum against him. She anchored one hand on his joint and the other on his wrist, before hunching over, using her back as a pivot point to send him flying above her. She didn’t let go of him, instead hurling his body against the ground while still attached to his arm.  She distantly recognized this move from one of the many movies she used to watch before she was Hinata. This was another unfair advantage, as she was exposed to much more than Neji was and could draw from it in a fight.

Neji was temporarily stunned. Seizing this opportunity, Hinata jumped on him and held his arms behind his back while keeping his face on the ground so he couldn’t breathe. 

“That’s enough!” Kenta dismissed them. “Lady Hinata, what did I say about suffocation?”

“Not to do it…?” She let up her grip on Neji’s head so the boy could raise it and gasp in a few breaths of air. Hinata climbed off of Neji. 

“Where did you learn that move?” Her father asked. Hinata honestly didn’t have an answer for him. She said as much.

Kenta had buried their face in their hands and was shaking their head. Neji coughed up dirt from behind her. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. Neji spit up more debris and glared at her. 

“Dandy,” He dryly replied.

“If you’ll permit me to give some feedback,” Hiashi spoke above them. 

“Please,” Kenta bowed their head again, voice still tense.

“Hinata, while you fought well, you did not fight in the Hyuuga way,” Her father commented. “Neji, you rely too much on what you’ve been taught and need to learn how to adapt. You could learn from each other.”

Hinata already knew this and didn’t think his critique was much of a critique. Wisely, she said nothing. 

“But, you both are excellent fighters and have improved since the last time I watched you spar. Kenta, you’re doing a fine job.”

Kenta looked dizzy with the unexpected praise, while Neji kept his face neutral. Hinata scowled, she didn’t like how her dad could be so diplomatic one moment and a complete dick the next. Well, he was always a complete dick. Hiashi sometimes just hid it better. 

“Hinata, should this progress continue, I will begin teaching you Gentle Fist this summer.”

“Oh,” Hinata remarked. “That’s nice.” She noticed he didn’t include Neji in that statement, even though Gentle Fist was a Hyuuga staple that everyone and their mothers knew. His exclusion was likely a further jab at their status difference. She also doubted that her father would be the one teaching her; it likely would be overseen by him and then he would take the credit. 

“And with any luck, you should have the basics down before the Academy starts next year,” Her father nodded, satisfied.

Hinata, Neji, and Kanta watched in silence as Hiashi left the training grounds and returned to his office where he spent the majority of the day doing god knows what. 

“Ass,” Hinata murmured under her breath once he was out of earshot.

“Lady Hinata!” Kenta said with no real bite. “Surely there are better words you can express yourself with,”

“So you have a problem with how she said it, not that she said it?” Clarified Neji, who had gotten the rest of the dirt out of his mouth. 

“Back into position. And Lady Hinata, please try and keep your attacks to the approved Hyuuga moves,” Kenta sighed. 

“I’m sure the next time I get kidnapped, everyone’s going to be real glad I fought like a Hyuuga instead of fighting to escape,” She snapped. 

“Hinata, there’s a reason your father advocated for the clan fighting style to be taught so strictly,” Kenta explained gently. “And it’s not because it will make him look better,”

“What?” Hinata stilled, not expecting Kenta to address her point so directly. 

“What you’re learning now is so important because it lays the groundwork for everything you will learn as you progress. The katas I’m teaching you will be incorporated into all of your future lessons. You must master the basics, because if you skip them now it will make your life much harder down the line,” They smoothed out her hair and looked down at Hinata softly. She couldn’t think of a rebuttal, instead leaning into their touch.

“Your training is so detailed and complex because you are learning one foundation for everything, instead of an assortment of methods at a later date. This will accelerate your training and make new concepts easier to grasp. We emphasize chakra control and upper-body-based combat because that’s what you’ll be leaning on in the future. Sometimes tradition is tradition for a reason; it’s a rigorously tested process that has been passed down through generations as the most effective training regime. It’s why we start you so young.” 

“And sometimes tradition needs to be replaced,” Hinata corrected. Kenta smiled down at her fondly. Neji coughed awkwardly from the sidelines. 

“And Neji,” Kenta addressed the boy. “You’re doing fantastic. I don’t have a speech for you. You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to and it’ll pay off,” 

Neji’s face flushed with praise and a small smile crept up his lips. Kenta removed their hands from Hinata’s head and stepped back. 

“Now, again,” They said. “And please, try and stick to only approved Gentle Fist maneuvers,” 

Hinata and Neji took a few steps back from each other and then struck. She was having a harder time restricting her attacks to just the ones she learned from Kenta, but after a few rounds, she got into a consistent rhythm and was able to string different attacks together in an effective way. 

She still lost, though.

Hinata was getting used to her body. She started to forget how her hands used to be much bigger and how she could never run the distances she did now. It was odd, losing pieces of her past self. But it wasn’t something she mourned— more like a distant memory that she was willing to forget. 

Hinata didn’t think she was very happy in her past life. So most of the things was forgetting weren't things she wanted to remember in the first place. 

“You’ve changed a lot,” Neji observed during lunch. He was eating half of her bento, like always. She’d passed on the ‘no salmon’ memo to her mother under the guise that she didn’t like it. This was patently false. Hinata did like salmon, but she had to pretend she didn’t so Neji would eat her food. 

“Everyone keeps saying that,” She grumbled with half of a rice ball in her mouth. “People change, I don’t see what’s the big deal,”

“Typically not as drastically in such a short period,” Neji refuted. He was seated next to her on a bench just outside of the training ground, pleasantly shaded by an old sakura tree that was due to bloom in a month or so. Kenta was on the opposite side of the training ground, sketching away in their notebook. 

“And? I was kidnapped. That’s traumatizing,” Hinata defended her statement, adjusting the way she sat so that if Kenta was drawing her she wouldn’t look like a crouching goblin. Neji hummed idly. It seemed dismissive, but Hinata didn’t say anything. 

“The Academy starts next month,” He said instead. 

“Oh,” Hinata took a small sip from her water. “That’s nice,”

“That means you’re going to be seeing less of me,” Neji rolled his eyes, knowing that ‘oh,’ and ‘that’s nice’ really meant that Hinata either didn’t care for what he had to say or wasn’t listening. 

“I guess so,” Hinata blinked up at him, gears turning in her head. 

“We’ll still train, of course,” Neji reassured her. It was odd, the tone of his voice was comforting. She wasn’t sure who for.

“Yeah,” She mumbled distractedly. “Well, don’t get too good without me,”

“That ship’s sailed,” Neji shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll ever catch up.”

Hinata stared blankly at him, mouth agape at his audacity. Neji smiled and took her water from her lap and gingerly took a sip. 

“What? It’s true,” He doubled down. 

“When I learn Gentle Fist it’s over for you!” She squawked, snatching her water bottle from his hands. “Over!” Hinata emphasized. 

“I’ll also be learning Gentle Fist,” Neji corrected. “Just not the Main family techniques, like Eight Trigrams,” 

“Yeah, but I’ll be learning it before you,” Hinata frowned. 

“Not necessarily. Chances are my training will continue alongside yours,” Neji corrected, pleased with himself. He sat back on the bench, smug as ever. 

“But I’ll be learning it younger. ” She smiled, satisfied with her rebuttal. Neji didn’t seem bothered. “And I’ll be learning main family techniques,”

Neji smiled widely at that. “I’m looking forward to learning them from you,”

Hinata nearly fell off of the bench. Of course, she had planned on teaching Neji all the main family secrets but hadn’t expected him to come out and say it outright. She hadn’t even had the chance to offer. Neji was growing bold. 

She was happy for him.

Chapter Text

Neji’s first day at the Academy came quicker than Hinata would have liked. It was the first Monday of April and a clear and beautiful spring morning. Hinata joined her mentor and cousin for breakfast, like always, and she and Kenta had worked together to pack him lunch. Hinata contributed money and helped shape the rice balls, and Kenta did everything else. Kenta had deduced that Neji’s favorite fish was herring, and even though herring didn’t typically go in onigiri, they still did their best. She doubted it tasted good, but Neji had no complaints as he watched them assemble it from across the room.

Neji’s outfit had also been specially picked out by Kenta; it was less formal than what he normally wore. Hinata assumed that the clothes were hand-me-downs, as they didn’t quite fit Neji’s frame, but they were well-maintained and of good quality. Instead of a kimono, Neji wore a wrap top and some mid-length brown shorts. He almost seemed like a mini Kenta but with darker hair and a deeper scowl. It was cute, getting to see Neji in his first-day-of-school outfit. It provided a sense of normalcy that was foreign to the trio. 

Hinata continued to let her mother dress her in whatever she pleased. But because more often than not Hinata came back with her nice clothes in tatters, Hitomi had begun to opt for non-constricting clothing with shorter, narrower sleeves and pants in place of skirts that couldn’t get caught on as much. This was probably for the best because she couldn’t hide as many things in the smaller sleeves. She also traded in her flats and slippers for proper shinobi shoes, and although she had her grievances with the exposed toes, they were much easier to walk in. 

Kenta, as usual, was draped in far too much fabric. They were sporting a light blue-grey wrap shirt with wide sleeves, under which an undershirt and additional tank top hid. The shirt was a bit large on them, but adjustable enough that it stayed in place when tied tightly. A length of fabric served as a belt, and their loose, dark grey pants were cinched at the ankle with embroidery thread, likely self-hemmed. Their clothes were boring. And looked stuffy.

Hinata finished packing Neji’s bag and handed it off to him with a small grin. It was a satchel bag that Kenya had purchased new, containing Neji’s school supplies. Kenta tidied up the mess the kids made of breakfast, and Hinata helped clear the table while Neji rummaged through his satchel, making sure everything was in order. 

Once Kenta was satisfied with the level of cleanliness, the three of them left for the day and headed into the heart of Konoha. Hinata was excited; she didn’t get to leave the compound much. Likely because every time she did something went wrong, and she had only left the compound twice. 

“You don’t need to walk me to the Academy. I know where it is,” He grumbled on the way there. Hinata quickly grabbed at his hand, reasoning that if they were in public, he couldn’t slap her away. Neji scowled down at where their hands were entwined and scoffed. She knew Neji secretly liked affection but pretended he didn’t as he saw it as a weakness, so she disregarded the face he made at her. Children need positive physical contact, and this seemed to be the best time to do so since she didn’t think exchanging punches counted. Plus, Hinata could only get away with it for so long. She was sure it would become less cute and more weird once they got older, so she wanted to play the part of a loving younger cousin while she could. 

“Yes, but you’ve never been there before,” Kenta clarified. “I have. That’s why I’m accompanying you.” Kenta tried to hold Neji’s hand as well, but it was so awkward that Neji swatted their hand away. He could sense their hesitation, so he saved them both embarrassment by tucking his other hand into his pocket. Hinata had been so confident about it that Neji didn’t have time to stop her, and if he did, he had a reasonable amount of fear that she would bite him. 

“And why is she coming along?” Neji scowled, holding up their joined hands for emphasis.

“Moral support!” Hinata cheered, squeezing his palm with hers. Neji winced slightly at the pressure behind her grip. 

“Right,” He mumbled, still put off about the whole thing. 

They arrived at the Academy shortly. It was already crawling with families; loving parents cooing at their gremlin spawn and wishing them a good day. Hinata was a little overwhelmed by it all;the chaos of the academy courtyard was much different than the subdued atmosphere of the Hyuuga compound, and everyone wore much flashier colors.

 And, just like at the park, she was surprised at the sheer population of children around her age. She reasoned that it was due to a post-war baby boom and many of the kids she saw now would eventually drop out of the academy. According to Kenta, it seemed to be a pretty common thing if you weren’t from a shinobi family, so the numbers would thin eventually. 

 The mass of children were slowly trickling into a building with a “Welcome” banner draped above the entrance. She assumed that would be where Neji was going.

Neji remained enthused. She didn’t blame him; he’d probably learn more by sticking with Kenta and their clan, and be treated with (slightly) more dignity, than in a room with a bunch of rowdy children with sticky hands. But then he would never broaden his worldview and would be fed purely Hyuuga propaganda instead of mixing it up with Leaf Village propaganda too. And Hinata knew there was plenty of it to go around.

 “I don’t want to be here,” Neji pouted, shaking his hand loose from Hinata and grabbing onto his bag. Hinata let him, not wanting to embarrass the boy too much in front of his future classmates.

“You could always graduate early!” Hinata suggested, trying to remain positive, grabbing Kenta’s hand instead. 

“Don’t,” Kenta interjected, tone serious. “You don’t want to. Trust me,” 

It was moments like this where Hinata was reminded that Kenta was born in a different time than she was.  She was sure that early graduation meant almost certain death for Kenta’s generation, which was probably one of the reasons Kenta didn’t have many friends. She felt their hand in her grasp grow cold. She peeked up to study their face in intense detail, logging the subtle changes in their expression.

Kenta had sun-faded brown hair and light freckles across their nose and arms, but surely didn’t gain those features from careless summer fun. They lacked the rounded face of a teenager, their cheekbones and jawline sharpened by the stress of war. Survived fighting in it. And the distant look in their blank, white eyes told Hinata that they had fought a lot longer than she first had thought. Their face was slack and devoid of emotion, as if their mind was in an entirely different place at the moment.

“Did you graduate early?” Neji gently probed, taking in Kenta’s thousand-yard stare. Kenta’s eyes focused back on Neji and they pursed their lips, shaking their head lightly. 

“Well, I didn’t graduate late,” They tried to laugh it off, but there was still an underlying sense of melancholy in their voice. “They lower the graduation age during wartime.” 

“Oh. What was it back then?” Hinata asked. 

“Back then? Lady Hinata, that was three years ago,” Kenta remarked, playfully scowling. “But, ten was the upper limit. Most people graduated a year or two before that. I was seven.” 

Neji and Hinata stood in silence, glancing at each other in quiet understanding. 

“But, you don’t have to worry about that,” Kenta quickly assured the two children upon seeing the look they gave each other. 

“Yeah, statistically, we have around fifteen years until the next one,” Hinata added helpfully. “Maybe more.”

“Hopefully more,” Amended Neji. 

“We are not planning on another war, Lady Hinata,” Kenta corrected, shooting Hinata a warning look. She didn’t know who ‘we’ was in this instance, but to be fair, the war didn’t seem planned in most aspects. At the very least, it was often only planned by one party.

“As far as you and I know,” She agreed. 

“Do you have everything?” Kenta directed their attention to Neji and changed the subject awkwardly, becoming very aware of the many families and children around them that could be potentially listening in.

“Notebooks, pens, bento, shiv, water bottle,” He listed off, holding up his satchel   

bag. 

“Shiv?!” Kenta hissed. 

“No, I took it out,” Neji said bluntly. “If I were to get in a fight, I don’t need a

makeshift knife. Even if Lady Hinata provided me with one.” 

“I was doing you a favor!” Hinata flushed at the sudden scrutiny. 

“Slipping sharp objects inside my bento will likely do more harm to me than any of my enemies,” Neji countered, bored with the conversation already. 

“Well,” Kenta seemed still slightly stunned, even though they really shouldn’t be at this point. “As long as you don’t have any actual weapons on you,” 

“Just my hands,” Neji said coldly. Hinata snorted very ungracefully from the sidelines. Though it likely was not meant to be a joke, it was a very good one. 

“Alright,” Kenta nodded, satisfied, and also suppressing a laugh. Neji looked displeased with how his veiled threat landed. “Just your hands, then.”

“Kind of counterintuitive for a ninja academy,” Hinata grumbled. Kenta placed a hand on top of her head, as a silent plea to stop talking. It was like hitting the snooze button on an alarm; she temporarily shut up but would be back with her nonsense in about five minutes.

“Weapons come later,” They assured her. “And real ones, at that,”

The corners of Neji’s mouth curved up in a sort of half-smile. 

“You’re going to do great,” Kenta grinned at Neji and adjusted the scarf he was wearing around his forehead so it covered more skin. Hinata turned away, feeling oddly guilty about the intimate gesture. It seemed ritualistic, from Branch member to Branch member. She felt out of place, and then guilty for feeling out of place when it was the Main family who sealed them to begin with. She wasn't the one being oppressed here. 

“I know,” Neji stepped away from them, fixing his hair back into place around his newly adjusted scarf. Hinata’s eyes snapped back to him. He seemed more confident than before. She wondered if she missed something.

“Have a good day at school,” Hinata wished sincerely.

 Neji gave her a reassuring nod as he turned around and headed towards the Academy building. 

“I won’t,” He promised. She could hear the sarcasm in his voice and tell he was pleased with himself, even as his back was facing her.

Kenta and Hinata watched as he disappeared into the crowd of children filing into the school. They stayed put in their spot, towards the back and hidden from the view of most, and remained until the last child stumbled inside and the doors closed shut behind them. 

Many of the parents remained as well, wistful expressions on their faces. Couples leaned against each other and silently wiped tears from each other's faces. Clans looked on proudly as their young members began their journey into becoming shinobi. Hinata gazed up at Kenta. Their brow was slightly furrowed and a frown was pulling at their face. 

“Empty nest syndrome already?” She poked their side and hit dense layers of fabric. Even though it was spring, and everyone else’s clothing had changed, their outfits remained layered as usual. Kenta didn’t react to her gentle probing. 

“He’s going to eat them alive,” They murmured, completely serious. 

As the weeks went by, Hinata saw less and less of Neji. They still had Sundays to spend together, but that was less hanging out and more sparring. Hinata made an effort to eat breakfast with Kenta and Neji every day, before Neji had to depart for the academy and Kenta started Hinata on more chakra exercises. 

Kenta was a lot more strict with Hinata now that Neji wasn’t there as a buffer. Hinata speculated that it might be because they were no longer outnumbered, but she knew that it was far more likely that  her father’s harsh expectations had increased now that she was receiving one-on-one training.

Kenta was scarily sensitive to chakra. Two days in, they informed Hinata of her elemental chakra type, direction of her chakra flow, and were able to approximate the range of her byakugan to an insanely accurate degree. 

“Tell me when.” Kenta’s current favorite thing to do was drag Hinata into the middle of a large, isolated forest. Which she didn’t particularly appreciate as she had a pretty solid track record of disappearing in large isolated forests, but she only made two kidnapping jokes total since the second one landed her in her first-ever meditation time-out. 

The idea was that by focusing on one thing without any distractions, she would be able to hone her skills without being overwhelmed by everything at once. And she’d stop making irreverent commentary.

“Now!” Hinata shouted. She stood in a chalk-outlined box on the forest floor with her byakugan activated. 

Kenta took off running east at a pace designed to be difficult for Hinata to track but not impossible. She followed their figure with her byakugan activated for a few minutes, then shouted at them to stop once they exited her field of vision. Kenta halted abruptly and placed a flagged marker down in the dirt, scratching a number on the wood of it with a kunai. Several other markers littered the space around it, all with various dates and distances etched onto them.  They then jogged back to where she was standing.

“Okay, good,” Kenta nodded, their byakugan also activated. “That was nearly a kilometer this time.” 

“Only a kilometer?” She groaned, deactivating her eyes before chakra drain made her dizzy. 

“Well, just under. You hit 873 meters,” Kenta corrected. Their hair was tied up in a bun, exposing freckles on their shoulders and neck that Hinata didn’t get to see very often. The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her. 

“Why do you have freckles?” Hinata blurted out, desperate for a break after nearly a whole day of chakra exercises. And this seemed as good a distraction as any. 

“I’m not full Hyuuga,” Kenta cracked a small smile at her. “I thought you knew that,”

“No!” Hinata shook her head vehemently. “No one told me!”
“I’ve got different hair and everything,” Kenta glanced at her, amused. “You didn’t think that was weird?”

“I mean, it’s lighter–”

“It’s wavy ,” Kenta took down their bun. Loose curls fell from their head in a graceful cascade, reaching shoulder length instead of mid-back as it usually did. Hinata gasped, reaching forward and stumbling out of her little box. Kenta knelt on the forest floor and let her comb through their hair in awe. Something ticked in the back of Hinata’s mind. Somewhere, this curl pattern was familiar. She couldn’t place it after not thinking about it for so long, but their hair reminded her of something, someone else. It was just out of reach, and infuriatingly so. She wanted to cry.

“I normally straighten it,” Kenta answered her unasked question, amused as the young heiress stroked their hair. Hinata was a bit embarrassed once she came back from her nostalgia-filled fog, but still reluctant to let go of the strands in her hand. 

“I like your hair,” She finally admitted, releasing Kenta from the abrupt physical affection attack she had unexpectedly launched on them. She hadn’t expected wavy hair to be a memory for her, but now she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She knew that hair. She’d seen it before. Not as Hinata, but as who she was before. 

“I can tell,” Kenta quipped, retying their hair back up into a knot at the base of their neck. Hinata flushed at the fond tone of their voice. 

“And the freckles?” She questioned, knowing full well they didn’t just manifest from nowhere. Yes, it made Kenta susceptible to freckles, but didn’t cause them. 

“I spent a lot of time in the sun,” They shrugged, not commenting on it further. Hinata didn’t think Konoha sun could do all that, especially in its denser, forested areas, like the one they were in now. 

She looked down at her arms. No freckles, as she expected. 

Kenta chuckled, watching her observe her hands and search for any sign of sun on them. They were pale, and would likely remain so for the rest of her life.

“Don’t worry, I got them outside of Konoha,” Kenta confirmed. “Besides, you’re not the type to get freckles anyhow.”

“The type?” She echoed faintly.

“Main family. Full-blooded,” They elaborated. “Entirely Hyuuga,”

“You’re a Hyuuga,” Hinata pointed out helpfully. 

“I am, and I’m grateful for that. I’m fortunate that the Hyuuga clan is protective and accepting of its members, regardless of origin. Yes, I am a branch member, but most clans wouldn’t allow a bastard to join their ranks,” Kenta confessed quietly. “Let alone trust them so fully,” 

Hinata pursed her lips, trying not to say something that would ruin the moment. She hated that Kenta felt grateful for the bare minimum. Kenta noticed her attempt to stay silent and continued, possibly trying to make things better but only digging a deeper hole.

“The caged bird seal is for our protection, Lady Hinata,” They insisted. Hinata didn’t know if Kenta really believed that or was just saying they did, but either way, it made her sad. “It is why I was embraced so fully despite my parenthood. It keeps the clan safe,”

“It keeps the Main family safe,” She murmured bitterly, finally reaching her breaking point. Kenta’s smile slowly faded. They sighed, dusting off their pants from the dirt that they accumulated by kneeling on the ground. 

“Let’s go again,” They said, forcing their tone to be as even as possible.  Hinata could visibly see them shutting down, closing off whatever small part of themself had just been opened up. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything. Every possible combination of words she came up with burned like bile and died on her tongue. 

Hinata got back into her box and activated her byakugan. 

“Tell me when,” Kenta told her, standing alongside her and picking up a new marker. 

“Now,” Hinata signaled. She watched silently as Kenta sprinted away from her and out of sight.

Chapter Text

By August of that year, Hinata had expanded her byakugan range to two and a half kilometers. And by her fourth birthday, she had doubled her distance and boasted an impressive five kilometers. 

Hinata decided that this year, she would not be kidnapped. It was an unfortunate thing to have to aspire to be safe in your own home, but she figured it was as noble a goal as any. 

 Her father had started her on the Gentle Fist technique over the summer, and Hinata was confident that should an assailant break into her reinforced window, she would be able to defend herself long enough for the guards to arrive. And she was near certain that her number of bodyguards had increased since last year, too. 

Her mother woke her up and dressed her in a special birthday outfit, one with long, flowy sleeves and light colors, so she knew she wouldn’t be heading over to Kenta’s like she usually did. Her suspicions were confirmed when she was greeted with a display of all of Neji’s favorite foods. She supposed that lying about her dietary preferences to align with his was a bad move in the long run. Hinata choked down some herring and gave her mother a weak smile. Her father was absent at the table.

“I have plans for us today,” Hitomi announced as Hinata picked at her food. “We’re going to go shopping!” 

Hinata furrowed her brows at that statement. She knew it was a stereotypical pastime of housewives, but somehow she never expected her mother to partake in it. It wasn’t that she thought Hitomi was better than that, as shopping likely was fun to some people. Just not her. But it did surprise her that it was something Hitomi was interested in, let alone excited about. 

“For what?” she tried to clarify. Her mother laughed into her tea. 

“For your birthday!” 

This did not answer any questions Hinata had. 

One hour into their appointment at the Hyuuga tailor shop, she realized that her mother intended to outfit her with an entirely new wardrobe for the coming year. The shop was nestled in an interesting corner of the Hyuuga compound, filled with exclusively Hyuuga merchants and establishments, which made Hinata dizzy with the implications. She wondered whether the miniature shopping district was born out of necessity for trade or due to the proprietors’ desire to escape being a shinobi. Were the shops profitable? Did her father collect a portion of the profits? Were any Hyuuga truly financially self-reliant, or was it truly a commune devoid of economic independence?

Her mother was conversing with the head seamstress while Hinata’s measurements were being taken. She had grown about ten centimeters in height since her last visit, of which she had no recollection, and had also put on some muscle. While she was hardly a bodybuilder, Hinata was pretty sturdy for a four-year-old. 

“If it’s at all possible, I’d like to wear darker colors,” she added from a distance, interrupting Hitomi’s dialogue with the elderly woman who ran the shop. Hitomi’s head snapped over to where Hinata was straddling the measuring tape. The shop’s worker had strategically turned their head to avoid showing their amusement at her blunt request. 

“But, why?” Hitomi asked, exasperated. This wasn’t the first time they’d had this discussion. 

“Light fabrics get dirty too fast,” Hinata insisted. Her mother pinched her temples. 

“Hinata,” Hitomi reminded. “ You’re the one getting your clothes this dirty. If the rest of the clan can keep their wardrobe from turning brown in the span of an afternoon, so can you.”

“Yes, but don’t you think that darker clothing would hide the stains better?”

“I think it would wash you out,” Hitomi countered. Hinata huffed, turning toward the shop owner for her opinion. 

“What do you think?” Hinata asked. The elderly woman’s eyes widened at being addressed so bluntly. 

“Your mother has a point,” she said finally, not wanting to disagree with the Hyuuga matriarch. Hinata noticed she actually didn’t agree or disagree with either of them. It was just about the best answer possible to that sort of loaded question. She offered a small smile to the elderly woman.

 Hitomi had instilled in Hinata that, above all else, she had to be charismatic. Hinata supposed it was sound reasoning— she had to be pleasant company if people were to tolerate her weirdness. Asking for others’ opinions tended to elicit feelings of goodwill, even if you didn’t mean the smile and had no intention of heeding said opinion. 

This was how Hitomi remained so ‘beloved’ by the Hyuuga clan. Hinata doubted that the clan actually cared for her mother, but she was nice to them— the good cop to her husband's bad cop. Both of her parents considered the branch family members as beneath them, but because her mother was kinder and more subtle about it, she was seen as more tolerable than the rest of the main family. There were clear misogynistic undertones to this dynamic, but she resolved to dissect that later. She knew her father wasn’t in great standing with the branch family, and she suspected that her status as heiress and the consequences of her kidnapping put her at or below his level. 

So, while her mother was no Princess Diana (whoever that was; Hinata couldn’t recall but figured it was an apt analogy), she was at least granted some leniency. Hitomi blatantly used the rest of the clan with no regard for their well-being but was nice to their face and pretended to care about them. And Hinata was expected to do the same.

“Do you like your job?” Hinata asked the Hyuuga attendant taking her measurements. For all their grace and poise, they were caught off guard by Hinata’s attempt at small talk.

“Yes, Lady Hinata,” she answered, giving a tight-lipped smile. She was likely the owner’s daughter or granddaughter. Observing her hands as she worked, Hinata wondered if she’d ever been in battle. She didn’t have the calluses of a fighter, but of an artisan. Her touch was gentle.

“That’s good,” Hinata hummed agreeably. The woman nodded silently, maneuvering the measuring tape and then scratching down some numbers on a notepad. Hinata gave her a few minutes, expecting that she’d eventually say something to break the awkward silence. She was mimicking a favored integration technique that she’d stolen from her father a while back, while she was still in the hospital. It worked well, except that Hinata was impatient and would often break the silence herself before the five minutes were up.

“What’s your name?” Hinata blurted out. The woman stilled again. While Hinata said many shocking things, this one of them, for her to have this pronounced of an effect on the woman meant that she indeed wasn’t a shinobi. At least not a practicing one, because she knew she’d said worse things in front of trained clanspeople and gotten less of a response. 

“Mao,” the woman finally replied, looking into her notepad. Despite the lack of eye contact, Hinata was able to read her easily. Her expression was comically exaggerated if put next to the average Hyuuga but still subdued next to anyone else. The young heiress didn’t know why Mao was so worried, but she could take a guess. Hinata thought it was sad and a bit silly that she was so afraid of the ramifications of conversing with the four-year-old Hyuuga princess. It wasn’t as if Hinata was going to do anything nefarious with her name, except maybe laugh a bit later about it because she worked in a sewing shop and was named ‘thread’, but being unoriginal wasn’t a crime.

 “Mao,” Hinata echoed softly. She turned to the woman and gave her a practiced grin that perfectly emulated what a charming little girl she was meant to be. “I like it,” she lied. It was kind of a dumb name for a seamstress, but that would be rude to say.

 “I’m Hinata. It’s nice to meet you!”

From the other side of the room, her mother gave Hinata a small nod. It wasn’t as if she wanted her mother’s approval, but it was good to know she was on the right track.  

After their shopping was concluded, she and her mother took a walk around Konoha. Hitomi dragged her daughter through the streets of the village, only occasionally stopping to peer into a nearby shop or stall and feign interest long enough for people to notice them. 

Hinata felt like a dog at a show, glued to her master’s heel, diligently trotting around the arena to showcase how smart and well-behaved she was. Like the last time she was paraded around Konoha, the display seemed more catered to showcase that she had lived another year despite everything. 

Her mother made small talk with an exhausting amount of people. It was a revolving door of well-wishes and ear-numbing, mindless chatter. She did her best to engage with them at first, but it quickly started to take a toll on her. The new faces, the loud colors and even louder noises, and the abundance of bright chakra signatures in one place was far too much for her to handle. So she, very strategically, shut down. 

 Hinata did her best to smile and nod, acting interested in whatever was being said, and continued to coast through every interaction on autopilot. She snapped back in when a hand made contact with her hair and ruffled it. It was a form of physical affection almost alien to her and was enough to send her back to reality.

“-well mannered little lady,” said a gruff, feminine voice. Hinata visibly regained awareness with the touch and came face to face with a very large, eye-patched wolf. Before she could freak out too much, Hitomi pulled her into her side and quickly smoothed out Hinata’s hair. 

“Yes,” her mother agreed. “She’s quite the little angel.”

Hinata beamed up at the woman in agreement. She was just as scary as her dog and had long, painted red triangles spanning down her cheeks, and she was wearing full shinobi gear. 

“Lucky. Kiba is still in his biting phase. Dunno if he’ll ever grow out of it,” the woman gestured to the small boy clinging to her leg, who frowned at his mother's proclamation. 

“Hey!” He pushed off from her leg and glowered at her. 

“It should be fine in moderation,” Hinata offered, finally contributing to the conversation past meaningless agreements. The woman barked out a loud laugh, a far cry from the usual muffled-behind-hand giggles she occasionally managed to pull out of the Hyuuga members when she’d said something particularly outlandish.

“You bite, too?” Kiba looked at her funny, the beginnings of a smile pulling at his face. 

Hitomi’s brow furrowed very slightly, the microexpression silently urging her daughter to change course. Hinata, taking the cue from her mother, quickly amended herself. 

“No. I’m not allowed to anymore,” she stated to the boy, To which he nodded solemnly. This was the wrong thing to say. Her mother continued to frown at her. 

“Anymore!” The woman cried, wiping a nonexistent tear from her eye. “Holy shit, Hyuuga, maybe you do have your hands full,”

“She doesn’t bite,” Hitomi insisted, lying through her teeth. It was a ridiculous statement, but aside from the woman with the large dog, Hinata seemed to be the only one to find humor in it. She thought the roles should be reversed; clearly, it shouldn’t be the mother assuring the dog owner that her kid didn’t bite.

The lady looked at Hinata, trying to glean the truth from that statement by scrutinizing her instead of her mother. Hinata supposed she was the easier to read of the two, but she did her best to keep her face carefully blank.

Hitomi swiftly changed the subject before Hinata could further incriminate herself. While their mothers continued their small talk, the boy turned his attention fully to her. 

“I’m Kiba!” He offered her a toothy grin. She could see why his biting people would be a problem— he looked like he had sharp teeth. 

“Hinata,” she offered her name in exchange. 

“You’ve got funny eyes,” Kiba told her. She mentally prepared herself for the usual barrage of questions, but the boy pleasantly surprised her with knowledge of her clan. “But I know you’re not blind. Mom says it’s ‘cause you're bred that way.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Hinata pursed her lips, weighing the pros and cons of correcting him. 

“Genetics,” she finally supplied. Kiba nodded. 

“Netics,” he agreed. The kid then lowered his voice and leaned into her to whisper conspiratorially: “So, have you figured out how to bite people without your mom finding out?”

They made their way back to the Hyuuga compound shortly after sunset. The celebration was quiet; it was just her and her parents. Three and five were the big milestones, so she’d have to look forward to next year if she wanted a big party. Fortunately, she didn’t, and was content with the small gathering.

There were cloth-wrapped gifts to open after dinner, and her mother seemed very excited for Hinata to open them. After they finished their meal, which again happened to be all of Neji’s favorites, her mother presented her with a small strawberry cake. It was a strangely modern sight, but Hinata welcomed it happily. She blew out her candles (there was no singing) and ate the portion her mother served her. It was dry. 

The family shuffled into the living room for Hinata to open her presents. 

There were a lot of shinobi-related items. She supposed it made sense; she would be enrolling in the academy that spring, but she expected at least one semi-normal gift. She was still very excited about the weapons. Less so about the textbooks she was expected to read. She was gifted a comically large book, simply titled ‘plants’, which had to be what every four year old girl wanted most in the world. 

Her father handed her a small wrapped bundle towards the night's end. It didn’t feel like a book, so Hiashi was off to a good start there. 

“Open it,” he instructed. Hinata looked at him blankly, as she had been opening gifts for the past half hour and thought she had demonstrated she knew what she was doing by this point. 

“Alright,” She agreed, unfolding navy cloth away to reveal a small stack of paper, outlined in red. There was writing on them. It took her a minute, but once she recognized them, her face lit up. 

“Explosion tags,” her father explained, taking a sip from his drink. Hiashi looked pleased with himself, sitting back into his chair with a smug expression. Her mother pursed her lips, not happy with the turn of events. 

“Thank you!” Hinata gushed. Despite her father knowing little to nothing about her, she was incredibly excited about the newfound possibility of blowing things up. She had seen a group of chuunin experimenting with them a while back and was instantly fascinated. 

“I can hold onto them for you,” Hitomi suggested, reaching for the present that still lay in Hinata’s lap. 

“I’ve got it!” She insisted, scooting away from her mother and hunching protectively over the bundle. 

“It is her gift,” Hiashi rationalized. Hitomi’s eyes narrowed as she turned to her husband. 

“I’m aware that the explosion tags are our four - year-old’s birthday gift,” she seethed. “I believe it best that a responsible adult keep them until she’s ready to use them.”

“I’m ready to use them!” Hinata insisted, interjecting what cheer she could into the tense atmosphere. Hiashi stayed silent for a moment. 

“I believe she is,” he said flatly. 

“She’s four.” Hitomi’s voice cracked slightly, and she did her best to cover it with a light cough. “That’s hardly appropriate.”
“I’d hope that my wife would trust my judgment in this.” Her father straightened up in his seat. Hinata curled into herself even further. 

“Mother, I-” She did her best to mediate but was talked over almost immediately.

“I’d hope that my husband would not want to send our only child into an early grave,” Hitomi snapped, rising from the armchair she was in to stand over Hinata. Everyone’s volume remained perfectly conversational. It was a bit eerie to hear such a passionate argument being exchanged in such a casual tone. 

“She’ll be fine,” Hiashi dismissed, making no move to stand up. 

“And if she isn’t?” Hitomi hissed. “If something happened?”

“Then she’s not fit for the battlefield, let alone to lead the clan one day.”

Hitomi’s face fell. There was a moment of silence in the main family household, lasting far longer than anyone in the room had to be comfortable with. Finally, Hitomi excused herself. 

“I’m going on a walk,” she declared. 

Hiashi said nothing as his wife stormed out. Hinata stayed on the floor, curled over her explosion tags, and looked to him for any guidance on what to do next. After a moment, he stood up and cleared his throat. 

“Do you know how to get yourself ready for bed?” He finally asked. Hinata nodded dumbly. Hiashi’s tense expression slightly lessened, likely because he no longer had to worry about trying to attempt Hitomi’s routine with her. 

“Good.” He grabbed the glass off the side table and downed it in a few quick swallows. Hinata was starting to doubt it was water.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He left the living room and walked down the hallway until he reached the master bedroom. Hinata thought maybe he’d have the class to know he was designated for the couch, but there was a good possibility her mother wouldn’t be coming home anyway, and she doubted that the Hyuuga clan leader would ever sleep in anything less than a king bed outside of a mission. 

Hiashi paused after he slid open the door. He turned back to her, calling out a barely remembered formality before he disappeared for the night. 

“Happy birthday, Hinata.”

Chapter Text

Hiashi decided that he was going to walk his daughter to the academy on the first day of school and Hinata was shitting bricks. 

Hitomi got Hinata ready in her new clothes, consisting of tight navy blue pants cropped at the ankle and a dark grey shirt, over which she wore a delightfully modern zip-up jacket in lavender color that she enjoyed. The jacket featured the Hyuuga emblem, proudly embroidered on her chest and back in muted shades of yellow and red. 

Her mother had already packed a bag for her, loaded with school supplies and the lunch she’d trade with Neji as soon as she could, and the duo made their way to the dining room and had a quiet breakfast. 

It had been nearly four months since her birthday, and while the tension had eased, Hiashi still avoided his wife. Though that wasn’t much of a difference from their usual dynamic, there was now an actual issue at play instead of the casual dislike for one another she’d previously observed. 

After her breakfast, Hiashi entered the room dressed in clan-head get-up. The only difference between it and the rest of his wardrobe was the matching embroidery on the front and back in white. She supposed he thought himself too good for colors. 

“Are you ready?” He asked her. Hinata nodded, not sure what he was asking her for. Maybe he was just eager to get rid of her.

“Your father wishes to walk you to school today,” Her mother explained, voice tight. Her brows were pinched. Hiashi nodded, confirming her statement. Well, this at least meant they were talking to each other again.

Hinata was surprised that her father wanted to spend time with her but felt that it had less to do with any sort of sentimentality and more with clan pride or something. 

“It is important to me that the rest of the clans see that the Hyuuga clan is strong,” He explained.

Bingo. Hinata thought to herself. She supposed this meant her mother wouldn’t be joining them. Glancing at Hitomi, who made no effort to move from her chair at the dining table and was still poking at her breakfast, confirmed that for her. 

Hinata slipped on her shoes, said goodbye to her mother, and then they were off. It was obnoxiously early to leave for the day- she knew Neji didn’t leave until nearly an hour later, and he was always early to whatever he did. But it didn’t seem like the time or place to tell her father that, and chances were he already knew and wanted to be the first to get there anyway. 

They walked in silence. Hinata didn’t mind it too much; she didn’t have a lot to say to the man. Finally, after around ten minutes into a twenty-minute walk, he spoke. 

“If anyone tries to fight you,” Hiashi told her, breaking the silence of the crisp morning air for some unhinged guidance, “Show no mercy.”

Hinata nearly tripped over her feet. Out of all the first-day-of-school advice she’d been expecting to receive, this wasn’t it. Though, to be fair, she wasn’t expecting much from her father on that front and was pleasantly surprised to have been offered her any piece of wisdom to begin with. 

“Show no mercy,” She echoed, her backpack feeling very full of potential ad-hoc weapons. While her mother hadn’t allowed her kunai, or her most prized possession, her explosion tags, Hinata did have a pair of metal chopsticks in her bento. 

“Use what you’ve been taught only. ” As if sensing her train of thought, her father amended his statement. Her face likely gave it away. “You are the future head of the Hyuuga clan, and as such, a representative. I expect you to behave and fight accordingly.”

Hinata frowned. While she was pleased that her father endorsed her kicking the shit out of anyone who looked at her funny, she was less than enthused that it had conditions. 

“Okay,” She begrudgingly accepted. “Gentle Fist moves only.”

Hiashi didn’t smile at her, but his frown lessened, and that was close enough. 

They reached the Academy, which was predictably empty, save for two lone figures in a corner. Hinata didn’t know what kind of losers (aside from her father) arrived an hour and a half early, especially for the ninja equivalent of elementary school. But Hiashi knew. 

“Uchiha,” He hissed, byakugan activated as he identified the two people from a distance. Hinata mirrored him, activating her byakugan as well to take in the two literal children her father directed his resentment toward. A ten-year-old and a five-year-old came into view, the latter abuzz with excitement and trying to convince the other boy to play with him. His older brother, or so Hinata assumed, didn’t seem to budge, instead locking eyes with her father defiantly.

 Hinata didn’t know much about the Uchiha clan, except that they were another clan with doujutsu and, therefore, the Hyuuga’s rivals. This was likely why they left so early. Her father wanted to get there before these kids and now was upset he had lost at his own game. 

Hiashi deactivated his byakugan, and Hinata once more followed his lead and did the same. He stared at her with an indecipherable expression before sighing. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but ultimately didn’t. Hinata supposed she inherited her social skills from him, as Hitomi was much better at small talk.

They stood in silence for nearly forty-five minutes, just watching the two Uchiha boys like creeps, before Neji finally arrived and put her out of her misery. From the corner of her eyes, she watched as he smoothed his surprised expression into his usual nonchalant one.

“Lord Hiashi, Lady Hinata.” He bowed at them. Hinata internally winced at the greeting. She’d gone so long without hearing it come from Neji’s mouth in a genuine manner, as he’d only ever used it to mock her as of late. 

Her father merely nodded at him. Neji took his place beside her in silence, only raising his eyebrows at her father’s presence. Hinata shrugged. The trio continued to wait in silence, watching as other families arrived. She started to recognize some faces— the trio of kids she had met in the sandbox wandered in with their respective parents, as well as the woman with the large dog and her son. Children mingled while their  parents caught up with each other. Notably, no one approached her or her father. 

“Would you like me to walk you to your classroom, Lady Hinata?” Neji offered politely. Hinata looked up to her father for permission, receiving a minute nod in return.

“That would be nice,” She agreed. “Goodbye, Father.”

“Have a good day at school,” He replied stiffly. It sounded rehearsed, but Hinata still appreciated the effort he put into it. She softly thanked him and followed Neji into the large building, sticking close to him so as to not get lost in the crowd. 

“He walked you to school?” Neji whispered, astonished. 

“I know!” Hinata snickered. “It’s insane!”
“How long were you waiting there?” He asked as they made their way further into the building. 

“An hour and a half at least. ” She groaned, grabbing onto the strap of his messenger bag as the number of children increased, not wanting someone to get between them because she’d absolutely throw down if they did.

“Total? Or before I showed up?” 

“Before you,” Hinata clarified. “He also told me to kick ass.”

“Were those his exact words?” Neji questioned dryly as they arrived at her classroom. 

“More or less,” She confirmed. Neji sighed, not believing her. “Oh! And I have your lunch.” 

This caught his attention. Pulling off to the side, the two swapped bentos in the hallways before exchanging final goodbyes. 

“Don’t make a fool of yourself,” Neji smiled, securing his bag. Hinata belatedly realized he had taken her metal chopsticks as well. She didn’t mourn the loss too much, knowing that she could make do with her fists if needed.

“Try not to be an ass,” Hinata advised in return. Neji rolled his eyes and continued down the hallway to his class. She watched him go before turning to her classroom and finally entering. 

The room was larger than she expected. There was a podium in the front of the room and a window to the left. Twelve desks in total, separated in rows of three across and four deep, filled the rest of the space. Each desk seated three children. Hinata took the desk furthest away from the lectern but still centered for a good view.

Conveniently, there was a familiar face already there. The boy with the scary mom had spread out his items across the whole desk. When Hinata approached, he sheepishly slid his books away from the edge of the desk so she could sit. 

“Hello again,” She gingerly took her place next to him. 

“Hi!” He smiled. “I won’t bite you.”

She was a bit put off that that was how he chose to greet her. A ‘hello’ would have sufficed, but she supposed she couldn’t blame him. It was nice to know she wasn’t in any danger.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Hinata told him earnestly.

“Huh?” Kiba scowled. 

“I mean, thanks,” She scaled down her vocabulary to a suitable level. Kiba nodded, satisfied with her translation.

“Wanna see my puppy?”

Hinata hoped that whatever god was up there he meant a dog and it wasn’t some weird euphemism. Before she could dissuade him, he grabbed his bag and whipped out a small white dog. 

She was at a loss for words and briefly contemplated changing seats. She could deal with a hyperactive little boy but wasn't too sure about a puppy. 

“His name’s Akamaru,” Kiba informed her. “He’s my ninken!”

Hinata supposed this meant he was allowed to have the dog in the classroom. And if he wasn’t, it wasn’t her place to tell. She wasn’t a snitch.

The little furball wagged his tail happily in Kiba’s arms. Hinata briefly remembered that she once had a dog who looked similar, back in high school. But before she could cement the memory into her mind, it slipped through her fingers, just like everything else about her past life did.

“Alright, class!” A blue-haired man clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention. Hinata snapped out of the nostalgic daze she’d found herself in and looked at the man standing at the front of the room. He appeared to be in his early- to mid-twenties, and a chunnin, at that. 

“I am Mizuki-sensei,” He introduced himself, writing his name on the chalkboard. “And this is Iruka-sensei,” Mizuki gestured at the teenager who stood awkwardly to his left. Iruka offered a small wave. 

“We will be your teachers at the academy until you graduate and enter the shinobi world as genin. I look forward to getting to know you all. These next seven years—”

The academy door burst open and in stumbled a bright orange mess that Hinata recognized as the kid who bit her. Naruto, the boy who Kenta regarded with alarm and vague disgust. Mizuki seemed to share the same sentiment. 

Hinata watched as the placid grin on her new teacher's face shifted into a grimace. Mizuki clenched his jaw, hardly hiding how displeased he was with the boy’s arrival. Iruka wasn’t too far behind, choosing to distract himself by looking at the window instead at Naruto.

Hinata was sure she wasn’t the only one who clocked it, but she might have been one of the only children to piece together that the teachers weren’t upset with the boy being late. They were upset that the boy was enrolled in the class at all, forcing them to interact with him. 

“Sorry I’m late! My alarm didn’t go off and then I couldn’t find my other shoe and then there was a cow in the road and I-” Naruto rambled, adjusting the goggles on his head. Hinata didn’t know why he had those. They seemed impractical and stupid. 

“Enough!” Mizuki snapped. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. Mizuki sighed and schooled his expression into a more pleasant one before correcting himself. 

“I mean, that’s enough,” He offered a tense smile to the kid. “Please sit down.” 

“Sorry, won’t happen again, believe it!” Naruto clambered up the steps and weaved through desks until he found the one empty seat, which was, unfortunately, beside Hinata. Luckily he was at another table entirely, but still, she wasn’t pleased with the turn of events. She was now sandwiched between two hyperactive little boys and a puppy. She wondered if Neji was faring any better. 

Mizuki adjusted the bandana on his head and smoothed out his hair in a self-soothing motion. Iruka turned back around to face the class, trying to avoid staring at Naruto by directing his gaze to the back wall instead. 

“Now,” Mizuki smiled, still tense. “We will be working closely with each other for the next seven years, and it’s important to build bonds of trust and comradery. Why don’t we all go around and introduce ourselves? I’ll start.” 

Hinata took this as her cue to start to zone out. She knew this man had nothing of substance to say and doubted he would until she was at least ten. Instead, she began to assess the physical appearances of each student and teacher, as that would tell her a lot more about themselves than any introductory rambling. 

There were, as expected, a decent amount of civilian students, who, according to Kenta, would drop out as time went on. Most of them sat up close, leaning forward in their seats and eagerly eating up every word the teachers had to offer. They all wore more modern clothing than herself and the other clan students, in noticeably bright colors and loud prints. They also smelled strongly of synthetics, which is something she’d hardly paid much mind to before. But, looking back, no Hyuuga ever used scented soaps or detergents, so it was much more apparent when other people did. 

Most of the students in clans had embroidered emblems, loudly announcing which family they came from. She didn’t recognize any of the symbols, which was hardly her fault as Hinata had only ever been concerned with her clan up until now. But the icons were noticeably meant to signify something. Some civilians had their own families displayed, likely ones from merchant families as they seemed to be dressed nicer than their unbranded counterparts. 

“Psst!” Naruto whispered, leaning comically far out of his chair and towards her. His hand was placed over his mouth as if trying to conceal that he was talking to her. “What did I miss?” His attempt at quiet was at the volume most Hyuuga talked at, and was loud enough for a normal person to pick up on, let alone a chuunin. 

“Quiet, please! No talking while others are speaking,” Mizuki chided, furrowing his brow at them. Hinata didn’t like that she was now an accomplice, and scooted away from him. 

“What’s up?” Kiba asked as Hinata shuffled towards him. His dog was now resting comfortably on his head, which was a baffling place to put an animal. The dog seemed to like it, at least. 

“I said quiet!” Their teacher reiterated, this time more sternly. Hinata didn’t like that she was now the common denominator in this situation. 

“I wasn’t talking!” Naruto exclaimed indignantly. “That was the dog-boy this time!”
“Yeah, but you talked first!” Kiba barked back, placing Akamaru on the desk as he stood up so he could see over Hinata. She slumped down in her seat and put her head in her hands as the two boys bickered. 

Hinata watched from the corner of her as Naruto, upon seeing Kiba stand up, shot up out of his seat as well. “Shut up!”

“You shut up!”

“Both of you shut up!” A third voice chimed in. It was the Uchiha, who like the other two boys, had stood up. “No one wants to listen to this!” 

She took a moment to take in the bizarre situation, and wondered if it was intentional, that each boy was trying to make themselves taller and more intimidating, like cats puffing up at the slightest threat. All three of them looked ridiculous. 

“Enough!” The teenager in the corner finally snapped. “Everyone, sit down! No more talking unless it’s your turn, or I will send you outside!” 

“Whatever,” Naruto grumbled, slinking down in his seat. Kiba sniffed and followed suit, and then finally, the Uchiha, upon confirmation that both had subsided first , sat down as well. 

“Loser,” Kiba mumbled under his breath. Naruto leaned over his seat so he could give what he thought was a withering glare but could be described more aptly as the face one makes when constipated. Hinata purposely sat forward to block Kiba’s view and tried very hard to pay attention to whoever was speaking next. 

“Sorry, Choji, please continue,” Iruka offered a smile towards the boy who she now recognized as the former three-year-old who ate sand, and Hinata suffered through a very long list of his favorite foods before drifting off again. 

When it was Naruto’s turn, he went off on a meandering rant about being the future Hokage and the best ninja ever and repeatedly telling everyone to “believe it,” which had seemed to become his insufferable catchphrase. He was hardly the first to proclaim that he was the next Hokage— actually, nearly every boy in the class had claimed this, but Naruto certainly went into the most detail.

“First, I’m gonna make it so I get free ramen all the time, whenever I want, and I get to eat it in the Hokage’s office. And, I’m going to make the hat orange, because that’s my favorite color. Actually, everyone’s gonna have to wear orange. Because when I'm Hokage, people will have to listen to me and do what I want. I’m gonna be the best Hokage ever.” 

 It went on for nearly five minutes before he was cut off and the spotlight was put on Hinata. She was still a bit shell-shocked from the extremely passionate rambling that proceeded her.

“Hello, I’m Hinata Hyuuga,” She bowed to the class. “I am four years old. Nice to meet you.”
Hinata sat back down, pleased with her introduction. It was concise. Both teachers looked at her as if waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t,  she was prompted to do so. 

 “And what is your goal in life?” Iruka gently prodded. She supposed short and sweet wouldn’t cut it for her introduction. In truth, Hinata had many goals, but none were appropriate to share with the class. She thought it to be a bit silly that four- and five-year-olds were expected to know this, but seemed to be the only one who didn’t have a prepared answer for this question. She probably had missed the part where they told her that this was expected in her introduction. All eyes were on her, and in the uncomfortable silence, she blurted the first thing that came to mind. 

“I’m going to be the next Hokage,” She announced. 

Chapter Text

Sundays were Hinata’s one day off from the academy. And, while her day was still packed with training, she didn’t have to suffer being sandwiched between two hyperactive boys all day long and she cherished every moment away from that classroom. 

She began her morning like she did every other day. Hitomi woke her up just after sunrise and got her ready for the day. Hinata went ragdoll while her mother dressed her and did her hair, zoning out and focusing on what she was going to do for the day. She grabbed the large bento containing her breakfast and lunch and sped off to Kenta and Neji’s, as she always did. 

An unfamiliar face intercepted her before she’d made it halfway across the compound, forcing her to stop. Hinata didn’t like change in her routine, and she didn’t like new people. This was unfortunate for the boy standing in her way.

“Lady Hinata,” the boy politely bowed to her. He seemed to be a couple of years younger than Kenta but slightly taller, with a lean build, short, spiky black hair, and the classic, dead-inside Hyuuga eyes. “I am Kou. I’ll be taking over your training.”

 She sized him up immediately, glancing at his leaf headband. It was worn around his forehead, which she knew was a style favored by the branch family to hide their seal. His clothes fit him well, he looked well-nourished, and his hair was cut recently. For a branch member, he had money, which meant he likely had parents and/or was favored by her father. 

She probably had to be polite to him, or it would get back to Hiashi. It wasn’t that she particularly feared any consequences that might come her way, but that those consequences might be mildly annoying and she’d rather avoid that if possible. 

“No, you are not,” she explained kindly. Kou opened his mouth to respond, but she held a polite finger up to silence him. “Kenta trains me.”

“No. I do,” Kou replied simply. She glanced at the well-loved flak jacket and the scroll at his left hip. He probably was a jounin, which made it even more bizarre that he’d concern himself with babysitting.

She continued walking forward, expecting him to move out of her path, but he did not. 

“You’re going to have to move,” Hinata explained, now scarcely two inches away from him since she’d expected this to work. “I have places to be.”
“I am taking over your training,” Kou repeated. “Now that you are in the academy, your father has seen fit for your training to switch hands.”

 Hinata sighed. So Hiashi put him up to this. She didn’t know why her father waited nearly a month in, but it didn’t matter much to her. She stepped around Kou to continue on her path. He moved so that he was in her way once more. 

“This is intentional,” she accused, attempting to poke a tiny finger into the boy’s chest in anger. She could only reach about his navel. Kou looked down at her hand and then back up at her, face blank. 

“It is.” Kou agreed.

“Okay, so you’re just being rude, then.” 

“I am not rude. I am following orders.”

“I have new orders for you, then,” she announced. Kou looked at her, perplexed. 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. Piss off.” She attempted a sharp turn to her left before faking him out and sprinting to her right. Hinata got maybe two paces away before Kou grabbed her arm. She didn’t know what she was expecting, trying to escape from a jounin. 

“Clearly, we should start with evasive maneuvers,” Kou hummed, dragging her arm to the nearby training grounds. She wiggled helplessly in his grip. 

Training with Kou was boring. She had to begrudgingly admit that he knew what he was doing, but she didn’t like his methods. He was unkind in a nice way; more often than not, his words were wrapped in layers of unsaid thoughts that she had to pin down and decode to try and glean what he meant. Everything about Kou was polished. From his hair to his words, there were no flaws in sight. And Kou expected the same from her. 

All of Hinata’s slang, contractions, and convoluted metaphors were pulled out of   

her. Her posture was religiously corrected, and she now kept a comb in her back pocket to smooth out any flyaways that were bound to happen if you were tossed across the training ground. 

She learned to fight— the Gentle Fist way. Kou would stop any “inventive” maneuvers instantly, as he was able to tell what she was up to before she even moved from small tells like the twitch of her foot or a small shift in her stance. In a fight, he read her like a book. And out of a fight, too. 

But Hinata was learning to read him back. She could tell when she got to him and how. Underhanded jabs about how he was stuck babysitting and not putting his talents to good use, if he had such talents, seemed to do it. Kou wouldn’t say anything, but his jaw would set every time Hinata insinuated that all he was good for was free daycare. 

She knew she was playing with fire and that one day, he would snap. She hoped he would. Maybe then she’d finally be free of him. 

Kou walked her to school in the morning. He walked her back after class. Kou followed her all around the compound, and all around the village, which made her life significantly harder, especially in terms of conspiring with her cousin.

 Neji seemed extremely put off by him and refused to approach her if Kou was next to her, which seemed like basically always. She hadn’t seen him or Kenta in nearly six weeks before she hit her breaking point.

Hinata figured out that Neji’s lunch period was one hour after hers. So, ten minutes past that mark, she raised her hand and declared her need to use the restroom. Having been a model student up until now, she was released. No one noticed when, instead of continuing down the hallway, she immediately let herself into the courtyard. 

Neji was easy to spot. He had climbed up a tree to physically separate himself from the masses of children, clearly having used chakra to get as high up as he did. There was no teacher in sight, which was impressive, because Mizuki or Iruka always had to chaperone her class during lunch. Hinata launched herself across the yard and sprinted up the tree. 

“What’re you doing here?” Neji scowled at her. She was taken aback by his hostile demeanor but quickly dismissed it. 

“I missed you?” She suggested, shuffling awkwardly to sit next to him. It sounded off even to her ears. Neji rolled his eyes and scooted over on his branch to make room. 

“What do you want?” He asked bluntly. Hinata couldn’t find it in herself to be upset that he was straight to the point. She didn’t have much time, after all. 

“Help me get rid of Kou,” She pleaded. “I have not– haven’t – been able to do anything in weeks without him.” Neji’s face immediately dropped at the mention of her new shadow. 

“No.” He immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” She whined, leaning into him with a pout. Hinata knew puppy eyes only worked on her mother and people who’ve never met her, so it was pointless to try it on Neji.

“I’m telling you, it’s a bad idea.” Predictably, he pushed her face away from him gently. “Just leave it alone. Maybe it’ll get better with time.”

“It feels like he’s intentionally isolating me,” Hinata confided, lowering her voice to a small whisper. 

“Hinata, I’m serious. Don’t do anything stupid. You don’t know this guy.” Neji ignored her previous statement and looked her with a bitter smile on his face. 

“I don’t think he’s hurt me.” Hinata frowned at the expression Neji was making. “Not outside of training, anyways.” 

“Mh, maybe not you ,” Neji murmured, almost too quietly for her to hear. 

“What?” She wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly, and if she didn’t, she certainly didn’t like what he was implying. 

“What happens when you pick at a wound?” Neji cryptically responded. Hinata looked at him, puzzled. 

“Go back to class,” he suggested. She reluctantly followed his advice and sped back to her regularly scheduled activities. Hinata took her usual seat next to Kiba, who leaned over and conspiratorially whispered: 

“So, did you poop, or what? You were gone a while.” 

Hinata’s go-to group at the academy was carefully picked so that no one would talk to her. Her first line of defense was Aburame Shino, a quiet child with bugs living under their skin who was a lovely flavor of neurodivergent. Everyone else seemed to be creeped out by Shino, which was great because that meant they were less likely to approach him. And when she was glued to his side, that included her, too. 

Her second line of defense, should Shino fail at warding off potential nuisances, was Kiba because he was willing to talk to anyone and anything that entered his line of sight. He was also very annoying, which meant that should anyone enter a conversation with him, they would immediately try and leave it. 

The three sat in their usual corner of the academy yard, each with their respective lunches. Hinata had been distraught when she first learned that Neji had a different meal time than her, but Kiba was never far behind her, regardless of anything she did. Thus, it was quickly decided that they’d eat lunch together. 

The two of them had picked up Shino one sunny afternoon when Hinata discovered that, unfortunately, people would still approach her even with a hyperactive buffer and his hyperactive puppy. While Naruto could have proved a sufficient backup plan, she needed a break from him between classes. 

Shino usually sat alone in silence in a shady spot under a tree towards the outskirts of the academy. It was easy to adopt him into the group, as Kiba and Hinata just started sitting with him every break until the beginnings of friendship began to form.

Her father had once, in passing, referred to the Aburame and Inuzuka clans as allies. As far as she understood, this was because all three clans were remarkable trackers, often teamed up for missions, and maintained a healthy relationship. While she wasn’t explicitly encouraged to befriend them, her father seemed pleased with the events when the three occasionally wandered home together after school alongside Kou. Today, the class was let out early so they could work on their group projects together. She knew this was coming and pointedly did not tell her new babysitter. Instead, she rushed to the Hyuuga compound, eager to shed herself of her shadow and see her cousin.

Neji was not as enthused. 

“We don’t bite.” Kiba introduced himself to the young Hyuuga boy, Akamaru wiggling in his arms. Neji looked at Hinata, visibly disgruntled at the turn of events.  

“They don't,” She confirmed, tossing her jacket on the floor and entering Kenta and Neji’s shared household. Neji picked up her jacket and hung it up pointedly, to which Hinata offered a half-shrug while she kicked off her shoes. 

“I’m Shino Aburame,” Shino offered, stepping out of his shoes as well and motioning Kiba to do the same. 

“Do you have to bring them here ?” Neji hissed, corralling the footwear into a neat row in the corner. 

“Homework,” Hinata explained, rummaging through her bag until she grabbed her notebook and pencil case. “Besides, we went to Kiba’s last time, and Akamaru literally ate his assignment halfway through the first worksheet,” She explained, waltzing into the dining room and motioning for the other two to follow her. 

“You don’t even live here!” He protested as Kiba and Shino ignored him and settled down at the table with their books. 

“You don’t?” Shino asked. “I thought you were the Hyuuga heiress, and as such, lived at the Hyuuga compound.” 

“This isn’t her house,” Neji bit back.

“But, as the Hyuuga heiress, she does own all Hyuuga property or will later inherit it.” He adjusted his sunglasses to compensate for the harsh glare of the kitchen lights. “So, logically speaking, this is her house. As is every house in the compound,” 

“What?” Kiba asked, fishing out his crumpled worksheet from the bottom of his bag. Neji regarded it with disgust. Hinata shrugged, flipping through her notebook, searching for the relevant pages. 

“Technically, in the future, Hinata will own the entire Hyuuga compound and its… contents.” Her cousin elaborated. She didn’t think Neji wanted to say ‘contents’ there. “But she doesn’t right now.” 

“But regardless, this is not your house either,” Shino pointed out. “So she has just as much as a right, if not more, to occupy this space.”

“I live here! Hinata doesn’t! This is my house!” Neji, in a rare moment of weakness, raised his voice.

“What’s going– oh, okay, I’ll be running errands if you need me.” Kenta popped their head into the room to see what the fuss was about, identified four squabbling children, and promptly made a beeline for the door. 

“Tell them Hinata doesn’t live here,” Neji demanded, grabbing Kenta’s arm as they attempted to make their way past him. 

“Hinata doesn’t technically live here,” Kenta affirmed, shaking their appendage loose from the steel grip of a five-year-old and continuing towards the exit.

“Technically?” 

“I mean, she does spend most of her time here as well as eats meals with us,” Kenta explained tentatively. “Plus, she’s kicked me out of my bed more times than I can count. I refuse to nap with her.” 

“You choose to leave!” Hinata exclaimed. “It’s not like I forced you.”

“You repeatedly practice Gentle Fist in your sleep.” Kenta frowned. “It’s not like I have much of a choice.” 

“Isn’t that elder abuse?” Shino questioned absently, looking up from his worksheet. Kenta looked appalled, turning to Neji to come to their defense. 

“Don’t hurt your back sleeping on the couch,” Neji advised, patting their arm patronizingly. 

There was a knock at the door. 

“Don’t answer it!” Hinata blurted, running up to the door to put herself between it and Kenta. Kenta sighed, clearly having no intention to listen to her, pushed her aside, and opened the door anyways. 

“Hello. Is Lady Hinata–” Hinata slammed the door shut and locked it. Kenta shooed her away with their foot and unlocked the door, opening it once more. 

“Is Lady Hinata here?” Kou asked, knowing full well where she was. 

“Yes, she’s working on a project with her classmates,” Kenta explained calmly. They did not open the door wide enough for Kou to enter, nor did they invite him in. 

There was a long pause between the two before Kou finally continued. 

“I am expected to watch her,” He explained. 

“Fortunately, I am here.” Kenta gave a smile that didn’t reach their eyes. “You have the afternoon off. Enjoy it.” 

Kou did not move from their place on the porch, instead staring blankly into Kenta’s unwavering eyes. Neither moved.

“I only take orders from Lord Hiashi,” Kou politely pointed out. “Though I appreciate the suggestion, I am expected to watch Lady Hinata, even if you are capable of it yourself.” 

“If?” Kenta repeated, the polite tone of their voice wavering. 

“It is not my place to call into question whether or not you are suited for a job or not.” Kou stepped forward into the house. “Excuse me,” 

Kenta backed off into the side to accommodate him, choosing to make room 

instead of being bulldozed. They could only watch passively as Kou took a seat at their dining room table. Neji turned to them, astonished at how blatantly Kou had forced himself inside. Kenta could only respond with an equally flabbergasted look. 

“So, what are we working on?” Kou smiled brightly at the three children across from him. 

“Go away,” Kiba blurted. Hinata doubted Kiba knew why Kou wasn’t welcome here, but he picked up on the vibes immediately, and Hinata’s appreciation for the boy swelled. Akamaru let out a small bark, as if to try and ward Kou away. 

Kou’s smile slightly lessened. 

“With all due respect, Hyuuga-san, this is a project we are intended to do ourselves without outside-involvement,” Shino spoke up. “If you could please leave us to our own devices, we will call for you if you are needed.” 

“If,” Hinata repeated. Kenta covered up a small chuckle with a cough, obvious enough for Kou to catch on. 

“Alright,” Kou nodded. “I’ll just be doing some reading in the other room then.” 

And like he’d been in this house countless times before, he quickly navigated to the living room and began thumbing through a novel he’d conveniently brought with him. Kenta grabbed a book off the coffee table and sat right across from Kou with a book of their own. Neji sighed and disappeared into his room.

“What’s with this guy?” Kiba grumbled, scribbling his name down on his paper. “He’s all in your business.” 

Hinata’s mind cast back to the question Neji had asked her last week.

“What happens when you pick at a wound?”

A scab.

Chapter Text

Hinata knew something was wrong when she couldn’t distinguish genjutsu from normal jutsu with her byakugan. 

She’d gotten into a habit of abandoning class around the same time Neji’s class was released for lunch and bothering him in the few moments she could without any observers. Shino had sagely advised her that she might have indigestion problems and that she should begin to avoid certain inflammatory foods in her lunch. Kiba maintained that after-lunch bathroom adventures were perfectly normal and that as long as it was brown, she could flush it down. Little gems like these told her more than she needed to know about the Inuzuka household.

Once more, she had launched herself up Neji’s tree and immediately began to pester him for solutions to her life problems. 

“At all?” Neji asked, picking at his lunch. Hinata scowled at his disinterest.

“No! Both are just an expulsion of energy into the void. I see the energy. It’s identical.” She tugged at her hair anxiously, scanning the playground for listening ears. 

“That’s what justu is.” Neji rolled his eyes and leaned back against a nearby tree. “I don’t see the problem. So, everything looks like a jutsu?” 

“No. Everything looks like genjutsu.” She huffed. 

“But if genjutsu and justu look the same, how do you know if it’s one way or another?” 

Hinata paused, considering this for a moment. 

“Listen, maybe you’re just seeing the expulsion of energy because that’s the first step to any ninjutsu. I’m sure once your byakugan develops, you’ll be able to differentiate.” Neji explained rationally. “It’s probably normal.” 

“Probably?” Hinata whined, collapsing dramatically onto Neji. He scooted his bento off his lap so she could flop around pathetically without ruining his lunch or banging her head on the metal tin.

“Have you told Kou?” 

“No, but I think he’s noticed.” 

Kou had noticed. 

While Hinata wasn’t a model student, she was smart. More dangerous than that, she was clever. Being inventive was a good trait until it was not, and cleverness and free thinking was not something rewarded in the shinobi world— especially not in the Hyuuga clan. It was a good thing, Kou thought, that she was born the clan heir. Every branch member had silently agreed that a branch Hinata would be a dead Hinata. 

While Kou didn’t particularly enjoy “dimming her sparkle” (Hinata’s words), he saw the necessity in it, and he hoped that one day she would as well. He followed Lord Hiashi’s orders and followed them well, and letting a little brat run loose on the compound was neither conducive to nor in line with completing his assignment. 

Where Kou’s problem came from was that Hinata so violently distrusted him regardless of anything he said or did, which made it significantly more challenging to achieve basic civility, let alone his goals. He could not ask a simple question without getting four different answers, each equally stupid and none even slightly close to the truth. To make matters worse, she’d tell each one with a smile on her face and a tone that didn’t betray the lunacy behind each statement unless threatened. Kou didn’t like threatening children, contrary to Hinata’s very public proclamations, but saw the necessity of putting her in her place while he still could. The moment Hinata realized he had no authority over her, it was over. And he was near certain she’d already come to that conclusion, so now the whole clan was waiting with bated breath for the day Hinata Hyuuga renounced her father and uprooted society as a whole. Surely, it had to be in the near future.

Hinata had many imperfections, but there was one Kou found particularly interesting. 

Hinata, fundamentally, did not understand chakra. She could explain it to you backwards and forwards as many times as you’d ask, but the inner workings of it were obviously a mystery to her. It was strange, Kou thought, as having the byakugan should have illuminated this for her in a way many of her peers would never dream of. She was privy to a kind of understanding unique to the Hyuuga clan. But for the first time, it was a hindrance rather than an aid. 

Perhaps it was her different perspective that confused her; what she learned in the academy wasn’t always applicable to the Hyuuga clan. Chakra systems, individualism, and chakra points were viewed as entirely different concepts from what she’d learn in the classroom. The academy was challenging to many clans in terms of maintaining a narrative, but Kou had never thought of it as particularly problematic before. The academy did its best to accommodate everyone by remaining purposely vague around sensitive topics, such as general history. However, when faced with a Hyuuga that had been introduced to chakra in every non-Hyuuga way, he vowed not to let the clan make the same mistake twice. Hinata was mistaken enough on her own. 

And it was Kou’s unfortunate job to correct it. 

“Tell me the difference between genjutsu and justu,” Kou requested, standing above Hinata, who was panting heavily into the summer air. Bruises lined her arms from where she’d been blocking his hits for the past hour. She tilted her head, initially confused at the sudden change of topic but quickly catching on. 

Kou had begun asking Hinata questions that she wouldn’t answer honestly when she was tired, whether it be from physical or mental exhaustion. In this case, he was launching into an interrogation after hours of over-exertion in the hopes that she’d finally break. Kou couldn’t read the little heiress well, as no one, even Hinata, truly knew what Hinata was thinking at any given time, but he did notice her eyes snapping to him with a degree of harshness that suggested she knew exactly what was about to happen.

“Genjutsu is a subcategory of justu in which one uses chakra to cast a mental image upon a target or targeted area to fabricate reality. Jutsu is the broader term for expelling chakra to accomplish a desired effect.” 

“And how do we tell the difference using byakugan?” 

 Kou bit down a smile at the expression this four-year-old had managed to must at him. Her face reminded him of an old school teacher when asked a pointless question for the umpteenth time in the middle of a lecture, completely and utterly over every aspect of social interaction. 

“They appear different,” she finally stated, her voice as flat as the face she was giving him.

“Different how?” Kou prompted, squatting down so he was at eye level with her. It had taken him weeks to be able to do this without the threat of Hianta immediately going for his eyes in a vicious, underhanded move so she could bolt. Still, she longingly gazed at the dirt beneath her fingers before finally removing her hand from the ground as if to not be tempted by the prospect of throwing it in his face for old time’s sake.

“A justu is an expulsion of chakra into a physical form, and a genjutsu is abstract.” Hinata dusted her hands off on her jacket. She fought to recall the description that Neji had given her earlier. 

“But can you create a concrete genjutsu?” Kou clarified. Hinata looked up at him once more, eyes brimming with barely restrained fury.

“You could,” she said through gritted teeth.

“So what is the difference?” He repeated with a smile.  She wanted to wipe that stupid grin off his face. Kou's smiles seemed to be most often whenever Hinata was physically or mentally suffering, and they were ones of amusement and pity rather than a genuine expression of joy. 

Hinata didn’t respond, instead looking off wistfully into the distance where Neji and Kenta were sure to be having a much better time than she was. According to her cousin, there should be a stark difference between the two. He could only provide the textbook definitions of what he could see, and if asked for more detail, he asked her to explain colors to a blind person. Hinata decided to echo this and try that logic on Kou.

“Neither of us are blind,” Kou pointed out, poking a hole in her defense immediately. 

“Yes, but I doubt you could explain colors–”

“This will not do,” Kou straightened his back with a dramatic stretch and sighed. 

“Pardon?” Hinata could see the wheels turning in his head and tried to do damage control. “I know the difference; I just can’t articulate it properly. I’m tired, Kou.” She tacked on his name at the end for a bit of good old-fashioned emotional manipulation. People liked hearing their names; she’d picked this up from her mother. Kou wasn’t swayed. It probably worked better on civilians. 

“We are going on a bit of a field trip,” he announced, holding out his hand to help her up, but she made a point of standing, albeit with wobbling knees, on her own. 

Kou led her to a training ground outside the Hyuuga compound and sat her on a nearby bench. 

“We are going to watch some chuunin train.” He smiled as Hinata relaxed in the wood of the seat, eager for a break. “And you are going to tell me what they are doing.”

“Training,” she answered dryly. Kou lightly swatted her on the back of the head. 

“No.” He didn’t sound amused. 

She sat up straighter in her seat and scanned the area with mild disinterest. It was your standard field; the only thing unique about it was the large body of water that separated this training area from the next. Two teams of four chuunin animatedly threw chakra at each other, pretending not to notice their new audience. If anything, whenever one caught Kou’s eye, they tended to showboat with dramatic flourishes and useless hand signals meant to make things more complicated than they had to be. 

And while she couldn’t discern the difference between ninjutsus in a vacuum, she could in everyday life. Hinata relied heavily on context clues. 

Extended hand signals and advanced audio stimuli meant justu. Bizarre, world-melting configurations were genjutsu. Both were coated in a fog of chakra, and when interacting with the world, they spread the chakra further and thinner until it dissipated. A fine haze coated everything the chakra touched, even lingering on the grassy field where a barely visible dusting of ambient energy thrummed. 

A boy who seemed particularly interested in Kou waited until he was looking to expel a wave of chakra. She traced it with her Byakugan as it ran up through his core and released from his hands, only taking shape into a burst of water once it left his body. The wave crashed into the nearby trees, toppling branches and logs over and flooding the ground underneath her feet. 

She watched as water flowed through grass and trickled into the nearby lake. But, even with the spray of mist still settling in the air, she was nearly certain there was no water to begin with.

Hinata knew what she was supposed to see and supposed to say, but when watching the puddles slowly sink into the grass, she saw nothing but chakra retreating into dirt, burrowing deeper into the soil until it became a part of the world around her.

Chakra had knocked the tree over, flooded the ground, and convinced everyone around her it was water. It had even convinced the earth it settled on and seeped into that it was water. It was a fabrication of the highest scale, tampering with reality itself, and Hinata was maddeningly exempt. 

She watched as the chakra merged with the ambience of the training field and slowly disappeared, away from sight and, possibly, existence. The boy’s core slowly began to refill itself, as steadily as blood pumping but much, much slower, a glowing energy licking at his core and setting a bit too comfortably there.

Hinata was hyper-aware of her own chakra, running underneath her skin and up to her eyes, burning hot and eating at her insides like acid. And for the first time since she’d landed in this godforsaken place, she truly began to realize just how wrong it was. 

She’d chalked it up to a matter of differences in realities, in worlds, but now she faced it in its complete and utter truth. It had invaded every form of life, squirmed its way into every molecule, and now was an accepted fact of reality. 

Her eyes began to water. She didn’t know if it was tears from forcing herself to understand or the exhaustion of keeping her eyes open, but the burning sensation that pushed itself up from her core began to seep into her eyes.

Hinata fought to keep them open, to stare directly at the chakra that lined the boy’s very being, but the strain became too much. Her eyes began to flicker shut against her will. 

Hinata’s head snapped back and hit the bench. She felt the wind being knocked out of her as the world melted away, and thought that maybe, this was familiar. What she could see didn’t make sense, and she couldn’t even begin to grapple with what she couldn’t.

She’d felt this before. She’d felt her mind seeping out her ears and pooling at her feet, breath sucked away into the vacuum of space, looking into the void for answers and the void looking back with only questions. She felt so small, and so insignificant. 

But she had understood. If only for a moment. 

“Hinata?” 

She needed to understand again.

She was back in her four-year-old body that wasn’t hers, in a world that wasn’t hers, and being asked to distinguish between two infinite impossibilities by someone who couldn’t see either.

Colors to a blind person.

One look at Kou told her that this was meant to be a clear case, but how could she explain that reality was subjective and her reality was mind-bendingly different from his without winding up back in the hospital or lobotomized? 

But she knew the answer Kou was looking for. 

“Justu,” Hinata said, not convinced herself. Perhaps there was no jutsu, only

genjutsu so advanced they were able to convince everyone around them they were reality. Maybe reality was a genjutsu. Maybe there was no reality. Was she real?

She needed more sleep, or new eyes, or the comforting embrace of someone who wasn’t trying to use or dissect her every minute of the day. But Hinata knew none of those would be happening. 

“Are you sure?” Kou asked, interpreting her pause as uncertainty. 

“Yes,” she said, despite not being sure of anything anymore, and focused on the wood on her back and the cool breeze rustling through her hair. Hinata vowed to sort through everything some other time, focusing on shoving it to the back of her mind to deal with later.

Kou seemed decently satisfied with that, if not pleasantly surprised.  

“I told you,” she grumbled, her voice sounding foreign to her ears. “I can tell the difference, I just can’t explain it.”

“Cannot,” he corrected. “And, yes, you have done well to prove your point,” Kou mused. “But know this. Cutting corners now will only bring you hardship in the future.”

“Hardship is inevitable,” Hinata countered, thinking of the distant throbbing in the back of her mind. “And I would rather concern myself with present pain than the possibility of future discomfort.” 

“Is this paining you?” Kou smiled down at her.

“Immensely,” she deadpanned. “Your very presence pains me.” 

“That is not nice.” Kou was still smiling, not bothered at all by that statement. 

“You’re not nice,” Hinata retorted, scooting further down on the bench to put some distance between herself and her mentor. She began to feel more herself again. The weight of her clothes settled nicely on her skin, and she felt human. 

“You are,” Kou amended.

“Thank you,” Hinata decided to take the compliment, despite it being intended as a correction. Kou sighed. 

 “But I have to disagree. I think I am very nice.” He looked off into the distance, busying himself with the observation of the battling chuunin in front of them. The boy with the water jutsu noticed he was looking and proceeded to do a series of very unnecessary flips off of the surrounding trees, as if trying to boast of his aerodynamics. It was stupid. His hair was too big for that.

“You are not kind,” Hinata pointed out, now on the edge of the bench. Not for the first time, she considered making a run for it, but she knew she wouldn’t get far. And even if she did, Kou would still be waiting for her back at the compound. 

“Oh,” Kou turned back to her, glancing at how she positioned herself. “Maybe so. But shinobi do not have to be.”

“No?” Hinata frowned at his deflection. 

“No. Besides, you are not particularly kind yourself.”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t rare for Hinata to wander out of bed in the dead of night to get a glass of water or stare at the ceiling in existential dread. It had taken her nearly a year and a half to become comfortable with her own home after dark, but she began to relish the quiet of the night and the solitude it promised.

A floorboard creaked behind her. Hinata whipped her head around and immediately activated her byakugan, crouching into a Gentle Fist stance. In the hallway, swaying slightly, was something remarkably distant from what she would consider normal. Two chakra cores stared back at her with equal confusion and horror. The larger one reminded her of her mother, soothing and gentle. The smaller one was more fragile. Should she attack, she’d go for that one first.

Its system still seemed to be developing, feeding off the other to sustain its growth. They were pulsing in sync, and she could see how the bigger system was being drained of its energy to sustain the smaller one. She wondered if it were contagious or would consume her chakra system next, so a third system would be inhabiting it. Maybe her mother was the first victim. She hoped she wouldn’t be its next.

Distantly, it reminded her of the blinding light that assaulted her eyes whenever she looked at Naruto; the twin thrumming was similar and equally terrifying.

She was debating between rushing the intruder or running for the hills when the light flickered on. There stood Hitomi, looking sheepish with a hand over her stomach and an empty teacup. 

Hinata screamed. Her mother screamed. Hiashi burst out of the bedroom in the nude with his byakugan activated. 

Hinata screamed again. 

“Nothing's wrong with her, she’s just pregnant,” Her father explained tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Having been woken up at three in the morning by Hinata’s mad screams of a chakra-siphoning parasite in her mother's stomach, it was now his duty to calm down his hysterical wife and child. 

Hinata sat on the couch, stunned, trying to process everything. One, her father slept sans any clothing. Two, her parents’ relationship was on the mend. And three, she might be an older sister soon. She made the disgusting realization that perhaps all three were connected. 

“Are you sure?” Hinata openly stared at her mother’s stomach. Hitomi was a small woman, and even at Hiashi’s estimation of three months, she wasn’t showing at all. 

“Yes,” Hiashi sighed, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. The man looked more disheveled than she’d ever seen a Hyuuga; his hair was a mess, and his clothes were worse. He had grabbed the first item of clothing he’d found and wrapped himself in it, which, unfortunately, happened to be her mother’s dusty pink nightrobe. It was much too short for him, but she was grateful he was covered. As Hinata had unfortunately found out, at just over three feet tall her line of sight on an adult man was suboptimal. 

“Not cancer or a tumor or some other thing?” Hinata didn’t know who she made her appeal to, but needed reassurance. The memory of the two chakra systems entangled in one another flashed in her mind. “Could it be removed?” 

Hitomi burst into tears again. Hiashi fixed Hinata with a disapproving glare before turning to gently stroke his wife’s hair. Perhaps that wasn’t the best choice of words. 

“Not if it’s a fetus,” She clarified. “I meant the potential parasite,” Hitomi sobbed harder. 

“Hinata, it’s not a parasite.” Hiashi sounded tired. She wanted to argue. Even if it was an unborn baby, the conditions of the two were highly similar, in her opinion. 

Hinata had previously been a grown woman and knew about the birds and the bees and such, but how it existed in the context of chakra was still new territory for her. She wanted to grill Hiashi more about how it got there, despite knowing full well how that happened. She wanted to make him squirm. 

But then, Hinata thought, she’d be losing the upper hand. Hiashi seemed very embarrassed about the whole thing, which was a new emotion for him. Naturally, she wanted to draw this out as long as possible, which meant holding onto this trump card for as long as possible. 

With her recent revelation about the nature of chakra, shattering everything she thought she knew about how the world operated, this was a fantastic opportunity for her to observe how one’s chakra systems develop.

“It’s just amazing how involved she’s been,” Hitomi gushed to the woman at the fish stand as the worker packaged fresh herring for the two. Hinata was starting to hate herring, but she was sure Neji would be glad about the next few lunches. 

Hinata was pressed against her mother's side, completely zoned out from the rest of the world as she accompanied her mother with minor errands. Even though Hitomi could delegate these tasks, the woman genuinely enjoyed her weekly stroll around the market, likely because it was the only non-Hyuuga interaction she got. And as much as Hinata loathed shopping, she could see the appeal if it meant a break in training. Even if her primary focus was currently on the developing chakra system, the time off was nice. A new bonus to her mother's pregnancy: Kou was forced to sit back and watch as Hinata shirked her duties to play loving older sister. 

“She’s just a natural nurturer,” Agreed the worker.

Actually, Hinata was focusing intently on the pulsing of the developing chakra core as it responded to new stimuli. Every morning, Hinata rose before her mother to spend at least an hour watching through the wall as it fluctuated and pulsed in sync with her mother’s system. She catalogued the small changes of the developing chakra system, testing how it responded to small pulses of her chakra. As the days continued, the fetus seemed to respond more actively, leaning into her touch. 

Because she’d been oblivious to the first three months of its existence, Hinata suspected she’d also missed the major milestones of its growth. From what she could see, the chakra system seemed to be heavily correlated with the nervous system. She’d have preferred to have witnessed it at least from the six-week mark, as she hypothesized that the chakra first began to appear around that time, along with the brain and nervous system. She was a bit disappointed to miss the first trimester, but at least she could monitor it now and had infancy to look forward to. She’d have much more direct access to it upon birth. 

She should probably stop calling it an it. 

She’d calculated the estimated conception date to be June 26th, or the date of the summer festival. Gross. At what Hinata could confidently say was week thirteen, the fetus had developed a proportional head that was oddly shaped and only slightly concerning. If she didn’t have prior knowledge that it was supposed to look like that, she’d be even more convinced it was a parasite or an alien. Hiashi had, at this point, caught on to Hinata using her byakugan to monitor her mother’s pregnancy, but he couldn’t say much as he was doing the same thing. Neither of them told Hitomi. 

At fourteen weeks, Hinata discovered the sex of the fetus. She was having a sister. Hiashi didn’t seem particularly pleased with this information, but her mother was ecstatic. Week fifteen marked intentional movements, such as smiling, which was particularly terrifying. At sixteen, she was responsive to voices and noises, and the beginnings of her byakugan were forming. 

On more than one occasion, Hinata had witnessed her sister pushing chakra through her eyes, which were still shut, and then going still for extended periods. The chakra reserves had nearly doubled but were still clearly developing. She enjoyed this week the most, as the fetus was incredibly reactive, which led to several interesting discoveries. 

One, her sister did not like her father. Every time she heard his voice, she’d curl away from him. Hinata suspected that this had to do with her mother’s emotional state, which meant that even though their relationship was healing, there was still clear resentment.  Her sister could also tentatively sense Hinata, or at least recognize her chakra signature and voice subconsciously. This led Hinata to wonder just how intertwined she was with her own chakra, as she had a distinct signature that could be identified through direct contact. She wondered if this was innate to all life.

At week nineteen, the baby started kicking and punching. This pleased Hiashi. Hitomi was less than enthused. The main Hyuuga family started thinking of names, which, of course, all had to start with H. No one gave her a straight answer as to why.

Hiashi, as always, was practical. He advocated for the name Hiroko, meaning offspring, child, or small thing. Apparently, this was the second time he’d pitched the idea. Hinata liked Honda, which she passed off as meaning “origin,” but fully wanted to name her sister after the car. Another favorite of hers was Hatsune, after Hatsune Miku. Her parents hated both, even if she didn’t tell them the reasoning behind her suggestions.

Hitomi liked the name Hanabi, meaning fireworks, reminiscent of the summer festival that coincided with her conception. Hinata was both pleased and disgusted that her original prediction was correct.  It horrified her to think that while she was off with Neji, her parents were having fun of their own. 

But, to be fair, ‘Firework’ was a pretty awesome name for a kid. So, two against one, Hiashi lost the fight, and the baby was to be named Hyuuga Hanabi. 

“Is Shino pregnant, then?” Asked Kiba during lunch, poking at the Aburame's stomach. Shino frowned. 

“No. In humans, pregnancy is the result of conception.” He sighed, poking at his food. It was a perfectly balanced and healthy meal, with a decently large serving of vegetables. For some reason, Shino really liked grass. So, to prevent him from grazing at the academy, his family always packed a wild grass salad with his lunch. This was in stark contrast to Kiba’s carnivore diet, which consisted of ground beef wrapped in several slices of ham. Hinata was just happy she wasn’t subject to her mother’s cravings, which had invaded most meals of the main family. Neji wasn’t pleased with the uptick of umeboshi in his lunches. She couldn’t blame him.

“But you have a colony inside of you. And to sustain it, there has to be breeding,” Hinata pointed out, playing devil’s advocate for Kiba’s stupid question. 

“I am a host to a colony, but their state does not correspond to mine. If my kikaichuu dies, that does not mean I am dead.” Shino explained, deadpan. 

“Yeah, but pups don’t always make it to full term, and the mom still is fine,” Kiba insisted. Hinata was impressed by his comprehensive knowledge on the subject, and then remembered that the Inuzuka bred their own ninken. Kiba must have been involved in the process. 

“I am not pregnant. That is physically impossible because my reproductive organs are not yet mature.” Shino restated, growing tired of this conversation. He looked to Hinata for help, but Hinata was just stuck on the fact that Shino refuted this claim as physically impossible because of his prepubescent state, rather than his sex. It wasn’t her place to ask him about it, but she was nosy and would anyway. 

“Shino, are you male?” She asked bluntly. 

“Oh, good point,” Kiba nodded. “I can’t tell ‘cause the scent is all mixed up.”

Shino paused, considering the question. Their silence told Hinata a lot. 

“The Aburame exist outside of binary sex and gender,” They finally said. “I am no different. But in order to integrate into society, we have adapted by responding to the roles designated for us, regardless of how we may identify ourselves.” 

“Yeah, Mom said that we need to give up stuff to be in a village,” Kiba nodded. “Like the hierarchy outside gender or alloparenting. Most people just don’t get clan things.” 

“Oh.” Hinata didn’t realize Kiba knew words with that many syllables. More interestingly, she didn’t recognize the extent to which Konoha relied on the consistent sacrifice and extensive compromise of its people. Maybe this could be a case for the Hyuuga to forgo the cursed seal; that in order to exist in polite society, one needed to adhere to social norms. She wasn’t keen on culture being erased for simplicity’s sake, but if it could be used to her advantage, she’d forgive that. 

“Well, how would you like to be referred to?” Hinata asked, filing away those thoughts for future examination. 

“I have no preference,” Shino shrugged. “The Aburame’s approach to gender and sex is likely beyond your comprehension. Pronouns seem arbitrary to me.” 

“Huh,” Kiba mumbled through a mouthful of his lunch. “So, you–”

“Mouth closed, please,” Shino reminded him. Kiba nodded and finished chewing without displaying his food to the two of them before asking his question again. 

“So you don’t care?” 

“Modern language is restrictive,” Shino shrugged. “And many concepts have been erased from streamlined understanding. But what’s most important for you to know is I’m not pregnant.” 

Hinata cracked a smile at the dry delivery of that statement. She was beginning to genuinely enjoy her little group beyond what they had to offer her. They were likely the closest things she had to friends, and considering they were her likely future teammates, she was glad for it. 

“So, do you lay eggs then?” Kiba asked, snapping Hinata out of her brief, affectionate musings. 

One look at Shino’s face was enough to send her into hysterics. 

At twenty-four weeks, it was Hinata’s fifth birthday. They had a larger celebration, and she suspected attendance was mandatory. Hinata was presented with a cake, a scroll, and a bag of Konpeito. She was most excited about konpeito. The rest of the family eyed the scroll warily. Wisely, she did not open it. The main family ate dinner together, alone. The cake was just as dry as last year's. 

“Hinata,” Her father said, looking across from her at the dinner table. “Do you know how to use the cursed seal?”

“Hypothetically,” She responded, looking down at her plate. Hitomi glanced between them before excusing herself. 

“The current head and the heir are the only two Hyuugas able to use it,” Hiashi said. “As the current head and the heir are the only two Hyuugas without the cursed seal,”

This was news to Hinata. She cast her eyes briefly over to where her mother had retreated and was now sitting in the living room, flipping through a magazine. Hiashi followed her gaze. 

“Your sister, along with the next generation of Hyuuga, will be given the cursed seal on the next heir’s third birthday,” Hiashi continued. “So, an estimated fifteen years from now. In the meantime, I will teach you how to use the seal. The instructions are written on the scroll for you to study.” 

A lightbulb went off in Hinata’s head. While freeing the rest of the family from the cursed seal took more thought and effort, all she had to do to prevent the cursed seal from being implemented in the future was not have kids. With no heir to turn three, there’d never be another seal made again. 

It couldn’t possibly be that simple. But it wasn’t like kids at age twenty was something Hinata was particularly excited about in the first place, either. Afraid her voice would betray her enthusiasm at her new revelation, she simply nodded. 

Hiashi smiled at her, sensing the giddiness from his daughter, not knowing that he had just gifted her a loophole wrapped in a pretty bow for her birthday. 

At the twenty-seventh week, Hinabi opened her eyes and stared down Hinata, completing the second trimester with the terrifying new development that whenever Hinata examined her sister, her sister could now examine her back. Hanabi was also able to blink and wiggle, and her dark hair and light eyes were more prominent. The chakra core was as bright as ever and had spread throughout her body, the chakra nodes were nearly complete. 

The third trimester started with Hanabi deliberately kicking at Hinata whenever she laid her hand on her mother’s stomach. It was like target practice, and it turned out that Hanabi had pretty accurate aim. The tenketsu finished developing, her bones hardened, and her skin thickened. Hinata estimated her sister to be around five pounds, which was slightly below what she should be but proportionate to her mother’s small stature. Hinata was most involved here, as school had recently gone on break. She hoped she could be there for the birth. 

Hiashi became jittery as the days progressed, fretting over her mother in what might be considered sweet if he wasn’t so emotionally constipated about it. He constantly used his byakugan to check their vitals and progress, and he refused to let her go anywhere without being accompanied by a small army of nurses and bodyguards.

Hitomi gave birth on March 27th, just before Hinata went back to the academy. Hinata was not allowed to watch, despite her protests that she be allowed into the delivery room. The Hyuuga clan midwives delivered baby Hanabi with a precision and expertise that could only be attributed to byakugan. The labor lasted four hours. Baby Hinabi clocked in at eighteen inches and just over six pounds, with Hiashi’s dark brown hair, standard pupilless eyes, and Hitomi’s nose. 

Hinata got to hold her sister shortly after birth, but it was rather anticlimactic. She didn’t connect with Hanabi as a human quite yet. It was hard to see the baby as a baby when she’d spent the last six months looking at her as a chakra vessel, and now, with a pile of flesh in her arms, she was less than impressed. The chakra was underwhelming out of the womb and seemingly retreated under her scrutiny. Baby privileges were quickly revoked when Hanabi suddenly grabbed her finger, and Hinata, in a panic, dropped her. 

Nothing happened as they were in a room full of trained shinobi, all of whom dove to catch her sister like expert volleyball players. To be fair, handing a newborn to a five-year-old wasn’t the smartest move anyway. 

Chapter Text

“If I end up on a team with Uchiha or Uzumaki, I’m going to kill someone,” Hinata groaned, sliding into her seat next to Kiba. At twelve, he had mellowed down, but not enough for it to be tolerable for extended periods. He barely surpassed her in height, which he bragged about often. Hinata was close to being her mother's height, but then again, Hitomi wasn’t particularly tall. “And if it’s not them or Mizuki, it’s going to be me.” 

“Well, I’d advocate for none of the above, but if you had to, I think you could get away with Mizuki-sensei,” Shino remarked. As the tallest of the three, they were lanky but deceptively heavy with the amount of bugs they had stored under their skin. Not much had changed in the personality department. “I doubt anyone will go looking if he disappears.” 

“Ouch.” Kiba winced at how blunt the two were being. “Maybe someone beat you to it, though. He’s not here today.”

“Perhaps he’s finally taken a day off,” Shino suggested. “To celebrate getting rid of us.” 

“Getting rid of Naruto,” Hinata corrected, noting that the boy was there today, too. “I don’t know what crawled up his ass, but Mizuki hates his guts.” 

“To be fair, a lot of people do.” The Aburame shrugged, looking out at the class and scouring the room. “He’s not a particularly palatable person.” 

“Yeah, but that’s not his fault.” Kiba wasn’t used to being the voice of reason and was uncomfortable with the responsibility given to him. He adjusted his shiny new forehead protector proudly. Perhaps the weight of being a genin had finally gotten to him. “Besides, Naruto didn’t graduate anyway.” There was a hint of smugness in his voice as he fiddled with his headband. 

“Not that that’s a surprise,” Hinata rolled her eyes. “But now that means you’re the dead last.” 

“Just in academics!” He protested. Akamaru, resting on his head, jolted awake at the sudden outburst before going back to sleep under Kiba’s hood once more.

“This is the academy.” Shino pointed out. “I think academics matter, at least to some extent.” 

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though.” Hinata patted his back, which was meant to be reassuring but came off as condescending. “I bet some numbers will be fudged and the Hokage will come up with some bullshit to pass him. That seems to happen a lot.” 

Naruto, as if on cue, burst through the door, disrupting the daily pre-class shenanigans. Sasuke was still being fought over by his fangirls, and everyone else was completely done with that mess. Naruto proudly strode over, and Hinata filtered out the mayhem to the best of her ability. 

“What did I say?” She commented dryly. “Bullshit,” 

Indeed, a leaf headband had proudly taken the place of the boy’s usual goggles, though it didn’t look as new and shiny as everyone else’s. He had to have acquired it non-traditionally. 

“It is odd that things keep happening to go in his favor,” Shino agreed, voice barely carrying over the bickering. “But perhaps he deserves it, as he is unfortunate in every other category.”

Hinata hummed, contemplating his words. She cast her gaze over to Naruto just in time to see him get knocked into Sasuke, watching passively as they locked lips. 

“Truly unfortunate,” Hinata sighed. The class erupted into a riot, most in outrage, but the rest in hysterics. Kiba was doubled over in laughter. Even she couldn’t suppress the mirth in her voice. “Surely, as a ninja, one of them could have dodged.” 

“I’m inclined to believe it was intentional.” Shino had to speak up over the increasing noise. “No one has that much tension with their classmate without a romantic undertone involved.” 

“How much you wanna bet they’re stuck on a team together?” Kiba managed between giggles. 

“It’s pretty much a guarantee.” Hinata smiled at how delighted Kiba seemed to be about this whole thing. “Balance the team out and all that.” 

“It’s the same assignments as always,” Shino chimed in. “Ino-Shika-Cho, generation permitting, top two and dead last, tracking team, close combat, and the rest are cannon fodder filed into groups of career genin and future dropouts.” 

Iruka quieted down the class and began with team assignments. 

“You’re no fun,” Kiba mumbled. Hinata held a finger to her mouth, shushing him despite knowing full well how things would play out. Shino was right; it was pretty predictable. 

Iruka listed off teams one through six, which Shino had brutally but correctly dubbed as unimportant. Those teams consisted mostly of civilian-borns and middle-of-the-pack nobodies. Hinata was pleased with the arrangement so far since she wasn’t stuck with any of them. 

At team seven, they struck comedy gold. Naruto was thrilled to be on a team with Sakura, Sakura was disappointed to be on a team with Naruto, but was enthused to be with Sasuke, Naruto hated that he was with Sasuke, and Sasuke looked like he was planning to follow in his brother’s footsteps with a mass murder of his own. 

If they hadn’t graduated already, she’d be warning everyone not to come to school tomorrow. She opened her mouth to relay this to Shino and then remembered her father’s advice to keep silent about such issues until she reworked her approach to sensitive topics. According to Hiashi, being an unsympathetic asshole was fine as long as you stayed quiet about it. 

Once they got to Team Eight, Shino sat back in their seat, smug, as the trio were officially united as a genin unit and not just academy friends. Their sensei was Yuuhi Kurenai, who was a complete unknown to her. She felt a pang of jealousy when Team Seven got the copycat ninja, and Team Ten landed the Hokage’s son. But as for her teammates, she didn’t have strong feelings either way.  She was simply grateful she wasn’t stuck dealing with random idiots. She could deal with Kiba. She knew Kiba. But if she landed with someone like Ami, the future nobody, or, god forbid, Naruto, she’d be making the same face Sasuke was now. 

Everyone was released for lunch, and Hinata was glad for it. Now that Neji had graduated, she was stuck with the packed lunches catered to his palate. If she was lucky, sometimes he’d drop by if he wasn’t on a mission or training. Today was one of those fortunate days. 

Hinata, Kiba, and Shino usually disappeared beyond the academy grounds to eat their lunch far away from the rest of the class. Now that they were older, they were allowed to leave the property, and Hinata was nothing if not an opportunist. 

Neji found the three shooting the shit on their usual rooftop. Kiba was dangling his legs over the side of the building, Shino stayed a respectable distance from the ledge, sitting on the apex where the sloping ends met, and Hinata was lying with her back against the tiling, sprawled out and eyes cast to the sky. 

She heard Team Guy approach and shot up, eager to unload the inappropriately large amount of herring on her brother. 

“Neji!” She smiled down at the boy from her position above them. She slid down the roof and met him on the ground, bento in hand. 

“Hinata,” He greeted her, happily accepting her lunch. “Shino, Kiba.” Neji nodded at the other two boys. 

“Hello.” Shino waved down at the Hyuuga. Kiba offered a nod between bites of his food. 

Neji’s team wasn’t far behind him. An unmistakable flash of green, as well as a figure with twin buns, raced to join him. 

When Neji first introduced Hinata to his teammates, she thought only one thing of Rock Lee: This boy has been blessed in a way that he will never be grateful for. 

What Neji viewed as a burden, Hinata believed was a divine gift. As far as she was concerned, Rock Lee was the chosen one. He could not access the chakra. And if Neji hadn’t made an effort to keep the two far, far away from each other, she would have known more about this by now. 

“Hina-chan!” Rock Lee greeted her with a grin. She beamed back. 

“No.” Neji immediately put himself between the two. “Not happening.”

Neji knew it was a bad idea. Hinata saw his teammate as a future experiment, Rock Lee saw his sister as a goddess who was mean to nearly everyone but him. It was a recipe for disaster. Even though he had warned Lee and Tenten about Hinata, the two fell for her gentle smiles and paid no attention to her biting words. 

Hinata, unfortunately for everyone else, had grown into a beautiful young lady. She was ‘blessed’ with developing her mother’s figure, even though at twelve, it was wasted on her. Hitomi’s pride and joy was her daughter’s long, flowing purple hair that reached her mid-back and shone like silk. Hinata was indifferent, but as long as it made her mother happy, she’d keep it. 

Neji hated that this meant she’d be getting more attention from boys and had become wildly overprotective. Not because he was worried for Hinata— she could take care of herself— but because he, in good conscience, could not let anyone get near her with those intentions. She’d abuse their interest in her massively.

 Neji had seen this once before, with a boy in her class. A sweet kid, but ultimately one of the future nobodies that came from a civilian family and knew nothing of the shinobi world. She ran that boy into the ground. He didn’t come back to the academy the following year.

After what Neji had seen, he vowed he wouldn’t let even his worst enemy near him. Even if Lee was obnoxious and a waste of space, no one deserved that. 

“So, did you get your team assignment?” Neji quickly changed the subject. Hinata’s attention snapped back to him with a knowing look. “I’m assuming you’re all with each other.” 

“As predicted,” Shino confirmed. “We’re united under Yuuhi Kurenai. Team eight.”

“I see,” Neji nodded, taking in the Aburame’s words. 

“So you know her?” Hinata asked hopefully, desperately wishing that they were going to be mentored by a well-known figure. Even Neji had landed Might Guy, son of Might Dai, and a taijutsu expert. It felt like everyone had gotten lucky except for her. 

“No.” He confirmed. “Never heard of her.” 

Hinata bit back a frown at his denial. It wasn’t ideal. 

“A kunoichi sensei is a good thing, though,” Tenten piped up, having caught her breath. Hinata considered her words. Tenten was right; kunoichi were outnumbered two to one in the shinobi field and were forced to excel or be left behind. A jounin kunoichi had to be someone extremely talented, as no female ninja ever survived on luck alone. 

“I suppose,” she admitted. Tenten’s words had reassured her somewhat. Still, she’d expect at least some notoriety if Kurenai was as talented as Tenten seemed to think. “And it would be nice to be led by someone not male.” 

“Yeah!” Kiba agreed from the rooftop. “Mom says that kunoichi always kick ass, way more than regular shinobi,” He then frowned, seemingly considering those words for the first time and realizing that he fell into the category of ‘regular’ shinobi. 

“Oh my god,” Hinata was hit with a sudden realization. She thought back to the team assignment. 

 Kiba, who was raised by his sister and mom and was a big believer in equal rights. Shino, who notably used every conceivable pronoun, and from the Aburame clan, where the vast majority was genderqueer. And herself, the first ever Hyuuga Heiress, who would have been awarded the spot of top kunoichi if Iruka hadn’t finally caught on to her regular disappearances during class. 

All led by Yuuhi Kurenai, a woman with seemingly no other discerning qualities. Perhaps that was all that mattered during team assignments. This wasn’t just a tracking team.

“I’m on the girl power squad!” Hinata buried her face in her hands, extremely distraught by her discovery. 

“Holy shit, you might be right,” Neji couldn’t suppress the smile that took over his face. 

“That’s not a bad thing!” Tenten was quick to comfort her, stroking her hair in a soothing motion as Hinata was doubled over and visibly troubled. Neji rolled his eyes, knowing she was being dramatic and not truly as torn up as everyone had perceived. 

“I love women!” Rock Lee agreed with Tenten, walking over to Hinata to soothe her.

“No.” Neji swatted him away from his sister once more.

“But I do!” The boy in green protested, still trying to make his way over to her.

“The problem lies that the ‘girl power’ squad was created with the intention of breaking gender roles as an exception, not a rule.” Shino followed Hinata’s lead and slid off the roof as well to join the conversation. They settled next to Hinata, still crouched on the ground and enjoying the attention she was getting. “This becomes problematic because it inherently undermines the achievements of our team by creating the standard that we are good only in context, as in, we are good as a ‘girl power’ squad, not as a squad, and not as individuals.” 

“Also, it means that we’re not expected to be good as a squad!” Kiba yelled down at the growing gathering of new genin, collecting his lunch and scrambling down from his perch so he could continue the dialogue. “Like, they don’t really mean it!” He dropped Akamaru down to the ground so he could finish climbing down without the added difficulty of a squirming puppy. 

“But isn’t it a good opportunity? You know, succeed and prove them wrong?” Tenten tried to see the positive in the situation. 

“I believe in you! You’re pretty, smart, capable–” Rock Lee tried again to approach Hinata. Neji grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit, preventing him from going any further.

“But proving them wrong is proving them right!” Hinata shot up and untangled herself from the girl. “If we succeed, we’re showing that we’re the abnormality, which creates a normality that success is not achieved! If we fail, we prove that the normality is also that success is not achieved!” 

“I think you’re reading into this too much,” Neji sighed. “It likely had good intentions.” 

“Good intentions are pointless,” Shino countered. “Actions are what we have to look at. And, currently, we see a team formed as a token feminist experiment,” 

“Well, you all are surprisingly on the level.” A new noice chimed in. The gaggle of genin looked over to see a woman with dark hair and piercing red eyes perched on the rooftop that Team Eight had just abandoned. 

“You’re beautiful!” Lee gushed, looking at her with stars in his eyes. Neji took this opportunity to put more distance between his teammate and Hinata and dragged the boy away from her. 

“That’s the part of the problem!” Tenten frowned at him. “A woman being pretty isn’t the first thing you should notice!”

“But, kunoichi are allowed to be pretty, but not just pretty.” Kiba shrugged, recalling his sister’s words that were drilled into him. “Femininity doesn’t have to be left behind to be strong or smart. But you also don’t have to be feminine to be a woman. Or a woman to be feminine. Femininity is more of a concept,” 

“Maybe we’re the politically correct team,” Shino mused. “Konoha’s nondiscriminatory ninjas.” 

“Don’t ever say that again.” Hinata immediately shut him down, standing at her full height and smoothing out her clothing to look more presentable. 

“No, we’re definitely the token feminist team.” Kurenai smiled at her genin. “And I’m excited to be working with you all.”

Chapter Text

“So,” Kurenai addressed her team. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino had met her at training ground six, each with a lunch packed and a water bottle as instructed. “I assume you’re all familiar with each other?” 

“Yeah,” Kiba nodded. “We stuck together during the academy.” 

“And why’s that?” She prodded. Both boys turned to Hinata, as she was the uniting force between the three.

Hinata didn’t want to give her real reasons, which now seemed shallow and manipulative. Telling her new sensei ‘Oh, they were my social bodyguards and I hate people’ seemed in poor taste if she wanted to make a good impression. 

“Our clans work closely with each other, and I figured we’d be on the same team one day.” She settled for a slight deviation from the truth. 

Kurenai nodded, accepting her response. “Do you know why your clans work so well together?” 

“We all have abilities related to tracking,” Shino answered. “And are feminists.” 

“Oh my god,” Hinata groaned into her hands. Kiba laughed at her dramatics, and her sensei cracked a small smile. 

“Some teachers have their students go through a post-graduation test before they take them on missions and such, but that’s typically for students  from civilian families.” 

“Awesome!” Kiba pumped his hand in the air. “I hate tests!”

“Good luck becoming a chuunin,” Shino drawled. Kiba’s mood soured immediately. 

“So, it’s just another barrier for civilian-borns joining the shinobi force?” Hinata clarified. Kurenai pursed her lips. 

“Not exactly. The post-graduation test is meant to ensure everyone who goes on a mission is fully prepared, and it’s up to the teachers to determine what that means. I trust that your respective clans did well to make sure you all are competent and ready. But I will be testing you to measure your current abilities so we may improve upon them.” 

Hinata supposed this seemed reasonable. Kiba had deflated somewhat upon receiving the new knowledge that he would have to take tests in the future, and Shino didn’t have any change in posture or facial expression that gave any insight into how they were feeling.

“Why don’t we all introduce ourselves? That way, I can get to know you  better. I can start,” She suggested. 

“Sounds alright to me,” Kiba agreed. Hinata nodded. 

“Okay. I’m Yuuhi Kurenai. I’m twenty-seven, I like evening drinks— like shochu or vodka, and I don’t like cake. I recently got promoted to jounin, and my favorite color is red.” She looked at Kiba, who was still soaking up all that information. 

“I’m Inuzuka Kiba! I’m twelve. I like beef, steak, jerky… most meat, and I don’t like foods that aren’t chewy. I like taking walks with Akamaru, and my favorite color is also red!” He held up his dog for emphasis, who wiggled happily in his owner's arms. 

“I’m Aburame Shino, and I’m twelve. I like wild grass salad and dislike strong-smelling foods. My hobby is entomology, and my favorite color is green.” Shino’s introduction was short and to the point. She supposed that said more about them than any words.

“My name is Hyuuga Hinata.” She smiled at her teacher, hoping to come across as sweet and not at all who she was. “I’m also twelve. I like sweet things, but also hate cake. I don’t like seafood. My favorite hobby is blacksmithing.”  

Kurenai’s eyes widened, not expecting this from her. 

“She likes to lie,” Shino informed their sensei. “I don’t think Hinata even knows how kunai are made.” 

Hinata huffed, not enjoying being called out. She didn’t have time to develop any hobbies. But blacksmithing did seem pretty cool. 

“Well,” Smiled Kurenai. “It’s nice to officially meet you all. Today, I’ll be taking you all to get your identification photos, and then tomorrow we’ll pick up a mission.” 

The four made their way to the registration office, where several genin were already in line. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino filed into the hallway to wait for their turn. In front of them was a familiar figure making a buffon of himself. 

“You look ridiculous,” Hinata told Naruto, who had his face painted white with red swirls.
“No, I look badass!” He huffed, striking a pose. She could swear that he tried to flex his muscles at her. Kiba peeked over his shoulder, took one look at Naruto, and immediately broke down in laughter.

“No, you look bad, and like an ass,” She countered, having to raise her voice over her teammate losing his mind. 

“It’s really bad!” Kiba cackled, wiping a stray tear from his eyes. 

“I’m continuously amazed at the things you choose to put effort into,” Shino remarked, examining their ex-classmate. 

“Thanks!” Naruto flashed a blinding smile at them.

“That wasn’t a compliment.” The Aburame clarified. Naruto frowned and turned to say something more, but was called into the room for his photo to be taken. 

“Oh my god,” Kiba wheezed. “That was amazing.” 

“Don’t get any ideas,” She murmured, watching as an argument ensued between Naruto and the photographer. Finally, the boy marched out, chest puffed in pride, waving a copy of the photo. 

“See, awesome!” He shoved it in her face. She gingerly took the picture into her hands and examined it. 

“You know what,” Hinata mused, looking over the stupid expression and dramatic makeup. The pose he was making wasn’t much better. “I think this is perfect.” 

“Really?” It was almost heartbreaking how eager Naruto was for praise. Almost.

“Yes,” She agreed, trying to hand the photo back. “It perfectly captures the kind of person you are.” 

“I told you.” He beamed at her, ignoring her extended hand as she attempted to pass back the image. “Future Hokage Material.”

“Well, Hinata is,” Shino countered. “I don’t know about you, though.” 

Not a day went by without Hinata cursing herself for ever declaring such a thing. Seven years of bickering over a career she didn’t even want, but knew for a fact she couldn’t let Naruto get. Shino seemed convinced she’d make it in politics, though. 

“No way!” Naruto huffed. “You can be my secretary or whatever, but I’m gonna be calling the shots.”

“I fear the leaf would prematurely enter into a new war over ramen or comic books should that be the case,” Hinata remarked, rolling her eyes. “You lack discipline.” 

“I graduated, didn’t I?” Naruto protested, pointing at his forehead protector. Her gaze followed his finger to the headband, unimpressed. 

“Barely, I’m sure.” She quipped, already bored with this conversation. Once more, she tried to give back the picture, but Naruto wasn’t done. 

“Yeah, but I’m ninja all the same. And my academy rank won’t matter when I’m out kicking ass!” 

“But it is an acute representation of your skills. While others may not know what score you received in class, they may be able to guess when you’re on the other side of their blade,” Shino pointed out. “So I’d argue that your rank does have a bearing on the real world.” 

“Yeah, but I won’t have to do any more tests!” Naruto insisted. “So I’ll be fine!”

“Good luck with the chuunin exams,” Kiba echoed Shino’s words from earlier. Hinata gave him a very obvious side eye, finding it amusing that he parroted the same statement used to put him down this morning on someone else. Naruto stuck his tongue out at the boy and began to scamper off.

“Take your photo back!” She yelled down at him as he disappeared down the stairwell.

“Hold on to it! It’ll be worth a lot when I’m running this place!” Naruto shouted over his shoulder.

“I don’t want it!” Hinata’s cries fell upon deaf ears as he exited the building entirely, leaving her with a ridiculously stupid image of someone she didn’t  care about in the slightest. She pocketed the photo anyway and waited for the photographer to call out for the next person in line. 

It was then Team Eight’s turn. Shino’s photo was taken without incident. Kiba had to be convinced not to follow in Naruto’s example and make a normal face, andHinata opted to give a simple smile in hers. A copy of her photo was tucked in her pocket next to the other picture.

In their group shot, she, as the shortest, was situated between the two boys, withKurenai standing behind them. They each received a copy, framed, which Hinata propped up on her windowsill that night next to the small potted plant she’d received for her tenth birthday that kept getting replaced after she inevitably killed it, which had happened at least twice by now. 

She emptied her pockets, producing a few coins, one shuriken, a small satchel of konpeito she’d been snacking on, and  the two loose photos. She pulled them out and laid them on her desk, wondering what to do with them. 

Her smiling face juxtaposed with Naruto’s ridiculous expression and make-up was simply too good to do away with. Even though she had no use for either of them, she tucked them both in her drawer for later. 

The next morning, Team Eight made their way up to the Hokage’s office, where they were assigned a healthy number of D-ranks to get them started. 

“I’ll be more your guide than your lead,” Kurenai informed them. “If you have questions or need help, I’ll step in. Otherwise, I’ll leave you to your own devices.” 

“So who’s the team lead then?” Hinata asked. Kiba and Shino both looked at her. “What? No.” 

“You are the most logical choice,” Shino offered. “I think you’d make a fine leader.” 

“Plus, you already tell us what to do.” Kiba agreed, ruffling Akamaru’s fur. 

“Damnit.” She was internally pleased that they held her in such high regard, but she could do without the extra responsibility. 

“Sounds like that’s settled,” Kurenai chuckled, leading them up the stairs and to the correct room. It was somewhat of a maze, as shinobi architecture was meant to be confusing to newcomers as an extra safety precaution. Floor and room numbers made little to no sense, and several doorways led nowhere. 

At the Hokage’s office, Iruka, the Hokage, and some other paper nins were poring over various scrolls. They looked up as Team Eight entered. Kurenai put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to say something. 

“Hello,” She addressed them. It seemed like a safe choice. Iruka looked up at the three, a warm smile on his face. “We are here for a mission.” 

Kurenai nodded, encouraging her to go on. 

“C-rank,” Hinata clarified, pushing her luck. 

“Not a chance,” Her sensei intervened. Hinata scowled at the woman with no real malice. Kurenai seemed to take it in stride.

“It was worth a shot.” Kiba patted her on the back. Hinata sighed, walking over to the D-rank desk where she was handed her mission. She accepted the scroll in her hand and scanned it. “Babysitting,” Hinata announced. 

The whole team deflated at that. None of them were partially good with children, as evidenced by how they were allowed to interact with Hanabi. 

Hinata was ‘dehumanizing’ and treated her sister like an object meant to be studied. Kiba was also dehumanizing, but because he treated Hanabi like a dog and would carry around treats in his pocket to reward good behavior, and opted for pee-pads over diapers. Shino was probably the best out of all of them to have around a kid, as all babies were naturally calm around them. But even they were guilty of planting a few insects on Hanabi so they could monitor her as they left the room to do other things. Apparently, one had to stay physically present when watching a child. Who knew. 

But because of their trial and error, which was mostly error, they were well-prepared going in. Why some civilians thought it best to leave a bunch of newly graduated child soldiers to guard their offspring, Hinata would never know, but it likely had to do with the low cost associated with it. 

Konoha had a near-complete economic monopoly on all fronts, and they ensured this by employing ninjas to take over the vast majority of the skilled labor jobs at a rate so low no one could compete. This pushed civilians into shinobi positions without the intention of promotion to make ends meet, which meant D-ranks. And because they were contracted through the state rather than operating independently, Konoha got a bigger cut and ensured complete control of their finances. They also got more cannon fodder for the next war by boosting their enrollment numbers. Slowly but surely, the civilian population in Konoha was being erased and converted into  shinobi, over which the Hokage had complete control. 

What’s ironic, Hinata thought, is that this was bad for the overall economic health of the nation.  Complete control seemed ideal, but realistically couldn’t last long-term, especially during a time of peace. Konoha was a nation formed to fight wars, and in a time of peace, it became glaringly obvious that all funds were going to the military.

Hinata would be more concerned if she were a civilian-born herself, but at the moment, her livelihood wasn’t being threatened, so she didn’t involve herself. The military, being the main occupying force of Konoha, was hardly her concern when she was born in a family where slavery was the social norm. Most ninjas knew what was up and didn’t particularly care either, as they were benefiting from it in every way except being forced to do chores. 

D-ranks only affected her temporarily, and she was sure that after she’d contributed in a meaningful way, she’d be done with them. Not everyone would be so lucky, but again, that wasn’t her problem. 

As expected, the missions were boring. Likely because they were handled by competent ninja, who they all happened to be. For the most part.

They ended up in a small civilian home, which Shino surmised was on the higher end of civilian socio-economic status, as suggested by the newer furniture and light fixtures. They’d relayed that even though it was an older home, the renovations had to have been recent renovations, as installed carpet only became accessible within the past four years to the general public. It was a shame that the money poured into the decorations wasn’t also poured into Team Eight’s pockets, as the pay wasn’t nearly as good as the family could have afforded. 

“It pooped again,” Kiba said, holding out the wiggling toddler and waving it at her. It babbled nonsense at her and blew a snot bubble.

“So do something about that.” Hinata wrinkled her nose in disgust at the baby offered to her. 

“I don’t have a poop bag,” Kiba explained, frustrated with the whole situation. “Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t put the diaper on in the first place.”

“I believe a diaper is necessary in this case,” Shino deadpanned, taking the child from Kiba and supporting its head on their shoulder. They wiped at the kid’s nose with a baby wipe. Shino had pocketed the whole pack of them and was dispensing them as they saw fit. “It is better than the child pooping on one of us, or on the floor,” 

“Then you change it!” Kiba huffed, exchanging the baby for Akamaru, who was happy to be in his owner’s arms again. 

“I will.” Shino laid the child down on the table and looked at it, perplexed at how the diaper was wrapped. “How do I get it off?”

Hinata passed him her kunai, which Shino accepted. 

“Okay, I’m gonna step in here.” Kurenai removed the weapon from her student’s hand. “We will not be cutting diapers off of toddlers.” 

“In our defense,” Hinata took her kunai from her sensei and placed it back into her weapons pouch. “We were trained how to hunt down and kill people. Not change diapers.” 

“Don’t you have a younger sister?” Her sensei questioned, moving the child off the dining table onto the changing pad and reaching for a clean diaper. 

“Yes. And as you can imagine, I never changed her diapers either.” Hinata covered her nose with her shirt as Kurenai took up the task that no one else wanted to do. 

“I think C-ranks might go better,” Suggested Kiba, who was doing his best to keep a non-conspiratorial look on his face. Shino offered him a small thumbs-up of encouragement. 

“I’ll think about it,” Sighed Kurenai, handing the child back to Hinata, who immediately passed it to Shino. “I hope one of you paid attention to what I was doing because that’s the last diaper I’ll change.” 

“Shino’s got it,” Hinata patted her teammate on the back. “They're a natural with kids.” 

“I sedate them with chakra,” Shino revealed, holding the now sluggish child on their hip. “It keeps them docile.”

So that was why Hanabi was always so calm around them. 

“Oh, good idea,” Kiba commented, his voice slightly nasally as he kept his nose pinched. Hinata hummed in agreement.

“No,” Kurenai frowned, tying up the trash bag that now contained the offensive odor. “That’s also bad. Please stop using shinobi techniques on children.” 

“Maybe they should stop assigning children to shinobi,” Hinata suggested. “Besides, I turned out fine.” 

Shino looked at her pointedly. Hinata would probably have been more offended if they weren’t equally socially challenged.

Kurenai sighed again. To her credit, this was their last babysitting mission. Team Eight, from there on out, stayed with D-ranks that required little to no civilian interaction, for everyone’s benefit. Hinata was confident Iruka had made that decision, and that he did it for more of his own sake than theirs. 

Chapter Text

“We’re tracking down a lost merchant cart,” Hinata announced, reading the scroll. After nearly forty D-ranks and weeks of boredom, Team Eight had finally landed their first C-rank. 

“All right!” Kiba pumped a fist in the air. Beside him, Shino nodded in approval. 

“We’re meeting the merchant at the gates, eight in the morning. The cart was lost on the way to the Artisan Village, which is southeast and in the Land of Rivers. The majority of the trail is in the Land of Fire, though. There’s also a Tanigakure team looking for it in their territory,” Hinata summarized, scanning the scroll for more details. “Payment is half up-front, half on completion.”

“And if the other team finds it?” Shino inquired. Hinata passed the scroll to them with a frown. They looked it over. “I see.”

“What?” Kiba demanded, crowding his teammate to get a look at the writing himself. 

“The team that finds it gets paid,” Hinata explained tersely, not trying to hide how displeased she was . “So if the Tani team finds it in their territory, we don’t get the rest of our money.” 

“Meaning that there’s incentive for sabotage,” Shino added, tilting their head slightly so that Kiba could see better.

“I’m sure it’s just meant to give you a competitive edge,” Kurenai attempted to soothe her genin, though she didn’t sound like she believed it herself.

“Maybe they’re just cheap,” Kiba, giving up on squinting from over Shino’s shoulder, grabbed the scroll and scanned it until he found the sum of money promised at the bottom. “Definitely cheap.” He decided, brow furrowed as he tried to do the mental math to calculate his portion.

“That seems thoughtless,” Hinata scowled, already having done her math and deciding that it wasn’t worth it. “If the reward for finding the cart is less than the sum of its value, why wouldn’t we just take the cart for ourselves?” 

“That’s not the honorable thing to do,” Kurenai rested her hand on Hinata’s shoulder, as if to calm her down. “We’re hired to return it, and we will.” 

“Don’t speak to me about honor,” She shook off her sensei’s hand and took the scroll back from Kiba, tucking it into her weapons pouch. “I’m no samurai.” 

“Yeah!” Kiba lit up at Hinata’s statement, immediately undermining the implication behind her words. He was a bit too enthusiastic to really stick the landing, though. “We’re not samurai. We’re ninja. Honor and laws mean nothing to us!” 

“That’s a bit far. The Land of Fire is a lawful nation and therefore ought to adhere to the laws while within  its borders,” Shino advocated. Kurenai nodded, proud that at least one of her students had the right attitude. Her face fell when they continued: “Though, if we land in Tanigakure, we may be able to make some exceptions,” 

“It’s fine to bend laws, as long as you don’t break them!” Kiba recited what Hinata had shared with him just a few days earlier. It was one of her many justifications for the things she did and said behind closed doors, and Hinata wasn’t pleased that he was echoing what was meant to be a private sentiment so publicly. Shino and Kurenai immediately recognized that phrase as not his own, but wisely said nothing.

Hinata believed in the concept that if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, it does not make a sound. Thus, she could cut down as many trees as she wanted so long as the noise didn’t alert anyone to her unlawful deforestation (so to speak). If no one was aware, no laws were broken. Bent. Whatever. 

The Hokage cleared his throat from behind them. In their excitement over their first C-rank, they had forgotten where they were. Which was, unfortunately, still in the mission room. 

Iruka was bright red, muttering something about failing his students. Kurenai looked at him sympathetically, but Hinata was inclined to agree with the man’s self-deprecating statements. Passing Naruto was dangerous, considering the upsetting lack of skill he possessed. By doing so, he endangered Naruto as well as his team and any other Konoha nin or clients he would come in contact with. She had been wanting to confront him about that, but decided against raising the subject with the Hokage in the room.

Kiba and Shino stood silent behind her, waiting for Hinata to break her silence and finally unleash what she’d been holding in ever since graduation day. Team Eight and Team Seven had seen each other in passing, and Hinata had words for every single member of that squad, including their sensei. 

“Hinata,” Shino warned. She unclenched her jaw and relaxed her posture, shamelessly addressing the mission desk. 

“Our apologies. We do not mean to question the practices in place,” She bowed to them. “We merely aim to discuss their role in our mission.” 

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Shino bowed as well, and seeing how Kiba was still upright, he grabbed the back of Kiba’s head and forced him to bow down as well. Akamaru lost his footing on the boy’s head and abandoned his usual perch for the floor.

“Good one,” Kiba whispered as he picked his dog back up. “I think they bought it.”

 Hinata glared at him. Clearly he forgot he was in a room of trained shinobi who could hear a pin drop four miles away. 

“I appreciate your apology,” The Hokage said, trying to hide the smile in his voice. He thought of them as no real threat. “Breaking the law is something I’d recommend against.” 

“Of course,” Hinata readily agreed, eager to get back on his good side. 

“And if you want to become Hokage one day, young Hyuuga, I suggest you take that to heart.” 

Hinata didn’t know how the Hokage was aware of her goal but not her name, but she chalked it up to Naruto’s babbling. Another issue she had with the boy. If she ruminated any more on it, she’d likely begin to question why the Hokage had a favorite orphan, but it wasn’t her business. She probably didn’t want to know.

“Of course,” She repeated, voice slightly strained. 

“I didn’t know you wanted to become Hokage,” Kurenai eyed Hinata warily. 

“It’s been her plan for nearly eight years,” Shino piped up. “And I’ll see to it that it happens,” 

“I’m going to be vice-Hokage,” Kiba added proudly, placing Akamaru back on his head and under his hood. “And Shino vice-vice-Hokage,” 

“Is that so?” Lord Third offered a wrinkly smile at Team Eight.  

“Yep,” Hinata winced at her agreement, hating the words that came out of her mouth. “That’s the plan,” 

“Well, I look forward to seeing how this pans out for you all. I hope you know you have competition.” The Hokage remarked, clearly thinking of Naruto. “And I don’t think he’s planning on giving up,” 

Even if Hinata wished every day that was the case.

“We’ll see.” Hinata was rather apathetic about her potential career in politics, but if it prevented Naruto from getting the hat, she’d do her best. She still wished she hadn’t made this proclamation in the first place, but she wasn’t one to back down. 

“Team Eight, you’re dismissed,” Iruka spoke up finally. “And please, remember that laws are in place for a reason. And you, as shinobi, have to follow them.” 

The next morning, an unspoken understanding had all three genin ready at the gate bright and early. Shino and Kiba carried a pack each on their back, with a bedroll and various supplies. Hinata had her own luggage sealed away in a scroll, which she also wore on her back. As the team leader, in addition to her personal supplies, she was responsible for carrying the map, navigation kit, and three empty standard-issued sealing scrolls, each with a space on the side empty for one to write in the date as well as the shinobi identification code. She had hers and her teammates written down as well as on each of their dog tags for quick reference. If she didn’t have her sealing scroll, her luggage would be absurdly unwieldy. 

“Why three?” Kiba asked as she listed off all the items she’d brought. “Aren’t there four of us?” 

“Because if all of us die, there’s no one to bring the bodies back,” Shino stated grimly. There was a pause before Kiba seemed to realize something.

“What about Akamaru?” The Inuzuka held his dog close to his chest. “I don’t want you to leave him behind!” Tears threatened to spill down from the boy’s eyes. 

Interestingly, he directed this towards Hinata, as if it was obvious that she’d be the last one standing in this hypothetical nightmare scenario. She looked to Shino for help, only to find that they were also staring at her.

“I won’t,” She promised, still mystified that they’d both looked to her rather than their sensei. “He’s small enough that I could carry him in my arms if I had to.” 

“But then he’d likely decompose,” Shino pointed out. “And attract flies.”

Kiba did start to cry then, hugging his dog even closer. Akamaru began to lick at the boy’s tears, which was sweet but unhygienic. 

“I’ll dump some things out and seal him in my regular scroll, then,” Hinata suggested, trying to stop him from breaking down fully. “But no one’s going to die!” 

“You don’t know that!” Kiba’s voice cracked. Hinata winced and tucked away the scrolls so they would be out of Kiba’s line of sight. Maybe he’d forget about them if he couldn’t see it. Object permanence wasn’t his strong suit.

“It is statistically improbable on a C-rank.” Shino reasoned, laying a single hand on their teammate as a way to comfort him. “But if you do die, you won’t know what happens to Akamaru anyway. So there’s no use in worrying about it.” 

“Don’t say that!” He shouted, clutching his dog even tighter. Akamaru squirmed uncomfortably in his arms. 

“I’m not taking any of you home in storage scrolls!” Hinata snapped, pulling at her side bangs in frustration. “Stop it!”

“Well, I don’t think you can carry three bodies—” Shino turned to her, noting how visibly stressed she was getting at the conversation's unexpected escalation. 

“Four!” Kiba interjected, still in tears. 

“—four bodies, for an extended period of time without them,” They amended, still patting Kiba awkwardly.

“I see the pre-mission anxiety has already started,” Kurenai greeted them, registering her team in various states of hysterics.  “I’d suggest wiping away the snot on your face before the client gets here.” 

Kiba ran his sleeve under his nose and sniffled. “We don’t have a scroll for Akamaru if he dies,” He explained. Kurenai’s gaze softened as she let out a small ‘“Oh.”

“We have fifteen minutes before the mission starts. I’ll grab another one from the registration office,” She told him, stroking his hair in a calming fashion before fixing his hood. 

“That’s not allowed, though,” Shino pointed out. “We’re a four-man team, so we’re only issued three scrolls by law.” 

“Well, some laws are fine to bend,” Kurenai shrugged, smiling at her team. “I’ll be back. Don’t leave without me,” 

Team Eight watched as she sprinted with the grace of a jounin off into the distance. 

“Shino,” Hinata finally said, turning to her teammate. “I think sometimes your way of comforting does the opposite.” 

“I’m trying to be logical,” Shino argued, stepping away from Kiba as he righted himself and rubbed his face until he rid himself of all traces of tears. “Reason is the most comforting thing in times of high emotion.” 

“Yeah, but I don’t think Kiba sees it that way,” She shrugged. She didn’t disagree with Shino’s approach, but it just didn’t seem to work for their team. “My dad says that sometimes you have to pretend to care, even if you don’t mean it. That way, people calm down, and then you can reason with them.” 

“I think your dad is an actual sociopath,” Shino pointed out. Hinata hummed, pretending to consider their words so they’d drop it.

“You both are insane,” Kiba clarified, standing to his full height and joining the conversation. Akamaru was back in his usual resting spot on the boy’s head. “Neither of you understand emotion in a normal or healthy way.” 

“Considering you’re the minority here, perhaps it’s more reflective of your own approach,” Shino posited, glancing at the snot now hardened on his sleeve. 

“No, I think emotion is subjective,” Hinata countered, following Shino’s gaze and wishing she didn’t. “Kiba probably just feels more deeply than we do about most things.” 

“I think that’s a low bar.” The boy grumbled, finally catching on to where his teammates were looking and brushing off the dried mucus. It flaked down on the floor. Hinata wished she hadn’t looked at that either.

When Kurenai reapproached, she waved a small scroll at the team by way of greeting. Behind her was a balding man, twiddling with his fingers as he did his best to keep up with the woman’s long strides. 

Immediately, Hinata didn’t like him, which Shino and Kiba caught on to. 

“I thought we were banned from civilian interaction,” She huffed as the two approached her. The man already wasn’t in high standing with her. She imagined you had to be extremely irresponsible and probably drunk off their ass to misplace a whole merchant cart. So far, he seemed to check both of these boxes.

The merchant was bald, pot-bellied, and visibly nervous. He had bandaged one ear, albeit poorly, and walked with an exaggerated limp. 

“I hope he’s not coming with us,” Kiba said audibly. The man’s already wrinkled brow managed to furrow more. She didn’t feel sorry for him.

“He- Hello,” The merchant's voice quivered under her intense stare. His voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m Mu-, Mu-,” 

“Oh my god,” Hinata groaned under her breath, placing her hand at her temples. “I can’t deal with this.” 

“The stutter?” Shino clarified. 

“This,” She clarified, gesturing wildly at the civilian. “All of this,” 

“ This is Mutsuro Toguro,” Kurenai spoke over the man and her students. “He is the client who hired us. He wishes to speak to us all before we depart.” 

“Did he speak to the other team, too?” Shino questioned, looking over the man. 

He managed a brief nod. Hinata raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Mutsuro Toguro, on closer inspection, did not come from wealth but was trying to hide it. His sandals, though nice, were a size or two smaller than his feet, and his toes poked out over the edge. His jacket was of a nice enough fabric, but the stitching on it was coming loose. Worst of all, he looked and smelled like he hadn’t showered in days. 

The dressing on his ear seemed dry, so either he had recently changed it, which was doubtful as the rest of his hygiene was lacking, or there was no wound beneath. His limp was inconsistent. There was no way he’d walked from Tani to Konoha like this, especially in a few days.

“Is this a trap?” Hinata bluntly asked. Toguro paled instantly, telling her all she needed to know. “Because if this is an insurance thing, I’m telling you now, the Leaf won’t take this lightly,” 

He fiddled with the hem of his fraying jacket and didn’t meet her eyes. After a long pause, he managed a small “No.” 

“He’s lying,” Kiba asserted. “I can smell it,” 

Hinata didn’t believe that, but Toguro certainly did. The man took a few hesitant steps backward.

“If it’s a trap, you’re going to have to pay us more,” Shino spoke up. 

“We don’t extort our clients,” Kurenai informed them, looking down at the merchant with pity in her eyes. “Even when they’re lying.”  

“Oh, so is it a trap?” Kiba looked up at his sensei in confusion. 

“Yes.” She sighed, placing a firm hand on the man’s shoulder. “His merchant friends have likely done away with the cart by now, and when we don’t find it, he can report the losses and doesn’t have to pay us. And because he enlisted two shinobi teams from different nations, he gets the payout twice, along with the unreported goods.” Kurenai explained, not at all worried that their client was now visibly distressed. 

“Then why take the mission?” Shino asked, eyeing the mental breakdown happening in front of them all.  Mutsuro Toguro was sweating buckets and stammering some sort of denial, having doubled over whilst murmuring to the dirt floor. Kurenai removed her hand and wiped it off on her dress. 

“Because if we prove he’s lying, the payout for being an informant, or an apprehender, is much larger than what he could offer us,” Hinata guessed, turning her body so she didn’t have to look at the pathetic display. “We also get to strip him of his license, which stops him from doing business inside the Land of Fire.” 

“Right,” Kurenai smiled at her, ignoring the wheezing and gasping from the sprawled out figure now writhing on the floor, trying to mimic a medical episode for attention. All he accomplished was getting his clothes even more dirty. 

“Somebody help! I’m having a stroke!” Toguro gasped, clutching his heart and panting wildly. 

“No, you’re not.” Shino stood over him with a blank look on their face. He stopped and stared back up at the genin  for a second before switching tactics. 

 “And he’s stuck here until the mission is finished, and if he leaves, he gets arrested.” Hinata surmised, trying to tune out the dramatics going on behind her. 

“Help me!” The merchant appealed to a passerby. The shinobi took one look at him and kept walking, quickly deciding it was none of their business. She swore she could hear them grumble something about civilians as they left. 

 “Stop it.” Aside from pulling their coat neck further up so it hid their ears, Shino didn’t budge. “You’re too loud.” 

“I’m having a heart attack!” Toguro began twitching exaggeratedly on the floor. “I smell burnt toast!

“You mixed it up,” Shino stated bluntly, still hovering over the man. “That’s a stroke.” 

“But if he stays, he also gets arrested,” Kiba pointed out, raising his voice over the nonsensical babbling behind him.

“Bummer,” Hinata said apathetically, also speaking over the whimpering. “Don’t commit insurance fraud, then.”

“I thought honor and laws meant nothing to you?” Kurenai mused, torn between watching the client’s antics and keeping her eyes on her plotting students. 

“People can do what they want,” Hinata shrugged. “Just so long as they don’t make it my problem.”

Chapter Text

Once the two gate attendants finally took away the screaming merchant, Team Eight was on their way. 

The journey to the Artisan Village was expected to take four days, not including the search time for the intentionally misplaced cart. Kiba had a scrap of Toguro’s jacket and picked up the scent immediately. 

Once they got the general direction of where he had come from, Team Eight made great time. Hinata allowed herself to feel a fleeting sense of joy as she ran through the trees with no end to the forest in sight, experiencing the world beyond her home village for the first time. It was freeing.

She stayed in front, as her byakugan could now span an impressive 75 meters from every direction, and they relied on her to ensure the path was clear of danger. As the close-range fighter of the team, she was best placed in front of her mid-range and long-range teammates as she would not only be the first to detect the threat, but also the first to respond.

Kiba, as the slowest of the four, set the pace of the pack. Though not book-smart, he was physically adept as a shinobi. He had great stamina and was a great distance runner. He also likely carried the most weight out of everyone, with not only his supplies, but Akamaru’s as well. 

Shino trailed behind him as defense. They were the team’s long-range fighter and able to extend their reach via kikaichu from any distance. Notably, Shino was also the fastest of the three, as once they released all their kikaichu, they lost a significant amount of weight and could move at much greater speeds. 

Kurenai stayed behind them as the failsafe. As a genjutsu user, she was effective from any distance, so she didn’t need to be in a particular spot in the formation for her specific skill set. Also, as a jounin, she was stronger than all of them regardless of placement. 

They moved in silence until the sun reached its zenith, which served as a marker for a check-in.

“Hinata, how are you holding up?” Kurenai asked, noticing that the girl had slowed down considerably. 

“I’m fine,” She said, not pleased that she was the one being targeted. In truth, after five hours of consistent byakugan use, she was getting dizzy, and it was hard to keep her eyes open.

“Hinata,” Her sensei said, tone implying that she was having none of it. “If you need to take a break, say something.” 

Hinata heaved a dramatic sigh, picking up the pace. 

“I could use a break,” Kiba piped up from behind her, voice on the verge of breathlessness. Hinata was grateful that he spoke up, so at least she could pretend it wasn’t her who folded first. 

“Good, Kiba,” Kurenai said pointedly. “Recognizing when you’re approaching your limits is an important skill. Overexerting yourself just puts you in more danger in the long run.” 

“And your team,” Shino added helpfully. Hinata frowned in their direction, but they didn’t seem bothered by it.

“We’ll break here,” Their sensei announced. Team Eight slowed to a stop, dropping down from the branches to the forest floor so everyone could rest for a moment. 

Hinata immediately powered down her byakugan, relief flooding her senses as the strain was released. Meanwhile, Kiba fished through his bag for his water bottle, and Shino pulled out some snacks.

They’d made considerable distance, which was to be expected after traveling for nearly half a day, but it was still impressive for a genin team. She was admiring the change in their surroundings when Kurenai approached her from behind. 

“Hinata,” Kurenai said gently. “Don’t feel like you have to prove yourself.” 

“I’m not,” She snapped, immediately hating how defensive it made her sound. Kurenai looked at her with a soft expression, one teetering on the edge of pity. 

“I’m not!” Hinata insisted. “I’m not proving anything.” 

Kurenai said nothing and went to join her other genin. 

In truth, Hinata felt like she was going insane. The pulsing of chakra behind her eyes was something she was familiar with, but hadn’t had to directly confront.

She wondered if Shino felt the same sense of unease every time their kikaichu wiggled under their skin, or if it was just business as usual. If they’d had their bugs since shortly after birth, why would they think something was wrong about it?

But she’d had her chakra since birth. Perhaps it was that she knew distantly of a time when she didn’t. Hinata kept forgetting she once had a life beyond her current life. And maybe she was supposed to forget, but she couldn’t let it go just yet.

Her vision was fuzzy. She felt the pulsing, burning sensation of her chakra being pushed to her eyes. Like bile, she could trace as it rose from her core, acidic and wholly uncomfortable. Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. 

“You okay?” Distantly, she saw Kiba. Or, knew what she was seeing was supposed to be Kiba. She watched as a shell of a body approached her, and an entire nervous system extending from a pulsing core of energy wandered behind him, slightly out of sync with its mortal body. 

She’d seen this before. Normally, when she activated her byakugan, the chakra system was still inside the body. She was seeing them, for the first time, completely separate. It wasn’t supposed to be.

Thin, glowing strands connected to form something slightly more concrete, which floated about to suggest a walking movement, and suggested a brief shape of something human. It was a network of fine lines not meant to be seen out of context, slowly shifting towards her. The color was so familiar yet entirely alien, on a completely different spectrum than what she’d been operating on. She didn’t know what she was looking at; she didn’t know what this thing was , but it was Kiba. 

Kiba, whose flesh body was still a few seconds ahead of its chakra counterpart. She wished she could describe it to someone, but didn’t know where to begin. It distantly reminded her of walking out of a dark theater to fluorescent lights, 3-D glasses still on, and the headache that ensued. The doubles that remained slightly askew, in different colors. But Hinata couldn’t say that, because she didn’t know what she herself meant by 3-D, and when she tried to remember it, a second headache began to emerge. 

Hinata crouched down, hands covering her eyes so she didn’t have to see anything else. Hinata watched as her own chakra skeleton put its hands on her eyes as well, filaments curling into her flesh and pulsing with the beat of her heart. Fluttering in her line of sight, beyond closed eyelids. They squirmed like worms, which would have been a welcome sight, because she could mentally handle bugs under her skin. 

Hinata knew what bugs were. She knew nothing about this.

She wanted to reach under her skin and pull the entire system out from under her, peel back layers of flesh and pluck every last trace of chakra from her body like a chef removing parasites off of fresh-caught salmon. She wanted to take those tweezers and pull.

Kiba’s hand rested on her back, and Akamaru was not far behind him. Hinata barely noticed as the dog came up to her and wiggled himself between her crouched body and her arms, shoving away the hands over her eyes, until a new sensation pulled her out of it. 

“Oh. Thanks,” Akamaru had begun licking at her cheek, placing his paws on her chest. Even though he was barely twenty pounds, she allowed herself, at his urging, to be pushed backwards onto the forest floor. The puppy curled up on her chest so she couldn’t get up without his knowledge. 

After a few deep breaths, Kiba was one again, and her eyes hurt less. 

“You good?” He asked, looking down at how his normally cool and collected teammate was laid out flat on her back. Kiba’s voice carried an unusual amount of worry, as if he knew the levels of distress she was under. The presence on her chest suddenly clicked. 

“Is he crisis trained?” Hinata demanded, craning her head to look at the small white ball of fur. Akamaru sat up and looked at her, waiting until she lowered her head once more to settle. 

“Yeah,” Kiba admitted, settling down to sit beside her. “Can sense a good amount of other shit, too. Hana trains a lot of the dogs to alert for basic medical emergencies. ” 

“Oh, so if the merchant guy was really having a stroke, he’d know,” She mused. Kiba shrugged, looking at his dog. 

“Yeah, I guess. Only ever seen him alert twice, though.” 

“Really?” Hinata asked, wondering if she could finally sit up. The puppy hadn't moved. She took that as a no. 

“Yeah. Once when he met Team Seven’s sensei, he alerted for a severe panic attack, though the dude was just grocery shopping and was fine. The second time was when he stopped a T&I lady for an unusual amount of explosives.” 

“So what happened to her?” 

“For her, that was a usual amount of explosives,” Kiba laughed, nudging her with the scroll she’d been carrying on her back. “Drink some water,” 

“You know, Kiba, you’d be a good med-nin,” Kurenai mused from a distance. Kiba’s ears turned pink. 

“Shut up!” He shouted over his shoulder. Hinata laughed at how embarrassed he had gotten in such a short period of time. 

“We should get him a nurse's outfit,” Shino piped up between bites of a rice ball they’d unwrapped. “One for Akamaru, too.” 

At his name, the dog perked up. Hinata took this as her opportunity to gently nudge him off of her. 

“I’m fine, really. My eyes just hurt,” She insisted, reaching for her scroll and unsealing the water bottle. Kiba shrugged, picking up Akamaru and setting him back on his head. 

“If you say so,” He stood back up and stretched his back. “It’s okay if you’re not, though.” 

“I’m fine, ” Hinata said for what must have been the thousandth time, her voice carrying a bite that was usually reserved for Kou. She didn’t like how her team was treating her as a fragile little girl who couldn’t handle herself, when in reality, she was grappling with things far beyond the reality they were familiar with.

Five hours was her limit. If she had her byakugan activated for any longer than that, she’d start seeing things. Hinata wanted to explain this to her teammates, but figured she’d sooner end up in the hospital and stripped of her forehead protector than granted the dignity of being a new genius who could see things others couldn’t. 

Hinata rose to her feet and made her way over to Kurenai and Shino, who were chatting about the economy. She felt her brain go numb. 

“Hinata, did you know that Tani’s shinobi are actually their police force? Their economy isn’t built around the military, which is why their shinobi tend not to take outside missions or involve themselves in outside matters. They’re primarily police officers who sometimes act as shinobi, which is the direct opposite of how the Leaf operates,” Shino informed her, delighted with their new knowledge. It was probably interesting for them to hear about how other villages functioned, since they previously had only Konoha to go off of. 

“Oh, so they’re also hunting the merchants,” She inferred, rubbing still at one eye.

Kurenai offered a warm smile towards her. “Likely so,” 

“In that case, we'd better get a move on!” Kiba exclaimed, coming behind her and slapping a hand on her shoulder. Hinata was tempted to remove it, but Kiba seemed to initiate physical contact whenever he could, and she’d let him have this if it meant he refrained from laying all over her in the future. 

“If everyone's ready,” Kurenai amended. 

“I am,” Hinata instantly affirmed, not wanting to leave any room for doubt.

“As am I,” Shino agreed. 

“Born ready!” Kiba cheered, shaking her shoulder with excitement. She did remove his hand this time. 

They all got back into formation, and Hinata tried her hardest not to think of the mechanics of her byakugan, completely removing everything she knew about chakra from the front of her mind and stuffing it into a nice little box. She had a mission to complete, and now wasn’t the time to have existential freakouts. 

Team Eight took off again. 

Hinata was the first one to spot it. A small cart, toppled over to the side, was clearly ransacked. Immediately, she knew this wasn’t the work of thieves. 

For one, there was no damage to the cart. The wood was intact, and all four wheels were left on, despite the axle and spokes looking to be solid iron and as such, valuable. It seemed to have been very gently tipped onto the side, so that they could empty the cart of its products but reuse the base frame for another scheme later on. 

Secondly, there was a small gathering of pot-bellied middle-aged men hiding behind a rock, scarcely a few meters away from it. 

“I smell old beer and piss,” Kiba said shortly after she’d identified their mark. She turned back to her squad and nodded, confirming that they had found who and what they were looking for. 

“About three kilometers east,” She confirmed, slowing her pace so she was in step with her teammates. 

“So what’s the plan?” Kurenai asked her. Hinata knew logically that she was the team leader, but didn’t think the whole mission was up to her discretion. 

“I’d like to surround them. Kiba and Akamaru should approach them directly, I’ll come at them from behind, and Shino and Kurenai need to flank them on either side. There are four of them, but they seem out of shape, so it should be fine. We should probably tie them up and then locate the remaining lost merchandise. Kiba, I think you should send Akamaru in as a distraction at first.” 

Kiba didn’t look enthused at that. “He’s a ninken, not a lap-dog,” 

“Yes, but he still looks like a cute little puppy, and that’s enough. He can bite all he wants. I just need the civilians not to be paying attention to their surroundings.”  

“Low bar,” Hummed Shino. 

“Okay, okay,” Kiba huffed. “Whatever, let’s just get on with it.” 

As she instructed, the team slowly circled the civilians. Hinata maneuvered her way through the trees, feeling the rush of adrenaline as she approached them. Once everyone was in position, she signaled for Kiba. 

On cue, Akamaru went frolicking towards the group of men. The team sat tense, waiting to see if one of the men would take the bait. 

Tentatively, one of the merchants stood up. 

“Aw, a puppy!” He cooed, holding out fat, greasy fingers and wiggling them towards the dog. The rest of the men popped their heads up over the rock, trying to see what was going on. 

Hinata struck. 

It was second nature. She took one look at the sad gathering and knew exactly where to strike. Immediately, she leapt down from her perch, and her shoes connected with the back of the man’s head at an angle. 

His face connected fully with the rock he had been hiding behind. Blood splattered. He didn’t get up. 

She bounced from the back of his head and off onto the grass to focus on her next target. Thick, fat tears were streaming from his face. He was saying something, but she couldn’t hear it over the blood rushing in her ears. His hands flinched towards her, and then she made certain he couldn’t move his hands again. The Gentle Fist technique was something she’d practiced until she could do it in her sleep, so she didn’t think twice as she inserted two chakra blocks into the man’s system and disabled both arms from the shoulder down. He flailed helplessly. 

Shino came in shortly after, bugs swarming the scene. Her byakugan activated. Between all the tiny signatures of their kikaichu, she could trace out the larger, sluggish human signatures and their chakra points easily. It was pathetic. 

The merchants weren’t fairing great. In the thick cloud of insects, they batted at each other more than they did her. A man to her left started choking on the swarm. 

If Hinata wasn’t conditioned nearly all her life to show no mercy, she would have felt bad. It was pathetic. These men stood no chance, even against genin. She turned back to the man who couldn’t use his arms and approached him once more. 

There was a yelp from behind her. Hinata didn’t have to even turn her head to see that Akamaru had been snatched up by one of the group members. Amid all the chaos, Kiba had gotten tangled up. She would have assumed he’d be able to handle himself, but now his ninken was being held hostage. 

Before she could react, a kunai came flying out of the forest and landed in the back of the man’s head with a dull thunk. Kiba quickly collected Akamaru from the man’s hands before he fell. Hinata was about to thank Kurenai for her assistance when instead a second team dropped down from the treeline and joined in the fray of combat. 

Unfamiliar headbands greeted her. “I’d appreciate it if you'd only lightly maim our targets,” A smooth voice requested from behind her. Hinata could see the shape of a girl a few years older than her with her byakugan, but she didn’t move from the spot she was in. 

Thinking she was distracted, the man she was engaged with ran at her, arms dead at his sides. Pointedly, she inserted a chakra block at the point directly between the temples the moment he was in arm’s reach. The man fell at her feet, completely limp. 

He wasn’t supposed to do that. Hinata glanced down at the man, trying to see where she had gone wrong. The chakra point she had inserted had gone too deep. Oops. 

“Well, I suppose you can arrest a vegetable all the same,” The girl sighed, coming up behind her. Shino’s target was still choking to death. “Thanks for doing the hard part.” 

Hinata didn’t take her eyes off the body, instead keeping her byakugan activated so she could observe the situation wholly. 

They were a typical four-man squad, seemingly genin, but no jounin sensei was present. All four team members were in blue jackets and matching pants, each with an emblem on their chest. Utility bags were tied on their right leg and around their hips, and they sported thick shoulder pads. Both girls had their hair in low buns, and each of the boys had buzz cuts. 

“Who are you?” She demanded, finally turning to face the girl fully. Hinata recognized the Tani symbol instantly and was on her guard. 

“Akozume Arakono, Tanigakure genin division captain of the eighth squad.” She bowed her head only slightly. The girl had unfamiliar features. Her nose was longer and eyebrows thicker than the average Konoha citizen. Her teammates also looked much different than what Hinata was used to, and different than each other, too. She supposed it made sense, given that the artisan village attracted people of all kinds. 

“Hyuuga Hinata, Konoha genin division captain. We are Team Eight as well,” Hinata did not bow to her, not wanting to set a standard that she was indebted to or below the girl in any way. 

“And the jounin?” One of the boys snickered, coming up behind Arakono with a lazy grin. He had a large forehead, but that likely had nothing to do with his background. It just happened to be an unfortunate reality for him, and the buzz cut wasn’t doing him any favors. 

“Our sensei,” Hinata responded curtly. Kurenai was watching them all from a short distance and letting Hinata do the delegating. 

“Oh, yeah, you do have those, don’t you?” He said smugly, hands in his pockets. 

“Katsuda, please.” Arakono scowled at her teammate. Kiba shifted from foot to foot, awkwardly waiting for the situation to resolve. 

The other girl, slightly shorter than her captain, approached Katsuda and began a low conversation with him. She was likely the one who threw the kunai, as she seemed of the sniper type, judging by her lithe figure. 

“I suppose you intend to take them into custody?” The Tani team leader questioned. Hinata nodded sharply.  

“Yes. The cart as well,” She confirmed, eyes set on the girl. Her byakugan remained activated so she could view the cart and take down merchants at all times. 

“And how are you going to do that? That’s a lot of cargo just for four people,” Arakono appealed. “Konoha is a long ways away.” 

Hinata wordlessly gestured to the scroll on their back. 

“But half of them aren’t even dead!” Their other teammate burst out, face slightly pale. It was the other boy who ran up to the small gathering and immediately stepped behind his captain, gripping her sleeve.

“I can fix that,” Hinata suggested, looking apathetically at the paralyzed body beside her.

“Typical Leaf nin,” Katsuda scoffed. “You come in so recklessly and leave no survivors.” 

“If you believe our reputation, it’s surprising you’re engaging with us at all,” Shino commented idly, standing behind Hinata. Katsuda frowned and turned to his captain, expecting her to say something. Arakono opened her mouth, but Shino barreled on.

“One thing about having a jounin sensei,” Shino continued, “Is that in any given situation, we overpower you.  I’d suggest you start choosing your words wisely.” 

“He means no harm,” Arakono smiled gently at the two of them, trying to do damage control. 

“I doubt he could, if he wanted to,” Shino pointed out. “Your tactic is to wait until both battling parties have exhausted themselves, and swoop in to reap the benefits. It’s unfortunate for you that none of us are tired, and your attempt at playing the savior has failed.” 

“Okay, okay, let’s take a step back,” Arakono laughed awkwardly. “Tani and Konoha are allied; there’s no need to be hostile here. We can work together.” 

“They’re pretty decent people,” Kiba agreed, coming up from where he was with the other Tani girl with a jerky stick in hand. Hinata didn’t recognize it. 

“Spit that out,” She demanded. Kiba looked at her funny. 

“Why? It’s good!” He took another bite to prove it. At that, Shino crossed over to where he stood and immediately reached for his face. With no hesitation, Shino pried open the boy's mouth. Kiba clawed at their hands, trying to stop them as Shino reached in and grabbed the remaining jerky from his throat and discarded it, ignoring Kiba’s choking and gagging. 

“Gross, dude!” He spit. “It’s not poisoned! I can smell those things!” 

“Not all poisons,” Shino corrected, grabbing the rest of the jerky stick. The Tani team looked at them in a mixture of horror and confusion. 

“It’s not poisoned,” The sniper offered meekly. Shino grabbed the jerky from Kiba and bit into it. 

“Shino!” Hinata couldn’t believe her eyes. Maybe she’d had her byakugan on for too long and was seeing things. Shino chewed, then swallowed. 

“It’s not poisoned,” They declared. Hinata sighed in unison with the Tani team captain. Arakono gave her a small, empathetic smile.

“I’m willing to negotiate,” Hinata declared. 

Chapter Text

“None whatsoever?” Arakono looked at Hinata in shock. Both teams had set up a small campfire and were discussing things more amicably over dinner.

“We had the Uchiha,” Kiba clarified, propping Akamaru in his lap. “And you know how that went.” 

“Yeah, they didn’t obey your Hokage, and you guys axed them.” Katsuda nodded as if this was common knowledge. Hinata looked at the boy with wide eyes. 

“No…” She said slowly. “There was a massacre done by one of their own. Is that what everyone thinks?  That Konoha performs ethnic cleansings on a regular basis?” 

“No,” Arakono shifted in her seat awkwardly. “We just didn’t hear anything official, so people came to their conclusions.” 

“That’s alarming,” Shino said idly between bites of their meal. Both teams had unsealed their respective rations and were having a potluck that also served as a cultural exchange. Hinata was extremely upset when she found out the kind of goods they carried with them as rations. Tani rations were astronomically tastier than Konoha rations, and included things like fresh fruits and vegetables, and even desserts. 

The Tani team seemed to be enjoying their preserved meats and fish, though. Tabata, the other boy on the team aside from Katsuda, was particularly excited by the sheer amount of herring Hinata carried on her. 

“I suppose the enforcing has unofficially fallen to shinobi, though crime isn’t particularly rampant,” Hinata mused, peeling her apple with a kunai absentmindedly. She’d started doing this for Hanabi a few years back, as her younger sister loved anything shinobi and was always excited when a weapon came out. Hinata could peel a whole apple without breaking the skin, and could even carve intricate designs in it. 

“Do you think it’s because your two punishments are either death or volcano island super prison?” Katsuda asked bluntly, eyeing the small design Hinata was making. 

“Volcano island super prison?” Shino furrowed their brows. “Do you mean the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility?” 

“Oh, you renamed it?” Tabata looked up from the tin of fish he was engrossed in. “We learned about it as the Ninja Prison for Capital Offenses and Felonies,” 

“That’s a mouthful,” Kiba pointed out between fistfuls of jerky. The girl next to him giggled slightly as he continued to jam salted beef down his throat. Shino bristled at the interaction. “We just call it the KSCF.” 

“Killers, Sex-Offenders, Conspiracists, Fraudsters,” Shino corroborated. “And everything in between,” 

“That’s not the actual tagline,” Hinata clarified, finishing peeling her apple. She passed the skin, now shaped like swans, to Kiba, who passed it to Akamaru. “We don’t have slogans for prisons.” 

“We have slogans for other departments, though,” Kiba piped up unhelpfully, feeding a strip of meat to Akamaru. 

“Unofficial,” She corrected, now cutting her apple into slices. “We don’t have official slogans for anything. We’re normal, sane, people who don’t have cute nicknames for prisons.”

“Uh-huh,” Katsuda sounded unconvinced. 

“We could, though,” Shino advocated, as if that was at all helping the situation. “I actually like Volcano Island Super Prison.” 

“What do you call yours?” Kiba asked. “I doubt your prisons are named any better.” 

“We don’t have traditional prisons.” Tabata shrugged. “Reform is more cost-effective and better for everyone. We have mental facilities and holding cells, but no long-term establishments using retention as a form of punishment.” 

“So if I kill someone I’m not supposed to, I get sentenced to therapy,” Hinata clarified between apple slices. “Seems like a waste of time and money.”

“Killing’s generally discouraged. Even if you’re a shinobi, if you kill someone, you receive therapy.” Tabata explained cautiously. “Tani doesn’t encourage needless violence.” 

“But, you get punished for doing your job?” Hinata frowned. 

“Killing isn’t our job, and therapy isn’t a punishment,” Katsuda rolled his eyes. “Do you guys not do post-mission counseling?” 

“No.” She said flatly. “We don’t do counseling.” 

The Tani team shared a look with each other. 

“That explains a lot,” Katsuda mumbled. Arakono cleared her throat. 

“But to answer your other question, no. We do not have a designated police force.” 

“Then…?” Arakono gently prodded. 

“Konoha doesn’t need to enforce order,”  She explained. “The majority of citizens are shinobi or affiliated with shinobi, and the civilians we do have are so outnumbered that they are discouraged from crime.” 

“Ah, I see,” Arakono nodded. “Tani is a civilian-based economy, with most of the monetary flow coming from or through the artisan village. The shinobi we have can be separated into a few main categories, depending on where you end up located.” 

“Oh?” Shino prompted. 

“Essentially, there are in-shinobi, who are focused on internal Tani affairs, like police work or other public service, and there are out-shinobi, who are the external force who do missions like escort, retrieval, and delivery. Generally, Genin are sent on a mix of missions until they get a feel for where they fit best, and then can request to officially join a specialty that falls into those two categories.” Arakono explained. 

“Should you be telling us that?” Kiba asked, looking worried for his new friends. “I don’t want you to be in trouble,” 

“Don’t worry, this is public knowledge.” Hori, the smaller girl, soothed him, placing a hand on Kiba’s arm. “Basic stuff,” 

She had been slitting close to Kiba, inching closer. Akamaru rested idly on her lap. Shino kept staring at her, not bothering to hide their scowl. Hori pretended not to notice and shifted even closer.

“She’s right, you shouldn't worry about that,” Shino pointed out. “If they get in trouble, that’s hardly our problem.” 

Kiba scowled at Shino, who remained unbothered. 

Hinata cleared her throat. “So, the cart,” She redirected. 

“Yes, you can have it,” Arakono conceded. “We get the merchants, though.” 

“You’d probably kill the rest of them,” Katsuda added. Arakona elbowed him. 

“That’s rude!” 

“No, he’s right,” Hinata agreed. “Keeping them alive would be a waste of our resources.” 

Kiba turned to her, eyes wide. “You’re kidding.” 

“It is the most logical thing to do,” Shino agreed. “Besides, they have a point. When they get back to Konoha, they’re going to be fined and stripped of their merchant license. And then it’s death or Volcano Island Super Prison.” 

“If they want to waste their resources keeping them alive and trying to return them to civilized society, it’s not our problem,” Hinata amended. “They seem to have some kind of moral code they’re bound to, where they don’t want to kill anyone.” 

“That would be accurate, yes,” Hori piped up from beside Kiba. Kiba looked at her and frowned. Shino looked at the two of them and then back at Hinata, who shrugged. 

“But if they try this scam again?” Kiba questioned gently. “What then?” 

“People can change,” She smiled up at him. “And I have faith that one day, Konoha will too. You don’t have to be all cold-hearted, ruthless killers, it’s okay to be kind.” 

“Konoha’s fine, and so are we.” Hinata asserted. Though in reality, she wasn’t quite sure that was the case. And judging by the looks on her teammates’ faces, they were in the same boat. If Hinata didn’t have a background outside of the Leaf, she’d be as shocked as they were to find out that there was some civilized society beyond the Leaf that seemed to be doing much better than they were. 

After years of being fed the same line that Konoha was the best hidden village, it was hard to believe otherwise. The Leaf, in their eyes, was just, strong, and peaceful. Tani appeared to be operating completely differently than they were, and by comparison, doing much better emotionally and economically. It seemed like a decent place to live as a civilian. 

Maybe the Leaf was a bigger shithole than they had realized. 

“Anyhow, so we get the dead ones?” Hinata asked bluntly. The Tani team exchanged glances and slowly nodded. “And the cart,” They nodded again.

“This seems like a pretty sweet deal for us. Are you sure you guys are okay?” 

Shino stepped on Kiba’s foot to get him to stop talking. It worked, as Kiba let out a high-pitched yelp suspiciously close to one his dog would make. 

“That was mean,” Hori lightly scolded Shino. “He’s your teammate!” 

“Yes, well.” Shino remained unbothered.  “I am a cold-hearted, ruthless killer, after all,” 

“That’s not what she meant,” Kiba grumbled. “And you know it.” 

“Kiba, stop it. You’re being seduced.” They said flatly. Hori turned bright red and mumbled something into the collar of her shirt. 

“I am not!” Kiba’s ears were dusted pink. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Hinata sighed. “Kiba, she’s flirting with you. Shino, they’re both twelve.” 

“I’m ten,” Hori mumbled. Kiba stood up abruptly and walked over to Shino, who looked pleased with themself. 

“Anyhow,” Arakono changed the subject. “We’re going to head back. Tani’s only a few hours away.” 

Her teammates began to pull the bound and gagged merchants up from where they were tied against the tree. “I wish you well,” She offered, bowing slightly. This time, Hinata nodded in her direction. As the Tani team assembled their supplies, Hinata noticed that they had left their rations with Team Eight. 

“They’ll spoil, now that they’re out,” Tabata explained. “And I hate to see food go to waste.” 

Hinata nodded, understanding completely. She reached for a second apple.

“It was nice meeting you,” Hori offered shyly on her way out. Kiba didn’t look at her. 

“Have a safe trip,” Shino responded smugly. 

Team Eight watched as the Tani team disappeared into the forest. Hinata kept track of them with her byakugan until they left her range. 

“A few notes,” Said Kurenai, finally leaving her post as watchman and sitting beside her team. 

“Hinata, you pretty much confirmed all Konoha stereotypes. You need to be less enthusiastic about the killing part of the job in front of other villages,” 

“I wouldn’t say enthusiastic ,” She protested.

“Kiba, even though she’s ten, she was cozying up to you.” Kurenai continued. “You need to be more aware of that.”

“No, she wasn’t!” 

“And Shino, don’t get jealous so obviously,” 

“I’m not jealous.” 

“And, you all take feedback horribly,” Kurenai concluded. She looked at her team pointedly, but all of Team Eight was wise enough to know contradicting that statement would prove her right.

Team Eight broke camp a few hours later. Hinata took first watch. She thought about what the Tani team had said earlier, and how bizarre their way of doing things seemed to her even though long ago– in another life– she would have considered that setup ideal. 

Now, Hinata lay with her back against the grass and her Byakugan activated, knowing that a quick death was the only mercy she was allowed to offer. She thought about the man she’d paralyzed. She hoped he didn’t suffer. 

Maybe Tani was the cruel one. To string people along and give them hope, just to fall back into the same pattern. To keep a man alive even when he has no life. What they viewed as kindness was almost suffocating. Still, mandatory counseling could benefit some people. Maybe not everyone, but people like Sasuke could benefit from it. 

Her mind circled back to the Tani boy’s remark about Konoha discarding an entire clan because they didn’t fall in line. Hinata wondered if her village was capable of that. But then again, thinking about all the clan lines that had died out either slowly or abruptly over the last couple of generations, it didn’t seem so far-fetched. Especially with the number of orphans littered around the Leaf. It was the best way to keep the bloodline alive without the added difficulty of dealing with clan bureaucracy. 

How long until it happened to the Hyuuga? 

Her shift passed quietly.  In the morning, they sealed away the bodies and the cart in the appropriately sized scrolls and began their journey back to the Leaf.

Hinata signaled for a break four and a half hours in to avoid straining her byakugan. Kurenai seemed pleased with that. 

Their journey home went without incident. However, as they neared their destination, Hinata noticed that the line to the entrance gate was longer than usual. 

“There are a lot of people,” Hinata reported. 

“Chuunin exams are coming up,” Kurenai hummed. 

“Not for a while, though, right?” Kiba panted, trying to hide the exhaustion in his voice. 

“Next week,” Kurenai corrected, slowing down her pace. The rest of the team followed suit. 

Hinata kept her byakugan activated and noticed a suffocating chakra signature in the crowd of people. It reminded her of Naruto’s, though it wasn’t as strong. It leaked uncontrollably from the user and had a menacing quality to it. Strangely, it seemed to be coming from the person’s forehead.

Once they arrived, as expected, they had to wait in line. They stood behind a group of unfriendly-looking Suna nin. Hinata immediately placed  the short redhead with a gourd on his back as the owner of the strange chakra . With him was a catboy in all black (which seemed like a bad choice for living in the desert) and a girl with a giant fan. Hinata understood why she’d have a giant fan. Catboy must be just extraordinarily stupid. 

“Here for the chuunin exams, huh?” Kiba tried to make small talk. Catboy turned around and scoffed. 

“You think?” Catboy had purple makeup smeared around his face. Kiba, ever so gracefully, gestured to his face. 

“You got a little something there,” He offered. Hinata looked at Kiba blankly. Kiba, who had bright red fangs tattooed on each cheek, was telling Catboy something was up with his face. Catboy looked stunned.

“You don’t beat around the bush, do you?” The girl with the blonde pigtails immediately cracked a smile. Her voice seemed to break Catboy out of whatever daze he was in. 

“I think his makeup is cool,” Shino offered. “If not a bit heavy on the lipstick for my tastes.”  

“It’s war paint!” He snapped. “And it’s supposed to look like this!” 

“Are you declaring war? Because I don’t think they’ll let you in through the gates if you're going to declare war.” Hinata said point-blank. The two teammates froze for a second and then awkwardly laughed.  

“No, of course not!” 

“Why would we do that?” 

“That’s crazy!” 

“War? Absolutely not!” 

Finally, the redhead spoke. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to kill you.” 

Both of them, wisely, shut up. Hinata looked at the two of them and then up to their jounin sensei, who was silent on the whole matter. 

“You let him talk to you like that?” She frowned. The blonde’s eyes widened, and she slowly shook her head. 

“You got a problem with that?” The boy slowly turned around and looked at her. He wasn’t tall or buff enough to be menacing, but he sure was giving it his best shot. 

“No,” She shrugged. “Just don’t get blood on me.” 

“Hinata!” Kurenai hissed. “What did we talk about?” 

“Not to be too enthusiastic about killing.” She recited. “But I’m not! I’m just saying, if he’s going to kill his teammates, better do it outside of Konoha. Less paperwork that way.” 

Everyone stared at her with wide eyes. Hinata frowned. 

“I’m just being realistic here. If they’re competing in the chuunin exams with us, then it’s just a bit of pre-emptive thinning of the crowd.” 

“Keep this up, and you’re not going to be competing in the chuunin exams,” Kurenai threatened. Hinata clamped her mouth shut. 

“This interaction is in no way representative of the Leaf as a whole, and should not be considered as an accurate portrayal of Konoha’s morals, beliefs, and practices,” Shino added. 

Hinata thought that was a pretty good disclaimer. They should start tacking that on at the end of every conversation Team Eight has.

 The Suna team shuffled forward and presented their IDs. Hinata got their names. 

Temari. 15.  Suna Genin Division. ID 53-004. 

Kankuro. 14. Suna Genin Division. ID 54-002. 

Gaara. 12.  Suna Genin Division. ID 56-001.

Hinata could gather from this that Suna’s ID system was different from Konoha’s. Despite how obvious it may have seemed, it was still important information. She guessed that the first number (in the 50s) related to the academy class. This was similar to the Leaf’s system, except that their last three digits didn’t seem random. If Hinata were to make an educated guess, the last three numbers might relate to their rank in their genin class. One, two, and four seemed to be too coincidental. This team was likely Suna's strongest genin. 

After them, Team Eight checked in. 

“We should follow them,” Kiba whispered to her. Hinata wanted to agree, but they had a mission to check in. 

“I’ll go ahead and turn in the mission for you,” Kurenai offered, holding out her hand for the scroll with the cart and the bodies. Hinata handed it over gratefully. “Though I’m not writing the mission report. That’s on the team captain.” 

Hinata was slightly less grateful. Still, she was excited to learn more about the newcomers. After what she gathered from the Tani team, hidden villages varied dramatically in regards to how they operated. 

Team Eight let their targets get just slightly out of range of sight before the following. The Suna team zigzagged through the unfamiliar architecture, occasionally bickering with each other over trivial things. The redhead, despite being the youngest, called the shots. Their sensei took off in whatever direction almost immediately, as if trying to flee from his students. 

Hinata didn’t blame him. In just an hour, they gathered the following: 

1. The three were siblings, and also children of the Kazekage.
2. Gaarra was extremely mentally unstable.
3. His siblings feared him because he was extremely mentally unstable.
4. Gaara would actually kill them given the chance. 
5. Garra could manipulate sand.
6. Temari was a wind user (the giant fan made even more sense now). 
7. Kankuro was a puppet user. 
8. The Suna team was really, really, really, bad at directions. It was pathetic.

The Suna team circled the same block of vendors at least three times before turning around and deciding to go back the way they came. Hinata witnessed as they rounded a corner, and the Third Hokage’s grandson barrelled into Kankuro. 

She knew Konohamaru. He had a massive crush on her sister, and the little punk wouldn’t take no for an answer. Hinata had to be dissuaded more than once from showing up at the academy and beating up a little kid. 

Without missing a beat, Kankuro lifted him by the scruff of his shirt. Apparently, no one was going to stop Kankuro. While she was somewhat pleased by that, if it continued, Suna might actually start a war. 

Hinata wondered (among other things) why the little shit had started running around with goggles on. But then she saw Naruto, and most of those questions were answered. Sakura stood awkwardly beside him, shielding the two other snot-nosed kids behind her. 

It was worth noting that Sasuke was up hiding in a nearby tree. She turned to Shino and Kiba. Kiba shrugged. Shino rolled his eyes. 

“Quit it. You’re going to get in trouble later,” Temari said, though she didn’t sound too interested. Well, at least she tried. 

“Sorry about that,” Sakura offered. “They’re just kids.” 

“Let go!” Naruto immediately went from zero to sixty, shouting at Kankuro furiously and racing toward him. 

 Kankuro did not let go, instead choosing to spout more insults and wind up for a punch.

Hinata, against every instinct she had, decided that she needed to step in. Intervening was a pain, but the potential war raged over this would be even worse. Maybe she was being dramatic, but she didn’t want to risk it. She watched as Gaara disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke, and her mind was made up. She turned to Shino and Kiba, who both gave her a thumbs up. 

Hinata leapt from her perch on a nearby rooftop and inserted herself between the two, extending on hand to catch Naruto before he could get punched himself, and throwing him to the ground with his own momentum. Almost simultaneously, she pivoted into a Gentle Fist stance and struck Kankuro between the ulna and radius, connecting with the chakra point nestled just below his wrist. His hand went limp and he dropped Konohamaru to the ground. 

Hinata made no effort to catch either of them. 

“You again,” Kankuro sneered. 

“Kankuro. I don’t care if you're the firstborn son of the Kazekage. This is the firstborn grandson of the Hokage. You said you weren’t here to start a war, and I want to believe you. But if you try that again, it won’t be Suna who strikes first,” She said lowly. 

“So cool!” Konohamaru gushed. “That’s Hanabi’s sister! You can see where she gets her looks from, hehe.” 

“Just because I stopped someone else from beating you up doesn’t mean I won’t beat you up myself,” Hinata said flatly. Konohamaru, wisely, hid behind Naruto, who scratched the back of his head sheepishly. 

Garra, from the tree he was hiding in, sighed. Sasuke, startled,  jumped ten feet out of the air, and chose to recover by jumping down to join his team. 

Garra dissolved into sand and rematerialized beside her. Hinata didn’t flinch. 

“I’m sorry about that,” He addressed her, instead of Naruto or Konohamaru. Sasuke huffed, clearly having wanted to be the savior. Hinata had half a mind to slap him upside the head and tell him to act sooner if he wanted the praise. God knew she didn’t. 

“Don’t be,” She replied bluntly. “Just mind your siblings better.” 

Gaara’s eyes bored into hers. Hinata stared right back, with her byakugan still activated. She examined his chakra network and traced a second source of energy residing in his forehead. Interesting. 

“You’ve been following us,” He accused. 

“We have,” She confirmed. Shino and Kiba, on cue, leaped from their hiding spots and joined her on the ground. Once they settled by her side, she deactivated her byakugan. 

“Hyuuga Hinata,” She introduced herself.  

“Gaara,” He offered. “Though you know that already, don’t you?” 

She offered a small smile. Garra gave her team a once-over, then turned to his teammates. 

“Let’s go. We’re not here to play around.” He confidently started walking away from them. She decided to do them one last favor. 

“Ah, the Hokage’s office is the other way,” Hinata kindly advised. “And your rooms are northeast of here. Your sensei should be waiting there for you.” 

The Suna team tensed. Then, Gaara pivoted on his heel and began walking in the right direction.

Chapter Text

One week later, Team Eight was gathered for a team dinner at the Yakiniku Q. Kiba and Akamaru were enjoying an incredible amount of meat, and Shino was pleased with their salad.  Hinata’s preferences were somewhere in the middle— she had chosen a pork entree and a side of vegetables. 

“I’m tired of you all bugging me, so here’s your paperwork. You can each choose to enter the Chuunin Exams,” Kurenai handed each of her students a small packet. Hinata flipped through it and quickly scribbled her name on the dotted line, passing it back to her sensei after a minute. Shino and Kiba handed over their signed forms a moment later.

“Okay, then,” Kurenai picked up Hinata’s packet. “Congrats. Can I offer a word of advice?” 

“Please,” Shino nodded. 

“Don’t die,” Kurenai said, sipping her sake with a small smile. 

Hinata figured that was solid advice. Team Eight finished their meal and dispersed for the day. 

She went home to break the news that she’d been enrolled in the upcoming exams to her parents. 

Hiashi and Hitomi were conversing quietly in the family room, watching passively as Hanabi circleled slowly around Kou. As soon as she saw her sister, Hanabi immediately abandoned whatever activity Kou was practicing with her and threw herself at Hinata. 

“Firework,” Hinata  smiled down at her younger sister. “What’s going on?” 

“Cousin Kou is teaching me the Gentle Fist stances!” Hanabi squeaked, arms wrapped tightly around Hinata’s legs 

“Ah, yes. Very important,” Hinata said noncommittally, casting a dismissive gaze over to Kou. He returned it with equal disinterest. “You’re lucky to have such a… teacher.” 

“You seem to be missing an adjective, Lady Hinata,” Kou pointed out. 

“Am I?” She responded coolly. Hinata then made her way inside the main house with Hanabi still clinging to her legs like an octopus, albeit with some difficulty. 

Hitomi stood to greet her.

“I heard your mission went well,” her mother greeted warmly, reaching out to grasp Hinata's hands with her own. “I’m glad.” 

“Yes, our first C-rank,” Hinata confirmed. “I was the team lead.” 

“I heard you had your first kill,” Hiashi commented, still seated on the couch. “And would have had more, save for the interruption.” 

“Ah, yes. The Tani team,” Hinata chose her words carefully. “It’s alright, though. I negotiated, and my team walked away with a better deal.” 

Her father nodded approvingly, offering Hinata a small smile. She didn’t know how she felt about being given positive attention for murder in the long term, but it felt nice in the moment. 

“Very good,” Hiashi said. “Exams may not be until next week, but it is important you remain in peak physical condition, and that starts with being well rested.” 

Hinata retreated to her room. She did not dream that night.

The morning before the official start of the Chuunin Exams, Hinata and Neji had breakfast with an unusually tense Kenta.  

“What crawled up their ass?” Hinata asked, sliding into the chair next to Neji with a bowl of cereal. Neji shrugged. 

“They’ve been on edge since you came back from your mission,” he offered. “Maybe it’s about your first kill?” 

“Don’t worry, I don’t have an unquenchable thirst for blood now,” Hinata informed Kenta. They did not seem reassured. 

“Stay away from Suna,” Kenta blurted out, slipping into the final seat at the small table. 

“Oh, too late,” Hinata said, taking a bite of her cereal. Kenta’s expression did not budge. 

“Hinata, I’m serious.” Their voice was pitched low. “Do you know what the Hyuuga clan contributed to the last Great Shinobi War?” 

Hinata stilled, looking at Kenta in confusion. Kenta’s eyes still held the same weight they did as a teenager, but it was slightly less unsettling to see that level of emotional maturity in an adult face.  Adulthood seemed to suit them well. Their hair was typically tied in a tight braid or bun, but today it cascaded down their back in waves Hinata rarely got to see. 

“We can see through sandstorms,” Kenta clarified, looking off into the distance. “Sand and snow. Either way, you’re stranded in the desert.” 

“And you were in Suna?” Neji questioned. Kenta didn’t respond immediately. 

“Yes,” Kenta replied at length. The freckles that dotted their face looked less benign by the second. “I was.”

Details about Kenta started to slowly fall into place. Their freckles and tan skin growing lighter as they aged out of their sun exposure, how they hated the heat, and their desire to never leave the Land of Fire again. How Kenta never, ever wasted water— all the times they’d yelled at her for dumping her water bottle all over her face after training were rooted in something much deeper than simple manners. And, most of all, the sandy dunes which they painted over and over again. Their artwork that, even now, lined the walls of their small home. 

“You were a field promotion,” she guessed. Kenta’s face didn’t twitch. Their reaction to her participating in the Chuunin Exams made more sense now. They didn’t have a choice in the matter. No wonder they didn’t want to become jounin. 

“...I just hope you understand the decision you’re making,” Kenta said instead of answering her directly. 

“I don’t think I have much of a say in the matter,” Hinata mused idly. “What do you think would happen if I refused to participate?” 

“I’d support you wholly,” Kenta promised, taking a slow sip of their morning tea. Hinata’s gaze softened, as did Neji’s. 

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Neji promised Kenta. “More importantly, I won't let her happen to anything.” 

“You can’t control me,” Hinata huffed. “No one can.” 

“I know,” Kenta exhaled into their mug. “And that’s what worries me.” 

Team Eight and Team Gai assembled outside the Hyuuga compound around six in the morning, two hours before the exam. Kiba was the last to arrive. Each genin had scrolls filled with over a week’s worth of supplies, including flares, chakra pills, and basic medpacks. 

“I’m starting to think this is overkill,” Tenten sighed, adjusting the scroll with her other larger ones, which carried an insane amount of sharp objects. 

“Well, maybe just your weapons,” Hinata agreed. Tenten scowled. 

“Hina-chan, you are looking as lovely as ever this morning!” Lee gushed. From out of nowhere, he produced a single white lily. Hinata was pleased to see that he’d learned her favorite flower. Neji was not. 

Both Hyuugas reached for the flower at lightning speed, Neji only slightly behind his sister. Hinata snatched the lily and tucked it behind her ear. 

“Thank you, Lee,” she offered her best Hyuuga Heiress smile to him. Lee, as expected, melted into the ground. 

“It’s just sad, at this point,” Shino commented. Kiba nodded solemnly in agreement. 

“Get up,” Neji kicked his teammate in the side. Lee shot up from the ground with an enthusiastic kick spring and turned to the small gathering. 

“Before we go! I have something to say!” Lee announced. Team Eight and Team Gai sighed in unison, Hinata being the only exception. She perked up to hear whatever nonsense the boy was about to spout. 

“I know and love all of you as comrades, as friends! And I swear by my youth, I will do everything in my power to protect and fight alongside each and every one of you!” Lee shouted, tears streaming down his face. Hinata touched a hand lightly to her heart. Lee continued his speech. 

“We are genin, forged in the Will of Fire, and will burn our way into the future! We may be sparks now, but with kindling and air, we will become the mighty flame of Konoha and blaze brightly! So let me be the wood that you feed upon! And let me be the air that blows you!” Lee’s voice cut through the crisp morning air and carried across the quiet Hyuuga compound. 

“I will blow all of you! And I hope you will blow me as well!” He declared. “We will all blow each other!” 

Tenten turned bright pink. Kiba was looking back and forth at Shino and Hinata to see if they heard it too, a wide grin spreading across his face. Shino ducked his face into his collar, perhaps in embarrassment, or perhaps to hide the small, rare smile that graced his features. Hinata didn’t know whether to laugh or scream at Lee. Neji immediately slapped a hand over the other boy’s mouth. 

“Absolutely not,” Neji hissed, trying to gag him. 

“If you will not let me blow you, at least take my wood!” Lee wrestled Neji’s hand away from his mouth and declared this at the top of his lungs. 

Team Ten chose this exact moment to cross their path, watching with wide eyes as Lee declared his homoerotic desires for his teammate just outside the Hyuuga compound. Ino gaped openly at the shitshow, stopping in her tracks to watch as it continued to escalate. Shino offered them a small wave. Shikamaru, like a deer in headlights, could do nothing but stare. Choji waved back. 

Hinata lost it. She doubled over, laughing hysterically as she watched the two boys exchange blows over Lee’s stupid phrasing. Neji shoved his fingers down Lee’s throat as far as they could go, but this did not stop Lee from trying to form words.

“That’s not helping!” Tenten shouted at them. Team Ten quickly scurried away. 

Hinata was in tears. When she finally collected herself, both Lee and Neji had calmed down. Tenten was still slightly red. Kiba could not shake the stupid grin plastered on his face.

“Now that that’s settled,” Shino clapped their hands. “How do we feel about trying to hide our true abilities for as long as possible?” 

“That ship’s sailed,” Hinata pointed out. “I blew it— sorry, bad word choice— earlier with the Suna kids.” 

“We can be your weak subordinates,” Shino suggested. 

“But we’re not,” Kiba frowned. 

“You can pretend to be,” Tenten spelled it out for him. “That way, everyone is even more impressed with how strong you are later.” 

She explained it to Kiba like he was five: very clearly and calmly with no room for misinterpretation. She must have had to do this a lot. 

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Lee agreed, wiping his tongue on his jumpsuit collar. Neji wiped his fingers on Lee’s jumpsuit as well. 

“Okay, so no pulling any more stunts.” Hinata proposed. The two teams nodded in agreement. “Team Hyuuga,” She pointed at Team Gai and Team Eight. “Roll out.” 

“I resent that name,” Shino commented passively as they began the journey to the first Chuunin Exam site. 

“Yeah, well, there are more Hyuugas than any other clan here, and both happen to be team leaders.” Hinata remarked, leading the way. 

“Good point,” Neji agreed, in step with her. “I have no problem with this name, either.” 

“I do,” Tenten scowled. “It’s not representative of everyone here.” 

“Well, if we took your last name, we’d just be Team.” Hinata pointed out. Neji turned to her and shook his head. “Sorry,” she added, not meaning it. 

“Excuse me?” Tenten demanded. 

“Sounds like Team Hyuuga it is,” Kiba agreed. When Tenten, Shino, and Lee looked at him questioningly, the boy simply shrugged. “What? I don’t want her coming after me next.” 

“I will gladly take Hina-chan’s last name!” Lee cheered. Neji scowled at the boy. 

“You will never be my brother-in-law,” he promised. 

“Sounds like he’ll be your husband, more than anything else,” Shino commented absently. “Considering his promises of blowing you, and you shoving your fingers in his mouth.” 

Hinata turned over her shoulder to give the Aburame a thumbs up, which the pink-faced Neji quickly slapped away. Kiba tripped over his own feet, face beet red. “Shino!” He sputtered. 

Team Hyuuga arrived at the official registration an hour early and weren’t surprised to see the place was already crowded. They filed into line behind Team Ten. 

“Surprised you agreed to get up this early,” Kiba commented to Shikamaru. 

“I didn’t,” The boy grunted, rubbing his eyes. 

After paperwork was settled, they were instructed to go onto the third floor. On the second floor, Hinata noticed a problem. 

“Oh, we’re here,” Lee pointed at the sign after climbing only one flight of stairs. 

“Not quite,” Neji sighed. Lee looked at him questioningly.

“Better let someone make the discovery first,” Hinata suggested. Neji nodded in agreement. They chose to remain on the second floor, considering that was where everyone else was.

Team Hyuuga filed into the ‘third floor’ waiting room for the first portion of the Chuunin Exam and met up with Team Ten once more. The three teams crowded one corner, trying not to notice how everyone was staring at the Leaf genin. 

“Why are they all glaring at us?” Ino whined, tugging at Shikamaru's sleeve. 

“Oh, we’re the feared-but-made-fun-of village,” Hinata piped up. “We are all apparently  ‘unkind cold-hearted killers’ who need counseling,” 

“That’s a direct quote,” Shino confirmed. Ino paled considerably. 

“I haven’t killed anyone!” Ino protested, turning to her teammates to back her up.

“Well,” Shikamaru hummed. “You did spearhead the maiming of several individuals who died of blood loss shortly after.” 

“That’s different,” Ino huffed, not meeting his eyes. “They could seek medical help, they just didn’t.” 

“Ino, we were in the middle of nowhere,” Choji grimaced, crumpling up an empty bag of chips. “Who was going to heal them?”

“Hinata permanently paralyzed a dude after she killed his friend,” Kiba added helpfully, trying to even the scores. Then, thoughtfully: “But that still only counts as one.” 

“You said two!” Neji pointed at her accusingly. Hinata slumped down and looked off to the side.

“I count a persistent vegetative state as death.” She scowled. “I thought that was obvious.” 

“Why didn’t you just put them out of their misery?” Tenten asked. “Y’know, just—” She made a cutting motion across her neck. 

“Guys, this is why people think we’re murderers,” Choji pointed out, breaking open a new bag of chips. “It’s barely eight in the morning.” 

“Murder doesn’t wait for the sun to rise,” Shino chimed in.

 “It’s a lifestyle,” Hinata added helpfully, deliberately adjusting the flower behind her ear.

“I can’t believe you have a white lily in your hair,” Ino’s brow furrowed when her eyes caught on the movement. “Don’t you know that means purity, compassion, and innocence?” 

“Blame Lee, he gave it to her,” Neji scoffed, pointing at the boy beside him who snapped to attention as soon as his name was mentioned.

“Hinata is as pure as fresh snow and as gentle as a summer breeze!” Lee gushed, blushing at the mention of her.

“More like she kills people like a blizzard,” Kiba amended. “And rips them to pieces like a tornado.” 

“Unpreventable and tragic,” Shino nodded solemnly. “And wholly unmerciful.” 

“Okay, so your team is fully insane,” Ino addressed Team Eight. Behind her, Choji was ripping into his third bag of chips, and Shikamaru had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. 

Team Seven burst in, and instantly, the rest of the Konoha genins looked better by comparison. Within seconds, Sasuke began picking a fight with the two disguised chuunin barring the entrance. 

“That was under a minute,” Kiba mumbled to Hinata. She shrugged, not sure why everyone was surprised. Shino wordlessly passed Kiba a few coins, which he pocketed.

“What?” Hinata hissed. “I want in!” 

“Next time,” Shino promised. 

“He’s making himself and the Leaf look bad,” Shikamaru groaned. “Somebody has to do something.” 

Lee decided he was that somebody and stepped in, trying to defuse the situation. Sasuke, attention now diverted, decided to pick a fight with Lee. 

“Now we look worse,” Neji sighed. 

“He’s going to get his ass kicked,” Tenten lamented, head in hands. 

“Who, Lee?” Ino scrunched her nose. Tenten shook her head and approached the two, convincing them to at least take it to another room. Team Seven and Team Gai sans Neji filed out of the exam room. 

Hinata turned and addressed the crowd that had gathered.

“This interaction is in no way representative of the Leaf as a whole, and should not be considered as an accurate portrayal of Konoha’s morals, beliefs, and practices,” Hinata recited. Shino nodded, recognizing their own words. 

Neji left the room shortly after. 

After shooting the shit for around fifteen minutes with her fellow genin, she felt a familiar pulse of chakra. It was Neji’s. She activated her byakugan and looked over in his direction. She had to turn to face the wall so he would see her. 

Lee. Sasuke. Fight. He signed. Hinata sighed, flaring her chakra to let him know she received the message, and responding in the Hyuuga clan's hand signals. 

LOL. 

It was a new sign she’d implemented, meaning ‘Laugh Out Loud’. She was quite proud of it, and was decently sure it came from her past life. 

No LOL. Lee won’t listen. Come down. 

“What’s she doing?” Choji asked, watching as the Hyuuga heiress activated her Byakugan, turned away from all of them, and was signing seemingly nonsense in the corner at no one.

Who’s winning? 

Come. Down. 

LOL. No.

Watch Sasuke get beat up. Stop before gets worse.  

Hinata mulled over the proposal. It did sound promising.

It’s started.

“I have to go,” Hinata said suddenly. Everyone looked at the small, ominous smile on her face and decided not to ask any questions, no matter how many they may have had. 

Hinata quickly flew down the stairs and darted in Neji’s direction, just in time to witness the worst of it. 

Sasuke was getting his ass handed to him. And it was the best thing she’d ever seen in her life. 

“Well?” Neji hissed. 

“Hold on, I wanna see Lee murder him.” Hinata didn’t take her eyes off the pair locked in combat. 

“As funny as that may be, let’s not end the Uchiha line just yet,” Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’d get in so much trouble.” 

Hinata sighed, resigning herself. She touched the lily still tucked under her ear and decided that Lee was too special to rot away in Volcano Island Super Prison. She hadn’t even figured out what made him immune to chakra yet. 

“Hey, Lee-kun!” She called out in a sing-song voice. Instantly, Lee disengaged with Sasuke and sprinted over to her. Neji’s eyes practically bugged out of his head at the new endearment. 

“Hina-chan!” He gushed. “Did you come to watch me fight?” 

“Yes, Lee,” she said genuinely. “I did.” 

“What? You came here to support this loser?” Naruto shouted at her, stomping over to the two of them. 

“I support anyone who puts Sasuke in his place. Plus, Lee gives me flowers,” Hinata pointed to the lily tucked behind her ear. 

“I can’t believe you’d go for bushy brows, of all people!” Naruto protested. “I mean, you’re way too pretty for him!” 

“Careful, now,” Neji warned, stepping towards Naruto. 

“In truth, I wanted to fight Sasuke to test my abilities!” Lee revealed. “One day, I hope to even beat you, Neji! Once I prove my strength, surely you will give me your blessing to officially court your sister!” 

Hinata’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip to contain the wide smile that split her face. Neji was flabbergasted by the sudden proclamation. 

“Hinata, no!” Sakura briefly abandoned her post beside Sasuke to plead with her. “At least get with someone who doesn’t have a bowl cut!” 

“That will never happen,” Neji vowed to her. “I won’t allow it.” 

“Lee’s a great guy,” Hinata spoke up over her brother and placed a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “Just aesthetically challenged.” 

“He’s wearing nothing but green spandex!” Naruto protested, pointing at Lee like his whole existence was one great offense. 

“My youthful jumpsuit!” Lee corrected.

“And you’re in a matching orange number,” Hinata pointed out. “And you haven’t kicked Sasuke’s ass, nor have you given me any flowers. I don’t know why you’re acting like you have a chance.” 

“I wouldn’t have a chance?” Naruto sputtered. “But I’m way better looking than that guy!” 

“You’re also twice the idiot and half as strong,” Hinata sniffed. “Besides, you’re shorter than I am.” 

“I am not!” He protested. 

“Yes, you are,” Sakura chimed in. Sasuke groaned out something from the floor he was still lying on. It sounded like an agreement.

“Alright, everyone, let’s get back to the Chuunin Exams and try not to completely embarrass Konoha in the process. Naruto, Sasuke, I’m looking at you,” Hinata clapped her hands. 

“What did I do?” Sasuke grumbled, rising to his feet. Hinata looked over her shoulder pointedly. 

“Start two fights within a minute of entering the room. You’re even worse than Naruto,” She deadpanned, climbing up the stairs. Lee and Neji followed her.

“Ha!” Naruto pointed at his teammate, scurrying after everyone. “You’re worse than me!” 

“I mean, Sasuke agreed to the match.” Sakura admitted, “But didn’t Lee start that fight?”

“Lee certainly finished it,” Hinata countered. “And that’s what matters most.” 

Chapter Text

Team Seven and Team Gai, plus Hinata, were intercepted by Hatake Kakashi on their way to the exam hall. Neji held Hinata’s forearm as a gentle reminder not to openly antagonize the man even if she did have words for him. Once they had filed into the main exam hall, all the Konoha genin eagerly reconvened, loitering by the large white doors.

“What happened?” Shino asked Hinata. She looked over at Sasuke, who was still nursing a bruise on his arm. His ego clearly more wounded than his flesh.

“Lee handed his ass to him,” she explained. “It was great.” 

“Ha!” Kiba barked out a loud laugh, causing Akamaru, who was resting on his head, to wake with a jolt. “I wish I’d been there to see it!” 

“Why does everyone want to see Sasuke get beaten up?” Ino whined. Upon setting eyes on the boy, her voice raised three octaves. “How are you, by the way?” She immediately crowded his personal space, leaning in with her entire torso in an attempt to drape herself over the boy. Sasuke grimaced and inched away, trying to put distance between them. 

“Do we really have to answer that question?” Shikamaru droned, leaning against the wall with his hands stuffed in his pockets.  He looked about three minutes away from falling asleep standing up.

“Well,” Choji clapped him on the back with a heavy palm. “Aside from our rank and graduating class, we’ll always have that to unite us.” 

“Rude!” Sakura huffed, crossing her arms in frustration. 

“Nah. Konoha’s rookie nine, together in all things. Especially when it comes to beating up Sasuke,” Kiba grinned, shaking Choji’s shoulder in excitement. 

“Yeah!” Naruto cheered, pointing at Kiba with a toothy smile. “I like that!” 

“You would,” Sasuke grumbled, wrinkling his nose and looking away. “But none of you stand a chance against me.” 

“Yeah? You and your second-rate doujutsu against the world, huh?” Hinata snickered, eyeing his white shorts and arm warmers derisively. She glanced back at Team Gai, who was standing a few feet away from the larger gathering of genin. 

Tenten and Neji shared a glance, glad to have been left out of the rookies’ bullshit. Meanwhile, Lee bounced on his heels, wanting to engage in the conversation but not knowing where to start. Tenten rummaged systematically through her pockets, triple-checking that she’d remembered all of her weapons. Neji locked eyes with a white haired genin who seemed to be working out how to approach them, staring deep into his soul in a clear attempt to unnerve the older boy. It seemed to be working. 

“You have no idea what I have been through, and what I can accomplish,” Sasuke hissed at Hinata, meeting her eyes with a scowl. “Or what I will accomplish.” 

“Try accomplishing therapy, jackass,” she shot back. 

“Hey!” Sakura shouted. “Sasuke’s been through a lot! You wouldn’t understand!” 

“Sakura, most of the shinobi population are orphans. If you’re not from a clan, you're an orphan. And even if you’re from a clan, you can be an orphan,” Hinata pointed out. “It’s not a unique situation here.” 

“He has no one!” Ino cried, placing a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. He very quickly shrugged it off. “He’s just misunderstood!’ 

Sasuke looked alarmed at how Ino was spinning his edgy backstory into a sob story and tried again to shuffle away from her. He wasn’t very successful, only managing a few steps before she grabbed his arm and clung to it. Sasuke’s eyes widened at the strength of her grip. He looked around for assistance, but Hinata was the only one who noticed. He quickly decided he’d rather suffer Ino and Sakura than be in her debt.

“Naruto has had nobody his whole life. Most of Konoha has been actively against him from the start. And he’s annoying, but he’s not nearly as big of a dick as you are.” Hinata looked over at Sakura, who was planning her approach. She could see the wheels turning in Sakura’s head as the konoichi figured out the best way to replace Ino with herself.

“Thanks!” Naruto chirped, adjusting the collar of his jacket. Sakura struck, immediately weaseling herself between Naruto and Sasuke to grab onto Sasuke’s free arm. Sasuke’s frown deepened.

“Naruto, that was not a compliment. Hinata called you the better of two orphans.”  Shikamaru sighed, sinking further into his spot against the wall. 

“I don’t know if orphan-ranking is morally… okay,” Choji spoke up nervously, looking over at Shikamaru for confirmation. Shikamaru nodded. Choji’s shoulders relaxed.

“Orphan-ranking is basically just the Chuunin Exams, at this point,” Neji pointed out, finally breaking eye contact with the white haired genin. “It's an orphan and clan ranking, with the prize of a promotion for the winners.” 

“Yeah, and besides, Neji and Lee are my top picks for orphans. Naruto can come in third, maybe.” Hinata asserted, pointing at the two boys and then gesturing vaguely at Naruto. 

“We should have a club!” Lee cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Eager to be invited into the conversation, he shouldered into a spot in between Kiba and Naruto and held up a thumbs. “Konoha’s Orphan Shinobi!” 

“That’s just the jounin force.” Tenten corrected from her spot a few feet away, rolling her eyes. 

“Woah, does that mean I’m a jounin?” Naruto asked eagerly, running his hands across his forehead protector. 

“Of course not, dumbass,” Sasuke snapped. 

“Who are you calling a dumbass?” Naruto turned and poked a finger into the chest of his teammate. “You’re the dumbass!” 

“I can mop the floor with you,” Sasuke threatened, jerking his arm loose from Ino and poking a finger back at Naruto. “You’re useless.” 

“You wanna go?” Naruto shouted, leaning in closely. “Bring it! I’ll kick your ass! I’ll kick the ass of everyone here!” 

This drew the attention of the other genin waiting nearby in the exam hall, one of whom opted to approach the gaggle of rookies as soon as Neji took a break from glaring at him. The newcomer’s appearance prevented Naruto and Sasuke from actually fighting each other, but Hinata took one look at the older teen and immediately got creeper vibes. 

“No,” she said instantly as he stopped in front of them. “We’re not interested, thank you.” 

“He’s one of us, though!” Naruto pointed to the leaf headband. 

“Yeah, but knowing how easily they give those out, now,” Hinata glanced sideways at him, not trying to hide how she stared at Naruto’s own forehead protector. “That doesn’t mean much.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Naruto demanded. 

“Whatever you want it to mean, Fishcake,” she rolled her eyes. Kiba’s eyes widened at the new nickname, and a large smile spread across his face. 

“Fishcake?!” Naruto protested. The white-haired boy in front of them cleared his throat, attempting to draw their attention back to him. 

“Hey, you guys,” he offered a small bow to the gathering of Konoha genin. “You should be a little quieter.” 

“I believe Lady Hinata asked you to leave.” Neji stepped in front of everyone and fixed him with an icy stare. The unfamiliar genin didn’t seem fazed, though. 

“Well, suit yourself. But I can offer you some valuable information,” he pressed on, unbothered by the rejection. “For one, you seem to be irritating the rest of the shinobi with your antics.” 

“Oh my god, do you have a byakugan too? How did you possibly notice such a thing?” Hinata’s sarcasm was laid on thick, broadcasting her irritation to anyone with ears. “What an astute observation!” 

“Who are you?” Ino prompted, brows furrowed. 

“I’m Yakushi Kabuto,” he let out a small laugh, giving her a warm smile. “Sadly, not a Hyuuga.” 

“Thank god,” Hinata deadpanned. 

“Information?” Sasuke, and by extension, Sakura, stepped up beside Neji, joining him at the front of the group. 

“Yes. I’ve taken this exam many times—” 

“Failed. He failed this exam many times.” Hinata interpreted for her teammates. She looked over at Lee. “That’s what that means, by the way.” 

“Thank you for the clarification!” Lee smiled at her. 

Kabuto steamrolled ahead.  “And have collected data on all these participants during my previous exams, as well from independent investigation.” 

“I can tell you about anyone in this room,” Kabuto promised, revealing a small deck of cards to Sasuke. “I have these Ninja Info Cards…”

Neji pointedly looked at Hinata. She nodded. 

“I’ve spent four years making over two hundred cards, coded with chakra, so that no one can see them…” 

Hinata and Neji immediately activated their byakugan and were able to see the information burned onto them with chakra before Kabuto did his grand reveal. Kabuto didn’t seem to notice, or care, too engrossed with his audience. 

“Of course, each village…” 

She tuned out Kabuto’s voice as he explained the Chuunin Exams, the cards, and the people around them. It was useless information for the most part. Instead, she traced the letters on each card, taking in who he had and what he had on them. 

“And the Sound village is new, so…”

The content of the deck wasn’t impressive. It was the skills it took to make a chakra-encoded database that spanned across villages that was concerning. 

“Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee of the Leaf,” Sasuke demanded. He tore his arm away from Sakura and stuffed both hands in his pockets so she nor Ino could grab him again. 

“I’m right here!” Lee protested, raising a finger. “Ask me yourself!” 

“Ha, knowing their names makes it easier,” Kabuto said, fishing out the respective cards. “Rock Lee, one year older than you guys, but still taking the exam for the first time.” 

“My birthday is November 27th!” Lee volunteered.
“Twenty D-ranks and eleven C-ranks.” Kabuto continued reading off the card. 

“All completed successfully!” 

“Taijutsu expert, no other notable skills.” 

“That hurts my feelings!” Lee’s typically excited voice wavered a bit. Behind her, she saw Tenten pat the boy’s back and say something to comfort him. 

Hinata was still fixated on the cards he held in his hand, committing each card to memory as fast as possible alongside Neji. She thought he’d just have cards on the people Sasuke was most likely to ask about, but no, he had cards on everyone in this room. Including her. 

“Tenten and Hyuuga Neji are on his team.” 

“We could have told you all of that,” Tenten glowered, still not having forgiven Kabuto for his words about her teammate. She then turned to Sasuke. “Except now it’s broadcast out there for everyone else, so they have the same advantage as you. Making it now useless. You screwed yourself there.” 

“And Gaara of the Sand?” Sasuke asked, ignoring her. He was pointedly turned away.  

“Sasuke, bud, you’re just pissing more people off,” Shikamaru warned. He pushed off the wall and slowly walked over to him. “Generally, people don’t like information about themselves passed around easily, or publicly.” 

“Also, he’s a creep,” Ino added helpfully. Kabuto’s smile twitched. “Who has grey hair that young? And those glasses aren’t doing him any favors.” 

“Ino, he’s wearing a purple, sleeveless, turtleneck jumpsuit,” Hinata pointed out. “I think glasses are the least of his problems.” 

“The shirt under it isn’t doing him any favors, either,” Neji stated. “It contrasts with the weird wrap thing, which is also tasteless.” 

“Hey! He’s helping us!” Naruto defended the man, stepping in front of him. “We should be nice to him!” 

“But why is he helping us?” Shino prompted, cocking their head.

“Because he’s a fellow Leaf comrade and wants our success?” Naruto guessed, turning around to Kabuto for confirmation. Kabuto nodded. “See!”

“So is Lee, and you guys put him in a bad spot by broadcasting all his information to everyone just now,” Tenten advocated for her teammate. “I don’t know what this guy’s deal is.” 

“It would seem that Sasuke’s the problem, then,” Shino spoke up, glancing over at him. 

“Can it, bug boy,” Sasuke snapped, then turned to Kabuto. “Tell me about Gaara.” 

Kiba, beside Shino, tensed, and flared his chakra slightly. The rest of the genin looked at him warily as he started a low growl and settled into a basic attack stance. Sasuke didn’t notice how the Inuzuka was gearing for an attack, instead focusing all his attention on the newcomer. 

Before Hinata could say anything, Shino stepped in. Setting aside their own discomfort with touch, they placed their hand on Kiba’s shoulder to calm him down. Kiba was a very physical person, so he responded instantly and relaxed his stance. Akamaru was still growling. She redirected her attention to Kabuto’s deck of cards.

“Gaara of the Desert. Eight C-ranks, one B-rank… Wow, as a genin, that’s impressive. And apparently, all without a scratch. Hm, but as a shinobi from another land and as a genin, there’s not a lot of info.” 

As Kabuto droned on, she flipped through the remainder of the cards and committed what she needed to memory. 

“Actually, there’s not a lot of information in general.” She corrected Kabuto, deactivating her byakugan. 

“How do you know?” Sasuke sneered at her. “He didn’t show you any more cards than he did me.” 

Wordlessly, she tapped at her temple just an inch away from her eyes. “I don’t know, why don’t you use your brain and think for once in your life?” 

“But they’re chakra-coded!” Sakura countered, pointing at Hinata. “So how could you–?” 

“They byakugan sees chakra, Forehead,” Ino rolled her eyes and flicked her ponytail. “And if the information is written in chakra, of course their freaky eyes can see it.” 

“Freaky?” Hinata whipped around to face Ino. She pointed to her eyes and activated her byakugan. “Freaky? When your boyfriend’s eyes are considerably worse?” 

“He’s not her boyfriend!” Sakura shouted, raising her hands in frustration. She was ignored. 

“Sasuke’s eyes don’t get weird veins when he uses the sharingan,” Ino sniffed, ignoring Sakura. “He looks cool when he does it.” 

“It’s not going to be so cool when he starts crying blood after twenty minutes of using it, ” Hinata remarked, deactivating her byakugan. She grit her teeth and let out a sigh. It was better to let this disagreement fizzle out instead of causing another scene. 

 Ino seemed to agree, as instead of responding, she huffed and looked away from Hinata. Hinata took a deep breath and turned back to Kabuto.

“So, you peddle basic information that pisses everyone off,” Neji summarized for everyone. “The people you collect data on passed the exams if they were actually strong, which renders the information useless to us. Or they didn’t pass, in which case, they’re weak, and the information is still useless because they’re not a threat.” 

“Or, more commonly,” Hinata added, stepping closer to the man. “The people you have information on are rookies in the Chuunin Exams, and therefore any information you can get is useless.” 

“So your Ninja Info Cards are always useless,” Neji concluded, placing a hand on his hip. “Is this really what you want to be doing with your life? Spend it all on what, fan made shinobi collector’s cards?”

“I—” Kabuto began, trying to defend himself. He took a few steps back. “It’s not—–” 

“Don’t forget that he’s doing this to present himself as an ally to us,” Shikamaru tacked on, lining up with Hinata and Neji. “Which puts us in a worse position, as we’re exchanging useless information for new enemies. Because it would seem this guy has pissed off a lot of people.” 

“But, you see—” Kabuto took another step back and was immediately spoken over.

“An unfair trade,” Hinata scoffed, turning to Neji who nodded in agreement. She took another step towards Kabuto. “What, are you going to tell us that this is every hidden village’s elite genin? No shit, they’re here for a promotion.” 

“That seems unfair—” He continued to back up. 

“Elite?” Naruto stilled. Everyone turned to him, watching as the boy with unlimited confidence seemed to waver under the threat of the unknown. He hunched over, seemingly trembling. Kabuto looked like he wanted to say something more, but with everyone’s eyes on him, wisely shut up. 

“Hey, don’t worry,” Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll be okay.” 

“What’s wrong with him?” She turned to Shikamaru, the resident Naruto expert. “And what’s wrong with Sakura?”

“Dunno, maybe he’s scared, and she feels bad for him,” the Nara shrugged. “Or he’s about to do something stupid and Sakura just thinks he’s scared.” 

It happened to be the latter. 

“My name’s Uzumaki Naruto!” He declared, stepping into the middle of the room and pointing a finger at the crowd. “And I’m not losing to any of you! Believe it!” 

“Holy shit,” Hinata stared, dumbfounded. She couldn’t help the way her lips quirked, threatening a smile. “He’s so stupid that when he can’t sense danger, he creates it.” 

“He’s nuts!” Kiba shouted, shaking so violently with laughter that Akamaru threatened to slide off his head. “Hey, can you say that a little louder? Didn’t catch it the first time.” 

“What’s that idiot doing?” Ino fumed, directing her fury at Sakura. “He’s going to get us all killed!” 

“Hey! Don’t you think I know that?” Sakura cried. “You think I can control him?!”
“I am not affiliated with him!” Choji quickly blurted out. 

“Smart,” Shikamaru nodded in approval. “But I think that ship’s sailed.” 

“What spirit!” Lee seemed to be the only one not to take issue with Naruto threatening a room full of shinobi. “What passion!” 

“You should have kicked his ass, too.” Tenten suggested loudly. 

Sasuke said nothing, only giving Naruto a small nod. Perhaps Lee wasn’t alone in his insanity. 

“Jackass!” Sakura immediately tried to strangle him, putting him in a chokehold. “I can’t believe you’d do that to me!” 

Hinata cleared her throat, alerting Sakura to the now silent room. . Sakura’s head snapped up to see the rest of the shinobi watching her exchange with Naruto. 

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” She gave a sweet smile to all of them. “Really, I–” 

“Yes, I do!” Naruto choked out. “I’m going to kick all of their asses into next week!” 

Sakura wrapped her hands around his neck once more. “Shut up!” 

“Use your elbow,” Hinata offered from the sidelines. Sakura nodded and readjusted to do so, getting a firm hold around the boy’s head.

“This interaction is in no way representative of the Leaf as a whole, and should not be considered as an accurate portrayal of Konoha’s morals, beliefs, and practices,” Sakura recited over Naruto’s gags and cries of help. Hinata supposed this disclaimer was a recurring thing, now. 

The warning didn’t seem to work, though, as three Sound-nin rapidly approached from the crowd. 

“Well, there they go,” Hinata murmured, watching as a cloaked figure hiked up his cloak to reveal an arm device that would have been intimidating if she knew what it was. She activated her byakugan to see if she could figure it out any better with her doujutsu. 

“Is his arm broken?” Kiba asked genuinely. 

“I don’t think it’s a cast,” Shino responded. “Seems like a weapon.” 

Team Eight seemed to be the only ones who noticed the man approaching, and they stood idly by as the Sound-nin threw a punch at Kabuto and missed epically. 

Except Kabuto’s glasses still shattered.

“Oh, I get it,” Kabuto said smugly, brushing away a stray hair that fell from his ponytail away from his face. “Interesting,” 

Kiba and Shino looked at Hinata for an explanation after Kabuto didn’t elaborate.

“He dodged, though!” Sasuke protested. “How’d that happen?” 

“It probably was just closer than it looked,” Shikamaru hummed, eyeing Kabuto with very visible annoyance. “Just a bunch of tough guys, throwing down outside of an exam hall. Really mature and cool.” 

“So what, it just looked like a miss?” Ino clarified, approaching the scene cautiously. 

Hinata shook her head. Kabuto dropped to his knees suddenly and started to retch. 

“Oh, ew,” Hinata said, stepping slightly back. She was wearing open-toe shoes and did not want vomit on her feet. Naruto and Sakura, however, rushed towards him in concern.

“He’s just being dramatic,” Hinata explained to her teammates. “It’s actually quite simple. I’ll go over it with you later.” 

The man’s ‘cast’ absorbed sound waves and amplified them with his chakra. He could redirect them to cause damage. One look at Neji confirmed that he had gleaned this as well. 

“Maybe that’s why he’s on his seventh try,” the Sound-nin mocked. He was wrapped in bandages and wore a thick fur cape bound with a purple camo scarf. If Hinata were to imagine a mummy in drag, this guy came pretty close to what she would have pictured. “Write this on your little cards. The Sound genin will all become chuunin.”

“I told you the cards would piss everyone off,” Shikamaru sounded exasperated and turned on his heel. Choji placed a commiserating hand on his shoulder and kept him from walking away from the group entirely. “I’m staying out of this.” 

Then the doors flew open along with a cloud of smoke, and an angry bald man in a trench coat burst out, immediately insulting them. Behind him was a small army of chuunin, presumably meant to look menacing. Hinata could pick out the two who stood guard outside the exam hall earlier. They all were in the same grey uniform, which was flattering on no one.  He introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, the first exam proctor and everyone's “worst enemy.” 

Hinata didn’t have the heart to tell him that Sasuke was already everyone’s worst enemy, and he had a worst enemy of his own, as well. From the way Sakura was glaring at Naruto, Hinata would guess that ship had sailed for her, too.  

Ibiki started by reprimanding the Sound genin, then prohibiting all fatal force under threat of disqualification. Several genin visibly deflated at that, Hinata being one of them. 

He then instructed everyone to exchange their paperwork for a number designating their seating arrangement for a written exam, which was graded according to the team average. This seemed to be extraordinarily bad news for Naruto and Kiba, who were sweating profusely. 
“Written test?” Naruto sputtered, fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket . 

“Dude, you were warned, like multiple times,” Kiba said, though he wasn’t looking much better.  Before they could line up, Hinata pulled her two teammates to the side.  

“Listen,” she murmured, leaning into the huddle. “If you need help cheating, flare your chakra. I’ll figure something out.” 

Shino and Kiba both nodded silently. 

“That goes for you, too,” Kiba offered. Hinata gave him a small smile, appreciating the sentiment.
“We’ll all be fine,” Shino insisted. “I’m sure of it.” 

They entered the room and were directed to their assigned seats for the first portion of the test. Hinata didn’t notice until it was too late. As soon as she slid into her seat, Naruto sat down right next to her. 

“Not happening,” she said, raising her hand. “Proctor, I need to move seats.” 

“What? C’mon!” Naruto protested. “That’s not fair! If she moves, I wanna sit next to Sakura-chan!” 

“Your request is denied,” Ibiki said flatly. Hinata scowled at the boy next to her. 

“Ha!” Naruto celebrated with a small victory fist pump. “You’re stuck with me.” 

“I will skin you,” she hissed at him. 

“He said no fatal force!” Naruto pointed a finger at her. “You can’t do that!” 

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you stay alive,” Hinata promised. “And awake.” 

“What are you gonna skin me with? A pencil?” He taunted. “Oh, really scary.”

“If that’s what it takes,”  she scowled at the boy, leaning in closely. “And after I’m done, I’ll carve my answers into your skin, and turn it in for grading instead of paper.” 

“Try it!” Naruto’s voice faltered. “And see what happens!” 

Hinata activated her byakugan, knowing how creepy others found it, and leaned in even closer. Naruto scooted as far away from her as possible before bumping into the guy sitting on the other side of him. 

“Hey, watch it,” the genin barked at him. Naruto looked miserable. Hinata was glad. 

Exams were handed out as the proctor relayed the rules, which were boiled down to: If you get caught cheating five times, you’re out. Chuunin will be watching. Don’t do anything stupid. 

When Hinata received her paper, she took one look at it and wanted to laugh out loud. Even with only nine questions, it  was ridiculously hard for a Chuunin Exam. She eyed Naruto from the corner of her eye and saw that the boy was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She could only imagine how Kiba must feel. But she didn’t feel a chakra flare, so he must be doing better than her current company. 

Hinata wrote her name at the top of her exam and immediately began scanning each question and confirming that each question was harder than the last. Distantly, this reminded her of the SATs. She did pretty well on those. She wished it were a Scantron, multiple choice was always easier. Hinata also did not know what any of those things were, and she knew by now that thinking anymore about them would result in a headache she’d like to avoid. 

Hinata could probably answer most of these questions on her own, but that would take a lot of time and effort. Cheating would be a lot easier, and likely was the point of the exam. Hinata activated her byakugan and looked through the body of the boy in front of her to see his exam was already filled out. Okay, so there were plants. She could work with that. 

Within fifteen minutes of the hour block, Hinata had completed her exam. One look at Naruto confirmed that the boy had not written a single word on his paper aside from his name. 

Hinata wasn’t even guarding her test. All he had to do was look slightly over, and all his problems would be solved. Instead, Naruto was holding his head in his hands, looking like he was taking the worst shit of his life. His face was scrunched up and he was quivering. Regardless, it wasn’t her problem. 

Hinata kept her byakugan activated to gather intel on how everyone else was doing. Akamaru was quietly relaying the answers he was reading to Kiba, which would have shocked Hinata except that Shino had an insect doing the same thing for them. She questioned how her teammate's companions gained literacy, but supposed they were just as present at the academy as everyone else. Neither of her teammates flared their chakra. She moved on. 

Neji was using his byakugan as well, with Tenten using an elaborate string of wires and reflections to gather results and then pass them to Lee. Ino was slumped over her table, and Hinata could trace as her chakra bounced from Sakura to Choji to Shikamaru, no doubt relaying Sakura’s exam contents to her teammates. All teammates seemed to be helping each other, which made sense of a group exam. Even the Sand siblings seemed to work cooperatively. Hinata watched as Kakuro made a fuss to go to the bathroom, messed around with his puppet, and passed a scroll to his sister. There was an eyeball made of sand floating about, and she assumed that was their little brother’s work. 

Aside from Team Eight, which was doing fine on its own, Team Seven seemed to be the only ones not helping each other out. This was extremely telling.

Sakura was scribbling furiously, no doubt having figured out the answers for herself. If nothing else, Hinata would begrudgingly admit, the girl was booksmart. Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy someone’s handwriting onto his own exam. And beside her, Naruto still hadn’t written one single thing on his paper. 

If Hinata had a heart, surely he would be pulling on its strings. Her byakugan was still activated as she started directly into him, and now with the context of Gaara and, oddly enough, her mother’s pregnancy, things were suddenly put into context. 

Aside from Naruto’s chakra, another was being inside of him, much more powerful than anything Hinata had ever seen, and capable of producing its own chakra. As if the being could sense her staring at it, its chakra roared to life, and she could feel the heat of pure, unbridled energy settle onto her skin. It was suffocating and burning and unlike anything she’d ever felt before. 

Hinata felt pulled to it. It was strong, pure, and intense. It gave her a rush, unlike anything she’d felt before— the thrill of discovery, and the fear of the unknown. If anything, this chakra source only cemented the fact that no chakra was naturally originating. She unabashedly stared it down until orange consumed her vision. Understanding dangled before her, just beyond reach. She was tempted to go further, look closer, entangle herself even deeper.

But Hinata knew that should she invest herself this moment there was no coming back. And she couldn’t have that, not in the middle of the Chuunin Exams. Barely, her self-preservation won out and she forced her gaze away. 

This is when Hinata made a decision. A terrible, bad, awful decision that she should have made long ago. Lee was interesting and a good pet project. His immunity to the beast that was chakra was worthy of investigation. But Naruto? 

Naruto was a beast himself. Pure, raw power that was completely untapped. And he was so desperate for attention, even more so than Lee. Even his teammates wanted nothing to do with him, leaving him on his own when everyone else was working together. He was powerful. And he was vulnerable. 

It was perfect.

Hinata reached out a tentative hand, smiling as the burning sensation of the unfamiliar chakra prickled and bit at her skin. 

“Naruto,” she smiled sweetly at him. Naruto looked up at her with wide eyes, watching as she slid him her exam. 

She watched the internal battle as the boy seemed to weigh the pros and cons, delaying what should have been an obvious decision. To her horror, he slid the exam back to her with a slight shake of his head. 

Hinata’s eyes widened at the refusal, and reeling with the implications of it. She knew how to manipulate righteous people. She’d done wonders with Lee. But this level of sheer stupidity, to refuse the most basic of help out of pure principle, was insane. Even though the exam itself was cheating, Naruto was too honest to commit himself to something he perceived to be against the rules. 

This never-before-seen level of stupidity would make it significantly harder for her to manipulate him. 

Harder, but not impossible.

Chapter Text

Forty-five minutes into the test, the proctor cleared his throat and instructed everyone to stop writing. This wasn’t a problem for Naruto, who had never started writing in the first place. 

“Alright,” Ibiki clapped his hands. “It’s time for the tenth question.” 

Judging by the way the chuunin around them smirked, sat back in their seat, or began to snicker, Hinata immediately knew that the tenth question was bullshit and didn’t sweat it. 

Ibiki proceeded to warn that they’d never be able to take the test again if they got the question wrong. He offered the option to quit instead, if they didn’t mind failing their entire team. Hinata’s thoughts briefly drifted to Kabuto. She hoped he’d get it wrong and flunk out permanently. If nothing else, next year’s genin would be saved from the lunacy of his Ninja Info Cards. 

But if he’d already taken the exam seven times before, there was likely no limit to re-entry. She paused as a thought occurred to her. Konoha couldn’t possibly have the power to bar genin from other villages from reapplying, and it had no reason to say no to more canon fodder. 

Her eyes tracked the many genin leaving their seats, causing them and their teams to fail instantly. Beside her, Naruto seemed to waver in his confidence. Hinata placed a hand on his trembling arm to try and soothe him, but this only caused the boy to raise his hand. 

“Naruto,” She said softly, trying to encourage him to think rationally. “Is this what you really want?” 

She wanted him to stay in the Chuunin Exams. For one thing, his presence improved her odds for the deathmatch the Chuunin Exams would inevitably become. It also gave her more opportunities to study his chakra anomaly. 

However, she had to admit that Naruto might not be making that bad of a choice. Maybe he knew he didn’t stand a chance against the other genin there. It was a surprising moment of emotional maturity and forethought for him.

Naruto looked at her with a goofy smile, and then slammed his hand on the desk. “Ha!” 

Hinata felt stupid for thinking Naruto was anything but a fool. 

“I’m not giving up! I don’t care if I’ll be a genin for the rest of my life, I’ll still be Hokage!” He shouted. 

Hinata felt her brain melt out of her ears. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The sheer embarrassment of being seated next to him was too much for her to handle.

“See?” He smirked at her, puffing his chest. “I’m not afraid.” 

“Well,” she squeaked out. “You got that across.” 

Naruto turned to her with a grin, eyes bright and trusting. He looked so happy she had addressed him at all. 

“Yeah?” His grin widened, leaning in eagerly. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, voice strained. If she raised it any more it would surely become a screaming match.

Naruto sat back in his seat, clearly pleased with himself. 

“This decision will change your life,” Ibiki turned to Naruto, and then addressed the rest of the room. “I’m giving you all one last chance to quit.” 

“No way!” Naruto’s voice carried an unnecessary amount of enthusiasm. “I never go back on my word.” 

Hinata looked around the room and saw that those who’d stayed seemed to have perceived his bout of stupidity as bravery. Based on their expressions, his words had somehow inspired them. She was a little upset that the numbers hadn’t thinned more, but reasoned that those who were moved by such sheer delusion wouldn’t be very tough competition. 

Ibiki looked at the chuunin lining the exam room, and, at their nod, addressed the room once more. 

“You’ve all passed the first exam,” He announced.

Naruto’s hand finally unclenched, releasing the pencil he’d been holding. It rolled from his palm and onto the desk. Hinata dutifully stopped it from falling off the edge. 

Naruto rocketed up from his chair and let out a loud whoop. The room expressed similar expressions of shock and joy. Sakura seemed to be the only one upset. 

“Wait, where’s the tenth question?” She demanded. Hinata wanted to bang her head on the desk. Sakura was always the one to remind the teachers about collecting homework, so of course it wouldn't be any different now. She supposed it made sense; if all Sakura had going for her was her booksmarts, then it was no wonder the girl was so invested in this portion of the exam. 

“This was the tenth question,” Hinata turned over her shoulder and snapped. “Can you please sit down? I want to get this over with.” 

“Wait, so the other nine were just a waste of time?” Temari piped up from the back. “That seems dumb.” 

“No,” Ibiki smiled at the Sand genin. It was off-putting, seeing such an expression of joy grace the man’s serious features. It couldn’t mean anything good. Hinata wished he’d go back to scowling. Ibiki began to lay out in detail what the first exam meant for them, and how it tested their ability to gather intelligence under adverse circumstances. Hinata filtered it out. She was so done with the elaborate explanations. If the other genin needed to be spoon-fed, perhaps they shouldn’t have passed in the first place. 

“Oh, that makes perfect sense,” Temari drawled. Kakuro looked at his sister askance, not sure if she was joking or not. Hinata was pretty sure she wasn’t, seeing as her scrunched expression didn’t change. 

“I chose to test you all as a team,” Ibiki elaborated further, “to see how well you functioned as a group. That’s why the exam was scored on a team basis, so that you’d know that your efforts directly impacted those of your respective teams. I intended to measure how you all performed under that pressure.” 

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Naruto nodded, leaning over to Hinata to whisper in her ear. “I figured it was something like that.” 

“Is that so?” She managed, trying not to scream at him in a room full of foreign shinobi. Naruto sheepishly smiled at her but didn’t retract his claim. In the background, Ibiki continued his dissection of the test, having moved on to how it was designed for the genin to cheat off of planted chuunin. 

Naruto startled beside her, jumping slightly out of his seat. Hinata turned to him warily. When he opened his mouth, she grabbed his hand to physically ground him before he flew out of his seat and began spouting nonsense once more.

“Just to recap, there were answers the whole time?” He whispered to her, leaning in closely and covering his mouth with his free hand. 

“Yeah, Fishcake. I even tried feeding them to you,” She hissed back, scooting away from him. 

“But,” Naruto appealed to her. “I think I would’ve—” 

“Naruto,” Hinata chided. “Let’s not draw any more attention to ourselves, hm? Just leave it.” 

Perhaps being kind and sweet wasn’t the way to get to him. Besides, she couldn’t suppress the menacing edge to her voice that seeped out whenever she spoke to him. Though, considering that hung around Sakura and Sasuske, the malice in her tone probably didn’t even register. Despite her warning, Naruto did not leave it. Maybe she wasn’t mean enough.

“C’mon, I’m just saying, I knew the whole time,” Naruto intentionally projected his voice so the rest of the room could hear him. “You’d have to be an absolute dumbass not to see what was going on, right, Hina-chan?” 

“Hinata,” She corrected. “But you’re not wrong, only really, really, really—” 

“Okay, now,” Naruto laughed sheepishly. “I think we get the point.” 

“—Really, really, really , stupid people would have missed that.” 

“And that’s not me,” Naruto added with a slightly strained smile. “I got it.” 

“Uh-huh,” She scowled at him.

“Those who were caught, failed,” Ibiki asserted. He then began to reiterate, for the nth time, the importance of information and intelligence gathering. 

Hinata watched, stunned, as the man removed his bandana to reveal a head full of ugly scars. Naruto nearly fell out of his seat, and she had to grab his arm before he could point a finger at the man. For the rest of Ibiki’s speech, she plastered his arm to her side so he couldn’t get up and do anything stupid. The constant pressure on his hand worked wonders as a deterrent, possibly because he knew she wasn’t above breaking bones. 

“If you wanted to hold my hand, Hina-chan, all you had to do was ask,” Naruto wiggled his eyebrows at her after the speech concluded. Hinata dropped his arm like it was physically burning her. 

“Hinata,” She corrected. “And I was anchoring you to your seat, before you flew out of it and said more stupid shit.” 

But apparently, Sasuke didn’t have anyone to prevent him from saying anything. 

“Man, what a mess,” The Uchiha said. Everyone’s heads snapped to him as he continued. “Scars, burn marks, puncture wounds… he’s been through a lot.” 

Hinata buried her face in her hands. She could feel the look her teammates were giving her, expecting her to completely lose it at any moment. 

“Sasuke, man, you don’t say shit like that out loud,” Kiba called him out before Hinata could say something much worse. He had Akamaru in his lap now and was giving the dog scritches, as he tended to do when he was nervous. “And not to a T&I dude, what is wrong with you?”

Ibkli chuckled at the exchange. “Wisely put. But in the exam, you needed to cheat in order to survive.” 

“Okay, yeah, but the tenth question,” Temari circled back. “What’s that about?” 

“Well,” Hinata turned to Naruto. “You may not be the stupidest in the room, but you better hope nothing happens to her.” 

Naruto snickered at her comment and then abruptly stopped. “Wait, I don’t get it.” 

“The tenth question,” Ibiki drawled, “Is the whole point of the exam. Surely, you can see that.” 

“Yeah, but,” Sakura nodded. “Go over it anyway.” 

Hinata turned over her shoulder to Neji, who was looking at her already. 

So they’re all like this, then. Neji signed to her. Because they were in person, he didn’t need to cut down his words to the bare bones. Instead, he used every single word he wanted to so that he could get the point across exactly how he meant it. Team Seven is something else.

Yeah, it’s pretty bad. Hinata signed back. You haven’t seen the worst of it.

I always thought you were exaggerating about your class in the academy. I’m so sorry.

Hinata nodded solemnly and turned back to Ibiki.

“It was a matter of choices. Playing it safe, resulting in failing you and your teammates. Or, attempting it, knowing that if you got it wrong, you could never become chuunin. It’s a no-win situation, one that chuunin have to face everyday,” 

Ibiki went on to elaborate on the process of creating the exam, declaring that everyone passed by choosing to put their pride aside, which made them worthy. 

“I hereby officially conclude this section of the Chuunin Exams. I have nothing more to say except… good luck.” 

Hinata, having released her iron grip on Naruto, was not quick enough to stop him as he shot up out of his seat once more and did an obnoxious victory dance. 

“Yeah! I did it!” Naruto cheered, standing up out of his seat and pumping his hands gleefully. 

She had successfully prevented at least two of these outbursts, by her count, so she was disappointed that she didn’t see this one coming. Hinata didn’t want Naruto to die before she could study him, and at the rate he was acting, he’d be dead by daylight. 

From her left, she glimpsed a shadow headed for the window at speed. Moments before it could make an impact, she braced herself for whatever was to come. Several others ducked for cover as well. Seeing Naruto sitting there in naive ignorance of the rapidly approaching unknown, Hinata reached out and yanked his head down below the desk so that he was protected as well. 

A heartbeat later, whatever it was crashed through the window and sent shattered glass everywhere. Kunai flew across the room, crudely tacking a large mahogany banner up across the blackboard. When she and Naruto raised their heads, Naruto's jaw dropped and his eyes widened comically. 

“Is this part of the test?” He yelped, pointing at the woman that now stood in front of them. “What’s going on?!” 

“Can’t you read?” Hinata hissed. “The banner says ‘The Second Examiner is Mitarashi Anko’.” 

“What?” Naruto looked at her blankly. “Who?” 

“I’m Mitarashi Anko, and I’m your second examiner!” Anko introduced herself to everyone. Hinata eyed her outfit. She wore a fishnet jumpsuit, an orange skirt, and a trenchcoat. She didn’t appear to be wearing a shirt underneath the fishnet. Good for her, Hinata thought idly.

“So, her?” Naruto pointed at the lady. “That’s the second examiner?” 

“I have an apology to make to Temari, evidently,” Hinata muttered. 

“Who’s ready for the second test?” Anko yelled at the crowd of unenthused genin. When no one responded, she carried on with the same pep as earlier. “Good! Let’s go!”

“You’re early,” Ibiki peeked out from behind the banner. “Again.” A few genin snickered at their exchange.

“Yeah, yeah,” Anko waved. “I see there’s more brats than usual. You let them all pass?” 

“They earned it,” Ikibi nodded. 

“Must’ve been too easy. Don’t go getting all soft on me now.” Anko complained. “You really just wanna make my life harder, huh.” 

“Or, the candidates this year are just particularly strong,” Ikibi reasoned. “There are always exceptions.” 

“Nah, you’re getting soft, or senile, or something,” She dismissed her colleague with a lofty wave of her hand. “You know, retirement’s always an option.” 

Hinata decided that she liked this lady. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ibiki grimaced. “But you’re only three years younger than me.” 

“You’d think it’s a decade, really,” Anko murmured. She turned to the room once more. “No matter. I’ll deal with them. And by the time I’m done, more than half of them will be eliminated.” 

“More than half?” Sakura panicked. “Really?” 

Team Seven really needed to learn how to keep their mouths shut. Hinata wondered what the Hokage was thinking when he put those three on the same team. Naruto, as bad as he was, seemed to be the only one with a decent excuse for the way he was. Sasuke at least had people in his formative years that would teach him how to behave, and Sakura had a complete nuclear family. Yet not one of them seemed to be able to figure out how to conduct themselves in shinobi society. Naruto was the only one she could somewhat excuse, but even he should have figured out basic manners by now. 

Sooner than later, Team Seven needed to figure out that not everything needed to be about them. They didn’t need to include themselves in every conversation. Their little comments didn’t add anything, only serving to piss people off. And Hinata was, unfortunately, associated with them,

The next time she saw Hatake Kakashi, she was ambushing him with a parenting book, the shinobi manual, and a business card for one of the Leaf’s very few therapists still in practice. And if that didn’t work, she’d sic Gai on him. 

Either way, that man needed to learn how to handle children and his own emotions. Because he was raising the worst team to ever wear forehead protectors. 

“Alright, maggots!” Anko snapped at the genin. “Shit’s about to hit the fan. I need you all to report tomorrow morning, zero-eight-hundred, sharp. I’ll tell your jounin senseis where to meet me. Dismissed.” 

She burst out through the window she came in through and ran off into the distance. 

Genin slowly started getting up and filing out of the room. Hinata hung back so she could reconvene with her team. 

“So, Naruto, huh?” Kiba teased, scooping up his dog and placing Akamaru on his head. 

“Actual hell,” Hinata nodded, falling in step with him. “I want to kill someone.” 

“I’ll just stay over here, then,” Shino commented. Hinata rolled her eyes and grabbed them by the sleeve, tugging them along with the rest of the group. 

“So, you get any valuable information?” Shino asked. Hinata turned to them, knowing they weren’t referring to the test. 

“Yes,” She said, keeping her voice low around others. “Lots.” 

Team Eight followed the other genin who’d passed out of the exam hall and into the courtyard of the exam building, where the crowd was slowly dispersing. The bright, sunny day set a startling contrast to the cold exam room that they’d been in. Summer was around the corner, and judging by how late the sun was setting lately, they were maybe a month out from the dry heat Konoha was known best for. A cool breeze rustled through the trees, reminding everyone that spring wasn’t fully over yet.

“Well, you had fun,” Neji commented as she approached Team Gai to reunite Team Hyuuga. 

“Shut up,” Hinata snapped, hitting him lightly on the shoulder. Neji only snickered. 

“So are we splitting here?” Tenten asked. She had a firm hold on Lee’s arm so he wouldn’t get lost in the crowd earlier, but hadn’t let go even now that that was no longer a danger. Not that his bright green jumpsuit could be hidden from view. “Or, what?” 

“Well, we can exchange intel and hatch a plan from there,” Shino suggested, adjusting their sunglasses. They cast a flat look at Team Seven, who was bickering just outside of the exam hall. “Though I don’t think doing such a thing in public would be wise.” 

Kiba barked out a laugh, instantly catching Shino’s drift. “Yeah, I think we all knew that.”
“Well, we all should, at least,” Neji grimaced. “Really, that whole team’s a piece of work,”

They watched as Sakura grabbed Sasuke’s arm, only to be batted away by Sasuke. Naruto, enraged that Sasuke dared to touch Sakura, hit him. Sakura, now mad that he had hit Sasuke , hit Naruto. She turned to Sasuke to grab his arm again. The cycle continued. It was like a bad game of rock paper scissors. 

Team Hyuuga watched in silence as each member of Team Seven stormed off in different directions. 

“We can get takeout,” Lee proposed, shifting the topic of conversation. “And eat at the Hyuuga Compound!” 

“I’m amenable to that,” Shino volunteered, tearing their eyes away from where Naruto had stormed off. Tenten and Kiba both nodded, equally distracted. 

“We’d have to take them to my place,” Neji murmured, leaning into Hinata’s ear. “And I don’t know how Kenta’s doing right now.”

“We can pick something up for them,” Hinata suggested, though she too was concerned. “And we can eat in your room.” 

“We are not eating in my room.” Neji protested, shaking his head vehemently. 

“Well, it’s not like mine’s an option,” Hinata countered, frowning. “We can just camp out outside. All that matters is we’re not on public property.” 

Neji sighed, but said nothing further.

“So, ramen, barbeque, or…” Kiba scrunched his nose. “I think there’s that sushi place that just opened up, but I haven’t heard good things about it.” 

“I haven’t heard of a sushi place,” Tenten raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Dunno, just that the fish apparently isn’t fresh,” Kiba scratched at his cheek. “Or that’s just what Choji said,” 

“We can get curry!” Lee suggested eagerly, arms flying out in excitement. Tenten released her hold on him so that she wouldn’t be a casualty of the boy’s enthusiasm. 

“Lee, there’s no curry place for miles,” Tenten sighed, stepping off to the side so she was no longer in Lee’s range. “We’ve been over this.” 

“Ramen doesn’t sound so bad,” Hinata offered, catching the scent of miso wafting by. “I wouldn’t mind it, at least.” 

The group wandered over to Ichiraku Ramen, chatting idly amongst themselves. Tenten and Shino were engrossed in a conversation about what they thought about the exam proctors, specifically Anko, and Lee and Kiba were bickering about something or other. The sun was beginning to set, but it was still plenty bright out. Konoha’s streets were not particularly navigable, as all city planning seemed to center around confusing outsiders. But more often than not, there was no city planning, so it was equally as confusing to residents. Kiba led the way with his nose. 

Neji and Hinata walked alongside each other in comfortable silence. There were no light fixtures outside the ramen stall, but Ichiraku Ramen’s interior was warmly lit. The small glow it provided leaked out onto the street, providing more than enough light for ninja to spot from a distance. Banners decorated the top half of the stall in lieu of doors, and half a dozen seats were lined up neatly at the bar counter. A small figure in a bright orange jumpsuit was hunched over his food, several empty bowls stacked beside him. 

After an hour of sitting next to Naruto without a choice, the last thing Hinata wanted to do was voluntarily eat next to him. She’d barely survived sitting across from him at the academy, and now that she was freed from that burden, she never wanted to be in forced proximity with him again. At least it was just takeout. 

“Does everyone know what they want?” Hinata turned to the group once they stopped shortly outside the ramen stall. There was a large chalkboard menu printed along the left wall of the stall, with paper takeout menus available on request. The chalkboard seemed more than enough, though. 

Taking a deep breath, Hinata entered the stall, ducking under the banners. Neji followed shortly, and then the rest of Team Hyuuga trickled inside.

“Hina-chan?” Naruto looked up from his bowl, wiping a stray noodle from his face. She grimaced at both the nickname and his table manners.

“Not you, too,” Neji grumbled, stepping in front of Hinata and getting ready to give Naruto a verbal lashing. Surprisingly, Lee beat him to it. 

“What did you call her?” Lee demanded with unwarranted rage. He slammed his hands down on the counter, causing the several empty ramen bowls to rattle beside him. 

“Hina-chan,” Naruto repeated, adding another empty bowl to his tower of gluttony and blocking Lee’s line of sight. “Mind your business, bushy-brows.”

“You don’t get to call her that!” Lee pointed an accusatory finger at the boy. He halved the stack of bowls and gingerly placed them down on the counter so he could properly make eye contact with Naruto. “You haven’t earned it! You have no right!” 

“Woah, okay,” The ramen stand owner raised his hands. “No fighting in, or within 50 feet of Ichiraku’s Ramen. We have that sign for a reason.” 

The old man gently tapped a tattered plaque listing off the rules of combat in relation to his establishment. Indeed, it prohibited any sort of altercation within the premises. Hinata wondered about the circumstances which lead to such a sign. 

“We’d like to place an order for takeout, please,” Hinata changed the subject. She rummaged for her wallet. Notably, only Lee did the same. The ramen-guy nodded, whipping out a notepad. Apparently it was a given that the Hyuuga Heiress had more than enough money to spot them, and only Lee, out of pure chivalry alone, rejected this. Hinata had no problem with this arrangement, as her father would hand her any sum of money upon request, and had loaded her up before the Chuunin Exams with enough to bribe her way into the rankings if she so wished.

“Hold on, just eat here with me!” Naruto offered, pointing to the row of empty stools. “There’s plenty of room!” 

There were only six stools, and he was occupying one of them. There was room, but not enough for everyone, especially considering that his empty dishes alone occupied three counter spaces. 

“Where’s your team?” Shino asked point blank. “They should eat with you instead.” 

Naruto visibly deflated at that, turning to the side and mumbling angrily about his teammates not being supportive and something about Sasuke being stupid. No one mentioned the small display they had seen earlier outside the exam hall. 

Tenten’s face softened at the sulky expression. Hinata was less sympathetic, but she agreed it was pretty pathetic. 

“Well,” Tenten said in a tone of voice that implied that whatever she was about to say Hinata would dislike. “We could eat here before going back to the compound.” 

“Really?” Naruto immediately perked up, looking at her with sparkling eyes. “That’s awesome!” 

The rest of Team Hyuuga was looking to her for a reaction. Instead of blowing up and violating the very carefully inscribed rules of the shop rule’s sign which already looked worse for wear, she took a deep breath and reminded herself of the anomaly that lay inside Naruto’s stomach. She had to get close to him if she wanted to be allowed to poke and prod. And maybe dinner was a small price to pay for that. Maybe his insatiable hunger was related to the beast that lay dormant inside of him, and maybe a meal would give her more insight into it.

“Yeah,” Hinata agreed reluctantly. “We can eat here.” 

Neji looked at her, aghast. Kiba and Shino both immediately recognized her sweet behavior as out of the ordinary. That level of kindness meant pure manipulation, which was usually reserved for Lee, her father, or people Hinata was about to attack. 

Lee immediately shut down, sulking as Hinata accepted Naruto’s invitation. 

“There are only six seats,” Neji pointed out. “And I’m not letting you sit on my lap.” 

“You can sit on my lap!” Lee offered immediately, snapping out of his episode at the opportunity presented to him. 

“No.” Neji answered for her. 

“Ah, I have extra chairs in the back,” The ramen man smiled at them. “You will need to shuffle the seats to fit it, though.” He collected Naruto’s empty bowls and the genin squeezed the seats in together, so that the seventh stool could be added. 

Shino was crammed in one corner, and Lee in the other. Naruto did not move and stayed in the center, bookended by Tenten on his left (it was her punishment for suggesting it) and Hinata to his right (her punishment for going along with it). Kiba sat between Shino and Tenten, while Neji sat between Hinata and Lee. Lee was still glaring daggers at Naruto, not happy that Naruto was seated next to his precious Hina-chan, and seething at every brush of elbows and the conversation that flowed between them. 

Now perceiving Naruto as his rival for love, Lee silently plotted how to regain Hinata’s favor over his bowl of spicy ramen.

Chapter Text

Team Hyuuga decided to meet outside of the Hyuuga compound and make their way to the training grounds together. The sun was still rising, and the crisp, morning air helped to calm their nerves. The faint smell of green tea wafted through the air, as it always did around this time of day at the Hyuuga compound. Neji had a thermos of his favorite green tea with him and was sipping it leisurely while waiting for everyone else to show up. Hinata wasn’t overly fond of the hojicha that Neji had brought, it being too nutty and smoky for her taste. The aroma was pleasant enough, though. 

Shino and Kiba arrived first, as their clan compounds were closer to the Hyuuga than the genin apartments that housed Lee and Tenten. 

Tenten and Lee came shortly after. Tenten had beefed up her arsenal, claiming that now that she knew who her opponents were, she had reason to carry the equivalent of eight grown men’s weight in steel on her back at all times. It burdened her significantly, so she kept adjusting her stance to prevent the large scrolls on her back from digging into her shoulders.

Lee held his hands behind his back. Neji eyed him suspiciously as Lee approached Hinata and whipped out a full bouquet of white lilies. Neji managed to slap it out of Lee’s hands before Hinata could reach it this time, but she was able to rescue one stray flower, which she tucked behind her ear as she did the day before. 

“Ino’s right, you really ought to pick a different flower,” Tenten commented, shifting her weight onto the other hip. “I mean, didn’t you pay attention in kunoichi class?” 

“Sure,” Hinata shrugged, applying chakra to the blossom so it wouldn’t budge throughout the day. “But Lee seems fully aware of the meaning as well.” 

Meanwhile, Neji was stomping on the fallen bouquet like he was trying to extinguish a campfire.

“The problem lies in Lee’s fundamental mischaracterization of Hinata, not his failure to understand hanakotoba,” Shino sighed, looking at the rest of the bouquet that Neji was kicking around. 

“The white lily represents purity, innocence, compassion, and mercy!” Lee recited. “I feel as though Hina-chan perfectly represents all of the above!” 

“He’s done for,” Kiba said solemnly. “Like a dead man walking.” 

Everyone else bowed their heads in acknowledgement, recognising the poor boy with a moment of silence as one would at a funeral. 

At seven-thirty sharp, Kurenai and Gai appeared before them in a puff of smoke. Kurenai had done her hair and makeup differently today. Instead of her usual matte red lipstick, she’d chosen a deep, coppery red with a finish like fresh blood. Her eyelids were painted the same shade, drawing attention to her striking red eyes. Most interestingly, she had taken the time to arrange her hair in careful waves that framed her face, rather than her usual windswept look.

Gai was also wearing makeup, having filled in his already blocky brows to make them even more prominent. Hinata recognized the pigment as the same one Kurenai used for her eyeliner. Additionally, his bowl cut was especially precise today. Though his hair style never changed, he definitely had gotten a recent trim.

“The second exam is at Training Grounds 44,” Kurenai instructed, smiling gently at her genin. Kiba sniffed the air as she spoke, likely trying to see if it was actual blood on her lips.

“So do your best!” Gai added with a thumbs up. “I’m sure you all will be amazing!” 

“You are not permitted to enter the training grounds until given explicit permission by your instructor,” She continued, looking at Hinata meaningfully. 

“And, if I may,” Gai placed a hand on Kurenai’s shoulder. Kurenai nodded. “I am so proud of you all for forming an alliance ahead of time. It’s truly a youthful move, and it means the world to me that you all trust each other so much and work together so well,” He wiped a tear from his eye. “You’re all smart, capable, and wonderful individuals. I have no doubt in my mind that you will make us very proud.” 

“Gai-sensei!” Lee rushed forward to embrace his teacher, tears streaming down his face. 

“Lee!” Gai hugged him back, equally as emotional. 

“Oh my god, are they like this all the time?” Kiba tore his gaze from Kurenai to question Neji and Tenten.

“Yes,” They replied in unison. Tenten looked tired. Neji took a sip of his tea. 

“And, Team Eight,” Kurenai added, turning to her genin. “Don’t do anything stupid.” 

“You need to give that advice to Team Seven,” Hinata countered with a small laugh. Kurenai looked at her silently, raising one carefully manicured eyebrow.

“...Okay, okay, I can accept valid criticism,” Hinata winced at the direct hit to her ego. “I understand. I will not do anything stupid.” 

“But seriously,” Neji backed her up. “I don’t know if it’s a problem with the sensei, the individuals, the team, or what. Regardless, Hatake-san needs to do a better job of reining them in.” 

“I’m sure he’s doing his best,” Gai tried to defend Team Seven’s sensei, his accentuated brows knit together in worry. 

“No, you don’t get it,” Tenten shook her head, expression dark. “Sasuke picked two fights within a minute of entering the exam room, and started a third between two other people. Naruto directly taunted the entire group of genin once before the exam started, and twice during it. Sakura won’t stop asking stupid questions that draw attention to herself, and she actively encourages the pissing contest that is ripping their team apart.” 

Gai looked stricken by her accusations. Tenten was usually the most rational and level-headed one on his team, and the least likely to engage in gossip. To see her so passionate about Team Seven’s issues meant something was seriously wrong. Gai turned to Kurenai, who had remained expressionless as she absorbed the complaints. It was hardly the first time she had heard such things about Team Seven, but apparently it had spiraled into a larger issue during the first exam. 

“They’re putting a target on the rest of our backs,” Shino added,  “Since we’re associated with them by virtue of being fellow Konoha-nin. Let alone if we actually try to ally with them during the Exams.” Kurenai raised her eyebrows as the Aburame corroborated Hinata’s claims. Like Tenten, Shino was also the token ‘rational’ member on Team Eight. Team Seven must be truly insufferable if both Shino and Tenten were so emphatically objecting so emphatically to their behavior. 

“They’re cocky, abrasive, and make the Leaf look bad.” Kiba confirmed, tucking Akamaru into his jacket. It was no surprise that Kiba was speaking up, as, like Hinata, he had several opinions about Naruto and Sasuke that he was always happy to voice. 

“And Naruto’s trying to seduce Hinata!” Lee burst out, his claim echoing across the quiet Hyuuga compound and startling several birds. This was news to Hinata. Everyone turned to Lee at that comment in bewilderment, save for Neji, whose expression was twisted in a combination of outrage, disgust, and genuine confusion.

Kiba and Shino looked at each other. Hinata did not appreciate the silent communication that was passing between them. 

“Is this all true?” Gai asked, voice shifting from his usual jovial manner to a more somber one.
“I’m not sure about the last part,” Hinata interjected, eyeing Lee suspiciously. She wasn’t sure where he had gotten that idea from. “But other than that, yes. Team Seven has made our lives considerably harder.” 

“I see,” Frowned Gai. It was very unusual to see the man this contemplative. He took a deep breath and turned to Kurenai, who looked more disappointed than perplexed in contrast to her counterpart. 

  “It’s going to be difficult,” Kurenai sighed. “But consider it a new challenge. Sometimes you will have people on your team that you don’t get along with, but still have to work alongside.” 

“They’re going to die, get us killed, or both,” Shino said flatly, not pleased with their sensei’s attempt to reframe the situation as a learning opportunity. “They lack discipline, and they’re on a dangerous trajectory.” 

“Perhaps you’re being too harsh,” Gai proposed, though he still looked troubled. Tenten opened her mouth, presumably to release a verbal lashing and a second round of complaints, but Gai quickly forged on. “But regardless, I will look into this and bring up your grievances with their sensei.” 

“I am sorry you’re dealing with this,” Kurenai agreed. “But I commend you for handling it as you did. I am grateful that you are bringing this to our attention.” 

“Oh, and you should look into this ‘Kabuto’ guy,” Kiba commented. The thick tension was making his skin prickle, so he decided it was time to change the subject. . 

“Yakushi Kabuto,” Hinata clarified quickly. “He had a database on all of the participating genin, which he kept in a deck of cards. Apparently he collected it over the course of his six previous Chuunin Exams.” 

Gai and Kurenai looked at each other again.

“Well,” After a beat, Gai’s face returned to its usual smile. “You are all doing great thus far and I know that you will continue to do so! I will take everything you said into consideration and handle it accordingly.” 

“Best of luck,” Kurenai told her genin with a soft smile.

Then, both jounin shunshined away. Team Hyuuga sat in silence for a moment, letting the interaction with their senseis sink in. It did feel nice to finally air their grievances, but the reaction had been unsatisfying. It was hard to tell if anything would come of it. 

“Do you think we were too harsh?” Kiba asked, looking off into the distance with a pensive expression. 

“Not harsh enough,” Corrected Hinata, not wanting her teammate to feel burdened simply for speaking the truth. “I just hope they kick their sensei’s ass into gear. God knows they need it.” 

With that, Team Hyuuga wandered over to the 44th training grounds. Lee led the way, as of course he had visited every single training ground in Konoha at one point and knew where all of them were. Many teams had already assembled and were waiting around idly. Team Hyuuga settled into the clearing, slightly spread out, and waited for their proctor to arrive. 

At eight o’clock sharp, Anko appeared with a flamboyant puff of smoke. 

“Alright!” Anko clapped her hands. “This place is the 44th training grounds, also known as the Forest of Death! And you unlucky souls will soon find out why!” 

Several genin flinched and began to murmur concerns among themselves. Naruto, notably, was not one of them. 

“Forest of Death, blah blah blah,” He mocked. “Whatever! I’m not scared!” 

Hinata shared a look with the rest of her team. They all were thinking back to the discussion this morning in which they had outlined this exact behavior as problematic.

“Really?” Anko asked with a sweet smile on her face. “Wow, you’ve got a lot of energy!” 

She then hurled a kunai at his face. Hinata idly stepped to the side so that it wouldn’t inconvenience her as well. Kiba’s head snapped up as the sharp tang of blood hit the air, and Team Eight was laser-focused on Anko’s form that disappeared, only to reappear behind Naruto. 

 “Watch the Grass genin in the hat,” Shino murmured to their teammates, having caught a flash of movement out of the corner of their eye. The kunai had landed a distance behind everyone, but the genin in the woven conical hat slunk off to the side to retrieve it. Team Eight watched as their tongue lolled out and slithered to the kunai, carefully wrapping around it and retrieving it for themselves. Then, much too quickly for a genin, they approached Anko with it. 

Upon sensing their presence, Anko reflexively grabbed another knife and whipped around to face them with Naruto still in her hold. 

“Returning your knife,” The genin offered, the kunai still held in their mouth. 

She looked back blankly for a moment. The air was thick with tension. 

“How considerate!” Anko finally broke the silence, offering them a tight smile. “Thank you for taking the effort.” 

The genin smiled back. Neither of them moved. 

“But, a word of advice,” Anko said casually, still making direct eye contact. “Don’t stand behind me.” 

“It’s in my nature to act up at the sight of blood,” The genin retracted their tongue back into their mouth with a loud, awful slurp. “And my precious hair was cut, so I was excited. I’m sorry, It’s nothing personal.” 

“Do that again and I’ll make it personal,” Anko promised. The genin smirked and retreated back into the crowd. Anko sighed and released Naruto, who rubbed furiously at his already healed cheek. Hinata noted the unusual recovery time with suspicion and interest. 

“What was with them?” Kiba murmured. Hinata shrugged, though she didn’t take her eyes off of them. 

“Alright, well, it seems that we’ve got a lot of kids eager to start,” Anko smiled at the crowd. “And who am I to deny you?” 

She approached the gate and reached into her inner coat pocket. “Before we get going, I have something to pass out to you all.” 

Hinata, using her byakugan, immediately traced out the letters on the papers Anko was holding and recognized them.

“It’s a consent form that you have to sign before you participate. Failure to sign will result in forfeiture of the second exam. It’s ultimately your choice.”

“Why?” Naruto demanded. 

“You think after the first time, he’d learn to shut up,” Kiba murmured. Shino nodded solemnly in agreement. 

“Because from here on out, there’s gonna be a whole lot more bloodshed,” Anko smiled widely at everyone. “And this bad boy,” She waved the forms at everyone. “Prevents all the corpses that’ll pop up from being my responsibility!” 

“That seems reasonable,” Hinata commented under her breath. “Less paperwork.” 

“This little monster gets it!” Anko shot her a thumbs up. She then swatted at Naruto with the thick stack of papers. “Hey, Orange, pass these out.” 

Naruto grumbled but went up to her to collect the forms anyway. He took one for himself, then passed the stack onto the next genin. 

“Alight, now let’s go over the second exam!” Anko cheered. “I’m sure you’re all as excited as I am, so I’ll make this quick.” 

“Excited?” Shikamaru grumbled once he received his form. 

“In essence, this is a survival challenge. You’re not just up against the forest of death, but also against each other. First, let me walk you through the layout of the training grounds itself.” 

Anko pulled out a scroll to reveal a diagram of the training ground labeled with a radius of ten kilometers. She briefly went over the contents of the diagram, pointing out the major landmarks. There was a tower in the center, surrounded by trees and a forked river. 

“Got it?” Anko continued before Sakura could raise her hand. “Good. Now, the second part of the test is an all-out battle for these scrolls.” 

Anko held out two small scrolls, one white and the other navy, labeled ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ respectively. 

“This is what you guys signed waivers for. I want you all to acquire one of each of these scrolls, but each team only starts with one. There’s twenty-six teams in total, which means that thirteen of you will start with the Heaven scroll, and the other half will get the Earth scroll.”
“So we’re fighting each other?” Sakura clarified. Anko looked at her blankly. 

“If you don’t grasp that at this point, I suggest you drop out of the exams before you seriously injure yourself.” Anko said dryly. “Don’t interrupt me. Raise your hand if you have a question.”
Sakura raised her hand. Anko ignored her. 

“How do we pass?” Sasuke spoke up, not raising his hand either. 

Hinata wished Kurenai and Gai were here to see this. Team Seven was proving her exact point in real time.

“God damnit!” Anko snapped. “I swear you brats these days have no respect! I should kick your whole team out just for the bullshit you put me through!” 

“Do it!” Lee encouraged her from the sidelines. He saw an opportunity and took it. “Ban them!” 

“Lee!” Tenten hissed. 

“No, no, let’s see where this is going,” Neji placed a hand on Tenten’s shoulder. “Maybe it will work.” 

“What? How’s that fair?” Naruto cried, whipping his head around to find whoever said that. “Whoever said that should get kicked out, not me!” 

“You can’t ban Sasuke-kun!” Ino whined, reaching out for him.

“Ino, knock it off, we’re gonna get banned too!” Shikamaru huffed, grabbing her by the arm so she couldn’t further entangle herself.

“Shut up, Ino-pig!” Sakura snapped. “This is none of your business!”

“I’m not leaving.” Sasuke said flatly. “You can’t make me.” 

“Kick him out!” Hinata cheered, ducking behind Shino in a notably shitty attempt to hide herself. “He’s challenging your authority!” She tried to appeal to Anko’s ego, which did seem to work, if only for a moment. 

The crowd began to murmur among themselves, with several people agreeing that such disrespect shouldn’t be tolerated. A few even loudly suggested that all of Team Seven should go, while some simply demanded the removal of Naruto.

“If Sasuke’s not leaving, neither am I!” Naruto yelled, still searching for the voices who were attempting to get him banned. “I’m not going anywhere, not until you make me chuunin!”

“If you all don’t shut up you’re all getting kicked out!” Anko roared. Everyone, wisely, stopped talking. “Consider this your final warning. The next person who says something without being explicitly called on gets their whole team permanently banned from the Chuunin Exams!” 

Hinata picked up a rock and immediately threw it at Sasuke’s head. He ducked, but it hit Naruto instead. Before Naruto could open his mouth to shout at her, Sakura covered his mouth and smothered him so he could not speak. Once he freed himself, he scrambled to grab a rock nearby. 

“No throwing things either!” Anko snapped. Naruto, visibly upset, dropped the rock. 

“As I was saying,” Anko said, watching Naruto intently. After a second he dropped a second rock from his sleeve which tumbled out onto the floor pathetically. “Each team must bring one of each scrolls to the tower in the center.” 

Sakura raised her hand. Anko stared at the kunoichi pointedly, and without calling on her, continued. 

“Yes, that means at least half of you will fail.” 

Sakura’s hand lowered.

“But, there’s a second condition, too,” Anko pulled out a small clock. “For this exam, we also have a time limit. Except ours is five days, or 120 hours.” 

Choji raised his hand.

“You, with the panties on his head.” Anko pointed at him. 

Choji’s eyes widened in alarm as several people around him began to snicker. “It’s a fashion statement!” His face heated with embarrassment. 

Ino shook her head sadly from the sidelines, an ‘I told you so’ clearly written across her face. 

“Your question?” Anko demanded.

“What about food?” Choji blurted, remembering his original question. “They don’t have grocery stores in the wilderness!” 

“Astute observation. If you’re to be a chuunin, you need to be self-sufficient. Hunt. Gather. Cannibalize. Go back to the basics. It’s none of my concern how you get your food.” 

“Cannibalize?” Kiba mouthed to his teammates. Shino shrugged, and simply pointed at Choji, as if to say ‘we start with him’. 

Shikamaru, who saw where Shino was pointing and quickly put two and two together, fixed a heavy stare at the Aburame until they lowered their finger.

“There’s more than enough food,” Anko offered Choji a menacing smile. “But there’s also lots of creatures out there that will see you as food, as well,” 

Temari raised her hand next. 

“You, with the fan,” Anko pointed at her. 

“Will there be poisonous plants and such?” She asked.

“Yep!” Anko gave a gleeful thumbs up. “It wouldn’t be a survival test without them!” 

 Everyone groaned, save for Shino and Anko. Anko, because she fed off of other’s misery, and Shino, as they were immune to all poisons thanks to their kikaichu. They would have no problem finding food in a forest teeming with poison. 

Everyone was silent for a moment while taking what the exam would fully entail. Then, Shikamaru's hand went up. 

“You, crop top,” Anko motioned in Shikamaru’s direction.

“Can we quit in the middle of it?” He asked bluntly. 

“No.” She said instantly. “I want everyone to spend five full days in the forest.” 

Shikamaru sighed and looked back at the piece of paper in his hands. 

“Moving on!” Anko cheered. “Conditions of disqualification! All three team members must make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit or be disqualified. If a team loses a member, which includes incapacitation for a period longer than twenty-four hours, they are disqualified.” 

Hinata pointed at Neji at this one, still insisting that a persistent vegetative state qualified as death and taking Anko’s words as validation. Neji simply shook his head. 

“And finally, if any one on your team looks at the contents of either of the scrolls before you reach the tower, your whole team is disqualified!” 

Hinata raised her hand. 

“Hyuuga number one,” Anko addressed her. Neji looked alarmed that he was now Hyuuga number two.

“What’s in the scrolls?” She asked point blank. 

Anko threw her head back and laughed. “Nice try. I guess you’ll just have to find out.” 

“Is this permission?” Hinata pushed.

“Absolutely not. There are times when a Chuunin needs to deal with matters of confidentiality. Consider this a test of your reliability.” 

Hinata lowered her hand with a scowl. 

“Now, any more questions? Speak now or forever hold your peace!” 

No one raised their hand or made a motion to suggest they had anything to add, so Anko moved on. 

“Thank god. Now, if you choose to participate,” Anko eyed Shikamaru while saying this, “Form a line over there. I’ll exchange your team's waivers for scrolls in that hut over there. Then, pick your entrance, and the gates will open simultaneously!”

Two chuunin began drawing the curtains of the small hut for privacy.

“And a word of advice?” Anko smiled, walking over to the building. “Don’t die!” 

With a jaunty wave, she disappeared behind the red curtain. The genin broke into teams to discuss strategy and look over the consent form. 

Team Hyuuga reconvened in the far left corner, with Hinata and Neji both training their byakugan on the hut to break the shield of privacy and preemptively determine which teams were their marks. 

“Isn’t this, y’know, cheating?” Tenten asked quietly. “I think they’re trying to make it secret for a reason.” 

Everyone slowly turned to look at her. 

“Forget I said anything.” She grumbled. 

Neji and Hinata were individually logging each individual scroll from a distance. When it was Team Gai’s turn to collect their scroll, Hinata kept watch on the neighboring teams’ assignments from afar so they wouldn’t get suspicious. When it was Team Eight’s turn, Neji did the same for her. 

Unfortunately, they wound up with opposing scrolls. 

“I trust you with my life,” Hinata said, grasping her brother's hands. “That being said, if you try something on me, I will cut your dick off and feed it to Akamaru,” 

“You will not!” Kiba gasped, holding his dog close to his chest. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Neji rolled his eyes good naturedly. “And if you try anything, I’ll cut off Lee’s dick and feed it to Akamaru.” 

“What?” She asked, not following.

“Absolutely not! No one is feeding my dog a dick!” Kiba shouted, drawing attention to their group. Shikamaru looked over quizzically. Choji shrugged.

“Please don’t!” Lee said, voice strained. “I would like to one day become a father!” 

“Why is that a threat to Hinata?” Shino pointed out. “That doesn’t directly impact her.” 

“It does if Lee follows through on his promise to be the father to her babies.” Tenten pointed out. Hinata gripped Kiba’s arm to steady herself so she wouldn’t double over and retch into the nearby bushes.

“So, do we get our scrolls and then meet up, or meet up and then get our scrolls?” Neji asked her. Hinata hummed, weighing their options. 

“That depends on what we view as the more difficult of the two challenges. I think we differ here, as my team is well-versed in survival and tracking, while yours is combat-oriented.” 

“So working together from the start,” Neji concluded. "Combine our strengths to cover up each other's weaknesses.” 

“I say we run to the tower immediately, then wait there for teams to approach it. We can jump them and grab their scrolls.” 

“Because then they’ll have one of each, which we both need. And targeting one team is easier than targeting two,” Neji nodded. 

“Six on three hardly seems fair, especially if they’ve already fought for their scrolls and are tired,” Tenten frowned. 

“It’s smart,” Shino countered. “Plus, we save energy for the next exam. It could be directly after the five days, or in a month. Either way, we’re prepared.” 

“While it’s not honorable, the tower plan does seem the wisest,” Lee ducked his head in shame. “It also puts us less at risk.” 

“I’m all for less at risk,” Kiba agreed. “That means less work on my end.” 

“On all our ends,” Lee agreed, smiling. 

“No, but specifically Kiba’s as he’s the only one with any amount of medical training,” Shino clarified. 

“What?” Neji looked over at him, surprise evident in his tone. Kiba shrugged. 

“Veterinary training,” Kiba clarified. “I’m sure people parts aren’t much different than dog parts. You can give stitches on anything’s skin, y’know? Just less fur to deal with for people. Most of the time.”

“Then it’s settled.” Hinata looked at Team Hyuuga. “We meet up as soon as possible and make our way to the tower together.” 

Their attention was then called back to Anko. “Find your way to your assigned gate. We’re starting in thirty minutes!” 

“Signal if you need help,” Hinata placed a light hand on Neji’s shoulder. He nodded solemnly. 

“Same to you,” He promised. 

They separated, with Team Eight finding their way to gate sixteen and Team Gai to gate eighteen. Gates fifteen and seventeen had already been claimed by an unfamiliar Leaf team and, unfortunately,  the Grass team with the weirdo with the tongue shenanigans from earlier. Hinata wanted to stay far, far away from that person.

“I mean, we’re gonna crush this,” Kiba said loftily as soon as they reached their gate. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Survival is like, our thing,” 

“Don’t get too cocky,” Shino warned. 

“No, but think about it!” Kiba smiled at his teammates. Akamaru rested happily inside his jacket, paws and head peeking out just over the collar. “We’ve got this in the bag!” 

The chuunin assigned to them said nothing. Instead, they stayed focused on their watch. At two-thirty on the dot, the chuunin unblocked the gate and let the chains fall. 

Team Eight took off. Hinata had her byakugan activated before the lock was even fully undone, leading her team inside the Forbidden Forest where they rushed to meet up with Team Gai. 

Hinata could trace the two Teams that flanked her, not paying much attention until the Kusa team broke speeds beyond any normal genin, let alone chuunin or jounin. She watched in horror as they passed her team and made a bee-line for the unmistakably bright chakra point that was Uzumaki Naruto and his team. 

Chapter Text

Hinata didn’t want to flare her chakra to draw attention to herself, but she needed to let Neji know something was wrong. 

“Kiba, I need you to lead,” She said, not taking her focus off of the figures headed straight for Team Seven. Hinata continued rushing forward in Neji’s general direction, but had no intention of shifting her gaze to his team until she was absolutely certain that the Grass team was no longer a threat. 

“What? But I can’t–” Kiba began, panicking as Hinata slowed down to move behind him.

“Kiba, now,” She ordered. Her voice left no room for questioning. “I can’t take my eyes off of the Grass team.” 

“Conical hat?” Shino clarified. Hinata simply nodded. Shino pressed their lips into a thin line. They had correctly identified the threat beforehand, and if the situation wasn’t as serious, they might’ve been pleased with themselves. 

Kiba picked up speed and took her place in the center of the V-formation, expression tight but determined. 

“You still have his scent?” Shino asked, releasing a small cloud of insects that flew alongside them as back-up sensors to catch what Hinata might miss while her focus was on the Grass team. She clearly didn’t want to shift her attention off of them for even a second. 

“Of course I do,” Kiba scoffed, though it came out shaky. He placed Akamaru on the ground to run in front of him, and together, they tracked Neji’s scent. 

Hinata ran silently behind her teammates with her gaze still fixed on the foreign shinobi. She hoped her teammates wouldn’t let her run into a tree while her focus was split. It’d almost happened a few times before. 

The Grass team cut through the forest with a fluid ease that made her team look clumsy by comparison. There was no mistaking their motive, though. Hinata had learned when she was younger that there are two main ways a shinobi runs: they flee, or they pursue. The Grass-nin were not running from anything, nor were they trying to make time to the tower. Instead, they were hunting down the unsuspecting Team Seven with predatory intent and stealth. Hinata was grateful that the target wasn’t on her back, but she couldn’t count herself safe yet. Team Seven might just be the first on a long list of targets. Her team could be next.

They ran into Team Gai within half an hour, which coincided with the Grass-nin reaching Team Seven and engaging them in combat. Satisfied that her team was no longer at risk, Hinata deactivated her byakugan and faced Team Gai. 

They met in a clearing, which did not offer much in the way of cover, but as a six-man squad they were unlikely to be approached. It was deceptively beautiful for a ‘Forest of Death’.  It had a jungle-like atmosphere, humid and hot, with the buzz of large insects in the background. There was lush grass growing in what patches of sunlight broke through the thick canopy, and a sprinkling of moss in the shade. The larger trees seemed to be native to Konoha, but the tropical plants that popped up around them certainly weren’t. Hinata knew her plants, but she didn’t recognize the brightly colored, strangely shaped flowers that dotted the clearing and clung to the trees. The lack of familiar flora likely added to the training ground’s notoriety. The air was sweet and heavy, and even with deep breaths it was hard for her to get a lungful of pure air. That meant that combat would be more difficult, and more deadly. 

“The Grass team possess abilities far beyond chuunin-level and are hunting Team Seven,” Hinata reported by way of greeting. “I think it’s personal to Team Seven alone, but if it’s directed at the Leaf as a whole, I can’t guarantee that we’re not next on their list. We need to get as far away from here as possible.” 

“Hunting?” Tenten paled, stepping back slightly. A soft squish was heard as she stepped into a wet patch of soil. Neji immediately activated his byakugan and scanned the area, stopping when he hit the zone where presumably the teams were locked in combat. 

“We need to get to the tower now.” Hinata insisted, huddling in closer. Everyone was breathing heavily, but not from exhaustion. “Not only because of the plan, but it’s also the safest. If the Grass team is truly dangerous, there will be backup from our superiors at the tower.” 

“If the Grass team is dangerous, we need to help Team Seven!” Lee countered, tightening his headband. His bowl cut stuck to his forehead with sweat. “Surely our numbers can at least even the odds!” 

“No,” Hinata shook her head vehemently. She heaved a sigh, which was more difficult than usual. “We need to get as far away from them as possible as quickly as we can.” 

“They’re trying to kill them,” Neji reported, looking off into the distance. His hair was beginning to frizz with all the humidity.

“I’m not their biggest fan, but they’re our allies! We should help them,” Kiba pushed. Akamaru had wandered around the area, taking in the new smells, and now wanted back up. Kiba scooped up his dog and tucked Akamaru back into his jacket. “We grew up with them! I don’t want to just leave them to die!” 

“They can fight their own battles,” Hinata hissed, now looking at the tiny pawprints that littered the area they were in. “We need to leave.” 

She didn’t like that both of their teams were still talking this over. It drew more attention to them as they were such a large group. Not to mention they were being loud and not making progress on their set plan. Unfamiliar bird calls did little to hide their argument, and they had left clear tracks on their way here. The forest floor was muddy and wet, and the moss and grass was hardly forgiving of any footprints left.

“Hinata, they’re going to die.” Neji’s voice was carefully toneless, but she could see the furrow of his brow. His gaze stayed fixed on Team Seven. 

“That is not my concern,” She responded, growing irritated at the lack of eye contact. “My team is. And yours should be too.” 

“You’d leave them to die?” Kiba asked quietly. Sweat, from nervousness or the heat, began to bead down his face. The fur coat wasn't helping. Akamaru was panting.

“I’d rather it be them than us,” Hinata frowned, smoothing her own hair as it, too, was being affected by the change in setting. “I’m not being callous, I’m being reasonable. Just this morning we were saying how Team Seven needed to get a grip on things or else they’d end up dead. This is no failure of our own. If anything, they were failed by the academy and their sensei.” 

Team Hyuuga stood in silence for a moment, everyone carefully considering her words. Neji finally looked at her, and there was no recognition in his eyes. He was carefully guarded, like how he was when they first met nearly a decade ago. Like Kenta, during their last training session. Neji was pulling back. 

“It doesn’t have to be them or us,” Shino broke the silence. Out of everyone, they were handling the new environment the best. They seemed well suited for the jungle-type climate, especially with their sunglasses and thick raincoat. They remained the most stable, or at least hid their emotions the best. “We’d outnumber them and could tip the scales. No one needs to die.” 

Hinata looked around her incredulously. Every single person, save for her, seemed to think that the best course of action was abandoning the plan and putting themselves in unnecessary danger. She grabbed the sides of her bangs and pulled in frustration, hoping that the dull pain would ground her back in reality. God knew the rest of her team was far from it. 

“No,” She said, trying to remain calm, but failing. Neji was slipping through her fingers. She would consider herself above pleading, but her voice betrayed her. “Someone is absolutely going to die, and we all entered this exam knowing that.” 

“You should be putting actual lives above this exam,” Tenten grit her teeth. Her twin buns had poofed out twice their size due to the heat. While she was angry, Hinata sensed fear hiding behind the girl’s eyes. “Is that what this is about? You’re worried you’re not going to get the best score or something?” 

“Tenten,” Neji warned, placing a hand in front of her. He wouldn’t look at Hinata. 

“What?” Tenten snapped. “I’m right! I don’t get why you’re letting her call the shots when she clearly just said she puts a stupid vest over all our lives! I mean, you heard her. Hinata’s only concern is her team.” 

“Watch it,” Hinata stepped towards the girl. Tenten flinched back slightly. Was she afraid of the Grass team, or of Hinata?

“And we’re not ‘her team’. So who’s to say she’s not going to leave us to die next?” Tenten’s voice shook with the weight of her accusation. 

“Hina-chan would never!” Lee defended her. Then, he paused and looked at her. “Right?” 

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Hinata couldn’t believe that Lee, who had waxed poetry about her mercy this morning, was questioning if she’d let him die. What had she done to make his unwavering faith finally break? His devotion had warped into suspicion, and in just a few sentences she’d lost everything she’d built with her brother and his team. 

 “I don’t want anyone to die!” Hinata stressed, looking for help from someone. No one would meet her eyes. 

“But you’re going to let it happen,” Kiba finally spoke, breaking the heavy silence. Betrayal from her own team, who she was doing her best to protect. 

In truth, yes. She loved Team Gai dearly, but if they had no connection to Neji, she’d likely leave them on their own as well. And judging by Tenten’s face, the kunoichi clearly knew that.
“I’d go out of my way to help you. I’d go out of my way to help any Konoha team.” Tenten said pointedly. Even Tenten, the spitfire, the moral compass, sounded unsure. Hinata was sure now, looking at her tense body language and how she hid behind Neji, that Tenten feared an attack. Her hand had drifted to her hip pouch, which is where Hinata knew Tenten’s team kept their scroll. 

“Do you want a medal?” Hinata snarled, lashing out at her instead of confronting the hurt she felt by that one action alone. “Hate to break it to you, but at this rate the only thing your name’s going to be engraved on is the ‘Killed In Action’ stone!” 

“Too far!” Neji stood in front of his teammate, trying to separate her from Hinata. Tears pricked in Lee’s eyes as he watched everything go down. Lee was an easy crier, but these tears were bitter. Hinata didn’t acknowledge them. 

“I’d prefer that over a goddamn vest, knowing I got it through blood!” Tenten pushed Neji aside to shout this over his shoulder. 

“Everyone who wears that vest got it through blood!” She didn’t yell, but her voice was much louder than what could be considered appropriate for the Forest of Death. Especially when factoring in that enemy nin saturated the area, looking for an easy mark. Hinata was surprised at how rough it came out, the stress on her voice rearing its head and showcasing how shamefully affected she was by the confrontation. 

“You’re heartless!” Tenten pointed at her accusingly, voice equally broken. Neji held her back with gentle hands. Hinata watched him hold her, knowing how little Neji despised physical contact. It did little to soothe Tenten. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself!”

“Hinata is trying to do what she thinks is best for our team,” Shino appealed, putting their hand on Hinata’s shoulder to passively hold her back just like how Neji was doing for his team. “And as our team lead, she has the right to make that call.” 

It was nice Shino was defending her, but their hesitation was evident. 

“Even if you don’t agree with it, you’ll go along with it?” Tenten balked, eyes beginning to redden. “That’s crazy!” 

“We’re wasting time. We need to go.” Hinata ignored Team Gai. She couldn’t handle Tenten’s rage, nor Lee’s broken heart. And she certainly didn’t want to see the expression Neji was making. 

“Good luck,” Neji said tonelessly. He still held Tenten. Lee was silent.

“You’re not coming?” She asked, trying not to sound surprised. He still refused to meet her eyes.

“No. I’m going to back up Team Seven.” He explained carefully. “My team has made it clear that they want to do so, and I take that into account.” 

Hinata took a few steps back to look at him fully. 

She wished she hadn’t said anything. Team Seven dying in silence was better than them dragging her friends and family down with them as well. If they made it out alive, this was a fracture that would never fully heal. Their bond would not be the same, with her priorities so clearly displayed. Everyone looked at her like she was some sort of monster, trading lives for a mission, for convenience. She had grown up with the same training and the same set of rules as the rest of them. Training that this Exam was meant to test, yet she was seemingly the only one who saw logic and wanted to press ahead and prioritize her team and her mission. They acted like this was some sort of shock, and genuinely believed that Hinata was the kind of person to go out of her way for other people even to her own detriment. 

She wasn’t. That kind of shinobi got killed. She would be sad to see Team Gai go, even if she didn’t know them as well as she initially thought. Rage clouded her mind and she bit her tongue before she could say something she’d regret. 

“I’m giving you one last chance,” Said Neji, as if he truly thought she’d change her mind this late in the game. “I’m not making you come with me, but—” 

“Good luck,” Hinata said honestly. “And come back with a scroll, not in one.” 

Neji didn’t react. Instead, he simply nodded at her and took off in the direction of Team Seven. 

“Are we really not going to help them?” Kiba asked quietly. “If you think the six of us don’t stand a chance, what does that mean for the three of them?”

“They made their choice,” Hinata responded, just as softly. “I’m not leading my team to their death because I have some morality complex.” 

“Hinata,” Shino said calmly. “I understand. I want to make sure, however, that this is absolutely what you want to do. I know you said you didn’t care if Team Seven was in danger. But if Neji is in danger, does that change your view?” 

“No. I have a responsibility to my team, my family, and Konoha in that order.” She looked at her teammates. “Neji won’t die. He might watch his teammates die, though.” 

“Bleak,” Kiba grimaced.

“We’re moving,” Hinata ordered. “We’re still going to camp out by the tower. We’ve got about 4 more kilometers to go. Come on.” 

Hinata, unfortunately, had to activate her byakugan in order to properly track the tower and protect her team. This meant that Team Gai was in her peripheral vision as they ran head first into danger. Team Seven had moved considerably east during the fight and had put some distance between themselves and everyone else. Hinata, horribly, hoped that by the time Team Gai arrived at the scene Team Seven’s bodies were cold and the Grass team was far, far away. She knew they’d blame her for it, but at least it would leave them out of harm’s way. 

“Do you really not care what happens to them?” Kiba asked, after a long while of traveling in silence. 

“I care.” She responded readily, her tone a bit sharp. It was the truth. She liked and cared for Team Gai, and Neji was her brother. He meant more to her than most things. 

He also, apparently, was dumber than she thought. Hinata technically could demand he stay by her side, but she knew Neji would rather die than be forced to live and obey her commands. She had also sworn she’d never use the Caged Bird Seal, and she was sort of disgusted it even crossed her mind. Sort of? She should be very disgusted. She was hearing her father’s voice in her mind which commended her ruthlessness. When did she start listening to it? 

However, Team Seven dug their grave. Maybe it was harsh to blame them, as she didn’t truly know the circumstances behind their attack, but it was really none of her business and she had no desire to make it such. 

Tenten’s words echoed in her mind, and Hinata wondered how true they were. Heartless, caring only for herself— qualities prized in a shinobi and in a heiress. In a ninja village you’d be hard pressed to find anyone successful with a lack of self-preservation or a working sense of empathy. Tenten was right, in a way. Hinata would always put herself first. Even by prioritizing her team, she was prioritizing herself. They were an extension of herself, and as such, were placed above all else. 

She did care for them. She cared for Neji. Hinata didn’t want to say love , as it was made up to be this intense feeling that she didn’t quite understand the concept of. But she really, really liked her teammates and her brother and would be very upset if something happened to them.

She wasn’t happy with Kiba, who questioned if she even had an attachment to her brother, to his teammates, to her teammates. Did he think she was heartless? Was he wrong? 

“I care for my team more.” Hinata finished. She didn’t elaborate.

“Aw,” Kiba smiled shakily. His cheeks flushed red at her easy admission. “Love you too, Hina.” 

Hinata was shocked at his words, how quickly he flipped from unsure to adoration. She knew his sentiment was genuine, but wasn’t ready to hear it so quickly after his abandonment of her. But he was still here, so he didn’t forsake her completely. 

“Don’t say that,” She tried to regain some semblance of composure.

“Lee says it all the time.” Shino voiced. Hinata said nothing, just continuing forward. She doubted she’d ever hear it from Lee again, either. 

They reached the tower after a little over an hour of non-stop top speed. It was nothing compared to the four-day journey that they had endured on their previous mission. 

“The tower isn’t that big,” Hinata stated, standing just shy of the entrance. It was large enough to house a dozen teams easily, but it wasn’t the grand structure that was pictured on the map. “We should look for a place nearby to set up camp, somewhere  that’s close enough to the tower for any smoke to appear as coming from it, not us.” 

“What about up in that tree?” Kiba suggested. He pointed to a large bay tree that stretched nearly as high as the tower itself. Shino and Hinata looked at him. 

“Y’know people don’t see us…” He mumbled. “And can’t get our stuff…”

“It’s suitable,” Hinata hummed. It actually was a very good idea, but she didn’t want to divulge that to Kiba just yet after seeing how easily he was swayed by even minimal affection. 

“Bay trees also will ward off any unwanted insects,” Shino added. “And I have a feeling mosquitos will become a problem once the sun sets.” 

“Actually?” Kiba groaned. 

“And we’ll have a better view,” Shino nodded. “Except for Hinata, of course.” 

“Do we have enough rations to last us?” She addressed her team bluntly. 

“Yes,” Shino answered. “However, I vote we save our rations in case we need them later, and hunt instead.” 

“But, we need them now. That’s why we packed them.” Kiba argued. Akamaru yipped in agreement.

“We can hunt for the first night and that way we can save at least some rations for emergencies,” Hinata decided. “It shouldn’t be that hard.” 

It wasn’t. After a short while, they found a wild boar. Shino flooded its airways with insects so it couldn’t breathe. The beast died within minutes, and their kikaichu evacuated and returned to them shortly after. 

“We can’t get this whole thing back to the campsite,” Kiba pointed out. 

Hinata frowned. He had a point. The boar was larger than the three of them, and would be cumbersome to say the least. She cursed herself for not thinking of it. She was becoming slow from the flood of emotions she had been grappling with. She needed to divert her energy to more important things, like survival. She’d deal with her feelings later, if that. 

Together, the Team carved out large chunks of boar meat and began wrapping it in non-toxic leaves (Shino checked) for easier transport. Not being practiced at dismantling game, they left a mess of blood in the clearing. 

“It looks like a murder scene,” Shino mused. 

“Good, that means no one will come near us.” Hinata said blandly.

“Can I have the heart?” Kiba asked, holding the muscle in his hands up for his teammates to see. Kiba was soaked in more blood than anyone else and seemed to be enjoying it immensely. Akamaru was positively dyed red in it, having helped himself to the fresh meat without a care for how demonic he looked. 

“Sure,” Shino shrugged. Hinata stared at Kiba blankly, taking in the image of the boy with a wild grin on his face and a bloodied heart in his hands. He looked like he was having the time of his life, rolling around in pig blood. It didn’t help that the heart looked human, too. 

“It’s all yours.” She managed. She had no need or desire for it.
“Sweet!” Kiba smiled at her and stuffed the thing in his pocket. 

They dragged the meat back to where they’d set up their campsite. It was a distance away from their tree, so that the campfire would lead attackers to a spot that they could ambush rather than their base. 

Shino and Kiba gathered firewood while Hinata kept a lookout for both of them. When they returned, they set up the fire and began roasting dinner. 

Kiba made a spit above the fire where he roasted everyone's pork, having designated himself as the evening’s chef. The heart in his pocket was beginning to bleed through to his jacket in a way that made him look stabbed. 

“I wish we had seasoning,” Kiba grumbled, poking at the meat with dissatisfaction. 

Shino shrugged, having already bitten into their portion, raw. Apparently parasites, salmonella, and all other reasons one wouldn’t eat raw meat meant nothing to them. Their kikaichu could handle all that. 

Akamaru basked in the fire, still dyed a demonic blood-red, enjoying the bone he had brought over from the boar’s corpse.

Dinner was nice. The sun had set, which meant the heat of the jungle had finally died down, but the humidity persisted. There was plenty of food to go around, and Shino was able to tap into a nearby tree with a spout that they had brought so water wasn’t an issue. The foreign buzzing of unknown insects and the calls of unfamiliar animals were slightly unnerving, but around their campfire Team Eight felt safe. 

 Hinata distantly wondered what Neji was up to. She’d know if he died, due to the Caged Bird Seal that connected him. And clearly he hadn’t. 

Checking in with her byakugan revealed a safe and happy Team Gai, camping a distance away with a very much alive Team 7 and shockingly, Team 10. If Hinata had less respect for herself, she might have regretted her actions. With the exception of a very messed up Sasuke passed out with foreign chakra in his system and a completely unconscious Naruto, everyone was fine. So it wasn’t like her being there would have significantly improved the situation. 

Some traitorous part of her wanted to signal to Neji, tell him she was alright, ask if he was, or at least reach out in some regard. Before she could make the decision herself, Neji’s byakugan activated. While he was checking the perimeter of his campsite, his eyes, seven kilometers away, caught hers. 

Neji looked away and deactivated his byakugan.