Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Kage Bushins can be useful ❯ The Hyuugas ( Chapter 2 )

The Hyuugas

 

 

The Hyuugas were the most prestigious clan in Konoha. Now their prestige was not solely based on their famed doujutsu, the Byakugan, or their taijutsu, the Gentle Fist. While both were formidable the infamous Uchihas were better known and respected. And the Hyuuga prestige did not come from their political connections because even though the Hyuugas were one of the founding families they did not play politics unless it benefited the clan. No, the real reason why the Hyuugas were the most prestigious in Konoha was because they were the financial leaders of Konoha. The Hyuugas were the first money lenders when Konoha was established. When trade was beginning between the Fire Country and the Wind Country it was the Hyuugas who were hired to guard the caravans. Now other clans had also been hired to guard caravans but the Hyuugas had gain a reputation for efficiency and bloodless kills since their attacks did internal damage. Yours clients tended to be less upset when bandits just fell over dead instead of splattering blood everywhere. However after a while one leader of the Hyuuga clan decided they could make even more money by financing the caravans as well as guarding them. When the Shodai Hokage convinced the Hyuugas to help found Konoha the leader of the Hyuuga decided that this would be an excellent chance to centralize the clan and consolidate their financial power. So the Hyuugas helped set up the banking system in Konoha, the payment rate for the A-Rank, B-Rank and C-Rank missions. D-Rank missions did not exist until the Ninja Academy decided there needed to be a way to train the Genins in teamwork.

 

Over time the Hyuugas became involved in a lot of business dealings both within Konoha and outside. They were the clan to go to if you need to finance large projects. Smaller personal loans could be handled by local financial houses but large civic projects and inter-village projects were usually handled by the Hyuugas. And the Hyuuga were good at it. Unlike the Uchiha's doujutsu which lets them predict an enemies' physical action and then counteract it, the Hyuuga's doujutsu lets them read body language to determine if their opponent is confident or lying which comes in mighty handy during contract negotiations. Now that is not to say that all their financial dealing were successful because one couldn't predict natural disasters or sabotages during civil wars but it was well known that if the Hyuugas backed a project it had a 95% success rate. It was also well known that if you were caught trying to cheat a Hyuuga your family may as well set up your funeral altar.

 

When Naruto, Hinata and the kids reached the Hyuuga gates the two Hyuuga guards snapped to attention. The lead guard on the right spoke while both guards bowed towards Naruto, “Welcome, Hokage-sama”.

 

Then both bowed towards Hinata and the guard on right then said, “Welcome, Hinata-sama. You are both expected so please enter this humble compound”.

 

Both Hinata and Naruto knew that while these men were on duty protocol was always followed and as such they just accepted the greeting and entered quietly. However as Mine and Kiyoshi passed by both guards smiled and then winked at the kids. After entering the Hyuuga estates Naruto had the clones place the children on the ground and then he dismissed them. Though Naruto would have liked to keep them around it would have been a great insult to the Hyuugas to imply that their security was inadequate. At this point Hinata and her family were met by one of the house servants and led to the main garden area were the rest of the guests were waiting. This was the scene Naruto was dreading because Hyuugas didn't have birthday parties per say, they held formal Tea Ceremonies that served sweets afterward and ritualism was what Naruto hated most.

 

As Naruto looked across the garden he noticed Neji and Tenten amongst a sea of Hyuugas and all with the Caged Bird Seal, yes even his lovely Hinata wore the seal. However the seal was now called by its former name, The Falcon Seal, and all the Hyuugas were proud to wear it. You see, Naruto really did change the Hyuugas with Hinata's help. Back in the time before the Hidden Villages formation most clans lived in settlements around the Fire Country. Merchants, who needed ninjas, had to go to each settlement in order to hire them to handle that merchant's particular problem. Because of this these settlements were subjected to battles with other clans in competition for the jobs. In order to protect the Hyuuga's doujutsu, the Byakugan, from being stolen from captured bodies the Hyuugas developed the Falcon Seal. This seal was two fold in nature; one element of the seal was to destroy the chakra pathways to the eyes upon death thereby rendering the body useless for study. The second element allowed the leader to remotely kill a captured Hyuuga swiftly by either looking directly at them and using hand signs or invoking a blood contract, created when the warrior received the Falcon Seal, and thereby ensuring the safety of The Byakugan. The Falcon Seal was originally only worn by fighters and all Hyuuga ninjas and some kunoichis wore the seal proudly, even the clan leader. It was a privilege and an honor to wear it, showing that they were Hyuugas and were ready to fight anyone to protect their clan. When the Hyuuga decided to venture into the financial aspect of the trade business an invisible division developed in the clan. Those who took escort and body guard missions tended not hangout with clerks and accountants of the finance division. And since you need a lot more people to fight than you need to keep the books, the `military' branch was soon ten times larger than the financial branch.

 

Now at this time the current clan head had two sons Yoshi and Haru. Now Yoshi was strong and very proficient with the Hyuuga fighting style and even though Haru trained just as hard his chakra pathways were underdeveloped from birth and thus he couldn't master the Hyuuga style. Since Haru was having problems he wasn't sent out on missions as often and soon ended up in the financial division because of his sharp mind. Although Yoshi didn't mean it he tended to brag about his accomplishment around his little brother which tended to irritate Haru intensely. After their fathers death it was time to hand over the control of the clan to one of the sons. Though the vote was close the Elders, made up of warriors and financiers, decided to pick Yoshi because of his fighting strength. This affront was the last straw as far as Haru was concerned as he felt that he was better equip to handle the clan's affairs than his brutish brother. After locating the scroll hidden inside his brother's `office' which showed the proper hand signs to activate the Falcon Seal, Haru confronted his brother with the intent to kill him. He lured Yoshi into the office under the pretense of discussing the upcoming budget and once they were alone activated the seal. However in his haste Haru ended the sequence with the dragon then ram sign instead of ram then dragon sign. The seal started to glow but instead of dropping dead, Yoshi fell to the flooring clutching his head and writhing in agony. This shock Haru who then lost his concentration and at that point Yoshi stopped moving but was still breathing. Haru realizing his mistake launched into the incorrect sequence again and again Yoshi was in agony. Haru knew he had stumbled upon a power which would make him leader of the Hyuuga but he needed time to implement it. Haru tied the brother with rope and hid him in storage shelter behind their house. Then he wrote a letter on official paper say that Yoshi was leaving for two weeks to scout out a new base of operations as the clan was growing larger. The letter stated that Haru would be in charge during Yoshi's absent and then Haru stamp the letter with Yoshi's official seal. The letter was sent to both the financial and military divisions in the morning and though some were suspicious they didn't say anything because of the official seal.

 

During the next two weeks Haru gathered together men of a like mind as his from the financial division and told them of his planned coup. At the end of the two weeks Haru called an emergency meeting of the clan and there he decreed that from this day forth all members and their families of the military division shall wear the Falcon Seal. The vast majority of the military division, who didn't wear the seal, was ecstatic however some of the older warriors were worried. A few challenged Haru saying he had no right to just give a way the Falcon Seal and Haru claimed he had every right as the new clan leader. This declaration caused a roar of outrage amongst the clan and a warrior tried to rush the platform to attack Haru. It was at this moment that Haru displayed the newest use of the Falcon Seal. The charging warrior fell in front of Haru clutching his head screaming and writhing in agony and quickly a hush fell across the crowd. When this happened Haru released his concentration and as the warrior stopped moving Haru told the crowd that anyone who doesn't want this to happen to their loved ones would do well to obey him. At this point two other warriors decided they could take Haru by surprise but as they moved in to attack they were suddenly sent to the ground screaming while Haru hadn't moved a finger. Just then another man stepped up on the platform holding his hands in the Falcon Seal as he was concentrating on the two warriors. When Haru nodded the other man released his concentration and the two warriors stopped screaming. When the crowd had settled into restless murmuring, Haru told them from now on the Financial Division was in charge and the Military Division would serve them and with that declaration a third man came out and threw the bounded Yoshi before Haru's feet.

 

Haru looked down at his brother, squatted down to his level and said “Now we will see who is the strongest, brother”.

 

At that moment in time the Financial Division became the Main Family and the Military Division became the Branch Family.

 

Since that time there have been a few Hyuuga leaders who would have liked to have done way with the Falcon Seal completely, which had now become known as the Cage Bird Seal by the Branch members. But the overriding deterrent, besides the Council of Elders, was how to ensure the secrecy of the Byakugan. This was the main problem faced by Uzumaki Hinata if she was ever to unite the two sides of her family. Since Naruto vowed to Neji, at the Chuunin exams, that he would change to Hyuuga, he told Hinata that he would do every thing in his powers to help her. The solution they finally arrived at was to go back to the beginning. The Cage Bird Seal would be applied to everyone again but it would be modified to eliminate the pain feature. And the only way to activate the Seal would be through death or the blood contract created at the time of birth. The activation of the blood contract could only be done by the head of the clan and witnessed by at least two other high clan officials. The modification of the seal would be simple compared to forcing the clan to accept such a thing. Naruto and Hinata started working on the seal modification using the knowledge Hinata was able to secretly glean from the Hyuuga archives. Naruto, for his part, brought all the old sealing notes from his father and Jiraiya's effects which were given to him when he came of age. After four weeks of studying they finally had the solution but now they had to get the Hyuuga to adopt this radical change.

 

They were in Naruto's newly occupied office of six months trying to come up with an idea when Hinata frustratingly said, “If only you could order my clan to accept this, since you are the Hokage.”

 

Suddenly Naruto paused and said “You know, Hinata, maybe I can.”

 

Hinata looked at Naruto curiously while he made the hand signs for Kage Bushins. Once the twenty clones were gathered he sent half to the library and half to the hall of records to look for information on Konoha's founding charter.

 

With the plan all set Hinata went to visit the Hyuuga compound and found her father relaxing in the garden. She stated her fears about the division between the clan, how it was destroying them and that she had a solution but that she needed to invoke an old Hyuuga tradition and call an `emergency meeting'. When a main family member invoked this old law every adult clan member was obligated to be there so the largest training ground on the Hyuuga estate was used for the meeting. Hyuuga Hiashi was not really fond of the Cage Bird Seal and even though he had once used it on his own brother, that incident had been a reflex action and he regretted it afterwards. So Hiashi asked Hinata to explain this `so-called solution' to him and maybe he could propose it to the Council of Elders. Hinata told him it was better if he didn't know the details and the only way to get the Council to accept it was if she explained it herself. Hiashi reminded Hinata that she was no longer a Hyuuga and could not call for an emergency meeting but that he could if she would explain the solution to him. Hinata did not want to do that as the plan would only work if she did it.

 

As she was about to try to explain her dilemma to Hiashi a voice was heard saying “Maybe she can't but I can”.

 

Both Hinata and Hiashi turned to find Hanabi standing twenty yards away watching them.

 

Now Hanabi wasn't the cold calculating “bitch' that a number of people believed her to be but what she was, was practical. She, like Neji, thought that people were born into their fates and couldn't change them. So even though she didn't like having her whole life planned out for her, with very little say so from her, she figured she might as well make the best of it. She used to feel pity towards Hinata for being foolish enough to fight against fate and try to make her life different than what their father wanted. Hanabi didn't really want to be clan leader but it was infinitely better than being placed into the Branch Family. And if Hinata was going to make it easier for Hanabi by constantly disappointing their father then who was she to argue. However since Hinata had indeed escaped the Hyuuga household and had married the man she loved, Hanabi was starting to believe that maybe she too could also escape her fate. Besides she had her eye on a certain Sarutobi and she knew if she stayed in the Hyuuga clan that dream would never happen.

 

Hiashi looked at Hanabi and asked “Do you trust your sister's plan enough to risks a confrontation with the Council of Elders without even hearing it?”

 

Hanabi looked at Hinata, thought about how Hinata's life had turned out, and turned to her father and confidently said “Yes”.

 

So here Hanabi was, standing on a raised platform with Hyuuga Neji on her right and Hinata to her left as she addressed Hyuuga Hiashi and the Council of Elders, who were on the platform, and the rest of the main and branch family members on the grounds. She stated that a danger to the Hyuuga clan had been brought to her attention but a solution had also been uncovered. Then she turned the stage over to Hinata and stepped back. Hinata told everyone that the current division of the Main and Branch Family was destroying the Hyuuga clan and that the only solution was to go back to the beginning. At that point she explained how she had modified the curse seal to remove the pain and that if everyone wore it then everyone would be equal again. On the grounds there was a quiet murmur as people couldn't believe what they heard but on stage the murmur was more vocal. Many Elders scoffed at the proposal saying that it was ridiculous and why should they give up their rights and power. Hyuuga Hiashi, however, just stared at his daughter wondering how she was planning to get the Council to accept this proposal.

 

Hinata then turned and looking straight at the Council of Elders and said “If you do not accept my proposal, then as of this day the Hyuuga clan will cease to exist”.

 

At this statement the Council of Elders became enraged, calling her mad and saying she had no power to achieve such a thing.

 

At this point Hinata said “You're right. I do not have that power”, she then pointed to Neji and said “but he does”.

 

Suddenly Neji burst into a cloud of smoke and Naruto was standing in his place in full Hokage attire.

 

Then Naruto proceeded to pull out a scroll and, reading from it, said “By the powers invested in me as Hokage of the Hidden Village of Konoha, by the Founding Charter of the Hidden Village of Konoha and signed by all the founding clans, I do hereby declare Konoha to be in a State of Emergency. And under these same powers I do hereby take full command of all warriors and place them under the command of my general, Hyuuga Neji”.

 

When Neji heard this he stepped out from behind the platform where Hinata had told him to conceal himself.

 

Hyuuga Hiashi just smiled but the Council of Elders was furious, demanding what that had to do with anything.

 

Hinata then spoke “All Branch family members wear the seal of the warrior class and as such they are subject to conscription into Konoha's Main Ninja forces at times of emergency and shall not be released until said emergency is ended”.

 

When they heard this the Council went ballistic stating there was no emergency and if there was then would the Hokage please explain it to them.

 

With that Naruto stepped forward and said “The emergency is the civil revolt which threatens this clan and thereby threatens Konoha. The Hokage, and only the Hokage, is empowered to call a State of Emergency as he or she sees fit”.

 

One Elder, Hyuuga Zinan, suddenly rose and vowed if any Branch member were to leave the Hyuuga estates he would invoke the Cage Birds Seal and then he turned to smirk at the Naruto.

 

Naruto just smiled and said “You could do that and then I would have you killed because in the Charter it also states that any Konoha citizen who attacks a ninja during a war or a village emergency shall be tried for treason and, if convicted, executed.” “All these people are now my ninjas. And you know what's so funny, this law was insisted upon by the Hyuuga clan leader.” “And should any of you decide to attack anyone behind my back then I will have the entire Council arrested and sent to Akimichi Ino for questioning.” “I have heard only praises from her mentor, Morino Ibiki, and as you should know, Ibiki-san doesn't give praises easily.”

 

At hearing this news the Branch family went wild, cheering and chanting “Hokage-sama, Hokage-sama” while the council just sat there in disgust.

 

Then Hinata stepped forward holding her arms up to quiet the crowd and said “As a show of my belief in this system I will be the first to have the new seal”.

 

Naruto was shocked when he heard this and said “But you can't, Hinata-chan”.

 

Hinata just turned to him and said “Naruto-kun, I was born a Hyuuga and even though I have become an Uzumaki this is my heritage”.

 

Naruto didn't know what to say but he could see the determination in her eyes and decided to just nod his head.

 

At hearing this Hyuuga Zinan yelled “What about your children? Will they also get this new seal?”

 

This had always been a source of irritation for Zinan ever since Hiashi had allowed Hinata to marry the recently elected Hokage. Hearing this rant Naruto's eyes went red with black slits for pupils and killing intent started rolling off him to the extent that the untrained members of the Hyuuga clan started to gag.

 

But Hinata just put her hand softly on his chest and said “Calm down”.

 

After Naruto had settled, Hinata turned to Hyuuga Zinan and said “As I have said to my husband, even though I have become an Uzumaki I was born Hyuuga.” “However any children we have will be born Uzumaki”. “ And if anyone here entertains any ideas of putting a seal on our children you will not have to worry about my husband” she said as her eyebrows narrowed and her eyes turned hard “because I will personally find you, reach into your chest and pull out your heart so that you can watch it beating before you die!”

 

It was at this point that some of Council members who were afraid of the `demon' Hokage decided that maybe they should be more afraid of the `hellion' in front of him. And thus the Hyuugas now wear the Falcon Seal proudly and it has becomes an identifiable part of their clan as the red triangles are on the faces of the Inuzukas