Morning.
In a large hall open to the garden, a broad-shouldered man with long black hair sat on a cushion. His pale eyes made his Hyuga blood obvious, and his clean, unmarked forehead made it just as obvious—main branch. Hiashi, the clan head, sipped his tea slowly, staring at the quiet garden and the lake at the far end of the enormous courtyard. But his thoughts were far from here.
Today the second stage of the Chunin Exams was supposed to end, which meant his daughter, Hinata, would soon return. With mixed feelings, he remembered how soft and indecisive she'd been as a child—and who she'd grown into now. Pride flickered across his face for just a second.
"Kaiten. Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms. And not long ago—even Sixty-Four Palms…" Hiashi was, in a fatherly way, pleased that his blood had achieved so much at such a young age.
But his expression twitched immediately when he remembered who, to no small degree, had caused those changes.
"That brat who promised to smack the shit out of me if I ever left Hinata unattended again…"
That was how Hiashi remembered Uzumaki Naruto. A kid with unreal nerve—who, in that situation, had been completely right. The Hyuga clan head was an honest man; he could accept being called out on his own mistake. That was why the guard who had reported the incident hadn't been punished. Though of course, the brat's status also mattered: jinchuriki, a massive asset to the village, and—no less importantly—the Hokage watching him like a hawk.
Uzumaki wasn't a headache for Hiashi. On the contrary: as a clan leader, he saw huge potential in his daughter's friendship with the Nine-Tails' host. Powerful support for the clan in the future. And if it turned into something more… as a father, he didn't want to see any "boy" next to his daughter, period. But as clan head, he understood: in the Great Villages, jinchuriki were often close to the Kage. A marriage to a jinchuriki was a serious political card—one that could open the path to the very top for Hinata. Considering the Hyuga were Konoha's strongest clan, that kind of outcome had every right to exist.
Hiashi's face became a shade more approving when he remembered how Hinata, yelling, "Sha-a-a-a!" had injured an elder who'd tried to forbid her from seeing Naruto. Back then, Hiashi had even thought it would've been better if she'd crippled that old geezer a bit worse.
Yeah, Naruto's methods were questionable, but his influence had turned out positive. Being around him was slowly, but inevitably, forging a spine in Hinata—one Hiashi's harsh training hadn't managed to hammer into her. And when nobody was watching, that thought made him grimace the hardest. But it was true.
And still… just thinking about the blond made Hiashi uneasy. He'd heard enough about him to understand: a weak jinchuriki and a strong jinchuriki were two completely different beasts. And the one currently in the Leaf had a power that even he—the head of the strongest clan—couldn't help but respect. After the recent incident, that much was obvious. Hyuga specialists, kept out of the Hokage's and the public's sight, still managed—despite the chakra clash messing with everything—to identify who'd been in that spar that left behind a massive crater and huge swaths of torn-up earth: Uzumaki Naruto and Maito Guy.
And if Konoha had a god, Hiashi would've prayed twice a day: once to thank him that his daughter was on close terms with that… "monster," as Hiashi's father had called him—and once to thank him that Maito Guy had never shown aggression toward the Hyuga.
After that incident, Naruto changed again. Not just mentally—his chakra's raw power, already comparable to the First Hokage's, started growing again. What kind of monster he'd turn into in a few years, Hiashi didn't even want to imagine.
A servant entered with a letter, pulling him out of his thoughts. Noticing the Hokage's seal, Hiashi frowned.
He cut the wax with the offered little knife and read. Almost immediately, he froze—his eyes glazing over, dragged under by images of the past.
"Hizashi…" he whispered to an already empty room.
The letter was about a preliminary match between Hinata and Neji—the son of his dead twin brother. Hizashi… born mere moments later, his fate had been decided for him: to be assigned to the branch family.
The branch family was meant to protect the main—those were the traditions. Most of the clan's lives were decided before they were even born. Hizashi hated it, but over time he accepted his lot. What he couldn't accept was that when Neji was born, his son would never be allowed to fully realize his potential the way a main-branch member could. Hizashi grew openly bitter and started voicing his dissatisfaction with Hiashi—and even with Hiashi's daughter. It didn't help that Hiashi was also responsible for placing the clan's cursed seal on Neji's forehead, making the rift between the brothers even worse.
Once, during Hinata's training, consumed by resentment and anger, Hizashi threw Hinata a murderous look. The moment Hiashi sensed killing intent, he immediately activated the cursed seal on his younger brother, causing him intense pain. He spelled out what was obvious to the clan: the branch family existed to protect the main family, not harm it. After that, he ordered Hizashi to leave, declared he wouldn't tolerate incidents like that again, and told him never to forget his duties.
In the end, Hizashi admitted his fault and never again showed malice toward the main family—at least not toward Hiashi and his daughter.
Hiashi himself couldn't exactly say he was happy with those traditions and that whole system. It hurt to see—and to cause—suffering to those close to him. But tradition was also what had allowed the clan to survive for centuries. He believed that, which was why he did everything he could not to allow himself "too much" pity. That applied even to his nephew Neji—whose resentment toward the main family Hiashi shut down the same way he had shut down Hizashi—and even to his own daughter. He tried not to praise Hinata too much so she wouldn't get arrogant, and he trained her no less harshly (not counting the use of the Caged Bird) than he himself had been trained.
But the incident with the Cloud envoy had shaken Hiashi hard. He killed the shinobi who'd dared to try to abduct Hinata, but it was too… hasty. After years of war, the Leaf wasn't in a position to restart a conflict with the Cloud that had only just ended. Without the Uchiha, the Leaf had it rough—and the Hyuga clan, having taken serious losses across all those battles, understood that just as clearly. So they were forced to comply with the demand to hand over the killer.
At the meeting where it was decided, the Hokage was there, the two twins were there, their father was there, and of course the clan elders. The twins' father, not wanting to hand the clan's secrets to the enemy, suggested using Hizashi as a double, since the cursed seal would seal his Byakugan after death.
Hiashi tried to find an alternative—he even pushed to pay for his own mistake himself—but Hizashi insisted. He said he'd finally get to choose his own fate (to atone for what he'd done to Hiashi) and save his brother's life. And after asking only that Hiashi someday tell Neji why he'd made that choice, Hizashi knocked Hiashi out with a single strike, right there at that same meeting.
Hiashi woke up when everything had already been decided—irreversibly.
Even back then, Hiashi had seriously doubted the clan's traditions. His brother had been stronger than him and, Hiashi thought, more worthy of being clan head. It was unfair, wrong, and in the end just plain inefficient that he had become the head.
Snapping out of it with a furious finish to that thought, the clan head shook his head. His eyes went back to the letter and caught—mentioned almost in passing, yet most important to him—the main thing: his daughter had lost to Neji. The one he'd taught techniques branch members weren't even allowed near had still lost. Even if it was damn near a draw, it was still a loss. Yeah, she was younger and naturally had less real field experience, but still.
"Again. Traditions limit us. Make us weak…" flashed through the man's mind. He wasn't sad about Hinata's loss; he knew her level. He was worried about his nephew.
Hiashi scanned the other parts of the letter.
"Don't change your attitude toward your daughter for the worse," Hiruzen had hinted. "And he also expressed dissatisfaction with the Hyuga's structure… He never would've allowed himself that before."
Hiashi huffed and set the paper aside.
From the letter, it was clear Hinata didn't like the clan's traditions either, but… Hiashi was humble enough by now to finally come to this conclusion for real—and to admit Hizashi, his daughter, and probably a whole lot of other people had been right.
"Times are changing," he settled it in his head. "So it's time for the clan to change, too."
Still at his desk, he waited. His daughter would arrive soon, and he needed to talk to her.
When a servant announced Hinata's arrival, Hiashi immediately sent him to bring her in.
"Father…" A girl with dark blue hair—almost navy—stepped into the hall, a bit stiff. But there were sparks of ready-to-ignite determination in her eyes.
"Daughter." The man nodded and, like almost always, with no bright emotion on his face, motioned for her to sit on the cushion opposite him. She sat down, looking tense. "First, I want to say I have no complaints."
Hinata's eyes widened in surprise.
"Second, I want to congratulate you on your progress," he continued. "Passing two stages of the Chunin Exams is an achievement for many. For you, of course, it's not that significant. But don't go hunting for reasons to regret it. Next time, you'll do it."
Hinata's mouth opened—she was that shocked. Her father praised her almost rarer than her birthday, and only on major occasions like mastering Gentle Fist or learning Kaiten… and he didn't just praise her—he encouraged her and told her not to get depressed.
"Father, are you okay?!" Throwing manners straight out the window and behaving in a way utterly unworthy of the clan's hime, Hinata pressed a hand to Hiashi's forehead in worry.
Hiashi just gave a slightly sad smile.
"Hinata, I'm fine," he said, a softness slipping through at his daughter's confusion.
"No… you're delirious…"
She jumped up and started looking around nervously.
"Naruto-kun, help Father… please!"
She shouted it, and Hiashi—still not fully understanding—flinched the moment he felt a hand settle on the crown of his head. Green light washed over his body.
Hiashi tried to spring up, but something forced his body to relax instantly, keeping him from jerking even an inch. All he could do was stare, eyes wide.
"Hmm. Looks normal," the familiar blond voice said after a few seconds of glowing.
During that sudden "checkup," another Uzumaki clone appeared, then simply dissolved into energy and got absorbed back into its creator.
"I'm the original, by the way," Uzumaki added.
After clearing up the clone situation, he stepped beside Hinata and started looking Hiashi over like he was evaluating a piece of gear. Only then did Hiashi get his ability to move back.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, her worry dropping a notch.
"No, seriously, he's fine. I doubt I'll find anything, but I'll run a more careful check on an analyzer… If that doesn't help, I've got connections at the hospital." Having apparently planned out Hiashi's entire medical future in seconds, the blond nodded, then addressed his "patient." "We clear on the procedure, patient?"
"I… am not sick," Hiashi said blankly, lowering his head.
"He got into my nervous system with chakra that fast… Unthinkable control."
A whole herd of chills ran down the Hyuga head's spine. Just now, a shinobi had walked into his home unnoticed and casually immobilized him. Apparently he'd used medical ninjutsu on Hiashi's brain. And then the intruder had calmly explained what they were going to do to him, like Hiashi was someone who needed a straitjacket. Only the fact that this was a Leaf shinobi—and that he was close to Hiashi's daughter—kept Hiashi in check and acting restrained instead of trying to kill the newcomer by any means necessary.
"Hmm, sure," the blond said, then flicked a glance at Hinata. "Nothing's threatening you right now, Hiashi-san. So… mind telling us how you ended up thinking all that?"
"I really should explain…"
Shhk—shhk.
Hiashi was cut off by the sound of five shinobi arriving. Uzumaki, after using medical ninjutsu, wasn't hiding his presence anymore, so the clan noticed fast. But Uzumaki's status didn't allow the guards to do anything extra, so they just surrounded the people already in the hall.
"Everything's under control. At ease," Hiashi ordered, waving a hand.
The shinobi exchanged awkward looks. Not a word—then they hurried out.
After that, the three of us started talking.
Uzumaki Naruto's POV
That was unexpected… Before this, I'd built up this picture of Hiashi as some kind of unstable psycho—like a cruel clan head who'd do anything for the clan. Turns out his personality, like most people's, was way more complicated. He was still capable of empathy, and of balancing family and clan. Like, he was willing to give more to family—as long as it didn't screw the clan too hard.
Half an hour later, we'd downed two whole teapots of tea, talked through the clan's current traditions, and agreed a big part of it was straight-up stupid. Then Hinata and I watched, holy shit, as Hiashi apologized—literally slammed his forehead to the floor and said he'd failed as a father. After that, he said he wouldn't be "excessively" harsh anymore (reading between the lines: because it wasn't helping and was only pumping more negativity into their relationship), and asked Hinata to try letting him be a normal father to her again.
And when he got a hesitant yes, he went all-in with teary, emotional thanks… and then went off to Neji—also to slam his forehead to the floor.
We basically came to the conclusion that the Hyuga clan needed to be one family. Those techniques that were exclusive to the main branch? Hiashi said he'd make them available to the whole clan. And he'd turn the juin—the Caged Bird Seal—into just a seal that protected their eyes. He went to Neji because he had a duty to his brother, and now that Neji was finally old enough, he had to tell him why Hizashi sacrificed himself.
"What the hell was that…?" Hinata asked the air once we were alone.
"Beats me," I shrugged, then turned to her, making her look at me too. "Anyway… if everything's fine, thanks for the tea. See you tonight?"
"Yeah…" Her focus finally locked in. It wasn't super obvious with her eyes, but you could still see her pupils. "Thank you, Naruto-kun… for everything."
A little warmed up by her gratitude, I teleported home. I still left a clone with Hinata—just in case. Turns out Hiashi really was fine, but you never know.
Right now, I wanted to rest alone, so I could rest again later—with company.
Only when I got home, being alone didn't happen. Which, honestly, I wasn't against.
A Little Earlier: Uzumaki Mother and Daughter
Two girls were in the kitchen, cooking together. While the older one stood at the stove, stirring a pot, the younger one was chopping a big white radish and talking a mile a minute, all fired up.
"Still, Mom, I'm gonna try! Naruto seems like a crazy busy guy, and he's definitely gotta have some extra work to hand out."
"And I'm still telling you, he probably already has everything set up," Akane answered gently, turning the stove down a couple notches.
"But… but…"
"Karin, I don't want you to be anyone's shadow," the older woman continued in the same soft tone, while the younger one grumbled something unintelligible.
When they first moved to Konoha, Karin talked a lot about the person who'd turned their fate upside down. Akane found her daughter's outbursts cute—like a kid gushing about some fairy-tale hero who'd stepped into the real world. But she still treated it with caution. That was just the world she'd lived in. She couldn't accept a stranger that easily, not just like that—even if he'd done something so unbelievably huge for them.
Still, Karin's opinion quickly shifted into something else entirely. Eyes shining, she decided to say it again, but from a different angle:
"Even being in the shadow of someone like Naruto is way better—way higher—than anything we could've achieved on our own! And… he basically saved us, so paying him back is our duty… And his chakra, it's like… like… And you saw how awesome he is, right?! Those spacetime jutsu…"
Akane's smile got a little less natural. In general, she was proud of how reasonable a daughter she'd raised, but… judging people by their chakra wasn't always objective. And "awesome"? There was room to grow.
Her thoughts drifted as Karin continued her now-constant chirping from the last few days. Akane really did want her daughter's fate to be in her own hands… but at the same time, the shinobi world crushed those naive hopes. When she taught Karin, she showed the world's cruelty in strict, measured doses—enough to prepare her for what was coming—but she also did everything she could not to be overly cruel or strict herself. She wanted Karin to have a home where she could actually relax, where nobody would be on her ass all the time. And even with their pathetic resources, she'd managed it.
Still, thinking realistically, Karin's idea of paying Naruto back by working for him wasn't that bad.
After a few days in Konoha, Akane hadn't forgotten her life in Grass. She understood that, in this world, that kind of work could become the best shield they could possibly get. What that boy had shown was insane—just the spacetime techniques alone—and even more telling were the rumors going around the village. He didn't seem like a bad person. If anything, the opposite. And even if he was still a kid, with his capabilities it was unlikely anything would force him to change.
So…
"Alright, alright," Akane sighed, waving her ladle. "This really could turn into something good."
Karin wasn't a full-fledged shinobi, and she was an obedient daughter, so of course—before doing anything—she asked permission and advice from her much more experienced mother. Getting what she wanted, she yelped happily, tossed the knife and radish onto the counter, threw her hands up, and lunged in for a hug.
"Okay, okay," Akane said, setting aside what she had in her hands and patting Karin on the head. "Just… if you're taking this on, be more stubborn about it."
"Huh?" Karin lifted her head. "Of course! I'll be the most relentless one there is!"
"Mm." Her mother nodded approvingly, but then a thoughtful look crossed Karin's face.
"Mom, why'd you change your mind?"
Akane smiled at the fact her daughter still kept her brain on. And…
"That's… a secret." Her smile turned even more satisfied, hiding some feelings underneath. She didn't want to dump her pragmatic thoughts on Karin, so—secret.
"Wha-a-at?!" The younger Uzumaki looked annoyed, but a second later her face turned pure innocence. "You know, ever since Naruto healed you, you look way better, Mom."
"Really?" Akane got a little embarrassed, then slid her hands lower to squeeze her daughter's cheeks. "Oh, you sweet-talking little fox…"
She tugged lightly, but seeing Karin's curious, innocent face, she couldn't hold out. Letting go, she started explaining—but carefully, wrapping pragmatic truths into something softer that wouldn't mess with a little girl's view of the world.
Except the "little girl" was sharp enough to get it anyway. Karin immediately started complaining, offended, that she wasn't some mercenary brat and she really did just want to show gratitude like that. Akane, pouting after that pushback herself, sighed and said Karin could do whatever she wanted—and Akane would support her either way.
With that consensus reached, they went back to cooking, while Karin's head was already working, planning what exactly she'd do—and how—once that damn exam finally ended for Naruto…
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