UNINVITED
Prologue: Taking Responsibility
in which clan strength is questioned, and decisions are made.
- story occurs outside of canon; it would be best if one read up until the timejump happens though, as I may be referring to incidents pertaining to those chapters. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, that crazy genius, and this is only a poor fanfic by a starstruck fan.
- this contains implied yaoi, which means two guys paired up with each other. While there isn't any overt action, the implications are clear, and are intended, to make the story work. Please do us both a favor and NOT read if you're squeamish with this. And I do know how rare the occurrence of the NejiSasu fanperson in the fandom today, but here's to hoping it'll reach some anyway. ;
"You do understand why you, of all the other clans of the Leaf, have been called to this duty, don't you?"
The Fifth's sharp voice reminded him of the predicament at hand, and with a mental sigh he carefully directed his attention back to the stern-looking woman in front of him. "Yes, Hokage-sama. However, if you may not mind me asking, why must the term be indefinite?"
A smirk made its way to Tsunade's face, giving her an overall sly look. "I would enumerate a dozen assets your kind has in this sort of situation, but I'm sure both of us know what I have to say and thus I need not say it. However, let me remind you of the situation: we have retrieved the last of the Uchiha children and he is now lying, all the worse for wear, in the intensive care unit of the hospital. His physical injuries are nothing that cannot be healed given a couple of weeks of medical attention, but the mutations brought about by the curse seal Orochimaru left the boy are gone."
She leaned forward, resting her cheek on her hand. "But as you now know his chakra highways aren't quite… 'cleansed' yet, so to speak, and this will take more than the typical medic nin ministrations. Your kind do this sort of thing almost methodically, I'm told; thus it is to you that I entrust the therapy of the Uchiha brat."
He frowned a little at that, ages-old clan pride bristling a bit even under the command of the mighty Hokage. "My house has several noteworthy medic nins to its name, Hokage-sama, and I am sure they will attend to the Uchiha to the utmost. However—"
"However, as we all know, he was hand-picked by Orochimaru himself, to be his 'vessel', and thus we may assume that the bastard slowly 'moved house' so to speak, by slowly transfusing his chakra into the boy, through the three-year span," Tsunade's eyes darkened at the thought, familiar with the ways her former teammate performed his ghastly inversions of the healing jutsu taught to medic nin.
It was a day of much grief on the one hand; newly-made chuunin had not lived to see their next mission, experienced jounin had suffered from massive chakra poisoning and the remnants of negative chakra purged from the body by painful healing jutsu hung in the room like so much wasted breath.
On the other hand, there was also cause for rejoicing. Naruto managed to bring home his errant teammate Sasuke, by now almost unrecognizable in the horrendous mutations the curse seal in its advanced level had wrought him. It had been a gruesome fight, which drained both boys and devastated the Hidden Village of Sound, so much so that only three days after the fight had been concluded, a council was called to decide the standing of the hidden villages, particularly that of the Otogakure. By then there had been no solid community left to be called a "village" much less a "clan", and thus the records had to be set straight.
"The Sharingan is a valuable asset to the Leaf," she mused aloud, immediately noticing the very subtle dilation of her guest's almost-invisible pupils. "Orochimaru very nearly succeeded in using it against us." She stared at the clan head seated across her pointedly.
His jaw tightened as the full implications of what the Hokage had said dawned on him. "You are asking my house to monitor and contain this…this Uchiha boy. In the event that something goes wrong, and a part of Orochimaru is strong enough to override the boy's conscience as it did then."
"Because no other house is strong enough to do so," she finished for him. "That is why the tenure is indefinite. Surely you hold no grudge against a house that has been, for the last eight years, non-existent and out of commission, do you?" There was a slight mocking tone to her voice; Tsunade always found inter-clan grudges incredulous, especially if these grudges were maintained by the most inane of reasons.
For his part, he had respected the Uchiha clan as worthy equals and dutiful shinobi. He would have gladly accepted the request—no, the demand—imposed upon him, had personal circumstances not been too glaring to dismiss.
"No, Hokage-sama," he replied. "And I am quite sure that had the situations been reversed, the Uchiha would do what I must as well."
"They would have, indeed!" Tsunade leaned back against her leather chair. She kept her gaze level. "I expect you to put aside your familial troubles as of the moment, Hyuuga Hiashi, messy and complicated as they may seem."
He flinched at the knowing look his superior cast his way. But of course the Hokage would know everything. He nodded his assent, however, because he was a man of his word, and he had promised to house the prodigal Leaf shinobi.
"Understood, Hokage-sama. He shall be kept under close watch. I will personally see to it that the medic nin in my family attend to the Uchiha boy as his regimen demands it."
The Fifth broke to a crooked smile. "It doesn't really matter whether you put him in the Main House or in one of the Branch House buildings. And you needn't go to such pains, Hiashi-san; every other day a team will pay a visit to the Uchiha brat and implement his rehabilitation. What you can do is to oversee that this is followed. Although…" she paused thoughtfully for a quick moment before adding, "it would be good if he doesn't have visitors save for the medical team, until further notice, and that you would assign to him a sort of…loose watchman, or a monitor." The buxom Hokage leaned forward thoughtfully. "He is unstable in mind, body, and spirit, the Uchiha brat, and to see the faces that could only bring him painful memories will only do more harm than good." A flicker of sadness crossed Tsunade's face, quickly replaced by her usual ironic smirk. "Besides, you would not, in good honor, deprive an orphan and a homeless shinobi of a place to stay in, would you?"
Hiashi rose to leave, bowing low before the Hokage in the old way. "I shall make preparations, Hokage-sama. The Uchiha shall be given protection and aide, and I shall be answerable to his welfare until such time as seen fit for the boy to…move to his own quarters."
There was a pause before Tsunade broke out into harsh laughter. "Oh, so polite. Very well then. Expect him in the early evening; currently the chakra surgeons are still correcting major curse diffusions in his highway. I am counting on you, Hyuuga Hiashi."
He left the office more troubled than when he had entered it. Truth be told, his reasons were rather petty, and the presence of the Uchiha would only strain particular ties that he had been working to mend within his family.
But this was a duty to the village, and it was, albeit on a grander scale, a comrade-to-comrade call for assistance; and it would be a sorry day in all of history if the Hyuuga, strongest clan of the Hidden Leaf, could not step up to this task because it was busy tripping itself up on its own feet.
He would certainly put the boy amongst the Branch Family's quarters. It was actually a major compliment, this task assigned to his family, and deep in the recesses of his heart, pride welled. If indeed they were to protect the boy against the fugitives after him, he had to ensure measures to protect his family against the boy as well.
It is like erecting double walls, he thought. Which serve not only to protect us from the plausible threat of the Uchiha boy's infected body, but which will also isolate us from each other—as if the house stratifications weren't enough already.
A family meeting would have to be called later in the evening, of course, but right now, he had to appoint a stand-in who would serve as his 'eye' so to speak. He knew where to find the one person he knew he could count on given the situation. Hiashi only hoped that he would make his point clear without having to unnecessarily open up old wounds.
Author's Notes:
(1) I'm operating outside canon for the first time, but it's not an AU. So this will go as slowly or as quickly as the actual canon progresses, as I'd rather operate in-canon (i.e. taking ambiguous facts from characters' pasts, etc. and using it to my own ends XD ).
(2) I love the Hyuuga. They are my First Family where Konoha's concerned. Comments are welcome, and suggestions as well.