Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter One

Hinata held onto her father's robes as they walked toward the branch house, she looked up when her father stopped and saw a man, her uncle Hizashi, standing with a young boy by his side.

The boy had noticed her, and looked at her curiously, "Father," he whispers tugging on Hizashi's clothes, Hizashi looks down at him, "She's cute right?" Neji says, Hizashi looks back towards his brother, not saying a word.

Neji gives him a confused look before focusing back on the man in front of him, his uncle Hiashi, the Head of the Clan.

"Neji," the boy looks up at his father again, "Go with your uncle now," Hizashi says, Neji can't help but notice the sadness in his father's eyes, and feels nervous as he hesitantly follows Hiashi.

Hinata looks at them, confused herself, "Where's father going?" She asks turning to her uncle, who narrows his eyes into a glare, Hinata flinches back and looks away.

Later that day, Hinata stood facing her father, standing in the gentle fist stance, Hizashi and Neji sitting on the side lines, Hinata notices bandages on his head and tilts her head in confusion, "Focus Hinata," The little girl looks up and nods at her father, "R-Right."

Hiashi easily deflects and dodges Hinata's attacks, throwing off any direct attack she tries.

Hizashi's anger slowly rises as he watches them, Hiashi looks up, "Danger!" He yells as he turns to Hizashi and activates his curse mark.

Neji and Hinata jump as he yells out in pain, crumpling to the ground, "Learn your place Hizashi," Hiashi says coldly as he leaves the room, "Come Hinata."

Hinata looks at Neji who was trying to help Hizashi up, before following her father.

During the night, Hinata heard a slight creak and blearily opened her eyes, looking around her eyes widened when she saw a figure clad in black approaching her bed.

She froze for a split second before letting out an ear piercing scream that made the man flinch, before glaring at her, Hinata rolled off the bed right before he could catch and the door slammed open as Hiashi entered, Byakugan activated.

The man attempted to escape but Hiashi was next to him a split second knocking him out with a chakra filled palm.

Hinata looks up at her father with tears in her eyes and Hiashi pats her head, "It's okay now."

Hinata hugs his side tightly, burying her face into his clothes.

Hiashi's wife enters a second later and walks over to Hinata and picks her up, holding her tightly, "Go and take care of this, I'll watch Hinata," she says, giving Hiashi a small smile.

He nods and soon Hizashi arrives with another branch member, "Let's take him to the Hokage, I have a feeling who's behind this."

After they leave Neji pokes his head inside the room, and walks over to Hinata and takes her hand, taking the seat beside her and her mother on the bed, "Are you okay Hinata-Sama?" He asks.

Hinata nods, holding her mother just as tightly as before.

Her mother smiles at Neji, "Thank you for worrying about her, but she's fine now, you should go and her some sleep, I'll watch over her."

Neji nods after a moment, giving Hinata another smile he bows before leaving the room.

Line Break

Hinata slips into the gentle fist stance, facing her father, "Your to stiff," Hiashi notes, "Try relaxing more into the stance."

"The stance is to stiff and uncomfortable for her," Neji comments, he and Hizashi were watching again.

Hiashi looks over with a glare, before he can speak Hinata interrupts, "N-Neji is right," Hinata says meekly, looking up at her father.

Hiashi looks over his daughters stance, "You may be right, but what will you do about it?" He asks.

Neji doesn't say anything this time, watching Hinata has she gathered the confidence she needed, 'You can do this Hinata-Sama.'

"W-We can modify t-the style," Hinata says, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hiashi frowns, "The council will be against this, our Clan follows tradition, and whether it's the way we live, how we follow the rules, or how we fight, we follow these traditions passed on since the day our Clan was founded."

Hinata frowns slightly at this, "But isn't it better to modify it so I can I can truly grow and fight, and become stronger, than hold myself back by using a stiff stance that I will never truly be able to fight with?"

Hiashi narrows his eyes, he looked over at Neji, who flinched slightly but kept his head high, "You both came up with this idea?"

Neji nods, "I noticed it during your training session on Hinata-Sama's third birthday, I suggested the idea of modifying it so she can use the gentle fist to her full potential."

Hiashi glances back at his daughter, who now stood straight, watching him anxiously, 'Neji really is a genius of the gentle fist, at such a young age he already has a good understanding of the fighting style and has unlocked his Byakugan.'

"Alright," Hiashi says, "Hinata, dinner will be in a few hours," the Clan Head leaves.

Hinata lets out a sigh of relief as Hizashi and Neji relax, "Thank you," Hinata says, giving Neji a bright smile.

Neji nods, "Of course Hinata-Sama."

Hizashi watches them train, 'Hinata is almost five years old, and Neji six, I'm surprised by how much they each have grown in such a short time, they both have positive effects on each other, and I'm sure Hiashi won't separate them.'

Hizashi closes his eyes, 'I've let go of my resentment towards Hinata, I still feel Neji deserves to be Head, but now I know Hinata won't be a tyrant, she'll change the ways of our Clan.'

He looks over towards the door his brother had walked out, 'I know you'll be proud of her one day Hiashi, even if she doesn't show talent in her gentle fist.'

Hinata relaxes into the semi modified stance, "This one feels better, but it still feels stiff."

"Keep adjusting the stance until it feels right then," Neji suggests, "We're just modifying the stance so it's natural for you, the way you'll perform Clan techniques will be slightly different but it will still reflect the traditional stance."

Hinata looks up at him, "Your really smart Neji, your only a year older than me too."

Neji flushes at the unexpected compliment, "Well, I'm a genius after all."

Hinata giggles, "Don't get a big head now Nii-san."

Neji scoffs, "Whatever," he says turning away and crossing his arms.

Hinata giggles again as Neji slowly grows redder from embarrassment.

Line Break

Hinata stands beside her father dressed in black along with Hiashi who held a newborn in his arms.

Hinata's mother had passed away after giving birth to her younger sister, the five year old tears up as she begins crying.

Hiashi looks down at her, eyes filled with sadness and sorrow before he looks up back, holding the baby in his arms tighter than before.

A few days later Hinata slips into Hanabi's nursery and walks up to her crib, she smiles down when she sees the baby was asleep, 'Your so cute Hanabi-Chan, I promise I'll be the best older sister ever!'

Hinata kisses her head before leaving the nursery to get ready for her training session with her father.

Hiashi dodges and reflects her attacks, noting she had improved since the last one, but only a bit, 'Seems they found her stance.'

"Neji's going to the academy soon right?" Hinata asks.

"Yes, he'll be going back soon," Hiashi says.

Hinata smiles, "I can't wait to go as well, I'm going this year right?"

"Yes," Hiashi answers, "Be ready for dinner in a few hours," he adds before leaving.

Hinata wipes the sweat off her face and starts going through her katas.

Months pass by until Hinata finds herself walking with Neji to the academy.

Hinata looks over at Neji, "What's the academy like?"

Neji scrunches his nose, "It's loud, but you will learn a lot, including three basic ninja techniques you must know in order to pass the final test and become a Genin."

"Is it hard?" Hinata asks.

"No, it's quite easy, you will be fine," Neji says.

Hinata sighs, looking around, everything was covered in a sheet of white snow, "I didn't know the academy started in January(1)."

"Sometimes it's later, but I guess they started earlier this year," Neji says with a shrug.

Hinata clasps her hands, "I can't wait to meet the other students, maybe we will become good friends!"

Neji shrugs again, "Maybe, we're almost there, I'll drop you off at your classroom."

Hinata waves to her cousin as he walks towards his own class before she enters her own, her eyes widen as the first thing she hears is loud talking as everyone in the class seemed to be apart of an animated conversation.

Hinata looked around and found a spot at the very back and she made her way over and took it.

She looked around the classroom from her new seat, seeing if she recognized anyone, she recognized the heirs and heiress's of the other Clans in Konoha, but everyone else as far as she could tell were citizens of Konoha.

The one person she recognized right away was Sasuke Uchiha, she had seen his older brother on one occasion and he looked similar to him.

The door to the classroom opened and a blond boy ran in, he had bright blue eyes and tan skin, with whiskers on his cheeks, "Hello!! My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" He yells with a wide bright smile, Hinata was sure everyone in the building had heard him.

Naruto took a seat beside Sasuke and introduced himself again, the dark haired boy just ignored him, irking the other boy.

The door opened again and Hinata focused on a tall man with tan skin, dark eyes, and brown hair in a ponytail, he wore Chunin attire and was smiling warmly at them, "Good morning students," he says, the class quieted down and everyone focused on him as he introduced himself, "My name is Iruka Umino, and I'll be your teacher for the next six years until you graduate and become genin."

Line Break

Hinata sat on a bench with her lunch, watching the other students run around and play, she hadn't talked with any of her classmates and hadn't made to try either.

The blue haired girl looked around, trying to spot her cousin, but Neji wasn't anywhere outside, 'I wonder if Neji-Nii-San has friends he eats with during lunch.'

The little girl giggles as she imagines Neji sitting with a crowd of other students talking, it looked odd to her, Neji just wasn't the talkative type, nor the social type either.

Hinata let out an eep as a snowball flew passed her head, she looked up and saw some of the boys had started a snowball fight, 'Must have been an accidental throw,' she thinks, the slight hope she felt that one of them were trying to invite her dying, 'I don't blame them for not asking, I haven't even tried to talk to anyone at all.'

The day passed by slowly, Hinata was slightly disappointed by the fact they didn't really learn much, Iruka just going over what they would learn, but she didn't dwell on it, knowing it would only get harder from there.

She saw Neji waiting outside for her and made her way towards him, "Neji-Nii-San," she says with a smile.

Neji nods, giving her a slight smile in return, "Hinata, how was your first day?"

Hinata shrugs, "It was fine I guess, we didn't do much of anything."

"That's usually how the first day goes," Neji says, "Come now, let's head home."

The two walk home, talking amongst themselves, ahead of them three boys were walking towards them, as they passed by, one boy's shoulder roughly ran into Hinata's, making him drop his ice cream.

"Hey!!" He yells, "You made me drop my ice cream!!"

Hinata turns around, Neji does as well, glaring at them, "Leave Hinata-Sama be, you did that on your own."

The boy's glare falters, "N-Neji!"

"Lets go!" Another boy says, and the three run away.

Neji scoffs at their retreating forms, "Let's continue, your father is waiting to hear how your day was," He says as he continues walking forward, Hinata glances back but follows him.

The two arrived at the compound, "I'll be off now Hinata-Sama," Neji says before heading towards the branch house.

Hinata enters the main house and goes towards her fathers study where he would be waiting.

She knocks on the door, and here's an "Enter," after a short pause, she walks into the room and bows before standing tall, "We've returned from the academy."

"How did your day go?" Hiashi asks, looking up from the paper he was writing on.

"It was fine, Iruka-Sensei merely informed us of what we'd be doing for the rest of the year, and gave everyone a scroll we will be reading over throughout the year."

"The academy will seem easy to you, but it will get tougher as you go on, so keep up your studies," Hiashi states, "But don't forget to train as well."

"Yes father," Hinata bows before leaving the room.

To be continued..

AN: I've always wanted to write a Hinata-Centric story, just cuz she's my favorite character, I know there's a lot of stories like this, but I think it'd be cool to look into her character if Naruto never had to save her, and she never met him and started to crush on him because of that.

(1) In the anime, Hinata is bullied on the day of her enrollment at the academy, since it's snowy outside, I chose January as the timeline, since Hinata would also already be six years old.

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