Here is the next chapter. I know many of you didn't like what happened in the last one, but I hope it doesn't deter you from reading on. Everything happens for a reason. So relax and review. Seriously, review, it is now ridiculously easy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
…..
"Hiya, Hinata!" The little four year old girl turns around to the direction of the voice. She smiles when she sees two of her friends.
She begins to wave back. "Hi Naruto-san. Ino-san." Her father had instilled in her the need to use honorifics, even if others didn't. So she would always give her friends the honorific –san, since it was polite.
The slightly taller blonde waved back. "Hey, Hinata. I like your kimono."
Hinata smiles, and begins to twirl around a bit. Her father had given her a red kimono with roses to wear, and her mother had helped her put it on. "Thank you, Ino-san. I like yours too." She points out the sky blue one she was wearing.
Naruto began to fidget. "I don't like mine. It feels funny." He began to fidget in it a little, wearing a black kimono with a red spiral on the back, respecting his birth mother's clan's contribution to Konoha unknowingly. He pulls at its sleeves, trying to adjust it to make it comfortable.
Ino slapped his hands. "No, Naruto. Mommy said don't play with our kimono's!"
Naruto frowned. "But it feels funny."
Hinata smiled. "You just don't like it since it has no orange on it."
Ino nodded. "Yeah, Naruto. You just don't like it 'cause it isn't orange."
Naruto shook his head. "Nu-uh! The kimono doesn't feel right." He goes to untie it, but gets slapped by Ino again.
"No, Naruto. If Mommy said don't play with our kimonos, I think she would say not to take them off!" Naruto just frowned at the rejection. Hinata intervened.
"Wanna go play? Neji and I are playing in the other room."
Naruto and Ino smiled. "Okay!" With that, they followed the Hyuga heiress out of the room to where she and her cousin were playing.
Watching them, Nikko and Hitomi smiled. "It's nice that they get along so well together. I will a little worried that Hinata would become really shy, but your two have kept that from happening." Hitomi told her over a glass of wine.
Nikko smiled. "Thank you. I'm just happy that Ino has another female friend. Normally, it is just Shikamaru or Chouji over."
Hitomi nodded. "I know what you mean, I was worried about the same thing. A lot of the children are wary about playing with Hinata, since she is Hiashi's daughter, so she normally just plays with Neji. It is good that she has other girls her age to play with."
Nikko nodded. "It is just so annoying that Hiashi-san refuses to let any other children over to play with her. I'm sure Shikamaru and Chouji would be great friends for her to have, like they are with Naruto and Ino."
Hitomi sighed. "I know. He is just…very fickle about that. You know the only reason he lets you and Inoichi over so much is to try and arrange a marriage. I hate that he doesn't know when to give up on that."
That was very true. It had been over two years since the last person, besides Hiashi, had tried to arrange a marriage between their daughter and Naruto. Hiashi though was persistent, asking every few months to sign a contract in spite of everything. Though the funny thing is, it was not just to have the prestige in his family of having a Hokage's son be married to your heiress. Well, not anymore. Since they had become friends, Hiashi was also trying to secure a marriage for them so that he would not have to marry her off to some other Hyuga or worse even, a far off lord. The elders had always been fickle on the subject of female heirs. Both Hiashi and Hizashi could barely remember their older sister, born eight years before them, who was sent off to be married to the son of the daimyo in the Land of Fangs on her fourteenth birthday. He did not wish the same fate as her if Hitomi were to birth a son to him for Hinata. Hinata was truly his sunny place, and he did not wish to lose her. So if he could marry her off now, to a friend and someone in the village, the better for him.
"Please, it will save us both a lot of trouble when we are older. Your boy is most likely going to have a ravenous fan club when he is older, being the Yondaime's boy, and my daughter will have too many suitors to count. It will be easier if they are betrothed now."
Inoichi shook his head. "Nice try, but no. I am sure my boy can handle a few fangirls, and you can beat away the suitors with a stick."
"Yes, but some of the elders would not want me to beat them, or they may favor the suitor."
Inoichi shook his head. "So? Your daughter should be free to marry whomever they want. Like my little Ino. She will be able to choose her husband when she is older. About 35." The two men let out a chuckle.
"Unless you accept my proposal that she marries Neji…" Hizashi walked to them, overhearing the conversation.
Inoichi snorted. "Please, I do not wish to embarrass myself in front of the Kumo ambassador. Stop trying to make me laugh."
Hizashi raised his eyebrow. "Why not? Ino marries Neji, Naruto marries Hinata. The Yamanaka and Hyuga clan unites, into the Hyunaka clan! Or would it be the Yamayuga clan?"
Inoichi quickly left to try to walk off the laughter inside of him, while Hiashi and Hizashi try to maintain their Hyuga composure, when he bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't look where I was-" He finally looked up, and saw the robes and hat everyone knew. It was the Sandaime Hokage.
"Hello, Inoichi-san." He pleasantly greeted him.
"Hello, Hiruzen." The use of his name and lack of honorific was highly insulting, but he did not let it show.
"So, how has Ino and Naruto been? I haven't really seen them much in… about three years? "
"Ino is doing just fine. And don't worry, Naruto is perfectly healthy. So you don't have to worry about all of those precious Iwa babies. They are gonna be just fine." He spat out, his anger blatant.
The Hokage's jovial mask fell apart, and his Hokage gaze was unleashed. "So you still are holding a grudge. I was hoping that it was just a lack of time that was keeping me from them."
Inoichi looked around, and got somewhat into the Hokage's face. "Your damn right I hold a grudge, Hiruzen. How the hell could you sell Naruto as some breeding pig like that?"
"Better a breeding pig, as you say, then dead."
"You don't know that for sure!" Inoichi argued.
"Trust me, the Tschuikage made it very clear that if I didn't agree, Naruto would end up dead. I did what was best in his own interest. And if I had rejected the offer, the Tschuikage could have easily declared war on us for some supposed insult, and that is something I did not want. Suna was in flux and could not have helped us, so we would have lost many of our shinobi's lives. One's life is never worth the village. And, if you recall, we managed to agree to an alliance between ourselves. I think that is pretty good for what little we lost."
"Little! You have forced a man into becoming a breeding pig for Iwa, installing powerful blood into their army. What you have given up to protect us today, could very well kill us tomorrow!"
The Hokage shook his head. "I think you overestimate. It will be thirty some years before Iwa could even think to turn on us, and by then, with this alliance, they wouldn't want to."
"Baahh!" Inoichi waved him off, leaving. He turned around before he went. "You had no right to sell the Yondaime's- no MY son like that.." With that, he stormed off, leaving a few confused party guests about what had happened between the Hokage and the Yamanaka clan head.
…
"How do you keep finding us so fast?" Naruto loudly asked Neji. They had been playing a game of hide and seek, and Neji always was the seeker. He hadn't lost once.
Hinata was wondering the same thing, until he noticed his eyes. There were veins around them. "Neji-san!" She let out aloud, startling Ino and Naruto. "When did you activate Byakugan?"
The proud five year old smiled. "Last week. Father helped."
Naruto and Ino was confused. "What's Byakugan?" Naruto asked, with Ino nodding in their confusion.
"Byakugan is our families prized technique." Hinata explained.
Ino nodded. "I remember hearing that from daddy. What does it do?"
Neji smiled and showed off his new technique. "It lets us see chakra in people, even if they are hiding from us."
Naruto pointed at Neji. "That was how you found us?"
Neji nodded. "Not only that, we can see all around us."
Ino was confused. "What do you mean?"
Hinata explained. "That means, if I was looking at you with Byakugan on, I could see someone come in from that door," She pointed to the door right behind her, "without having to turn my head."
"So cool!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling. "How do you make it happen?"
"I send chakra to my eyes." Neji explained.
"So if send chakra to our eyes, we could have Byakugan?" Ino asked, thinking it was really cool, but Neji shook his head.
"No, we can do it since our eyes are special. Father taught me that if you guys tried sending chakra to your eyes, they might explode!" Naruto and Ino were nervous after hearing that. What if they accidentally sent chakra to their eyes?
Hinata shook her head at her cousin. "That isn't what father told me, Neji-san. He said it would do nothing."
Neji frowned. "Why would father lie like that?"
"Because my brother-in-law is a bit of a trickster, and wanted to scare whoever you told about how the Byakugan works." A voice came from the doorway. Hinata turned around and smiled. "Mommy!" She then ran over to her mother and hugged her legs.
"Hinata-chan, how have you liked playing with your friends?" Hitomi asked her daughter.
"It was fun. But Neji cheated and used Byakugan when he seeked." She slightly pouted.
Neji simply shook his head. "That is not true Auntie-sama. There was no rules against Byakugan."
"But…" Hinata tried to argue, but she was stopped by her mother.
"Neji-chan is correct. There were no rules against it, so he could use it. Now apologize to your cousin."
Hinata looked up at her mother confused. "Why do I have to apologize Mother?" She asked.
"Because, you insulted his honor."
Naruto and Ino were very confused. How did she insult his honor? Hinata, on the other hand, was petrified. The Hyuga family was a very honorable family, and their honor was one of their greatest values. To insult it, was a horrible crime.
"H-how did I insult it?" She stuttered slightly, a small quake in her legs.
"You declared him a cheater, when he was not. You slander his name in front of Naruto and Ino. That is definitely an insult to his honor if there was one."
Hinata understood this and quickly bowed to her mother. "Yes, okaa-san" The use of the proper name highlighted the seriousness of the situation. She turned her attention to Naruto and Ino. She quickly bowed to them.
"I apologize for telling you a lie. Neji-san is not a cheater."
She quickly moved on, and bowed her head deeply to Neji.
"I apologize, Neji-san, for calling you a cheater. You are not one, and I sl-sl-" Hinata was tripping over the word.
Her mother helped her out, "Slander, honey."
Hinata nodded her head awkwardly, as she was still bowing. "Thank you, okaa-san. And I slander your name by saying so. Can you forgive me?"
Neji was slightly embarrassed by the theatrics, but simply nodded his head. "It is alright, Hinata-sama. I forgive you." He used the proper honorific for Hinata.
Naruto and Ino were still confused about what exactly just happened, something about honor and calling Neji a cheater, but they realized everything was over.
"Hey, Hinata's mommy. Is dinner ready yet?" Naruto asked. Ino stopped herself from giggling. She knew her brother could eat a lot of food, and thought about it a lot.
"Actually, Naruto-sama, yes. I was coming to get you four. Come along then, as the appetizer is already being served. It is a dish called miso ramen."
"Sounds icky." Naruto commented, following Hinata's mother. The other three soon followed. But Neji was left to wonder why his Auntie-sama gave Naruto the honorific –sama.
…
"Dad, can we have ramen every night! It was the bestest food in the world!" A very vibrant Naruto asked his father.
Ino shook her head. "No! I don't like ramen. It is too salty."
Naruto shook his head at his sister. "No it isn't. It's perfect!"
"No it's not." Ino was quick to reply.
"Yes it is!"
"No it isn't." Nikko and Inoichi sighed. An argument was coming.
"Yes it is!"
"No, it's isn't."
"Yes it is!" Naruto tried to be forceful.
"No it's not!" Ino nearly shrieked. The parents put their hands on their shoulders.
"Ino-chan. Naruto-chan. Stop this instant!" Nikko spoke commandingly. They bowed to their mother's will.
"Naruto, we will add ramen onto the menu sometimes, since you seem to love it so much. However, it will not be anything like everyday, Ino, more like once a week. Understand?" Both children nodded their heads. Both were a little disappointed, as Naruto thought they should have ramen more often, while Ino thought they should have it less often.
Naruto's overactive mind quickly left the subject of ramen and went back to what Neji and Hinata had said about doing Byakugan. They said they could do it if they channeled chakra to their eyes. Naruto had a very very basic understanding of chakra, so he thought he knew what to do. Hinata and her mommy had said that nothing would happen if they channeled chakra to their eyes, and they wouldn't explode. Both Naruto knew his daddy could channel chakra to his ears and hear better. Why couldn't you do it your eyes to see better?
If he was in the academy, he would know for non-doujutsu users, that normal eyes could not conduct chakra in order to use them. The fluid in eyes were a counterbalance to chakra, and made enhanced vision an impossibility for the normal ninja. He didn't know this, so he decided to do the cross that Neji had showed them he used to channel chakra to his eyes and began to try and do just that. After his first failure, he just imagined the chakra going to his entire eyes, and not just the front. This was the key, as doujutsu users had to channel chakra at the back of their eye for their doujutsu to activate. All Hyuga's had to do this. All Uchiha had to do this. And Naruto had to do this.
He was shocked when the black night turned bright, as if he was in the middle of the day. He could see Ino's sky blue kimono, and his mommy's pretty orange and yellow one, and even the white one daddy wore with a stain from a drop of the ramen juice. That was when he noticed how clear everything was. He could a lot of details. He could see the loose strands of Ino's hair. He could see the freckles on daddy's hand. He could even see the ants marching along the ground He turned his head, and he could see the bigger bugs on the leaves of the Hyuga's hedge. He could see the face of the Kumo guy the party was for as he jumped over the hedge, with a moving burlap bag. Wait, what?
"Daddy!" He exclaimed. His father turned around and he nearly fainted. His son's eyes had become a vibrant, glow in the dark blue.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" He quickly asked, worried that was the matter.
"I did what Neji told me and put chakra in my eyes. Isn't it cool! I can see you guys like the sun is out! I can see really well too. Like the little stain on your kimono daddy."
Nikko couldn't help but chuckle while Inoichi blushed at being caught. His face turned slightly red.
"Why do you have a red face daddy?" It grew even redder.
Finally, Naruto remembered why he called out to his daddy. "Daddy, the nice Kumo man from the party just jumped over the Hyuga hedge with a moving burlap bag. Why was the bag moving?"
Inoichi grew serious quickly. He was wondering more why the Kumo man had jumped over the hedge in the first place. He knew the Hyuga had offered him a place to spend the night, so why he was leaving? Then there was the moving burlap bag. It was super suspicious.
Then he remembered reports from the Third Shinobi War he had overhead. Quite a few of the Hyuga and the Uchiha nins had reported attempts by the Kumo forces of keeping them alive when they could have been killed, and how they overheard that they needed to keep them alive for the Raikage. It suddenly made perfect sense.
He took off like a bullet, calling over his shoulder. "Nikko-chan, get the kids home and contact the Hokage. The Kumo representative had kidnapped a Hyuga!" He prayed he would catch him in time.
Both Ino and Naruto were worried. A Hyuga was kidnapped? Why would the nice Kumo man do that. They didn't have much time to think, as Nikko grabbed her children and dashed home. She would drop them off at Ginjiro's, and then go to the Hokage. This was bad. Very bad. She prayed her husband wouldn't get hurt against that Kumo kidnapper.
