Summoner-nin

Part One: Childhood

Chapter Four

She couldn't stop crying, the tears just wouldn't stop, and the Hokage was starting to get worried. When Fugaku sent a message telling of his displeasure in the child, he had not expected for the man to just unceremoniously dump the poor six-year-old at his feet. Who, he winced, was crying.

Not the huge cry of a spoiled child wanting attention, but the heartbreaking sort of crying that did just that to his heart. Break it.

"Hush, Hinata," he tried to console as he bent down and held her gently by the shoulders. "What's the matter?"

She sniffed, and answered, "I-I k-killed my m-mother."

Immediately he deduced that Fugaku had finally told the child, despite the fact that he had repeatedly told the arrogant man that he himself would do it. But for the child to understand the words and to automatically assume that the only reason why she could summon a Phoenix was because her mother, the former Phoenix summoner, was dead...

Shikaku had taught her well, he thought to himself, and then said, "Hinata, you did not kill your mother."

She shook her head, face a wet mess, and protested.

"Listen," he said, brushing away the strands of her hair sticking to her lips. "You mother died because it was her time. She was just incredibly fortunate to have her loving daughter by her side to see to her last days. Not to mention, you mother must have been greatly relieved to have you pass on her family's power."

She quieted, sniffing every now and then as she processed his words.

His smile was warm when he asked, "Right then. Would you like to see what this scroll's about?"

Through blurry eyes, she looked at the giant rolled up cloth sitting on his large desk.

"Come on, now." He urged her forward in a friendly manner. "You should be honoured that Uchiha-san had decided to give it to you."

Seeing her withdraw into herself, he took her in his arms and set her down on his lap like Santa Claus and laughed merrily. His laughter rumbled against her arm and she couldn't help but like the feel of the loving mirth coming off from him. Soon, she found herself giggling, tears forgotten.

"There we go," he said, quite proud that he had stopped her tears. Point for Sarutobi, zero for Fugaku. Clan members were always so stuck up, except for, of course, the little one on his lap. "Now, this scroll is the summoning contract for the Legendary Summon of the Uchiha Clan."

She listened closely.

"Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, Konoha was at war with Tonbogakure, the Hidden Village of Dragonfly," he said, taking in a breath of his pipe. "They were strong, and they had a Legendary Summon, the Dragon, in which years before that they stole from Kumogakure. The Dragons wrought much destruction in our village until Konoha's very own Uchiha Clan managed to defeat the Dragon summoner-nin and take the scroll. The tide of the war soon turned when one Uchiha, a genius, was able to provide the chakra for summoning the Dragons, and that's when we won."

She leaned herself closer to his warm body, not liking the sound of the war, even if they had won.

"For generations and generations, the Uchiha kept the great Dragon in their possession," he said, his eyes having to seem to be looking far away in the distance. "Not every generation was able to summon the Dragon, but those few who could, were always filled with a certain hunger for power. So, it was no surprise then, that the Hyuga would rise their Phoenix to counter the mad Uchiha."

"Hyuga?" she inquired.

"Yes, Hyuga," he answered smiling. "The Hyuga also had a Legendary Summon, the Phoenix. The Phoenix was born in the Land of Fire, you see, and they had the luck of staying in their homeland, and so, once a Dragon summoner-nin became uncontrollable, it was the phoenix that beat it back down."

She nodded.

"Now," the Sandaime said. "Hinata, you must realize that these are very hard times. Rumours have been spreading of an organization rising up to take hold of all the Hidden Villages."

Frightened, she buried her head in his chest for protection.

"So, you must understand that for Konoha to have a summoner-nin for another generation is a great fortune," he said. "Your mother was one, and she did exceptionally well."

She gasped. Her mother? A kunoichi?

"My mama?" she asked.

"Oh yes," the Hokage said, nodding. "Just thirty years ago, Tonbogakure waged another war in hopes of getting the Dragon back, and seeing that none of the Uchiha had been found worthy by the creatures, it was your mother that we relied on heavily in the war."

She pondered on this. If her mother was a great ninja that protected Konoha… then should she be one too?

"So now, the Dragon is yours. And although Fugaku would have loved for his son to have the Dragon summon," he said, laughing to himself. "even a Uchiha prodigy may not have what it takes to be a true summoner-nin. Perhaps he should just settle for Weasels."

Hinata watched him in confusion as he laughed at his own joke… if there even was one.

Suddenly realizing that she wasn't laughing, he coughed awkwardly and drew the scroll to her. "Now, Hinata, would you like to be a summoner-nin?"

Looking uncertain, she directed her eyes at all the bloody names.

Mama. Her mama was one. A ninja.

And papa. He always wanted her to be powerful.

So she nodded and her name was signed. And once it was over, the Hokage helped her bandage her thumb, giving her a band-aid depicting smiley faces.

xxx

"Legendary Summoning Jutsu, Dragon!" she screamed as she dodged a sharp punch from Fugaku.

Ryujin, the Dragon, King of Water and Ice, appeared in a torrid of grey ice shooting up from the ground, encircling her in a round of mist and cold. Slowly, his head lifted from the frost-bitten grass and he rose high, his great bluish-black scales flashing severely in the sunlight. His jaw filled with fearful spiked teeth opened and snapped at the sky as he breathed in the air for what seemed like a century, perhaps even more.

Tilting his head to the ground, he saw a little girl pathetically trying to avoid the attacks of a man. Upon closer inspection, he found that the man had the Sharingan and the girl had protruding veins. Out of habit, he almost whipped his colossal tail at the girl to bat her away from the Uchiha, the name of his many masters years before, but was abruptly struck with realization.

The Uchiha was no master of his.

The Hyuga was his mistress.

Slitting his eyes in irritation, he found himself scrutinizing her. Small, weak and with no backbone whatsoever, he sincerely began to question her. Was she the one who summoned him? The blood that he tasted on the contract that struck him no fewer than two days ago was truly from this miniature live doll?

Her blood had held so much power, but, she was struck into a tree, this girl did not even seem to physically encompass it. Slithering away with a bat of his wings, he watched as she pushed herself up into the infamous Hyuga Juken stance. Clumsy stance, he noted, and turned his back to her. He would not aid such a pathetic summoner.

But no sooner had the Uchiha dove forward did Ryujin feel a very insistent tug that sent him forward to shield her from the Uchiha. His head hit the ground in between the Uchiha and the Hyuga, and the man drew back. Surprised, Ryujin went still, and so did the fighters. Blinking, the great Dragon King turned his head over to observe the out-of-breath girl, who stared back at him, frightened.

Did the girl just somehow called out to him for help? And was the call so great that he could not help but answer it without thought? Was this little white-eyed girl, blinking harshly to fight back the oncoming black, the one?

Ryujin watched her fall to the ground, snoring softly from exhaustion, and was more than surprised when he found himself not vanishing right away. Underneath the small canopy of the trees and the soft breeze of the afternoon that tickled her hair, the Dragon King found himself speechless, and begrudgingly begin to find her okay.

xxx

Her mistress had summoned the Dragon King to meet her. Hou-ou was passive when she stared into the eyes of Ryujin. She was more distracted by the fact that her mistress was learning to control her chakra, and therefore their size, because at that moment, both her and Ryujin were on the desk of one of her mistress' senseis, at the mere height of three inches.

She could feel her mistress stare at them apprehensively. Although only six, she knew her mistress was much more observant than others her age, and although her cousin, the Hyuga prodigy, was quick with the Byakugan, he certainly couldn't see what her mistress could.

The kindness of people, the compassion, the little things that did not matter. And for that, Hou-ou was quite proud to be the servant of one Hinata Hyuga.

Though, the firebird looked to the miniature-sized black Dragon, how her mistress could summon an irritable creature such as this overgrown lizard was beyond her.

"Hou-ou," Hinata introduced nervously, "this is…"

Now that the little child thought about it, he never did say his name. But then again, this was the second time she had summoned him.

"Ryujin," he said gruffly.

"Ryujin," the six-year-old tested. "This is Ryujin. And this is Hou-ou."

"We've met," the Dragon King said with a bite.

"Long time," the Phoenix Queen greeted composedly.

He sneered.

"The Uchiha's were never good at summoning," Hou-ou commented, restraining the mocking tone as much as possible.

"Not all of us can be with the Hyugas, now can we?" Ryujin snapped. "Not every summoner-nin can be adequate with a one-of-a-kind taijutsu, a blood limit and summoning skills, can they?"

"Pl-Please," Hinata hushed nervously, looking at the closed door for a moment. "Shikaku-sensei w-will be coming s-soon. You m-must be quieter."

"And she stutters," he jeered.

Hou-ou narrowed her eyes at the insult. "She is a very capable summoner. Only but six, and she has us both bound."

"I doubt she'll be able to get any more than us," he said.

"We are enough," the Phoenix said wisely.

The doorknob twisted, and Hinata hurriedly unsummoned them as quickly as possible. Sitting back with wrung hands, Shikaku found her in a nervous state in which he suspected that it had something to do with Fugaku's training. From what the Hokage had told him, and from what little time he spent spying on them to watch over her health, the Uchiha Head had been working her hard, perfecting her taijutsu to the point where she could perform the Gentle Fist quite well for someone her age.

So well, that Shikaku began to think of training her in some basic genjutsu and ninjutsu because it certainly didn't seem like Fugaku was doing such a thing.

Sighing, he dumped the large scroll onto the table, and she jolted at the sight of it.

"This is a summoning scroll," he said and plopped down in his chair with a satisfied sound. "I will be teaching you to summon the Deer."

Excited, she smiled.

"Can you tell me the pros in deer antler?" he asked.

She answered quite readily, and he soon found himself helping her sign the contract. He saw that her characters were a bit wobbly and off-centre and promised himself, quite reluctantly of course, to help her with that too.

"My name is Shika," the stag greeted, as big as an apartment building.

Hinata gaped up at him, and Shikaku was only glad that he took her far away from the village to summon this sucker. But then again, when he was teaching her to summon a Deer, he did not expect her to be so familiar with it already. What was Fugaku teaching this child?

Even more to his amazement, she had somehow managed to summon the King of all the Deer, Shika. A beautiful animal with proud antlers, and she didn't seem tired at all. It would seem that with every passing month, the little Hyuga girl was surprising him more and more, shattering his theory that the next generation would surely bring about the fall of Konoha, and looking at his son, he had no qualms about it being possible.

But now, this girl, this beautiful little girl, was making him feel much better about the future. And with summoning powers such as this… Well, she was her mother's daughter-

Choking, he coughed and spluttered as the King of the Deer gracefully tucked one of his legs in and bowed his head to the Hyuga child.

"Sh-Shikaku-sensei?" Hinata asked. She knew she should have controlled the chakra she flowed into the summoning, but summoning was just too much fun. It was like making new friends that actually liked her.

Her mother's daughter… of course…

Shikaku straightened and looked her in the eye, thinking: summoner-nin.

xxx

With her Byakugan activated, seven-year-old Hinata Hyuga could see all the little chakra points in his body, glowing an eerie white. Quickly she ducked away from his kick and zoomed in, hands flickering deftly to close the points. Her opponent grunted, and she ran away, swiftly closing a few more as she went.

Since her opponent had the Sharingan, she wasn't surprised when he cut off her trail of escape and grabbed her leg to toss her back. Upside down, she closed the chakra points in his arm and kicked herself away from him with her other leg, the free one, and stepped off to the side.

But she wasn't fast enough since within a second, she was flat on her back, the loser in their fight.

"Good," Fugaku complimented, letting her go.

Rolling her shoulders to ease her muscles, she smiled and looked up to the sky to judge the time of the day.

"Come, Hinata," the Uchiha Head said. "Mikoto is waiting."

With a cheery smile, she skipped happily behind him as they moved towards the Uchiha compound. The sky was bright and it was fairly warm as she brushed the sweat off her head. Silently, they entered through the back door, and she paused for a moment upon entry.

The Main House was quiet… too quiet… and what was that smell in the air… it was the smell her mother had when she was in bed… when she was about to die-

"Hinata," Fugaku whispered urgently. "Go home."

Fearfully, she questioned, "F-Fugaku-sensei?"

"Go, quickly," he ordered as she heard an abnormal rustle in the air.

A flash of steel from the shadows, and Fugaku shoved her out of the door, out of the Uchiha Compound, and closed it behind him. From the outside of tall walls, she could hear fighting, and she trembled. His command rang in her head, and she found herself complying as she ran away, her head pounding for her to get help.

Help was in the means of her substitute grandfather, the Hokage.

"O-Ojiisan!" she screamed upon breaking through the door, shattering the father and son conversation in the Hokage office.

Seeing the distressed girl, young Asuma said, "We'll talk later, father."

Once the younger Sarutobi left, Hinata stumbled into a very distressing explanation that darkened the Sandaime's face further and further with every word. Steady as always, he took her by the hand and led her to the Uchiha Compound confidently, very sure that nothing was wrong.

But no sooner had he opened the jarred Uchiha Gates, did he second think himself. He looked to the child beside him, and thought to tell her to go back to the Hyuga Compound when she suddenly shot out of his grasp and into the bloody house.

"Get help," the Hokage said to a lower-levelled Monkey and walked in himself, leaving the Monkey to find the nearest ANBU to spread the word.

It was a massacre, all the Uchiha dead in their own pools of blood. Faces of empty eyes and mouths agape with horrors unseen, they haunted the Uchiha streets. He heard her steps echo in the empty air, rushing towards the Main House, and he, too, quickly rushed forward to her, having no time to reflect on her incredible speed.

He passed by many of his people who were last seen alive, and he had to catch himself from falling when he saw the body of Uchiha Mikoto, a great Lady Uchiha. Shaking his head, pipe ready, he stepped into the inner sanctum of the Main House and saw, with his heart breaking, little Hinata crying into the chest of one dying Uchiha Fugaku.

"H-Hin-nata-a," Fugaku gasped, a trail of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. "Pr-Prom-mise m-me."

She looked up with tear-streaked cheeks.

"Pr-Promis-se me th-that you w-will b-be str-strong," he said, beating back death, if only for just a moment. "B-Be br-brave, a-and know th-that I am proud of y-you."

Sobbing, she nodded ferociously, tears coming out like waterfalls.

"H-Hokag-ge-sa-ma," Fugaku called.

Sarutobi was at his side at once, staring down at a brave and loyal ninja with prideful eyes.

"T-Take c-care of m-my s-son," he said.

And with one last heave, a heave that Hinata could feel beneath her hands on his chest, the light faded from his eyes and she cried. A cry that was echoed from a boy hidden in a closet deep within the Main House, a boy in which Sarutobi had sent to the hospital immediately.

xxx

Dressed in a black kimono with no combs to keep her hair out of her face, she watched as they lowered the last casket to the ground. Eyes red from salty tears, her neck convulsed as she swallowed another sob down. Fugaku-sensei would not have liked to see her cry, no matter the occasion, but no matter what her late sensei wanted, she was only seven years old, and the tears just came on their own accord.

She could hear them speak. It had been the Uchiha prodigy, the Uchiha heir, the thirteen-year-old ANBU captain, the blood and pride and son of Fugaku that had killed them all. The very son that Fugaku had compared her to, always speaking of him with a father's pride. The same comparing her father did with her and Neji-niisan, except Fugaku had loved her in the strange way a man could love a daughter he never had.

She dared to look up to see her father's grim face before lowering her gaze. Her sister, at the mere age of one, was sitting quite still in their father's arm, not crying, not temperamental. Hinata could tell right away that her sister would be strong and that already, Hanabi was standing up to their father's standard of a proper Hyuga, something Hinata continuously wasn't.

But her father didn't know of her improvement, and she didn't think she wanted him to know. She had seen the brand on her cousin's forehead, and couldn't imagine the same on her little sister's. As long as her sister held potential, her father would not brand her… as long as her uncle Hizashi's memory was strong in her father's mind, Hanabi would be safe.

Hidden in the sleeve of her kimono, small-sized Ryujin wrapped his tail around his mistress' wrist in comfort. He was to bear witness to the funeral of the Uchiha Clan, the very clan that he had been a servant of for many, many generations. The casket containing the body of the great Uchiha Fugaku, the late sensei of his summoner-nin, landed at the bottom of the hole, and that was the last of the Uchiha… save for two.

The murderer.

Hinata, from where she stood, could see Fugaku-sensei's youngest son stare at the coffin with hard, brave eyes filled with turmoil.

And the avenger.

the point