The Orange Daimyo of Uzushiogakure

Chapter Eight – Forceful Threads of Fate

"I wanted to know why the heiress of a prestigious clan would want to throw a spar for leadership over the clan".

Hinata froze in horror. Her father knew! Her throat tightened up, and she couldn't get any words out to explain herself. "I-I_I'm s-sorry, I-I didn't m-mean…to offend…"

She trailed off, but her father continued to stare. "Take your time daughter, but I do require a full and detailed explanation".

This gave Hinata pause. Her father didn't seem particularly displeased. In fact, he wasn't displaying much emotion at all. If he was very angry, his eldest daughter could usually tell. Taking a deep breath, she tried to relax. Her father wanted a detailed explanation, but where to start with her story? It was something she had been working towards for so long…

For several minutes, the pair sat in silence. Hinata glanced up at the Hyuga leader. "I'm sorry father, I-I need to apologize to you. A f-few years ago I overheard on your council meeting that whichever daughter didn't lead the clan was to be m-married off to further prospects for Hyuga".

Hiashi's mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything. He gestured for Hinata to continue.

"I knew that Hanabi would never prosper if that lot fell to her. She would go crazy if she had to give up being a shinobi! Besides, if a wedding fell through, and she received the c-caged bird seal, I'd never be able to live with myself. ".

"So you decided to ensure your younger sister would win the match?"

"Y-yes sir, but it is important to me that Hanabi doesn't find out. I d-don't want her to worry about me or feel any sadness about the outcome of the match".

Her father closed his eyes for a moment. "I will not inform Hanabi. Although I noticed that something was off with the end of your match with her, we did not delay the proceedings. Even if I cared to change the outcome of things, I could not."

Hinata felt the start of tears tingle in her eyes. "So Hanabi is safe?"

Hiashi's face softened slightly. "Yes. Your sister cannot be removed as the Heiress of the clan now".

"Thank goodness!" Hinata was so relieved to hear that the Hanabi couldn't be changed as the clan head. It didn't matter if she was punished for her deception, her goal had been met.

"That brings us to a second order of business, Hinata. What are we to do with you?"

Hinata bit her lip. "I-I except any punishment you see fit for my d-deception." There was a second pregnant pause while Hishi had another sip of tea.

"That will not be necessary. Your transgression is not common knowledge and it shall remain that way. None of the other council members or elders were perceptive enough to catch the change in your footwork".

The raven haired kunoichi let a small smile play on her lips. Unless she was quite mistaken, her father had just complimented her subterfuge.

"I must be straight forward with you my daughter: the council has come to an agreement as to who your husband shall be".

Redness climbed to her cheeks. So she hadn't been completely wrong when she had been speculating earlier. "W-who?"

"Konohagakure has recently been in talks to start an alliance with Uzushiogakure. To strengthen this newly formed bond, the council in the Uzushio capital city called upon the clans of Konoha to offer a suitably noble maiden for marriage with their Daimyo".

Hinata was speechless. She was to marry a Daimyo? That meant two of her worse fears were likely to come true: she would have to move far from her family and would likely have to give up her life as a kunoichi. She tried her best to remain stoic for her father. It was her duty to her family and to Konoha to go through with this. She had known this was the likely price for giving up the ruling seat of her clan.

"I have done the best I could to ensure this would be a suitable match for you Hinata, although it has been a somewhat rushed affair. From what I understand, the Uzushio Daimyo is close to your age and it does not need to be said that as a Daimyo's wife you will be very well cared for".

Hinata carefully maintained a neutral face, and nodded at her father's words. "How long do I have left in Konoha, father?"

"Our delegation leaves in two weeks time".

"A-alright," Hinata stated in a quiet, yet final voice. "T-thank you father, for a-arranging this".

He looked slightly pained at this. "Whatever you do Hinata, do not thank me for this situation".

Taking a final sip of tea, Hiashi stood up, and Hinata followed his lead. "I will provide you with more details tomorrow. Please meet me in my study at 8 o'clock".

"Y-yes sir, I will". On those words, Hinata left her father's office, head spinning. Wandering back to her room, her mind mulled over the information her father had given her. She only had two weeks? This was much, much faster than she had anticipated. Her heart was pounding in tune with her head, so as she arrived at her quarters she decided to lay down. Tension and worry surrounded her as she pulled the blankets over herself. She had known this moment was coming for a long time, but what she didn't expect was how much the moment hurt now that it was here.

Hinata awoke in the late evening with swirling images of a snowy forest and a deep red scarf in her head. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep. It had been a long time since she dreamed about her first, and only, crush. With a heavy sign, the raven haired kunoichi sat up in bed. Perhaps it was a sign.

The compound was very quiet. In her haste to sleep away her stress, Hinata had neglected to ask anyone in the household to wake her and as a result, it was now very late in the day and she was wide awake. Getting out of bed, she padded softly to the window. It was dark outside, but her stomach was grumbling enough that she decided to head out into the town to get food. She had most certainly slept through dinner.

Pulling her lavender jacket over top of her clothes, Hinata set out underneath the blackened sky. The sky was darker over the Hyuga compound as the electric lights from the town placed a permanent pale glow above it. Hinata paused just outside the gates to absorb the sight. Her days in her hometown were numbered; she resolved to not forget a single detail of Konoha.

Nervous energy fueled her walk, propelling her to the core of the city. The marketplace was still open, although it had certainly cleared out. Late shoppers milled around the stalls while Hinata walked past them, somewhat aimless. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a place that she hadn't given any thought to in a long time: Ramen Ichiraku. Her footsteps slowed and her stomach growled again. The small noodle house was still open, so Hinata quietly slid onto one of the stools. She ordered a miso ramen and glanced around. It hadn't changed much.

Slowly, the Hyuga nin ate her ramen and considered how often she used to hang around here as a child. She had always hoped to run into Naruto there…Her chopsticks hit the bottom of the bowl, and she noticed that she had missed a single piece of fishcake at the bottom. She frowned.

It was as if the universe was torturing her by reminding her of the path she had given up. She paid for her meal and left feeling less anxious, but more defeated. Since her mood couldn't get any lower, Hinata decided to go to a place that she had avoided for over three years. She picked up her pace, and before long, she was on the mountain side above the carved Hokage. When she was a girl she used to come up here to be alone, but ever since she had spoken to Naruto that fateful night, it had been painful and dead opposite of relaxing.

Looking out over the beautiful cityscape, Hinata sat down. For the first year after Naruto had left, she had wondered often where he had gone and if her words had encouraged him to leave. He could be anywhere in the world at this very moment. She was certain that he was making it a better place somehow. For one silly moment she imagined what Naruto would do if he were in her situation, but even her imagination couldn't take that seriously. There was no way someone like Naruto would ever get stuck in an arranged marriage. He'd change it if he didn't like it. Besides, the idea itself was so laughable that it managed to make her smile.

Her thoughts drifted from there. She wondered what her future fiancé was like. It was hard to imagine being in a relationship with a stranger especially one that was a civilian. Her life for such a long time was centered around training and improving her skills as a kunoichi. It seemed an insurmountable obstacle to give that up. Would she really be happy without continuing to work on improving herself?

Determination crossed her face. She decided no matter what, she would keep her skills up, even if it meant training in secret after dark. In theory, it meant she could protect her betrothed. And if it was to protect the Daimyo, how could anyone really be upset about it if they found out?

This small act of planned rebellion buoyed her spirits. Hinata decided to keep this as her focus over the next few days as she prepared to leave Konoha. She wouldn't give up.

She stayed on mountainside for another quarter of an hour before returning to the Hyuga compound. Hinata had a lot of people and places to say goodbye to but she'd have to start tomorrow. She needed to try and sleep for a few hours at least before she met her father the following morning.

Hiashi waited by the coach for his daughters to finish their saying their goodbyes. The trip to Uzushio was a fairly long one when they had so many things to pack including Hinata's belongings and supplies to supplement the engagement festival. Much of the procession was behind them, but they would fast catch up at the rate the morning was going.

His younger daughter had insisted on coming part of the way to spend some final time with her sister. With the amount of training that Hanabi was going to have to receive to lead the clan, it was very likely that Hanabi wouldn't be able to travel to visit her sister in quite some time. With this in mind, he had allowed it. He watched the pair from afar. Hanako would have been proud of their strong bond he was sure. He wasn't sure how to feel about the way the bid for clan leadership had turned out.

He had faith that Hanabi would be a fearless and fair leader for his clan. But finding out how hard Hinata had worked to ensure that she lost the title of heiress had certainly improved his opinion of her abilities. Perhaps in time she would have made a good leader after all. Hiashi shook his head. That was nothing but speculation now. His eldest had chosen a different path and he hoped that it was one she could live with.

Hinata slowly made her way back to the carriage as Hanabi left on foot with her tutor. She was wiping her tears on her sleeve, but she didn't look back. She glanced up at him "I'm ready to go father", she said quietly as she climbed into the coach. The Hyuga leader nodded and followed her inside.

The carriage started moving, and within minutes they were out of sight of the little coastal town that they had stopped in. They needed to travel further down the coast to a town that had larger ferries to the Uzushio Island. The trip was silent aside from the sounds of the road. Hiashi looked over at his daughter. She looked to be sleeping, but her breathing suggested otherwise. He didn't wish to disturb her.

His thoughts turned to the impending festivities. Hiashi was one of the few high ranking council members of Konoha that had knowledge of what had happened to their resident pariah. He had been shocked enough to find out that the boy was the son of the Fourth, but for him to leave to become the heir to another nation had seemed surreal at the time. Since then not much information had trickled forth from Uzushio. It was going to be interesting to see how the city and the nation faired with Naruto at the helm, although Hiashi's chief concern was that things be stable enough so that Hinata was safe.

The men who watched over Hinata as a young girl had told him that not long after she had entered the academy she had developed a crush on the jinchuriki of Konoha. He tried to dissuade her then, but nothing had been effective. At that time, Hiashi had had no other option than to hope her preference for the boy faded with age, however when Naruto left the village, the effect on his eldest was immediate. She never said a word about what feelings she might be harbouring, but it wasn't uncommon for him to walk past her quarters and hear quiet sobbing. To have the council come to him to seek to wed Hinata to her childhood crush seemed like a peculiar alignment of the stars. Perhaps Hanako was watching over her children after all.

He longed to tell Hinata the details of the match, but it had been impressed upon him that the identity of the Daimyo needed to remain a secret in the off chance that the Daimyo's fiancé-to-be spilled the information to a peer. Hiashi knew his daughter was far more trustworthy than this, but it was specifically written into the betrothal contract, so his hands were bound.

The carriage slowed down as it approached the ferry landing. They were within the final stages of their journey. They had the ferry ride, and then a final coach to take them up to the palace from the Uzushio city harbor.

Hiashi's feelings were mixed. Curiosity to see the rebuilt city was mingling with the growing discomfort of knowing that the loss of his daughter was eminent. He frowned. "Hinata, wake up. We are changing our transportation".

A few heavy blinks signaled his eldest's wake up. "Yes, sir", she said, stretching.

"Hinata, wake up. We are changing our transportation". Her father's voice woke her from a comfortable slumber. "Yes sir," she replied, still feeling drowsy. She had found that the previous night sleep didn't come to her as thoughts of leaving her sister and family bounced around in her head along with worries about meeting her betrothed. Although she was glad to catch up on some sleep, she was sure that she needed to clean up before meeting the Daimyo. Her father exited the coach, and she followed, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. The clouds that had been hanging over the coach when she fell asleep had cleared, leaving a bright blue sky overhead as the party transferred themselves and their goods over to the ferry.

It was a smooth process, and it didn't take long before the boat had set off toward their final destination. Hinata took at seat right at the edge of the boat and looked over the ocean. It had been ages since she had seen the ocean. She took a deep breath of the salty air and smiled. The spray coming up from the boat sparkled.

The boat ride was pleasant although long. As much as she enjoyed being on the water, Hinata was glad to get off the boat and get one step closer to a hot bath. The carriage ride up to the palace far shorter than the ferry ride, but Hinata found it overwhelming. The island was very beautiful. Thick green foliage crowded the sides of the cobbled road. The large stones that marked the roadside edges had lush carpets of similarly coloured moss. The natural beauty of the area was juxtapositioned with the remnants of the previous war. The solid cement structures of the past were crumbled and the natural world was fighting to retake it. The landscape slowly changed at the vehicle got closer to the centre of the city. The destroyed buildings had been cleared away to make space for new ones. There were a handful of newly minted stone and cement buildings, supplemented with wooden buildings. Before long, they were in the centre of the city where it was very hard to tell there had ever been such massive destruction.

The raven haired kunoichi was thankful for the scenery that took her mind off the evening's event. Her nervous nature was beginning to flare up and as the coach pulled up to the palace, her heart started hammering. The palace was a large building with a stone base and detailed traditional wood working. As they drew closer, they looped around the back through a spectacularly tended garden before coming to halt in a stone courtyard.

A group of servants from inside the palace came out to greet the coach. She balled her fists. She hadn't been this nervous since her first go through the chunin exams. Her father, who had been riding in along with her in silence, gestured for her to leave before him. Her dark hair bobbed as she nodded.

Hinata climbed out into the cool evening air. "This way, my lady," said an older woman with dark chocolate hair. The younger nin follow the serving woman into the palace. Once she was inside, Hinata felt slightly more at home. The inside of the palace had a very similar feel to the Hyuga compound. The woman took her to a moderately small back room where there already a large basin filled with water warm enough to steam the mirror behind it. "You go ahead and get cleaned up Lady; I'll have one of the other maids fetch your outfit."

A quick, stiff nod was her only reply. She was really worried now. What if her fiancé didn't like her at all? What if she tripped while walking in the procession? A million dark natured 'what ifs' haunted her as she dutifully climbed into the bath. The anxiety was crushing, and even the comforting lavender smell of the water didn't settle her nerves.

It seemed that only a moment had passed the when serving lady returned with her outfit. It was a stunning kimono that Hanabi had insisted she wear. Hinata had actually had it for some time, but always felt that it was too fancy to wear around Konoha.

She didn't bother spending much time soaking in the basin. As soon as she was out of the water and covered in a robe, a flurry of maids descended upon her. The ladies helped her into her outfit and then with far more precision and skill than she was used to, they styled her hair and painted on cosmetics.

The rapid change from traveling to primping didn't help Hinata's mood. Stress ate at her and she fought to resist picking at her newly painted nails. The maids let her have a glance at herself in the mirror before they ushered her out of the dressing room and towards what she was told was an audience chamber. She did look very nice and she wished that her little sister could be around to see it. The pain of losing Hanabi reasserted itself and compounded her anxiety.

Far too quickly, the Hyuga maiden found herself in the middle of a procession to greet the Daimyo of Uzushiogakure. The overwhelming feeling of stress combined with a lack of proper food from traveling was making Hinata feel light headed. She swallowed thickly and focused on moving her feet in time with the other members of her household. Hinata fought to keep from looking down. So many people were looking at her, whispering to each other and mumbling. Her face felt hot and her chest felt tight. They were reaching the front of the procession now. The house members that were walking ahead of her were splitting off to the left and right leaving the middle free. Just a few more people and she'd be able to clearly see her future husband's face…

She tried to take a few calming breaths and glanced up at the raised platform that the Daimyo was standing on. Her calming breath caught in her throat. The Daimyo had short, unruly blonde hair and clear, shining blue eyes. 'I-it couldn't be!' she thought, blinking a few times to ensure her vision was clear. As she moved a bit closer, the fine lines on his cheeks became more obvious. The heat in her face tripled with her embarrassment and confusion. Naruto was the Daimyo? It couldn't be…but the closer she got and the more she was able to study him, the more sure she was.

The look on his face was one of studied pleasantness. He wasn't dressed like any Daimyo that she had ever seen. He was wearing a navy shirt and pants that were reminiscent of shinobi garb, but of obviously finer quality, with a white jacket over top that reminded her of the Hokage's. The jacket had blue coming up in waves from the bottom and was embroidered with golden outlines of koi fish. The overall effect was that he looked both competent and regal. She felt a familiar shakiness in her knees. It was definitely Naruto and he was definitely the man of the hour.

Hinata was nearly at the platform now. As she climbed the stairs, she watched as his face went from a somewhat neutral expression to an 'o' of surprise, and then a wide grin. She wobbled a bit stepping up onto the platform, and he immediately extended his hand to help her up. His hand was warm and strong, and her already fast heart rate sped up as he helped her onto the platform. "Hinata! It's you!" She looked up at him and saw genuine happiness in his eyes. Suddenly, the crowd of people sounded muffled and far away. Her vision narrowed and the last thing she saw before everything went black was the concern in Naruto's eyes.

Naruto stood on a slight platform as the Konoha procession began. His face was already starting to feel tense from forcing a smile. For whatever reason, the council had been keeping the identity of his fiancé-to-be concealed. They hadn't even told Airi, who speculated that they were both being 'punished' by the council. Earlier in the day, however, one of the council members had slipped up and spoke the sir-name of the lady: Hyuga. The young Uzushio ruler was oddly nervous about this. He had found most of the Hyuga to be sort of stuck up, even if Neji had turned out to be not all bad.

Members of the Hyuga household were walking up the empty space in the middle of the room as parting as they got to the platform. It was formal; and it did look regal but it also meant that he couldn't see his bride. His stomach did an uncomfortable flip at his last thought: bride.

As the procession got shorter, he was able to make out the girl walking up the centre. The blond's eye's widened. She was pretty! Her kimono was lavender and pink, and it matched her eyes. Her long, dark hair shined as she walked and her figure, well, Pervy Sage would have been happy for him.

The maiden seemed to waver slightly as she caught sight of him, a dark blush spreading over her cheeks. Something about that seemed very familiar. Naruto searched his brain: he must have met this girl before! By this point the young Hyuga had reached the platform, and started up the stairs.

The beautiful maid stumbled on the stairs and he extended his hand to help her. She looked up at him, eyes wide and cheeks very red and everything fell into place. All the training in the world wouldn't have hidden the surprise on Naruto's face. "Hinata!" he exclaimed, "it's you!" He couldn't believe his luck! Out of all the Hyuga, she was definitely the best one. Even if he didn't have romantic feelings for her, at the very least, he had another friend.

Grinning, Naruto glanced down at Hinata just in time to notice her eyes start to close. His eyebrows came together. "Hinata?"

She went limp, and Naruto noticed just in time to catch her from hitting the floor. "Hinata!"

Thanks for reading!

~ NwL