Hey everybody. Well, here we are…the set up chapters to start the Chunin exams. And I can't be any more excited about it truthfully! Okay, one thing before we start. I'm going to give one last reminder: Hinata and Neji's roles are reversed, which means that their father's roles are also. That means that Hizashi, Neji's father, is the head of the Hyuuga clan. And Hiashi, Hinata's father, is…well dead. So that's it really. Oh yeah, and this chapter will be more serious than previous ones. Hope that doesn't tick too many people off. Don't worry, I've got humor planned next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Edit 8/24/09- Once again, a pretty decently edited chapter. Mostly just a couple more details put in here and there and also going a little deeper into Naruto's thoughts throughout the chapter. Not much else to say though…


Naruto stared through the darkness that surrounded him. He could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing…it was as if he was alive but without body, had no senses whatsoever. Panic suddenly overwhelmed him. What if he wasn't alive? What if this was death that he was experiencing. In his fear, he struggled against the darkness with all his strength, trying to see through it…The process was slow, but soon he had a hand to clench, two eyes to see. Finally, he had body again.

He looked around in a slight daze, trying to find out where he was. He just seemed to be floating in mid air in a void of darkness. "Where am I?" he asked, still looking around.

Suddenly, his head erupted in pain. Naruto gripped his head, trying to shake off the throbbing. It was as if something was trying to dig itself from the inside out of his head and through his eyes. Something bad. Semi consciously, his hand went to his stomach, the location where his seal was.

The scenery around Naruto suddenly changed, although he recognized the location immediately. He was in front of Inari's house, at the place that he and his team had fought Haku and Zabuza. He suddenly felt a jolt run through his body. Slowly, he turned around to see what was happening.

He gasped, finding himself gazing at the outside of Haku's ice mirrors, every detail exactly as they had been when they had battled each other. Naruto's mouth dropped open agape when he looked who was inside. It was him, but there was something wrong. His other self was covered in a red aura, drying the water that surrounded him into hot steam. Naruto could feel his heart break suddenly. Beside his other self on the other side of the mirrors was Hinata's body, lying motionlessly with her eyes shut.

The other Naruto suddenly roared skyward savagely, breaking the top mirror that hovered over him into a million tiny shards as the red energy shot out from his body like a cannon. The now demonic Naruto jumped toward the nearest ice mirror and broke it as if it was glass. A mere second later, his other self jumped out of the way to avoid Haku's attack, but pounced back and grabbed Haku by the arm. After speaking a few words toward Haku, the missing nin eyes widened in fright and the other Naruto pulled his fist back, slamming it into Haku's face and sending the Kiri nin soaring through the air.

Naruto could not believe what he was seeing. He was looking at himself from the outside, seeing how he had acted when he had fought Haku. He couldn't believe how much power he had possessed when he had lost control. But at the same time, he felt more afraid that he had ever felt in his entire life.

The blonde cringed when he saw Haku get up, amazed that the boy could even stand after such a crushing blow. He looked over at his other self and felt himself begin to shake in fear. The demonic Naruto was smiling evilly, as if it liked causing Haku pain. He suddenly realized that during that moment, he had lived for Haku's pain. It frightened him how much alike he resembled the Demon of the Bloody Mist from the day that they first fought him… Just what had he become that day?

The only thing Naruto could do was watch as his other self shoot toward Haku again. With a mighty leap, he tackled Haku to the ground, raising his clawed hand over the boy that was prepared to cut through Haku's throat, but froze.

"Don't do it," Naruto pleaded at his other self. "Please…don't do it."

The demon Naruto still didn't move, looking down at Haku. Finally, it smiled in victory. It was when Naruto knew that Haku was not going to survive this time.

"No!" Naruto yelled, but the demon in front of him still brought his claw down at Haku. Naruto closed his eyes before he could see the blow, but he could not block out the ear splitting scream that pierced the air soon after.

For a moment, Naruto just stood there with his eyes closed, trying to compose himself. This had to be a dream…some sick and twisted dream…Naruto reopened his eyes and found that the scenery had changed once again, this time into a room filled with mirrors. He looked at the one in front of him and shouted again in fear. He had turned into his demon form. His blonde hair was now ragged and messy, and the whisker marks on his cheeks had become wild. His teeth had also grown, making them appear more akin to fangs than teeth. The most frightful part were his eyes, which had changed from the usual clear blue to crimson…the color of blood.

This is who you are… a familiar deep voice said inside of him. Why do you insist on denying it?

Naruto ignored the voice and instead turned away from the mirror, yet he was only faced by another reflection of himself. In rage, he crushed the mirror with all the might he could produce, but it was only replaced by yet another. Every time Naruto saw a new reflection of what he had become, the fury inside of him grew even stronger before destroying it. Soon Naruto was going from mirror to mirror, shattering any sort of glass he could find. He couldn't look at them. What he saw in them was not him, it was a demon. He kept on telling himself that as he continued to demolish every single mirror in his path. Finally, all that remained around him was darkness. He fell to his knees, gasping for air from exhaustion.

A growl suddenly brought him back on alert. At first it sounded like nothing more than a small rumble, barely even noticeable, but then it became steadily louder. The noise became so painful that Naruto finally brought his two clawed hands up to his ears, trying to block out the sound.

"Stop it!" Naruto tried to yell, but he could not even hear his own voice over the thunderous growl.

"You can't hide it…no matter how much you try," a deep and cold voice echoed through the darkness.

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted gripping his head with both hands. He couldn't listen to that voice. It was so evil…so dark. He couldn't listen to it, he won't listen to it!

"You've tasted the darkness once…and you gave into it. You can't hold it off…you can't hold me off. You cannot hide what is already inside of you." A giant eye suddenly opened in front of him…the same colored eye that his were when he had used the Kyuubi's power. A giant mouth appeared next, snarling savagely at Naruto. Then, quick as lightning, the mouth opened wide and rushed at Naruto and closed its jaws around him.

Naruto woke up with a start, taking in deep, ragged breaths. He quickly brought his hands up to his face, double checking that they were still completely human. After that, his hands went to his hair and whiskers, checking if they too were the same as always.

After finally being reassured that he was the same, Naruto finally began to take steadier breathes. His eyes darted around the campsite that they were at while wiping his sweat covered forehead with his sleeve. They were merely a half a day's walk from Konoha and had decided to rest that night instead of continuing. Kakashi, Hinata, and Shikamaru slept soundly, none of them showing any signs of being awake.

Naruto looked up to nighttime sky, trying to find comfort in the starry mural above him. He punched himself lightly in the leg. He wasn't supposed to have fallen asleep in the first place. After all, it was his turn to take watch. But now Naruto was not too sure if he wanted to stay awake for the night or to fall asleep once again. His eyes began to feel heavy, and he decided to let his body decide on its own.

"No matter how much you try, you won't be able to hide the darkness inside of you…demon boy."

"Shut up," Naruto said gripping his head and trying to block out the voice. "I'm not a demon…I'm not like you…"

Naruto shivered silently, trying to shake the terrible voice from his head, but the worst thing was that he felt it was true. The power that he felt was still inside of him. He could deny it, but it was still there. And nothing he could ever do or say could ever change that.

He never did get fully asleep again that night. He also never noticed that Shikamaru's left eyelid had been slightly open the entire time.


On any normal day, Shikamaru wouldn't mind silences, but on that morning it seemed to be a little much. Ever since they woke up the entire trip back had been quiet with the occasional exception of Kakashi ordering them to do something that was needed. Usually, he liked it when things were relatively silent. Things were peaceful, nothing was around to give him a headache, and if he wasn't going anywhere he could sit down and take a good nap.

But this wasn't one of those peaceful silences. It was one of those uncomfortable silences when something was wrong. Shikamaru couldn't say what that could be. They had all made it back from a life threatening mission. What wasn't there to be happy about?

The one who worried him the most was Naruto who was, quite uncharacteristically, the most mute of them all. It hadn't taken long for him and Hinata to notice their teammate's peculiar behavior. Ever since the battle at the bridge, Naruto had been acting strangely. It was almost as if his usual smiling face was more forced than it usually was. He wasn't eating as much as he had been either, which was also a dramatic change in the blonde's personality. Something had to be bothering Naruto, but both he and Hinata were slightly too afraid ask. Not to mention that he still had no idea what Naruto had been talking about the previous night.

Not saying that he wasn't worried about Hinata as well. But while he had a feeling Naruto was dwelling on events that had happened in the past, whatever they might have been, he also suspected that Hinata might actually instead be dreading the future. Whenever the rare conversation about their return came up in conversation, she would become unusually silent, even by her standards. When he had asked her about it, she had reassured him that she was fine. One thing had happened though when she had lost her Byakugan. Her new violet eyes were no longer able to hide lies.

"Well guys, welcome home," Kakashi said suddenly, looking up from his book. The Genin stood up straight in attention, looking down the road. A couple steps more and they finally saw the gates of Konoha. Kakashi looked over at his students, expecting to see the happy faces that they had now that they had returned home. Beneath his mask he frowned, seeing that none of his students were smiling at all. Heck, they didn't even look remotely happy. Did he miss something?

Kakashi couldn't really blame Naruto though. He suspected that using the Kyuubi's chakra had probably been a huge shock to him, but there also seemed to be something else that was bothering the boy. Whatever it was though, Naruto seemed intent on keeping such information to himself.

"Welcome home!" a Chunin guard exclaimed as they approached the gates. "You must have been the team that escorted that man back to Wave Country, we've been expecting you. How did your mission turn out?"

"Deadly," Kakashi said simply. The Chunin stared blankly at Kakashi, appearing not too sure if his superior was serious or not. "It's nothing to worry about now, the mission ended in success," Kakashi reassured the younger man with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, well good!" the Chunin said brightening up, though still looking slightly confused. "I'm happy to hear that. Well, hope you have a nice day," the man said stepping aside and letting the four ninja walk by.

"Well," Kakashi said placing his book in his side pocket and turning to his Genin after they had walked in, "that's it. Excellent job these past couple of weeks. You are dismissed to do whatever you please. I'm going to go give Hokage-sama the mission report. And report information about a missing nin that Konoha will no longer have to worry about."

The Genin nodded grimly to their sensei. Not exactly the response he would have liked. "Oh, and one more thing," Kakashi added cheerfully. "Take the next two days off, I think you deserve it. Until then fellas…" The Copy Nin then vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata by themselves.

"Okay then," Shikamaru said stretching. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading home. I've got some sleeping to catch up on."

"Do you ever think about anything else besides being lazy?" Naruto asked chuckling.

"Not really," Shikamaru shrugged. "I'll see you two later." Shikamaru turned around and waved lazily at his two teammates as he walked down the street. He glanced over his shoulder at the two to see if either of them looked suspicious. Thankfully, they weren't.

Shikamaru sighed in relief. If they had actually known where he lived, they might have realized that he was walking in the opposite direction toward where his house was. Actually, he was planning on going to Choji's house to get a little help with doing some research in the library. Something about what Zabuza had said still puzzled Shikamaru. Do you think that a disaster that large would be over looked by opposing villages? What disaster? The biggest thing that he could think of was the attack of the Kyuubi twelve years ago. But how could that be related to the situation that they had been in at that time? And why had Kakashi seemed so intimidated by Zabuza's words? None of it made sense.

While his mind was still on the demon fox, another thought suddenly crossed his mind. At the academy they had been told repeatedly over and over again that the Yondaime had defeated the Kyuubi, but none of them had ever given specific details on how he had defeated it. Shikamaru had never really thought about it at length before, but now he was becoming more and more curious on the subject.

"There are too many holes in the story," Shikamaru muttered as he continued to walk. "Looks like I'm not going to be able to catch up on all that sleep after all…"

Back with Hinata and Naruto, they both stood silently together, trying to find something to say to the other.

"So…Hinata," Naruto finally said. "What do you think your family's going to say? You know, now that you've lost your byakugan?"

"…I don't know," Hinata said clasping her hands together nervously. "I'm not too sure what they're going to do. But I'm scared." Naruto looked at Hinata in concern, though the Hyuuga girl didn't seem to notice, still staring down at the ground with her now violet eyes. "What if they kick me out of the family? Who's ever heard of a Hyuuga without the byakugan anyways? I'll be useless to the family and…"

"Hey," Naruto said, putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder. Hinata immediately became quite and looked back up at the blonde, her violet eyes meeting with his cerulean eyes. "Don't worry about it. Sure, your family is kind of jerky. But they're still your family. It'll be fine."

Hinata nodded back at Naruto, feeling a little better. She had always loved how Naruto was able to make her fears disappear. Sometimes he didn't even have to say anything for it to happen. It just did when she looked at him. His determination was beautiful to her. How he could always get back up, no matter what happened to him. To keep going no matter what the costs or what anybody said. Admittedly, she kind of envied it, but overall she admired it.

"If you say so, Naruto-kun," Hinata said blushing slightly. "I hope you're right."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said smiling. "And tell you what. I'll go with you too."

"What?" Hinata said in surprise. "Y-you don't have to do that, Naruto-kun. I'll be fine on my own, I promise."

"I know that, Hinata," Naruto said crossing his arms behind his head. "But heck, I don't have anything to do today anyways. Anyways, scary things are always easier when you have a friend with you."

Hinata suddenly felt slightly warmer inside, the familiar feeling of being safe when Naruto was around. She loved that feeling. More than anything else in the world.

"Thanks, Naruto-kun," Hinata muttered blushing embarrassedly.

"No problem, Hinata-chan," Naruto said as they began their way to the Hyuuga district in Konoha.

The trip there was made in silence, though the other one being there made the travel a little more bearable. It didn't take long for Naruto to also begin wondering what would happen to Hinata. He made no attempt to hide his true feelings on how the clan ran things. The whole system was based off of whom one's parents were and the specific time they were born. Your entire life was decided at the point of your birth. You were a leader or a follower, and nothing you could ever do would change that. The whole idea just pissed him off.

Even more though, he hated the seal that they put on the branch members. He had only discussed about it with Hinata on a handful of occasions, but everything he did know about it just made him even more pissed at the clan. It was like a symbol of the oppression that the branch family had to endure for their entire lives. They could never escape it. And as if just to make him angrier, he also learned about the other use of the seal. A tool the main branch can use as a means to control the branch family. According to Hinata, her seal had only been activated once when she had first received it, as a warning to show her what would happen should she ever go against their wishes. Just thinking about it made him clench his fists in anger. But his anger was subsided slightly more than usual now that the seal was gone. At least one good thing had come out from their fight with Haku. He had released Hinata from the effects of the seal. And Naruto couldn't be more relieved.

When finally they arrived to the location, they halted before the gigantic house that belonged to the main family of the clan. Hinata stopped in her tracks, suddenly too afraid to take another step.

Naruto stopped as well, looking back at Hinata. After a moment, he walked over to her and grabbed her hand, surprising her. Hinata looked from their clasped hands and up to Naruto. The whiskered boy gave a soft and comforting smile to Hinata, which she couldn't help but to return back. Finally, she began to walk again, still holding Naruto's hand.

Two Hyuuga guards in front of the gates spotted them, both of them activating their Byakugan as they approached, both of them wearing their hitae-ates tightly around their foreheads. They were obviously branch family members. The main branch family members usually made an effort to make sure their foreheads were visible, as if to just to add salt to the wound for the branch family. Naruto hated that they had activated their byakugans as soon as they approached, even though he had been told by Hinata that they were required to do so to check for any threatening weapons that they may be holding. It just made him feel as if he wasn't allowed any privacy at all and that he couldn't be trusted. It also made him feel as if the Hyuuga's felt as if they could do anything that they wanted. To them, it seemed like nobody else's feelings mattered to them at all.

"Halt," one spoke sternly, making no sign at all that he recognized Hinata. "You are on Hyuuga grounds. State your business."

Naruto looked over to Hinata, which she nodded back assuredly. She then turned back to the guard. "Tell Hizashi-sama that Hinata has returned."

The Hyuuga guard looked at Hinata for a second, then his eyes widened in shock. He turned to his partner, who looked back in equal surprise.

"I'll be back," the guard said more to the other guard than Hinata, disappearing with a hand sign. Both Hinata and Naruto looked at each other nervously. This was obviously not a good first sign.

The guard suddenly reappeared, barely gone for thirty seconds. "Hizashi-sama wishes to speak to you," he spoke to Hinata, unlocking the gate. "Immediately."

"Yes," Hinata said bowing respectfully, beginning to let go of Naruto's hand to follow, but found that Naruto's grip tightened around her hand. The guard turned around in annoyance, looking straight at Naruto.

"You are causing Hizashi-sama wait," the guard said sternly. "Leave now. This is Hyuuga business. You don't have the right to get involved."

"I want to be with Hinata," Naruto said determinedly. "I want to come also to the meeting. I'm going with Hinata."

"I already said no," the guard said, his voice switching from annoyed to threatening. "Go home. We don't have any time for the likes of you."

"I'm going with Hinata," Naruto repeated.

This time, the Hyuuga activated its byakugan. He opened his mouth to speak again, but a voice came out from behind them.

"Enough of this," the voice said. The guard seemed to pale slightly, deactivating his byakugan immediately. Naruto and Hinata looked past the guard to see who had spoken, both of them catching sight of the boy that was walking toward the gate. "You are acting dishonorably and most of all stupidly."

The guard turned around and dropped to the ground, bowing down to the both shorter and younger boy in fear. "Please forgive me, Neji-sama," the guard said respectfully. "I did not mean to dishonor the Hyuuga family. I apologize."

"Rise," Neji commanded, which the guard immediately obeyed. "You may stay at your post. I'll escort you these two to my father myself."

"T-two?" the guard stammered. "But…but this boy…"

"Means no harm," Neji finished for the guard. "I'm sure that my father will not mind. As long," Neji said, facing Naruto, "as he agrees not to speak during the meeting."

Naruto glared back at Neji. Whenever Naruto thought about the Hyuuga, or anything that he disagreed with that had something to do with the family, Neji's face would always appear in his mind. He hated the stuck up prick above any of the other Hyuugas. He was always talking down to Hinata and thought that he was so much better than everybody else. Naruto just couldn't stand him.

"…I agree," Naruto said reluctantly.

"Good," Neji said turning around. "Follow me then."

Hinata and Naruto followed Neji into the mansion. Naruto looked around in amazement. He had never been inside any of the Hyuuga mansions before, he had always been denied entrance. Now that he was inside one, he couldn't help but admire the house. It was spotless, smelled nice, and above all looked expensive. Naruto suddenly felt slightly ashamed of his rundown apartment where he lived.

Neji suddenly stopped in front of a door, causing Naruto and Hinata to halt as well.

"My father is waiting for you behind this door," Neji said to the two behind him. "Remember, do not speak unless spoken too. And," he said to Naruto, "remember your agreement."

"Fine," Naruto said, though not too politely.

Neji's blank eyes narrowed slightly at Naruto, but turned back around and opened the door, letting them in.

"Father, I've brought Hinata-san," he said letting Hinata and Naruto in. In the room sat a semi circle of eight Hyuuga members, all dressed in long white robes. At the head was Hizashi, the head of the Hyuuga house. He raised his eyebrows at Naruto in small surprise along with some other emotion that Naruto couldn't quite distinguish, casting a knowing eye at the boy. Naruto looked away from the man, feeling as if he was being dissected even without the man's byakugan activated.

"And why have your brought this other one, Neji?" Hizashi asked calmly, his eyes going down to the two teammates grasping the other's hand, but said nothing about it.

"He has agreed that he would remain silent through the meeting if you would allow him stay. I presumed that you would not mind," Neji responded.

Hizashi looked once again at Naruto, which Naruto replied back with a respectful bow. After a moment of silence, Hizashi signaled both Naruto and Hinata to sit, which both complied obediently, neither letting go of the others hand.

"Well, Hinata-san," Hizashi spoke to the young girl before him. "This is, as you have probably already guessed, unexpected for all of us."

"Yes, Hizashi-sama," Hinata replied respectfully. She felt Naruto's grip tighten around her hand, which she couldn't help but returned back.

"The last time we saw you, you were heading out with your team on a C rank mission to escort a man to Wave Country, if I remember correctly. Tell me, why is it that you return to us without your byakugan?"

Hinata took a deep breath and began the tale about them going to Wave Country. About Gatau's plans to take over the country, and how Tazuna was actually the bridge builder and was the only hope they had for freedom. She then told about the attacks of Zabuza and Haku, which caused each of the members to look at Hinata and Naruto in shock. Finally, she reached the part of both her and Naruto's battle against Haku, and how he had put her in a temporary death state before going after Naruto, which ultimately ended in failure, and then finally ending with how Zabuza was defeated by Kakashi and then Gotau soon after by Haku. When her story was over, a long silence followed.

"A very interesting series of events," Hizashi said stroking his chin in thought.

"This is unheard of!" a man on the very left suddenly shouted. "This story is preposterous! Momochi Zabuza!? Surely, Hizashi-sama, you don't believe these lies."

"Neji…?" Hizashi said turning to his son.

"Everything she said was the truth," the heir of the Hyuuga clan replied surely.

"Forgive me, Hizashi-sama," the same member said looking from Neji to his father. "I know that he is your son, but how could this boy actually know if she was telling the truth or not? We cannot trust all of this by pure instinct."

"I had my byakugan activated the entire time," Neji said, blinking once to bring out his kekkae genkai again. "When someone lies, it causes a chemical imbalance in the body. There was no imbalance at all in Hinata-san's body during her story. What she has just told us was one hundred percent true."

"You earnestly want me to believe that a mere boy has actually developed such a high level of the byakugan at such a young age?" the man asked again.

"Enough," Hizashi commanded, silencing the man. "I have tested this ability with Neji, and he speaks the truth. And that means his byakugan has reached an even higher level than yours, Hiraku-san." Hiraku visibly winced, sat down, though still casting an angered look at Neji.

"Hinata-san," Hizashi said turning back to Hinata. "Please, remove your hitae-ate."

Hinata hesitated, but finally let go of Naruto's hand and removed the forehead protector, showing the elder Hyuugas her unmarked forehead.

"So the caged bird seal has truly disappeared," Hizashi said softly, as if he was talking to himself. "So that means that your byakugan is sealed within you…"

"Can't you just unseal it?" Naruto asked.

"Silence boy!" Hiraku exclaimed. "You swore that you would not speak."

"The boy means no disrespect, Hiraku-san," Hizashi said sternly, silencing the other man. "Unfortunately, Uzumaki-san," Hizashi said this time to the boy in front of him, "the Caged Bird Seal was specifically made to seal the byakugan forever, to protect its secrets from enemy countries. There has never been any need to reawaken the byakugan to a corpse before, so we are unaware on how to unseal it. To my knowledge, this is the first time that someone's byakugan has been sealed in them when they died and then came back from the dead. It is uncommon for a shinobi to show such mercy towards an enemy."

"So what are you going to do?" Naruto asked. Hiraku shot an annoyed look at Hizashi, but the head clan member just raised his hand to silence him.

"We will look into trying to unlock the byakugan for Hinata-san. But until then, we will replace the caged bird seal onto her."

"How can you do that?!" Naruto yelled, jumping to his feet. Four members of the Hyuuga council activated their byakugans when Naruto shouted, one of them being Hiraku. He didn't care now though. Hinata had just been freed from the thing that he hated most about the Hyuuga clan. He wasn't going to allow such a thing to happen to her again without a fight. "There isn't even a reason to put it on her anymore. With her byakugan gone, there's no point."

"The Caged Bird Seal holds another purpose besides sealing the byakugan when one dies," Hizashi said closing his eyes. "It's also used to control the branch family. It is a practice of the Hyuuga family, a tradition as old as Konoha itself. To break that tradition would dishonor us."

"But I know that Hinata would never betray any of you," Naruto said, this time to the entire council, looking at each of the hardened faces one by one. "You can't honestly believe that she'll actually go against you."

"Whether or not she will or won't is irrelevant," Hizashi responded. "If we show favoritism toward her, it will put the entire Hyuuga household in turmoil. We are left without any other choice."

Naruto still stood to his feet, not wavering under the punishing gaze of the Hyuuga council. After another moment, Naruto dropped to his knees and bowed down to the council. A surprised silence followed, no one understanding what the boy was doing. "If it could change anything…" Naruto said still bowing down, "I will offer myself instead of Hinata. Put the seal on me instead of her."

"No, Naruto!" Hinata cried out in shock.

"Please," Naruto begged, ignoring Hinata's protest. "I promise to pledge myself to you. I'll do whatever you say. I give you my word as a shinobi."

Neji snorted, sending Naruto's gaze up to the heir of the Hyuuga family. "Don't make me laugh," he sneered. "Why would the Hyuuga family ever let someone like you, a failure, into our clan? Honestly, can you believe the nerve of this boy, Father?" Neji raised one of his eyebrows when he heard no immediate response. Slowly, he turned his head toward Hizashi. The Hyuuga had his eyes closed, as if debating over the subject in his head. "Father, you can't earnestly be considering…" Neji began to question.

"The council will converse over this," Hizashi finally spoke.

"Father you can't-!"

"Silence, Neji," Hizashi commanded, causing his son to recoil back in shock. Hizashi stood up with the rest of the council and made his way toward the door behind him. "Everyone, into the other room. Uzumaki-san, Hinata-san, and Neji will stay here."

"What?" Neji said as his jaw dropped open. "Someday I'm going to be the head of this clan. Why must I remain while you leave?" he asked as the other members filed into the door.

"Because it is forbidden, Neji," his father replied, the only one left still in the room. "Someday you will know, but it is not this day. And though it is true you will inherit this clan, as of now you have not, which means that you will follow my orders when I give them to you. Do you understand?"

Neji gripped his hand into a fist in frustration. Finally, he turned his head away from his father, who closed the door to signal the end of the conversation. Naruto looked at the door and looked over to Neji. He, of course, understood what Hizashi had meant. It was the Kyuubi. It was obvious now that Neji had no idea of what was inside of him, and was why Hizashi did not permit him to enter.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke up, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. "Why did you do that? I have lived most of my life with the seal on me and I have prepared myself to know that I will always have it. You don't deserve the curse of…"

"Hinata," Naruto interrupted, "if anybody doesn't deserve that damn seal, it's you. Don't worry. If this does work, I'll go through with it. You deserve to be free, Hinata-chan."

"You are a fool to ask in the first place," Neji said this time. "If they do accept your offer, well then fine. Just know that for the rest of your life, you'll be answering to me."

Naruto glared at Neji, trying to contain the anger that was boiling up inside of him. Neji wasn't worth it, but Hinata was worth everything. He had established that when he had fought Haku only a couple days ago.

"He is right." Hinata and Naruto spun around in surprise, but Neji merely turned his head slightly to the right to look at the door. Just outside was a small figure glaring in, her blank, empty eyes filled with anger.

"Hanabi," Hinata said in a scolding, yet still nervous manner. "You should be more polite toward our guests."

After a few steps in the door, Hanabi turned to her older sister and merely stared at her, looking into the now turned purple eyes. "So it's true. You have lost your byakugan." Hinata felt her face grow read in embarrassment and looked away from the younger girl. "You should have stayed dead," Hanabi snarled, making Hinata jump. "What's the point of being a Hyuuga without the use of your byakugan? If you had an ounce of wisdom in you, you would have run away from this village and this clan. You are a fool."

"Hanabi-san," Neji said warningly. "You should watch what you say in my presence. Just for hearing all that you've just said, I should activate your seal right here and now. You're disrespect is appalling."

Naruto finally took notice of Hanabi's forehead. It had been covered by bandages, shielding the caged bird seal that no doubt lay just underneath it. She looked over at Neji impassively only for a second before she shifted her eyes over to Naruto.

"You can still run away…" she warned, stepping aside to leave the door completely unblocked. "The Hyuuga clan will not care. The most powerful clan in Konoha has no need for cowards. Just leave and we can forget this ever happened."

The only thing that stopped Naruto from punching Hanabi straight in the face at that moment was the fact that she was Hinata's sister. This kid sure had a lot of nerve to say all of those things to both him and Hinata. He looked over at Neji and back at Hanabi, chuckling to both of their surprise. Naruto just couldn't get over right then about how much they looked and acted like each other, despite the fact that they were on opposite sides of the family.

The door suddenly opened behind them, making all three of them turn toward the opened door. Hizashi stood there with an unreadable look on his face, though his looked straight at Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he said motioning for him to come forward, "if you will come with me."

Naruto stood to his feet, though he paused for a moment when Hinata grabbed his hand, holding him back. He turned back to her, softly smiling at her to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. Reluctantly, he pulled away and walked past Hizashi and through the door.

On his way through, he could hear Hanabi behind him muttering, "Fool…"

The room was only dimly lit by what few torches it had. Actually, the room was practically empty with the exception of the torches. The Hyuugas had made a wide circle around one area, where Hizashi held out an arm to tell Naruto where to stand. Naruto slowly walked past two Hyuugas, neither of them uttering one word at the boy as he passed. Hizashi followed closely, so now the Hyuugas had surrounded both Naruto and him.

"Kneel, Uzumaki Naruto," Hizashi said, to which Naruto complied. Hizashi stood there a moment, looking down at the boy bellow him. "You have offered yourself to the Hyuuga family, an offer that would not usually even be considered. But you are a unique case." Naruto did not reply, already knowing full well what he meant by it. "By now, I presume you have learned what you have within yourself?"

"…Yes, Hizashi-sama," Naruto replied, his right hand going to his stomach and gripping it. Inside of him, he could have sworn that he felt a soft rumble echo inside of him…almost like the growl of a beast.

"Then you know that you have much power within you, Naruto-san," Hizashi continued. "I will ask you this question once…will you pledge that power to the Hyuuga clan? Know that if you do pledge yourself to us, you will be forever pledging yourself to Konohakagure. You will not do anything without our permission and you will never leave this village without our permission. Do you swear that you will never go against our word?

"…Yes, Hizashi-sama," Naruto repeated, putting his head to the ground.

"Then remove your hitae-ate, Naruto-san," Hizashi commanded. Naruto obeyed, taking off his headband and putting it to the side. Hizashi then went through as series of complicated and quick seals. He then placed his right hand Naruto's forehead. "Know that there may be some pain through the process," he warned, before making a single hand seal with his left hand.

A sudden hot burst of pain burst in Naruto's head. He gripped his hands into fists and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the burning he was feeling on his forehead. It was as if hot iron was being pushed up against his forehead and hard. Through the pain, he opened his eyes again and looked at all the members of the Hyuuga household who watched. Some looked on impassively, some looked disgusted, and a few of them looked on in smug look of accomplishment. Finally, the pain disappeared and Naruto felt himself breathe easily once again.

"The Caged Bird Seal has been placed upon you," Hizashi spoke. Naruto brought his hand up to his forehead. Though it felt just the same as it always had, he had little doubt that the seal was on his head. "Now," Hizashi said, "I will show you what will happen if you should disobey any of our orders."

Hizashi made a quick motion with his wrist. Suddenly, pain unlike anything Naruto had ever imagined possible erupted inside of Naruto's head. In agony, he gripped his head with both hands and dropped to the floor, rolling on the ground. It felt as if his brain was being sawed in half. He couldn't think. He didn't know anything besides the pain that he felt. It was the worst thing he had ever felt in his entire life. Not able to take the pain anymore, Naruto let out an agonized scream that echoed throughout the entire room.

"Now do you realize what you have gotten into?" Hizashi asked, still not deactivating the seal and paying no heed to Naruto's continued screams. "From now on, your only purpose in life is to protect the main branch family of the Hyuuga family and nothing else. And since you are not originally a member of our clan, your position will be lower than even that of the branch family's." Finally, Hizashi deactivated the seal on Naruto's head. Even with the seal no longer activated, Naruto's body still shook from the pain that he had just experienced. It was all he could do to just look up at Hizashi. "Do you still pledge yourself to us?" the Hyuuga asked, looking down at Naruto with his blank, impassive eyes.

"…Yes, Hizashi-sama," Naruto said again while closing his eyes.

Hizashi nodded and turned his back to the boy. "Then welcome to the family, Uzumaki Hyuuga Naruto…"


Shikamaru raised his head in exhaustion, looking at the pile of books that now surrounded him. He had not slept ever since he had returned from the Land of Waves, he hadn't eaten either. The only thing he had done was read, read, and read some more.

"Come on, Shika," Choji complained across from him. "It's already past ten and I haven't even had dinner yet…" Shikamaru had arrived at his house around noon that day and had bribed Choji into accompanying him to the library to help with research. In return, Shikamaru promised to buy him both lunch and dinner. Too bad they haven't even left the library since they first arrived.

"Calm down," Shikamaru said looking over the book that he had in his hand. "You act like you're going to die if you don't eat in the next five minutes."

"Which could seriously happen!" Choji sighed, resting his chin on the desk and gripped his brown hair. "What are you looking for anyways? What could be so important that we would need to stay at a library for so long?"

"Research," Shikamaru replied simply before looking back down at his book. Choji groaned in response, realizing at this rate, he would never get his barbeque…

The librarian suddenly peaked around the corner at Shikamaru. "I'm sorry dears, but the library is closing now. You two can check out those books if you wish to continue reading them."

"Praise everything that is good in this world!" Choji yelled throwing his arms up in the air in relief, which earned him a sharp glare from the librarian. The Akimichi paid no attention though, being too busy with counting all of the things he would eat that night on his fingers.

"No thanks," Shikamaru said, taking the woman's attention off of Choji. "We'll put them back."

"Well it's about time," Shikamaru's best friend said standing to his feet. "And after all of that waiting I could eat for hours!"

"Just take it easy this time," Shikamaru said back before tossing a couple books at Choji. "Could you put these back where we found them? I'll meet you back at the door."

"Sure thing!" Choji shouted before grabbing the books and sprinting off the fastest Shikamaru had ever seen him run before.

Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and looked up at the rest of the books in front of him. The first one that he had gotten was The Analysis of Chakra, to check if red chakra was at all possible. In the end, he found that there was nothing in the book that said anything about chakra changing color. There were minor exceptions with elemental chakra, such as wind and water chakra. But the book had said that fire chakra, the only element Shikamaru could think of that could cause that kind of chakra was fire, only said that the chakra would be only slightly red, not scarlet like the time from fighting Zabuza.

The second one that he had gotten was A History of Konohakagure. Immediately, he turned to the "Attacks upon Konoha" chapter. Most of them in the last twelve years were minor, such as the abduction the Hyuuga heir by Kumo. The only one that had any major information was, not surprising, the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

After much more reading and researching, he had arrived to the final book that he now held in his hand. When he had looked at the last time someone had checked it out, it was dated back seven years. Lucky for him though. He would rather not run around Konoha all day looking for just one book.

Shikamaru rubbed his head to try and dull the headache that had arisen due to the amount of studying he had just done. But in the end, along with some of Choji's help, it had guided him to the answer. The only problem was that he still had trouble believing it.

"Come on, Shika!" Choji shouted from the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Shikamaru shouted back, deciding to just throw the books in the book return for the librarian to take care of. He lazily walked over to the desk and placed the books into basket one by one. Before putting the last book, he hesitated for a moment and gazed at the title. A Brief Summary of the Art of Sealing.

"Well, Naruto," Shikamaru said putting in the book. "Once again, you have proven that you are full of surprises…"


I know that I'm going to get a lot of reviews from this, maybe some of them bad. Personally, I like how it turned out. Well, I just have to wait and see what you all think. I do hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I'll go into further detail about why and how the Hyuuga's made their decisions next chapter and Sarutobi's reaction to the situation. You can all look forward to it coming hopefully soon, we'll just have to see how things turn out for me. Oh, and by the way, Naruto won't get the Byakugan in this fic, he's only in the family, that is all.

Two more things. If you ask me, Naruto's current costume is a little "non Hyuuga like". So, I've decided to change his outfit. The problem is that I'm not good with original costumes, so I'm going to see what you guys think. Send me a PM or a review to recommend a new outfit for Naruto that represents and is "worthy" of the Hyuuga clan. I'll choose the one that I like the best and put it in my fic. This will only last for this chapter and the next so if you have an idea you better act fast. If no one really replies, I'll have to make my own crummy one, so I'd like to see what everyone else can think of. Good luck everyone!

And lastly, remember that the Chunin exams are right around the corner, and I'm planning on finally using the jutsu ideas that people have been sending me during them. So if you have new ideas for jutsus for any character, I'd love to see them (remember, super-powered moves will only be accepted for supper-powered ninjas such as Kakashi, Orochimaru, and other Jonin or above ninjas). Well, I'll see you later everyone.

GAZ