Secret Treasures of the Uchiha
by TimeLoopedPowerGamer
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
Summary: An AU story from the moment Sasuke decides not to get up again in his first encounter with Itachi, after the Chūnin Exam finals and invasion. Instead of spending a couple of months in a coma while Naruto is off finding Tsunade, he explores the abandoned Uchiha compound, finds a hidden storehouse, and gets dragged kicking and screaming by Hiashi Hyūga into clan politics and an arranged marriage.
Warnings on content: Rated M for face-stabbing levels of violence and also some mature content, mostly consisting of frustrated teens not getting any. So, really more like immature content. Also, foul language, and lots of it.
Chapter Thirteen
"It doesn't matter who she is. If he tries anything, I'll kill him," Hinata-chan said calmly to herself. Three inches of wooden post disappeared in a flash of light beneath the single palm strike. "They'll never find a body. I know the correct chemicals and hiding locations," she concluded.
"No, too easy," she reconsidered, a grin creeping across her face. Three holes precisely two inches deep appeared next to the other, larger divot from a sudden flurry of stiff finger strikes, "If he even thinks about it, I'll chop them off and use them as fertilizer for my garden."
Kiba-kun was hiding behind Shino-kun, who was hiding behind another wooden pillar, a long way from their newly...intense teammate. Kurenai was standing next to them, looking at the dark-haired girl with worry on her face. Shino-kun was using the "don't move and she can't see you" stealth technique and didn't move or say anything.
"S-sensei, w-what's wrong with Hinata-chan?" Kiba-kun asked in a shaky voice. Akamaru whined from on top of his head, not looking away from the chips of wood flying off the distant, much abused practice post.
She sighed deeply. "It is a family matter, I can't really tell you more. Hinata-chan is a little...frustrated with the situation. You boys should just give her some space. I'm sure it will be worked out soon," she said, unconvincingly.
Kurenai had been worried since Hiashi Hyūga informed her of the strange arrangement Hinata-chan had been involved in. This latest issue, whatever it was, almost certainly directly related to that. Finally deciding that Hinata had blown off enough steam, Kurenai walked half-way to the now fatally-wounded wooden post and called out to the girl. After telling the boys to practice sparing sideways on a tree for a few minutes to keep them busy, she brought Hinata-chan a good ways away from them for a quiet girl-to-girl talk.
Hinata-chan's face was unusually calm – more mask-like than the usually emotional little girl Kurenai knew. She had been someone who wore her every feeling clearly on her face. Now the only sign of her thoughts was the way Hinata-chan was clenching and unclenching her fists at her side – worrying in the usually peaceful, if sometimes excitable, young girl.
"Hinata-chan, what's wrong? What did that training post ever do to you?" Kurenai asked, trying to inject some gentle humor into the tense situation.
"It is Uchiha," Hinata ground out between clenched teeth. "It isn't right."
Kurenai's heart sunk. She'd expected something like this. Nothing about arranged marriages sat well with her. Forcing a trained killing machine into one seemed insane, all moral arguments aside.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry Hinata-chan," she said, guiding the little girl into a hug. Hinata-chan felt like a stone statue for a few seconds, then relaxed and gently returned the hug. "I'm s-sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I-I didn't mean to disturb practice. I'm j-just so mad right now," she said.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm here," Kurenai responded, patting her back. Sniffling a bit, Hinata-chan pulled away and looked her in the eyes. She'd been crying again. Kurenai couldn't remember the last time Hinata had come to practice without red eyes and a tense posture – a week at least.
"It is s-sort of private clan business, b-but...I-I think you'll find out soon anyway sensei, because it is, I, I mean," she took a deep breath, then said all in a rush, "he's going to marry three more poor girls."
Kurenai's eyes grew wide and she froze in shock, staring into Hinata-chan's damp eyes. Her mind started working again and she had to consciously keep her hands from crushing Hinata-chan's shoulders, where she still held the slightly trembling little girl.
"I'm s-sorry, sensei. It is just too much! I can...I think, I mean, if it was just me, I could stand it. For my clan, I c-could endure it. Uchiha-san d-doesn't like it either and I s-shouldn't hate him for it because this is m-my father's plan. But, I mean, this isn't right!" she protested, obviously furious. Kurenai wasn't sure exactly who she was mad at, but it might be the entire male gender at this point. Kurenai could relate to that.
"Father is g-going to trick them somehow, I'm s-sure!" Hinata continued. "Uchiha-san said there was a list and he showed it to me and, and it was a-all of my classmates, and t-they were p-plotting how t-to get him to, to m-make them-" she covered her face with her hands and stood there, shaking. "A-and Sasuke-san wouldn't h-help me figure out how t-to stop this! I d-don't want them to be f-forced into something like t-this, like...like I was." She was now weeping quietly into her hands.
"Don't worry, Hinata-chan. I will look into this personally," Kurenai said, staring off into the distant woods, warmth entirely absent from her voice. Shaking herself a little, she looked back at the crying girl.
"Take the rest of today off," she said. "Do some chakra meditation exercises in private if you feel up to it. I'll visit you tomorrow with what I've found out. Suzume-chan will take you home now." The Hyūga bodyguard quietly stepped out from behind a nearby tree and waited passively to take Hinata back to the Uchiha compound. Unfortunately for the little girl, that was also the main outpost for the madness currently ruining her young life.
Leaving the boys with instructions to do a few chakra exercise that were least likely to result in them lighting themselves on fire, Kurenai went off to get some answers from the idiot responsible for all this: Hiashi Hyūga.
Sasuke's eyes could clearly see secrets hidden to normal vision, that much he was sure of. He didn't need to use them to know that Hinata was boiling mad. What he didn't understand was, why that bothered him so much and in such a strange way. The anger in her eyes as she sat across the dining table from him seemed to bore into his soul. Maybe telling her about the strange family planning documents had been a mistake.
And now she was using one of her fingertips to slowly melt a silver fork, without breaking eye contact with him, her face a blank mask. Maybe the worst mistake, he reflected, was testing her element and showing her those training scrolls. It had to be fire, didn't it.
Hinata had been excited three days ago when he'd announced he'd found some chakra paper that was still good in the Uchiha storerooms. After their usual session in the underground training area, both of them back in the real world again, he'd taken out a small sheet of paper from a box with the Uchiha symbol on it. Handing her the paper carefully, he had told her to channel chakra into it. Then he foolishly armed the angry, angry girl with another weapon.
The small sheet she was holding slowly caught on fire and was eventually reduced to smoldering bits on her hand. She sat there looking at him for answers.
"Not a strong reaction," Sasuke-san said, "but definitely Fire. Weak, though."
"W-what do you mean?" Hinata asked, a little mad at being called weak yet again.
"Your chakra isn't very strongly aligned with your primary affinity. Maybe that's one reason your clan doesn't prefer elemental jutsu," he said dismissively. "It is most likely impossible for you to master very complicated or strong Fire jutsu."
Hinata sagged a little, then asked quietly, "What w-would be the best thing to t-train, Uchiha-san?" Sasuke-san tossed several scrolls to her. She caught them and automatically stowed them in her belt pouches as he explained.
"Fire Release training scrolls. One of the best uses might be for chakra enhanced weapons – adding it to thrown knives or a larger sword or blade of some kind – so that's in there as well. Doesn't require as much external molding as some of the other techniques, so you don't need as much raw elemental chakra to power it."
"B-But I'm not a weapons user," she protested, horrified.
"Hn," Sasuke-san responded, dismissively. "Whatever. Elemental demonstration. Watch," he said, standing up, turning to one side, forming a few quick seals, and placing a hand at his mouth.
Hinata quickly stood and activated her Byakugan. Taking a deep breath, then blowing out, Sasuke-san created a huge spray of fire in front of him, the edges of it licking the far stone wall. Watching the strange flow of chakra into his lungs and then back out his mouth as he molded Fire Element chakra was strange but intriguing. She tried to memorize how it looked.
"T-Thank you, Uchiha-san," she said, bowing to him. "But w-why are you h-helping me with this?"
"Are you stupid?" he asked, turning back to her with a frown. "You still need to master the student side of Endless Garden genjutsu with the Byakugan so we can practice jutsu inside it. Learning elemental manipulation will only help speed up that process and allow me to use more jutsu inside the illusion. I'm not giving up on our training plan just because you have trouble keeping up."
Hinata frowned, but didn't say anything. She wasn't going to be annoyed into another shouting (or punching) match with Sasuke-san right now.
"Because of your elemental affiliation and high level of chakra control," Sasuke continued, "you should be able to start with the Five Candles Fire exercises immediately. I can't help you with them so read the scrolls carefully. Despite being an Uchiha clan specialty, I actually have a primary Lightning affinity so I've never done the Fire exercises."
"Y-you didn't learn this way?" Hinata asked confused, clutching her hands to her chest.
"I didn't need these exercises as I was working on a single, clan specific jutsu that relied on power more than elemental conversion," he answered.
"This training is what chūnin do to master high level techniques. When I was younger, I had to work on the Great Fireball jutsu, a C-ranked Fire Release, for months before being able to use it at a basic level. It should take a few days or even less for skilled Fire Element user to learn a similar jutsu to that level. Once you have enough skill, you should be able to learn Fire jutsu much faster and even modify them to some extent for your own use." After bowing again, Hinata turned to leave. Sasuke-san interrupted.
"A moment, Hinata-san," he said nervously. She paused, confused by the familiarity, and wondered why his mood had suddenly changed.
"Your father sent me some Uchiha clan documents," he continued. Hinata didn't understand why this was important, but decided to politely listen.
"These were records on clan matters, including copies of our...betrothal agreement," he explained, wincing a little. Hinata's face instantly became a stone mask.
"I am afraid that bastard Hiashi screwed up, though – the old fool accidentally included some internal Hyūga planning documents. On the other marriage contracts he was planning on making for me." Sasuke wasn't looking at her, instead staring off to one side at the scorch marks on the stone walls.
"...what?" Hinata eventually asked, flatly. Sighing deeply, Sasuke tossed a scroll at her which she deftly caught.
"This is a copy of the planned family tree and prospective...wives list Hiashi had created," he said. "Note the four spots for my wives, one filled with your name. He was originally planning on your sister Hanabi marrying me instead, but something political changed that. You might be aware of the details."
At the name of her sister, Hinata's face was no longer blank but full of fury. "How...how dare he!" she hissed angrily.
"Torturing me like this is bad enough," at that Sasuke flinched again, noticing she was once again not stuttering, "but that this was originally planned for my poor little sister? That is vile. And all those other poor girls, will they be forced into this too?" she demanded of him.
"I...don't know," Sasuke-san replied slowly, "but it appears Hiashi will be arranging marriages with other, smaller clans, leaving your family as the primary power joined to the Uchiha clan. Many of those on the list are girls who were in our class year at the Academy or the one above us. The others appear to be from rich, minor noble Fire Country families and rich merchant families." He paused after hearing Hinata-san growl, her face locked in a scowl – a frightening look on the quiet young girl.
"Our...our classmates? I...I will not...this isn't-," Hinata took a deep breath. "What are we going to do, Uchiha-san?"
Sasuke-san was now staring at the floor. "I'm not doing anything, Hyūga. I can't stop this. I don't have the political power to do anything. But they get the same deal as you. I won't have a crazed mob of kunoichi trying to murder me in my sleep. So, if they get caught up in this like you did, they get the same way out when I'm legal head of the clan."
Setting her jaw, Hinata nodded in thanks, but was still tense and angry. "Thank you again, Uchiha-san, but t-this isn't good enough. Ruining y-years of these girls' lives because of my clan's actions is unacceptable. We n-need to find another solution."
"Your father is the one arranging these marriages, Hyūga," he replied, voice full of scorn. "Until I am old enough to run my clan, I can't challenge his decisions. And as long as he has the backing of the clan council, there is no way to appeal."
"H-How can you be so cruel, Uchiha-san?" she cried out, "We can't let them get pulled into this unfortunate situation. I-I want to help prevent that from happening."
"Then do so," he said shortly. "I won't stop you so long as you don't get in my way."
"If you would only help-" she started, but Sasuke-san was already on his way out of the stone training room, ignoring her and leaving her standing there still trying to argue. Hinata stayed motionless for almost a minute, then sighed. Clutching the scroll, she left the training room with a determined look on her face.
Hinata was impossibly angry. She'd never been this mad before. Neither her teammates nor her family had ever managed to infuriate her this much. Instead of being angry at them, she was always just sad or hopeful they could get along better in the future.
What was it about this Uchiha that drove her so crazy? Was it the horrible series of arranged marriages? His arrogant attitude? His stupid, stupid face? Kurenai-sensei couldn't help her with this – sensei's latest attempt to talk some sense into her father had been a failure as well. Maybe she could find out who on the list they were planning on setting up with Sasuke-san and warn the girl, sabotaging her father's plans.
Perspiration dripped off of Hinata's forehead as she continued to run, jaw clenched, legs pumping and breathing ragged, her chest drawing heaving gulps of air. Running around the inner wall of the village was part of her new training routine and, though she wasn't as crazy about it as Gai-sensei's team (she didn't make it around more than once per session yet), it was still far beyond what she was used to.
Practicing long-term and efficient use of chakra enhancements was only part of this training – it also involved pure physical conditioning. Weeks of this intense exercise in the real world had left her feeling strangely powerful. Her body was improving and it showed enough for her teammates and sensei to notice. She didn't tire as quickly in her team sparing, felt lighter on her feet, and was a lot faster in sprints.
Despite setbacks, the genjutsu training was also helping her a great deal. Training inside the genjutsu had disadvantages: it couldn't strengthen your body, for one thing. But what it could do was give you more practice with your reflexes. Muscle memory wasn't really in your muscles after all, so training your brain to move better using the extremely accurate model the genjutsu provided of what your current body was like was very useful, especially for deadly combat practice.
No one wanted to spar with someone trying to stab them in the head or burn out their heart. You could die a thousand times in the illusion and keep training but it didn't give you stronger muscles in the real world, hence the new physical regimen. The Endless Garden training was increasing her combat speed by leaps and bounds, though.
Hinata knew she couldn't seem to improve her genjutsu integration as fast as Sasuke-san expected and she understood his training must be suffering because of her. She wasn't sure how she felt about him or their training, and had no idea what his opinion was on either topic. She hadn't asked and he seemed to have had the good sense to leave her alone while she worked though...whatever it was she was feeling. Though she still helped Sasuke-san with their Endless Garden training, she didn't spend any more time around him than what was necessary to be polite.
Nearing the end of her run, as she started back toward the inner city area and the Uchiha compound, she suddenly detected a tiny killing intent and chakra signature off to one side and just ahead of her. Without changing her stride she hung her head slightly, looking at the ground so her hair covered the sides of her eyes as she activated her Byakugan.
There, just ahead around at the corner of the building, hanging onto the wall on the second story, was a human shape and chakra system. It looked familiar and after a couple of more steps she recognized Sasuke-san's pink-haired teammate peeking around the corner at her. Leaving her eyes active, Hinata jogged to a stop well out of reach of her stalker.
"I can see you there, Haruno-san," she said emotionlessly.
Sakura dropped from the building and walked around the corner, facing Hinata down the street. She was wearing a fashionable red sleeveless dress that zipped up the front and tight black shorts under it. Her Leaf headband was pushed up like a hairband, leaving her large forehead framed by her curved pink bangs. Green eyes flashing angrily, she stood with her arms folded, waiting for Hinata.
Hinata started walking slowly toward the other girl, face calm but Byakugan still active. Stopping several paces away, the she slid the heavy field pack off her back (she always ran with it now, on Suzume-san's suggestion) and stood quietly, body relaxed, arms at her sides, waiting for the pink-haired girl's response. Hinata was surprised to find herself a little annoyed at the other girl's intrusion on her privacy – she had no business spying like this.
"Hinata, what's going on?" Sakura demanded, fists clutched at her sides. "I see you with Sasuke-kun all the time and he's at the hospital so often needing to be healed and you're also there! What are you doing to Sasuke-kun?"
Hinata braced herself, determined not to shrink back in the face of the loud and annoying girl's verbal attack. Even if she could put up with her father's quiet scorn and dismissal and Sasuke's sarcastic and cold insults, she certainly wouldn't allow this little kunoichi to push her around.
"I h-have done nothing to him, Haruno-san," she quietly replied, slightly surprised at how steady her voice was. "There are clan issues we are both d-dealing with, which is why we are in each others presence so often. As we w-will be for the foreseeable future."
"A-ano...as for Uchiha-san's injuries," she said, slightly less confidently, "they are from training sessions we have b-both participated in. Some of t-them have become v-very...violent, as we were working on close-range ninjutsu a-and taijutsu, thus necessitating medical t-treatment. This was all legal and within genin t-training guidelines."
Wrapping up one of the longest speeches the quiet Hyūga had ever given to a stranger, the she continued staring impassively into the other girl's wide green eyes, her Byakugan still obviously active as shown by the bulging veins on her temples.
"Was t-that all you needed, Haruno-san?" she asked, gesturing regally, almost dismissively with one hand. Remembering her father's most intimidating moves at this time pleased Hinata greatly and seemed to rock the pink-haired girl back on her heels. She waited silently as a shocked Sakura's mouth worked wordlessly and the girl's hands twitched open and closed. Her own pale hands were now loosely and elegantly clasped in front of her at waist height.
The effect was slightly spoiled by Hinata wearing, instead of multiple layers of finely woven silk dress robes, tight black exercise pants and a plain (if large and structurally impressive) exercise bra with only a black matte chain mesh shirt over it, tucked into the pants. Suzume-san had (as usual) insisted it was correct training clothing. Hinata had begun to have doubts about that but still went along with her bodyguard's selections.
Sakura seemed to suddenly take in the other girl's outfit and the way her arms were mashing her large breasts together and up. The pink-haired girl finally recovered her voice, pointed a shaking hand at the others huge assets and yelled, "W-Wait! Why does your enormous boob have the Uchiha clan symbol on it!?"
Looking down at her own chest, Hinata saw her top indeed had the red and white fan over her left breast. She'd stopped noticing it long ago as it seemed to show up on a multitude of clothing Suzume-san provided for her. If Sakura was reacting this badly to it on her chest, she'd have to make sure the crazy girl never found out about the Uchiha branded panties.
Briefly considering the implications, Hinata finally gave up keeping secret the already very public information, deciding on a simple but complete explanation. She took a deep breath (a challenge a lesser brassiere would have failed) and explained.
"It is provided by my...my fiancé's family tailor and clothing company – for use only by Uchiha family and retainers of course," she said, trying to ignore the growing look of horror from the pink-haired kunoichi.
"Y-You! You can't! He wouldn't! WHAT?!" Sakura gibbered, slowly backing away. "Explain, Hyūga cow!" she demanded frantically, finger still pointing at Hinata's boobs.
"T-That isn't a nice thing to call me, Haruno-san," Hinata said, blushing in embarrassment but also annoyed. "My f-father has arranged a, a marriage between Uchiha-san and myself as head of the Hyūga c-clan and regent guardian of the U-Uchiha clan."
Sakura's green eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted dead away, landing hard on her back in the middle of the road in a dusty cloud. Hinata squeaked in surprise, dropping her Byakugan and running forward to help the collapsed girl.
Kneeling and leaning over to check her for injuries, Hinata ran though the basic first aid she'd learned in the Academy. Don't move the patient unless in immediate danger, check for airway obstructions, check for breathing, check for pulse. Running through panicked checklists and moving her hands over Sakura's head and limbs for obvious injuries, she didn't notice Sakura had recovered almost immediately.
"So...huge," she muttered, staring at Hinata's chest inches from her face. Hinata gasped and quickly scooted back. "A-ano, Haruno-san, are you alright?"
"Like...ripe...melons," Sakura continued to mutter under her breath, eyes glassy and staring straight up.
"Uhh...Haruno-san?" Hinata asked, worried about concussions. Struggling to her feet, Sakura still looked confused but seemed more responsive than before.
"I...I don't understand," Sakura said shakily. "I didn't know...when did you start...liking Sasuke-kun?" she asked, her face a picture of misery and confusion.
"I d-don't like Uchiha-san, really," Hinata protested. "He is c-cold and isn't very n-nice to me, but he has been forced into this the same as I have. He, he will train with me so I'll become stronger, so it isn't like I hate him." Hesitating, she decided this wasn't a very polite conversation, so she'd be just a little more rude and ask an impertinent question. "Why do you like Uchiha-san?"
"W-well, he is so mysterious, and...and handsome and strong," Sakura said, blushing deeply, searching for something less embarrassing to say.
"A-anyway," she said, "I'm the perfect girl for him, not some big-breasted muscle-girl like you!" Then Sakura caught herself and suddenly froze, a pained look on her face.
"I mean...I'm sorry about almost punching you at the hospital," Sakura suddenly said, looking down guiltily, "I had to do punishment detail for three nights straight because of that and pay for the damage to the wall. But that isn't the point." Pink hair whipping around her face, she took a stomping step forward and pointed at Hinata's chest again, seeming to have trouble looking away.
"I'm still going to keep fighting! I won't lose in this Battle of Love!" Sakura declared directly to Hinata's tits, which made no immediate reply of their own. Seemingly satisfied with this declaration to her opponent's mammaries, the obviously mentally imbalanced kunoichi then turned and started to stomp away, leaving a bemused Hinata (and her chest) standing alone in the road.
Comparing the two of them as Sakura walked away, Hinata couldn't honestly say the other girl was wrong about her physical evaluation. Hinata knew she had the thick arms and wrists of a taijutsu specialist and bulky, well-defined thighs and calves. And shamefully large breasts, of course. But this was (mostly, and not the breasts of course) because she trained to be a powerful ninja. Sakura looked like a beanpole by comparison, including her chest. A small, quiet, aggressive, and moderately new part of Hinata wondered if Sakura was really serious about being a Leaf kunoichi. Sakura probably even dieted.
Hinata knew she needed unpleasantly large quantities of food every day just to keep going – using all that energy, chakra and physical, took a toll on her body. She also knew some of her fellow kunoichi at the Academy had kept to strange thinning diets, mostly because of boys, but Hinata had never really understood that. At home (she meant her old home, she realized with a stab of regret, but also the Uchiha compound) they wouldn't let her even try to miss a meal or skimp on her nutrition. It was worrying that Sasuke-san depended on a teammate who didn't seem to take being a ninja very seriously.
Not sure how to respond to Sakura's sudden and strange disengagement from an even stranger verbal encounter, Hinata was about to just grab her pack and leave when she detected a familiar presence. Instinct and long training triggered her Byakugan before she consciously processed the information. Behind her and above, there, was a chakra signature and shape she recognized.
Sasuke-san silently dropped off a building and landed just behind Hinata, but she didn't turn her head or even react. Taking a few steps forward, he touched her arm briefly, receiving a nod from her in response. Standing next to her as she continued to put her heavy pack back on – strapping it down firmly, Academy correct procedure – Sasuke-san addressed his teammate, surprising the girl who had not yet noticed his arrival.
"Sakura, Naruto has returned and Kakashi-sensei has recovered," Sasuke said, his voice loud in the suddenly still street. "We are to meet them at the Hokage's office immediately." As Sakura gasped and spun around, he paused.
Glancing sideways at Hinata, he added quietly, "Hyūga-san, they did not mention it being a secret meeting." He paused again.
"So, if you wanted to come..." he said, trailing off as he passed her and walked toward his still shocked, pink-haired teammate.
Hinata gulped and quickly shuffled her backpack off again, pulling a light jacket out of it to cover up her slightly immodest running top, strapping an equipment belt on, and grabbing her tantō and its sheath ties.
Leaving her heavy backpack with Suzume-san, who had appeared out of the shadows as if on command, she ran off after Sasuke-san and Sakura to finally see Naruto-kun again after more than a month.
Racing along the streets behind them, she tied the large knife to her left arm as the back of her unzipped gray jacket flapped, waving the Uchiha symbol in the breeze.