Chapter 21

Unlike the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan was never big enough to occupy a whole district. Also their social structure was quite different and demanded special arrangements. Despite that the Hyuga clan estate was one of the places most people knew of. After all the Hyugas were in high regards in Konoha, a clan with a famous bloodline, no less famous taijutsu style and a fierce reputation among the shinobi of the world. The Hyugas were strong and had very little patience towards incompetence.

The members of the main family resided in the estate. Despite it being a place of wealth and comfort, it was also a home to those who called themselves shinobi and was well defended. The estate was one of the few places in the village that didn't suffer any damage during the invasion, some enemy ninjas preferred to avoid the home of the members of the famous clan. Basically it meant that the members of the main family lived in a luxurious, but somewhat isolated fortress within the village. As for the branch family, they occupied several buildings around the estate, creating a perimeter that acted as an additional line of defense. Of course that meant that the branch family members were putting themselves at risk, but that after all was their purpose. The caged bird seal ruled out the possibility of the byakugan falling into the enemy hands and thus the enemy actually had little reason to attack the branch family.

"You will never achieve much this way." Hinata turned around when she heard a familiar voice. She was training, practicing juuken in one of the small training areas within the estate walls. She often practiced alone because the clan had little interest in her training. She was given the bare minimum of the instructions.

"Umm, Neji. Good morning." Hinata nodded politely. Even Neji couldn't tell if her trembling voice right now was the result of her timid personality or plain fear being in his presence.

"You are not suited for fighting the way you do." Neji said and Hinata lowered her eyes. "You will never beat me if you continue to try and fight like this."

"But .. I have to i-improve."

"That is your duty as a shinobi of the village and the member of the Hyuga clan, but you will not achieve that goal the way you are trying to do it."

"But I h-have no other w-way." Hinata said with her usual stutter.

"You are different than I and we both know that, Hinata-sama. You will get nowhere by trying to replicate the strengths of the others and not using your own."

"My own strength? I am not strong." Hinata shook her head.

"Your strength is not the strength of a Hyuga in our most conservative way. But you are not without talents. If one tactic doesn't work, it means that the chosen approach is wrong. That is simple logic."

"B-but …. "

"Fight me." Neji slid into his fighting stance and attacked Hinata without another word. She barely prepared herself, doing her best to fight him, trying to block his attacks using the usual juuken style. As before, she was no match. She slowly retreated until her back was pressed against a training post and Neji's palm stopped inches away from her face.

"Again." Hinata was given a second to catch breath, before Neji resumed his attack. It was the same, she was pushed back, until she nearly lost balance and stumbled back, giving Neji an opportunity to finish her, but Neji seemed satisfied with what he achieved as he didn't use the chance.

"You are trying to fight like me, but you will never be me." Neji said, ducked under Hinata's strike and the girl slid back after her rammed both palms into her stomach.

"What do you have, that I don't, what can you use? In what way, will I never be able to match up?" Neji kept on attacking, pushing the girl back. The difference was obvious. He was faster, stronger. His attacks were more precise. She was simply no match.

"Ahh." Neji again nearly caught her off balance. She had no time to block, no way to stop the next strike that she knew would hit her in the chest. She hated being weak, being a disgrace, being unable to go further.

"Huh?" Neji's eyes widened when Hinata somehow moved herself out of the way, spinning on one leg. Her sudden unorthodox move was so sudden that Neji moved past her on pure momentum and then stumbled to the side when Hinata struck him in the face. It was more of a slap than a real strike, but it stung. She had actually managed to land a solid blow.

Neji looked up and saw that Hinata was no less surprised by what occurred than Neji himself. She was looking between her hand and Neji with disbelief. Neji shook his head and attacked once again. His strikes rained upon his opponent, who again retreated under his assault. Neji blocked her weak attempt at counter attack and pushed her hands apart, preparing to knock her over, but Hinata suddenly leaned back, his stretched hand passing harmlessly over her. It wasn't how a juuken user was meant to move, but it worked against him.

The sparring match resumed and Neji noticed slight changes. Hinata seemed to move more fluidly, more adapting to his pattern of attacks instead of trying to counter it. Instead of piercing through she was flowing around. Neji was unfamiliar with this, but his experience still gave him an edge, eventually allowing him to knock Hinata down.

"That was …. better." Neji nodded being somewhat out of breath. He never had to work so hard to knock his cousin down before.

"Thank you, neji." Hinata stood up and nodded with a faint smile.

"You are far more flexible and agile than I am. We are not the same, Hinata-sama. If we will be strong, we will be strong differently."

"Umm, but w-won't my father be d-disappointed that I am fighting not like a H-Hyuga?"

"I can't answer that, Hinata-sama, but this is your best shot. You will have to go your own way to get strong." Neji went silent for a moment, thinking over something. "I apologize if we had …. misunderstanding in the past."

"Neji, you don't have to apologize …. Just because Naruto-kun …. "

"He turned out to be right about many things and I apologize because I admit he was correct. I still have much to think over and understand. As for his demand, I remember that Naruto-san never goes back on his word."

"No, he doesn't, never." Hinata shook her head with a smile.

"Unless I apologized, he promised to find me and break me, Hinata-sama."

"Then I accept you apology, for your sake." Neji and Hinata bowed to each other in mutual gratitude, though Hinata looked a bit red.

….

"He isn't late." Naruto stated the obvious.

"But is that a good or a bad thing?" Sakura wondered.

"One way or another, it is important. Why are you on time, Kakashi?" Sasuke looked at his sensei with a look that demanded a truthful answer. Kakashi himself just appeared in front of his students. It was actually quite ironic that they were more concerned and surprised at him being on time for once.

"Oh, was I usually that much late?" Kakashi asked innocently. His genin didn't answer, but their look was a mix of disbelief and annoyance. It was painfully obvious that their sensei was messing with them again, but such things could get old eventually. Without getting a direct answer Kakashi sighed and decided to get serious.

"A mission."

"Yes. A mission. An awesome mission?" Naruto asked grinning. His mind was already coming up with the possibilities.

"Well, it is a diplomatic mission for me and several more jounin. You see, the sand village just found out that Orochimaru had murdered their Kazekage and impersonated him for quite a while. They want our conflict to end and the alliance reestablished, so they are sending representatives and we are to escort them here." Kakashi explained.

"They have some nerve, after they attacked us and all." Naruto gave his opinion.

"Politics sometimes go against common sense, dobe. I think the third will accept, we don't need a long war." Sasuke sighed.

"Wait, does it mean that we will be supervised by Toero-san again?"

"That's right, you should go find him. Well, I am off, have fun while I am gone." Kakashi waved and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Kakashi-sensei has a sick sense of humor." Sakura moaned miserably, while her teammates were thinking of ways to kill their sensei. Sasuke considered chidori too fast, while Naruto was favoring a good old pummeling by several dozen clones.

"We'd better go find Toero-san." Sakura sighed.

"Do we have to?" Naruto grumbled, but followed his teammates. For the first time they realized that they knew almost nothing about Toero and thus didn't have any idea where to look for him. All they knew was his name and rank and that was about it. Not nearly enough to locate someone quickly. Sasuke suggested looking through the training grounds. Instead of Toero they found someone else though.

Tenten stood in the middle of large clearing, constantly looking around as if expecting an attack. Various weapons were on the ground around her and among them something white could be seen.

"Oh, hey, Tenten, nice to see you … aghhhhh!" Naruto marched out into the clearing with a smile and barely dropped down in time as a barrage of shuriken flew over him after Tenten released them from her scroll. Just as she did something white dug into the ground right at her feet.

"Doesn't count, I got distracted." Tenten stomped.

"You nearly killed me!" Naruto jumped up, as Sakura and Sasuke alse appeared in the clearing.

"You should know better than bother others during training. You ruined my concentration, you orange idiot!" Tenten didn't look pleased.

"Training, what kind of training?" Sakura asked.

"You are asking questions that you should avoid asking." The voice was familiar and the genin saw Toero crouched down on a thick branch above them.

"He distracted me." Tenten pointed at Naruto.

"I fail to see how that is my problem." Toero replied after jumping down.

"Tsk, fine, you win, I died." Tenten sighed in defeat. She understood that it was pointless to argue. Toero didn't believe in fair play anyway. He would never take a direct approach if he could avoid it.

"Tenten-san, umm what is exactly going on?" Sakura asked.

"Training. The genin I am in charge of had some clan business to handle, so we decided that today they would be free of their ninja duties and that meant that I basically had nothing to do, same went for the sneaky creep next to you."

"I did not propose this, you did." Toero countered.

"But you agreed."

"I found your proposal practical. You are among the people capable of knocking my arrows in mid air, that means that you are a challenging obstacle."

"Arrows." Sasuke pushed a large shuriken out of the way and picked up a white bone arrow. This thing was familiar, he saw it before, but back then he was occupied with other matters. Something clicked as he turned to Toero. He should've guessed earlier. "You tried to kill us."

Tenten cursed looking at Toero who didn't object to accusations. He merely nodded and placed his bow on his back.

"I tried to kill you, Uchiha, while she saved you." Toero pointed at Tenten and then turned to Sakura. "You are shorter than your teammate, my arrow would've struck you in a non-vital area."

The pink haired girl paled after hearing that.

"You tried to hurt my friends!" Naruto launched himself at Toero, but the older ninja grabbed him in mid air and slammed him against the ground, pressing the blonde down with his knee.

"The village must make sure that the sharingan does not fall into the hands of an enemy. You must understand that in order to survive the ninjas have to do things that some would consider barbaric. You are shinobi, you will have blood on your hands, eventually. You will be responsible for deaths and suffering. You are not saviors, protectors, heroes. You are shinobi, servants of the village whose mark you bear."

"So, in order to prevent Sasuke from falling into Orochimaru's hands you tried to kill him?" Sakura yelled in outrage.

"This village had experience with the curse seal. It is known that it can influence a ninja, twist him and bring out the worse in him. Try remembering his actions and how his chakra felt back then, in the forest."

Sasuke saw how everyone, even his teammates looked at him. Sakura paled even more if that was possible. She remembered that feeling. That cold dark chakra, that suffocating sinister presence. Sasuke's cruelty, his pleasure at causing pain, his lack of hesitation to cause suffering.

"What?" Sasuke looked around. Tenten also remembered that feeling. She also had to admire how Toero got out of a sticky situation. He was an excellent liar, but he didn't even lie. He just didn't tell that he was not acting on hokage's orders and somewhat twisted some facts. But basically he told them the truth in a way that made his actions justified.

"Back then … Sasuke-kun, you turned into someone I couldn't recognize. You became …. a monster." Sakura looked away.

"And that was only the beginning. Sometimes it is better to end the problem before it goes out of hand. This village doesn't need another, traitorous Uchiha." Toero narrowed his eyes. The hokage provided him Tenten and Shikamaru with detailed information about Sasuke and his psychological profile contained notes on Itachi's betrayal.

Sasuke scowled, his palm curling into a fist so hard that his knuckles became white.

"I will never, be like he is. I refuse to become someone like him." Sasuke yelled, earning confused looks from Sakura and Naruto.

"You think others will just take your word for it, Uchiha? They are willing to give you a chance by sealing up that curse seal, but that is it. Trust is earned by spilling your own blood."

"You ….." Sasuke approached Toero. They stared at each other for a while in silence, you could almost feel the tension in the air.

"How can we trust you?"

"You can't." Toero stood up freeing Naruto, who pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Listen. If you ever see me any signs of me becoming anything like my brother, if you will see that I am ready to hurt those around me, kill me. You all, if you see that, kill me!" Sasuke looked at his teammates. Sakura was trembling visibly, Naruto just looked down.

"I won't like it, but if I will have no other choice I will." Tenten looked miserable saying that, but preferred to be honest. If Sasuke preferred death to becoming a traitor like his brother, then she would grant his wish. She respected him as a fellow ninja and his wishes.

"I will do it, quickly." Toero agreed.

"Good, I need to think." Sasuke walked off, disappearing among the trees.

"You, go talk to him." Toero pulled Naruto up and shoved him in the back towards where Sasuke went.

"Why Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Because I say so. You need to train, not cry over the cruelty of the world." Toero said and turned to Naruto.

"Yeah, sure, I am going." Naruto nodded and ran after his teammate.

…..

Those eyes, he could picture them so clearly no matter where he was. Those cold, merciless eyes that calmly watched those dearest to him slowly bleed on the floor of a place Sasuke once called his home. The eyes that killed everyone, that wiped away every smile, that made life hell.

Sasuke hated his brother, he wanted to find him and destroy him, erase him from existence, no trace, not even a memory should remain. His brother was a monster, a murder, someone who didn't deserve to live, who forfeited his very humanity just to obtain and test power. He had to be destroyed. But never before had Sasuke thought about the cost of his ambition. What use destroying Itachi if he himself would become no better. Why seek to destroy something if you yourself would become it's replica. Sasuke couldn't think of a fate worse than that and yet when earlier he saw Sakura, he recognized himself. His younger self that trembled before his brother that horrible night. Her eyes held the same fear, the same agony of realization. Sasuke felt sick after that, ready to throw up.

"I …. " Sasuke pulled out a kunai and pulled down the collar of his shirt.

"I will not become like you!" Sasuke raised the weapon preparing to carve the curse mark out of his own flesh, but something stopped him. The Uchiha looked up and saw Naruto gripping his wrist.

"Let go, Naruto."

"You can't fix it Sasuke, it won't work."

"You ….." Sasuke jumped up slamming Naruto against a tree. "What do you know of this. You think you understand how it feels to become an abomination?"

"Yes, yes I DO!" Suddenly Sasuke felt how Naruto brutally overpowered him, lifting Sasuke into the air. Once more Sasuke saw those red eyes, this time staring at him, rage and animalistic fury washing over him.

"I know of it, for I've seen the monster I can become!" The aura of anger and rage intensified and Sasuke activated his sharingan on pure reflex and once more saw something over Naruto, a shape, an image, an animal with nine long tails moving around in a dance of primal rage.

"You are … but it was killed."

"It was sealed!" Naruto threw Sasuke against the tree he himself was slammed against earlier. The horrible aura faded and Naruto slumped into a sitting position next to Sasuke, both not looking at each other.

"How?"

"The fourth did it. He needed a newborn or something, I don't really know. I guess I was unlucky to be born that day. Tsk, I didn't even know about it until I became genin."

"How does one live with something like this, with evil inside of you?" Sasuke rubbed his hand over his shoulder, over the curse seal.

"Toero is right about one thing. The pain, you get used to it. It never goes away, it just becomes a part of you and you learn to ignore it most of the time. You just live with it and learn to make the best of it and overcome it and if you give up, it consumes you."

"I see."

"But I learned that you don't need to carry this without the help of others. You, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, old man Hokage even Toero in his own sadistic way. People who accept you for who you are help, because everyday they remind you who you are. They keep you on track, but if you cut them off you get lost, you drown in the sea of your own anger and sorrow."

"And you just keep going no matter what." Sasuke nodded.

"What other choice do we have. Either we keep going or loose ourselves. And I don't want that overgrown pile of fur get the best of me."

"Then how do you use that chakra?"

"If the bastard takes residence in my guts, he might as well pay the rent. The fourth made the seal this way, so I could use this chakra. The pervy sage taught me how."

"That is useful. Fine, lets go, dobe, Toero is most likely torturing Sakura already, I don't want to miss that."

"Sure, teme." The due glared at each other, but then just began walking back. They made it back rather quickly and saw Toero almost where they left him, but Sakura and Tenten were nowhere to be seen.

"Will there be any other questions, accusations, objections, or are you ready to get back to work?"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look and nodded to each other.

"Do your worst."