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Flashback

Hinata walked through the compound situated right beside the Hyuuga compound. It was a mass of land they owned, gifted by the Shodaime Hokage in a worthwhile effort to convince them to join Konoha.

The Hyuuga had wanted double the amount they needed, so Hashirama had thrown in the compound reserved for another clan into the deal. Although half the land ended up unused, because the Main House decided to group all the Branch families closely together for easier "supervision."

That left an empty section of the compound, which was now being given to the Uchiha.

Hinata thought of the prospect of Hyuuga and Uchiha living side by side and didn't know what to think about it. For one thing, it was convenient. But it also risked privacy invasion. Not that she minded, the Byakugan was more suited to spying on neighbors than the Sharingan.

Her eyes counted out a few occupied homes. Then, someone came up from behind.

"Hello! This place offers a great view of the village!"

She turned around and perked an eyebrow at an adult man with torn skin, black hair and glowing sharingan eyes. The Uchiha were moving in so quickly already? She forced a polite smile. "I'm glad you like it here."

"Oh, honored heiress! Would you please give me a tour of our new home before everyone moves in?!" The man clasped his hands together dramatically.

Hinata tilted her head. "I'd love to."

She promptly showed him some of the hidden meeting places and locations clan compounds had, including the conjoined training grounds and gardens and rivers. Then, she showed him the seals on the walls.

Somehow, he had led her into showing him parts of the Hyuuga compound as well, although they were only there for about two minutes, since she wasn't one to make mistakes that risk security breaches when it comes to her clan. She had only showed the surface of things, anything that a hawk flying by would have noticed.

Yet, with the way she adverted her gaze when they walked passed a certain home…

He waved his arms, "I had lots of fun!"

Hinata perked up. Something was definitely off about this Uchiha. She turned on her byakugan and faced him. "Who are you, really?"

He blinked. Then, he smiled. "I have a feeling we'll meet again, so I'll tell you. I'm Tobi Uchiha!"

Recognition dawned on her face. She remembered that name listed somewhere on the classified Uchiha clan roster. Hinata smiled back, though it looked strange on her face. "Feel free to visit anytime."

"Oh I will."

It would have worked out spectacularly if this Uchiha wasn't Tobi.

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Hinata sneezed and rubbed her nose. Sasuke was improving at a rapid pace, almost half as fast as she did. It had been a few days since she last saw Naruto. That's it, I'm skipping tomorrow's training session to see him and apologize.

She tossed a few oranges past Sasuke as he spun around and sliced each of them cleanly in half with four shuriken and a single throw.

Hinata clapped slowly. "Good work, an opponent won't sit there waiting for you. You've been wasting your time attackimg immobile targets at the Academy and started out unable to hit a fruit thrown directlytowards you, and now you can attack multiple targets with a single spin, like a Hyuuga Revolving Heaven technique. "

Sasuke panted. "Is that why you made me sit down and study physics?"

Hinata blushed, I actually did it to sneak off to visit Naruto. "Yeah," she lied.

Sasuke noticed her expression and blushed back. "I— Thanks." …At Hinata's questioning look, he added. "For training me."

Hinata smiled and hopped off the tree branch she perched on, landing to the front-left of Sasuke and placing her left hand on his right shoulder. "I think you've improved enough to defeat most genin in taijutsu and shurikenjutsu."

He beamed.

Her eyes took on a considering glint, "But I still have a lesson to teach you." A lesson I won't be teaching Naruto. "It's very important."

Sasuke turned his head to stare at her, widened black eyes only inches from her narrowed white ones.

He was so adorable that it only reminded her of Naruto, and something tugged at her chest. She hardened it, and stepped back, pulling out two bunnies. Sasuke wondered where she got them, but the thought was deferred by her next indictment.

"I am going to kill these rabbits; however, you can still save one of them. Which one do you choose to live?" She held a kunai threateningly over both their necks, her other hand holding them together by their ears.

Sasuke's heartbeat sped up and his sweat turned cold. "I—I—How can I choose?! D-Don't kill any!"

"It's impossible to save both. You do not have the power to stop me, only the power to choose which one lives. You have five seconds."

4.

3.

2.

Hinata sighed and added a third bunny, and split them into two piles. A rabbit isolated by itself, and two rabbits held together. "Now which do you choose?"

Sasuke just stared. Hesitatingly, he pointed to the hand with the two rabbits.

Hinata released her grip, dropping the rabbits who ran for their lives, and picked up the kunai.

She stabbed the remaining bunny. Sasuke shrieked, but it was too late to save it.

He started shaking and sobbing waterfalls, traumatized, while Hinata placed the convulsing corpse into a reverse summoning scroll.

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Back home, a bunch of cats raced towards the freshkill that popped out of nowhere, meowing thanks to their goddess Hinata.

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"Sasuke, don't forget this lesson. Someday, you might have to choose between saving one or the other. The ideal decision is to rescue both, but if that's impossible, both will die, and you'd have missed your chance because of your hesitation." She looked at him seriously.

Sasuke gulped, and felt intense guilt. He didn't know why, and that ashamed him.

She kept lecturing. "Sometimes, the choice is made easier by the number of rabbits you can save." Her bloody hand went for his chin and held up his face. Sasuke could feel the lukewarm liquid sliding down his neck.

"Sometimes, you have to choose between which side you're on. If you're in Konoha, and Iwa has a larger population, you wouldn't switch sides just to save the most people. But if Konoha becomes corrupt?"

She smiled, cupping his cheek. It would have looked almost romantic, if not for all the crimson fluid. "Never look at things only the surface."

Sasuke was still curious, resisting the urge to wash his bloody face. "If that happens to you, what would you do?"

She looked thoughtful. "Well, I…I would fix Konoha, make it not corrupt." She smirked. "Did you really think I'd jump sides to Iwa? It would be that much harder to work my way up to a position of authority to overthrow Konoha's corruption by military force when I can easily do it in here, without any bloodshed, given the status I was born with."

Sasuke was silent for a few seconds, absorbing the information, realizing he had the same advantage.

"So for the decisions I make, I have to think things out." Sasuke wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve. "But isn't that h- 'hesitation?'"

"Nope," Hinata chirped, "Hesitation is when you don't choose."

"…Okay." Sasuke looked subdued.

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