He awoke with sweat pouring from his face and gasped the air like it was water in a desert. He was in an unfamiliar room covered by a soft blanket and resting on something soft. Something was resting on his shoulder as well.

A gentle look indicated that it was Hinata's head. She was sleeping. He shifted her head onto a pillow and moved the blanket over her. He wasn't going to be sleeping, so she needed it more.

He remembered everything. He remembered the helplessness of it all, Hinata forcing him onwards. He owed her much for that.

He remembered being carried to a library and writing furiously, manically until the account was on the paper as opposed to purely in his head.

Somehow that made the memory more bearable. It still haunted him but at least it was out now. He could deal with it.

His hands twitched before he realised that the seal was broken. He could try using it again, but he had broken it. He had broken that which his former master had cursed him with. He realised how emotive the adjectives were and didn't care.

He pulled himself upwards and took another deep breath. He could stand on his own now, although his limbs still ached a little. Orochimaru's torturers had certainly left some sympathetic scars his limbs wanted to bear a bit longer. He could feel the phantom wounds clearly.

He found his cloak and pulled it around himself. The anonymity it would provide could be useful.

He looked around for a door and realised how much trouble he could be in. He was in the Hyuuga compound.

Surrounded by people who might kill him if they knew about his eye.

He found the door and took a last look back at Hinata. She was stirring a little, but she still slept. He decided to leave her in peace. He liked the picture the room formed, the morning light gently warming the room through the blinds, Hinata sleeping under the pale blanket.

It was a nice picture.

He gently pushed open the door and walked out of the room. Someone looked up from where they were resting on a wall. They looked up with somewhat sleepless eyes.

"Neji-san."

"Naruto-san. I take it you are better than before?"

"Somewhat."

There was silence for a moment.

"Naruto-san, since we last met I wish you to know I have changed for the better. It took some time, but I wish to apologise for my past behaviour."

"It is accepted. We did not start out on the best of terms. I am grateful that you kept your word about my eye."

Neji looked away and Naruto heard more footsteps. He recognised the man as the one who had carried him. Hinata's father.

The man had a very neutral expression on his face.

He realised Neji had left rather abruptly. The man gestured for Naruto to wait as he looked in on Hinata, who continued to sleep. He shut the door gently and turned to Naruto.

"Naruto-san, my name is Hiashi. I am head of the Hyuuga clan, and Hinata's father. We need to have a talk."

"It is expedient to meet you Hiashi-sama. Where do you wish to talk?"

"The gardens. Join me."

He fell into step with the man awkwardly. He was not used to walking with people. Running yes, standing before yes, and not walking with.

The man wasn't looking at him.

"I have heard so little of you, and I wish to know more."

"I know nothing of you Hiashi-sama."

They kept walking, various Hyuuga were moving out of the way, and he could see the glances they shot him. Confusion was chief amongst them.

"I wish it to remain that way until I know more of you. I shall wait until we are more alone and away from prying ears before continuing."

He followed the man. He looked at the windows and something was familiar and it was confirmed when the door was opened.

The courtyard looked different in the morning light than it had the night, but he recognised it all the same. Hiashi motioned and the doors to the courtyard were closed by unseen figures. They were suddenly very isolated and alone despite being in the centre of possibly the largest clan compound.

He sat by the pond and gestured for Naruto to do the same. Naruto put a little distance between them, sitting opposite to the man around the pond like he had done with Hinata months before.

She shared a gaze with the pupiless eyes of the Hyuuga clan head.

"Allow me to tell you what I know of you Naruto."

There was the soft sound of birdsong from a tree and the water rippled as a gentle breeze moved through the central gardens.

"At first I heard a mention of you from Shikaku Nara. It should not surprise you to learn that we are friends, after a fashion. I was told of a boy who had succeeded in killing a Junchuuriki during the invasion by Oto and Suna three years ago.

I was impressed. Calm under an assault, performing his mission without quandary or calm even if it meant killing without asking questions. A fine person. Yet there was no record of anyone matching that description from your class or any academy class. I was intrigued.

Then there was word from my nephew."

Naruto started looking for ways out of the area should he need them. He could create a shadow clone and short notice if he needed to run for safety. He wished he could activate his eye and see how surrounded he was.

"I see this makes you uncomfortable and I wish you not to panic, at least not yet. If I wish you killed I will make sure to follow correct protocol of our clan, that is to say Konoha law. I have no wish to kill a fellow shinobi without permission. Should I be granted that permission that is where clan protocol takes over.

For you see, my nephew spoke of a boy who had defeated him in exchange for silence. He had stood up for my weak daughter insulted our clan.

He had a Byakugan.

I was angry at first, and nearly demanded that Tsunade-sama bring you before me to remove the offending eye. The chance never came.

For then there was a tale of a boy who had shot and killed a comrade and then disappeared. Had he continued the mission? Had he fled? Had he defected? There were many questions and many possible answers.

I wasn't the only one who wanted to know what happened when Kakashi returned.

I was again angry at being denied my vengeance. Over time, I had time to think.

On the one hand, you had someone who insulted my clan by his existence, humiliated our clan's prodigy and nearly broke its heir. Possibly a coward. Possibly a traitor. The worst and lowest of the scum.

On the other you had a shinobi who continued the mission no matter the risk. A skilled fighter, capable of finding a weakness and ruthlessly exposing it. Defeating Neji without excessive power is no easy feat.

Years passed and I pondered you less. I was more concerned with Hinata. She looked to be leaving the shinobi path and that worried and angered me."

The man paused briefly, looking over the calm water and into Naruto's single visible eye. Naruto wondered why he was being told this. Perhaps the man wanted him to know more despite denying it.

"Then one night, Hinata returned in a different frame of mind. She should have been deflated and saddened, having left the shinobi way for good. Instead she came back...I think angry is the term. No. Furious. Determined.

That night someone broke into the compound and spoke to her, and she lashed out in anger at him.

It did not take long to figure out it was you.

I was again, angry. You break into my home and scare my daughter. You humiliate my clan by sneaking in past our all seeing eyes.

I nearly demanded your death. Nearly.

My hand was stayed by news of your innocence. Clan heads get access to a little more information than the average jonin. It helps keep some unity within the clan system and our relationship with Konoha.

I then learned that the Hokage intended to entwine the path of you and Hinata by putting you near her team and making her your therapist. Or at least I inferred it. Hinata told me little of her mission other than rank and general description. The rest I could work out.

I could not object, else I would face censure from the Hokage.

When the Akatsuki came and went, you remained standing. I then spoke with another of my friends.

Shibi is not a man taken to affect affairs outside his clan, yet you gained his attention. Not only that, you were welcomed into the Aburame home. That is a privilege. I was shocked that he would trust you.

He mentioned that his son would trust you, and that he would trust his son. He questioned whether I trusted my heir so.

Then yesterday I saw my daughter act in a way I had never seen before. Maybe it is my fault for missing that part of her nature. She was determined. She did not stutter or waste time and she gave orders. She gave orders to everyone including myself, something I think she will feel bad about but should not.

There was a part of that in Hitomi...yet I feared that it existed only in my other daughter. Some of that will lives on in Hinata as well. You brought it out of her.

Now...she has succeeded in her mission and I get to meet you at last.

So tell me Naruto, which are you? The thief, the traitor, the spy. The one who sows darkness and despair amongst my clan and you enemies. Or are you a shining light, a shinobi who will never give up. The one who gains the trust of the Aburame and the apparent favour of the Hokage? The one who stands up to S ranked shinobi and lives?"

Naruto considered his answer. It had never seemed more fitting, given what he had seen.

"I am the shadow. The smoke in your eyes. I am a ghost that hides in the night."

The man considered.

"Then cease hiding for this conversation. Although I have seen your face without the hood, it was not by your choice. I request, nay, demand that you show me."

Naruto lowered the hood and saw the look of comprehension on the man's face.

He realised it had been some time since he had last hacked his hair short, and the beginnings of spiky blond hair were forming on his head.

"Shibi was right. The resemblance is faint, but there. I will keep that safe. I wish to see the eye you hide. Do not fear, I will not harm you here and now."

Naruto undid the bandage around his eye and let it fall. The Byakugan met the gaze of the man.

He sighed and buried his face in his hands for a moment. When they rose up again a single tear rolled down a cheek.

"I always wondered what happened. I...cannot blame you for this truth, yet you must understand my anger."

Naruto realised that the man recognised the eye. That meant he knew the gaze well, so well that he would react to it. He considered the closest relationships the man could have.

"It belonged to your late wife?"

The man's gaze hardened a little.

"Watch your tongue. It is her eye, not yours."

He pulled back a bit, his hands unclenching.

"But yes. I recognise it. I suspect Hinata finds it familiar too, if she has seen it. I wondered what happened that day. When the doctors told me she had died, I looked into her dead eyes. I was...clouded by grief. Something looked wrong but I had no time to focus. I was a father with two young children whose wife had just died. I had...bigger concerns and responsibilities.

I always wondered, but with her body committed to the grave I never could. I know now that a part of her lives on.

You still do not answer my question though, which Naruto are you? Are you someone I should hate and fear, or someone I should cherish and praise?"

Naruto again considered. The man's gaze bored into him deeply.

"I am neither."

"Then what are you?"

He considered again.

"I am an instrument of the Hokage's will. She commands and I obey."

The man shook his head.

"Perhaps I am too direct, or not direct enough. It is hard to know with you Naruto. You are not without emotion like myself. You must feel something."

"I do not have any other way of describing myself in such ways. I am a Jinchuriki. I am a shinobi of Konoha. What are you asking for?"

The man considered, stroking his chin gently.

"Allow me to rephrase. I wonder how far you would go to complete your missions. I wonder what you would sacrifice, what common boundaries you would break.

Would you hesitate to kill a comrade to succeed on a mission? Would you leave Hinata to die on a mission if it made sure it succeeded? Would you use a teammate as bait?

It this test of character I wish to gauge for you. I want to know if you are an emotionless killer who will use anything and everything for his mission, regardless of ethical issues. Or are you someone who is not."

Naruto remembered all of his missions.

"At first, when I undertook my first missions for the Hokage, I was such a shinobi. I nearly shot Hinata to keep her silence after she spotted me on a mission. I shot through her teammates shoulder to kill a man later on.

Had I been on a mission with her as a teammate, I would have shot through her, or anyone else to succeed. I would not aim to kill, but if it were necessary I would no have hesitated.

At the invasion I used clones with explosive tags to kill enemies, and subjected my foes to fear, wearing them down and slaying them without mercy.

When I was told to retrieve Sasuke, I went straight for him, ignoring the other fights I saw taking place on the way. I left them to their fights so I could complete my mission.

I shot a friend accidently whilst aiming to hit my target behind him. It was a low percentage shot that I had to attempt. I killed him, even if he had been wounded grievously.

If you judge me by that standard then I am what you seem to fear."

The man nodded with a look of understanding on his stoic face.

"I sense there is more you have to say Naruto. Speak freely. This is a place where men can talk plainly away from prying eyes and ears. Not even the Hokage herself will impede on this clan tradition."

"Since I returned from that mission I have...changed. I know now the kinship of teammates and the bonds that hold us together.

I know friendship more, taught to me as I killed my first friend. I know more now.

I look upon my previous actions and they make less sense with my new mindset. It is confusing.

I know that my duty as a shinobi is to complete my mission first and foremost. To do so, as you say, I should sacrifice teammates if necessary, use every tool and person to my mission's goal. Give my life if necessary.

Yet now...I understand the bonds that tie people together. I know more of emotion and the things that once seemed so illogical to me. I understand why people will abandon their missions and save their teammates."

"But would you Naruto? Would you do so?"

He considered briefly.

"It would depend. To make a blanket statement on the issue would not be fitting. If it were somebody injured grievously, perhaps I would. If it were a close friend I may not. The circumstances and the situation make such a question dangerously vague."

The man nodded.

"So where in the balance of emotion and logic do you stand?"

"I do not know. It would be variable. I prefer the logical route. It makes decisions that can be justified and quantified, that can be recorded and debated afterwards to a correct answer. Yet the emotional side cannot be denied, and denying it can have negative consequences.

I think I can illustrate this better. You know of me threatening Hinata three years ago?"

The man nodded.

"When Neji brought up your presence I talked to Lady Tsunade. She did not like you then, but she was a fair leader. Perhaps she knows more than I do on the issue, it is not unknown. I must trust she keeps it secret for a reason.

She told me of the incident then, and I thought I would be able to take my anger out upon you. Then she protected you. She saw something and knew something."

"Indeed. Imagine I had followed through, and before the previous Hokage could save her, I had shot her dead. How far would you have gone in your search for me?"

The man seemed to stiffen. Naruto had noticed a lack of body language clues and facial changes, so the man was emotionally controlled. Now he saw a flicker of something deep within.

"I would have torn down walls, metaphorical and physical. I would have fought and searched. You understand why?"

Naruto realised he could.

"From what you have said, you hold a deep affection for her as a daughter, and as the embodiment of Hitomi."

The man very briefly and very slightly smiled.

"Yes. At the time, perhaps, I would not have felt so much affection. That is my shame to bear now. I would still have fought."

"What if you began to find secrets that could have lead to conflict? Too many deaths? Possibly to a civil war in Konoha? Maybe the death of your entire clan."

The man pondered it. The sun had risen a little by now, reflecting off the calm pond surface and lighting the area with gently sunlight. The sky was slowly losing the last vestiges of the pink sunrise.

"I see. So that is where you stand. An excellent illustration. I would only be willing to go so deep, bound by my responsibilities as a clan head and a shinobi of Konoha.

I take it that you would do the same."

"Yes. I seek to make Konoha greater above all other villages. If I see a net gain in the action then I will perform it for the good of all. It becomes more difficult the less people you consider."

"A classic ethical debate about government by consent. You are intelligent. I think I have the measure of you now."

The man rose and indicated for Naruto to do the same.

"I have made my judgement of you, likely as you have of me. I will not try to reclaim your Byakugan, nor push for your censure. The reason is not that I believe that you will not cause harm, not that you will not make mistakes, and not that you are not dangerous.

It is partially that I believe that you will do more good than harm. That you will help Konoha rather than harm it. You hold the friendship of the Aburame, who chose friends carefully. You hold the trust, albeit in an odd way, of the Hokage.

Most importantly, you have the trust and affection of my daughter. You have made her better, and made me realised things I have long ignored. For that, I thank you. I trust that you meant no more harm, and offer, in some ways, my friendship to you."

The man bowed, and Naruto instinctively copied the gesture. He clapped his hands once and the doors were opened by unseen figures.

Hinata, Shizune and Tsunade were very quickly in the courtyard as soon as they did.

Tsunade gave Hiashi a stern look.

"Hiashi-sama, I very much dislike it when you lock an unbriefed shinobi of mine into a Hyuuga man chat. Particularly one who requires medical supervision."

"The correct term for our talk is a conference of minds Hokage-sama. I wished to learn more of Naruto and have succeeded in doing so. He is unharmed I assure you."

Tsunade nodded.

"Just wait for me next time something like this happens. I'm sure you are now aware why he was in your compound?"

"I only know that it was a part of Hinata's now successful mission, but no more than that."

Tsunade barely showed any sign of shock or expression change.

"Good. I need to take Hinata for debriefing."

Hiashi bowed.

"Then our business is concluded, may the Will of Fire burn bright with you Hokage-sama."

He walked off, Neji joining him once he had left the courtyard. Tsunade turned her full attention on Naruto. It was like being caught in bright sunlight that was focused directly onto him.

"Hospital now Naruto. Let's talk what you saw last night."