The next two years drag by so slowly and yet, at the same time, seem to pass so swiftly before her eyes.
Being a young girl without a mother, with a distant and workaholic father and five brothers constantly vying for her attention at different times and in different ways is exhausting work—harder than even training and working on her taijutsu, ninjutsu, bukijutsu and the healing arts. The strenuous emotional toll alone is enough to make her feel like she's carrying a mountain on her shoulders.
First there's Kiyoshi. Though their Aunt Ayaka plays the role of his nurse and caretaker, Kiyoshi, young as he is, seems to now notice that their father pays him very little attention and that the rest of them, though in good terms with their aunt, clearly don't rely on her for supervision. As a consequence, the toddler is always underfoot, follows them around to get their attention and constantly demands they include him in their activities. He particularly seeks her out the most and can be very difficult when his wants and needs aren't met.
Then there's Kenji. Her younger brother still remembers their mother—hazy though his memories are. He still longs for her and as a result, refuses their Aunt's attention most of the time. He instead clings to her and treats her as the mother he and lost. He's a very possessive child, always competing with their youngest brother for her time and attention.
It pains her—to see them both like this. It's not enough. It will never be enough. But she tries to be what they need. How can she not? She's gone through the same loss twice now. She knows what it's like to be young and without the love and care of a mother.
Then there's Tatsuya. He's become a quiet, sullen boy prone to vacillate between moods like seeking their father's approval; feeling love, respect and envy at the same time for her, Madara and Izuna; feeling a mix of pride and dissatisfaction with himself; and feeling sorry and annoyance for their two younger brothers.
He is by far the most complicated with her brothers and though he is still very close with her, his feelings of personal discontent gets in the way most of the time. In the beginning she tried very hard to address the issue but stopped when she noticed that her attempts just seemed to make things worse. She doesn't know what to do with him, in truth. All she can do is let him know she loves him and that she's there if he needs her.
Izuna, thankfully, despite only being nine, is now more matured and has cut back on his quiet moods. He still spends more of his time on missions and training with Madara and other boys older than them but tries very hard to be her partner in helping their younger brothers simply by playing or training with them. They're now closer than before and have become each other's confidant.
Then there's Madara. He's growing to be really serious and authoritative to all of them. Because of the amount of time he goes on missions and clan heir training, the time he spends with the younger ones is rather limited and he relies on her and Izuna to constantly give him reports of their day to day lives.
Their father is…very complicated. He's there but not really there. He's now full-on Hyuuga Hiashi 2.0. He interacts with them but in a detached way. He also spends more time to train the younger boys but treats them like a war commander would his subordinates. In very rare instances, he would show affection, especially to her, but these moments don't last very long.
…..
Amidst the mental and emotional chaos, she finds some semblance of order by following a routine.
Early in the mornings, an hour before sunrise, she wakes up for taijutsu training. When Madara and Izuna are home, they all train together. When they're not, it's only her, Tatsuya, Hikaku and sometimes Kenji. After two hours, they join the rest of the family for breakfast.
After breakfast, she spends an hour or two with her younger brothers. The activities they engage in vary. Sometimes they play or swim at the lake but most of the time it's spent on more training. Hand to hand spars. Hand seals and basic katon training. Ninja wire, kunai, shuriken and senbon throwing. Basic swordsmanship lessons.
In her case, she continues to work hard on her taijutsu, ninjutsu and bukijtsu techniques.
The good thing about her juuken fighting style is that the Hyuugas of the Warring States Era has not quite fully developed it yet. Yes they do specialize still in Gentle Fist but the forms they're currently using are what the Hyuuga Clan of her old life would call as "outdated". They haven't even developed the Twin Lion Fist and Air Palm yet—techniques invented around the First and Second Shinobi World Wars which are years after Konoha was, rather, will be established.
However, just to make sure she won't be accused by her former clan of hiden technique theft in the event she encounters a Hyuuga, she's training to combine the Gentle Fist with the Hard Fist style—particularly Lady Tsunade's and Sakura's style. She knows enough now not to simply settle with the Hyuuga taijutsu.
As effective as the Gentle Fist is, the style is very constrained and has limited range and impact. The one used by the Godaime Hokage and Sakura on the other hand was just as strong—if not stronger—due to the overwhelming damage it is capable of making.
It is hard work but thanks to her greater chakra reservoir, control and the byakugan, she's able to figure out how to channel the right amount of chakra through her pathways and learns over time how to mold it in her fists to make the devastating punches. She is now capable of making small craters. With more training and perhaps years of experience, she might be able to cause the same damage as the two strong women she's taken her inspiration from.
For her ninjutsu training, she mostly focuses on using Fire and Water Jutsus. With Madara's and Izuna's help, she's now able to use a few Uchiha Clan Fire Techniques such as the staple Great Fireball, Dragon Fire and the Phoenix Immortal Fire. For Water techniques, she's now capable of Water Needles, Water Wall and Water Dragon.
As for her Bukijutsu and Ninja Tools Techniques, there is of course the use of kunai, shuriken, ninja wires and explosive tags. With her previous knowledge and experience, use of these tools has come as easy as breathing to her. She's also learning swordsmanship at the insistence of her older brothers.
In the afternoons and early evenings, it's all about healing. Learning and teaching and experimenting with medicines and poison and antidotes.
Months after she shared the Mystical Palm Technique with the healers of the clan, after seeing its effectiveness, more of people of the clan, young girls especially, became interested in learning.
Though unable to see the chakra points and the entire chakra network, the sharingan is capable of seeing chakra flow. Added to this, most Uchihas have very good chakra control thus it's not so difficult to teach them the technique.
With the advances made to their ointments, medicines and technique, there is a marked decline in the death rate of those needing serious medical attention among Uchiha shinobi. This medical advancement has also led their clan slowly gaining a good reputation in healing and gave them another avenue of adding to their coffers by expanding their healing ward to accommodate more people seeking their services, particularly civilians.
…..
She is about to start teaching her two distant cousins Natsuki and Emika the healing palm technique when she feels acute unease run down her spine. She stops to look up and around but sees nothing alarming.
"Hinata-sama? Something the matter?" Natsuki asks.
She shakes her head and focuses on the two older girls before her. "Aa. I…it's nothing. I thought I felt something. Anyway, let's continue. Emika-chan, you're already able to activate your sharingan, aren't you? Try to observe my chakra flow so you get a better idea of how this technique works."
The girl nods and does as she asked while Natsuki pouts. "So a sharingan makes it better? Does that mean if I don't have a sharingan, I won't be as good?"
"No, definitely not. The sharingan gives you a small help but it not really required. What's more important is your chakra, your control and your determination and dedication to heal."
She looks the older girls straight in the eye to impress upon them her seriousness and smiles when they both nod with the same solemnity in their eyes.
"I'll demonstrate it once more then I'll let you two try it, alright?"
Two dark heads nod at her while two pairs of equally dark eyes look down to watch her demonstration.
She takes the live, slippery and wriggling fish from the bucket and places it on the tray and proceeds to make a small cut on its squirming body when she feels the same unease again, worse this time.
Gut instinct, Kiba called it. Shinobi sense of danger, Shino refuted. Whatever it is, do not just ignore it. Your body, your intuition—they sometimes know better than you do, Kurenai advised.
She stops and clenches her jaw at the unwanted sensation then decides to activate her byakugan, immediately hearing loud gasps from the two girls before her.
"So it's true! You really do have different eyes! The byakugan!" Natsuki speaks up excitedly.
She ignores the comment and instead goes about adjusting the range of her sight to observe her surroundings better.
"Hinata-sama?" Emika asks.
"A moment please," Hinata mutters as she scans the entire Main House and the training grounds. She relaxes a little when she sees her father, Madara, Tatsuya and Hikaku training in the dojo but her agitation gets worse when she fails to find her younger brothers. She increases her range and nothing. She increase it some more and still nothing. Not in their usual play grounds. Not in the gardens. Not in the neighborhood.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Natsuki asks, voice a bit worried this time.
"I…We'll have to stop for now. I feel there's something wrong," she says and goes for the door of the healing ward.
"Hinata-sama!" Emika calls out worriedly.
"Not now please, cousin. Let's do this tomorrow," she says then swiftly takes her leave of them.
She continues scanning the entire Uchiha territory while running and breathes a sigh of relief when she finally locates her Aunt Ayaka, Kenji and Kiyoshi at the lake, swimming and without a care in the world.
Strongly misliking the disquiet she felt moments ago and her training with her cousins already interrupted, she decides to go and join them, wanting to be close to her younger brothers to help get rid of the unwanted feeling.
Not wanting to attract more attention from curious and possibly secretly judging eyes and minds of clan members, she deactivates her byakugan and navigates the path leading to the lake when suddenly, a loud explosion rang in the air, the location of the blast close to the direction of the lake.
Unease now turned to acute dread, she stops for a beat and feels her stomach fall to the bottom of her feet. Then, her heart suddenly lodged in her throat, she activates her byakugan while pumping her legs, increasing her speed to the highest level. She immediately locates the lake and sees…
"NO! NO!"
"Hinata-sama!"
"Hinata-sama! What—"
She blazes through the path between the residences of her kin, ignoring the calls and the presence of others joining her mad dash through the street to the tree line, the lake meters ahead.
"Hinata!"
"Hinata!" she hears her father's and Madara's strong voice call out but ignores them both just the same.
When she reaches the lake, she feels her knees give out and she chokes on her breath when she finally sees. Sees everything with sharp clarity.
The fallen leaves. The wet green grass. The bleeding lake. The unrecognizable body parts blown to pieces and floating...
She hears two thuds behind her followed by sharp intakes of breaths. Kenji and Kiyoshi. Her little brothers' names. A loud, anguished curse.
She feels an acute pain in her head and her eyes.
And no more.