Chapter 17 - Plans
"Wow, you look… Are you trying to copy Kakashi's style?" Hinata said, looking at Hayate for the first time in three weeks. He had been meditating and training in the ōmizuao clan's realm. He had just gotten back and surprised Hinata who was currently sitting on a roof in the market square, practicing her control over the byakugan.
She had heard he signed a contract with a summoning clan, but she didn't expect this. When she saw him, she almost didn't recognize him. He still had dark circles under his eyes but his complexion looked better and his hair had turned a silver color. What was the most noticeable change though, was that his cough had seemed to be cured.
"No… I'm not. It was a side effect of Tasū curing the disease in my lungs. It's not a part of being contracted to it or anything." He explained, rubbing his new hair as if still getting used to it.
"It looks good though! I was just teasing before, though Kakashi does have good style." Hinata thought for a moment. "Though I don't know if just anyone can pull off the whole face mask body suit thing."
"I'll keep that in mind. Anyways, I want an update on how you're doing in your training. We also need to speak about what's going to be happening in the future."
"The future?" Hinata asked.
"Mhm. After your 10th birthday, I'll be sent into ANBU training for 6 months. I won't be joining ANBU, but they're going to put me through a training camp so I can better train you after I get out."
"So what am I going to be doing for those 6 months? Just focus on the academy?" Hinata bit her lip. She didn't like the idea of not having him here to guide her. Whenever she didn't get something, or needed help, he was always here to point her in the right direction.
"No, the Hokage said he would step in for those 6 months and train you himself."
"Jiraiya!?" Hinata opened her mouth stupidly.
"That's right. Excited?" He eyed her with an amused expression.
"I mean… he can definitely teach me things, but his style doesn't really mesh with mine does it? I'd much prefer Tsunade-sama, if I'm being honest." Hinata said, holding her chin as if in deep concentration, truly weighing her options.
Hayate snorted. "I won't tell him you said that. Even if that's the case though, I don't know if you could get a better instructor in all of Konoha."
"This is where I'm supposed to say something sweet like, "Except you of course shishou!" and bat my eyelids cutely, right?" Hinata teased him.
"Alright brat, don't push your luck." Hayate shook his head with a slight smile. "So, how are you doing with substitution?"
"Wait! We're going right into work? I haven't seen you since before the festival!" Hinata said, suddenly thinking of something. "What did you do for the festival?"
"I hung out with a friend of mine. Now, onto what you've lear-"
"Just a friend?" Hinata interrupted him. "Are you sure~?"
Hayate sighed and pitched the bridge of his nose. "You saw me didn't you..?"
"Mhm!" Hinata giggled. "At the restaurant. I'm honestly surprised you didn't notice me, I was with friends and we were talking pretty loudly. I guess you were too busy being lost in her eyes. Hey, she was your last student right?"
"Ok, we're done with this conversation." He said, cutting it short.
"Boo.. No fun." Hinata stuck out her tongue. "Fine to answer your first question, I've mastered the kawarimi no jutsu. It was actually really simple. To be honest though, I always assumed it switched your location with an object nearby, but I learned it's actually you placing a henge on an object, while covering yourself with an illusion and gaining a massive burst of speed for a short moment to escape."
She tilted her head to the side thinking. "I was actually a bit disappointed, though I suppose it makes sense now that it's only an E-rank ninjutsu. Also, I got it down to two seals, I'm still working on getting it down to just one. Also, also, I'm now carrying around little dolls to use for the technique!" Hinata said excitedly, pulling out three hand sized stuffed cloth dolls. One was Hayate (pre-silver hair), one was Kakashi, and the other was Hinata.
"Why do you have one of Kakashi? And where did you get these?" Hayate had so many questions right now.
"There's a sewing shop in town, I paid them to make a bunch of custom dolls. I know I can use something else, like a kunai or a piece of wood, but I feel like suddenly disappearing and having a little doll there to take the hit would be hilarious." Hinata grinned. "As for why Kakashi? Because someday he might end up finding out and I want to be there to see the look on his face when he does."
Hayate shook his head. "Alright chibi-chan, it looks like I owe you a ninjutsu or genjutsu then. Which do you want to learn?"
"Ninjutsu this time!" Hinata said, instantly getting excited.
"Hmmm ok. Unfortunately your control over chakra isn't good enough, nor do you have enough reserves, to use elemental release ninjutsu yet." Hayate thought for a moment about what he could teach her. "Ah. I know what I'll teach you. It's a D-rank ninjutsu, but it's a high class D-rank, close to being a C-rank."
"Ooo, what is it?"
"Shunshin no Jutsu. It will allow you to expend chakra to move at a speed faster than the eye can track. Coincidentally, it also could be considered the parent technique of kawarimi no jutsu, which you just learned."
"Yes! Ok, show me how it's done."
"Alright, pay attention. It's really simple as it only required the tiger hand seal. The chakra control is also similar to the substitution technique." Hayate formed a hand seal and vanished from sight.
"It works just like that." Hayate said, reappearing behind Hinata and causing her to jump up. He smiled at her reaction, amused. "Alright, I'll walk you through the chakra paths you'll have to guide your chakra through when you use it. Sit down and listen up." He sat down on the edge of the rook and patted the ground next to him.
He then began walking her through the premise of the technique and how to go about practicing it.
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"D-rank my ass!" Hinata shouted, falling onto her back to lay splayed out in the grass. She stared up at the evening sky. She was currently in the Uchiha's training ground and was practicing the shunshin while Sasuke was attempting to walk up a tree using chakra off to the side.
"You expected it to be easy?" Sasuke asked her without looking over. This was about the 5th time she'd screamed out in frustration today since she started her practice over two hours ago.
"Who even designs the ranks!? I want to have a word." Hinata was unhappy with the lack of progress. She hadn't even been able to move at a slightly faster pace since she started trying to learn it, let alone move at almost instantaneous speeds.
"It's based on the development of the amount of chakra that's in an average shinobi or kunoichi, how much the technique expends, and the difficulty of learning the technique." Hinata heard a third voice say, as they were walking over. "Generally E-rank jutsu can be learned by children ages 5 - 10, D-rank by 10 - 12, and C-rank by 12 - 15. That's just a rough pattern though decided collectively over the years and the scale actually varies in some countries."
"Shikaku-san?" Hinata asked, before hearing an *oomph* come from the distance as Sasuke turned around to look and fell off the tree he was halfway up landing on his back.
"Yo, Hinata-chan, Sasuke-kun." Shikaku nodded in greeting to Sasuke.
"What brings you here?" Hinata sat up in the grass.
"I actually wanted to speak with you; have you eaten dinner yet?"
"Good, come on. Sasuke I'm borrowing Hinata-chan." He told the boy as he turned to leave.
"Mhm." Sasuke just nodded and went back to trying to climb the tree.
"Goodbye to you too." Hinata said sarcastically to Sasuke.
"Alright, alright let's go." Shikaku said as he walked off.
Hinata jogged over to catch up to him. "What's this about Shikaku-san?"
"I wanted to talk about what you told me the night of the Uchiha massacre. I just have some questions that need to be answered." Shikaku looked down at the girl and noticed the visible anxiety at his words. "Don't worry kid, I'm not gonna whisk you away to T&I or anything, you don't need to make that face."
"Well I wasn't worried about that before, but I am now.." Hinata mumbled.
"Come one, don't be like that. You're a smart kid, I'm sure you knew this talk was going to happen eventually."
"You could've.. I don't know.. Made an appointment or something? Instead of blindsiding me with this."
"Where'd the fun be in that?" Shikaku laughed.
"Meanie." Hinata said, pouting.
Shikaku led Hinata to a small restaurant, where they got a table in a far corner away from people. They ordered their food and waited for it to arrive before Shikaku put up a barrier blocking any sounds from leaking out, and hiding the movements of their mouths.
"Alright, it's private." Shikaku noted, finishing the barrier. "So, you want to start or should I?"
"What do you want to know?" Hinata asked between eating bites of her salad.
"Well I'll start with a simple question. Do you know why the byakugan is known as 'The All-Seeing White Eye'?"
"Because it's able to see in almost 360 degrees, tenketsu, chakra in the air and around people, as well as through objects… and it's white.." Hinata said, still staring into her salad.
"All true, but there's also been legends about the byakugan for a long time, as there are with most dōjutsu." Shikaku explained. "One of the legends about the byakugan is the ability to peer into the future and the past. It's never been proven, as far as I know, but what you're able to do could be related to the byakugan."
Hinata looked up at him. 'I'm able to remember my past life though, so I doubt it. Though he did say it lets someone someone also peer into the past… Could it be the reason I'm able to see my past life? But that wouldn't explain how or why Naruto was a show and manga in my past life. I literally entered a different reality, still this bears some consideration, I suppose. Even if this isn't because of the byakugan, it gives me an excellent excuse. If no one knows exactly how the ability works, then no one can say it isn't because of the byakugan.'
Shikaku watched the girl staring holes into her food, clearly deep in thought. "What are you thinking about?"
"Huh? O-oh.. I was just considering the likelihood of it being because of the byakugan. It could be because of it, I guess, but does the cause really matter?" Hinata asked, looking up at him.
"Well yes and no. If it is because of the byakugan, then you might be able to train it to see futures you haven't seen yet, which would be extremely useful to you. But at the same time, if people found out you had the byakugan of legend, there would be a lot of people interested in acquiring your eyes." Shikaku said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "Though, I suppose it doesn't matter if it's true or not, if anyone knows about your ability and knows of the legend, there's a good chance they'll go after your eyes even without confirming they're the cause.
"Oh joy…" Hinata was biting her lip.
"We'll just do our best to make sure that doesn't happen." Shikaku smiled reassuringly at her. "I just wouldn't recommend you telling anyone else about this. Even if you trust them. The more people that know, the greater the chance of someone finding out; either through tricking them into speaking, torture, genjutsu, etc." He waved his hand at the last part.
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on telling anyone else. I wasn't even planning on telling you… Honestly, I still don't know if I made the right choice…" Hinata said, looking conflicted. "No offense." She quickly said.
"None taken. I can understand why'd you feel that way." Shikaku sighed. "Anyways.. Onto the second thing I wanted to talk about. What to do with the information you know."
Hinata sat her utensils down and looked up at him with her hands in her lap, listening attentively.
"For obvious reasons, you can't do much with the knowledge you have right now. So I suggest we work together. As the jōnin commander of Konohagakure, and a member of the council, I have contacts and access to informants all over the world. It would be much more believable if I presented the information as if I came across it. We'd just leave your name out of any reports I'd have to make. No one would know but us two."
Shikaku took a few bites of food while he waited patiently as she mulled over the idea.
"I can agree to this… but the problem is other than the information I was born with, I haven't gotten any new 'visions', or whatever you want to call them, since. I've probably already changed the future some with my actions. The more we act on, the more uncertain the future becomes." She said slowly, as she worked her reasoning out.
"I think I have a plan for that, but first I'm curious. What have you changed so far, and what was originally supposed to happen?"
"Well… I already told you about the change with.. With Neji.." Hinata took a deep breath, to steady her emotions. "Umm, the Uchiha massacre was supposed to happen, but Uchiha Izumi was supposed to die, and Danzō, the council and the Sandaime Hokage's action wouldn't be exposed for years to come."
Hinata started listing things off with her fingers one by one. She went and told him about how Danzō was going to use the Uchiha eyes, expand root, and generally go crazier than he already was. She told him how Sasuke would become an avenger, eventually abandoning Konoha to become powerful enough to kill Itachi, seeking help from Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru?" Shikaku asked, interrupting her explanation. "And he took Sasuke in?"
"Orochimaru was always interested in getting his hands on the sharingan to study. He ended up putting a curse mark on Sasuke, further influencing Sasuke's emotions and desire for power, drawing him back to Orochimaru's hands." She explained.
"I see.. When did he put the curse mark on Sasuke?" Shikaku looked intrigued.
"When he attacks Konoha during the chūnin exams, right before he kills the Sandaime Hokage and almost destroys the village." She said simply, getting used to explaining things at this point, and took another bit of her food.
"He does what!? When?" Shikaku looked surprised and horrified at the notion.
Hinata just looked up at him. "I mean he fails pretty horribly. Sasuke could be his biggest success. The Sandaime Hokage dies for sure, but he screws Orochimaru over by sealing away the use of his arms, and the village ends up safe and Suma who was helping him at the time ends up becoming our greatest ally afterwards. Really Orochimaru's long term plan blows up in his face and it would be funny if it wasn't so sad."
Shikaku just looked at her in surprise at her blunt statement, before walking out of the barrier to go order a drink. Hinata just laughed under her breath and waited for him to get back.
"Holding up okay?" Hinata asked him when he got back.
Shikaku had his head in his hand as he sipped from his drink. "So when does this happen, and how do we end up Suma's biggest ally? They attacked us right, how does that make any sense?"
"Ah. It was during the chūnin exams my classmates and I will be taking in like 5 years. We host them here in Konohagakure. Also, Suma's jinchūriki, Gaara, participates in the exam, and loses control of his bijū in the attack. Naruto ends up fighting him and befriending him. The guy essentially becomes emotionally dependent on Naruto and allies with Konoha after becoming Kazekage. Turns out having a massive weapon in the city and keeping them ostracized and emotionally unstable is a horrible idea. Weird." Hinata gave him a pointed look here.
"Speaking of which. You all should really tell Naruto about his family and treat him a little better. The kid is going to become Hokage eventually and, at least in the timeline I know of, is one of, if not the, strongest shinobi." She narrows her eyes at this point. "Tell Jiraiya to get his head out of his ass and do his duties as a godfather already."
Shikaku spit out the drink in his mouth when she said the last part. "You know about that too? And you should address your Hokage with more respect."
Hinata just continued, ignoring his statement about treating Jiraiya with respect. "Speaking of Hokages, Tsunade-sama was originally going to be the Hokage, not Jiraiya. But that wouldn't be until after the Sandaime Hokage dies in the attack on Konoha."
"I see. So her not being Hokage was because we outed the Sandaime Hokage ahead of time. She still isn't ready to return to Konoha at this point." Shikaku reasoned.
"That's right." Hinata screwed up her face to think if she forgot anything. "Ah, also Danzō should have had a little kid locked up somewhere by the name of Sai. He's a pretty talented kid, just probably traumatized and emotionally immature due to Danzō trying to mold him to be an emotionless machine. I'd recommend trying to help him develop normally and place him on the eventual team of Maito Gai, Rock Lee, and Tenten. Neji was supposed to be on that team, but…"
"We found the kid and he's currently going under intensive counseling to try and undo Danzō's conditioning. If he's stable enough to become a shinobi, we'll consider it. Any other major changes so far?" He asked.
"Not that I can think of, off the top of my head. Most of the major events don't happen until after we become genin. I don't know how much you want to know right now, but I'll reiterate, the more we act to change things, the more we might end up stabbing ourselves in the foot if we prepare for things that won't happen because we changed the future. We'll end up getting caught even more off guard." She gave him a long stare, waiting for his decision as he thought in silence for a moment.
"So the next major event to happen is Orochimaru's attack on Konoha during the chūnin exams 5 years from now?" He eventually asked.
"Mhm. Though his plans might have changed somewhat with the Sandaime Hokage retired and Jiraiya in charge now. He's pretty determined though, and sees himself as infallible, so he'll probably still try something, but his plan will probably be different."
Shikaku sighed, feeling his workload increase exponentially. "I see. Alright, well I'll work with that for now. But you're right, I don't want to waste efforts preparing for things that might not happen." Shikaku honestly wanted to know everything, so he could decide himself how best to proceed, but he didn't want to push the girl. He didn't want to ruin the partnership he was just starting to form by asking too much. "Just let me know if there's anything you think you should tell me."
"Ok, will do." Hinata said, going to finish her food, but stopping right before in order to say something else. "Seriously though, get Jiraiya to train Naruto as his disciple. He'll end up doing it eventually anyways. The kid has a knack for Jiraiya's sage mode."
"I'll recommend it, but I can't promise anything. I can't push Hokage-sama too much without him getting suspicious."
"Just guilt him. Use Minato's name and shame the man into action." Hinata shrugged.
Shikaku smiled wryly. "I'd prefer not resorting to emotional manipulation of the Hokage."
"Suit yourself." Hinata said, finishing her food. "Are we done here, then? I want to head home."
"Yeah, I'll sort through what I learned and keep in touch." Shikaku rubbed his temples. "Alright, you're free to go. I need another drink."
"See you later then, Shikaku." Hinata said, turning to walk away.
"Shikaku?" He raised an eyebrow at her casual usage of his name.
"Well we're business partners now. Really bonded, y'know?" Hinata just smiled, and left the restaurant without waiting for his reply.
Shikaku just took a big gulp of his drink, finishing it off, and shaking his head.
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Hinata began walking home after leaving Shikaku behind.
'I hope it was alright, telling him all that.' She thought, looking up at the even sky as she walked.
'I probably should have mentioned the Akatsuki, but I don't want them freaking out and putting Naruto on leash. He needs to grow, and he can use the Akatsuki as a springboard. We just have to avoid the war, not all their plans leading up to it.'
Hinata just stretched her back and sighed. "What a drag…" She blinked. "Fuck, I'm saying it now."
As she walked, she thought of the future and what it would bring. All she could do was make the best choice with the information at hand, but she had so much information. Who knew what was right?
She kicked a rock as she walked, watching it bounce and roll into the distance.
"Well." She said to herself. "There's no need to overthink things. I'll just focus on getting stronger for now."
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"Really? Practicing fuinjutsu again?" A dark skinned girl with auburn hair asked, lying in a bed on her stomach with her chin rested in her hands, propped up on her elbows. She was kicking her feet back and forth behind her as she watched a boy drawing seals on parchment on the floor of the room.
"I'm trying to concentrate. If you can't remain quiet, leave." Neji spoke, biting his tongue in concentration as he tried to get a seal correct.
"No need to be rude, Neji-chan." The girl teased.
Neji bit back a retort. Ever since the Raikage had forced Karui to move in with him, he'd had to deal with her annoying habit of wanting to talk every time she was slightly bored.
'That damned Raikage…' Neji thought to himself. 'He thinks I'm going to grow feelings for the girl by forcing us to live together? Foolish."
"Gahh.." He made a frustrated noise as his seal fizzled again when he messed up drawing a line. He crumpled up the paper and threw it over to an ever increasing pile of failures.
"I don't know how you plan on mastering fuinjutsu without a shishou to teach you." Karui said, watching his actions. "You're using books from the library and sheer stubbornness. It's a miracle you've gotten this far."
"I can do it. It's just like learning a new language… Or in this case, inventing a new language…" He screwed up his brow in concentration. "As far as I can tell, intent is the important part when designing a new seal. I mean people had to start somewhere right? If they can figure it out, I can."
"Are you ever going to tell me what you're working on?" She asked, flipping off the bed and crouching down next to Neji, looking at what he was drawing. As far as she could tell, it was whole bunch of gibberish symbols.
"No." Neji said bluntly.
"Awww, why not? I can keep a secret." She said with a smile, poking him in the cheek.
"Stop that." Neji said as he waved away her hand. "Don't be annoying."
"Ughhh, you're no fun! You think I like being stuck here? You could at least try to not be an ass." Karui complained.
She was aware of the Raikage's intentions too. He had pretty much told her straight up that it was her job as a future kunoichi of Kumogakure to get close to Neji, but it wasn't until Neji explained to her what that entailed that she realized she had essentially been sold off by the Raikage.
Neji gave her a long look. "I apologize, but I don't intend on going along with that man's plans." He then went back to drawing his seal.
"Fine then, be that way." Karui stood up and walked to the door in a huff. "I'm going to go take a bath, have fun not making any progress."
Neji heard the door slam, causing his hand to slip as he was drawing a difficult symbol, causing him to mess up again.
"Damnit!" He balled up the paper and threw it. He took a deep breath, steadying his emotions, and went back to studying the book next to him.
The book was explaining the details of drawing various seals and the meaning of the many different symbols used in fuinjutsu. The particular chapter he had marked was that of sealing large amounts of chakra.
His eyes narrowed and he looked up into the distance. 'Just you wait old man. I don't plan on staying here forever, and when I leave, you'll wish you never took me in the first place.'
He closed his eyes, meditating for a moment to calm his raging emotions, before starting the process all over again. He was going to make it work. He had to.
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A/N: I know I spent a lot of time on Hinata's and Shikaku's conversation. If you have watched the anime or read the manga, then a lot of that information you already know. I'm sure it wasn't that interesting to you, but I felt like the conversation had to happen and I didn't want to just gloss over it. Motivations and all that jazz y'know?
Anyways, to make up for that, I'm going to release 3 chapters today instead of the usual 2! Happy Easter to all of you that celebrate it! Well, back to writing. 3