As always Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. Please review. (Graduate papers = excessive procrastination)

Hizashi stared at his monthly expense report and let the monotony of the numbers relax him. Nine years ago he never would have thought doing paperwork would be a relief from his life, but if he focused any more on the events of the previous night he was liable to kill someone soon. He didn't even know who he was angriest at: Hinata for being so foolish and passive aggressive, Neji for not telling anyone he was leaving, or Gai for thinking that pathetic excuse of a note was reasonable notice. Gai was still high on his list, but that didn't let the other two off.

Unfortunately the only one he had access to at the moment was the one he had no clue how to handle. He had no idea what was going through Hinata's head to act so stupid. Something more than just Neji breaking his promise was going on, but neither he nor Naomi could figure it out. They even asked the twins, but the boys seemed just as baffled as them.

A quick knock drew Hizashi from his mathematical ruminations and Naomi stuck her head in. By the pensive expression straining her face Hizashi knew this wasn't going to improve his mood.

"Hinata's teacher's here, and I think you need to hear this," she said.

Hizashi pushed his papers away and sighed. "All right, I'm coming." Maybe he could shed some light on what Hinata was thinking; they'd run out of people to ask.

Hizashi followed his wife into the front sitting room where Iruka waited. There was a certain aura of easy discipline around him that came from working with children. Iruka bowed as they entered and Hizashi returned the greeting.

Naomi took a position between them, but to the side as a mediator. "Iruka-san, if you could explain to my husband why you're here, I think he needs to hear it from you."

Iruka nodded, his face tense with unwelcome news. "I came because Hinata's missed again, though Naomi-san informed me she is actually sick this time."

"Wait," Hizashi stopped him so he could work out what he was hearing. "What do you mean 'missed again'? Hinata hasn't been sick all year."

"But she was missing class, quite a bit actually," Iruka said.

That didn't make sense to Hizashi. "Why is this the first we're hearing about it?"

Iruka glanced at Naomi, who nodded for him to continue. Obviously she'd already heard all this and perhaps warned him what Hizashi wasn't going to be pleased to hear.

"I had gotten to the point I was going to come to you," he explained, "but Neji came by and said she was having a hard time at home. He swore he would make sure she came to class if I would wait to tell you. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and she returned to class. When she missed today, I figured it was starting up again and wanted to talk to you before it got out of hand."

Hizashi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as things began clicking in his mind. The fact that Neji knew all this was happening and didn't tell them just added to Hizashi's list of frustrations with his son, but perhaps it explained a little of why yesterday had been so important to Hinata. Whatever Neji did to get her to go back to class, spending the evening with her was probably a part of it.

"Thank you for coming by. We'll speak with Hinata and she'll return to class tomorrow," Hizashi said to Iruka and offered a respectful nod. Iruka bowed to them both again before showing himself out.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to send her back?" Naomi asked once they were alone. "I talked to her this morning and she's asking to come home and start her training here. It would make Hyobe-sama happy and if she's having this much trouble–"

Hizashi held up a hand to stop his wife. "I want to talk to her." Naomi nodded and he left her to go see his niece.

He understood Naomi's view, and perhaps he even agreed with her, but something about Hinata's actions felt strangely familiar to him, and that he couldn't ignore. His memory drifted back decades to a time when he still gladly called Hiashi his brother –to their last year at the academy– his brother's voice still clear in his ears:

"Come on, Hizashi, you know you don't want to go to class today. Let's just get out of here and do something else."

Hizashi laughed but shook his head. "I've got to prepare for the genin exam, you know."

The eleven-year-old Hiashi rolled his eyes and yanked his brother away from the academy. "Come on, once you're genin we're not going to be able to do this. One day won't kill you. Let's go."

If it had only been once perhaps he could have ignored the similarity, but Hizashi remembered such requests all throughout their final year. That was the last year Hizashi could really say there was no bitterness between them, and suddenly Hizashi wondered if the clan was really all that separated them.

The guard stationed outside Hinata's room bowed as Hizashi approached and opened the door for him. Hinata was sitting up in her futon reading one of her mother's medical books. When the door closed behind him, she set the book aside and quietly waited for him to sit down.

"You teacher came by. He said you've missed class quite often recently," Hizashi said, leaving the explanation open for her to fill in.

There was no shame in her eyes at being caught, only annoyance, and that was more disturbing to see. Before, Hinata had always been remorseful when she did something wrong, even when the twins dragged her into it. Now, he saw Hiashi's eyes in her.

"It's all about the genin exam now," she said in a voice that could have been her father's. "There's really no reason for me to go anymore. I'd like to come home and start my training here. Grandpa will be happy if I come home."

"Your grandfather is going to be furious when he hears what you did," Hizashi reprimanded, and she finally turned away in shame.

"I'm sorry for yesterday," she replied like a doll whose string had been pulled. All the emotion lacking in her voice shone clear in her pale eyes, and Hizashi was certain it was all she could do to detach herself from it. But the question that worried him was what was she detaching from, the pain or Neji himself.

"Neji should be back in a day or two. I'm sure he'll want to apologize to you when he arrives," he probed, hoping to find an answer.

Hinata breathed in and out in deep, wheezing hisses as she worked to maintain her doll-like calm. "There's nothing to apologize for. His team's more important, and I should've accepted that. Since the clan's more important to me, I should focus on it instead of the academy."

"Just go back to your team already, I have to train with Father now."

No matter how hard he tried, Hizashi couldn't shake off Hiashi's voice echoing across time in his daughter's words. Hizashi had been so angry at his brother for becoming main family against him that he couldn't see anything but the self-indulgent snobbery of the future clan head. He always believed his brother had thought he was better than Hizashi because Hizashi was branch, but to hear the same words come out of a girl who barely had the self-confidence to stand in front of her grandfather let alone think herself better than anyone, produced another explanation unfolding in front of him.

She was –he was– jealous of the freedom the branch family had over their lives. Hizashi never expected to think of the branch family as free compared to the main, but having lived as clan head he was able to see things differently than when he was merely branch. The seal bound them to the clan and to the rule of the clan head, yes, but it also gave them the freedom to do anything they wanted with their lives, to live as more than a Hyuuga.

The heir didn't have that luxury. The heir existed solely for the clan and despite the attempts to expose them to the village and the academy, the clan was all they really had. And it was now, when the desire to leave fought so closely with the knowledge they couldn't, that forced them to make the choice. They had to make the clan matter more than anything else in their lives in order to justify giving up all the things they wanted, all the things that everyone else got to have.

Hizashi could see in Hinata's eyes that she'd made the choice last night when Neji didn't show. Now, she was desperately trying to run away from anyone and anything that reminded her of the life she couldn't have . . . and that included Neji. Just like Hiashi had pushed him away once he had his team. This was how the division started.

"Please, Uncle Hizashi," Hinata said, pulling Hizashi out of his thoughts, "may I come home and start my training here?"

Hizashi examined the girl he'd raised for the last nine years, remembering how kind and caring she was despite all the opposition against her and imagining what she'd become if he followed his father's example. Hizashi wasn't willing to just stand by and watch Hinata become Hiashi. He refused to make that mistake.

Straightening up he hardened his face and glared at Hinata. "And reward you for bad behavior? I don't think so. You'll return to the academy tomorrow."

"But Uncle Hizashi–"

"Moreover," he snapped, "you'll take the genin exam at the end of the year and I expect you to pass it."

Hinata looked on the verge of tears. "Bu–but why do I have to take the exam?"

"It's rather difficult to become a genin if you don't take the exam," he answered, both his voice and expression softening a little.

Hinata stared up at him so bewildered all other emotions had been evicted from her thoughts. She opened her mouth to speak but turned away too shocked and confused to talk. After two more unsuccessful attempts, she finally managed to squeak out, "Genin?"

He nodded.

"But . . . but I'm not allowed to be genin," she insisted, furiously struggling to keep the hope in her eyes from growing too strong.

"I'm your guardian and I'll decide what you can and cannot do."

"But Grandpa will never let me be genin," she repeated.

"Did I stutter just now?" Hizashi asked and Hinata shook her head. "Good, then you understand that if I say you're going to be genin, I mean it."

She nodded again, so slowly Hizashi wasn't sure her head would rise again. The hope she'd been fighting against ran wild as the realization sunk in. The very idea was so alien to her it took several more moments for the smile to begin to form.

"This is not a reward," Hizashi snapped before she could think his disapproval of her actions was gone. She quickly wiped the burgeoning grin from her face and returned to the proper amount of guilt.

"There'll still be certain restrictions," he continued, going through his head as fast as he could to figure out what he could plausibly hold back on to make his father to agree to this, "chuunin missions will be too dangerous, so you'll be expected to return to the clan once you make chuunin. However it may take years before you reach that level, so I wouldn't focus too much on that."

"But I can get a team and be a real shinobi?" Hinata ventured, still unable to fully believe what Hizashi was telling her.

"Provided you pass the genin exam," Hizashi amended, "which I'd say is in question given your attendance recently."

Hinata straightened up so fast she almost jumped out of bed. "I'll pass! I swear I'll pass!"

"Good." Hizashi let a slight smirk cross his lips for a second before sobering back into his disciplinary tone. "Now as to your punishment for skipping class and lying to us," –Hinata cowered back– "you will be escorted to and from the academy with no deviation and you won't allowed out of the main house grounds until you pass the genin exam. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Uncle Hizashi," she replied, and he finally saw honest remorse in her eyes. A three month grounding should ensure she not forget that.

"Now rest, you have class tomorrow." Hizashi stood up and left one very confused girl.

Shoji doors weren't the most soundproof of materials, and by the appalled expression on his eaves-dropping wife's face hiding just out of sight of the closing door, she'd heard everything.

"Have you lost your mind?" she whispered hastily yanking Hizashi down the hall so she could yell at him properly.

"Actually I'm thinking quite clearly," he replied blandly and earned a smack on the arm for it.

"How could you get her hopes up like that? Hyobe-sama will never let her be a genin."

"Leave my father to me," he told her. "I'll handle him."

"You bet you will," she snapped. "I don't intend to be anywhere in the compound when he finds out what you've done."

Hizashi's brow rose as he stared at his wife. "Now you're just exaggerating things."

"If you think I'm exaggerating, you've seriously forgotten who your father is," she warned him, honest worry in her eyes. "Hizashi, if you can't convince him to let her be a genin, you'll have crushed all of her hopes. That's not what she needs right now."

Hizashi stopped in the middle of the hall and looked into Naomi's eyes to stress how serious he was. "You're right. What she needs right now is something other than the clan in her life, and that's what I'm going to give her. Let me deal with my father. I know what I'm doing."

The apprehension remained on her rigid face, but the opposition had faded. "I hope you do."

They started through the halls again, Hizashi leading her towards the front door. "Do we know what time Father's due back today?" he asked.

Naomi nodded, and the anxiety grew deeper in the soft lines around her mouth. "If he stuck to his schedule, he should be back within the hour."

"Good, that gives me time to go see the Hokage first," he said as he slipped on his sandals to go outside.

"You're seriously going through with this," she wondered aloud.

"I wouldn't have told Hinata if I didn't plan to," he answered. Leaning in, he pressed his cheek against hers for support –for both of them– before pulling away. "If Father gets back before I do, make sure he doesn't talk to Hinata first."

"I already told you, I'm high-tailing it out of here before he gets back," she joked. At times like this, Hizashi was reminded why he loved her so much.

Seeing the Hokage was the easy part of his spur of the moment endeavor. Sandaime was more than pleased to hear, if a bit surprised, that Hinata would be allowed to be a genin. Hizashi even thought he saw a glimmer of conniving in those old eyes as he talked about the 'possibilities' it would give him on team placement. Most teams were created based on final grades from the academy, but Hizashi knew certain teams were hand picked by the Hokage himself based on family techniques that complimented each other. Byakugan tended to compliment any team though, so Hizashi would have to wait and see what Sandaime had in mind. Sandaime also understood that being ready for chuunin missions didn't necessarily mean she had to be ranked chuunin. Hizashi wanted to give her as much time outside the clan as possible.

By the time he returned to the compound there was no doubt his father was there and Naomi had informed him of Hizashi's intention. (She probably had to in order to avoid him going to scold Hinata for the day before, which the entire clan knew about by now.) There was no doubt, because Hyobe was waiting between two very uncomfortable twins at the compound gate with a look on his face that could have sent monsters crying to their mothers.

"Follow me," was all Hyobe said before turning and striding off like an angry god across the compound. If Hizashi didn't know what he was in for, the physical relief flooding the twins the moment Hyobe left would have been funny.

Hizashi followed his father in silence, but instead of going back to the main house, Hyobe led him to the meeting hall between the houses. The couple poor chunnin who'd been using the nearby training ground scattered at the sight of Hyobe's fury and Hizashi had no doubt they'd be warning –and gossiping– to everyone in the branch family to stay away.

The meeting hall made sense to Hizashi. Hyobe never liked to be seen to have lost control of himself in front of the clan. It was a byproduct of being clan head for as long as he had. However, the meeting hall was a good distance from any other buildings and had thicker walls than mere shoji paper. There Hyobe could yell.

Hizashi took his time closing the wooden doors behind him, knowing his father wouldn't say anything until they were completely secluded. Taking a deep breath to fortify himself, Hizashi turned around and very diplomatically asked, "Is there a problem?"

"You damn well know there's a problem," Hyobe seethed. The cursing itself warned Hizashi how livid his father was. Hyobe considered cursing a mark of low breeding.

Still, Hizashi remained impassive to his father's anger. He stepped forward, listening to the soft shuffle of his sandals on the wood floor. "On the contrary, I feel that I've handled all the situations that occurred in your absence to the best of my reason and judgment."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Hizashi," Hyobe fumed. "What the hell do you think you're doing telling Hinata she'll be a genin? The clan heir always returns to the family after the academy."

"I made a decision based on what I know to be best for Hinata," Hizashi answered, still slowly pacing around the room to force his father to follow him.

Hyobe's gaze narrowed. "You don't have the authority to make a decision like that."

"I'm clan head, aren't I? I'm her regent."

"Only until she comes of age and not over the decision of the council," Hyobe stipulated.

The fury seeping from his father slowly infected Hizashi's calm. These were the arguments he'd fought with his father each time they disagreed on what was best for Hinata. The difference was this time Hizashi didn't intend to lose.

"Didn't you tell me when you proposed this over Hiashi's dead body that I would have the same privileges and powers as the clan head?" he asked, his pace picking up with each question. "Didn't you give me the power to decide how to raise Hinata?"

Hyobe stopped following him near the center of the room, standing as firm physically as he intended in his argument. "The council exists to ensure you don't make decisions that endanger the clan. Even genin missions are too dangerous for an unsealed member of the clan. If Hinata were to fall into enemy hands the entire clan could fall."

"Why did you give her to me then?" Hizashi demanded, the heat in his voice echoing across the empty walls of the meeting hall. "What was it you said to me when Hinata was crying over her father's body? 'I'd already raised two sons, none too successfully.' I'm trying to stop the same mistakes from being made."

"Hinata will not be a genin!" Hyobe bellowed. "And if I remember correctly, you very adamantly told me that you were not her father. Perhaps you need to remember that."

Hizashi's fists clenched at his side until the skin was as white as the bone beneath. He felt anger so deep and close to him that it calmed his voice and a dead pallor sat like a mask over his eyes. "I know I'm not her father –I can't be her father– but you made her my daughter and I'm going to fight for her. Hinata will be a genin, because she needs more than the clan in her life."

"I'm not going to allow it," Hyobe repeated.

"You don't seem to understand, Father," Hizashi started coolly, walking forward until he stood within arms reach. "This is not a discussion or a debate. This is an ultimatum. Either Hinata becomes genin, or I wash my hands of this clan."

Hyobe's anger faltered for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Neji, Naomi, and I will return to the branch house immediately, and you can run this clan any way you see fit." Hizashi didn't sway or flex or even blink, and it would have taken more than anything Hyobe could do to him to uproot from that spot.

"You'd leave Hinata alone?" Hyobe asked in such disbelief it quieted him.

"I refuse to sit here and watch history repeat itself when I know what needs to be done," he answered with all the authority he'd acquired in the last nine years. "So what's your decision?"

Hyobe looked about the room dumbfounded. "Hizashi, she can't be–"

Hizashi broke past him and headed for the door. "You made your choice then. We'll start packing immediately."

"Hizashi!" his father yelled. The urgency in Hyobe's voice stung his ears, and Hizashi paused with his hand on the door.

"Hizashi," he said calmer, "please be reasonable. The clan doesn't need this kind of upheaval."

"Then Hinata will be made genin," Hizashi insisted.

"Hizashi," his father pleaded.

He turned around and looked on his father, a man beyond his prime but not beyond his power. And right then Hizashi knew something had shifted between them. It might not last past that one single instant in the empty meeting hall, but for that moment Hyobe had lost the power to control him.

"Genin," Hizashi ordered. "She'll be genin."