Thanks for all the reviews. Here's Chapter 2.
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Chapter 2: Strategy
Neji's first stop was his uncle's office. He needed to try and figure out what the Hyuuga head thought of this. After an hour of seemingly mundane, polite conversation about the future of the Hyuuga clan, Neji left his uncle armed with the knowledge that the Hyuuga head would prefer to have his eldest daughter as Head, but was willing to let her go to someone in Konoha in order to keep her close.
He went to his room next. He only had the afternoon in which to figure out the situation, as he was back on duty tomorrow. He sat in a meditative pose on the floor, making a sort of battle plan. As it stood now, there were those on the council who were adamant against Hinata, and there were those partial to her, and those who were split between. If Hiashi showed his preference for a specific suitor, i.e. one from Konoha, then those sitting on the fence and those who liked Hinata would support the Head's decision. Those who wanted to get rid of the heiress would be outvoted, and Hinata would remain in the village, and be given a prominent position on the future council.
Ideally, Neji would like Hinata to be able to marry someone she liked, possibly Naruto. But there was no way the Kyubi vessel would be accepted as a candidate by the council. However, Hinata had a kind heart, and was willing to like just about everybody. At the very least, with some encouragement and time, she may come to view her possible betrothed as her friend. Her possible betrothed, Neji felt sure, would be relatively easy to convince. Uchiha Sasuke treated everyone with the same coldness and disdain, but his eyes followed his cousin constantly, and his ever present scowl became even more pronounced every time Naruto shouted a warm "Hinata-chan!" at his cousin. Most people wouldn't notice, but then, Hyuuga Neji wasn't most people, and he was fairly convinced that the Uchiha heir held some sort of regard for his cousin. All that was needed was to get the Uchiha heir invited to the party, and to offer himself as a possible candidate for Hinata's husband. Neither challenge would be difficult to overcome.
No, bringing the two together wouldn't be difficult. The problems arose with the Uchiha's past. He had betrayed Konoha by joining Orochimaru, no matter the reasons, and even after Sasuke had returned with the sannin's head, some people still regarded him as a traitor. He still had a slew of fangirls chasing after him though, the two most prominent being Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura.
These two girls were the only ones that would present obstacles, as far as he could tell. Hinata considered both of the girls her friends, and would never accept the Uchiha if it meant hurting them. No, he would have to divert Yamanaka's and Haruno's affections. Haruno was easy enough, she had been getting closer to Naruto over the years, and Uzumaki had always carried a torch for the pink haired ninja. The obvious and easiest course of action would be to divert Sakura's affections to Naruto. Yamanaka was harder. He had never given her a lot of thought, nor had he crossed paths with her very often, so presently, any information he had regarding her wasn't nearly complete enough to develop a strategy for dealing with her. He would have to do some reconnaissance on Yamanaka. He set her aside for now, and he turned his thoughts on the best way to prove Uchiha's loyalty.
Actually, in marrying Hinata, Sasuke would prove his loyalty to Konoha. If he married they Hyuuga heiress, it would signify his intentions to remain in Konoha to raise his family. Neji also knew that the Hokage had accepted Sasuke back as a ninja of Konoha, even if she was publicly punishing him by giving him lower ranked missions. If Hiashi and the Hokage supported Sasuke, then the council would likely accept him. And there was always the added prestige of having a Hyuuga become the new matriarch of the powerful Uchiha clan.
Uchiha Sasuke was the best candidate, as far as Neji could reason, and he stood up to begin his mission - arranging a marriage between the survivor and his cousin.
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