Act II: Angling for a promotion
Training montage #2: The sand blows in
Capabilities of the Byakugan:
-Offers complete 360' vision barring a small blind spot spreading out from the thoratic veretebrae (the back of the neck.) Range varies depending on the strength of the caster. Skilled casters can focus the vision in a specific direction to increase the range.
-Sight can track high speed targets and predict movements, though this is only due to the dojutsu's field of view and visual acuity, not any extra ability.
-Sight allows user to see through objects, perceiving everything in the Byakugan's radius at once.
-Eyes can see chakra with incredible accuracy. Can discern individuals' chakra networks and chakra points (See Gentle Fist)
-The previous ability allows Byakugan to detect genjutsu (though this does not grant complete immunity, see Unblockable Genjutsu), see through all transformation and disguise techniques.
-A related ability of the Hyuuga is to expel chakra from all chakra points on the body intuitively, while most ninja can only do so with intensive chakra control training. (Hey how many chakra points are in my dick?) (Usually? Three. In yours? None.)
-Certain techniques have been specialised to take advantage of the Byakugan's visual acuity (See Hidden Jutsu, Hyuuga Vault)
(Oi Neji Base Sharingan shits on Byakugan lmao) (Fuck off Itachi)
-First page of the Hyuuga's official bloodline-limit tome, scribbles by assorted.
Twenty days after the wave mission
Naruto was in a very awkward position. Both literally (his back hurt a little, he'd woken up funny) and figuratively (because he was stood outside the girls' community baths).
"Why do you even need a shower before going in the baths? Aren't they interchangeable?"
"Intercha-...Naruto, you've never been in a clan meeting before, have you?" Hinata's voice tentatively rose from beneath the wooden slats of the showers.
"Uh, no."
"I'm technically the head of an important ninja clan. When I go to meetings there are standards I have to meet. One being cleanliness."
"Can't you just use genjustu?"
"On the powerful ninja clans?"
"Fair enough."
Ever since their conversation after the wave mission, Hinata had grown more confident when it came to normal, non-ninja things. At least confident enough to talk to him without stuttering all the time.
"So why am I waiting out here?" He asked, looking around self consciously. A couple of the girls walking in gave him dirty looks, presumably just because he was the nine-tails, but enough to unnerve him.
"I mean...you volunteered to carry my bags." Hinata's voice replied. "Of course, if you don't want to it's fine-"
"No I'm fine with it it's just, why me?" Naruto called back, reassuringly. "I'm not exactly professional clan meet material."
"But you are the nine tails' jailor." Hinata replied. "I thought that it might lend me some credibility to have you carrying my things. Oh god, now I sound like I'm taking advantage of you I didn't mean-"
"What, no! I think it's a great idea!" Naruto enthused. "I can't get the kyuubi cloak on demand yet but I can probably get the red eyes working. Do you want me to wear a collar to sell the effect?"
He heard Hinata choke from from inside the shower. "NO! No, that would be...a bit much." The water turned off. "I hung up my towel outside could you pass it to me please?"
This time Naruto choked. "You want me to...aren't you..."
"What?" Came Hinata's voice.
"Hinata," He gulped. "Are you wearing anything in there?"
"Of course not i'm in the shower." Responded Hinata, nonplussed.
"Well then I can't just open the door and give it to you!" Naruto shouted.
"Why not?"
Naruto gaped at the door.
"Oh, right, no, that would be bad. Oh no I've messed up again. I'm sorry it's just-"
Of course, sometimes, Hinata would act like nothing had changed since she was eight. "Why would you ever think that was okay?"
"I grew up in the Hyuuga compound! Byakugan everywhere, everyone can see everything at any time. There isn't really much point in modesty."
"Hold on. Does that mean when you look at me you can..."
"I can what?"
"...Nevermind." Naruto shuddered. He grabbed the towel and passed it over the door, and it was pulled out of his hands.
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome. How long do you have to stay in the bath now?"
"Well my first dip is for ten minutes, then I sit in the steamroom for fifteen, then-"
"When exactly is this meeting?" Naruto interrupted.
"...three hours from now, actually. It's a long preparation process."
Naruto palmed his forehead. "Can I-"
"Yes, sorry, please go do your thing, I'll meet you in two hours forty."
Naruto rolled his eyes and walked off.
If I become Hokage, I'll have to do important meetings all the time. Am I gonna have to take three hour baths? Between this and the paperwork gramps keeps taking about, at what point do I actually get to do ninja stuff?
He was halfway out of the baths area when he spotted the red form hunched in the bushes. Curious about someone who was so completely failing to hide in a village full of ninja, he investigated, tapping the form on the shoulder. He was not expecting it to screech and jump five feet in the air, turning to him with its hands in a comedically bad fighting stance.
"...what are you doing?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing!" The man replied, unconvincingly. He had shoulder length grey hair, and a leaf ninja headband, and really impractical looking sandals. "What are YOU doing?"
"Leaving." Naruto replied. "Why's a guy in the girls baths? Are you lost?"
"Trust me, kid." The man had a large grin on his face. "I'm exactly where I want to be."
"...So you're a girl?" Naruto replied. He didn't see any real reason for a man to be there.
"What? No!"
"Whatever grandma."
The man tch'd. "I'm not a woman, kid. I am the toad sage! Jiraiya of the sannin!"
"...uh-huh." Naruto eyed him critically. "Isn't Jiraiya meant to be some great hero? You look a bit too...old. And round."
The man seemed to deflate. "Ouch. Maybe I should follow Tsunade's example and get a permanent disguise jutsu." He moaned. "Kid, who are you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.
"Well well well." The old man leaned back on his haunches. "Kushina's kid, huh?"
"And the nine tails, yeah." Naruto added.
Jiraiya frowned. "You just...say that? To anyone?"
"Well the Hokage apparently made a rule that said nobody could tell anyone about me being a jinchurikki that didn't already know. But since everybody hated me anyway I figured it wasn't much good of a law, so I basically repealed it by, you know, telling everyone I met."
"Infallible problem solving." Jiraiya remarked. Then Naruto's brain caught up with the older man's mouth.
"Wait. You knew my mother?"
"Oh, now we're interested in the old granny, huh?" Jiraiya chuckled. "Yeah, I knew your mother. Uzumaki Kushina...will of fire's human form, that woman. Not to mention a massive, like massive, uh...personality."
"Well what about-wait. How do I know I can trust you?" Naruto hedged. "For all I know you're just some guy with dumb sandals playing a prank on me."
"My sandals are not dumb. And I suppose you could ask the Hokage, he was my Jonin-sensei back in the day. I'm on my way to meet him, I just stopped by here to do some...research."
"Research? What would you be researching in the girls baths?"
"Some day, kid, some day." Jiraiya shook his head. "Well, I'd best be off. And if you ever do decide I'm who I say I am, come find me. I may have some fun ninja skills to teach you."
"Know any wind jutsu?" Naruto asked.
"Not many. That your specialty?"
"Yeah." Naruto sighed. "Kakashi doesn't know many either. I have these massive chakra reserves but I can't do anything with them, all I've really got is shadow clones."
Jiraiya hummed. "I can work with that. See you later, squirt."
He bit his finger and palmed the floor. With a poof of air, a large toad appeared under him, and (seemingly unencumbered by his weight) began bounding off into the middle distance.
"...Oh." Said a suddenly alone Naruto.
Twenty eight days after wave mission
Hinata shifted her stance, eyes wide open with Byakugan lit up.
"Eight trigrams, sixty four palms!" She moved. Two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, each step an identical speed to the one before it, at least in theory. Being able to immobilise a target with sixty four unblocked attacks wasn't impressive. Launching all of those attacks in under six seconds was. She finished the sixty fourth palm strike with a crack and staggered backwards, panting from her afternoon's exertions. The impressive sealing jutsu carved on the dummy meant that when Hinata poured some chakra into it, it took on a rough approximation of a person's chakra pathways. Her attacks had all landed in the right places, but not as accurately as she would have liked. Room for improvement, as always. Hinata put her hands together in front of her and called out "Activate restraints, level two!" Feeling the training seal reapply its restrictions on her movements, and turned away from the dummy. A session of training that left her too exhausted to think was a good thing, especially with her current goal in mind.
She walked through the empty Hyuuga compound. The bustle of the village was almost inaudible this far in, and her Byakugan's range could only spread so far, so she was alone with her footsteps and the creak of the floorboards. She left the dojo, passing through the gardens, and entered the main branch's home building. There, she walked through the hallway, up the stairs, and stopped in front of a certain door. She willed herself to move, but couldn't. She grit her teeth. It was always like this. It had been months since she'd first been able to walk past the door, a full year before she had first been back inside. Mustering the necessary will was hard. But she had a purpose. Taking in a breath, she put her hand on the doorknob, willed her fingers to stop shaking, and turned.
The door to her parents room opened.
She walked quickly, not looking at the bed, Byakugan off, keeping her eyes focused on the bookshelf along one wall. She scanned the volumes quickly. Most important books were kept in the Hyuuga library, and some in a well locked vault she couldn't get into yet, so most of the titles she saw were of novels her parents had been reading, or anything they had been researching at the time.
One particular scroll, however, was considered too sacred to be stored outside the clan head's immediate presence. She found what she was looking for, and reached up to it.
This would be her first time moving anything from the room. She could almost feel eyes on her back from the bed, watching her, and without looking back she grabbed the scroll and ran out the room, slamming the door behind her. Only then did she activate her Byakugan, and confirm that she was alone in the compound. She took the scroll into her own room and shut the curtains, ensuring a dark environment. She pulled the stopper out of the scroll. This was something she needed. Something that was expected of her, as the clan's heir. And more importantly, it was something she knew Neji had never learned. Hinata rolled out the summoning contract on her bedroom floor, and put a kunai to her finger.
Thirty four days after wave mission
Sasuke flew. Encased in giant purple armour, he rose hundreds of metres above the landscape and looked down to see Itachi rising to meet him. He thrust his hands towards his older brother, and an arsenal of glowing knives and swords flung themselves towards the rising Uchiha. Itachi dodged, darting between the weapons easily and at one point running up the length of one's blade to gain height. Great balls of flame surrounded him as he rose above Sasuke, then called "Ultimate Nova explosion!" And sent a ball of flame at Sasuke big enough to outshine the sun. Sasuke moved his hands and drew water from a nearby lake, draining the basin to create a liquid barrier between him and the fireball. The jutsu clashed with a deafening boom. The attack didn't hit him, but his shield was vaporised anyway, so Sasuke moved to fling the boiling steam towards his older brother. Then Itachi appeared through the gas, a tornado of wind surrounding him that reminded Sasuke, briefly, of Hinata's rotation. Itachi blitzed past his sibling and put a palm on his armour, and with a wordless shout, a blast of power flung Sasuke back towards the earth. He slammed into the ground, creating a crater wider than a building, and immediately jumped to his feet. He made to jump out, but Itachi called out "Terra Prison!" And the ground around Sasuke shifted. He glared upwards with a howl of outrage as the earth buried him alive.
He then woke up on the glade of a clearing with a start.
"Oh come on." He grumbled, climbing to his feet.
Itachi was smiling at him from across the clearing. "Have fun?"
"I don't get how deliberately hallucinating is going to help me put people unconscious." Sasuke replied, pouting.
"Genjustu is all about subtlety manipulating the chakra through an opponents brain." Itachi explained. "The easiest place to start is with your own."
"But how did you still win?"
Itachi smiled. "In part because you believed I would. Did you notice how I was calling out bogus jutsu names? It granted my actions a bit more legitimacy, your subconscious was more convinced it would work. Obviously in a real genjustu fight, you would be refusing to go along with the hallucination, and I would be trying to put you under something that you didn't notice or couldn't tell apart from reality. This was just to get you used to the feeling."
"Can't I just point my Sharingan at someone and make them punch themselves?"
Suddenly Itachi was behind him, cuffing him on the back of the head.
"Hey!"
"Never take the quick and easy route." The jonin admonished. "Well, don't make things unnecessarily complicated on missions, but never avoid putting in effort when training. Sharingan eye contact is a shortcut; it makes it easier to connect with an opponents mind and pour in more power more quickly. But it is not an instant win. I'm not letting you out there without a good grounding in the basics."
"Got it." Said Sasuke, suitably chastened. Then he winced. "Itachi, your shadow clone just killed mine again."
"Good. Make another one."
Sasuke sighed and acquiesced. "Shouldn't we be doing physical training with my real body?"
"You work with Gai." Itachi responded. "I'm not going to enforce more on top of that. Besides, being able to kill your student with impunity makes a lot of training easier."
"Always an excuse." Sasuke smiled fondly. "So. Do we go again?"
Thirty seven days after wave mission
Leaf was cooler than Sand. The breeze felt good on his skin. The sun was less oppressive and the winds weren't as strong. It was chilly, in a refreshing way. The people were louder, more annoying, but he supposed that wouldn't be a problem if he killed all of them. Case in point, the small child that had just bumped into him.
He looked down at the boy, who gulped. "Uh...hi mister..."
"Gaara." Hissed Temari from next to him.
"Don't worry, sister." Gaara replied, not breaking eye contact with the child. "I can kill him without letting anyone know."
"And there are witnesses." Cautioned Kankuro.
"Them too." Gaara replied, casually. The sand floating around him twitched at the promise of bloodshed.
Then the child's hood was yanked and he was pulled behind the back of another, slightly older child. "Look, I don't know what your problem with Konohamaru is, but you'd better be-uh."
He paused, because Gaara's gaze had snapped up to his face and was staring at him intensely.
Two pairs of blue eyes met.
Shukaku stirred behind his left temple.
"Who...are you?" Gaara asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond boy replied. "Nine tails. Who are...whoa." Naruto looked down to his stomach.
"I'm Gaara. You're like me." Gaara tilted his head and looked at Naruto. He could feel the chakra of a tailed beast radiating from the boy.
"Wait, you're a jinchurikki too?" Despite clearly being uncomfortable, Naruto brightened. "Awesome! We need to talk sometime, I have no idea what's normal or not for us. It'll be great to get to know you and share stores about, you know, how our demons break out and kill people."
"That does happen a lot." Gaara agreed, slightly confused. He'd expected Naruto to immediately attack him. "Though I am trying to control mine when in Leaf. Orders."
"No, I get it." Naruto nodded. "Why are you here? I haven't seen you three around before."
"Chunin exams." Said Temari, uncertainly.
"Oh, cool! I...didn't know those were happening, but I'm definitely going to compete!"
"Please do. It will be good to get to kill you." Gaara informed him, thinking it was an important thing to make clear.
"Sounds good, sounds good." Naruto nodded. Then, realising he and Gaara's team were standing off in the middle of the road, "Oh, am I in your way?" He shifted to the side. "Sorry, do your thing. Good luck with the exams!"
"Thank you." Gaara replied, smiling at him, and walking past. His teammates hesitantly followed.
So, he's Konoha's jinchurikki. Gaara mused. He seems like a nice person.
Temari paused as she walked past Naruto. "That's the best I've ever seen anyone handle Gaara. Like, ever. Are you really like him? You seem so...sane."
Naruto went 'pfft'. "Wait really? Huh. Honestly he seems like a pretty cool guy. I like him." His stomach rumbled and he gulped.
"Were your eyes always...red?" Temari asked him.
"Nope!" Naruto grinned. "Well, I'm going to go throw up. Nice to meet you!" He walked off very quickly towards some trees.
Temari shook her head and backed away slowly. "So this is why Dad never let me leave Suna." She mumbled under her breath, before jogging to catch up with her brothers.
Time passes. Everyone's favourite pervert is back in town, I can't restrain myself from writing NaruHina fluff, our leads start expanding their arsenals, and part-time-monster, full-time-badass Gaara is in the building.
Y'all already know what happens next.
