Naruto sat in his room on his new grounds. Izumi had been more than happy to sell, he had purchased grounds that the Uchiha hadn't used since long before the Massacre. He had set up training rooms and such in the two months he'd owned the grounds. He had hired genin teams to clear out the grounds and clean for his move in, mostly to establish himself as part of Konoha.
He kept his apartment gardens, they weren't far from the grounds at all, so it worked out. The gardens were to the point that they didn't require much from him. He had purchased the Uchiha ground on a village loan, then immediately paid off the loan with the money he received from his mom's assets. For a regent, he chose Mebuki Haruno. She wasn't the family head of the Haruno, which was actually very large, she was the family accountant. He hired her for a rate of about 0.5% of total net worth yearly, which wasn't much right now, but she would start investing and cycling the money.
He had also used a loan to buy the rest of the apartment building and started turning the entire thing into proper gardens. That loan would take longer to pay off. The Abrame were using the Gardens to cultivate more wild colonies now though, giving Naruto a passive source of income and making the gardens much more vibrant.
The 'Clan Heir group' was now at the level they would have previously been at around the Chunin exams. Sakura was excelling in Iryoninjutsu, while Kiba and Choji were acceptable.
Sasuke had started really melding with the group as time went on, not having the avenger complex apparently did wonders for him.
Everyone in the group could now at least make a solid storage seal if needed, so Naruto considered his job done there; if they wanted to learn more they could in their own time.
He had become sort of a practice 'op force' for the group. They would go to training ground 10 and face an ever increasing number of shadow and water clones.
Water clones were helpful in that they could take more than one hit, they just didn't give you their memories.
The group's heavy hitters were Sasuke, Hinata, and Ino.
Naruto, Shikamaru, and Shino fit a more utility position along with secondary damage support.
Kiba, Choji, and Sakura were the healers and tertiary support.
Those groupings were made less on combat potential and more about strategic value. Naruto was by far the biggest hitter in the group, but generally they wouldn't want him front and center in anything other than an emergency. Kiba was best in Taijutsu, but was his team's only medic
as well, as Hinata was crucial to have on the front and Shino didn't have the time to learn in depth Iryoninjutsu.
The group had recruited Guy and Lee to physically condition them, which was a special form of hell that most of them couldn't stand, but they certainly weren't suffering on the physical ability side of things.
The girls, Sasuke, and Naruto had taken seduction classes. Kiba, Shino, Choji, and Shikamaru wouldn't step foot in the classroom for those lessons though.
They were in their second to last year of the Academy now and had the overall best scores of any class in history. In the past, all of them would've already tested out of the Academy, but that was no longer legal during peacetime as of the reform.
Whenever the kids sparred they did so on water, since anything less than that was beneath them. D-rank Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were now also allowed, which went disproportionately well for Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto, since they had the most Chakra. The water sparring gave Iruka endless headaches apparently, since he gave up on watching them.
Hinata had gone through a large development in her personality since the incident, she wasn't with them today though, which confused Naruto. She never missed sessions.
'She'll have an explanation'
-- Hyuuga Compound --
Hinata knew her clan wasn't a fan of her. She didn't like violence if it wasn't necessary and they saw it as a weakness. Her friend, especially Naruto, had shown her that her clan was overly traditional as opposed to her being particularly weak.
She was still shy, but that was a key part of her personality, one that she could easily work around if she had to.
But they had summoned her and she couldn't ignore that.
"Honorable elders. Father."
The Hyuuga sat in a large atrium, one only used for meeting of the entire main-family.
"Hinata. Your sister has just started the Academy and it's time to determine who will be the heir to the clan and who will join the branch family."
Hinata's stomach dropped.
'No...this wasn't supposed to happen yet nonono'
"I...I thought this wasn't supposed to occur until I was a legal adult."
Hiashi merely sneered at the fear in his daughter's voice.
"There has been discontent with your performance as heir-"
"What the fuck do you mean by that."
Everyone in the room was taken a bit aback.
"Neji and I are the youngest Hyuuga to achieve the -8 trigrams, 64 palms- in known history, I've made connections with 7 clan heirs, and I have one of the strongest water affinities in the village. Hanabi is 8 and has just unlocked her Byakugan, but still is a lesser prodigy. So what the fuck do you mean you're discontent."
Hiashi was taken aback more, while the elders were enraged at her disrespect.
It was too much for one elder, "You spit on traditions older than this village! You make friends with a vile weapon and an Uchiha, you show weakness wherever you walk. And Hanabi, you coddle that girl-"
"I show basic kindness to my sister who never got to meet my mother?"
That silenced the elder in particular.
"Regardless, this ceremony has been called."
"If I s-somehow lose to my ei-eight-year-old sister, I'll take the bird seal, but if she loses as expected when facing a girl 3 years older, then she will not be."
"Such insolence. What could you possibly hold to demand that of us?" Another elder spoke.
"I h-have the support of Izumi Uchiha."
That shut everyone up. Izumi was the director of the new military police, having mastered the Mangekyo Sharingan. After the near death of the Uchiha, the Hokage was much stricter on the clans. The Hyuuga were on thin ice thanks to the caged bird seal and Izumi was in full support of making the seal illegal. In her words, 'My clan was nearly eliminated because of intense pressure placed upon clan members and their belief that they were losing freedom. The seal is the epitome controlling others' free will.'
"You would betray us so. Fine. If you lose, you will be branded, if you win, your sister will not be."
Two guards then walked Hanabi in.
Hanabi and Hinata were not particularly close. Hinata loved her little sister but she was generally distant from her clan, which Hanabi didn't understand.
Hanabi looked up to Neji, her Genetic brother thanks to the fact that their twin father's married twins themselves. She and Neji were the perfect little Hyuuga, prim and proper. Neither cared for Hinata.
"Hi, little firecracker."
"Shut up."
There wasn't a need for a ring, so they stood 10 feet apart, facing each other.
"Begin."
Hanabi sprinted towards Hinata. Hinata sidestepped her sister, directing her past onto the floor.
Hanabi got up, sneered, which was adorable on the 8-year-old, and lunged again.
Hinata brought her forearm up, then slashed down on Hanabi's bicep, sending her sister onto the floor again.
Then her sister's Byakugan activated. Hinata fed Chakra to her own as well.
Hanabi tried to begin a sphere of divination, but Hinata just lazily threw some dust at her, which interrupted the process.
Hanabi started becoming more cautious then, but was angry at her sister's apparent apathy.
Hinata just kept up a defense until her sister got tired.
"Why! Why can't you just go down. You're supposed to be weak! Why...why won't you go away."
That hurt Hinata more than she'd like to admit.
"I'm your big sister. Not leaving is my job."
"Shut...shut up….Shut up!"
She sprinted at Hinata again. Hinata sighed and directed Chakra to her hand.
When Hanabi got close, Hinata feinted left, then turned when Hanabi blocked and reached over her sister.
She released chakra into Hanabi's Tenketsu on her neck, knocking the girl out.
Hinata then walked out without a word.