Venatori

Summary: Kankuro was a few minutes too late, and Kiba died. Now, Shino and Hinata work to ensure that no more traitors get away alive. Divergence from chapter 212.

The Laughing Phoenix does not own Naruto and makes no profit from this work, other than her sense of accomplishment.

WARNING: Massive spoilers in future chapters. Character death. Blood, gore, and questionable use of medical knowledge and techniques. Some OOC-ness. Language.


Moving Day

Sliding shut the door to her room, Hinata stared at the wood-and-rice-paper panels for a moment, breathing deeply. This is it. No more. No more coming back here at night, wondering when I'll round the corner and find myself facing one of the elders. No more sneers every day. Straightening her shoulders, she turned, knapsack over her shoulder.

Most of her things had been smuggled out over the course of the past week in sealing scrolls, handed over to her teammate for safe-keeping until they could move her in. The last few things – including a handful of trinkets too delicate to seal – were on her back now. Shino was waiting two blocks away, keys in hand. All she had to do was get out of the compound.

The first unexpected change in plans appeared when she rounded the corner to pass the main courtyard. A half-dozen branch family members were there, some talking, some doing chores. Neji was among them.

"Hinata-sama? Do you have a mission?"

"No, no mission, Niisan. I need to meet Shino though, we have errands to run." There. Not a lie.

"Hinata?"

Damn. Her father had come out of his office, which meant that he was between Hinata and her exit. That was exactly what Hinata was hoping to avoid. Letting a few of Anko's choicer curse words ring in her head, Hinata turned to face her father, surreptitiously loosening the senbon in her pocket for a quick draw. She hoped she wouldn't need them, but she wasn't so sure anymore.

"Yes Father?"

"I have things to discuss with you. I require you back here at 19.00 this evening."

"I'm afraid I can't, Father." Hinata concentrated on the words. There were worse times for her to give in to her stutter, but not many.

"Oh?" Hiashi raised an eyebrow.

"I will not be returning."

Hiashi lost the relaxed stance, hands sliding out of his sleeves. "I beg your pardon?"

"I will not be returning to the Hyuuga compound."

"Will not be…and where will you be going? To the Inuzuka's?"

Hinata took a breath. "I have arranged for my own housing. It is being paid for by my own mission money, so there will be no drain on the Hyuuga finances." The entire courtyard had gone silent. Everyone was watching the drama playing out on the walkways with bated breath. Hinata had never, ever spoken to her father like this. Never done anything this drastic.

"Unacceptable." Hiashi snapped.

"If a Clan shinobi of Konoha finds their duties impeded by their housing situation, it is their prerogative to make alternate arrangements outside their clan." Hinata quoted one of Konoha's bylaws. "If this can be proven to the satisfaction of their commanding officer, then the clan may not interfere. The only exception is if the shinobi in question is clan heir. As I am not, no such exception exists." Shifting her rucksack slightly on her shoulder, she began to walk towards the gates.

Hiashi reached out to grab her arm as she drew level with him. "Hinata – "

But he got no further than that. Before he could make contact, Hinata had ducked under his arm and spun past him. Her hand flashed out like lightning to plant the senbon in a nerve cluster at the base of his neck, before her hands brushed his shoulders, shutting down the tenketsu and immobilizing his arms. Dancing back a step, Hinata deliberately turned her back and kept moving to the gates, forcing herself to maintain the same calm walk. The moment she was outside she picked up speed, meeting Shino a minute later.

Her teammate passed her a key. "Go. I'll keep an eye on things here." Nodding, she took the piece of metal and shunshined off.

Back inside the Hyuuga compound, the collected Branch members stared in shock as Hiashi sunk to his knees, arms useless. Everything they had ever known or assumed about the elder Hyuuga Princess had been turned sideways, and it was thus a moment before any of them could shake themselves back to awareness enough to aid Hiashi.

A minute later Hiashi was trying to shake feeling back into his arms and calling for someone to follow Hinata and find out where she was going. A Branch chuunin took off for the compound gates, only to find himself face-to-face with Hinata-sama's Aburame teammate.

"Aburame-san!"

"Can I help you with something, Hyuuga-san?" the Aburame drawled, slight humor audible in his tone.

"Hinata-sama. Do…do you know where Hinata-sama is going?"

"And this is a concern of yours…?" The younger man's voice was faintly dismissive.

"Shino-san." Neji had followed his cousins to the gates. "Is Hinata-sama alright?"

Glancing over at him, Shino nodded once.

"Is there any way you could tell us where she's going?"

Shino shrugged. "As Hinata's health and well-being are not endangered by her move, I don't believe I will. And you can stop trying to sneak by me, Hyuuga-san, I can see you."

"You're wasting your energy, Ito-san," Neji added.

The older chuunin sputtered. "But-but Hiashi-sama has ordered us to find Hinata-sama!"

"If Hinata does not wish for us to have that information, we will have to find another method of obtaining it. However, her change in location will have been registered at the Hokage's office – as her father, Hiashi-sama can obtain it there."

The older chuunin made a few more noises of indecision before turning and going back inside, presumably to tell Hiashi just that.

"Wise decision, Neji-san." Shino said softly.

Neji nodded once. "I have no desire to stir up more gossip in the village by getting into a fight with an Aburame at the compound gates." Nodding back, Shino had turned to go when Neji spoke again. "Shino-san. Hinata-sama is…" the older boy trailed off, unable to articulate exactly what he wanted to say.

Shino looked back at him over his shoulder. "This is probably one of the best things Hinata has ever done for herself." He said calmly. Turning away from the compound, he set off down the street. His hive would alert him if anything drastic happened in the Hyuuga compound, and he had better things to do with his time.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Tsunade gritted her teeth as she stared down the man on the other side of her desk. Hyuuga Hiashi had stormed into her office, brushing past both her secretary and Shizune, in search of his daughter's new address. When it was refused to him, he got irritable and began fussing about how his underage daughter had no business moving without his knowing about it. When Tsunade reminded him of the subject of their meeting the previous month, namely, that his daughter was ANBU and thus the standard rules did not apply, he lost his temper completely and in an uncharacteristic display demanded to know exactly what she thought she was doing, making his eldest ANBU without consulting him first. He'd then continued on to insult her judgment and make heavy allusions to her sake consumption as a determining factor in said judgment.

"Enough!" she snarled, cutting Hiashi off mid-rant. "You overstep, Hiashi."

The lack of an honorific made Hiashi stiffen, but he stiffly said, "My apologies, Hokage-sama."

"Right." Tsunade settled back in her chair. "Now, to answer your questions. Yes, for the last time, I brought Hinata on board as one of my ANBU. She's damn good at what she does and far too valuable to leave in the general pool. You'll remember that you both took oaths to the village, and as she's not clan heir, if the Hokage deems her more useful in a different position than her present situation, then she can be reassigned at the Hokage's prerogative. Furthermore, we take the security of our ANBU's identities seriously. Letting you know was just a formality. If moving out of the Hyuuga compound is what it takes for her to be able to perform her duties properly, then so be it."

"Be that as it may," Hiashi's voice was grating, and it was obvious he was fighting to hold onto whatever remained of his temper, "Hinata is still Hyuuga, and Main Branch at that. Precautions must be taken – "

"If by precautions you mean that obscenity of a seal, then forget it. Hinata's ANBU, which makes her mine. Your stuck-up idiots try to screw with her, and I'll come down on you all like a ton of bricks. In fact, you try anything, so much as breathe wrong, and I'll file these." Tsunade fanned a handful of papers out in front of her. "Emancipation papers."

Hiashi's breath caught. "You cannot do this."

A nasty little smirk spread across Tsunade's face. "Can't I, Hiashi? It's not like Hinata would remain clanless for long. The Aburame and Inuzuka would probably fight among themselves for the rights to adopt her, if Yuuhi Kurenai didn't get there first. Heck, I've gotten fond of the girl, I might even take it into my head to make her a ward of Clan Senju."

Tsunade watched interestedly as Hiashi outright sputtered, incoherent with rage at the way he'd been outmaneuvered. "Thank you for coming in to see me, Hiashi-san," she said languidly, hiding her amusement behind a hand. "I'll see you for the council meeting this afternoon."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Later that afternoon, Hiashi stalked out of the council chamber at the end of the meeting, practically radiating killing intent.

"I wonder what ticked him off this time," Chouza muttered.

Tsume looked smug. "Hinata moved out."

"His oldest?" Shikaku raised an eyebrow. "He won't have liked that at all."

"He did not," Shibi said. "He sent a pair of branch members to the Aburame to find her."

That got a couple more raised eyebrows. Clans liked their privacy, and to invade another clan's space that way was insulting.

"What happened?" Chouza asked, leaning forward.

"I told them Hinata was not residing in my house and asked them to leave." Shibi glanced at Tsume. "It was my impression that he will try the Inuzuka next."

The jounin nodded. "Good t'know." A feral smirk crept across her face. "I'll pass the word to the folks on kennel duty."

"Is that…wise?" Inoichi asked.

"Hiashi's an ass, an' I don't particularly care for his attitude." Tsume shrugged.

A groan from the far end of the council chamber had them turning to look at Tsunade. "Keep it to a minimum, people," the Hokage ordered, rubbing her temples. "I've already got a headache."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Late that night, Neji sat quietly on one of the elevated walkways, staring up at the night sky as he finished relating Hinata's dramatic exit to Hanabi. The little girl stared at her hands for a moment before quietly saying "So…Hinata-oneesan's not coming back?"

Neji shrugged. He couldn't imagine Hinata returning voluntarily, not after the display that morning, but…he knew the laws of the Clan as well as any Hyuuga. "I do not know, Hanabi-sama."

The sound of a door opening behind them had them turning to look up at Hiashi as he stepped out onto the walkway, a saucer of sake in one hand. "Hinata will be living outside the compound for the present," he said heavily. In an uncharacteristic move, he leaned against one of the support beams, taking a sip from the saucer. "I spoke with the Hokage this afternoon. Tsunade-sama fully approves of Hinata's living arrangements."

Hanabi looked back down at her hands with a small 'oh'. The little group remained in silence for a few minutes before Hanabi pushed herself upright, wishing her father goodnight before heading off to her room. Neji was about to do the same when Hiashi spoke again.

"Neji. Did Hinata say anything about this? Were there any indications…"

Neji shook his head. "Nothing, Hiashi-sama. She has been spending a lot of time with her teammate, but that is nothing new."

Hiashi nodded, taking another drink from his saucer. "I see." There was another awkward moment of silence before Hiashi spoke again, so softly that Neji was certain the man was talking to himself. "My eldest daughter has prepared emancipation papers."

Neji's eyes widened, and he stared up at his uncle as the man drained his saucer before turning and going inside. Turning away, the chuunin stared off into the distance. He'd never been much impressed by his cousin, considering her for many years to be a useless stuttering coward. His Naruto-induced attitude adjustment had forced him to take another look at Hinata, and he'd come to recognize that there were many layers to the girl, but this… Neji shook his head slightly. He knew that Hinata admired Naruto, particularly his 'never give up without a fight, never go back on your word' philosophy, going so far to adopt it as her own. Now he was starting to wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Not two days after Hinata's dramatic departure, almost the entire village knew that the eldest Hyuuga princess had moved out. Perhaps half of them, mostly civilians, took a fairly philosophical view of this: Yes, it was an unusual thing to do, but the girl was entering her early teens, and it was the nature of adolescents to seek independence from their families. Those who belonged to large clans or more traditional families watched with interest, waiting to see the political fallout.

Meanwhile, Hinata had known that her clan was not going to take her moving out well – or even particularly gracefully. Most Hyuuga were born, lived, and died within the compound walls, and this went double for those of the Main Branch. Moving out was a major breach of tradition, and tradition was the heartbeat of the clan. There would be attempts to convince her to move back.

She had discussed this extensively with Shino and Kurenai before moving day. They had decided to keep the move itself as low-key as possible to keep the Hyuuga from realizing what was going on until it was too late – hence the week spent sneaking Hinata's belongings out of the Hyuuga compound before her confrontation with Hiashi. They had made contingency plans for almost every eventuality – not only arranging for the Hokage to emancipate her if necessary, but also bringing Anko in to help design the seals and traps on the new apartment and giving the Aburame and Inuzuka a heads-up so that the politically powerful people in their lives would have a chance to make their own plans.

In the end, most of their plans had paid off. The three attempts made thus far to ensure that Hinata's residence remained the Hyuuga compound – Hiashi's attempt to get the Hokage to order her return, verbal and written messages from various important clan members, and an attempt to funnel Hinata to the Hyuuga compound after training one day – had failed. Hinata, however, knew her clan elders. They were going to make her fight for her independence.

But she had never imagined she'd have to fight quite like this.

"Hinata, are you sure you're willing to do this?" The girl glanced up from her pouch of senbon to see her teammate leaning against the door to her room. "You do not have to," Shino continued, pushing his glasses up his nose. "You can tell the Hyuuga elders to forget it. Hokage-sama would back you, my father would back you, Tsume-obasama would back you."

Hinata smiled slightly, slipping the pouch into place. "But if I do that, then the elders will not respect me, and they will not stop." Standing, she shrugged on her gray jacket. "The main reason no Main Branch Hyuuga has lived outside the compound in recorded memory is that the fear of losing the Byakugan was too great. If I can prove to them that I can defend myself, then that weakens their argument."

Shino snorted. "Never mind that anyone breaking into your apartment would end up regretting it. Some of the stuff Senpai used…you would have to be a journeyman fuinjutsu master at least to crack it."

Giggling softly, Hinata led her teammate out of the apartment and locked up. Leaving the building, they calmly walked across the village to the Hyuuga compound, deliberately discussing innocuous subjects: Hinata's grocery list, whose turn it was to collect supplies for their fortnightly dinner with Kurenai, Anko's latest crazy shenanigans, and so on. Reaching the gate, they were greeted by the Branch members on guard duty.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama," the older one, a chuunin named Makoto said, extending his arm to block their path. "But my orders were that your companion was to remain outside."

Hinata stopped for a moment, then turned to look at the guards, back ramrod straight and gaze steady. "In that case, Makoto-san, kindly inform the elders that either Aburame Shino enters with me, or their summons will continue to go unanswered."

Makoto immediately backed down. "Of course, Hinata-sama. If you will wait a moment?" He nodded to the younger guard, who promptly stepped through the gate and disappeared into the complex.

A few minutes later he was back. "Aburame Shino-san is of course welcome in the Hyuuga compound," he reported, breath short. "The elders are waiting in the second-largest dojo."

Hinata nodded and, taking a deep breath, entered the compound, Shino at her shoulder in silent support. Their walk through the buildings was quiet, the occasional Hyuuga watching them surreptitiously. When they finally entered the dojo together, Shino loitered near the door, letting Hinata take center stage.

The clan elders, Hiashi among them, were seated along one wall of the dojo, waiting. A few branch members knelt along another wall, waiting for orders. Shino was unsurprised to see Neji among them – the Hyuuga elders were becoming truly predictable. Hinata, head back and shoulders straight, moved to the center of the room and settled into seiza. She looked the part of the princess, confident in herself, and Shino hid a smile behind his collar.

Hiashi sat quietly, letting the clan elders do the talking. Isamu opened the discussion. "Hinata-sama, we have been very concerned by your decision to live away from the clan and your abrogation of your responsibilities. Would you explain this?"

"Pursuant to Konoha's bylaws, the choice of an active shinobi's housing rests with the shinobi, with certain exceptions for minors or specialists," Hinata began, "unless the Hokage orders otherwise. The Hokage may only dictate a shinobi's housing if necessary for the shinobi to complete their duties or for the safety of the village."

"We are well aware of Konoha's bylaws," Isamu chided. "What we fail to see is how this applies to a daughter of the Hyuuga's main house."

Hinata kept her spine straight and face porcelain-smooth. "After extensive discussions with my immediate superiors and Hokage-sama, it was decided that my duties would be better managed if I was no longer living at the compound."

"Really," Akira snorted. Hinata took a slow breath and said nothing, concentrating on her heartbeat, half sure that her clansmen would see how fast it was beating inside her chest and exploit it. "There are two things that concern me," Akira went on, "firstly, that the Hokage would order a minor out of her family home on the pretext of duties. Secondly, that the Byakugan is unthinkably vulnerable with this change, as Hinata-sama is now without the protection of the clan."

"The duties are no pretext," Hinata said mildly, biting back the urge to snap. "Hokage-sama discussed them with Hiashi-sama recently." She saw her father give an unusually awkward nod, but brushed it aside. "Furthermore, I do not believe that I am any more vulnerable in an apartment block full of experienced chuunin and jounin than I am in the compound."

"While Hinata-sama's duties are beyond our ability to evaluate," Akira retorted, "her vulnerability is not. Her recently-demonstrated skills are under par compared to her peers, and it is the opinion of this body that such skills are insufficient."

"Now now," Isamu said, "Hinata-sama's most recent spar with another Hyuuga was quite some time ago. It is possible things have changed since then."

"Reevaluation may be in order," Akira agreed. "In the interests of a proper evaluation, the same sparring partner would be a benefit." His eyes bored into Hinata, who did her best to ignore them.

Isamu nodded slowly. "If the other honorable elders agree?" There was a general murmur of assent. "In that case, Hinata-sama – "

Hinata held up a hand, stopping the elders in their tracks. "If I defeat Neji-niisan in single combat, will you cease your attempts to force me to move back to the compound?" She focused on the words, deliberately closing out the eyes watching her to keep from stuttering, trusting Shino to watch her back.

Akira huffed, but said "That is in essence correct, Hinata-sama." The –sama was said with a slight emphasis, mocking Hinata and questioning her right to the honorific. Hinata ignored the implied slight with supreme indifference.

"Very well then." Hinata stood, slipping off her jacket. "Shall we begin, Niisan?" These words were addressed to Neji, where he knelt next to the dojo wall.

Neji hesitated, glancing sideways at the Main Branch members, before rising to his feet and moving to the center of the open floor.

"Rules?" Shino asked, almost idly.

"To unconsciousness or incapacitation," one of the elders – he couldn't be bothered to look and see which one – said pompously.

Hiashi added one more condition. "No potentially lethal strikes."

The cousins bowed to each other, then settled into their stances. Isamu called the match, "Hajime!"

Hinata was the first to move, using textbook Hyuuga strikes. Strikes that Neji blocked and countered easily, before going on the offensive. Hinata dodged two of his strikes, then appeared to overextend a lunge…before grabbing Neji's arm and dragging him off-balance. A flurry of motion later and the cousins disengaged, standing across the room from each other.

Neji wobbled alarmingly, then tried to straighten himself and overcompensated, pitching over onto the floor. He attempted to push himself upright, but every time he tried to stand he overbalanced again, and five minutes later was decidedly green and no closer to upright than he'd been.

Turning her back on her discombobulated cousin, Hinata regarded the Elders with an impassive stare, pocketing the poisoned senbon she'd used. "I trust that this demonstration satisfies your concerns?" At their grudging nods, she turned and sailed from the dojo.

Shino paced at Hinata's side, quietly offering comfort and reassurance. Once they were out of the compound and walking down the road to Hinata's apartment complex, he spoke. "I believe that went rather well."

Hinata's shoulders shook in a strangled giggle. "I, I suppose it did." She paused. "I'll miss spending time with Hanabi-chan, though." At Shino's raised eyebrow, she elaborated. "I'm a bad influence."

"If you are a bad influence, Hinata, then I suspect there is no hope for the youngest Inuzuka. They adore their Hina-neesan." Hinata flushed, raising a hand to cover her cheek. Point made, Shino let the topic drop. "I was considering the genjutsu Kurenai-sensei taught us last month, and have been endeavoring to modify it to better work with my allies, primarily by increasing the perceived wind to cover their movements. Your thoughts?"

Happy for the distraction Hinata dove into the theory, a topic of conversation that carried them all the way to the market.


A/N

I'm going to briefly discuss my interpretation of Hiashi here: The way I see it, Hiashi is a damn good clan head. He's even a genuinely loving father and uncle. The problem is that he tends to forget to be a father because he's so accustomed to being clan head. It's a habit that nearly had disastrous consequences with Neji, and he's tempered it enough that Hanabi should make it out okay, but he still hasn't adjusted his behavior enough for him to rebuild his relationship with a more independent Hinata. He taught her not to need him, that she couldn't reliably go to him for comfort or help, and it is bearing fruit now.

Next Chapter: Busy Season