Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.
Part 2 – I only live to protect you
It became the day of their graduation. She had taken Naruto back as a source of motivation but haven't developed a crush on him or anyone else. She had focused on becoming strong and very strong she was. No one knew it though because of her skill in blending in.
She had passed her exam with fine grades and her father had nodded her approvingly as parents congratulated their passed children.
Naruto had not passed and that made Hinata sad, but there was nothing she could do. She noticed Mizuki-sensei talked to him while others were congratulated. They were told that the team appointment would be in a week and their duties as official ninjas would start then.
When Hinata heard this she hurried straight to see the Hokage for the first time in her life. She needed to get to the team where she could watch Sasuke. It would not be easy since he has an incredibly large group of brainless fangirls wanting the same position.
She knocked the door and got in once she was allowed to go. He was sitting at his desk surrounded by giant paper mountains. There was a masked ninja with silver hair that looked like a scarecrow there too.
"Mmm?" the Third looked a little astonished once the little Hyūga princess and a fresh Konoha shinobi walked in. "Well, well. What issue did you wish to talk me about, Hyūga-san?"
"Hokage-sama", she greeted politely and bowed as one should when speaking to Hokage. "I am informed that the new genin teams are going to be appointed next week. I am going to go straight to the point: I need to be appointed to the same team as Uchiha Sasuke" she explained as monotonously and neutrally as she could.
Masked ninja raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Third chuckled good-naturedly. "Well, well. I didn't think you to be young Sasuke's admirer as well, young Hyūga-san..."
Hinata intercepted: "Hokage-sama, you understand incorrectly. I assure I have no improper... fascination towards Sasuke-san. No. I am requesting this because I am the only kunoichi in our Academy class who seems to be able to be professional with him."
Masked ninja watched her in awe.
"Hyūga-san. There has never been a genin team in Konoha history combining Hyūga and the Uchiha. What you ask is very hard to carry out."
"I don't care. Sasuke-san deserves a chance to form normal bonds to his teammates without disturbing fangirling inside the team. You will arrange him a chance to do that" Hinata declared with finality in her voice.
"Very well, Hyūga-san. Your request has been noted."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Hinata bowed and retreated the office.
Third chuckled at Hatake Kakashi's incredulous expression. "The young Hyūga takes after his father more than Hiashi ever admits, don't you think?"
"Mmm. She seems to have a strong personality. Not everyone has balls to come threatening Hokage at the age 12."
"All her Academy reports tells her to be very shy... She will be a very interesting case in the future, I believe."
And so it became the time of the team appointments. Hinata was very happy to notice that Naruto had managed to graduate somehow, and was now beaten down by fangirls after accidentally kissing Sasuke.
She heard Shikamaru Nara muttering something like "Troublesome..." behind her and continuing to explain Ino that there were not any real chances for her to get to the same team as Sasuke because of Ino-Shika-Chō -combination.
Iruka-sensei stepped to the class bandaged like he had been in a battle but explained nothing. He started to read teams on his papers.
"And then team 7: Uchiha Sasuke,"
Sasuke didn't react at all.
"Uzumaki Naruto"
Naruto sank on his desk not looking happy at all.
"and..." Iruka paused, looking the paper like he didn't believe his eyes. "Hyūga Hinata."
All the other girls sighed at their misfortune and started immediately wonder who was Hinata. Sasuke stared at her. She pretended not to notice.
"This is most unexpected. Hyūga and Uchiha are never on the same team", analyzed young Nara to his friend Chōji who nodded while eating his chips.
So, there they were, in a classroom waiting for their sensei. It was apparent that something weird had happened during lunch between Sasuke and Naruto involving Haruno Sakura, but Hinata didn't care about that, to be honest. They waited over two hours before the sensei decided to show up and Hinata noticed that he was the masked nin from the Hokage's office.
"We will meet on the roof", he said and shunshined away.
"So... how about you introduce yourselves?" the masked nin suggested.
"Ne, ne, you go first, sensei!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.
"Well, My name is Hatake Kakashi and I have likes and dislikes. My dream is not your business. Oh. And I have a lot of hobbies. You next, blondie."
Naruto looked a little discontent to their sensei's introduction but let it be. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I like ramen! I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook ramen but I like the ramen Iruka-sensei treats even better! My dream is to surpass all the Hokage's and get the whole village respect me!" he exclaimed loudly.
Kakashi sighed. "And hobbies?"
Naruto looked doubtful. "Pranks?"
Kakashi nodded. "Alright. The broody one next."
Sasuke scoffed. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I have very few likes and many dislikes. I have no dream but an ambition: to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."
Hinata thought that was way too angsty even for him but said nothing.
Kakashi didn't seem to be surprised, though. "Very well. Your turn, princess."
"Please don't call me that" Hinata grunted.
"My bad, princess" Kakashi said clearly not planning to stop calling her that.
Hinata scowled. "My name is Hyūga Hinata. I like medical herbs and tea and dislike irrational clan traditions. My hobbies are training and gardening. I have an objective to stop a certain someone from dying..." she explained eyes tightly on Sasuke.
Kakashi thought: "Well, this group is very special..." and continued out loud: "Very well, now we know each other so we can start our duties! Let's meet tomorrow and have some survival exercises! And don't bother to eat breakfast!"
They had been chasing cats and painting fences for a month when Naruto cracked and shouted that they wanted a better mission. So they got one. In Wave. It turned out to be a little more than a normal escort mission when the Demon Brothers attacked but it was certainly out of their league when they fought Momochi Zabuza.
So after arriving Wave they trained. Hinata as a Hyūga (and because of Itachi) of course knew tree-walking already so she was instructed to train her chakra control using the exercises of the Hyūga. It didn't remove the amusement of watching Naruto and Sasuke fail while she sat sideways on her tree meditating. She watched both at the same time with her Byakugan and tried to see further.
Naruto, who had never seen dojutsu before thought her eyes were spooky. Sasuke, who had got used to his clan's Sharingan, of course, had scolded him for that but Hinata was just amused and explained what her eyes did. Naruto had been in awe and admitted he was a little envious, but had delighted when Hinata had told him that he had almost as much chakra as four Kakashi-senseis.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had been very startled because of that. Hinata encouraged him by reminding that maybe he would get his Sharingan someday and even if not, he had a bunch of clan techniques helping him to get strong. This seemed to cheer him up a bit and he continued the tree-climbing.
So the day of the battle at the bridge came. Luckily Zabuza seemed to want to rematch Kakashi, so that left Sasuke to battle Haku and Hinata to protect Tazuna. Sasuke had been surrounded by Haku's ice mirrors when Naruto appeared to the bridge and rushed inside the dome with him. Hinata watched the battle outside with her Byakugan.
They seemed to be at a disadvantage against Haku's speed when Hinata saw Sasuke had gained his Sharingan. She cheered mentally at him. That, however, didn't seem to help – they were going to lose still in the end.
Haku's senbon fastened and it was hard to saw them. Hinata channeled more chakra to her eyes and to her amazement the Byakugan world she saw seemed to slow down and sharpen radically.
That made her notice two things at the same time. One, Haku had fired unbelievable amount of senbon to Naruto. Two, Sasuke had seen that too and reacted automatically trying to take the hit for him.
So Hinata did the only thing she could. She used substitution to Naruto and pushed Sasuke away taking the lethal hit herself.
"All... the... Uchiha... dead... But... the... last one... only... after... I have..." she looked at Sasuke's eyes while Sasuke watched her terrified as her voice faded and the darkness took her.
Her death had, of course, made both Naruto and Sasuke go berserk which had ensured their victory against Haku. That, of course, didn't matter since Gato was betraying them anyway, but both missing ninjas and Gato's men ended up dead which made the mission end up successful.
To Naruto and Sasuke's relief, Hinata had woken up afterward and was surprisingly hugged by both of them and even carried back to Tazuna's house by them.
They were walking back to Konoha when they were talking about the details of the mission to write their reports when Sasuke suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Hinata, let me see your eyes."
Kakashi rose his head looking curious.
Sasuke stepped in front of her, took her chin and made her watch him.
Hinata flinched involuntarily and blurted more unfriendly than she aimed to: "Don't touch me."
Sasuke took a step back and looked slightly ashamed and muttered a sorry. Hinata apologized as well and wondered out loud why she reacted so strongly.
Naruto looked happy that not all girls liked Sasuke.
Sasuke, however, continued: "After you substituted to the ice dome it really looked like me that there were something strange in your eyes, Hinata..."
Kakashi seemed curious and told Hinata to activate her eyes and she did. Her Byakugan flared normally.
"Did you do anything different from normal during the battle, Hinata?" Kakashi asked.
"Well, I was trying to see the senbon better so I channeled a little more chakra to my eyes... Let's see if I can repeat that."
She directed chakra to her eyes and heard her teammates gasp loudly.
"Maa, maa, it seems Sasuke is not the only one acquiring the Sharingan in this mission", Kakashi told with a singsong voice that didn't fit at all to this situation.
"What. The. Hell. I am a damn Hyūga main family member. There are absolutely no chances that I could have the Sharingan" Hinata almost screamed. This was the end. Her father would kill her this time for sure.
Sasuke seemed annoyed that he wasn't the only one with the ultimate dojutsu. And Hinata, who he had always thought to be weak had two.
Kakashi continued: "And still you have one. We will be taking this to the Hokage and see if he could clear this up at all."
"... so let me sum this up. Sasuke got his Sharingan and Hinata, who is a Hyūga, got one as well?" Third asked clearly amazed. They nodded. "Well. This situation needs a little clearing. I ask you Naruto and you Kakashi to leave for now. This is going to be clan business from now on. Kakashi, would you be so kind to retrieve me a medic and Hyūga Hiashi?"
Hinata went straight to a panic mode: "No no no... Don't tell my father, he is going to kill me for sure!"
"Hinata-san, you are not a chuunin and you are currently under 16-years old, we have an obligation to tell the parents things like this."
Hinata hung her head down in defeat.
The medic and Hyūga Hiashi arrived.
"Hokage-sama, what is so urgent?" he asked balancing effectively being polite and annoyed. He watched both Hinata and Sasuke with his normal scowl. "Hinata. I take it your mission didn't go well?"
"The mission was successful, father, but there were some... complications" she answered looking everywhere else but him.
Hiashi raised his eyebrow.
Third explained situation briefly while the medic scanned Hinata with her chakra. She reported to the Hokage: "It seems that her cells have adapted as a response to an exposure to Uchiha blood. In addition, to her Hyūga traits she has gained the Sharingan and an affinity to fire and also a slightly larger chakra capacity. This will not be affecting her appearance or physical performance. This kind of reaction to blood is very unlikely to happen to anyone so she is a medical miracle. These changes will be hereditary."
Hiashi watched with his mouth open.
Third sighed. "Well, Hinata-san. You must know better than any of us others when could you have been exposed to Uchiha blood..."
Hinata's lower lip trembled and she started crying.
"I... I... never told anyone! I had a friend who was Uchiha and he was my everything. He told me not to tell anyone because our clans were not exactly friendly... He even taught me Uchiha style taijutsu so I could use my flexibility to better my poor Jūken... Then one day I came to the Academy and heard that they all had... died..." her voice faded. "I swore that day that you Sasuke will die only after I have. So that my friend didn't die in vain."
Sasuke stared at her. "So that's why you jumped in front of those senbon."
Third chuckled. "So that's why you insisted getting to this team."
Hiashi looked appalled. "Why this is the first time I am hearing about any of this Hinata?"
Hinata's father didn't kill her to be exact but kept her a long talk about proper things a main house family member should do. Hinata, on the other hand, was busy to think how to train with her new abilities.
As annoyed as Sasuke was, especially when he noticed that Hinata's eyes had full three tomoes and his only two, she had become his unofficial bodyguard and even something like a sister who he was stuck training with.
So they trained their Sharingans together, asking Kakashi help when they needed that. Hinata trained combining her Sharingan with Byakugan and developed her own taijutsu style further.
Sasuke even taught her his trademark Gokakyuu no jutsu, but only after she had taught him more advanced chakra control exercises to upgrade his eyes. He had not still managed to get three tomoes, but his control over the Sharingan had improved a lot which he was pleased about.
It wasn't very long after that when Kakashi told them there were going to be chūnin exams. They already knew that, because Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had bumped in some Suna shinobi who had told them and Sasuke had complained Hinata about that among his usual whine about fangirls and power and how the life sucked in general.
What was surprising about was that Kakashi had signed THEM in the exams. Hinata was stupefied. She had attended the finals many times due to her social status as a Hyūga and thought that this was totally something over their skills. Sasuke and Naruto, however, insisted that they go, so she relented, but not without flawless team strategy.
Their plan relied mostly on keeping their secret powers hidden. No one had seen Sasuke or Hinata using the Sharingan and even fewer had witnessed Naruto using Kyūbi's power (he had been explained his status as a jinchūriki after wave and he had decided to share this with Hinata and Sasuke like they shared info about their dojutsus).
It all was almost blown by a Konoha genin called Yakushi Kabuto, whose info cards seemed to know a little too much. Sasuke, fortunately, managed to burn them with a mid-sized Gokakyu.
The written test went as well as one could imagine; it was a total catastrophe. Luckily Naruto's stubbornness was seen as a strength and not a reason to throw them out so they advanced to the next test.
They had proceeded fine in the Forest of Death. The genin from Ame didn't offer much resistance after they had stepped to their trap and Team 7 had acquired the Earth scroll they needed. They had been continuing straight to the tower when they had lost Naruto.
Now Sasuke and Hinata were fighting a suspiciously strong wind-using Kusa nin. They had both needed to activate the Sharingan only to keep up with her. Hinata saw with her Byakugan that their opponent was not definitely a genin.
"Sasuke, we need Naruto, we cannot fight against her for long."
Sasuke nodded that he had realized this as well. They were both fast but they had already used their ultimate moves so even the power of surprise was not on their side anymore. His battle morale seemed to get low.
So Hinata didn't stop him from trying to form a deal regarding their scrolls.
It was only Naruto, who was clearly under the influence of the Kyūbi to beat some sense back to them. Why indeed would the enemy just leave them after she had got the scroll?
So they advanced together making the Kusa-nin look very pleased.
"Ku ku ku, magnificent, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Hinata-hime! You have all grown strong indeed! And the hime to acquire Sharingan, could this be his work?"
This enraged Sasuke for some reason and they attacked even more furiously than before.
"Now now, I wish to leave some parting gifts!" He grabbed Naruto's collar and slammed his seal on top of Naruto's Kyūbi seal on his stomach. Naruto fainted immediately.
Hinata, who was collapsed on the nearby branch of the tree they fought on couldn't stop him grabbing her the same way.
"Hime. The Byakugan and the Sharingan in the same package. You could be something great, you know. Oh how I wished to give YOU my seal, but I believe he has given you one already." He dropped her only to proceed to Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun. You shall have my gift of power. My name is Orochimaru. Search me if you ever should need more."
Her neck lengthened to bit Sasuke's neck which caused him to scream in pain and lost consciousness. Orochimaru left the place only to leave Hinata trying to get up and trying to find shelter.
She managed to create them a temporary stronghold and trap it like one should in a situation like this. Naruto had been unconscious for hours and Sasuke had a high fever. Her medicinal herbs were not much help so all she could do was wait.
And just like she had feared, a full team from Sound attacked her base only springing one of her simpler traps. She stood out defending her teammates. What she didn't notice was that the whole Konoha 12 was following the situation from the forest.
"Well, well, looks like our mission got very much easier, what you say Kin?" boasted bandaged team member.
"That weak looking girlie is defeated easily enough, and then we shall proceed our task."
Hinata threw some shurikens trying to spring some of her traps to create diversions but the sound team evaded them all.
"It seems that hime here is out of ideas..."
Hinata sighed and took her taijutsu stance.
"You are not touching my teammates as long as I can say anything about it!"
"Now that's more like it! Let us fight already!"
"You know... this fight is you three against just me... I really don't have chances to win if I don't fight to kill. Please retreat now before I take your life."
"Like a girl like you could ever kill me!"
"Very well."
Activating both her dojutsus she proceeded to make the most impressing assassination move of the Uchiha clan style combined with a straight Jūken strike to the heart coil. The boy with air pipes in his arms was dead before he even realized Hinata had moved.
The others proceeded to attack her together but their clear inexperience with Byakugan ended them both dead soon as well.
Other Konoha teams watched terrified how the shyest girl from the Academy killed a whole team of genin under five minutes and was using Uchiha clan dojutsu.
Hinata picked up sound team's Heaven scroll and pocketed it securely. She turned only to see that Sasuke had woken up. His face was full of weird markings and he proceeded like a zombie to Hinata. He took her shoulder.
"Hinata... who did this to you?"
Hinata's reaction was automatic once again.
"Don't touch me!"
Unfortunately, this time, her Byakugan and the Sharingan was on. Sasuke ended up laying on the ground with Hinata's hand on his throat and her staring at him angrily with her Sharingan eyes. Her clear dominance over him, however, seemed to make the markings retreat and clear Sasuke's head.
"Thank you, Hinata..."
"No problem, Sasuke. Now, how we get Naruto up?"
"SASUKE-KUUUUUN! Are you alright?! Did she hurt you?" They were intercepted by screaming Sakura and Ino who came to hassle with Sasuke and see if he was okay. Others seemed to be still in shock after Hinata's performance and her way of handling Sasuke.
Hinata rolled her eyes and went to check Naruto, who was still unconscious but seemed to be waking up.
"Mmmm. Where am I?" Naruto slurred seemingly still dazed.
"We are still in the forest, but I got us both scrolls so we need to proceed to the tower."
"Right."
"Sasuke, will you hold Naruto that side, we need to move."
"Hn."
They leaped out of clearing supporting Naruto quickly and fortunately, got to the tower without further problems.
But of course, as they managed to get to the tower, there were preliminaries. Sasuke managed to win his opponent, but only just. Naruto's battle against Kiba was more like a farce than a battle but he managed to win as well. And now she stood at the arena opposing her cousin Neji.
They had traded a couple of complimentary punches (which with Hyūga was some deadly business too) and showed off some Byakugan but it was clear that Hinata's chakra or her energy wasn't going to be enough against Neji's steel hard prowess.
"Neji-niisan. I wish I could fight you with all my power, but unfortunately, I have come here after fighting Orochimaru.." Senseis gasped. "... and assassinating a whole Sound genin team." Genins gasped, except Gaara who seemed pleased that more people had died.
"My energy or my chakra is not going to be enough against you without accidentally killing you, so I will forfeit and admit you were better today. Show them that a Hyūga can succeed in Academy too, niisan!"
Neji stared at her even harder than he had earlier in the forest. This whole event had radically changed his image of Hinata. He had hated the main family most his life, but seeing that Hinata clearly had not received any special training or treatment to get her strength, he decided to call a truce with her.
"Thank you, Hinata-sama. Let us fight again once you have healed, then."
Hinata was sure she saw a small smile on him. They bowed to each other.
"Winner, Hyūga Neji!"
Hinata rushed to Naruto and Kakashi.
"Hinata-chan, why did you give up?" Naruto whined.
Kakashi nodded her approvingly. "It was a wise decision to know your limits, Hinata."
Hinata looked a little down. "Sensei, are you disappointed that I killed the team Sound?"
"Mmm? There is no reason to be disappointed, Hinata, taking a life is part of life as a ninja and sometimes it is even necessary" Kakashi explained.
"Young Hinata! Your burning fires of youth had flamed young Neji's youth to unmeasured readings! I must thank you for that!" the Lee's sensei, Maito Gai they already saw before exams appeared next to Kakashi.
"He means that Neji is less grumpy than before your battle", explained a girl with two buns who told them her name was Tenten.
Neji grunted very Sasuke-like.
The month before the exams went fast. Hinata helped both her teammates (and Neji-niisan) however she could. Moving at public places was hard since Gaara had taken her as his next kill and she needed to run away from him constantly.
The exam finals had proceeded normally; she had been required to sit with the Hyūga instead of Konoha 12 which annoyed her to no end. In addition Kakashi and Sasuke had been fatally late and Sasuke's battle was just about to begin.
Neji had lost to Naruto but had brought honor to the Hyūga by fighting gloriously. Hinata had screamed the whole time cheers to the both of them, which had made the Hyūga elders scowl. Apparently main family member should not have cheered branch member. Or jinchūriki.
Sasuke's battle against Gaara had totally gone out of hand when the invasion started. After Sasuke had rushed after Gaara, Hinata's father tried to deny Hinata going after Sasuke. With no results of course. Didn't he understand that this was the whole purpose of her life? Well, of course not, he had never understood Hinata at all.
She flashed her Sharingan eyes as she ran after Sasuke grabbing Naruto with her as her way.
They had managed to stop the destruction mainly because of Naruto's new summoning ability. The invasion had however required victims; the Third had died which had shocked Naruto very much.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had managed to make his curse seal problem worse, which Hinata started to be very worried about. He had also created a massive annoyance to Hinata's protectiveness and wanted to train alone most of the time.
Hinata had decided to train with her family for a while since Jiraiya had taken Naruto to a training trip to find Senju Tsunade. She was on her way to the Hyūga compound when she heard that Kakashi-sensei had been attacked so she rushed right away to the hospital.
She bumped on her way there to Sasuke, who seemed completely enraged by something and was clearly rushing out of the village.
"Where are you going Sasuke? I heard that Kakashi-sensei is in the hospital, we should go visit him."
"None of your business. Go away and don't even think about following me Hyūga!"
"No can do. You are ALWAYS managing to get yourself killed without me and I can't have that, Uchiha."
"Hn. This is something I need to do alone."
"You said the same thing about lunch last week! If you don't let me come, I will bind myself to your leg and slow you down the whole way."
"Tch. Whatever. Do whatever you wish. Just don't be on my way!"
"Thank you, Sasuke!"
Some time after that near Tanzaku town Naruto was waiting for Jiraiya at their inn. He had taken all his money and ran after some woman telling him to wait. He had just jumped to his bed trying to start to meditate when he heard a knock at the door of his room. He curiously went to open it and saw two Sharingan eyes staring down at him.
Naruto didn't know the man, but his resemblance to Sasuke was obvious. The Sharingan eyes, his black hair, fair skin, and his face was like older Sasuke's. He spoke to him under his black cloak decorated with red clouds.
"You need to come with us, Naruto-kun.."
To be honest, the strangers clearly were much more powerful than him so he could only comply and step in the hallway. The black-haired stranger gave him space and was about to raise his hand, probably to ensure that Naruto didn't try anything when they heard not so obscure sounds away from the corner.
"Don't touch me, Uchiha!"
An unmistakeable sound of someone crashing against floor followed the shout which couldn't come from anyone else than Hyūga Hinata.
"No one forced you to follow me, Hyūga!"
Sounds of someone standing up and nearing steps. Even Naruto in all his obviousness had to facepalm. They weren't smooth at all. Sasuke appeared behind the corner and froze immediately from rage.
"Uchiha Itachi. I will kill you!"
He activated his Sharingan and was about to charge when Hinata appeared next to him and held him back.
"This is why I was coming with you Sasuke! Reckless actions like that will get you only killed. Seriously, what would you do at all without..." she scolded.
She turned her head to the hallway where Naruto and the cloaked men stood.
"Oh my God.. You are alive... Itachi..."
Itachi's eyes moved now completely on Hinata. His partner, a big shark-like man with a giant sword on his back opened his mouth.
"Do you know these brats, Itachi? I am guessing the boy is your brother but why the girl is here beats me."
Itachi didn't seem to hear that since his attention was on the Hyūga.
Hinata started right away to advance towards Itachi which he allowed.
"Itachi, Itachi, Itachi... You were dead... I cried so many nights..."
She managed to reach him and climbed right away on his lap hugging him close. He didn't resist. Sasuke had never looked this terrified or shocked.
"My life had no purpose... I have only lived these five years to stop Sasuke from getting himself killed..."
She didn't think anything at all. Itachi had completely filled all her senses and she was reacting instinctively. Something similar was happening to Itachi.
Hinata began to push her cheek to his and caress their noses together. There was still no resistance from him.
"But you are alive... I am so happy Itachi... You are here now..."
"Hinata..."
It was unclear when had they started kissing but they had and this time, Itachi not only allowed this but also participated fully. All the others observed the scene with blatant disbelief.
The shark-man cleared his throat.
"Ahem... Itachi... The mission..."
That shook both Itachi and Hinata back to reality. He, however, kept his hands on her hips.
"Right."
Hinata turned her gaze to the shark man.
"Mister, are you a friend of Itachi's?"
"A colleague. Hoshigaki Kisame on your service, hime."
"Very well, Hoshigaki-san. I am Hyūga Hinata."
Sasuke, however, looked about to explode.
"I don't know what the hell is going on here but you Itachi will die today!"
He charged with his Sharingan active.
Itachi was about to react when he noticed Hinata's eyes flash red before turning to face Sasuke.
"You will not touch him, Sasuke."
She walked slowly to him, grabbing his collar and shoved him against the wall. Her Sharingan eyes transformed forming a weird pattern.
"Do you understand, Sasuke?"
Sasuke grunted grudgingly. At that moment, Jiraiya arrived. Sasuke lost his conscious from the lack of oxygen.
"Kisame. We need to leave", Itachi announced with a neutral tone.
"Yes. Too bad you need to leave your little girlfriend."
"She is not my girlfriend."
"Whatever you say."
The both cloaked figures vanished.
Hinata seemed to sober up and realize what she had done to Sasuke. Her eyes had completely tired her out and she fainted as well.
"Naruto, what on Earth happened here?" asked Jiraiya who tried desperately put all the pieces together.
"Ero-sennin, it's kinda long story..." Naruto answered till in shock seeing Hinata act the way she had.
They were interrupted by the Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
Hinata woke up in the hospital screaming Itachi's name.
"ITACHI! Where is he? I need him! He is alive! ALIVE!"
She struggled against the bonds she had been tied with to the hospital bed.
"Hinata! Calm yourself down! Things will be explained if you just relax a little."
It was Neji. He had always a reason to do things. He took her hand and squeezed gently. Hinata calmed down and observed her environment.
In the room were her father, Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Jiraiya, Kakashi-sensei and a blonde-haired medic nin with a large chest.
The blonde talked first: "Hinata-san. My name is Tsunade and I am the Godaime Hokage. I believe there are some things that need to be cleared on both sides."
Tsunade sighed.
"Your teammates already told us what happened in that inn. You are currently charged of attacking your teammate, but from their stories I have concluded that you are not aware of some things."
Hinata watched her curiously.
"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are S-rank criminals and missing ninjas. Kisame is from Kiri while Itachi is from Konoha, charged of murdering the entire Uchiha clan."
Hinata's eyes widened: "No... no... Itachi would never do such thing! I don't believe it!"
"That is how the evidence says."
Sasuke spoke next. "Hinata, I was there when he... killed my parents."
Hinata gasped and looked down.
Tsunade continued. "Now, I believe we can clear the charges due to a misunderstanding. Your relationship with Itachi and your Sharingan, however, needs some explanations. I suggest you tell everything and be honest, Hinata."
"Just before the massacre, Itachi told me he wanted to protect me even if he weren't there..." She didn't know how to explain it so she lowered her shirt and channeled some chakra to her seal so it appeared to her skin.
Others didn't seem to know what it was but Sasuke gasped loudly. Tsunade asked Sasuke to explain.
"That is the strictest of the Uchiha marriage seals. It cannot be removed and it binds users until they die. Who even performed that one on you, Hinata? It is very complex. It is a near miracle you have managed to stay this sane this far from each other."
"Itachi... He used his free hand to perform the seal. But I didn't know it was a marriage seal... Orochimaru somehow seemed to know about this, though. It protected me from the curse seal."
Jiraiya as a seal master listened in awe: "Unbelievable! He truly is a genius. To perform such a seal and to be part of it... So, he spoke the truth when he said you are not his girlfriend after all..."
Hiashi didn't seem to be happy: "What do you mean my daughter has been married since she was eight...? And to an international criminal..."
"We don't know what her legal status in Konoha is yet. SHIZUNE!"
A black-haired woman on the door rushed to search info about it.
"Now, Hinata, about your Sharingan. How long have you been able to activate the Mangekyō?"
Hinata hadn't been aware of her ability. Turned out that it had been activated due to her trauma of losing her mother, feeling responsible to the death of Hyūga Hizashi and the grief of losing Itachi.
Shizune had come back with relevant documents that she handed to Tsunade. She read them before announcing:
"Uchiha Hinata. Congratulations, you are legally married to Uchiha Itachi and thus officially one of two Uchiha massacre survivors. As your marriage had been somehow accepted before the massacre, you were the wife of the heir which makes you the next clan head. I, however, would advise you and Sasuke to talk about this again once either of you reaches the rank of chūnin..."
Hinata couldn't believe her ears: "This is so twisted."
Sasuke agreed wholeheartedly: "Hn."
So due to the circumstances she had been pressured to move to the Uchiha compound. It was obvious that the things between her and Sasuke were beyond awkward; After releasing from the hospital he had showed her new apartment, Uchiha training grounds, and her new clothes (because apparently it was physically impossible to be Uchiha without the fan emblem). After that, however, he had vanished quickly to train alone.
She believed firmly that there was an another side to the massacre concerning Itachi, so she had started to wear his old clothes and even begun to grow her hair out to a similar ponytail.
Her father wasn't happy about that but after the update to her legal status, he could do nothing to stop her.
The last tick to the situation was when Sasuke had decided to leave Konoha. Hinata had been there to witness his pathetic conversation with Haruno Sakura and decided not to try to talk him out of it herself.
Sakura had already tried and failed plus Sasuke had surely known Hinata had been present, so what talking him would have changed?
So she ended up carrying Sakura to the hospital and alarm Tsunade, who assigned a retrieval mission, which ended up failing and bringing most of their friends to the hospital.