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…

Neji looked around the outskirts of the Hyuga compound nervously. There were a few guards keeping watch, and it wasn't that he wouldn't be allowed past them, it was just that he didn't want them to know he was going in. There was no doubt that they would ask where he was going, and if he were to respond with the correct answer, they would put two and two together with ease. Neji knew that Hiashi wanted to confront him, and unlike his daughter, the branch family member knew that he would not be forgiving. He had, after all, let Konoha's most treacherous villain mark his esteemed clan's heiress, and despite how composed his uncle normally was, hell would definitely be raised.

Neji also knew that it was unfair; there was only so much that he could've done to save Hinata from someone as ridiculously strong as Orochimaru. Someone that he was sure even the Sandaime would struggle to take out, never mind a mere team of Genin… but Hiashi wouldn't care, and that was fate. He supposed that fate had been merciful on him this time though, as much as he hated to admit it he was glad that yet another slavery seal hadn't been added to his body.

Perhaps it was even fate's way of making things right, showing a privileged and lucky member of the main family what living with someone else's intrusive and controlling seal was like. Or perhaps that had only happened to get him into trouble with Hiashi. Maybe Hiashi would force him to end his shinobi career... fate was a fickle thing.

With a sigh, he straightened himself out elegantly so as to not give the wrong impression to the guards in front of him, and walked towards the gate. What would Hiashi do to him? Would he be tortured so that Hiashi could show him what it was like to feel the pain that his daughter had experienced? He knew that she hadn't woken up for a day or two, and he had been able to pick up on the fact that there had been an incident or two when she did.

He didn't blame Hinata for what was about to happen to him either. Not because he was acutely aware of the fact that she would never do the same, but because it was just fate. It wasn't her fault that the snake-like traitor had appeared in the forest, it was fate's. Shaking his head slightly after realising that his thoughts were by no means coherent, he brushed past the guards without so much as an acknowledging glance - it appeared that they were aware that he was meeting with Hiashi, since they opened the gate when they saw him.

He walked briskly forward into the compound, not needing to activate his Byakugan in order to find Hiashi as he knew where the clan head would be. Where he always held these kind of meetings that Neji felt were only ever held with him: his house. It was funny really, the only time that he was ever allowed to even think of stepping inside the household of a main family member was when he was in trouble. Not the kind of trouble where he'd get a slap on his wrist and get told to never do what he did again, but the kind of trouble where he'd end up on the floor with that infernal seal of his activated as a form of punishment... when he'd really overstepped his boundaries.

Neji was aware that he usually wore an emotionless facade. He generally took pride in being able to detach himself from the world and all the foolishness of those who occupied it - those who were so unaware of the predetermined impact that fate had in their lives - but at the moment, there was a pit swelling in his stomach that nothing could quell. It didn't matter that he couldn't change the outcome of what was about to unfold, he was nervous… scared even, and there was nothing he could do to soothe the eery feeling moving through his very being.

As he neared Hiashi's home - it was near the front of the compound because it was the largest and made a statement about the wealth of the Hyuga's to others - the Genin took a deep breath and attempted to console his breathing. It wasn't off pattern but it was still uneven, something so subtle that only the greatest masters of perceptivity would be able to pick up on it. Looming before the door, he looked around quickly before pushing it open - he didn't knock, Hiashi wouldn't care too much about etiquette at this point - and bowing respectfully.

"I see, so that would be the best course of action then?" A voice rang out through the house. Neji's brow furrowed as he looked at the ground, not ready to glance up until he was acknowledged.

"If I were in your position, it is what I would do. Don't shelter her and coddle her with guards, give her some free space but also try and help her cope with what has happened," a more unfamiliar voice responded. Neji stirred; hadn't they heard him come in?

"I see, then I shall follow your advice. There still is no way for you to remov-" Hiashi's voice stopped suddenly, and Neji could hear the man clear his throat. "Ah Neji, I was wondering when you would arrive."

Realising that his uncle, who was on the other side of the wall in the living room, must have used his Byakugan to see through the wall, Neji took a few composed steps forward into view. "I apologise for my tardiness, Hiashi-sama."

"Who's this?" asked the unfamiliar voice of the other man. He had unkempt, spiky grey hair and looked rather out of place in a Hyuga household.

"A member of the branch family… my nephew," said Hiashi, almost softly as Neji bowed again. "It is of no problem, as what I wanted to discuss is likely more important. But first, let us finish with the formalities."

"Huh?" asked the grey haired man, scratching his chin in confusion - right in between the two streaks of red running down his cheeks. "Formalities?"

Hiashi ignored him as he made eye contact with Neji. "This, as you have likely begun to realise, is Jiraiya of the Sannin… the Third Hokage's most prized student and master of seals."

"Well I wouldn't say master quite yet," chuckled Jiraiya as he stepped forward to size up Neji. "But I do know a thing or two."

Neji's eyes widened as he attempted to look the man from top to bottom once again without making it too obvious. This was a member of the legendary Sannin? He looked so different to the other one which he'd had the pleasure of meeting, much more aged yet carefree. He had a healthier complexion to him unlike the sickeningly pale of his teammate's - even to a Hyuga.

"I see. I am honoured to meet you Jiraiya-sama." Neji bowed once more as he attempted to disguise the surprise in his voice.

"Normally, I'd say the pleasure is all mine, but unfortunately I've come on much more… grim terms," said Jiraiya as his voice adopted a lower tone. "Your cousin from what I gather, Hinata, was bitten by my former teammate, Orochimaru, during the second stage of the Chunin exams. I'm sure you've already heard of the twisted things-"

"I was present," Neji interrupted in a manner much unlike him, but he felt as though he needed to say it.

"You were there, huh?" asked Jiraiya, having not expected to illicit such a response from the young ninja. "So I suppose you know what the consequences of having such a seal are for her, yes?"

Neji's face fell. "I am aware of the fact that because of my failure to perform my duty during the second stage of the Chunin exams, Hinata-sama's life shall never again be the same."

"Failure?" asked Jiraiya, glancing to Hiashi who had an empty look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"I allowed Hinata-sama to be bitten," Neji said as he bit his tongue slightly, not daring to look at his uncle.

"Do you mean you handed her over to Orochimaru?" asked Jiraiya as he quickly assessed the situation, realising that the kid must've resorted to blaming himself with nothing else to pin the undesirable results on. "Because if you just stood there shocked while the event unfolded, you'd already have done better than the vast majority of Genin or even a few Chunin in your situation. People have been known to commit suicide in the presence of Orochimaru's ghastly killer intent."

"No." Neji shook his head slightly, recalling how the man's aura had been unlike anything he had ever experienced. "I fought him… but I failed miserably, so pathetically that I would say Hinata-sama managed to put up a better offence."

Jiraiya looked at him dumbfounded before letting off a small chortle. "Kid, I can only imagine what had actually gone on in that forest, but fact of the matter is that I can guarantee no Genin in history would have been able to confront Orochimaru on a one on one basis and survive. Hell, the man could even destroy entire ANBU platoons if he actually wanted to get serious. The fact that you survived is a win. Whether he took pity on you or for whatever other reason doesn't matter."

"But…"

"But nothing," interrupted Jiraiya. "Get it through your thick head, Kid, that you were spared for whatever reason, and you should learn from this. Understandably, this whole situation got screwed over when my former teammate decided to come along for the ride, but while half the competition got killed in the forest, you came out alive. Learn from this and hold your head high."

"I suppose you're right Jiraiya-sama, fate decreed for me to survive…"

"Fate wouldn't give a rats ass about what happened to you in that forest," interrupted Jiraiya, once again trying to remove the thought of an all powerful being from the mind of Neji. "Your destiny is yours and yours alone. You survived a clash with an 'S' ranked criminal which is something to be proud of. The fact that you got your ass handed to you doesn't matter; you survived."

"I believe that this meeting has gotten off topic," stated Hiashi, reminding the other two that he was still present within the room.

"In a minute," said Jiraiya, his words shaking both the leader of the Hyuga clan and Neji, who simply stood there dumbfounded that somebody would show such disrespect to his superior. "Kid, if there's one lesson I can give you right here and now, is that fate is a fickle thing and shouldn't be trifled with. It's something that simply takes a seat in the back row and watches as the game continues. It doesn't decide the path you take, it doesn't guide you along any road, and it doesn't choose how you live your life. Take whatever the world has in store for you and if you don't like it, return it back tenfold."

Neji simply stood there dumbstruck for a moment, as he felt Jiraiya's eyes watching him closely. "You've… you've given me much to think about," he finally was able to say before bowing towards the two shinobi. "If you will excuse me."

Not another word was said as Neji left the room, the Hyuga boy having no courage at that point to continue the conversation any further, as Jiraiya's words sunk home. Walking down the hallway, he couldn't help but raise a hand up to his forehead protector, not so that he could touch the metal but rather acknowledge the seal that it hid. His eyes scanned through a window and looked at the two guards who stood at the front of the compound, recognising them and knowing that they too bore an identical seal.

Neji hadn't even come to the realisation that he had stopped moving as he looked out the window, his eyes now glancing skywards as several birds danced in the sky without a care in the world. Deep down, he began to realise that the odds of the members of the main branch actually ever using the seal he wore against him were slim at worst; perhaps so much so that he could actually stop caring about it and simply live his life freely like the winged animals that soared through the air.

Perhaps...

"What the hell was that?" asked Sakura with surprise.

"I'm not sure... guess they decided to go somewhere…" muttered Sasuke, "Naruto must've gotten all up in arms about ramen or something again; it's been a while since he last had it."

"But that was Hinata dragging Naruto away," Sakura said putting so much emphasis on each word that she almost spat. "A snowball would have better odds in hell than that!"

"I guess you're right," said Sasuke, as he thought about it a little more before moving on. "Anyway, I guess our work here is done. Better get some rest before we start training again tomorrow."

"Wait," said Sakura, desperately in hopes that her crush wouldn't leave so quickly. "We can still uhh… Naruto… we've still not gotten to the bottom of that thing with the examiner, right?"

"Right," said Sasuke, "but we did hit a dead end, remember?"

"It wasn't so much a dead end as a dead start," reminded Sakura. "We didn't get too far, but if we maybe just change our tact a little and look at a different starting point we might get an answer."

Sasuke pondered on this momentarily as he scratched at his chin. "There was that thing that Jiraiya mentioned about seals to Naruto… Personally I've never seen the dobe shut up that quickly before," he said, recalling the event that had transpired on the road.

"Seals," repeated Sakura, as she too recalled that moment on the walk back to Konoha. "The only real seals I know about are storage seals, the seals on exploding tags, and this one that Hinata's now got. None of those things really relate to Naruto too much."

"So we can assume that we're talking about a different kind of seal here, one that typically isn't known by Genin or maybe even Chunin," said Sasuke as he looked towards the centre of town. "If we worked on two different areas, maybe you looking at the history of seals while I looked at seals commonly used by Shinobi, we might be able to get somewhere."

"Sounds like a plan then," said Sakura as she started walking off to the library, Sasuke following close behind as the two headed towards their research. Their research topic however... was having a very different time.

"Uh, Hinata, where are we going?" asked Naruto for what seemed the upteenth time, yet Hinata still refused to answer as they travelled deeper into the training ground, far out of sight of anybody. The blond partially believed that Hinata didn't actually have a destination in mind, and had lost all coherent thought a while ago.

While his theory was farfetched, it wasn't far from the truth. Only once they had gotten out of the centre of town, did Hinata realise that she didn't actually have a destination in mind but had just suddenly felt the urge to simply go somewhere private with Naruto. The feel of his hand in her own kept a crimson shade upon her cheeks, and she was thankful that the blonde couldn't see her face from his position behind her. To her, this was a perfect moment in itself, but she couldn't help but want more from the situation... although she wasn't sure she could do any more to appease that feeling. If it weren't for the constant running, she was sure that, with the lack of adrenaline in her system, she'd either be shaking more than a leaf in a hurricane, or passed out cold in the grass.

"I-I don't know…" she admitted hesitantly, a deep blush more pronounced than even Naruto's whiskers making its way to her cheeks, as she finally found the courage to speak. Slowing down and coming to a stop, Hinata still refused to look Naruto in the face in fear of what her actions may be.

Naruto stood there in silence, not knowing what had come over the usually shy girl. The sun had begun it's descent behind the Hokage monument, and amber beams pierced through the leaves of the trees dancing upon the two Genin. "Hinata," said Naruto softly, not wanting to do anything that his teammates would scold him for.

"Naruto-kun," replied Hinata in just as soft a tone, when she finally mustered the courage to turn towards her crush. Her eyes dived downwards suddenly; even though she had mustered the strength to turn towards him, she still lacked the fire to look Naruto in the eyes. What would he think when he found out?

Naruto was a good guy, despite the layer of mischief that accompanied the orange jumpsuit he wore each and everyday, so how would he feel when he discovered that she had been touched by something so… so evil, so impure? Would he disassociate himself with her after he realised that she had been tainted? Or would he maybe just never see her in the same light as before? Hinata was well aware that she was merely a casual acquaintance in Naruto's life, an almost-friend at best, but that was still much better than being seen as something evil. She had already attacked Kiba, he would certainly learn about that too.

"W-What's wrong?" he asked confused as he gently took a step closer to her. "It doesn't matter if you've not got a place in mind…"

Hinata sniffled, bringing up a sleeve of her baggy jacket to cover her eyes. Naruto wasn't the kind to abandon his friends, he wouldn't try and leave her side… but it wasn't fair to drag him down with her by being friends with him. She was now essentially a disgraced clan head; even being an orphan was better than this. All of this could've been prevented too, if only she hadn't been so useless in that fight. Everyone else managed to escape unscathed, it was only because Orochimaru saw a weak, little girl in her that he struck and bit her. And then to make matters worse, she'd gone and attacked her own friends not long after - what kind of a monster was she becoming?

"Why don't we go to Ichiraku's or something? Ya look like you could use a bowl of ramen." She didn't need to look up to see the smile in his voice. He was such a good guy…

With a slight shake of her head that only the most elite analysts would be able to pick up on, Hinata broke into a sob. Naruto didn't deserve someone like her… she only spelled bad news. She had gone from being absolutely useless, to being so useless that she would attack her own allies out of blue. It wasn't right for someone like Naruto to have to deal with the repercussions of her own vanity.

Hinata turned around again, this time facing away from Naruto, as tears slowly made their way down her face, sliding like tiny, silver snails. Wordlessly, she buried her face deeper into the sleeve of her jacket as she ran off in the other direction - her sobs sounding eloquent yet somehow uneven. The Hyuga launched herself away from the boy beside her, desperate to just get away and cry her heart out.

The distance between the two of them grew gradually, first a metre, then two, and finally five before a jolt ran through her body. Not electricity, but rather the foreign but oh-so-familiar feeling of it. She shut her eyes, tears still leaking through her eyelids, as buzzes of pain flew through her body in random spurts. All of a sudden she found herself detached from the world around her, the horrible feeling creating too much pain for her to pay attention to what her senses were telling her.

Black lines suddenly erupted out of seemingly nowhere, rushing along her creamy skin as though they were plowing through snow, and she felt another jolt go through her. Letting out yet another cry of pain, she couldn't help but draw parallels between herself and a pathetic zoo animal being tortured. The last of her senses - her vision - began to blur slightly, and she found herself struggling to make out the trees a few metres away from her. As her sight finally faded into darkness, she was able to make out a distinguishable blur of orange approaching her.

"Here, look at this," said Sakura as she beckoned Sasuke to her side.

The Uchiha had had little luck with looking into seals currently used by shinobi. Since it was such a delicate art that took hours - if not days - for amateurs to place in advance, many shinobi lacked the time and effort to delve into the art. He had to say though, that he was impressed by the level of design and the nature behind some of the rare seals he had come across. Even the simplest one he imagined would take him days to study correctly, every drawn line had to be perfect and he now had a lot more appreciation for the people who created sealing scrolls and exploding tags.

"What is it?" he asked as he closed the gap between them.

"I was looking at family heritage, sort of how the Nara's pass on their techniques from father to son, and then their sons continue the lineage," explained Sakura. "When you think about it, Naruto does have a family name but it had to come from somewhere. So I started diving into old clans and I found it."

"Found what?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura turned towards him, a dangerous glint in her eye. "The Uzumaki clan."

Sasuke was taken aback a bit by this. Part of him had believed that Naruto simply hailed from a civilian family that was killed during the Kyuubi's rampage so many years earlier. This however… "So where are they?"

"Dead," said Sakura solemnly as she turned back to the scroll in front of her. "Remnants of the clan are likely scattered across the world but the majority of them were wiped out."

"Any reason why?" asked Sasuke, feeling like they were getting close to the bottom of this mystery.

"Apparently they were relatively close to the Senju clan so it could have been an attack from one of Konoha's enemies that held a grudge from one of the previous wars," said Sakura as she continued reading. "The only other thing notable was that they had skill with Fuinjutsu that seemingly made other ninja towns attempts look like kids' drawings."

Sasuke absorbed this information as he looked back at the scrolls he had been analysing, and couldn't help but wonder if the members of the Uzumaki clan could draw those seals with their eyes closed. He recalled that Jiraiya had said something along the lines of how Naruto should know something about the seriousness of seals; thus, by connecting the dots, it seemed that, had Naruto still had his parents' heritage, he would be drawing seals more complicated than anything he'd seen so far.

"Closing time," announced the librarian, and both members of Team Seven knew that it wouldn't be worth pushing their luck after last time. Putting their scrolls away and feeling like they were ever closer into figuring out just who Naruto was, they left the library only to run into one of their classmates who was walking down the street.

"Hey, Shikamaru," said Sakura as she waved to the Nara heir.

"Hey. What were you two doing in the library?" asked Shikamaru, quickly picking up on the surroundings.

"Bit of research," said Sasuke nonchalantly.

"On?" asked Shikamaru, his Nara brain already into overdrive.

Sasuke wasn't really going to say anything but Sakura was well aware of just how smart the Nara was when he wanted to be. Undoubtedly, at some stage, she reckoned that the black-haired kid had tried to figure out just who Naruto was, and it seemed likely that the boy could offer some insight into what they had discovered. "We're trying to research why everybody hates Naruto," said Sakura, making sure that the rest of the street was devoid of life before saying anything.

"Something doesn't quite add up," added Sasuke with a nod. "I can count all the people from the older generations who have taken a liking to Naruto on one hand."

"Well, what have you got so far?" Shikamaru asked lazily. "This is the kid who runs around screaming at the top of his lungs while wearing bright orange."

"He's not that bad anymore," said Sakura as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But we've really gotten nowhere…"

"What exactly are you looking for?" questioned Shikamaru again, realising that if he didn't escape soon he was going to be dragged into a full fledged discussion. "There's only so much that statistics and history will tell you. Sometimes you've just got to take a look around."

"I guess there's no harm in telling you," decided Sasuke as he looked to Sakura for support, receiving a subtle nod. "There was something a little strange about how we got kicked out of the Chunin Exams… Naruto didn't cheat."

"But he still got caught," continued Sakura, making sure to add extra emphasis on the last word. "'Eyesore' he may be to some people, but there's a fine line between forcing someone to fail an important test, and bearing a bit of a grudge. What exactly is so bad about Naruto that an instructor would do that, in addition to having at least twenty other assistants who did nothing?"

"We're not even foreign Shinobi, you'd think they'd cu-"

"You mean like how he's the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi," stated Shikamaru as if it was common knowledge while he stifled a yawn.

Sakura and Sasuke merely blinked a couple of times, as they tried to fully understand what Shikamaru had just said. Several more seconds passed as their jaws steadily descended so far that any onlookers would have sworn they were about to eat the dirt they were standing on.

"WHAT?" they shouted in unison so loud that they caused the Nara to wince.

Shikamaru sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead. "Troublesome."

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