Hokage's Office

"Homura...Koharu...my decision is final."

"Hiruzen! You cannot mean it-"

"I can and I do." Hiruzen stated to this former teammate, the three former comrades were alone after an annual meeting with the clan heads of the village and Hiruzen had just reviewed classified intel concerning threats to Konoha, both from abroad...

And from within...

"If you hesitate, then the Uchiha will destroy the village!"

"This intel is troubling, but it does not confirm the workings of a coup." Hiruzen calmly replied to Koharu, "Until our ANBU investigating the situation have given us further information concerning their plans and intentions, I will not invoke a slaughter of innocents based on conjecture."

"This is not the same as the Kuromuton-"

"Clearly! I am after all very alive and conscious." Hiruzen laughed though his hand twiddled under the reflex of recalling memories best left forgotten. Remembering how he had nearly died at the hands of a Rogue Uchiha and while he was in a coma...tragedy struck...a tragedy that led to the lose of many lives and broken long-standing bonds, "So don't even dream of doing anything without my consent like Danzo did. The village will only suffer more if we prematurely act."

"You would have us wait while the Uchiha smuggle weapons and summoning scrolls into their compound?" Homura neutrally inquired, "Why else would they do this apart from planning a coup?"

"If I recall, these supplies were legally bought and inspected." Sarutobi pointed out, "Shipment details are not enough to convict an entire clan. If we act without proof and the Uchiha are truly planning a coup, then they will use our lack of legal backing to turn the village against us and this will lead to more deaths on all sides."

"The Hokage is correct." Danzo commented as he entered the hall, "Forgive me for not attending the annual meeting, but I had received news concerning Shunshin's mission."

"What did he find?"

"The location that he was sent to investigate was abandoned and rigged with a trap." Danzo reported as he took his seat beside the Konoha Council, "The Snake's associate had long since abandoned his hide-out. Further investigation indicated that he left on the morning after the attack of the "Pipa Assailant"."

"I see..."

"Had you done what I had advised and sent Shunshin earlier-"

"What is done is done." Hiruzen strongly remarked, silencing Danzo who wisely decided not t pursue this train of criticism, "Was anything else found?"

"Fortunately, Shunshin found another location where the associate will likely be fleeing." Danzo placed a scroll before Hiruzen marked with a seal that only the Hokage could unlock, "He requested additional reinforcements before he pursued."

"I see..." Hiruzen nodded as he took the scroll, broke the seal and read it's contents. Causing sweat to fall from the faces of the elders and himself, "There?"

"He will only pursue at your command." Danzo confirmed to the thoughtful Sandaime, "What shall I tell him?"

"No need, have Shunshin meet me in person." Sarutobi ordered, the wheels of his experienced mind already processing what would be needed in order to assure that Shunshin and the ANBU squad sent to this hell on earth would need to survive, "And send a messenger to the local Spa..."

Uchiha Compound, Precision Range

There was no question, his brother was amazing.

For Sasuke, watching his brother perform the impossible during kunai training was incredible. His father and mother told him about how Itachi had mastered the Kunai kata since he was as young as Sasuke himself, just one of a few reasons why Itachi had already graduated at only one year above Sasuke's.

Itachi's precision, his quiet and unfaltering confidence, the accuracy that enabled him to even hit targets in his blind spot, and the complete ease that Itachi performed his exercise. If Itachi wasn't the greatest shinobi in the village, then it wouldn't be long until that became a reality.

He could even be hokage.

As Itachi's final target was struck in it's center, Itachi stopped in place and sat down. Sasuke had never seen his brother do anything like this and was perplexed.

"Sasuke?" Itachi called, fully aware of his younger brother's presence, "Come sit with me."

"Uh...coming nii-san!" Sasuke excitedly ran to his brother's side and saw that he was sitting perfectly still. The only thing that was moving was the red iris of the fully matured Sharingan, "What are you doing?"

"Sit and I will explain." Itachi told his younger brother who complied, "Keep your eyes open, there is an exercise that I'd like to teach you."

"Really?"

"It is called, sitting still." Despite the aura of confidence that his brother described this exercise with, Sasuke couldn't help but be a little disappointed, "Sit and watch the world around you."

"Nii-san...we're inside."

"Just keep your eyes open." Itachi told his younger brother, "The world has a way of creeping through any wall."

"Alright..." Sasuke positioned his hands on his folded legs like his brother and kept his eyes wide open, looking for whatever it was that his brother wanted him to see. His eyes looked from wall to wall, from ceiling to floor, but nothing jumped out at him, "I don't see anything."

"Sit still and keep your sight focused on one direction." Itachi advised his brother, "Do not focus on searching for something that isn't there, focus on the present direction."

"Alright..." Sasuke didn't really understand what his brother meant, but he stared straight ahead towards a hanging image of a young Uchiha that Sasuke recognized as Shisui-sama. Still looking ahead, Sasuke drew his gaze towards the image, studying how happy Shisui appeared alongside his teammates. One was a Hyuga that looked like Hinata's father and the other was a boy with white eyes and a faded iris. Behind the three boys was Sasuke's much younger father spouting a proud smile that he would always give to Itachi...a smile that Sasuke yearned to have held in his direction.

"What do you see?"

"I see otou-san when he was younger, before he married okaa-san." Sasuke answered, his gaze still on the image, finding more details were being brought to his attention as he studied the picture, "He's with Shisui as a boy and two other boys."

"Hizashi-san and Usagi-sensei?"

"That blind boy was your sensei?"

"As he always said, his eyes were blind, but he wasn't." Itachi replied, "What else do you see?"

"Otou-san's smiling like he's proud of Shisui and the other boys. They're...standing in front of a shrine...but I don't recognize it..."

"You have been there, though it was partially rebuilt after the Kyubi attack."

"The Naka Shrine?" Itachi nodded as more questions appeared in Sasuke's mind, "But why? Why were father and Shisui in front of the shrine?"

"They were attending to honor Shisui's father's promotion to Konoha Police Captain." Itachi answered, "You see, the Naka Shrine was the first Uchiha building constructed when Konoha was built. Ever since, it had served as the meeting place for the Uchiha and any closely affiliated clan. When the Uchiha created the Military Police Force, the Naka Shrine served as the Force's headquarters. But later, the headquarters was moved to more central location and though revered, fewer and fewer Uchiha visited it except for ceremonial occasions."

"Like Shisui's dad becoming captain?"

"Precisely. The same was done for otou-san when he was inducted as captain...though with less fanfare."

"Why? What did otou-san-" Sasuke grumbled when his brother jabbed his finger on Sasuke's forehead.

"Sorry Sasuke, I've already said enough." Itachi apologized as he sat up, "That will be a story for when you're older."

"Alright." Sasuke agreed reluctantly, he stood up to follow his brother, "Can you teach me your shuriken jutsu? When I'm older?"

"Of course Sasuke." The boy happily cheered, leaping onto his brother's back and letting the older boy carry him out of the training range...

Hyuga Compound

Hyuga Hiashi was bored.

But as head of his clan, he couldn't simply stand and walk out of the assembly. It would be seen as a great negligence to his duties as Clan head and disrespectful to the Code of Hyuga Honor.

However, it wasn't easy considering that all of the information being shared by the Main Branch Elders was nothing new.

"Lord Kazehana is said to be marrying Kaede of Clan Inuzami," One elder reported to the assembly, "Perhaps any son from them would be a worthy match for Hanabi."

"Nonsense! Kazehana murdered his brother to attain his position!" Another elder rebuked, "The Hyuga Clan cannot be seen associating with tyrannical usurpers."

"Then Kazehana's son will marry Hanabi and Kazehana himself will come to justice!"

"Hanabi is only a baby! What of marrying Hinata-sama to-"

"We have discussed this." Hiashi declared before the elder in question could finish, "Hinata's betrothal contract remains valid so long as the betrothed does not disqualify himself."

"Hiashi-sama-"

"That will be the end of that discussion." Hiashi affirmed in a tone that no other elder would have countered. In the past, Hiashi's own father may have continued to voice dissent, but Hiashi would ignore and sometimes silence him. Now that the old man was dead, Hiashi was free to quiet the clan elders at his leisure, "Now on to business of the treasury-"

"Oji-san!" Neji ran into the meeting room and immediately bowed in apology to those present, "Forgive me honored ones, but Hinata-sama...she has locked herself in her room."

"Explain."

"I went to escort her to dinner, but her door was locked and she's refused to open it." Neji explained frantically, "I would've tried to force the door open, but she was holding something in her hands close to her chest. I thought it was a blade and came here-"

"How dare you! The very notion that Hinata-sama would harm herself..." Upon seeing Hiashi rise from his place, the elder looked on in shock, "Hiashi-sama-"

"Excuse me." Hiashi stood up and walked out of the Council Chambers without another word. He could still hear the shouts of the Clan elders as he followed the source of a child's cries and came to his daughter's room whose door appeared to be locked.

"Hinata!" Hiashi firmly announced, "I command you to unlock this door."

"I'm fine...otou-san..."

"I can see you right now. Do not lie to me." Hiashi's byakugan could clearly see his young daughter rubbing her eyes, tears staining her blushed cheeks, "Hinata, let me in."

"But I am weak. You should not waste your time on a weak daughter-"

"That is for me to judge." Hiashi saw his daughter hold back her tears, trying to put on a strong face as she slowly walked to her door and undid the lock. Hiashi waited for her daughter to sit upon her bed before Hiashi opened the door and entered, "Explain."

"I am sorry father...I just..." Hiashi had seen what his daughter was looking upon since he first came to her door. An intricate bracelet adorned with a white diamond and runed with markings from the ancient ruins near Yukigakure that had belonged to Hyuga Kagome of the Cadet Branch of the Hyuga Clan, "It's very pretty..."

"I can see that." Hiashi approached his daughter and sat beside her, "Where did you get this?"

"Koga-san...gave it to me..." Hinata answered, "He said that...her daughter wanted me to have it. He wanted to hold on to it until I could fit it, but...it was too painful for him."

"Do you want to keep it?"

"I do...I just..." Hinata whimpered, trying to bring herself to express the heart of her grief, "I am weak...and because I was weak, Kagome is dead. She's dead because I left the compound and-"

"Hinata. You were wrong for leaving the compound without informing me, but that does not put you at fault for Kagome's death." Hiashi stated to his grieved daughter, "The life of a shinobi is bound with death and suffering, Kagome knew this."

"But she died because of me...If I was stronger...I could've saved her." Hiashi knew that this was very untrue. The assailant was skilled enough to kill ANBU and for Hinata to expect herself to fight off an unknown attacker was nothing more than ludicrous, "I shouldn't have ran...I shouldn't have-"

"That is enough." Hiashi stated, gently holding his daughter's head so that her eyes stared up at his own. Though Hinata strongly resembled her mother, her eyes were inherited from her father. Gentle eyes unfit to see such suffering that she had witnessed.

But better that such suffering came from a stranger rather than her own family.

"Would a weak Hyuga have been able to help track the assailant?" Hiashi inquired, "Satoshi informed me of how you helped discover the truth concerning the assailant. In such a situation, any other child would have cowered."

"I did cower-"

"You were afraid as you should be-"

"Fear is for the weak!" Hiashi recalled his father call from his memories best forgotten...

Hyuga Compound, 12 Years before the Kyubi Attack

"Otou-san...I did not want to hurt Hizashi-"

"Fear is weakness! Weakness is death!" Lord Hyuga struck his heir upon his face, "You will serve under a Sannin and you dare fear for your opponent? For your enemy?"

"Hizashi is my brother-"

"And are all of your enemies your brother?" Lord Hyuga demanded, disappointment and disgust written on his features after Hiashi's defeat at the hands of the now smirking Hizashi who sat nearby, "You are damned lucky that your mother pushed you out before your brother did...and sometimes I wonder if I branded the wrong son!"

"Otou-san-"

"Look at me!" Lord Hyuga brought his son's face up so that it was facing his father's, "You are no longer a boy! You are shinobi! You are a man! And as a man, I expect you to look me in the eye when you speak to me! Understood?"

"Ye...Yes...Otou-san..." Hiashi managed amidst his fear, feeling tears pour from his fearful eyes, "Please...let me go-"

"Are you crying? Tears are for the weak! True Hyuga are not weak." Lord Hyuga roughly threw his son upon the floor and spat upon him, "And to think that a crying coward like you will be my heir-"

"You cried once..." A young girl softly spoke, but still loud enough for Lord Hyuga to direct his Killer Intent from his recovering heir to his daughter who sat next to a worried Branch Clan member.

"What did you say Hinami?" Lord Hyuga demanded, ignoring the silent pleas of the girl's caretaker, "Speak."

"I said...that you cried once." Hinami replied in submissive posture, "I saw you cry after your wife had died...does mourning a loved one make one weak-"

"Silence Kusotare!" Hiashi heard his half-sister scream out in pain, the Caged Bird Seal causing her extreme pain that was only compounded when Lord Hyuga slammed his fist into the girl's face and sent her sprawling upon the floor, "You dare make a mess of my floor? CLEAN IT UP!"

"Hai..." The girl stumbled to her feet despite her pain and tears and left to find a rag.

"Why didn't I make that whore abort her?"

"Why did you have no discipline?" Hiashi couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth and immediately expected his father to beat him again.

Instead, he smiled.

"You are correct, now you sound as a clan heir should." Part of Hiashi was gladdened by his father's subtle compliment and the other part was disgusted, "But as shinobi, I do not expect you to sound as my heir. You will act as one and bring honor to the Hyuga Clan."

"Hai otou-san." At his father's motion, Hiashi couldn't leave the room fast enough...

xxxxxxxxxxx

But Hiashi was not his father.

"Fear is a natural response to situations where we feel powerless Hinata." Hiashi said to his daughter, "True courage does not come from the absence of that fear, but from accepting and facing this fear. And you displayed great courage when you used your Byakugan in that situation. For that, you are certainly not weak. I am proud of you for it."

"But Kagome-"

"What happened to Kagome was not your fault. She did not die by your acts, but by the acts of the murderer that killed him." Hiashi told his daughter, "But you were precious to Kagome and she gave her life to protect your's."

"It was her duty-"

"Duty and love are not exclusive to each other." His words stunned his crying daughter and would have been enraged any other elder who heard him. But Hiashi was not speaking to Hinata as head of Clan Hyuga, but as a father to his daughter, "With Sight beyond sight, a Hyuga sees all of the world."

"With that sight...they face fear with courage..." Hinata tearfully recited despite her attempts to be brave, "They face lawlessness...with order, they face weakness with diligence, they face anarchy with honor, they face selfishness with duty and madness with love."

"Kagome upheld what it meant to be a Hyuga through her sacrifice."

"And I ran-"

"If you had died, then Kagome's sacrifice would have been in vain." Hiashi blunted to his daughter who bitterly accepted her father's truth, "But you live and through your growing strength, you will honor that sacrifice and make her smile from the Afterlife. In fact, you already have."

"Hai..." Hiashi did not expect his words to completely sink into his daughter's mind, but he hoped that it would give her a greater semblance of peace, "I will become strong...for her and the clan."

"And for yourself, the rope is only as strong as each thread." Hiashi embraced his daughter and kissed her forehead before setting her down, "Go to your mother, she wished to speak with you."

"Hai otou-san." Despite her tears, Hiashi could immediately tell the difference from when he first found his daughter. She bowed and Hiashi returned the gesture before turning to rejoin the likely angry elders who would demand an explanation for his departure. Outside of the chamber was a worried Neji.

"All is well." Neji smiled and bowed to Hiashi before he walked off to escort Hinata to her meeting. Meanwhile, Hiashi had a boring meeting to finish...

Author's Notes:

Plot's moving forward at the same time that life does.

You'll notice that Hiashi is actually being a caring father to his daughter in this chapter and after many, many fics that feature jerkass or outright evil Hiashi, this may seem out of the norm.

This is intentional.

Apart from needless flanderization, I'm kind of sick of stories that portray Hiashi as a unrepentant and proud dick. Sure, he seemed overly harsh in the manga/anime since he all, but disowned Hinata in favor of Hanabi. But he's also extremely kind to Neji, is open-minded enough to where he does see Hinata's efforts, and by the end of the manga, he's even willing to put his own life on the line in the front lines against the Ten-Tails.

I just decided to make him less of a jerk as far as parenting is concerned and since I'm going for the angle that his own father was an abusive jerk, he'd be even sensitive to his daughter because he's trying to break the cycle that his family's suffered since Konoha's founding.

Remember the Theme concerning Breaking Negative Cycles...it will be important later.

Translations:

kyoudai - brothers/siblings

onii-san - Older brother

otou-san - Father

Kusotare - A particularly Offensive way of referring to an illegitimate/natural/bastard child as opposed to the less offensive "Yarou/Teme" which can also mean asshole and more polite "shiseiji" which means illegitimate child.

d more polite "shiseiji" which means illegitimate child.