Granddaughter of the First Hokage, presently Fifth Hokage, Legendary Sucker and arguably one of the most gifted Medical-Nin in all of the world, Tsunade... was having a very, very bad day.
Oh it had started out pleasant enough. With the bad weather ninja missions had been far and few between, even most of their clients were keeping indoors and off the roads these days, hoping for sunlight to come back before they shipped out their wares or made their travels. Thus, her paperwork had been light, and her duties relaxed. She'd even had some time this afternoon to enjoy a nice, relaxing soak in the hot spring, bottle of sake in one hand, dice in the other, playing some small chance games with her close friend Shizune. Who, for once, didn't mind that they weren't working.
She was, after all, winning more often than not.
The pleasant pastime came to an unfortunate end, however, when Izumo came bursting in with reports of an invasion into the very heart of Konoha. Rolling her eyes, her good mood completely destroyed, Tsunade didn't even both to wait until he'd left before she hauled herself up out of the springs and down the corridor to change. Shizune had been forced to give Izumo some healing jutsus just to restore blood circulation to his brain. And stop his nosebleed.
Now, tired, grumpy, her joyful buzz thoroughly ruined, Tsunade sat at her desk and listened to Sakura's report.
"... and Lee's okay, we got him plenty of blankets and were making sure to keep him warm. Oh, and we tied him down with ninja rope to make sure he doesn't go in pursuit of his teammates," added Sakura with a smirk. "Gai is watching over him. The Hyuuga's are all fine, just drowsy... the worst of that is gone though. In fact Lord Hiashi..."
The doors slammed open, and the aforementioned Lord of the Hyuuga Clan, Hyuuga Hiashi, marched into the room, followed quickly by two small Hyuuga girls... Hinata and Hanabi. Both of them remained respectively quiet as their father marched up and slammed his hands down on Tsunade's desk. She looked up at him with weary eyes and a frown. If he was hoping to impress her with his station, she wasn't interested.
"Hokage-sama," he stated, his words respectful, if his tone wasn't. "I must request -immediately- that you withdraw the team being sent after the thief. The property he stole was Hyuuga property. This is a Hyuuga matter, and does not concern..."
She cut him off with a look. "This thief has already attacked and harmed those outside of the Hyuuga Clan," she reminded him. Lee and Koketsu, who had both nearly been flash frozen before they could be taken to the hospitals and properly thawed out. "My decision stands. The team already in pursuit of the thief will be enough to bring him in. I have confidence in their abilities."
"It is not their abilities that concern me, Hokage-sama," Hiashi stated. "The items in question stolen were not merely valuable, they are irreplaceable, and vital to the survival of the Hyuuga Clan. I strongly urge you to withdraw your team. I can assemble some Main House Hyuuga's to go after the thief. He can't have gone far."
"And just what -are- these items?" asked Tsunade pointedly. Their nature hadn't been covered in the reports, for all she knew the thief had snatched up Hinata's collection of pressed flowers or Neji's combs.
Hiashi looked distinctly uncomfortable at this, glancing over at Sakura.
"It is a Hyuuga matter," he stated.
"I keep no secrets from my apprentice," replied Tsunade boldly, her lethargy vanishing, replaced by anger. "You can either tell us both or you can leave my office and let us do our job."
Hiashi glowered, his eyes burning white, but he was cowed by the Legendary Sannin before him. Behind her mentor, Sakura was outwardly cool, having been prepared to depart if it was necessary. Inside, however, her inner Sakura was overjoyed she'd be allowed to stay. Eventually, with a great sigh, Hiashi admitted defeat.
"It is the Hyuuga Scroll of Sealing," he said finally.
Tsunade blinked in outright surprise, her breath catching in her throat.
Beside her, Sakura merely looked puzzled. "The Hyuuga Scroll of Sealing?"
"It's an old relic," interjected Hanabi. "It contains the Hyuuga's unique jutsu and secrets from before the Great Ninja War. Among them..."
"Hanabi!"
Hanabi fell silent as Hiashi glared back at her. He did not say as much aloud, but his eyes spoke volumes. She was telling too much. "Suffice to say, the scroll is almost as good as having a live Hyuuga to study. With it, our secrets are laid bare before the world."
"You think Hidden Cloud is behind this?" asked Tsunade. Though she'd been away, she'd seen the Third Hokage's records on the incident. Behind them, Hinata gave a shiver, well-remembering the event. The one where she'd nearly been kidnapped and her uncle had died to protect their family.
"The intruder ran east," stated Sakura. "Lightning Country -is- in that general direction. And ever since Hidden Snow broke up in the north a lot of it's shinobi went rogue, selling out their services to feudal lords or smaller villages. A lot of them outright defected into new ones and took their symbols as their own."
"Even if it isn't Hidden Cloud, anyone who had that scroll is a danger to our family," stated Hiashi, again slamming his hand down on Tsunade's desk for emphasis. "You have to allow me to send Main Family after it."
"Why Main Family?"
Hiashi opened his mouth to speak, but Hinata beat him too it. "One of the jutsus inscribed on the scroll is the secret to activating the curse seal," she said quietly, but boldly. Hiashi again leveled his white-eyed glare onto one of his daughters, but to his vast surprise, Hinata did not back down. "All Main family are taught it to keep the Branch family in-line if they should decide to attack us. I learned it when I was six... after my uncle died. Although I've never used it," she added.
Tsunade sighed heavily, feeling a headache coming on, and interlaced her fingers, thinking deeply.
"I take it then you think this thief... whomever they represent... will take advantage of the scroll?"
"Neji will not be able to stop them," said Hiashi. "I admire the talents of my nephew as much as anyone, but he will be no match for this thief so long as they hold that Scroll. If they uncover it's secrets, then he is already dead. And Tenten and Naruto have no chance to best him alone."
"They will have to," said Tsunade. "I have taken your... advice... into consideration. My decision stands. Naruto, Tenten, and Neji... will recover your stolen Scroll and the relics, and return them. No others are to leave on this mission. Most of our jounin and chuunin are already out on missions. We can't afford to spread our forces too thin."
"Hokage-sama!" Hiashi stated loudly.
Her eyes narrowed, and he was nearly blown away by the intensity. "Do I make myself clear?" She did not shout, she did not need to. Her tone and expression was enough.
Stunned, outraged, Hiashi could barely sputter some vague angry retort before he turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him, not even waiting for his daughters. With him gone, Tsunade breathed a small sigh of relief. One mess dealt with.
"Is there anything else we need to know?" asked Sakura. "About the Scroll?"
"Nothing we can tell you," replied Hinata quietly. "Hiashi-sama is correct, it is one of our closely guarded secrets, handed down to the heads of the clan for generations."
Tsunade allowed herself a small smile. "Don't worry... I have a lot more confidence in Neji than that... even with this curse seal trouble he'll figure out something. He is a genius, after all."
Hinata and Hanabi smiled at that, both having thought pretty much the same thing.
"Something else you should know..." said Hanabi. "The Scroll wasn't the only thing taken, though it was the most valuable..."
"What else?" asked Sakura, ready to add to the report on the desk in front of her.
"Two swords were stolen as well. Relics from the Great Ninja War... heirlooms of the Hyuuga family. Very valuable."
"We'll do our best to recover those as well," said Sakura. "I think that's everything."
"Then there's nothing left to do but wait," remarked Tsunade, who stood from her chair and made her way to the window, watching the horizon. "Oh... it's snowing."
Outside, small flurries of pale white snow began to drift down from the dark skies above, falling lightly over the now-sleeping Hidden Leaf Village. It promised troubles for the team that had been sent out after the thief. It spoke of a harsh winter to come, of many cold nights ahead. But for now, with just some light flurries, it was pretty to watch. And those kunoichi in the Hokage's office watched with wide eyes and bated breaths, waiting for their teammates, their family, their friends, to return to them safely.
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Elsewhere, Hiashi stalked down the corridors, angry beyond all belief with the Hokage. He barely noticed as the two Hyuuga elders fell into step behind him. Katsuro Hyuuga and Kanaye Hyuuga, some of the oldest surviving members of the entire Clan. They had seen his father and his father's father's days when they had lead them through times both light and dark.
Now was decidedly a dark time for the Hyuuga family.
"The Hokage did not acquiesce to our request, I take it," stated Katsuro unnecessarily. "Fool of a woman."
"She has no idea what she is going to do to us. What that thief could do to us," stated Kanaye. "The Hyuuga Clan is the cornerstone of Konoha. Without it..."
"It isn't the thief I'm worried about," stated Hiashi, as the three of them strolled out into the courtyard and away from Tsunade's mansion, back to the Hyuuga district. They paid no notice to the snow. For all the Byakugan's legendary vision abilities, they couldn't see it's simple beauty.
"Whomever takes possession of the Scroll of Sealing is able to unlock our most deadly of secrets," stated Katsuro. "What more possible danger could we have to contend with?"
With a start, Kanaye realized what Hiashi was getting at. "Neji."
"Yes..." replied Hiashi with a heavy sigh. "Even if Neji comes into possession of the Scroll of Sealing... what do you think he will do?"
"Do you think he would hesitate to do it either?"
"It would mean the end of our clan..."
"What does he care for our clan?" hissed Katsuro. "He nearly killed Hinata when he was thirteen to try and escape his destiny... will he really hesitate when he can do it now with the Scroll? Certainly, he would perish by our hand, but within a generation, the Branch family would be free, our secrets revealed, and we would be destroyed by chaos."
Hiashi nodded in agreement, though in truth he wondered. He'd been training Neji recently, after all. Ever since the Chuunin exams had ended. Neji had changed a lot since those days, and due in no small part to Naruto's winning against him. Still, he wondered.
"I hope against hope you are successful," he murmured, silently praying for Neji's success. Not just against the thief, but with the Scroll. Hiashi's taking Neji as his student had been a rare occurrence in the Hyuuga family, but he suspected it would not be the last. Things were changing. And the Hyuuga's had to change with them, or they would wither and die.
"We dispatch Main House members anyway?" asked Katsuro, interrupting Hiashi's thoughts.
"It would be best, but only Hiashi-sama remains, all others still in Konoha are Branch. Hiashi-sama?"
"... no."
"No?" the Hyuuga Elders said, practically in unison.
"No. I won't be going. We leave this up to the team already in place. And hope and pray they are successful. There's nothing else we can do for them now. Even if I left now I can't hope to catch up to them in time. Either they'll succeed... or the Hyuuga have no future."
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Author's Notes:
I have no idea if such a Scroll exists, but it seems likely to me that the Hyuuga's would do so. Bardsocko deserves full credit for both of the sinister Hyuuga elders.