A/N: i realized after i posted the last chapter that not everyone who reads this would know what a trump card is. a trump card is a card that will beat any other card that isn't also a trump card, the term is used in several card games, but the one i was thinking of is called euchre, in euchre the only thing that can beat a trump card is a higher trump card. It is a fun yet confusing game, i think Shikamaru would like it. and yes i do know that Hiashi and Hizashi are acting out of character, there is a reason. mainly because if they were acting in character then they would never have taken in naruto in the first place. i should warn you that Naruto, Hinata, and Neji will be out of character as well, due to being raised differently than in canon. i will attempt to write the rest of the cast "in character," but please give me some leeway on this.

Hizashi watched as a one year old Neji Hyuga investigated the little intruder known as Naruto Uzumaki, he couldn't help but find it funny when Neji looked at him as if to say "Ok, he can stay," as if the toddler had any choice in the matter. It reminded him of earlier that day when an irate council of elders was informed about the newest resident of the Hyuga compound.

Flashback

They had blustered and fussed like the spoiled and rich main branch members that they were. But they knew that in the end they would have no choice but to accept the Hokage's decision in this matter. All of that had happened while he had been listening from the hallway, waiting for his part in the drama that was being played out for the benefit of the elders. Hiashi called him in and handed him the sleeping Naruto before beginning the charade.

"I could not prevent the Hokage from forcing us to raise this child, but he never said that we had to put him in the main family. Because of this oversight on his part I am going to place the boy under Hizashi's care. However, there is a slight complication. Because of the nature of the boy and his unique position as the jailer of the Kyuubi No Kitsune, the Hokage has seen fit to place his protection over the boy. However much I may dislike it, this means that we cannot place a curse seal on the boy."

Next came Hizashi's turn. "brother this means that the boy will not be a branch family member, there is no way that I can raise a main branch member to the satisfaction of the elders."

Hiashi pretended to be angered by the interruption. "Very well, if it concerns you that much then I will just have to oversee that part of the boy's upbringing myself. But he is still under your care Hizashi, no arguments."

"Understood Hiashi-sama"

The council had bought the whole thing. Now it was just a matter of raising Naruto, but that wouldn't be too troublesome, sure a baby was a handful but it was nothing to worry about.

Oh how wrong he was.

3 years later

Neji ran ahead of them as Hizashi slowly walked a 3 year old naruto across the Hyuga compound to where Hiashi was waiting with his wife, Hinali, and daughter, Hinata. They had been letting Naruto and Hinata play together ever since the two had learned how to crawl, in hopes of creating some sort of attachment between them. It had worked. Naruto was now always asking when they were going to see "Hina-hime"as he called her. Conversely she was always waiting for "Naru-chan" to come over.

Now the two were old enough to leave the compound and go to the park to play with the other children, with an escort of course. "Dad, hurry up!" Neji called from across the compound, he had reached the place where Hiashi was waiting. "I'm coming Neji." he called back. And with that he picked Naruto up off the ground and carried him the rest of the way over, his 'God Son' may have limitless energy but he still couldn't make it all the way across the compound...yet.

Judging from Hiashi's face and his presence at Hinali's side, something was bothering him.

"Hiashi-sama?" he questioned, careful to use the honorific within earshot of the compound and any elders who could possibly be nearby. "I heard that today you were taking the kids to the park. Since it's the first time they'll be off the compound I thought I should tag along." Hiashi answered carefully, the look on his face told Hizashi to wait until they reached the safety of the park before asking again.

When they reached the park Naruto immediately dragged Hinata off to investigate all of the new sights and sounds that there were in this strange new place. Neji followed close behind, not wanting to be left out. "look Hina-hime that tree is taller than Uncle! I'm gonna climb it."

"Naru-Chan! You're going to get hurt again!"

"Hina-hime you worry too much"

Just then Neji came up behind them.

"She's right Naru-san, that tree is too tall for you to climb safely, let's go find a smaller one."

Neji could always talk some sense into Naruto for some reason, one day Hinata was going to ask how he did it, but today wasn't that day.

"Hey there's a smaller one!" and with that Naruto was off, the other two close behind.

Meanwhile on a park bench a short distance away, Hinali was keeping an eye on the kids while the two brothers talked in hushed tones so that nobody would overhear, as if anybody could hear anything over Naruto's shouting anyways.

"Hiashi please tell me the real reason why we came here today."

"Alright Hizashi, I'll tell you. It is so that we could talk without being overheard by the elders, they have spies everywhere in the main house. And so that I could see the kids as they went to the park for the first time in their lives. But mostly so we could talk."

"It must be important then."

"You're right. And it has to do with Neji."

"What is it?" Hizashi was half curious and half scared for his son.

"Well, as you know the time for the caged bird seal is fast approaching and the elders are trying to pressure me into placing it on Neji. I've been trying to find a way around it, just as I tried to do when they wanted you sealed. I failed when I tried to help you but I may have found a way to help Neji."

"How?"

"There is an old clan law that I found when I was searching for a way around your sealing. It couldn't help you so I set it aside and continued my search. Recently when I was doing the same search to help Neji I found the law again. It says that the nephew of the clan head may be designated as the secondary heir of the clan, as long as the head has no sons. I know that it wasn't meant to be used to prevent a sealing but I believe it may work, because there is another clan law that states that no possible heir may be sealed until they have no claim on the position of clan leader. That is the law that allowed you to remain unsealed for so long."

Hizashi was beginning to see where Hiashi was going with this plan.

"You mean to designate Neji as the secondary heir don't you?"

"Well he is my nephew, and I have no sons, and as far as I know I won't be getting one before the sealing deadline set by the elders. Which means that they have ironically been done in by the clan laws that they love so dearly." Hizashi smiled at his older brother before pointing out the obvious.

"Your next elders' meeting is going to be hell on earth, you know that right?"

"It's worth it if it means that I can prevent a young boy from being sealed simply because his father was born one minute too late."

Just then they heard a cry from across the park, and Hinali took off running in the direction that the sound had come from. Naruto had fallen out of the tree that he was climbing in, which meant that it was time to go home, and come back another day.

6 months later

celebration of hidden leaf's victory over hidden cloud

Hinata's birthday

Neji's sealing deadline

one hell of a bad night for a certain cloud ninja

Hizashi held Neji's hand so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd as the parade passed by them. He couldn't place it but that cloud ninja gave him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was once again glad that Hiashi had taken his advice and let the kids all have a "sleepover" for hinata's birthday. In reality it was to afford Naruto and Neji the extra protection of the main house, and to have another obstacle in case the cloud ninjas had any ideas about acquiring the byakugan through Hinata. Hizashi hoped that they were over reacting but their spy network had been picking up hints of an attempt for months, there wasn't enough evidence to take to the Hokage, but his thinking was better safe than sorry. It was also to prevent the elders council from sealing Neji during the night to prevent Hiashi's plan from coming to fruition, the old geezers could enter any branch family house at will but the main house was offlimits without an invitation. Hizashi smiled at the memory of the meeting where the elders found out about Hiashi's plan, they had held it as close to the sealing deadline as possible so as to not allow the elders any time to get around it.

Flashback

The elders could barely believe the words coming out of their leader's mouth.

"So you mean to tell us that you wish to have a branch member as your heir?" the bravest of them asked.

"No. I wish to name him as my secondary heir, in case Hinata is not able to take my place. And he is not a branch family member, he is my nephew. He will not be a branch family member until he is sealed. And I am well within my rights to chose him, my daughter may not be up to your exceedingly high standards, but Neji will be."

"Very well Hiashi, you have managed to get around sealing ssomeone this time. But be aware that it won't work again, you can only have 3 designated heirs."

"Yes, I know elder, but to save even one child from being sealed is still a success. By the way you won't have to worry about the third heir, my wife is pregnant again."

"Congradulations Hiashi-sama"

As the parade ended and the crowd dispersed Hizashi saw the cloud ninja heading towards them, or more specifically to Hiashi. "Hyuga-sama, I would be greatly honored if you would allow me to dine with your clan tonite." Hiashi had known that this was coming, the cloud ninja had been dining with every clan, calling it a gesture of good will. Not wanting to be rude, and not having any concrete reason to refuse, Hiashi was of course forced to say yes to the cloud ninja.

The children were not old enough to attend state dinners yet, so Neji, Hinata, and Naruto ate in Hinata's room. After dinner, several card games, and a very hotly contested shogi match (between Neji and Naruto of course), the three children were told to go to sleep by their parents, it was 1 a.m. after all.

Three hours later, a silent figure crept over a blind spot on the wall and made his way to Hinata's room.

He saw two small forms asleep on the floor, knowing that grabbing one would wake the other, the shadow grabbbed both of them. He assumed that he could always use the spare as a hostage if he were caught. In his haste he failed to spot the third sleeping mat situated off to the side, as if a child had woken up and was wandering the halls.

Neji saw the figure going into Hinata's room with his just activated Byakugan. His father had told him to watch out for Hinata and Naruto and if he saw anything to come get either himself or Hiashi, whomever he found first. He ran into his father's guest room and shouted "the creepy man from the parade took naru-san and hina-san!" His father was awake in a flash and running in the direction Neji was pointing. Over his shoulder he shouted: "Go get uncle Hiashi!"

Neji repeated the process in Hiashi's room and then went back to Hinata's room to wait for them to return. There was no doubt in his five year old mind that his father and uncle would succeed in bringing back his cousin and his brother, his best friends.

Naruto woke up and saw that he was moving very fast away from his home. He started screaming and kicking, trying anything to get away. He succeeded in causing the man to drop him, and he proceeded to run back the way he came. "Naru-chan?" all of the commotion that he was making had woken Hinata, who Naruto had just realized was under the man's other arm. Of course to Naruto this was unacceptable. Someone had the audacity to take Hina-hime from him, his Hina-hime. He wasn't going to let that happen, nobody was going to take her away from him. "Hina-hime!" he screamed as he chased after them. "give me back my Hina-hime!" Of course a four year old is no match for a full grown ninja when it comes to speed, as Naruto was fast figuring out. When he stopped to catch his breath Naruto saw a rock lying on the ground, picking it up he threw it at the ninja, who promptly dodged it, and then ran into a tree. This gave Naruto time to catch up and drag Hinata out of the man's grasp. When he was sure that Hinata was safe, Naruto ran back over and began kicking the man for all he was worth.

"you never take my Hina-hime! Never ever ever ever! She's my friend and you can't have her!"

It was then that Hiashi and Hizashi finally caught up to them. All the noise that Naruto was making had led them straight to him. Hizashi grabbed Naruto before he could do any real damage to the man. That was a job for the interrogators.

"Hiashi I think he's a little attached to your daughter." Hizashi said with a chuckle as Naruto fell asleep again, tired out from all the excitement. Hiashi looked up from where he was tying up the would-be kidnapper. "That's good, he'll need to be if we want our plan to work." He looked down at the man who had tried to steal his daughter, how could one kid take down a jonin of the cloud village? Granted Naruto was a special case, but he hadn't even used the Kyuubi's power. Hiashi made a decision. "Hizashi, I believe it is time to begin their training." Hizashi looked at him intently, "how can he use our fighting style without the byakugan?"

"i have faith in him, I know he'll figure it out, and Hinata will help him. Until her byakugan activates next year she is as blind as he is."

Hizashi could see that his brother's mind was made up. Oh well, if the boy could take down a ninja then he could learn the gentle fist fighting style without the aid of byakugan eyes.

A/N: i know that Naruto shouldn't be able to learn gentle fist without byakugan. But i have an answer for that. Just keep reading and you'll find out soon enough. and no Hizashi is not going to die, and i haven't decided whether hinata's mom Hinali will die. By the way i named her on the assumption that children are given names that sound similar to the names of one or both of their parents, an example being: shikaku and shikamaru, chouza and choji, and even minato and naruto are slightly similar, although canon has given us a different reason for naruto's name being what it is.