CHAPTER 8: OF OPPORTUNITIES AND SECRETS
He was an Ootsutsuki.
An Ootsutsuki.
Hinata never thought she would actually meet one of them in real life.
How was she supposed to act? Relations hadn't been good between Ootsutsuki and Hyuga for generations. They don't talk about them in the Hyuga Compound. It was like a taboo.
It was like all at once all her exhaustion disappeared. Half an hour ago, she wasn't even able to stand by herself. Now she was lying on her bed, overthinking. Sleep that was so close then that she could almost touch it was nowhere to be seen now.
And now that she was overthinking, she could remember the scroll that the Kumo ninja were carrying – supposedly the one that was taken by the rogues that attacked the outpost – had the symbol of the Ootsutsuki clan on it. She should've recognised it, but she wasn't focusing on the scroll.
She wondered about that scroll more than she wondered about the Ootsutsuki boy. She wanted to know what it contained. She knew about the Ootsutsuki clan as much as any other Hyuga – the bare minimum need-to-know. The history of Hyuga clan, in simpler words.
She had so many questions about them that she was never allowed to voice out. And now that she actually had a chance to do just that, she found herself considering. Considering doing something that her father would most definitely disapprove of, to put it politely.
She knew it would not be pretty if anyone of her clan got to know about it. But there is no one of the clan here to know about it.
Not the least bit sure about her actions, she found herself getting up off the bed, remembering her sore body the moment she stood on her feet. With conflicting thoughts, she made her way out of the outpost to the corner she saw the Kumo shinobi before.
All too soon, she was standing in front of them, two of them because the fair-skinned blonde wasn't around.
"Hyuga-sama," the Ootsutsuki boy nodded his head in at her in greeting, making the decision for her.
Having no other choice, Hinata greeted back with an equally respectable, "Ootsutsuki-sama, what a surprise."
His lips twitched, "That it is. Please, call me Toneri. I am not one for formalities."
"Yet you called me Hyuga-sama first."
This time he did smile, and two dimples appeared, "Nothing less for the Hyuga heiress."
Apparently, the Ootsutsuki knew more about Hyuga than the other way around. Hinata wouldn't know who the Ootsutsuki clan leader is, let alone the heir.
Toneri's other team member got up and said to him, "I am with Shi," and went off in another direction. Hinata saw the scroll leaned up against the stool he was sitting on.
"A ryo for your thoughts?" Toneri asked, following her gaze.
Hinata wouldn't have known the meaning of the phrase if Naruto hadn't used that with her before. "What's in that scroll?"
Toneri picked it up and put it on his lap, patting the seat beside him for Hinata to sit, "Why don't you see for yourself?"
Hinata ignored the gesture, arching her eyebrow at the question, "Is that allowed?"
Toneri laughed, "No, not really. But who would know beside us? And anyway, the word in the clan is that if you can open the scroll, you deserve what's inside."
"So, that scroll is some kind of ritual for your clan members?" Hinata asked.
"No. It's for the main family only."
Hinata nodded, "So, the Ootsutsuki still have a branch family." That was news to her. Even after all that history, the Ootsutsuki clan still support segregation. Not that the Hyuga clan is any better in that.
"We do, Hyuga-sama. But it's not like before. The branch members are no longer sealed. Not that it makes much of a difference," Toneri added, trying to hide his bitterness.
Ootsutsuki clan is definitely not as bad as Hyuga, at least not anymore. They still have the seal as well as the branch family.
Hinata took a seat on the stool beside the one Toneri patted, leaving space between them. He wordlessly passed the scroll to her.
Hinata looked over the scroll silently. It had the Ootsutsuki symbol carved on both sides, with ancient inscriptions scribbled all over the middle. It was the language from the era of Hagoromo Ootsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra and shinobi. Hinata wondered if anyone in the Ootsutsuki clan knew what it said.
"So, you are in branch family," Hinata asked.
She tried to open the scroll in the usual way, by twisting off the wooden(?) – it felt like wood yet she could tell it wasn't – cap of both the ends, watching Toneri form her periphery.
He stilled, then shrugged but didn't answer. Hinata took that as a yes.
Predictably, the scroll didn't open. Hinata felt around the seams slowly, searching for any bump or latch or anything unusual. Nothing came up. She tried twisting the caps slowly, one-by-one, hearing for any mechanism in the scroll. Nothing.
She looked over at Toneri, who watching her with a smile.
"How long does it usually take for a main family member to open it?" Hinata asked him.
"It depends, half of the main family gave up after an hour, most of the rest knows the way to open it but can't finish it all the way. There are really few Ootsutsuki in the history who have successfully opened it."
"Who was the fastest?"
Toneri grinned excitedly, "According to the legends, there was a member who opened it in fifteen minutes in the first try. The legend goes back to almost five hundred years, though."
Hinata couldn't help the incredulous scoff at the fact, as well as the face Toneri made, "That's… pardon my language, but that's just insane."
It has already been more than twenty minutes since Hinata started.
"I know, right. Most of the members think it's just a stupid story, but I think it's true."
"Why?" Hinata asked. She herself couldn't believe it.
Toneri shrugged, "Just a feeling?"
Hinata smiled and refocused her attention on the scroll. It was better than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she wanted to make full use of it.
Going completely on gut feelings, she activated her byakugan. Afterall, what better lock than one that can only be seen through byakugan?
A deeply intricate maze of chakra illuminated the otherwise blank scroll. It had numerous small no-chakra dashes scattered through it randomly.
Hinata moved the scroll around to get a better angle, but nothing made sense. In the back of her mind, she could see Toneri's teammates in the woods, chatting with Akira. She twisted one of the caps slowly, focusing on the mid-section of the scroll. The chakra moved – thin, individual slices of chakra making up the whole scroll. As she twisted the cap, the slices moved independently of each other.
Hinata let out a breathy, miserable laugh once she understood what it was.
"No wonder most of the main family gave up after just an hour," she said to Toneri, and he grinned in her omni-vision.
It was a maze of chakra, and it was going to be a big pain to solve.
She started slowly, noting the movement of the slices, and the dashes in them. But it was no use. Their movement appeared to be completely random. She said it out loud, which made Toneri's smile deepen and dimples appear unhelpfully.
At the clearing of the camp, she saw Shino and Shisui-sensei come back from their patrol. She was so focused on the chakra maze that the information didn't register as it should have. By the time she realised that Shisui-sensei was back, he had already been watching her sit with the Kumo and opening their scroll.
She deactivated her byakugan and looked up at sensei, expecting disappointment or anger, but he just plainly told her, "We leave at the break of dawn."
It was already sunset, and she was exhausted to her bones. Her mind told her to leave the stupid Ootsutsuki scroll and go rest. She wanted to rest. But, almost on its own, her byakugan activated again and focused on the maze. Her hand moved the cap fruitlessly. Sometimes, the dashes would align and get joined and move the two slices together. But then, another dash in the slices would align with another dash and the previous two slices would break apart.
It was maddening.
Frustrated, she gathered chakra into her hands and thrust it into the scroll. And saw it enter as if through a thin duct, fill up the first no-chakra dash that was in front of the duct and then clash into the next chakra slice, which absorbed the rest of it.
Hinata blinked, and removed her hand, and the chakra she sent was all absorbed.
She did it again, but this time she didn't remove her hand. She watched her chakra being siphoned off by the cursed maze. Slowly, she twisted the cap again. The fist slice of the maze rotated with the cap. When the dash she was sending chakra through aligned with another, the two slices joined and all their dashes disappeared. Then they both moved with the cap.
Hinata let out an incredulous snort that was definitely unbecoming of the Hyuga heiress.
This was stupidly easy. But it required chakra, which she wasn't exactly overflowing with at the moment. Quite the contrary, in fact.
But she started it, and she was very surely going to finish it, chakra, or not.
She continued solving the maze, and by the time she finished, she was going to faint. It took longer than she assumed. Way longer, but then again maybe that's just relativity.
She deactivated her byakugan and a sudden, sharp pain flared behind her eyes. She opened her eyes to look at Toneri, but he looked blurry.
He was opening the scroll and she watched him with squinting eyes. It opened to reveal several vertical columns, with something written on it.
Toneri opened it till blank columns were visible and then passed it to her, "Here, you deserve it."
She still couldn't see much, so she raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.
He grinned(?) and motioned toward the blank parchment, "Write your name with your blood."
"Why?" Hinata asked suspiciously. Why would an Ootsutsuki give something that was only allowed to their main family to her? A Hyuga?
"It isn't something harmful, I promise."
"And I suppose I will just take your word for it. It's not as if our clans have been enemies for generations," Hinata snapped uncharacteristically, instantly regretting her tone.
Toneri just laughed, "We are not enemies, Hyuga-sama. We are just not very friendly with each other."
That was an understatement. And it did not reassure her the least to make a blood bond on an Ootsutsuki scroll.
"Let's say, Hyuga-sama, we put our families where they belong and be just two of us right now. As friends. I wouldn't hurt my friends," Toneri said gently as he moved closer to her.
"Yet you wouldn't tell your friend what would mean to write their name in blood in this scroll."
Toneri sighed. Then shrugged, "Okay. It your choice. I am not going to force you to do it but I must tell you this might be the only chance for you to do this. We might not meet again, and even if we do what are the odds that you can play with this scroll again?"
He had a point; this was a rare opportunity that wasn't going to come again. But it didn't escape her that he still hadn't told her what it meant.
It was a gamble.
Still, following her gut feeling, she cut her thumb and wrote her name on the scroll, hoping she wouldn't end up really regretting it.
…
"Fraternising with the enemy, Hinata?" Shisui-sensei drawled from beside him.
They had left the camp a few minutes ago, after escorting the Kumo team to the borders. They had just finished their first C-rank mission and Kiba was feeling all kinds of smug.
The smugness dampened when he didn't get what Shisui-sensei was talking about, and looked over at Shino questioningly, only to realise Shino was in on whatever it was.
He looked down at Akamaru peeking out from his jacket, and thankfully his loyal companion has yet to hide anything from him.
He didn't like it when people he cared about kept things from him. And he cared a lot about his teammates. And they kept a lot of things from him. It hurt whenever he was reminded of that.
And he was once again feeling left out watching sensei's annoyed face which was in contrast to his cheery tone, Shino's knowing gaze at Hinata and Hinata's ashamed look. Or at least, as ashamed as she can get. The girl's as self-assured and righteous as they come.
She didn't say anything, though. When sensei gets like this – this meaning not his normal jovial and insane ass – nothing you say can be the right thing to say.
And who is this enemy they are talking about? Why doesn't he know anything about an enemy?
"What, oh please tell, Hinata, made you think that 'oh, he is the heir of the family my family has been in feud with for over half a millennium and it might be nice to go get all friendly with him and make a blood bond with his family's scroll' might be better than catching up on sleep after ten hours of non-stop training?"
Heir? Family feud? Blood bond? Friendly? Hinata isn't friendly with even them, her classmates of a year and teammates of two-and-a-half months! Hurt lashed through his chest, nearly more than the shock at the fact that Hinata did something wrong – or, heaven forbid, stupid. Kiba didn't thinkshe was even capable of stupid.
"I didn't know he was their heir," Hinata argued futilely.
"And that is supposed to excuse your actions?" Shisui-sensei turned on Hinata, skipping on the trees backward now.
Kiba wanted to hurt this enemy who had supposedly made a fool of his teammate. And he wanted to hurt his teammates for keeping it from him.
"Hinata, his family is after your blood. Maybe not openly, but you give them an opportunity and they will take it. You just signed a blood bond with them. Do you even know what it was?"
Hinata didn't answer, looking apologetical and embarrassed for the first time in the one-year-two-months-and-two-weeks he had known her. The sight was almost enough to make up for his betrayed feelings.
Shisui-sensei sighed, "For what it's worth, I don't think it was dangerous. It might be just a summoning pact but I'm not certain. If I thought it was dangerous, I would have stopped you. But that's not the point! The point is, you were with the enemy completely vulnerable and unable to defend yourself."
Hinata tried to say something, but Shisui-sensei continued, even more powerfully, "Oh no, don't you dare. Don't you dare deny it, Hinata. You couldn't even stand straight, let alone defend yourself. He is a chunin, Hinata, a skilled chunin. You couldn't have won even if you were fully prepared. You literally passed out as soon as you hit your bed."
Who was Hinata getting chummy with? I don't understand, Kiba thought as Akamaru squeaked with similar confusion. Was it one of the Kumo shinobi? Kiba thought they were friendly enough. Neither he nor Akamaru got any threatening vibes from them. All he could feel from them was caution and relief.
"Listen to me, Hinata. You have to understand what I'm trying to say. It isn't that you were in enemy territory. It's that you were in enemy territory, unable to stand, unable to hold a kunai, unable to even see, and still making a blood bond you didn't understand."
Hinata flinched, "How did you know?"
"That you cannot see? Seriously?" Shisui-sensei scoffed as if the question was rhetoric.
Speaking of not seeing, now Kiba understood why they were moving at half their normal speed. It was because Hinata couldn't see right now, apparently. But how? Why?
"How is your eyesight really, anyway? How far can you see or are you completely blind?" Shisui-sensei asked seriously, a bit concerned now.
Hinata mumbled something, and Kiba, despite his superior hearing couldn't make it out. So of course, no one else could, either. He looked back at her and witnessed her doing yet another thing he didn't know she was capable of. Blushing. Even if it was in embarrassment (and not something else which could give him some blackmail-slash-embarrassment material for his currently empty treasury).
"Louder, Hinata," Shisui-sensei chastised.
"I can't see anything," Hinata answered, louder but still quieter than her normal.
Kiba slipped on the next branch, surprised, but managed not to fall on his ass and swiftly regained his momentum. Anything!?
Sensei huffed. "I suppose it's from overuse of byakugan, isn't it?"
Hinata nodded.
Kiba had absolutely no idea how she was jumping branch to branch so gracefully even when she was absolutely blind. Every time he starts to get used to the Hyuga heiress being a normal human like everybody else, she does something unreal and he goes back to putting her on a higher podium.
"Then you would know how to take care of your eyes and how long they will take to heal."
Hinata nodded again, "It might be better if I cover them. It will probably be a week till they are normal."
"Alright. Cover your eyes with your headband, or a piece of cloth if you have one. I'll take point, follow me step to step. Kiba, Shino, take the rear and pay attention."
Kiba and Shino obeyed. As soon as Shino was beside him, Kiba launched all the questions that were building in him all this time since the morning.
And then he regretted it when Shino took hours to finish telling him all that happened while Kiba slept in his over-explanatory speeches with way too many adverbs and conjunctions. Akamaru fell asleep within fifteen minutes.
…
Naruto and Sakura raced to the village as soon as A-Un gates appeared on the horizon. They are always racing in the village; the loser pays for ramen.
Sasuke had never engaged in such childishness, nor will he as long as he lived. And not only because paying for Naruto's ramen cannot be done on genin pay. Though honestly, he didn't think Naruto cared if anyone paid for his ramen – he just wanted someone to eat with him. Or at least, Sasuke used to think so.
The past ten days had made him question everything about Naruto he thought he used to know. He couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't in the six years he knew Naruto. He couldn't tell if the nice things he did were because he wanted to or because he felt bad about the fact that he was the one who always did the most damage. He couldn't tell if he was genuinely a nice person or pretending to be one.
He couldn't forget him with the red chakra and nine tails and fangs and claws, on all fours, killing four men in ten seconds.
He couldn't remember what it was like to not know Naruto's secret.
"I don't know what you saw, Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei's voice came as he followed his teammates with his gaze.
It embarrassingly took him three seconds to register the meaning behind Kakashi-sensei's words. He was finally talking about what he should have ten days ago. Though, as long as he had known his sensei, Sasuke never really expected a talk from him in the first place.
Kakashi-sensei didn't continue until Sasuke was just about to open his mouth to ask him to, "But none of it changes the past. The only thing that changed is that now you know. Think about that."
When Kakashi-sensei didn't continue, Sasuke scowled, "That's all you are going to say? No explanations? No excuses?"
"I am not the one you need to hear it from."
And there's the excuse, as expected. Sasuke scoffed, wondering if he'll ever understand even a sliver of his sensei.
When they entered the village, he took the direction opposite to the Hokage Tower, toward the Uchiha district. Kakashi-sensei didn't stop him.
Itachi-nii-san was at home, helping their mother with laundry. Sasuke couldn't even spare a smile at seeing them.
Mom wrapped her arms around him as soon as she saw him, kissing the top of his head as if he was a three-year-old. For a moment, he could think of nothing other than his mother's words and kisses and gentle arms all around him. The moment ended when she stepped back and left to bring him some drinks and snacks. He felt colder than before.
Itachi-nii-san smiled at him, "Welcome home, little brother."
Sasuke made his mouth move, "I need to talk to you."
Itachi-nii-san frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Not here."
His brother frowned deeper at his words, but called out, "Mom! We are at the dock."
He jerked his head at Sasuke to follow and Sasuke followed. They walked all the way to the Nakano River and sat at the end of the dock at its bank without saying a word.
Itachi-nii-san waited for him to speak, and he did, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Sasuke couldn't stop after he started and words rushed out of him and the dam inside him broke. He told his brother everything from the very beginning to the very end. And his brother sat listening to him, never once interrupting or reacting. Vaguely, he wondered if any of it was supposed to be confidential, but the stray thought left him as fast as it came.
It was quiet after he finished, except his pulse that thundered in his ears.
Then Itachi-nii-san spoke, "So, you are afraid of Naruto now."
Sasuke hesitated, but then decided lying wouldn't help anyone. "I guess."
"And you hate him."
Sasuke shrugged, unsure of the truth.
"For being the nine tailed demon fox."
Hearing the words out loud made him flinch. "It is true, then."
"Why does it matter? You believe it to be true." Itachi-nii-san finally looked at him. "Don't you?"
"I don't." Sasuke winced at the lie as soon as it left him. "I don't want to."
"Then don't." Itachi-nii-san shrugged as if it were that simple. "It's what you believe, little brother. Truth isn't absolute; it might be one thing for you, another for Naruto-kun. He will be the nine-tailed fox as long as you believe him to be."
Sasuke turned on his brother, "That's bullshit! How can I believe anything else when I saw the nine-tailed fox in Naruto? I can't get that image out of my mind to think about anything else! How can I stop believing it?"
"You saw it with your sharingan, Sasuke. You will never forget it, even when you forget everything else. That is a burden we have to bear for all our lives. But you shouldn't let those memories taint your mind. This is not going to be the last time you see something you wish you never had."
"I know that. I have always known that. But… I don't know! Just tell me the truth. Please, just tell me what is real." Sasuke hated how his voice broke at the end.
Itachi's hand came down on his head to ruffle his hair, "I am sorry, little brother, but that I cannot do. We are forbidden to speak of that night. Only the Hokage or Naruto-kun himself can tell you the truth. Though I don't believe Naruto-kun even knows much of it himself."
Sasuke didn't speak after that. Eventually Itachi-nii-san got up to leave, though he did say before leaving, "Don't let something that happened in a moment of a battle affect what has been for years."
Sasuke didn't leave the dock for a long time after that.
…
Naruto had been feeling jittery since he woke up. He couldn't explain the feeling – the closest he could compare it to was when one of his pranks was supposed to go off and he just knew he left evidence and it was too late to go back now.
Except he hadn't done any pranks for a whole month. He had come back to the village just the previous day!
He walked the short distance from his house to Ichiraku's in useless contemplation, knowing he wasn't the best at identifying his emotions.
What he was good at though: identifying other people's emotions. And strangely, the emotions he felt from his villagers weren't as negative as he used to. He wondered if it was real or if he was just projecting his desperation to receive less hostility now that he's experienced some normalcy in the Land of Waves.
He had always known that he is hated in his village. What he hadn't known was just how much. Blissful indifference (and some curiosity) that he felt in the Land of Waves made him realise how much hatred he had been subjected to all his life.
Tough, all of it was forgotten as soon as he entered the ramen-scented stall. "Oi! Teuchi-jii-chan! Look who's back!"
Teuchi-jii-chan visibly brightened at hearing his favourite costumer's voice. "Naruto-kun! Welcome back, brat. Your mission was so long we were starting to think you died."
"Ha! There's no one in this world who can kill this greatest shinobi, jii-chan. You don't have to worry." Naruto jabbed his finger at his chest to indicate the greatest shinobi.
Teuchi-jii-chan laughed at his words, "Never change, Naruto-kun, never change." He turned back to his counter and continued, "One extra-large pork ramen on the house, to celebrate your return. But only one."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto waved his hands in the air and snatched a pair of chopsticks from the holder.
A stool slid beside him and a familiar voice rang out, "One for me, too."
Naruto froze, the chopsticks apart from each other but not broken yet.
His teammate, Sasuke-teme hadn't talked to him for the better part of past two weeks. Hadn't even looked at him in the eyes.
It happened after their fight with the rogue ninjas outside Tazuna's house. Naruto didn't even remember what happened – only that the largest of them stabbed Sasuke. And then Naruto somehow managed to kill most of them. He remembered feeling pissed and shocked and broken quite clearly, but not much else.
He had a fair guess as to what must have happened and if he himself didn't want to imagine it, how could he blame Sasuke for ignoring him after he saw it happen? He didn't resent Sasuke at the least. I would have done the same, he thought.
Sasuke tried hard to make it seem like he wasn't avoiding him, but it became painfully obvious when, four days later, Sasuke didn't snap even when Naruto brought up their kiss (even thinking about it made him dry heave). Naruto stopped pestering him after that.
And Sasuke-teme didn't make a move for any amends, either. If he even noticed the distance between them.
Sakura was more aware of Naruto's silence towards Sasuke than Sasuke was.
Sasuke didn't say anything, stretching on the uncomfortable silence (at least on Naruto's part). Teuchi-jii-chan put two bowls of pork ramen for them, not saying much. Obviously, he picked up on the silence, too.
Naruto mumbled out a hurried, "thanks for the food" and started gobbling the ramen down his throat. He had planned to savour a few bowls and talk to Teuchi-jii-chan for a while but now he just wanted to get away.
He was ashamed of what he did. He didn't even know what he did, but he was ashamed. And he was pretty sure Sasuke came to confront him about it.
He would very much like a few decades to prepare himself for it – to explain to his teammate, someone who is supposed to trust him with their lives, that he is the goddamned home of the nine-tailed demon fox who had maybe taken control of his body and killed six people and he can't remember a thing about it.
Yes, he could see Sasuke calling bullshit.
He finished his ramen and dug his hands in his pockets to pay, sparing a glance at Sasuke's untouched bowl. He hadn't even picked a pair of chopsticks yet.
"I'll pay."
Naruto's hand clutched the frog wallet in his pocket and his head swivelled to Sasuke who had finally spoke. And it took him five full seconds to register the words.
"You sure?" Naruto asked. Sasuke had never offered to pay for anyone else before. He can be a bigger cheapskate that Kakashi-sensei.
"I said that I will, didn't I?" he answered and then finally leaned ahead to get chopsticks.
Naruto let his eyes take in all of his teammate, thoroughly confused by his behaviour. It was like a whole different person from the day, the week, before.
The slight, asshole-ish curve of one side of his mouth was all him, though. Just looking at that perpetually annoyed and arrogant scowl made Naruto want to scowl.
He plopped his ass back on his stool and asked for another bowl of ramen, watching Sasuke leisurely slurp his ramen from his periphery.
Naruto didn't race to finish his next bowl, but tried to read Sasuke by giving him side-eye. By the time Sasuke was done, Naruto had finished three more bowls. He had fully expected Sasuke-teme to either make him pay for his own ramen, or start asking questions (and unwanted ones at that) at any moment.
But he didn't. He walked out of the stall, giving Naruto a look, the one they used to give each other back in Academy where Sasuke used to talk to Naruto without actually saying anything (since the bastard had to maintain the reputation of not talking to anyone), the one that meant follow me.
Naruto followed, confused and wary.
It took Sasuke more than three minutes to gather the courage to say, "You wanna spar?"
And it took Naruto a whole day to realise that what he felt after hearing those words was actually relief.