Disclaimer: I still don't own it, very sorry. Plot is mine, but Bobby is my cousin's, ANBU33's.
Chapter 3: Different Vision
"...But I work hard and never give up! That is my gift; my ninja way!"
~Rock Lee~
"Hey! Get back here kid!"
Bobby laughed as he ran off with the bread that he had stolen for his family. He was careful about where he got it from since he didn't want good people to starve. Stealing from wealthy people, especially those in Orochimaru's favor, was okay.
His mother didn't like him stealing. She told him not to, but he had seen what happened when he didn't get food. His mother would get sick, and he didn't want that. So he stole food, even though he was told not to and even though he knew it was bad. Bobby didn't want to be bad.
He had been living like this ever since he could remember. He had strange eyes, special eyes, his mother told him, so he had to wear a blind fold over them and tell people that he was scarred, and didn't like people looking at it. Of course, this was a lie, which was bad, but Bobby didn't want to be caught by the bad people looking for him and his mother.
He sometimes wondered who those people were.
x~x~x
At twelve years old, his mother finally told him the whole story.
The light haired woman hesitated before she spoke. "Bobby, I think that you're old enough to learn the truth, the whole truth. Your father was a Hyuuga… It's where you get your eyes.
"I…I had drank too much and wasn't thinking… and well, I guess you know what happens next. My village was in a war, and so I left. I knew what they did to branch members of that clan, and I refused to allow that to happen to you."
She laughed hollowly. "I guess that it didn't change much. Maybe you would have had a better life there. You would have been able to become a ninja there. I don't really want you to, but if it is your dream… I will teach you what I can, but I'm a bit rusty."
The blonde boy's eyes widen, and happily, he said, "Yes!"
"I won't be able to help you much with your Byakugan, but you keep it on so often that I think you've got it handled… You'll be behind most ninja your age, but I guess you don't really care about that do you?" she asked as she watched her son as he laughed and shouted his happiness at the top of his lungs.
x~x~x
Training's hard, Bobby thought to himself as he tried to dodge his mother's attacks. More often than not, he was unsuccessful. He was giving it a good shot though, considering he had never done anything like that before.
After a particularly bad blow, his mother called it quits for the day, seeing that her son was worn out. She didn't think that he was made for this type of life. He seemed too good to be a ninja. Of course, she had seen other ninja that seemed like they were too good for this profession, but it usually didn't end well for them. So she would train her son until he surpassed her, and hope that it would be good enough for now.
x~x~x
The next day, ninjas passed through the area. He hid behind his mother until one of them paused, eyes like his that seemed to stare through his mother and most likely were. He moved towards them, but when he pressed closer to his mother, he stopped and continued on towards his companions.
"Kaa-chan?" Bobby asked as he stared with wide eyes through his blindfold. "He had eyes like mine. Is he my Tou-san?"
His mother smiled, in spite of the situation, at her son's childishness. "No, he's not your father, though he is related to him."
"Oh," the disappointed boy muttered.
His mother hesitated, and then said, "Try to stay away from him, okay? If you don't, he might take you away from mommy. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Kaa-chan, I understand." Hidden behind his back though as he said this were crossed fingers, but his mother didn't need to know that he was going to visit the strange man, right?
As soon as he was sure his mother was at her job, he left off in the direction the ninjas had gone in. It took him nearly an hour, but then, he found them. Or, they found him.
"Yo, kid, what are you doing?"
Bobby turned towards the voice of one of the ninjas. He seemed friendly enough, so Bobby asked him, "The ninja with the weird eyes, can I talk to him?"
The ninja stared blankly at him for nearly ten seconds before saying, "The Hyuuga?"
"Um, yeah. I think so."
"Alright, follow me," said the incredulous guard as he turned and led Bobby into the hotel that the ninjas were staying at. Bobby followed, blindly trusting the ninja.
When they arrived, the Hyuuga shooed everyone out of the room. One blonde shinobi in particular was difficult to get to leave, but he left in the end. As Bobby stared at the man as he left, he had the strangest feeling that he knew him. But that was impossible, wasn't it? He didn't know any shinobi personally.
"Kid, do you know anything about your eyes?" he demanded.
"Err… I know that I can see through my blindfold with them, and I can see through a lot more. Like the door over there… Um… My eyes look like they're blind, but they're not. Um… I'm not good with names, but I think Kaa-chan told they're called 'Byakugan'," Bobby answered, brow furrowed as he tried to remember everything.
The man frowned and then reached for Bobby's hair to move it out of the way of his forehead. "So, you don't have it…"
"Have what?" Bobby asked, tilting his head curiously.
The man gave a hollow laugh. "I was trying to just ignore this, but now the clan head needs to know. We can't have someone getting a hold of our eyes." He then grabbed Bobby and led him out of the room.
"We need to get back to Konoha," the Hyuuga said as he pulled Bobby with him.
"Why?" demanded the shinobi that had taken Bobby there.
"Because of this," the Hyuuga said as he ripped the blindfold off of Bobby's eyes.
"Hey!" Bobby shouted. "Kaa-chan told me to not take this off!"
The brunette shinobi whistled. "Wasn't expecting that," he muttered.
"We need to finish the mission," the blonde shinobi snapped, frowning darkly at his companions.
"This comes first," the Hyuuga argued. "If someone unlocked the secrets of the Byakugan, the Hyuuga would be history, and I refuse to let that happen to my clan."
"Well, when we first saw him, you were gonna leave him alone. Why is that?"
"I changed my mind, and that's all you need to know!" the Hyuuga snarled back at the blonde shinobi.
"No, it's not. Last time I checked, I was the mission captain, not you, Hyuuga-sama," snarled the shinobi sarcastically.
"Well, I think Hokage-sama would agree with me. Let's go check. Shall we?" snarled the Hyuuga right back.
Bobby felt shocked, His mother had been right. There were trying to take him away from her. He struggled in the man's grip so suddenly that the man let go.
"Hey! Kid!" he shouted as Bobby took off at a run. The blonde shinobi suddenly went into action and hit the pressure point on the back of the other twos necks, causing them to pass out.
The shinobi was suddenly in Bobby's way, and had grabbed his arm before he could even blink.
"Come on, kid. I'll let you stay with one of my friends. He's not gonna like the situation, but I don't think you or your mother want that seal on your forehead. Besides that, he can protect you from even most of the more powerful people out there, so…"
He turned towards the other shinobi and made a couple of hand signs and then opened their eyes. "That genjutsu should alter their memories and allow us the couple of hours it'll take to find him…
The shinobi crouched to the ground, and said, "Well? Get on. We don't have all day. Besides, it might take a while to find the guy; he pisses off a lot of people. Women and their husbands or boyfriends mostly, along with the stray shinobi."
Bobby quickly got on his back, and asked, "Who's the guy you're gonna take me and Kaa-chan to?"
The man smiled, and answered, "Jiraiya. He's one of the Three Sanin, like Orochimaru, though he's a much better person than the snake bastard."
"You sure?" Bobby demanded, eyeing him with suspicion.
"Yes, I'm very sure."
"Okay. I'm fine with it as long as Kaa-chan is."
x~x~x
"You did what?!"
Uh-oh, I don't think Kaa-chan's gonna be okay with it.
The blonde shinobi stood there and took all the yelling, until finally, the boy's mother calmed down and said, quietly, "We have to leave?"
"Yes, you do. Sound never was a safe place to be at, and if one of my companions somehow gets around my genjutsu, then they'll know your location," the shinobi replied.
The woman nodded. "Then can you take us there?"
The man grinned, and replied, "Of course."
