AN.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays etc.
My comp keeps crashing and thank the lord for my sister lending me her laptop so I could edit this goddamn shit :))))
The winner of the poll is, surprise surprise, double post. I know that I'll post the other chapter BEFORE THIS YEAR ENDS but like I'm having technical difficulties so just wait you guys :D
WARNING: I'm pretty sure I made an epileptic seizure joke somewhere in here so please don't get triggered. To be fair, Y'all probably read all 16 chapters so you guys should be used to this :D
Tokuma was born the week when I was out on a C-Rank mission on the edge of the border alone. I found out when one of the Branch Members I grew close with told me the great news. Rin and Obito were waiting for me at the Yuki Clan's new compound since my mom temporarily lived there. It wasn't my fault that I wasn't there when my mom's water broke! I mean, I—a ninja that specializes in support— am a very person that dutifully carries out her responsibilities and provides Konoha with income. But that thought didn't stop me from feeling guilty about not being there for my mom when she literally gave birth to the kid that she and dad was working hard on. That day, Rin and Obito waved at me happily, motioning me to come closer as mom gave me a soft look, holding a bundle of the embodiment of mom and dad's love, the sacrifices they made just to keep one another safe.
"Tokuma is a boy." She told her daughter who was two days late, happily. I smiled and made a dramatic sigh of relief.
"That's good. I couldn't imagine a girl named Tokuma," mom gave me a good-natured glare before handing me my new little brother. Since I was never the older one of my siblings nor did I ever become a mother or held one of my friend's babies since I was always scared that those fragile potato sacks could die if I drop them, I had to rely on the sparse baby-holding knowledge I had in my old Grade School days. His bright lilac eyes slowly blinked open and eyed me curiously.
Akinosuke landed on his forehead.
Guess what world? He's my potato sack now. The best, cutest and brightest potato sack in the world.
Even if Hyūga baby eyes are creepier than the Grudge herself.
His really bright eyes went to the monarch on his forehead. Like it was so bright, I could have sworn it was pure white if it wasn't for my general great Hyūga vision and having the Byakugan and Hyūga genetics meant that you are not allowed to be colorblind, myopic, hyperopic or any kind of optical illness because that will bring you shame to the branch and Hyūga in general. You can see through solid objects and pinpoint the tenketsu points in your opponent's body but you can't even look at reds and greens without getting a headache? How utterly blasphemous. He made a few gurgles as his stubs tried to get the monarch that was cheekily fluttering around his face.
"I think he likes you, too, Kuma-kun." I whispered, quickly deciding on a pet name/brand for my special potato sack and rocked the baby in my arms. He was so cute, the little cinnamon rolls. He was the embodiment of cinnamon rolls. He is the cinnamon roll incarnate.
He went cross eyed when the blue monarch landed on my baby-brother's nose.
Prompting a really high pitched sneeze,
We had a collective "Awwww..." moment. The girls in the room stared at young Obito who was trying to prove his masculinity by not bathing in the warm sunlight that is Hyūga Tokuma. He coughed, repressing the urge to coo the baby before muttering a low "Y-Yeah, that was kind of adorable."
"It was, was it not?" My mom proudly puffed since Tokuma did have her genetics.
Oh Tokuma, such a panty dropper. I hope he'll keep that sneeze till he's forty, even if he is a super serious Hyūga when he grows up. It'll make all the girls wild. He better have more fan girls than Itachi. If borderline white eyes are a turn off for them, then goddamn is Konoha filled with racist jerks. I used to be like that but then I found them pretty, almost beautiful even. They say the eye is the windows of one's soul then no wonder Uchihas have black eyes. With all the eye gouging they go through just so they don't go blind is silly. Therefore, that logic states that Hyūgas (and Tokuma especially) are pure souls that doesn't deserve hatred or harm in anyway possible.
The days continued on like that, me cooing about Tokuma in the Yuki Compound (the people there too shy to approach their savior's family like the plague), my mom being stressed as a nurse, temporary clan leader and teaching Rin to be an able medic-nin and Obito being Obito, probably helping old ladies everywhere in every way as he becomes the ideal person and Hokage he thinks of himself.
That was until the world told me to work for the peace and happiness once more.
With missions, a taijutsu lessons with combined with butterfly genjutsu, snake ninjutsu as well as becoming a babysitter sometimes, life was getting harder and harder. Rin and Obito still made efforts to check on me but because of our busy schedules and drastically different time frames (mine being sporadic as the movements of epileptic people being flash banged) we began seeing each other a little bit less now. I contemplated on my life's choices (both of them) as a month passed by and the day I was expecting till I was twelve reared its ugly head at poor unprepared me as I entered the Hokage's office. Hiruzen nodded a greeting as I bowed and was expecting another cat chase or a fence to be painted.
"I'm afraid I have no missions for you, Tokina-san." He said, not wasting time.
"Huh?" I reacted informally with a tilted head. What? Have I, Hyūga Tokina—cat chaser extraordinaire—completed all of Konoha's D-Rank missions? Impossible! Maito Dai mused be shaking in his boots. "Why is that Hokage-sama?" He chuckled at my rude confusion.
"That is because you will be entering the Chunin exams this year. Hiashi-san gave me a report of your training since he does supervise all the Hyūga. Orochimaru-kun gave me a seal of approval when I requested it to him using a messenger bird. Hiashi has full fate in you and Orochimaru expects you to graduate even before you get an official team."
What the hell are they talking about?! The Branch trainer was giving me remedial lessons which I did NOT ace at all while I tried with my snake (with actual snakes) style taijutsu. It is also noteworthy that I still haven't reduced the seals of World of Butterflies and the new genjutsu I made, inspired by Madoka Magica, didn't require any handseals but needed my full concentration to do. The best part is, they were both unfinished since I had to keep two summons in the battlefield. My butterflies were essential for the genjutsu but couldn't do anything to a person since genjutsu does not kill and my snakes were the actual ones killing and doing harm to my victims since fragile old me has to be quick about going all in.
I blinked at him, my mind unable to process the whole bitch you goin' to the bar exam without studying law situation I was in. "I cannot stand to see an able kunoichi such as yourself be confined in this village if you could be a great asset to Konoha's cause. With Sora-ku training you for months, I'm sure you can do it." Hiruzen nodded solemnly like he expected me to agree with him. "With Kiri suspecting something and our feud with Iwa, we need all the able nin we can get."
That was solid reasoning for a leader. I was a soldier with a famed dōjutsu, two summons, a taijutsu style that was feared in all nations and was thought by the mighty Orochimaru with a knack for genjutsu that could easily distract able jonin most of the time. Besides, infiltration wasn't that hard. Taizo literally make me do almost all the work.
I think the part they were missing is that, even though that all sounded good in paper that is literally just it. It was a nice looking resume. I was six years old! I don't have enough field experience, I couldn't use both of my summons to their full-extent, my taijutsu is half-assed and all Orochimaru gave me was his snakes, a camouflage technique and how to survive in the wilderness with killing intent all around. My chakra was also fucked up thanks to this whole reincarnation thing so I couldn't even though a pitiful Fire Release: Fireball in the Fire Country and did I mention that I'm a genjutsu specialist without the Sharinagan? That instantly made me canon-fodder.
Good to be me.
"H-Hokage-sama," I stuttered because, no I do not want to die because I have a baby brother who I selfishly made my lifeline. "I'm barely qualified!" I reasoned weakly as the man nodded. Shouldn't I have the right to say no? Even if the man I'm trying to negotiate here is the equivalent of the almighty mayor since the useless fire daimyo was the president?
"Yet your work performance speaks of a chunin. No complaints with your temporary teams, very adjustable, professional and growing tremendously with power as well as being trained by one of the Sannin. If I didn't know I would guess you're aspiring to take this hat from me?" He chuckled humorously at his own little sick joke. You only got that hat because you wanted to die old man. I have no dreams of handling over a thousand people and doing reverse taxes.
Oh, honey, that is like, if the distance of the Sun to Uranus was multiplied with five was measured, it still wouldn't cover how far your guess was.
He gave me a date of my funeral and made me scrammed off.
I walked to the Yuki compound absentmindedly, all the while staring at the piece of paper, consciously checking if the veins around my eye were bulging due to how fast the gears in my head were turning and the stress I was putting myself.
I promised to enjoy life, work for a happy retirement and not kill myself.
The whole chunin-exam conflicts with promise number one and three.
Those months was buried with training, sweat, tears and embarrassment.
Lots and lots of embarrassment,
I usually train alone in Training Ground 6 because I couldn't stand the thought of the Yuki just staring at me while I cast genjustsu on myself with snakes in the floor and butterflies in my head literally. Plus there was a perpetual supply of snow and ice where there should be green, reds and yellows. The Yuki where shy people who never really interacted with me, even if they looked like a house mom that liked to gossip a lot; whether it was my eyes or some strange respect for my mom, I didn't know. They didn't teach me anything so I didn't need to feel grateful for them. Konoha has the Ice-Release now. Whoop-dee-do. Hurry up and deploy them instead of watching them from afar, Hirzuen. If you're going to treat a resource like this, then just kill them already and save yourself the betrayal.
But don't make me kill them.
That is not my job.
My job was to live, not be some god-sent hero with some unknown dōjutsu.
…Right?
Right!
Therefore I should focus on my exams, genjutsu, taijutsu and summoning-jutsu so I can pass this hurdle because Hiashi and my mom would kill me if I ever tried to concede. Normally, I wouldn't care for the whole Hyūga honor and Hyūga destiny the clan with the white eyed monstrosities fed us Branch Members. But I had a baby brother now, which meant that I need to be responsible for him. I had to make sure that the "To" Branch would give this so-called honor to maybe give Tokuma the right education and funds to protect himself when he grows up.
I am such a good sister.
With the help of my mom, who was a really good doctor that conveniently specialized in chakra and neurology, she helped me with my chakra control and genjutsu theories. Since genjutsu was all about manipulating the opponent's chakra to make them see feel and smell things, it should in theory be possible to overload the chakra system and the brain with stress from the genjutsu to cause them a seizure, stroke or even death.
Therefore, in theory, genjutsu can, in fact, kill.
She also helped me with my whole chakra dilemma. Well, not really help. She took a look with her Byakugan, did some tests that I really didn't understand and said that my chakra should be able to convert but there was this weird chakra that was being wrapped around the chakra that I should be able to use for fighting and normal body functions. It was almost like a chakra parasite that the Abumare Clan use except it was chakra with no Yang and all Yin. My mom said that the chakra seems to be in a state where I can't tap into it like one of the civilians. She has never seen chakra like that before.
The word she used for it was "Out of this world."
So basically, reincarnation chakra is useless. It was probably because chakra in the rea-
…I'm sorry, chakra in the old world didn't function like the chakra in the world I live in today. At least, that's what I understood from my mom's analysis. I couldn't use it but I still had it. If chakra was connected with the whole body then wouldn't it be safe to assume that my reincarnation chakra had my memories, personality and other things I carried over? I didn't know, I just knew that the reincarnation chakra inside me was the reason why the Hyūga keeps saying I have above-average chakra reserves when I'm feeding for two instead of one.
Whatever, it isn't going to kill me. I didn't need a fireball or some fancy magical do-hickey to save my ass. I was, and am, a ninja. Ninja are supposed to be stealthy, manipulative and lurk in the shadows. Fireballs and earthquakes are not stealthy and cannot lurk in the shadows therefore they aren't ninja. They're just really fast magicians. I have snakes, illusions and the touch of death that I know I can get better with. I just need the right teachers. Snake-shishou was out but I had the Tada-twins for that. Akinosuke, the saint, is helping me make a stable genjutsu and maybe even teach me how to add another layer on top of that with the help of chakra control which also boosted my Mystic Palm Technique anyway. What I really needed was a taijutsu instructor because my mom didn't use Jyūken all that much and was teaching her chakra scalpel technique to one Nohara Rin.
Whatever, I'm not jealous. Not one bit.
So I asked my uncle Seto, the man that sparred me to activate my Byakugan.
He nodded and was professional about it. I showed him my notes that I showed my dad once upon a time and he absorbed it like it was some lost, ancient tome that nobody but me knew. It was a Hiden taijutsu technique that only the Main Family knew about anyway so it wasn't a surprise. He understood the theory faster than me and executed half of it in a week. Me and my apathetic ass really didn't care for the so called tradition since knowledge should be shared. It shouldn't be barred to the big men in the top. Seto used the Byakugan's ability to expel chakra from all tenketsu points to the extreme. He taught me the One Body Blow technique before moving on to the deadly 64.
He was also passionate about Jyūken and the Hyūga, even the whole patriarchy thing.
Let me emphasize that he was very passionate about Jyūken,
"No, Tokina." My newfound uncle chastised a week in trying to get a successful 12. It was embarrassing for me since people kept shoving the whole prodigy thing down my throat when they were dead wrong. "Blindly jabbing won't get you anywhere!" His gentle correcting became an intense scolding. "From afar it might seem that we are just rapidly jabbing blindly, hoping that the opponent just falls down to the ground but all of these are calculated! Now repeat from the top! But if you insist on making a mockery of our famed technique then you may leave."
I damn well wanted to leave but I knew that I couldn't. I needed to be good in the three things I knew how to do. Naruto only had summons, clones and the Rasengan and look what he managed to accomplish! If a blonde brat can do it then so can I!
I rolled my shoulders and caressed my abused fingers before hitting hard wood with red points that lit up blue when hit with chakra. Kind of like LED lights except for deadlier purposes. Fūinjutsu is an art that I will never understand nor learn. I inherited my father's chicken scratch even if he was some fūinjutsu expert. To be fair, scientists don't always speak like they were making an Investigatory Project. They're people, too so I shouldn't expect fūinjutsu masters to always write like their making a letter to the king.
But I didn't have the patience for it. Forgive me for lacking time when I have medic theory to read, genjutsu to perfect, summons to befriend and taijutsu techniques to learn.
I lowered my body and engaged the block of wood. "Jyūken," I muttered out of habit because according to Seto, it inspires the Hyūga to do better or something or other. I didn't know. He just forced this tradition onto me. The whole concept of shouting your moves was to inform your teammate but when if you're going to do it alone then that's just stupid.
I'm not in the anime world. I'm in a world with war and magic, even if that's hard to believe. This world required stealth and stealth isn't uttering every damn syllable of the technique you're going to do. They don't need to know that the Kamehameha or how it's pronounced.
"Eight Triagrams…" I sighed, doing a low stance in front of the training dummy with LED sticker-looking things that made me feel silly. "…16 palms,"
Seto nodded approvingly like the taijutsu nerd he was. "Begin."
I swear, if it wasn't for Tokuma's cute voice calling out my name before mom's (much to my two friend's amusement and my mom's annoyance.) I would begin doubting the whole "enjoy life" promise. He didn't actually say my name but it was close enough for me!
"Twokwikwa!" His childish voice called out and reached for me from his cradle in the Hyūga compound after training. I felt sore all over and disgusting with sweat and wood chippings but I couldn't deny his hand when he reached over to me. I chuckled at him and carried my little brother directly after a shower from Hyūga affairs. If you translated that to understandable Japanese then it would be "Tokina!" and not some alien monster.
We began running around my apartment close to the Hyūga compound, abusing my ninja training to keep my feet silent as I mimicked an airplane in the middle of the night. He cheered loudly despite me making an effort not to wake the whole house. Mom was almost always late, arriving in the morning and leaving after an hour nap thanks to her responsibilities and her new position as a nurse in the hospital. I just took comfort in having her around and not in the field. I tried to keep myself quiet but Tokuma wasn't having it, screeching out whenever I barrel-rolled him. It was probably in vain thanks to his screaming and cheering but whatever, what are they going to do? Excommunicate us?
"Gwai Pwaine!" He repeated as I carried him higher, me snickering all the way. "That's right, Tokuma! Airplane!" I whispered to him.
You know? I think I wouldn't mind working hard to keep moments like this to myself. I think before, the world could damn itself twice and I wouldn't care at all about other people, only myself because it is my life and it is my second chance but then, with my baby brother in my hands, I realized how selfish that was. I knew it was selfish but I realized how inhumanely selfish it was. This might be my second but the people around me?
This was their first.
If I wasn't so adamant of keeping my kill count low then I wouldn't mind doing an Itachi on my clan. If it was for this little bundle of joy in my hands then it would probably have been worth it.
It might be their first time around but if they knew they'd end up in a probably better place they would have thanked me if they had the chance. I would be doing them a favor. Of course, that is if it harmed my self-preservation instincts. I'd kidnap Tokuma and maybe my mom to leave this damned place to rot, starting anew in some quiet hill in the Land of Grass or something. I thought about that seriously for a second, contemplating how a six year old can do all that, convincing someone with a career to leave with her children to start again as a quiet, pacifist family.
"Would you want to live in a hill, Kuma-kun?" I lifted him up again as he did his cute 'whee' sound. I smiled at the kid, ignorant of my inner declaration of possessiveness and creepy ownership towards him as I willingly think of ways and strategies to kill more experience Jyūken users for him even though I wouldn't last a minute in a fight with all of Hyūga.
He blinked and pinched my nose. "I'll take that as a yes."
AN.
Yes. I don't know what to write so I'll just end it with a quote.
"Do you feel my boobs, hah, Dylan?"
It was from a Filipino novel which I was required to read but I don't need it anymore so enjoy that wise quote. It was Lila, something something Chapter 10 Page 210
ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAYS and Enjoy life :)
(to all those readers that read Lila, go to that page and chapter and look at the very bottom. I ain't making this shit up.)