Crimson Seal - 3
Enjoy the latest chapter and tell me what you think!
The classroom is anything but quiet. There seems to be constant shouting within the walls, so loud that it spills out into the morning air and onto the training grounds right next to it.
"But Iruka sensei you said the other day that we would be practicing with the kunai!" This particularly loud yell comes from a rambunctious yellow-haired boy.
"That was before you became incapable of controlling your chakra for the hundredth time, Naruto!" The teacher, Iruka shouted right on back. Laughter filled the classroom seconds later as the boy glanced around nervously, scratching at the back of his head.
"That's not fair!" came a shout in the back of the room. "Naruto should be the only one to stay and focus on chakra control. Everyone else is ready for more kunai practice. Right?"
"Yeah!" Enthusiastic shouts came from around the room.
The teacher actually look lost for a moment, likely overwhelmed from this turn of events. He must not have had to deal with a class like this before in his ninja career. Then his voice was booming over the classroom, "Sit down! Here's what's going to happen today; we're going through a chakra exercise and those that clear it are going outside for kunai practice. Those that don't will be in this classroom improving on their chakra control. Got it?"
The students weren't quite as enthusiastic this time around, in fact a few groaned so it was sufficient to say that some of them were nervous about this sudden change in schedule. The Naruto kid probably wouldn't be the only one staying inside if the nerves got the best of those others as well.
Still, they went through the exercise. Most clearing it easily to run outside with a shout only having to wait for their sensei to finish up inside before he could come outside to supervise their activities.
At least they knew to wait instead of going ahead and maybe getting injured in the process. Though if they got injured their sensei wasn't as likely to yell at them, even so it wasn't what any of the students would want.
Those outside even quieted down a bit upon coming outside. It was almost ironic since such shouting would be more of an annoyance to other classes if they were in their own classroom rather that in the training grounds. Some seemed to calm down merely because their loud friends were still inside with the sensei, finishing the last few exercises needed until the class continued with the original plans.
"Can't Iruka sensei go faster?" A blonde asked, hair pulled up into a long ponytail that was currently slung over her shoulder as she leaned against a tree.
"Stop complaining. He'll be out in a moment."
"Oh, please. With Naruto in there it'll take him half the class time to get out here after he's done yelling at him, instructing him how to control chakra, and making sure that idiot is doing it properly so he can come out here and not be stuck in there baby-sitting him the whole time."
There was a groan from the other kid. "Do you have a patient bone in your body?"
The girl's eyes narrowed and she scowled at the boy. "All your bones are beyond patient, they're downright lazy Shikamaru!"
With another groan Shikamaru turned away from the girl toward the others. "You're such a drag, Ino."
Almost immediately a yell filled the air, "What did you just say?"
Ino looked ready to hit Shikamaru when he fell sideways and pointed to another student, "Look, you're still not-boyfriend is being 'stolen' away from you once again." Her head swung up so quickly that the air made a snap, gaze settling on a pinkette across the open space that was sitting next to Sasuke Uchiha.
She was up and moving over towards them in the next instant, leaving behind a relieved Shikamaru. "Sasuke," Ino called over in a much sweeter voice than she had used with the other student. "We should pair up for the kunai practice."
"I'm paired with Sasuke," the pinkette snapped back the moment Ino headed toward them.
It didn't take long before that argument escalated and the two were shouting back and forth at each other even though they were barely a foot away from each other. Everyone that was outside just stared at the spectacle. Itachi couldn't look away either, but probably not for the same reason as the others.
He hadn't known that two girls were actively fighting over Sasuke until today. Sure, he had heard some of the young ninja talking about his brother when watching over the kunoichi classes, but he hadn't thought any of them were actually doing anything other than that.
"There's no pairing up for this exercise." Sasuke was getting up from where he had sat now, walking away from both of them. Ino looked shocked but Sakura - who's name he had just learned - was already on Sasuke's heels, chattering away in his ear as if she hadn't just been screaming at the top of her lungs at a rival.
The training grounds were finally quiet again though, the students talking with their inside voices as Iruka walked out from the building. As he had suspected there was a few more students left behind in the classroom with Naruto, but his gaze only flickered over upon seeing Hinata looking toward the windows of the room.
If it weren't for those white eyes he would find it impossible to think of her as a Hyuuga. Her stare wasn't constantly hard like her father's that was more of a constant glare, instead it was much softer, not that she did much staring. Her voice was soft as well, too soft for him to hear where he had currently situated himself unless she made the effort to raise her voice. For now though she had just been observing everyone else, and he could still read her lips if she did speak.
Even her personality wasn't anything like her clan. He couldn't picture her sitting in a room scheming with her father and uncle in the middle of the night. She didn't strike him as someone who could possibly put up a false front and then betray them days later or even the second afterward.
She was just nothing like a Hyuuga, but if he compared her with his own family she didn't fit there either. Even so she was going to be an Uchiha. His mother had made sure of that years ago.
He still couldn't believe what they had been planning to do to this young girl.
If his clan had been around and had their way her clan would have been the one that was slaughtered along with many other civilians that were loyal to their current Hokage. She would be alone like Sasuke was now, and she would hate her new family. There was no way she would be able to remain the person she was now if his clan had gotten everything they wanted.
As it was they just had her, she was the constant in their plan. The one thing that had been guaranteed throughout it all, because they had played the Hyuuga clan when arranging their marriage.
He understood why they had made such a move though. They wouldn't just have the sharingan then, they would also have the byakugan, the last byakugan. Until... well, a few years into the marriage then they would have more and those new members of the clan would have been loyal, probably. If they had their way that is.
They hadn't though. He kept having to remind himself of that nearly every time he looked at her. They hadn't been able to use her like that, to hurt her in every way possible.
It was possible what they had done would still hurt her though and he wanted to avoid that. The problem was that he couldn't avoid this one. When she turned sixteen she would have to marry him even if she was in love with someone else. There was nothing he could do to change that and he had looked into every possibility he could after learning of the seal his mother had used on the contract.
Well, there was a reason that it was a forbidden jutsu. The same reason his clan had used it to secure Hinata in the first place.
He could feel his lips turn into a scowl and forced them back to normal as he gazed at the class throwing the kunai at the targets marked on the trees. Secure. His clan had treated her like an object, like a pet. No, that wasn't quite it. They had treated her like a breeding mare.
It shouldn't be possible for them to still make his blood boil even after they were gone, but he could feel his blood warming. It wasn't just them though. Those Cloud Ninja had tried something similar years ago, just without the marriage contract. They had gone for an abduction when she was so young that they might have been able to trick her into being loyal to the new village. Somehow it made them even more despicable than his own family, it allowed him to direct his anger at them instead of his own clan.
He had been mad at them for most of his life as it was and they were all gone, except for his brother. Itachi didn't want to remain angry at them, and if anything the Cloud Ninja helped with that.
Hinata Uchiha... He could remake his clan with her, make it more respectable than it had been. Not the sort of clan it had been before, it could be new. Him, Hinata, Sasuke, and whoever his younger brother married could completely remake the clan.
It wouldn't be his parents original plan, but he knew they would've been proud. If they had been able to change their minds. If Shisui had been able to change them.
The bell ringing cut through his thoughts and he focused his gaze to the front of the school where parents were coming to grab their children before heading home. The area was clearing out quickly but he began shifting on his feet when Hinata was still standing there, and he couldn't see Hiashi below on the streets in the area. That wasn't normal, was it?
Had something changed between now and his last visit? He didn't remember Hiashi being even a second late before so something must have changed for him not to be here even after five minutes.
The space was nearly empty and he saw a fellow student glancing back at Hinata while walking away with their mother. Whatever the change it had to be current. She was clearly only waiting in hope that someone would come by to take her home like most of the other children, but there was no one.
What the hell? After everyone that had tried to take advantage of his daughter Hiashi wasn't having someone keep an eye on her?
With a quick glance and upon seeing no other Hyuuga for five blocks in any direction he dropped from the roof onto the path below, walking around the gate to the front of the school. "Are you waiting for someone?"
"Huh?" She spun around, white eyes wide when she looked at him, but with his appearance changed by his jutsu he knew she couldn't possibly recognize him. Especially since they had never met face to face during the years before the massacre. He doubted Hiashi had even told her about the marriage. "I... y-no." Her shoulders slumped down as the word passed her lips and he had to force his hand to remain at his side instead of trying to comfort her.
Something he could have done in an alternate world. If he was able to treat her properly as his future wife. "What's wrong?" he asked instead. "Where's your father?" Her mother had died before she could even know her so there was no sense asking about the other parent.
"He's at the compound," she muttered in reply, gaze dropping down when she spoke.
His fingers nearly twitched as he stopped himself from brushing her hair out of her face. "Shouldn't he be here? Like the rest of the parents?" he was barely able to stop any anger from slipping into his tone. This wasn't acceptable. The heiress to the Hyuuga clan left out in the open with more than just the Cloud Ninja looking to take the byakugan, but there was always someone looking to have that power. What was Hiashi thinking? That he was in the clear?
"H-he's with Hanabi, t-training. She's the new heiress after I..."
At the crack in her voice he knelt down so he was level with her, his finger already moving over her cheek to wipe away the tear. "I'm going to walk you home, okay?" At the nod of her head he lowered his hand to wrap around her fingers before standing back up and leading her away from the school and back to the compound.