I'm very bad with the honorifics so please correct me if I'm using them wrong. Italics when english is spoken.
Act 1: Childhood
Four Years later
Wow. Its amazing how much can happen in four years. The short version is that I haven't matured much despite the fact that I'm technically twenty by now. As soon as I could speak in full sentences I was mouthing off at any form of authority and cracking jokes at Neji to try and make his face move. Needless to say this irritated the members of the main branch family and Neji to no end. But Hikari was surprisingly supportive. I mean yeah she's my Ma and all but she's also a Hyuuga, so learning she was pretty laid back was a surprise. She's a servant to a few Elders so when I disrespect them (meaning I don't worship the ground they walk on) she's the one who has to deal with it. She'll put on a big show of stoic disappointment and drag me away. But as soon as we're out of sight she'll smile, call me her little genius comedian, and tell me to go play.
That's another thing, I was getting the reputation as another Hyuuga genius. The reasons being I was named after someone who was arguably just as good as Hiashi, and I was speaking, reading and writing by the time I was three. Being a toddler can be pretty boring, pretty much the only activity I had to occupy myself with was learning Japanese so I was able to learn it fairly quickly. I keep a journal of all the Japanese words I know including their translations in English. I also write all that I can remember about my previous life in English so I won't forget about it. Don't get me wrong, I love my Mom Hikari, and Neji too, to an extent. But I had friends, family and experiences in my old life that would just feel wrong if I decided to forget about them.
On to my appearance, I have the typical white Hyuuga eyes and my hair is black. I don't grow it long like my Dad did, instead I grow it a little out the front so it covers my forehead and occasionally a few strands come down over the top of my eyebrows. I purposely keep it messy to irk both Neji and Hiashi. I'm currently about three and a half feet tall and most of my clothes consist of Neji's hand-me-downs. Which is basically just a bunch of white T-shirts, dark brown shorts and blue sandals. I also wear a thin black jacket that I keep unzipped, I wear it because it gives me a little more protection, I can keep my journal in it and... well you can guess the last reason by now.
Now the reason for the four year time skip is, well, let's just say that today is special. The past four years have been fun for me but describing how I learned Japanese, telling every way I've pissed off the Elders, AND my fruitless efforts to get Neji to display some kind of emotion would be pretty boring for you. What makes today special is that if Neji is to be believed this is the day I start training in Gentle Fist, needless to say this was going to be pretty exciting.
In the morning I got up, yawned, stretched, got dressed then walked to the dinning room for breakfast. Neji was already setting down at the table and I sat across from him.
"Morning Neji," I said. He nodded, I rolled my eyes.
"Come on nii-san, can you answer me in the morning just once?"
"Now, now Hizashi. You know Neji doesn't like to be bothered before breakfast," said Hikari as she entered the room holding two trays of rice, soup and fish. She set the trays down in front of us and I dug in, Neji eating in a much more, calm manner. Hikari glanced between us and smiled.
"How can you two possibly be brothers?" she wondered aloud.
"You are our Mother, and we are both boys. Therefore we must be some form of brother," said Neji.
"She was talking about why we're so different dumbass," I said. Neji shot me a look. He couldn't understand English but he always seemed to know when I was insulting him.
"Why do you speak that gibberish? It's childish," said Neji.
"Newsflash nii-san: I'm four, I'm allowed to be a kid."
"It's completely pointless."
"It pisses you off and that's what a little brother's supposed to do."
"Okay you two, enough. And Hizashi, I don't know where you learned that kind of language but you won't speak that way here," said Hikari.
"You mean the 'gibberish' or the swearing?" I asked.
"What do you think?" asked Hikari.
"Hopefully both," said Neji, taking a sip of his soup.
"I think we all know that's not gonna happen," I said. Neji glared at me and Hikari smiled.
But before either of them could say anything there was a knock at the door. Hikari frowned and left the room to answer it.
"Who could that be?" I asked.
"Your escort most likely," said Neji.
"I thought I was starting training today, what do I need an escort for?"
Neji tapped the seal on his forehead.
"Oh,"
"You didn't honestly think they'd start training you without it did you?"
I poked at the remains of my breakfast, my appetite gone.
"Will it hurt?"
"Yes."
"Will I scream?"
"I would be very surprised if you didn't."
I sighed and set my chop sticks down, then looked Neji right in the eye.
"Promise me something."
Neji raised an eyebrow.
"I know family doesn't mean much to you but actually be there for Mom when they start. And not just occupy space next to her. If she needs her hand held you hold it. If she needs a hug you give it to her," I said, "Just for today, after that you can go back to being heartless."
Neji stared back at me for ten seconds.
"Very well, you have my word," said Neji.
"Good."
We sat in silence for a few moments then Hikari came back in.
"Hizashi, you have a visitor," she said. I nodded and left for the front door. The person there to greet me was a surprise.
"H-hello Hizashi-nii-san," said Hinata.
"Nee-san? Its good to see you but what are you doing here?" I asked. Hinata was pretty much my only friend in the Hyuuga compound, recently though she had started her training so I had seen a lot less of her.
"W-well Father told me to bring you to the Council room. H-he said I n-needed to see what was g-going to happen to y-you th-there," said Hinata, she was looking down and pressing her fingers together.
I sighed. Hiashi probably wanted to toughen her up by making her watch me get sealed. I placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up.
"Hinata, whatever happens to me today is NOT your fault, so don't blame yourself okay?" I asked. Hinata nodded. I turned back to the house.
"See you later Mom. And you'd better keep your promise Neji," I called.
"See you soon Hizashi," called Hikari, and I knew Neji nodded. I turned back to Hinata and we started walking towards the Council room.
"So, u-um, h-have you gotten Neji-nii-san to, you know,"
"Nope. The most I can get him to do is scowl," I said, "What about Hanabi?"
"W-well she's only three, so I can't r-really tell how she'll turn out," said Hinata, "Do you think she'll be like us?"
I sighed. The anime hadn't put much emphasis on Hanabi but in the few scenes where she did appear she seemed like the typical emotionless Hyuuga.
"I doubt it," Hinata lowered her head, "But that doesn't mean we can't try to save her." Hinata looked up and nodded.
We would've talked more but we had just arrived at the door to the Council room. We stood outside for a few moments.
"Well, no point in delaying the inevitable," I said. I opened the door. The Council room is a very long and plain room, white walls wooden floor, and no furniture. Just some floor mats and torches.
Hinata and I bowed as we entered but when we looked up I saw something that made my blood run cold. Sitting to right of Hiashi was an old man with black hair, and he was wearing white and black robes and bandages covered the top and right part of his face.
Danzo Shimura.
Hinata made her way over to Hiashi and sat on the floor mat to his left but I remained rooted to the spot.
"Hizashi, take your seat," said Hiashi.
"What's he doing here?" I asked pointing to Danzo.
"Disrespectful brat, you will address him as Danzo-sama," said one of the Elders.
"Okay, what is Danzo-sama doing here?" I asked.
"Take your seat Hizashi, it will be explained," said Hiashi.
I gulped, then moved to the floor mat across from Hiashi and sat down.
"Given your reaction boy I think you know what I'm here for," said Danzo.
"Danzo-sama requires a young member of the Hyuuga clan to join Root ANBU," said Hiashi, "You are the best candidate as you are young and display intelligence beyond your years."
I jumped to my feet.
"HELL NO! There is NO WAY I'm going with that monster!," I shouted.
"Insolent little BRAT. You WILL show respect to our guest," yelled a different Elder.
"It's quite alright Elder-sama. Monster is an accurate description of me," said Danzo, he turned to face me, "But what makes you think you have a choice boy?"
Shit. There is no way in hell I was going to become one of Danzo's pawns. But unless I thought of something fast that was exactly what was going to happen. Then I got an idea.
"What if I made a deal with you? To not take me or any other Hyuuga child for now?" I asked. Danzo raised his eyebrow.
"What could you possibly have to dissuade me from recruiting you?" he asked.
"I invented a language. I could teach it to you or one of your ANBU. You could use it to make coded messages even harder to decipher," I said. Hiashi scoffed.
"Are you referring to that gibberish you occasionally spout?" he asked. Danzo however looked thoughtful.
"The current ANBU code is already quite difficult to break. Then again a shinobi can never be to cautious," said Danzo.
"You can't seriously be considering this. All his language is is nonsensical gibberish," said an Elder.
"You said he was intelligent, and thus far I haven't seen any evidence to say he hasn't made it," said Danzo, "However, what's to stop you from teaching the ANBU this language once you've joined them?"
I reached into my jacket and pulled out my journal. Then I walked over to a torch and held it above the flames.
"This book contains all my notes about my language. I can't speak all of it without this book and if you force me to join Root, I'll burn it here and now," I said. Danzo nodded.
"Clever, but now you have to prove your language is complete or its worthless. Tell me something about yourself and if it both sounds complete and I can't decipher it, I'll consider your deal," said Danzo.
"This is ridiculous," said an Elder.
"Quiet, let him speak," said Danzo. I had to keep up the charade that I needed the book to speak English, so I started to take it away from the flames, then a thought hit me.
"How do I know there isn't an ANBU somewhere that'll steal the book the second its away from the fire?" I asked. Danzo chuckled. It was a low noise he made without moving his mouth.
"Very clever boy. Boar! Show yourself and do not touch the boy," called Danzo. An ANBU with a boar mask appeared beside Danzo. I raised an eyebrow.
"Boar is the only one here, I swear on the honor of the third Hokage," said Danzo. I nodded and pulled the book away from the fire. I flipped through a few pages pretending to look up notes.
"I am technically twenty years old. I know who the container of the nine tail fox is. And with the exception of Hikari and Hinata I think the whole Hyuuga clan is a bunch of stuck up assholes," I said. Danzo rubbed his chin.
"Other than the names and the fact that I'm fairly certain you insulted the Hyuuga clan, I have no idea what you just said. Say it again," he said.
I repeated the tree sentences. Danzo nodded.
"Well? Does it pass?" I asked.
"Yes. I believe you have created an entirely new language that would be very helpful to both Root and the Hokage's ANBU. If you teach it to Boar, I'm willing to let you go. IF you burn the book afterwards," said Danzo.
Burning the notes of my past life would be painful, but I could rewrite the majority of them in Japanese. But I had one question.
"Why teach it to the Hokage's ANBU as well? I thought they were separate to Root," I said.
"They are, and we have separate codes. However if one of the Hokage's ANBU is killed while carrying coded information, its possible the enemy will decipher the code. Leaving the village vulnerable. So if you decide to teach Boar the language both divisions will learn it," said Danzo.
"Why would I not want to teach Boar the language?" I asked.
"If you join Root, the Caged Bird Seal will not be placed on you," said Hiashi. I looked to him in surprise, his expression was unreadable as always. I looked back to Danzo, he nodded confirmation. My eyes widened. Not having the Caged Bird Seal placed on me? Not being vulnerable to the Main family branch? How could I say no?
Then I looked back to Danzo and remembered the other option.
"I'll teach Boar English, and I won't join Root," I said.
"Are you certain?" asked Danzo, "You show great potential and would be very useful in the Root."
"The seal will ATTEMPT to rob me of my freedom. YOU will steal my soul," I said. I know I sounded over the top, but I believed every word.
Danzo nodded.
"Very well. Tomorrow Boar will return and you will teach her the language, or English, as you call it. Then you will burn the book," he said.
"Agreed," I said. Danzo grabbed his cane and stood up.
"I believe my business here is finished. I bid you fair well." He started for the door and Boar vanished into the rafters. When he was gone Hiashi turned to me.
"Are you certain of this? He was your last chance for freedom," he said.
"We'll see," I placed the book back in my jacket, "So, is there a place I need to be to be sealed?"
Hiashi sighed.
"Just lay down in the center of the room," he said. I walked over and laid down. An Elder in dark red robes stood above my head and started weaving signs.
"Sealing art: Caged Bird Seal!" he slammed his hand on my forehead. But the pain from the blow was nothing to the pain of the seal. It felt like every cell in my body had caught fire and my brain felt like it was melting.
I tried to thrash around but other Elders held me in place. So I did the only thing I could.
I screamed.
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