Back from the dead!

Otouto= little brother

Boar was standing in the doorway when I awoke, again. We stared at each other for a few moments.

"Um," I didn't know what else to say. Having a grown woman staring at you intently while you sleep is really fucking creepy. The fact that she's a trained killer made it ten times worse.

She turned her back to me.

"45 seconds," she said.

I dashed out of bed and threw my cloths on. Boar turned back to face me.

"Today you will teach me how write in your English. Do you still have the dictionary I gave you?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Good," she pulled out a small mission notebook and pencil. "I trust you have your own things for writing?"

I nodded again and took my notebook out of my jacket.

"Then get the dictionary and begin," said Boar, walking into my room.

"Um, my Ma said that she wanted to be with us today," I said.

"Why? It's already been explained to her why she can't."

"Well you cut me remember? She wants to make sure you don't do anything like that again."

"I doubt I'll need to threaten you again, and even if I did, your mother would have no chance of stopping me."

"She doesn't care. She's my ma and it's her job to protect me, even if she doesn't stand a chance."

"She would lay down her life for you?" asked Boar.

"Without hesitating," said Hikari, standing in the doorway.

Boar whipped around and threw a kunai at her head. Hikari snatched it out of air without even blinking.

"Feeling tense ANBU-san?" she asked.

"Get out," said Boar.

"No. I don't know why they didn't teach you family psychology in ROOT, but I'll spell it out for you. Hizashi is my son, you threaten him, or Neji, you go through me first. Threaten me all you want but I'll die before you lay another finger on my child." The calm, laid back tone that was usually in my Mom's voice was gone. All that was left was steely determination.

Boar stared at her, then clutched her head and started screaming.

Hikari and I were stunned. Thankfully, Hikari recovered in time to catch Boar when she lost her balance.

"Go get help!" she commanded as she eased the screaming ANBU down. I ran out of the room and shouted for a doctor. After that things became a blur. Neji was at my side asking what was going on. Medic nins arrived and carried an unconscious Boar out of the Hyuuga compound. I was being interrogated by Hiashi and the Elders. I was being interrogated by other ANBU. I was lying awake ay night, staring at the ceiling.

I only managed to grab back onto reality when the Hokage sent a letter that called Hikari and I to his office. The shock of receiving such summons shook me out of my haze. Neji took it upon himself to make me presentable. I didn't let him touch my outfit, but I combed my hair for him. He walked me through how I was supposed to behave while I was in the Hokage's presence while I was doing it.

"Have you got all that?" he asked.

"For the last time, yes I got it," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Hizashi, this is serious. You were caught up in a ROOT ANBU's mental breakdown. If you're not careful who knows what they'll do to you," said Neji.

I set my comb down and turned to him.

"Come on nii-san -"

Neji interrupted me by placing his hands on my shoulders and looking me straight in the eye.

"Otouto, please, reiterate what I told you." Neji's eyebrows were knit together, but his eyes were flickering. It took me a moment to figure out what he was feeling, but then it hit me, he was scared. All my life I'd been trying to get him to show an emotion other than irritated, and the first thing that comes out is fear.

"Okay. Bow after entering his office, let Mom do the talking, only speak when spoken to, no swearing, and pay close attention to everything," I said.

Neji let out a sigh, and lowered his arms.

"Thank you Hizashi. Perhaps there's hope for you yet," he said.

"As a proper Hyuuga? Come on Neji, we both know that's never gonna happen," I said, chuckling. The edge of Neji's mouth twitched, then grew into a small smile.

"Indeed, fate chose a different course for you," he said.

"You know I don't believe in that fate crap, but we're having a moment so I'm not gonna argue."

Neji nodded, still smiling. We stood there for a bit, neither of us knowing what to do next.

"Oh just hug each other already."

We turned, Mom was standing in the door of my room. Something told me she'd heard the whole thing.

"I'm serious, I don't think I've ever seen the two of you hug it out before. Now do it before the goodwill wears off and you go back to irritating each other," she said, grinning.

I grinned back, then wrapped my arms around Neji before he could protest. He hesitated, then hugged back. We only stayed in that position for a moment, but it was long enough to be genuine. Then we separated.

"The two of you will come back, right?" asked Neji.

Mom knelt down and gave him a hug.

"Of course we will," she stood up and ruffled his hair, "We'll be back in time for lunch."

"Very well," Neji regained his usual stony expression, "I'll see you then, Mother, Hizashi."

"See ya then nii-san."

"Good bye Neji."

Hikari and I walked out of our home and toward the compound entrance. Along the way Hinata ran up and wished us luck. After reassuring her that we'd be fine we left the compound and headed straight for the Hokage tower. It was my first time out of the Hyuuga grounds since I was a baby. I wanted to look around, but we were in a hurry to reach the tower so I couldn't see much.

We did run into someone interesting though.

About halfway to the tower a spiky haired blonde boy in a white t-shirt with a red swirl landed in front of us. He turned around, blew a raspberry, then ran into an alley to our right. A moment later two ninja came sprinting past us and chased after him.

Hikari and I stood there, blinking for a moment.

"Wow! Who was that?" I asked.

I already knew of course. It was Naruto, who else could it have been?

Hikari sighed.

"Someone you should avoid," she said, "Come on, we don't want to be late." She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Inwardly I sighed. I'd hoped Hikari wouldn't have a grudge against Naruto, but I guess no one's perfect.

That didn't mean I was gonna let it go though.

"Why not? He looked fun," I protested.

"He's a trouble maker," said Hikari, not looking at me.

"And I'm not?"

Hikari sighed.

"He's worse, and the last thing you need is a bad influence. Now come on, we don't want to keep Hokage-sama waiting."

I knew she was lying, but there wasn't anything I could do about it so I kept quiet. We reached the Hokage tower soon afterward, entered, and climbed up the the Hokage's office door.

"The Hokage will see you in a moment," said the ninja standing guard.

We stood in the hallway for awhile, then after about thirty seconds, the Hokage called us.

"Come in," he commanded. It was a soft tone of voice, but it was somehow still a command.

The guard stepped aside. We entered the room, walked in front of the Hokage's desk, then bowed.

"Hokage-sama," we said in unison.

When I lifted my head up I saw that one of the windows was open. The Hokage followed my gaze.

"Ah yes, most Jonin have their quirks. A fairly common one seems to be an aversion to doors, or any normal method of entering or exiting a building," he explained. Then he chuckled.

"I'm sure you'll develop some of your own quirks when you become a Jonin."

I managed a small chuckle at that. But it was more out of relief than amusement. 'When I become a Jonin', that meant I was still going to be a ninja, that meant that if I was punished, it wouldn't be too harsh.

The Hokage's smile faded.

"But I'm afraid we must move on to more depressing matters. The ROOT ANBU operative, codename: Boar, has had a mental breakdown. From what we can gather, it was because of interacting with you two."

"Hokage-sama, believe me, we had no intention of doing any such thing to her," said Hikari.

"If I thought otherwise, we'd be having this conversation under very different circumstances," said the Hokage. "As it stands, I find it difficult to believe that a retired, but still very loyal Jonin, and her four year old son would intentionally do something like this. The fact that it was Hizashi who called for help also indicates that he had no intention to harm Boar."

I let out a sigh of relief. Hikari held hers in, but she looked just as relieved.

"Thank you for having faith in us Hokage-sama," said Hikari, bowing her head. "But may I ask why and how Boar had such a strong reaction to the two of us?"

"That is part of the reason I called you here. In order to understand why Boar reacted to you the way she did you have to understand her history. You see, Boar was not born into shinobi life, or even in this village. She was the first born daughter of a traveling merchant named Hideki Fujimoto. Her given name is Hitomi Fujimoto and she traveled with her father, her mother Kayo, and her younger brother Isamu. When she was seven her family's caravan was on the border of the Land of Fire, and they were attacked by bandits. Hitomi was the only survivor, and she was only saved because of a squad of ROOT ANBU returning from a mission saw the bandits and swiftly dealt with them. According to the report they found her hiding in the back of one of the wagons, her mother was found in front of it, dead, but still clutching a kitchen knife. The squad brought her to Danzo, and it was discovered that she had a photographic memory. That's why she was assigned to learn your language, but back to the point. A ninja with a perfect memory is an incredibly valuable asset, and Danzo isn't the sort of man to let an opportunity slip through his fingers. He sealed her memories away, and trained her to be the kunoichi Boar that we know today."

The Hokage paused for a breath, I didn't blame him.

"When Boar stabilized we had a Yamanka look through her memories. Apparently, her younger brother Isamu like to tease her quite often. Hizashi teased her in a similar manner and it caused memories of her childhood to start pushing against the seal. When Hikari stated that she'd die before allowing Boar to harm her child it caused the memory of Kayo defending her to push itself to the front of Boar's mind. The seal was already under strain from memories of Isamu pushing to the surface, and it couldn't hold together against a powerful memory like Kayo's sacrifice. The seal broke, and all of Hitomi's memories flooded into Boar's mind, along with a rejection of Danzo's conditioning. You should know the rest."

The three of us mulled of Boar's story in silence, then I balled my fists.

"Is Danzo going to be punished?" I asked.

The Hokage looked at me, then sighed.

"He will be reprimanded for the usage of mind sealing techniques, but other than that he's done nothing wrong."

"He brainwashed a kid to be his fu-, to be his toy soldier."

"He gave an orphan a home, and a purpose," said the Hokage. "Please understand Hizashi, I do not approve of Danzo's actions, but he did it with the village's best interests in mind. I can't punish him for doing his job."

"He went too far and you know it."

"Hizashi," warned Hikari.

"It's alright Hikari. Anger is a natural reaction to injustice, or what one sees as injustice. And it is not one to be ashamed of, however Hizashi, I was correct in assuming you will become a shinobi, yes?"

I nodded.

"Well I'm afraid the fact is that as a shinobi, you will have to get used to gray areas in morality. Don't become any less passionate about injustice, but understand that, as a shinobi, you will encounter a lot of it, and you won't always be allowed to fix it. Do you understand?"

I gave my fists a squeeze, then nodded again.

"Good. Now, the full reason I called you here was that Hitomi has requested for Hizashi to visit her."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Danzo's gonna allow that?"

"Danzo no longer commands Hitomi," said the Hokage. "If she chooses to return to shinobi life, she'll be a regular Jonin. But only once she's recovered. Anyway, she requested for me to tell you her story before you visit. Both because she wants you to know, and because she can't tell it herself without breaking down. I asked if it would be alright if I told Hikari as well, she said yes, but she only wants to see Hizashi."

"Why?" I asked.

"You'll have to ask her yourself. Do you accept her request?"

I took a deep breath.

"Yes."

"Very good," the Hokage stood up. "Follow me."

He led us down to the ground floor of the tower, then out and over to the shinobi hospital. We walked up to the second floor hallway and to the third door on our right. The Hokage gestured me to the door.

I gulped then walked inside.

It was an ordinary hospital room. Clean white walls, tiled floor, single bed. Even Boar, or Hitomi, looked ordinary. She was lying on her back, wearing a hospital gown. Without her mask or gloves, I saw that her skin wasn't caucasian like most people of the leaf village. It was light brown, like a hispanic's. The only thing that looked a little odd was her shaved head, but considering the fact that I was in a world where bubble gum pink hair was a thing, a shaved head wasn't too jarring.

I couldn't tell if she was awake or not, and I was a little to scared to find out. Right when I began to work up the courage though, she sat up, and turned to face me.

Her eyes were a dark emerald green. They might have sparkled in the light if they didn't look so dead.

"Hizashi Hyuuga." Her voice was completely monotone.

I gulped. This was not going to be pleasant.