Rin was allowing a few of her grandfather's men to escort her. They had been waiting for her outside of Shirou's home for about an hour, and she had let them wait. No point for her to rush herself around on the elder's account.
They couldn't actually enter Shirou's compound, no one with a Caged Bird Seal could. Rin had preformed a Structural Analysis of one of the seals while the owner was... asleep, and through that had an almost perfect understanding of the seal. She then used that understanding the set up a barrier around Shirou's house that would part way trigger the seal of they ever came too close.
It wasn't enough to kill them, and as long as they cleared the area in a hurry they would only get a bad headache, but one stubborn man who had tried to get all the way through the front door ended up hospitalized. When Rin was taking to the emergency medics, she told them that the man had come down the a terminal case of stupidity, sadly there was no cure.
All of this was just one of the ways that she said 'fuck you' to her grandfather. Her father and mother always came to pick her up themselves when they wanted something, but her grandfather would only send the little people. He could have at least been smart enough to use a member of the clan that didn't have the seal. Even though most non main family members were marked, there were still serval who didn't have the seal.
The seals main purpose was to insure that the clan's secrets were never leaked if one of the members was ever captured, so for those individuals who simply chose to live inside of the city their entire lives, there was no need for the seal.
Most of the clan's girls were like this, and went through bridal training rather than ninja training. The old clan heads saw the need to keep several baby makers around in order to make up for mortality rates, and the stress caused by the seals was bad for the babies in the womb. Not a difficult observation to make with the Byakugan eyes.
As she was being taken back home, she thought back to her short meeting with the possessed child, Naruto.
If one approached the issue of the boy from a utilitarian model of ethics, then what they should do was clear. You kill one loveless orphan to prevent the deaths of hundreds.
Rin didn't know what kind of seal was being used in order to seal away something as powerful as the nine tailed beast, but it wasn't powerful enough. That fact was as plain as the whiskers on the boy's face. The demon's energies were mixing in with the boy's, slowly changing him. Even without a trigger, it was only a matter of time.
It would start with small physical changes on the body, like the whiskers, then progress unto personality issues or a uncanny tendency. His nails would most likely get longer and his teeth would sharpen. He would become increasingly violent and rebellious. The last hint would be that his eyes would turn red, his hair might also turn red too, depending on the type of demon. After that he would lose control all together and the demon would take over.
That happening in the middle of a city as large as Konoha was bad. Like a hungry Dead Apostle in the middle of down town Tokyo kind of bad. Kiss the village goodbye kind of bad.
Possessed people who reached this point were as strong as a Servant and were maybe even harder to kill. You would rip off their arms, blast their hearts into pieces or even chop off their heads and the thing would just regenerate and keep coming. The destructive power it could call on was comparable to an Anti-fortress Noble Phantasm. Even if the ninja of Konoha could deal with something of that magnitude, most likely hundreds would die. As far as Rin knew, there was no turning back once the demon fully took over, Naruto would die anyways, consumed by the demon.
It wouldn't even end there. Rin could only assume they sealed the demon in Naruto because they lacked the means to destroy it completely. So a few years down the line, the demon would regenerate and continue its killing spree.
Altogether, Shirou using his weapons to put an end to the beast once and for all would probably save somewhere in the thousands of people, all at the cost of one orphan boy that no one even seemed to care about.
Yes, a utilitarian would definitely say to just kill the boy. Sadly, Rin was not a utilitarian. She believed that some things were worth the possible deaths of thousands of people that she didn't care about. She could think of two reasons that were good enough for her to try to keep the boy alive.
The one that Shirou would guess was professional curiosity. Besides just being interested in the seal that was used on the boy, the demon itself was something to be looked at. A human possessed by a true demon, one born from nature rather than from the thoughts of man, was not something you found every day. No magus had ever had a chance to fully examine one. The possible things that could be learned were unbelievable.
By there nature, True Demons converted the Mana or 'Natural Energy' in the air into Life Force or 'Physical Energy', which could then be used by its host, either refining it in their magic circuits to create Od, or mixing it with 'Mental Energy' to make Chakra. Mana was normally toxic to humans, and yet though these true demons it could be turned into almost endless amounts usable energy.
Not to mention the origin of this particular demon, if the stories were true. The Sage of the Six Paths had used his power, 'the Creation of All Things', in order to divide the power of the Ten Tailed Demon into the Nine Tailed Beasts, who had been noncorrupted Spirits of Nature in the beginning, rather than Demons. They had only become twisted later on after the actions of humans.
Not only was this a case of converting a Demon back into a normal Nature Spirit, but it was also the equivalent to a True Magic. The Heaven's Feel, the power to create new souls. To have the actual product of such a power right in front of her almost made Rin start to drool.
With the decreased influence of Gaia in this new world, there had been a lot of things that looked like True Magic, but each time Rin looked closer she would find that they weren't. For example, summonings didn't actually open a gateway into another world. It borrowed things, and those things had to go back. If something was taken, then something of equal value must be given in order to get it. Borrowed space took up energy to maintain and the energy would be worked on by Gaia in order to destroy it. It was something that was only possible because of the weakened Gaia, but it still followed all the normal laws of logic, unlike with True Magic which could break the natural laws.
It had been the same with most space-time Jutsu. They looked something like the real deal, but they never reached that point of being a True Magic. Finding anything that could lead her to rediscovering the Heaven's Feel was something she would be willing to risk lives over. Nearly every Magus would.
The second reason for letting the boy live was something much more personal. It had to do with a promise. She had promised Archer that she wouldn't let Shirou become him.
It was going to be hard, but if they could actually save the boy rather than following that stupid ideal and making a sacrifice out of him, then it would be a big step to changing Shirou's bleak future. The fact that Shirou hadn't killed the boy the moment he had the chance was a positive sign.
So Rin was resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to figure out how to remove the demon without killing the boy in the ten or so years time before the boy reached the point of no return. A job that no one in history of her old world had accomplished after the first signs of physical changes started.
She didn't really have to worry about him actually going over the limit though. Shirou wouldn't hold back if he saw red eyes. So with the boy staying with Shirou, there was little danger of him killing a good percentage of the city. Shirou also had a good deal of experience with mental barriers from back when he needed to maintain them against Archer's Arm. It might not be strong enough to stop the inevitable, but adding it to the existing seals would buy more time.
Once she got back to the Hyūga Clan compound, Rin was guided towards her grandfather. Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate, she was the one walking at the front of the group, with the two branch family members who had been sent to retrieve her following behind her. She walked with her arms crossed, her chin held high and a confident smile on her face. She was perhaps the only person in the entire village who would approach the Hyūga elder in such a fashion. Shirou would probably could if told to, but he did put on an act to please others more than Rin did. Rin had never hid her personality before and she wasn't about to start. She didn't care that she was now a four year old again. She would never let anyone take advantage of her. She would never show weakness.
She found her grandfather in his personal study, if it could be called that. It didn't really have much research materials or any important documents. Several of the books that lined the shelves were more of the recreational type. It was all more for show then a true study. Rin had been in real studies before, none were as clean as her grandfather's.
"Good afternoon Ojiu-san. I hope you aren't tiring yourself out too much by seeing me. I've heard the elderly really do need their bed rest." Rin said with an all too pleasant smile as she looked up towards her grandfather as he stood behind his desk, seeming to not care about the perfectly good chair behind him as he gazed down at his granddaughter. Rin didn't care, she just took a seat and made herself comfortable.
Rin wasn't actually sure what her grandfather's name even was. She doesn't think she has ever heard of it. Most in the clan called him the 'honorable elder'. So she made fun of him for his age, even though he was in his early fifties at the latest. Like most nobles, he married young and had kids young. Still, his hair had some gray to it and his face had that old man look to it, as if worries of his time had worn him down.
"I understand that you went to that blacksmith boy's again, even though you were meant to accompany your father and mother to see the Daimyō." The elder said in his grouchy voice.
"Hm... was I? I don't recall." Rin said tapping a finger against her bottom lip. She had remembered very well, but she personally didn't like the flaky Lord, and she hated his 'clam basket' wife. Her grandfather glared deeply at her.
"Just like you forgot your Taijutsu training again, and the fact that I had requested your presence at the clan meeting?" The older man said coldly.
"Oh, but Ojiu-san you did not offer me anything. If you request a serves of someone, you need to offer something in return for that serves. Or have you become so entitled in your old age that you feel yourself above the need for bartering. Sorry, but I'm not going to spoil you." Rin said in a chipper voice.
Rin would be the first to admit that her father had a little bit of a stick up his ass, though he was a good man, but her grandfather had more like an entire tree penetrating his butt hole. The two hadn't got along, and tension between them was rising.
It stemmed from Rin's lack of interest in the Clan. The Clan her grandfather had bled for, had seen the people close to him die for. When his wife had given birth to twins, he had marked one of his own sons as a baby with the Cage Bird Seal in order to prevent any question about the next Head of Clan that might form a divide in the Clan and threaten it. Now his own granddaughter, the most talented ninja to ever be born in the village, was brushing off her duties to the Clan and the Clan's ideology.
"Hikaru. You have a duty to this Clan. You will be the next Head and you must act accordingly. You do not get a chose in this matter." Her grandfather said strictly.
"Is me becoming the next Head of Clan that worrying to you? Maybe I should just step down then." Rin teased. "I'm sure Hinata-chan would be a much better Head than me anyways. She's so sweet and cute. I wouldn't mind following her."
The Hyūga elder didn't smile in the slightest. "That is not possible. Hinata is being made a member of the branched family." The man said sharply.
Rin froze, her Byakugan eyes flaring to life. The elder watched quietly as Rin scanned the entire house hold for her little sister, her smile gone and a look of urgency replacing it. "Where is she?" Rin asked, her voice now dead serious as she glared at her grandfather.
"She has been taken to be given the Caged Bird Seal." The elder said calmly. "You should not concern yourself with this. She has her fate, and you have yours. The two of you were always going to be separated."
Rin and her grandfather's eyes met and they simply stared at each other for a few long seconds. Then Rin's head fell. "I suppose you are right. It is a cruel fate to have me as an Onee-san." She said sadly. The two branch members' eyes widened in shock with the admission, though if the elder was surprised he didn't show it. She slowly got up out of her seat. "If you would excuse me, I need some time to think about things. I'll be returning to my room." She said giving a half bow before making to leave.
The elder glanced to the two who had been sent to retrieve her and gave them a signal to escort the girl, to make sure she really did go to her room rather than running off. Nodding, the two quickly obeyed their clan elder.
Rin walked quickly, though with her short legs, the two branch members hardly had to struggle to keep up. They were a little shocked at the type of response the girl had.
When the elder had decided to place the seal on the younger sister in an attempt to make young Hikaru understand her place in the clan and her fate, they had been almost sure that when they told her she would react... differently.
They had crossed nearly the entire compound before she stopped walking.
"Is something the matter Hikaru-sama?" One of the two escorts asked her when she didn't make any sign of moving.
"Yes. Something is most definitely wrong." She said coldly, holding out a hand. The two guards saw something inside of the closed fist, something that was overflowing with chakra. She dropped the small red gem, which bounced a little on the ground as the energy sealed within it started to from a barrier around the group. Then she turned to the two and had that smile on her face, the one that made them shiver. "Would either of you happen to know where the Caged Bird Sealing takes place?" She asked in a honeyed tone.
"H...Hikaru-sama, we can't..." That was as far as the man got. Rin raised her left hand, all fingers extended and pointing straight at the man as over twenty the magic circuits in her arm came alive.
"Gandr." Rin said as she fired off the over charged curse. The man didn't even have enough time to look shocked as the blast of dark power nearly the size of the girl's entire body flew straight into his chest. The added accuracy from her Byakugan eyes allowing her to target the man's chakra paths with the curse for maximum damage. The curse was like a shot gun blast to the man's chest and throw him back, smashing his head against the wall and knocking him unconscious. Even if it wasn't a fatal curse, the man would not be getting up for a week.
The second of the escorts had been just as surprised, watching his companion being thrown aside by the strange jutsu, he had looked away from the young girl for half a second, and when he looked back his entire body froze.
He found himself staring straight into the Byakugan eyes, only they were different than any he had seen before. The pulsing veins around the eyes glowed a light blue from the girl's mysterious chakra pathways and in the middle of the white eyes were two golden suns. Try as he might, he couldn't look away from those eyes. He couldn't even move a muscle. "Genjutsu..." He gasped, trying to build up his chakra to throw off the technique, not that he would be given the time.
Rin had used her mystic eyes of binding to hold the man still long enough for herself to take him down. She moved in quickly, delivering three gentle fist strikes to each of his legs, making the man lose control of his lower body before she toppled him with two strong punches to the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Once he was on the ground she went for his arms, disabling the chakra pathways there with a few more gentle fists, leaving the man completely helpless.
With a knee on his chest, she placed on hand on his head, with her thumb on his forehead, right over his Caged Bird Seal. She started to feed chakra into it in such a way as to start the activation. The man screamed with pain but it didn't matter, she had already set up a barrier to make sure that no one heard them.
"Tell me where Hinata is." Rin said, ignoring the man's screams for her to stop as her eyes still glowing with the power of binding. "Tell me where my imōto-chan is, or I'll kill you."
I'm getting a lot of negativity for my choices in writing. I'm trying not to care, but it is rather annoying.
I'm just confused about people trying to deny that Naruto is a time bomb. How many times did he lose control by the time he was eighteen? At least eight or nine. And if something of the magnitude of his fight with Orochimaru happened in the middle of the city, pretty much everyone would die.