It was a common mistake a lot of magus made while trying to build a secret workshop. They put so much time into perfecting their barriers to keep out prying eyes that they blind themselves in the process. Then they set up traps around the outside, not realizing that they might as well hang a giant neon sign over their heads.

The Hyūga's secret sealing grounds was little more than a stones throw away from the main compound, in a survival training area. Rin had tortured the location of the building out of the branch family member fairly quickly and had moved on before anyone could react.

Her skills with reinforcement were not on Shirou's level. She hadn't dedicated years to perfecting that single skill to the point where she could dance on the edge of total destruction, but she could still get by and increase her agility by a fair amount. She went from tree to tree, her eyes picking out every single trap that had been set up to keep people out.

If she had stopped to think, she might have gone to fetch Shirou. The boy's senses weren't as precise as hers, but will her eyes could spot something a mile away, it wasn't as helpful at picking up a trail left behind by something that has long since moved on. For that, Shirou's nose was a lot better. It might have gotten her there sooner, or removed the need to question her clan members for the location. He would have also been handy as back up. However, the girl wasn't going to stop and think. She couldn't waste any time. Hinata needed her, and she wasn't going to fail this time.

So she was alone when she reached the large grey stone building.

The place had been made to look like a security center, but Rin wasn't fooled for a second. There had been so many barriers placed on the stone, all chakra was being canceled out, preventing even her eyes from seeing into the building.

The door was an nondescript wooden thing, until Rin actually touched it. A quick Structural Analysis told her that the door was being reinforced with Earth Chakra, several seals acting as a feed to maintain its strength even under heavy attack. She recognized the style of the seals from the clan's own scrolls. This was the place.

Rin placed one finger on the door, moving it along the surface, drawing a sequence of runes with its tip as she chanted. "Be the hammer which splits apart the earth."

The runes she had traced became visible as she fed them with Prana. She took a few steps back as the force shook the door and electric sparks jumped from rune to rune. Then, with a loud crack, the wood exploded as if struck by lightning, leaving a veil of smoke behind. Rin walked through the smoke without a second thought, not wanting to waste a moment.

"Hi...karu-sama." The five members of the Hyūga Clan who had been place in charge of sealing the second daughter of the clan head were half in half out of fighting stances as they stared openly at Rin.

Rin didn't even hear them, her eyes were trained on only one thing, a young girl on a table. Hinata was asleep, most likely drugged for the sealing process. Rin could feel herself shaking with uncontrolled fury at the sight.

She pulled out two kunai and throw them straight at two of the Hyūga clan members. The blades were dodged, but they hadn't been meant to hit anyways, they just needed to transport the tags that were attached to the bottom by a short length of string.

They weren't explosive tags, Rin would never use something so dangerous near her precious little sister. She had found that if one understood the formula, then they could seal just about anything. So right after the kunai's tips sank into the far wall, the seals opened up and a flood of chakra infused water came pouring out of them like from two fire hydrants, slamming into the clan members and staggering all of them.

The moment the kunai were out of her hands, Rin was already forming hand signs. Snake. Ram. Horse. Hare. Ram. Horse. Hare. "Water Release: Water Prison!" She finished her jutsu, clapping her hands together as she commanded the water. All of the water that had been shot out began to gather together around the five clan members, pushing them into a group before forming into a sphere around them, suspending them all and leaving them next to helpless.

Rin couldn't keep up the prison for long. Even if it was only a C-rank jutsu, her child's body had not reached the level were it could support a constant strain like that. But her plans didn't involve keeping them suspended forever.

Keeping her hands together to maintain the jutsu, she traced a rune on the ground with her right foot, giving it a bit of prana. The lightning rune was weak, but it didn't need to be strong, not when its targets were suspended in water. Bubbles escaped from throats as each of the five trapped clansmen's bodies were shaken by the electric shock. It wasn't strong enough to kill, but none of them would be moving any time soon.

Releasing the water prison, Rin preformed a second jutsu on the stunned enemies. Horse. Snake. Dragon. "Wind Release: Gale Palms!" As the prison of water fell apart, the five victims were hit by the concussive blast of wind, throwing them against the wall hard and knocking them unconscious.

With the ninja disposed of, Rin rushed over to Hinata's side, having to climb up onto the table so that she could get a proper look at her little sister. She only breathed a sigh of relief after she brushed aside some of the littler girl's hair to see that her forehead was still unblemished. "Thank goodness." She said as she quietly patted the girl's head.

Hearing someone coughing up water, Rin turned her head back to the five clan members. One of them was trying to push himself... or herself, back up onto her hands and knees.

Rin's anger returned in a flash. She grabbed onto some free rope that must have been used for more difficult individuals and began to make hand signs again. Snake. Clam. Snake. Clam. "Snake Binds."

It was a jutsu that Anko had taught her as a joke, saying that if she was going to be Shirou's 'Master' then she was going to need to get into bondage. That said, it was a handy trick. Projecting the form of a snake over the rope, she made it sliver down and tie itself around the woman. The snake then bit its own tail before returning to being ordinary rope, a tight note tied where the snake's mouth had met its tail.

Rin used one foot to push the woman onto her back and stepped on her chest with a good deal of chakra reinforcing her step, pushing air and water out of the woman's mouth. "I'm impressed. I didn't think anyone would still be conscious." Rin said, dawning her high and mighty attitude.

"Hikaru...sama... why?" The woman gasped.

"I think I will be the one asking the questions here." Rin said putting a bit more pressure on the woman. "Tell me, who was it that ordered you to put the seal on my Hinata."

"The... elder. Your grandfather." The woman said. Rin was not surprise.

"I see. Now tell me, who are you loyal to?"

"To... to the main family."

"Hm... alright then, between me and the old man, who has your loyalty?"

"...I am loyal to the elder. AHHH!" The woman screamed as Rin put a hand on her forehead, activating the seal.

"That was not what I wanted to hear." Rin said, her voice was completely void of emotion. "But if you are so loyal to that old fart, then deliver a message for me. Tell him that I will be the next Head of this clan, and that if anyone lays a finger of my imōto-chan, I will use that power to end this clan. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Hikaru-sama!" The woman cried as she rived about, trying to get out from underneath Rin's hand.

"Very good!" Rin said in a false cheer, before slamming the woman's head against the ground, hard enough to knock her out. She ignored the blood coming from the back of the woman's head as she returned to her little sister. Even if she had killed the others, it wouldn't matter to her. Nothing was more important than Hinata.

Hinata felt more than a little numb as she slowly woke up. The small girl found herself back in her room, her older sister's arm draped over her as they shared a bed and blankets together.

"Onee-san..?" She said, her head hurting as she tried to organize her thoughts. A hand came up to her head as she tried to stop the room from spinning, but as her fingers touched her forehead she remembered what had happened. Her eyes started to tear up and she began to sob softly.

"Hinata-chan, what's the matter?" Rin said, pushing herself up and rubbing at her eyes and giving an overly dramatic yawn.

"Onee-san... They... They were going to... And Oji-san... he said... that we weren't going to be sisters anymore." Hinata struggled to speak through her sobs.

"There there, its okay." Rin said, pulling the three year old girl into a hug. "You were just having a bad dream. That all it was." She gently patted her sister's back as she gave her words of assurance. Rin had decided to try to let Hinata believe that it had never happen. She wanted her sister to be unscarred by the events that had transpired.

Looking back over the day, there were so many things that Rin could have done differently. While the Caged Bird Seal was designed to kill the barer if the seal was removed, it wasn't beyond Rin's skill to undo it without harming Hinata. Or she could have used Shirou's Rule Breaker to remove the seal.

Rin had always prided herself on her rationality. However, rationality had always gone out the window when her little sisters' were involved. Throughout the Holy Grail War, Rin had acted irrationally countless times for the sake of sister, Sakura.

She had revived Shirou not out of some sort of guilt for the death of the innocent, or because she had anything for him at the time. She had spent valuable resources and revived him because he had been someone precious to Sakura. Then, when he turned out to be a master, she had allied herself with him to keep him alive for her.

She had tried to fight a Caster Servant by herself in order to protect her sister. She would have let herself be killed to keep her safe. All sorts of things that were simply irrational, but she did them.

Even so, she had always felt that she hadn't done enough for Sakura. She should have done more. She should have found a way to prevent all those horrible things that happened to her. Again, irrational thoughts, but she still felt that way. She would never let anything happen to Hinata, nor would she allow anything to separate them. She didn't care if her grandfather did run the clan like a cult, she wouldn't let him touch Hinata.

"Don't worry, your Onee-san will never let anything happen to you. I'll make sure you are always safe. I promise." Rin whispered, as she rocked Hinata back to sleep.

Hiashi was not happy.

He had been home for a few hours before he finally found out what had happened, and it had not been from one of his Clan. He had gotten a report from the hospital about the condition of the clan members who his four year old daughter had half drown, electrocuted and given concussions.

After getting the full story, he had nearly gone down to the hospital to finish the bastards off for what they had tried while he was away. Only the gentle words of his wife, Hailyn, had dissuaded him from taking such extreme actions. That, and the knowledge that they were only just pawns.

"Otou-sama, would you care explaining to me why you felt the need to arrange for my daughter to be given the seal in my absence?" Hiashi asked his father. An entire lifetime of subservience was being strained by parental instinct, he and his wife cornered the elder in order to demand answers.

To his credit, or maybe against all reason, the elder was not showing any signs of remorse or embarrassment. He just stood with the exact same look on his face that he always had. "Do not act like this was a dramatic action. Sooner or later, Hinata would have been removed from the main family. That is simply her fate."

"Removed, maybe, but it has never been the tradition to give the daughters of the main family the Caged Bird." Hailyn said with a uncommon frown on her face.

It was true, as the blood of the main family was purer, it was considered too important to squander with the seal. Usually, the daughters of the main house would be made to marry in order to help keep the clan alive.

"Even if her fate was to be separated, you chose to act far too early, and without my permission." Hiashi said, trying to throw around his weight as the clan's Head. "So explain yourself."

"What is there to explain that you don't already know? Your oldest daughter is out of control. We need to have a way to bring her into line. I am sure you are familiar with the concept of a 'whipping boy'." The elder's words made both parents tense up.

The meaning was clear. With the Caged Bird Seal, the Head of Clan, or anyone who has been the Head of Clan, can induce horrible pain with just a thought. The elder was planning on controlling the rebellious Hikaru by inflicting pain on Hinata every time the girl disobeyed.

"How could you even think of doing that to your own granddaughters!?" Hailyn half shouted in her shock.

The elder closed his eyes. "I do not do so joyously, but I have resigned myself to my fate. As one who was once Head of Clan, I must do whatever it takes in order to protect the clan. Do not curse me for the role that Hinata was born into."

Hiashi frowned, something about what he had said felt off. Then, a sudden thought popped into his head. A thought that had never accrued to him ever before. It seemed so simple now that he had thought of it. 'Can fate be changed?' It was something that went against all of the clan's teachers. They said that one was born into a position in the world, and that position would guide them till their eventual end.

According to the elder, Hinata had been born to act as a tool for the main family. But with Hikaru's ultimatum, any action to use Hinata in such a manner would cause the end of the clan. Did that mean that her fate was changed? Had her fate been something else entirely to began with? What right did the clan elder have to intemperate fate? Suddenly, all the things that Hiashi had followed blindly in his life were called into question.

The things that his father had said were fate had always happened before, but was that because they were fate, or because his father had made them happen. Had the events which he had seen as the acts of fate all been just a way of rationalizing their actions. Where they just telling themselves that they were not to blame because they were only the instruments of fate?

"You are no longer the Head of Clan, I am. Matters involving the good of the clan will not be decided by you alone, and you are not to involve yourself with my daughters without my concent." Hiashi said turning to leave. "After recent events, consider yourself on thin ice, Otou-san." He added, right before leaving, his wife throwing a cold look at the older man as she followed her husband out.

"The nerve of that man!" Hailyn said, brisling with a mother's righteous anger. "How dare he think of doing that to any children, let alone his own granddaughters..!"

Hiashi only nodded along, half listening to his wife's rant. He was still thinking, thinking hard about all the times he had made a discussion in his life. Thinking about what would have happened if he had chosen something he felt was more right rather than following 'fate'. How different would the world be?

Finally, he decided something. "Hailyn." He said quietly, causing his wife to stop talking. "I am going to try to do it. I am going to try to change our fate."

The woman's eyes widened. She looked at her husband as if he had just sprouted another head. Hiashi wasn't surprised. Even he hardly believed the words he that had come out of his mouth. But he would do it. For his daughters, for the entire clan, he would fight their fate.

Suddenly, life felt as if it had more meaning.

Bit shorter than usual, but there is going to be a small time skip now, so I can't really add anything here unless you want the Hokage's reaction to recent events.

Rin has pretty much stuck up her middle finger to the majority of the Clan at this point. She drew a line and said, 'cross it and die.'