*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
Rin moaned as the obnoxious sound filled the early morning. She blindly batted at the horrible alarm clock, trying to silence it, finding it to be just out of her reach.
"Rin-nee-san, turn it off..." Hanabi whimpered, pushing her pillow over her head to try to block out the noise.
"I'm tryin..." Rin mumbled weakly, but she still couldn't reach. "Oh screw it." She fired a curse, silencing the alarm clock as it was blasted off the table and fell to the ground in pieces. With order restored, she rolled back over and wrapped her arms around her youngest sister, trying to get back to sleep.
Unfortunately, a knock came at the door a moment later. "Rin, Hanabi-chan, you need to get up. Breakfast will be ready in a few and you don't want it to get cold." Shirou's voice came in through the door. Both sisters gave out sighs of frustration before sitting up in their bed, grudgingly preparing to face a new day.
Though the house provided by the Uchiha had plenty of rooms, the three Hyūga sisters all shared a single room and a single large bed. Hinata had woken up earlier and left without waking her sisters up, having taken the habit of trying to learn cooking from Shirou in the mornings, but both Rin and Hanabi were not so good in the early hours.
It was shortly after Hanabi was born that their mother became ill. That was when Rin was once again reminded of the limitations of her abilities. She had never thought that something as simple as a bacterial infection would have been the thing to take her new mother away from her, but that day she had discovered that just like how bacteria had evolved to resist antibiotics, they also evolved to resist mystic forms of healing. Over use of Medical Ninjutsu had caused the creation of illnesses that could not be fought with simple mystics.
If she had even considered that as a possibility, or had more time to prepare...
Immediately following her death, Rin took Hanabi from the Hyūga complex. Seeing the tears in her eyes, none dared to even try to stop her in her distressed state. She didn't go to school for that first year, neither did Shirou. They both decided to just start a year later so that they could focus on taking care of baby Hanabi. Besides, Rin didn't want to leave Hinata or Naruto alone either. So when Hinata and Naruto entered the Academy, Rin and Shirou skipped into the second year. Again, no one tried to stop them.
It had been a little over four and a half years since they had moved into the Uchiha grounds. The Uchiha looked at Rin with a bit of resentment, in part do to the fact that there was an entire block in the middle of their territory that they couldn't enter because of the barriers she set up, they grudgingly accepted her existence there, even if they didn't paid her all the respects due to her as an heiress of a high ranking family. They hardly even noticed quiet little Hinata, and they didn't treat Naruto any differently than he was treated back at the village, meaning it seemed like half the people actively had a problem the with possessed child while most of the other half just wanted him to leave them alone.
Shirou on the other hand they looked at as if they expected to see holy light shining out of his butt whenever he bent over. There was hardly anyone among the Uchiha who didn't refer to Shirou as Ena-sama and they always seemed a few moments away from bowing down a kissing his feet. It was something that disturbed Shirou, and that Rin found very amusing. They honestly thought he was somehow divine.
Rin and Hanabi got dressed and lazily made their way towards the kitchen.
If any of the people in their Clan hoped that Hanabi would be the one that tried to stick more to the old ways, then they were sorely disappointed. The youngest sister practically worshipped her older siblings, and was not raised with any of the Clan's old traditions in mind, save for the use of the Gentle Fist. She dressed in rather casual clothes, rather remnant of civilian garments rather than any of the Hyūga's traditional attire.
That morning she was dressed in a simple pink blouse with the Land of Fire symbol on the back and a light blue skirt. Her long hair was more of their father's brown then the darker raven of their mother, and it was so long that even when tied it still reached her waist.
"Good morning, Onee-san, Hanabi-chan." Hinata said from over by the stove where she stood with Shirou as the boy instructed her on cooking.
"Morning Hinata-nee-san." Hanabi said as she sat down at her normal seat at the table where there was already a cup of hot chocolate waiting for her.
Rin also took her seat and started to drink from her cup of coffee. "Not bad, could use a little more cream." She said, leaning back in her chair and giving a short yawn.
"If there was any more cream in it, it would be more cream that coffee." Shirou said as he showed Hinata how to add the drippings from the grilled fish into the eggs without mixing in any of the scales and lower the flame to give the mix time to soak up the flavor. Rin pouted at his back before going back to her coffee, trying to ignore Anko's snickers. "Morning, you two."
Shirou's appearance hadn't changed too much in the last few years, other than his hair fading completely to white. He wasn't short, but he wasn't all that tall yet. He would still have a large growth spurt ahead of him. Rin had to cherish the time she had when they were about the same size before he turned into a giant, like she was almost certain he would.
"Morning Shirou-nii-sensei." The four year old girl said, using her traditional term of address for the boy. She had been calling him that ever since he had become the one to start teaching her Taijutsu at the age of three. It wasn't really a proper way of addressing someone, but Rin and Anko thought it was too cute and refused to let anyone correct her. Shirou was just glad she wasn't still calling him Okaa-san like she did when she was two. That had been hard to explain to Hiashi when the father came to visit.
Rin and Anko engaged in some light chatter while Shirou and Hinata set out food for everyone. It was just an ordinary morning for them, with only a single element missing. "Has anyone seen Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, looking towards Naruto's empty seat.
"The Little Fox ran off earlier this morning with Mutt Face and Chubby to go vandalize the flower shop." Anko informed them as she kept eating.
"Why?" Shirou asked, looking to the unconcerned 'adult'.
"Because Blondie's daughter and her friends have been getting too pig headed and they are aiming to get some revenge." Anko explained.
"I meant, why didn't you stop them?" Shirou said, rephrasing his question.
Anko blinked as if confused. "And why would I do that?"
Rin chuckled. "Anko-nee, you are a horrible sensei."
"I have no idea what you are talking about! I'm the best sensei ever!" Anko said, stabbing a piece of toast with her fork and waving it at Rin. "This is going to be a valuable lesson for the lot of them!"
"What lesson is that?" Hanabi asked through a mouthful of eggs.
"The importance of recon, careful planning, evaluating your target, and most importantly, preparing yourself for the retaliation." Anko said, a very snake like smile spreading across her face as she bit a large chunk out of her toast. "This is a lesson they are about to learn the hard way. The Yamanaka women are very defensive of that flower shop, and regardless of how prim and proper they look and act, those roses have their thorns."
"Ah, I see. You aren't a horrible sensei, you're just evil." Rin nodded in approval as Hanabi wordlessly shivered in agreement.
"Some of the best learned lessons need to be experienced for one's self." Shirou said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"I hope they don't get hurt too badly." Hinata said, praying for the safety of her friends.
They dropped Hanabi off at one of the Uchiha's house on their way to school. She was a little young to be starting herself, and they didn't want to leave her at home alone like they would have with Shirou. Luckily, there was a woman just a few houses down who had a son the same age as her and she didn't mind watching the girl while everyone was at school.
The way to school was a rather long walk, since the Uchiha were located outside of the main village, but the path was well worn and they were used to walking it. Anko ran on ahead, needing some time to prepare for her classes.
While both the Uchiha and the Hyūga lived outside of the village, it wasn't really as willing when it came to the Uchiha. It wasn't hard for Shirou and Rin to see how bitter the Uchiha elders were about having been driven out of the village that they had helped to set up by the very civilians who they had dedicated their lives to protecting.
Bitter probably wasn't a strong enough word for it. At times they could be heard shouting about it whenever they got drunk enough. Over a hundred people all driven out of their homes and forced to live in a gated community. It was enough to make anyone angry.
It was during these long walks towards the main village that they usually bumped into a few of the other children from the Uchiha Clan that went to the ninja academy. "Morning, Itachi, Sasuke-kun." Shirou said, as they came across the two brothers. They often spotted each other along the road.
Sasuke was the same age as Hinata and Naruto, making him in the grade just under Rin and Shirou, while Itachi had long since left the academy. Even so, the older brother was often seen taking his younger to school when he could.
The two of them were a bit of a contrast. While they both had the black hair and eyes that characterized the Uchiha, Sasuke looked his youthful nine years old with innocent eyes and an energetic smile, while Itachi's face looked a bit worn far beyond his fifteen years, even though he tried to smile.
Itachi was considered a genius when he became a Gennin at the age of seven and now at the age of fifteen he was part of the ANBU. It was a very impressive feat. Though Shirou would admit to having never actually seen Itachi in action, and his blade didn't tell him much about the boy, as it was more of a side arm in the young man's combat style rather than the primary tool.
Still he had talked to the Uchiha boy on often enough and they got along pretty well. Despite being ANBU, Itachi was a believer that large scale conflict was something to be avoided, regardless what village would benefit or be hurt. Shirou shared with him some of his own ideals. He liked the Uchiha enough to make a sword for him, even though he hadn't for most of the others who had asked.
"Good morning!" Sasuke shouted as he ran up to join them.
"Morning, Shirou." Itachi said with a short nod of the head.
"Where Naruto? He hasn't decided to drop out has he?" Sasuke said looking around for the hyperactive blond.
"Naruto-kun went on ahead to meet up with Kiba-kun and Chōji-kun." Hinata said, trying to defend Naruto in his absence.
"Really? What are those guys doing? Causing trouble?" Sasuke said, crossing his arms.
"Play nice." Itachi said, poking his brother in the forehead.
"He isn't exactly wrong." Rin said with a short sigh.
Sasuke and Naruto had something resembling a friendly rivalry. It was all really childish.
It started when the two of them got into an argument they had before they ever even got to school about who was better, Shirou or Itachi, and they had been competing with each other ever since. Something that was rather sad for Naruto.
Sasuke might not have been at the level of his older brother, but he was still a genius and had several advantages given to a son of the Clan Head, were as Naruto...
Rin and Shirou had tried, they really did. The problem simply was that Naruto was a nine year old with ADHD. He couldn't understand complex theories or how to weave his chakra into something usable. No matter how many times Rin tried to explain it to him, his just zoned out half way through and forgot it all later. So while he had tons of Chakra, his Jutsu were rather shitty.
Shirou had attempted to teach him more about combat to make up for it. Naruto was stronger and faster than his peers, and his body quickly adapted to the stances and forms that were taught to him, but he lacked the patience needed to find openings and plan ahead. So in the end, his fighting style was only a little better than the other students. Him an Sasuke were around on the same level, but were Sasuke would continue to improve, Naruto would fall behind if he couldn't overcome his handycap.
ADHD was normally caused by the frontal lobe of a child's brain developing slower than normal, symptoms include a short attention span, a quickness to anger, and an inability to properly make connections between objects, for example not being able to tell the difference between a cat and a dog because both have four legs, a tail and fur.
This could have been brought on by the malnutrition he suffered in his early life, or perhaps head injures from abuse, or maybe the seal itself caused it. Bad genetics could also be an issue. Luckily it was also a condition that tended to get better as they grew older and the frontal lobe continued to develop. Though some of the bad habits he developed as a child would more than likely stick with him for life.
To a Magus, ADHD was practically the kiss of death. Good focus and a comprehension of form was too important. Any mistake made during a complex spell could mean the death of the caster, and Jutsu were the same way. So any risky forms of energy control needed to be kept away from Naruto until he was more ready to learn. They would just have to hope he doesn't get killed or suffer greater brain damage before then.
If it didn't get better, they would have to take drastic measures. They couldn't wait around for ever for Naruto to smarten up, but magecraft to rearrange brain tissue was something that even Rin didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole if she could help it.
Regardless, in most fields, Sasuke wiped the floor with Naruto. This itself was countered by Hinata out performing them both, much to their embarrassment. So in the contest between Shirou and Itachi, Rin was the winner.
Sasuke was able to learn a C rank Jutsu and gained some control over the Fire Chakra Tranformation at the age of nine, an impressive feat. Hinata had already learned twenty C rank Jutsu and two B rank Jutsu as well as the healing Mystic Hands. She mastered Water Chakra Transformation and some control over Earth from her older sister's teachings.
While Sasuke's family Taijutsu style was pretty good, it was heavily reliant on the information that came from the Sharingan eyes, which Sasuke didn't have yet, and wasn't up to the standards of the Gentle Fist. Sasuke had decent skills of several types of weapons but that couldn't compare to what Shirou had taught Hinata about weapon use.
The shy little girl was top of her class in just about everything, though she didn't boast about it.
Without Naruto there, the walk was a lot quieter. Sasuke still talked, trying to fill the void, but mostly it was just Rin and Itachi, both trying to question the other and both dodging the other's questions. The two of them had been trying to uncover the secrets of the other since they had first set eyes on each other. The fact that Rin was unable to really get her hands on any Sharingan was annoying her to no end, and the way she used magecraft that they Sharingan couldn't analyze was driving the Uchiha crazy. Each unwilling to give any real information, but each showing off whenever the other could see in order to taunt them.
The Academy was near the back of the village, by the cliff face. This was for tactical reasons. The cliff was filled with passage ways that could be used in case of an attack on the village and the children were always first priority for getting to safety.
So it wasn't long after moving through the inner gate that they heard the sound of laughter and a small dog's yipping coming from the school. With their Byakugan eyes, Rin and Hinata were the first to know what was going on. "Oh no." Hinata said, before running ahead of the rest of the group, clearly worried. Rin on the other hand was trying to hide her laughter.
People were gathered around the large tree that grew in front of the school, the one that never seemed to die no matter how many years went by without it having a single leaf on it. Shirou suspected that it wasn't a natural tree, but Rin wouldn't tell him whether or not his guess was right.
Tied up and left to hang from the tree's branches like human pinatas were Naruto, Kiba and Chōji. The three boys were covered in bruises and various colors of paint. Kiba's ninja puppy, Akamaru, was running around underneath them, yapping its head off.
"Oh no." Shirou said, covering his eyes in embarrassment.
"It would seem that Anko-sensei was right on the money." Rin said as he little sister threated about getting the boys down without hurting them further.
"We really should get them down." Shirou said.
"Do we have to?" Rin said, tapping her finger against her chin. "They make such colorful pinatas. How about we just get a few sticks instead?" Shirou gave her a look. "Fine, cut the ropes and I'll catch them."
Shirou throw a few traced kunai at the ropes, cutting all three of them at the same time. The boys gave shouts of surprise as they were suddenly falling towards the ground, but before they got there, Rin flicked out her hands and said a few words in old Swedish.
The three boys stopped in mid air, just inches away from the ground, hovering there for a brief moment before dropping the last bit with a soft thud.
"An impressive Jutsu." Itachi said, having watched the whole thing.
Rin turned to the Uchiha. "Yes, and I bet you would just love to know who I do it, wouldn't you, Itachi-kun." Rin said with a wide and playful smile. "Sorry, but that is my little secret. Of course, if you want to tell me all about your Sharingan, then I could tell you."
The two of them looked into each other's eyes, Rin's playful, Itachi's annoyed. The Sharingan started to appear in his eyes, the three tomoe circling slowly. Rin only giggled.
"Do you honestly think that a Genjutsu would work, Itachi-kun?" She said, taunting the boy as she easily waved off his attempts to enter her mind. Of course Itachi hadn't expected it to work. It had only been to get her to drop her guard.
Two fingers came up, bumping her against the forehead, surprising her and knocking her backwards to fall on her butt. "Not today, Rin-chan." He said with a slight smirk before appearing to disappear into a cloud of crows.
"Why you!?" Rin said, turning on her Byakugan and searching the boy out. She formed a few handsigns and the surrounding kids jumped as a bolt of lightning jumped from her outstretched hand, smashing into a far away roof top. It was too far away for any of them to see with normal eyes, but based on Rin's body language and still hot temper, she had missed the shot. "I'll get you back for that, Itachi-kun. I'll get you."
Meanwhile, Shirou and Hinata were tending to the tied up boys, cutting them free and seeing to their wounds. Hinata was looking after Naruto and Kiba, each of whom were claiming that it was no big deal and trying to put on a strong front in front of the girl as she used her Mystic Hands to heal their wounds. Shirou was taking care of Chōji who wasn't trying to hide how much distress he was in.
The Mystic Hands was a useful skill, and fairly simple if one hand a detailed understanding of the human body and enough Chakra. Hinata mastered it quickly when Rin started to teach it to her. It was basically the polar opposite of the Gentle Fist technique, using one's own chakra to mend and open up Chakra flows rather than damage and close them. It took more Chakra to preform, but through the Mystic Hands, Hinata finally got used to using her Gentle Fist.
Shirou didn't have the advantage of seeing exactly where the Chakra flows were, but with Structural Analysis, he could fine them none the less. The Mystic Hands and Gentle Fist were both techniques that only required the use of basic Yang Chakra and so he could use them even with his rather... glaring flaws.
"Shikamaru was right... girls are scary... We shouldn of gone..." Chōji whimpered as Shirou saw to a rather large lump on his head.
"What motivated you all to try to vandalize the flower shop?" Shirou asked calmly as the boy continued to cry.
"Ino... Ino and her friends has been being mean to Hinata-chan." Chōji said, whipping the tears out of his eyes.
"Ah..." Shirou said, thinking back to a few of the things Anko had told him.
It was fairly common for the girls at the Academy to make friends during their early years, but they always turned on one and other during the later years of school. Friendships dissolving into bitter rivalries. The reason was because of boys. It always seemed to be that way with school girls. The problem stemmed from a bit of a cultural issue as well as something that was a part of tradition.
Girls were brought up being told that strength, talent and influence are everything. That they should look for boys like this and fall in love with them. So all of the girls usually ended up falling in love with the exact same boy in their class, the one who was at the top of the class. In Shirou and Rin's year, it was Neji, and in Hinata and Naruto's it was Sasuke. While they were all in the same class, they were constantly undermining one and other's attempts to get close to the boy, which is why they all had their eyes on the same prize.
It was no secret that they always paired the top boy and top girl together on the same team after graduation. It was the chance to get to be alone with the boy that they had a crush on. They would be on several dozens of missions together throughout their pubescent years, and would have the chance to grow close.
However, with Hinata being trained by people like Shirou and Rin, as well as having her natural advantages, the girls didn't stand much of a chance competing with her for the top girl spot. This led to them all pretty much hating the shy little girl, even though Hinata never did anything to deserve it. It wasn't help by the fact that Hinata was living on the Uchiha compound and therefore had the 'unfair advantage' in the first place.
None of the girls seemed to realize that Hinata had no interest in Sasuke at all. Which came about because Rin had been the one to teach little Hinata about what was important in the world. So rather than chasing after some boy who was strong or from a powerful family, her idea of what made for a good crush was someone who was nice and had a beautiful dream.
It had been one of the things that Rin had said a lot about Shirou as Hinata was growing up. That his dream was beautiful in the way only something that stupid could be. When Hinata asked what Shirou's dream was, Rin had laughed and told her that Shirou wanted to be an 'Ally of Justice'.
Hinata had fallen for Naruto because of the boy's seemingly impossible dream. Rin knew it, Anko knew it, most of the boys in the class knew it, even little Hanabi knew it. But no matter how obvious it was to all of the people who really knew her, the girls at her school didn't seem to notice. Then again, Naruto never seemed to notice, nor did Shirou.
Chōji stopped crying as Shirou patted his head. "Thank you for trying to look out for Hinata-chan. But how about next time you came to me instead and I'll try to help you work it out in a way that won't get you into trouble, deal?" Chōji nodded energetically. "Alright then, you'll be alright, but I can't do anything about the paint. Try to make the best of today anyways, alright?"
"Okay, Shirou-senpai." Chōji said before getting up and trying to get away from the other laughing students, joining Hinata, Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke as they went into class together. Shirou joining an angry Rin to go to their own class.
I'm going to just start putting this at the bottom of every chapter because otherwise people seem to forget about it.
I remind everyone that not everything I say is canon. I am using various things from Philosophy for the mechanics for Magecraft/Ninjutsu, rather than anything said in canon or on the wiki. Nor is my knowledge of the history or story canon in either Fate or Naruto entirely accurate. Not that I personally care too much. That kind of stuff is like history, and history was always my least favorite subject in school, and a good self contained story can be written without it.
If you wish to suggest changes or additions that you think will improve the story, then feel free, though I maintain the right to disagree with you.
If you have complaints without any suggestions then you can fuck right off, because that's not how criticism is supposed to work.
PS. Powerlevels are bullshit.
PPS. The Sharingan is bullshit.