The Dishonored Raven, the Fox that Never Was, & the Man that Wept
By Pyro Yuki
Author's Note:
Okay, so I've decided to make this chapter not skip time yet. We need to see the after effects of Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto's relationship and what the other Clans have to say about it.
I'm also going to begin with the whole 'other life' thing that I said I would in the Epilogues. This is where things get…complicated. Lol. I'm out of school…for now.
*When Hiashi and Hizashi have their conversation, please read the bottom note at the end. I will explain it fully as much as I can without revealing too much plot.
In the next or following chapter, I'm going to put up short bios of the new versions of Konoha 12. Just so you know.
Sorry this one took longer than the others so far. I was moving.
Also, that question about chakra from Forever-A-Guest shall be answered in this chapter.
Enjoy!~~
… Tends to mean a tiny time skip
Italics are thoughts or a flashback. "." Are words.
(Comments from me)
All original characters and story belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 2: The Price of the Clan
Hinata walked home with Sasuke, smiling. She had been secretly nervous about going to a public school and worried even more about if she'd make any friends at all. She had been surprised, but happy that Naruto was the first to talk to them. The blond must have had a lot of confidence in himself to talk to two Hyugas. Even she knew that her Clan was respected and feared above all the others.
She passed several of her Clan members as they headed towards the Compound. She gave them a small wave and they bowed back to her and Sasuke. Sasuke would just nod.
She looked at the people's stares that lowered as she came near. It made her feel self-conscious. She fiddled with a lock of her hair without realizing it until Sasuke stopped her by taking her hand and walking ahead of her, dragging her along.
"Sasuke?"
"There's no need to do that in front of the other people. What's to prove to them?" He looked at her. She smiled at him, "Right."
"We have to stop by the Hyuga weapons shop to get some kunai and shuriken. Uncle told me that we'd be practicing those this week."
"We've never used kunai or shuriken before," She told him, getting excited.
"Yeah," He smiled and they both stopped by the only weapons shop in the Leaf Village that was still in business.
"20 kunai and shuriken, pops." Sasuke told the Hyuga at the counter. The Hyuga growled at the name pops but turned and went back into the shop.
"Least he didn't call me a black-haired miscreant this time." Sasuke chuckled and smirked. Hinata laughed, though he was right. Not many Hyugas treated Sasuke like a Main Family Member for some reason.
"Anyway, what do you think of Naruto?" He asked his sister, looking her in the face.
"I…I don't know. We only met him today, Sasuke. But I think he's got a lot of courage to talk to us. I still can't believe he didn't squirm every time we talked. No one has done that before but Father, Uncle, and Mother." She reminded him while he nodded, taking out his money. He still had to pay, even if he was a family member.
"If Neji was there, he'd probably say something like, 'he's got a lot of balls' or something."
"Sasuke! Neji wouldn't say that!" Hinata's face turned crimson. Sasuke chuckled.
"Just kidding." He taunted, giving the Hyuga shop owner the money and receiving the case of ninja weapons.
"Gezz." Hinata huffed. "If Naruto is anything like you, I don't know what I'll do. Two Sasukes? The girls would faint."
It was Sasuke's turn to blush slightly. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh please, Sasuke. Half, if not all the girls in the class was drooling at you until you said your last name. Then they fainted inside." Hinata smiled a fiend-like grin.
"Inside what?" Sasuke looked and sounded generally confused.
"Nevermind," Hinata giggled, leaving the shop first and walking quickly ahead of him. Sasuke ran after her.
"Hey!" Sasuke growled, catching up easily.
"But…" Hinata's smile faded from her face. She looked Sasuke somewhat fearfully. "But what do you think Father will say when he finds out we've been making friends with someone like Naruto?"
"He'll have us do push-ups and sit ups until something bleeds." Sasuke paled a bit at the thought.
Hinata opened her mouth to say something back, but because she was looking at Sasuke, she bumped right into someone. Because she wasn't prepared for that, she fell on her butt on the ground.
"Hm?" The someone Hinata bumped into turned. Sasuke got a good look at him. He was a tall man probably in his early 20's. But he had shockingly white hair that, against all laws of gravity, spiked upward and out to one side. But that wasn't the most astounding thing about him. He wore a dark blue headband over his left eye (without the Leaf symbol) and wore a dark blue face mask that went up to his nose, but no more than that. In a nutshell, only one exposed human eye stared at the two kids.
They continued to stare at each other for a while. The man's single eye scanned Hinata then Sasuke before he spoke.
"Oh, it's you two." He causally said, like they bumped into each other every day. Hinata picked herself up.
"Uh, sorry. I didn't-"before the words even left her mouth, three Hyuga clan members had their hands or kunai aimed at the man's neck.
"Apologize to Lady Hinata!" One snarled at him, but still the man looked unfazed. Sasuke didn't know if this man was slow or just that cool. He shook himself. He had never thought of some random Leaf citizen as COOL before.
"I bumped into him! He didn't do any-" Hinata tried to explain without making too much of a scene, but the man had raised one hand and stopped her.
Too late. Sasuke thought as people's eyes leered at them all.
"No need to get hasty, guys. I was just shopping." He shifted the other hand that was holding some groceries. The Clan members didn't even glance at it.
"Apologize!" The first man enforced.
"Okay, Okay." He sighed, then looked at Hinata with no anger, no hate, but closed his eye in a friendly smile.
"I'm sorry, Lady Hinata." He told her like he was saying hello instead.
Hinata nodded, and the three Hyuga backed off and vanished, resuming their posts in the shadows.
The man rubbed the back of his head with the one free hand. "Well, bye." He turned and walked deep into the crowd.
Both Hyuga kids stared after him. How could someone act so calm and collected after that?! Most Villagers were crying at that point, or giving looks of rage.
Sasuke felt another tug of admiration for the man, whoever he was.
(I know, Sasuke, Kakashi is that awesome)
Both kids walked back to their house in silence. But before Sasuke's foot even took one step into the Compound, they were swarmed with Hyuga Branch members, surrounding Hinata and Sasuke.
"Not again," Hinata sighed with irritation as they all examined her- smoothing out her kimono and hair, checking her pulse and giving her the forehead-backhand fever test, (if there is a name for that, I don't care), checking her pale skin and eyes. All of this combined made it painfully look like they were checking her over for some sort of public school disease. Hinata had just gotten used to it over time. The Head or heir wasn't allowed to get sick; only the Head Clan Leader wasn't picked apart like the heir. It also didn't matter if she told them that she was healthy as a horse…they'd just take it as a sick horse.
Sasuke had never been examined to that extent, but he wouldn't say that they never tried to do that to him…or at least the women of the Hyuga Clan. They only did that for him in the days before a huge Clan gathering or a party, not that the Hyuga Clan ever hosted huge parties outside of their Clan.
When Hinata and Sasuke finally got the okay, the Branch members removed their back packs to take them to their rooms for later study. They walked into the house and kicked off their shoes and put them away. They could at least put away their own shoes, they weren't THAT stuck up.
But then again, they did have to change out of their school attire when they got home. Sasuke wondered if any of the other Clans did that. He went into his room to change and she went into hers. After Sasuke replaced his school class with the traditional Hyuga long-sleeved brown haori, Sasuke set the ninja tools case down and opened it. Gleaming silver blades shined light on his skin. He picked one of the shuriken and placed his finger into the hole, twirling it around a little bit. Before…
"Ouch!" Sasuke flinched. The edge of the black shuriken cut into his nearby finger and he dropped it at once. That hurt way more than he thought. He placed his hurt finger into his mouth when the door opened, revealing a man identical to his Father.
"Uncle!" Sasuke blushed with embarrassment. He hoped he didn't see that.
"I did see that." The man that looked so much like Hiashi smiled. That was the difference between the two, besides the odd marks on his uncle's forehead. Uncle Hizashi was always smiling more than Father.
"Sasuke, you shouldn't be playing with those. Didn't I tell you to buy those for practice only?" He scolded him. Sasuke pouted slightly and looked away.
"I just wanted to see them first." Sasuke pouted.
His uncle laughed, "Of course. But next time, don't shout so loud, or the maids will swarm on you again." He winked, placing a band-aid on the bed next to Sasuke before turning and walking out of the room.
"Uncle?"
"Yes Sasuke?"
"Have you or Father ever…ever had a friend outside the Clan before?" He dared asked what was on his mind.
His uncle blinked. "We didn't really have close friends, and I wasn't allowed to go to school like Hiashi." He told him, thinking about it.
"Oh..." Sasuke looked crestfallen.
"Hiashi's classmates were very spirited though. I remember them always getting him into trouble, one way or another." He chuckled to himself at the fonder memories. Hiashi was just like Neji, thrown into something out of his control because of his friends.
Sasuke looked shocked beyond belief. "Really?!" HIS Father was like that?! He couldn't even begin to believe it!
"Oh yeah. Kakashi and Guy were always bringing Hiashi into situations he'd rather not be bothered with. Hiashi was very studious, while Guy wanted to beat both him and his rival, Kakashi. Kakashi just agreed to Guy's challenges to get away from him, but somehow, some way, Hiashi was thrown right in as the middle man." He laughed out loud while Sasuke smiled warmly. So Hinata and he could be friends with Naruto! His father had been friends with two people outside the Clan!
"Whatever happened to Guy and Kakashi? I've never seen them around Father."
The laughter faded from Hizashi's eyes and smile. "Well, Sasuke, your Father became the Clan Head Leader and stopped going on missions with the other two. Guy and Kakashi were still rivals, but Hiashi was now out of the mix."
Sasuke's smile dropped. What did that mean for Hinata? Would she eventually grow more like their Father and forget their friendships all together? The thought chilled Sasuke.
"Anyway, why are you asking all these questions?" His uncle brought him out of his thoughts.
"Um…well, a classmate talked to us today, and he's not from any Clan-"
"And you're wondering if your Father would allow such a friendship…" He finished for him, growing serious while the boy nodded.
"Sasuke, if you truly want to be friends with this classmate, by all means, go for it. You only get a small window of opportunity for a friendship to grow when you first meet someone. And if your Father DOES disapprove, I'll have a little talk with him, okay?" His Uncle assured him. Sasuke grinned.
"Thanks, Uncle!"
…At the same time…
"…What did you say their names were?" Kushina's food dropped from her chopstick back onto her plate.
"Sasuke Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga," Naruto repeated, not noticing this and continued to eat his dinner.
Kushina grew deadly quiet. Her baby was trying to make friends with two HYUGA?! And EVERYONE knew that Hinata Hyuga was the heiress of the Clan! She wanted to scream at Naruto, saying that he was forbidden to EVER say a word to them ever again! So many things could go wrong if Naruto's relations with those two went south.
But then again…this was Naruto's first friendship. Would she really be so cruel as to deny her son's first relationship with someone outside of their home? Their lives could hang in the balance of this friendship. They might even one day turn on him and kill him where he stood. That made her shiver.
"Mom?" Naruto asked, looking up. "You okay? Look, I know that they are Hyuga, but they aren't bad. Sasuke and Hinata didn't buy into any of my classmates' crap about me."
"Watch your tongue, 'ya know?!" She snapped as her emotions were in too much in a whirlwind.
"Sorry, but still. They followed after me to have lunch, even after they heard the rumors about me. They didn't care." He smiled with a warmth that Kushina couldn't force herself to break into a million pieces. Her son was right.
Damn…I remember a time when this was me to Minato. You said I could never lose a fight…Are you laughing at me now, Minato? She asked herself.
"Okay…just…just be careful, Naruto. You know Hiashi could tell them not to be friends with you."
Naruto's smile faded, replaced by determination that shocked the red head. "Then I'll go to the Hyuga Compound myself and not leave until he says yes."
Or he'll leave you as nothing more than a blood splatter on the ground. Obviously, Hiashi Hyuga had given Kushina many reasons not to put her trust in him.
"I think I'll have a heart attack if you do. Fine, but let's just see how things go, okay?"
"Believe it!" Naruto grinned ear to ear, making Kushina snort before eating again.
…
"Come again, Hinata?" The Clan Head frowned at her. They were all sitting on cushions. Sasuke and Hinata both faced him, both looking slightly nervous.
"I…we've made a friend today, Father. Naruto Uzu-"
"I know his last name," he interrupted with coldness in his voice.
"Then we'd like to ask your permission to stay friends with him. Please, Father. Hinata and I would really like to be friends of Naruto." Sasuke bowed to him. Hinata as well.
They didn't see his half-anger half-worried face. Kushina had never once forgiven him since the attack and just as well stayed far away from him and his Clan. For her boy to want to be friends…it was odd.
But should he blame the boy for two parents' squabbles? He knew he could not but still, to be on the safe side…
"No."
Hinata and Sasuke snapped their heads up, but only Sasuke had the courage to talk back to their Father.
"Why not?! You had friends outside of the Clan! Uncle told me!" He pointed at the man who was sitting nearby.
Hiashi gave his brother a glare. He wondered just how much his brother blabbed. Some stories were best left unsaid.
Hizashi just gave him a calm look. "You did."
"Be silent!" Hiashi snapped, too angry to say more.
"Please Father! We've never been talked to by someone outside any of the Clans except our teacher. Me and Sasuke want to be friends with Naruto," Hinata voiced out.
He rubbed his temples like this was all giving him another head ache.
"Naruto Uzumaki is different from the other Village children."
"Why? Because everyone calls him a traitor's son?" Sasuke spoke boldly. "I don't think Naruto has a bad bone in his body. Or if he does, I haven't seen it yet."
"It's not that, Sasuke. When you both graduate, you'll receive your Chakra Ceremony and fully become part of the Hyuga Clan. That's a lot of responsibility and you'll never again be on the same plane as Naruto. He won't have special abilities while both of you will. Trying to work out a friendship doomed to fail is like putting water on a fire. It won't burn brightly at all." He told them through a metaphor.
Sasuke looked to his uncle for help but the man kept silent. Hinata was, for the first time since she was baby maybe, on the verge of tears. Couldn't her father at least let her have that friendship while it lasted?
"You're both dismissed. I don't want to hear about this anymore." Hiashi's voice was final. Hinata stood up with Sasuke and the two left. There was the sound of retreating footsteps when finally…
"Brother-"
"Save it, Hizashi. There was no reason to tell Sasuke about Guy and Kakashi. That friendship sailed before Hinata was even born." Hiashi replied sharply.
"…I was told that Hinata and Sasuke 'bumped' into Kakashi earlier today. You can keep them at arm's length brother, but they will still be there at the other end." He told him wisely.
"You act as though they were YOUR classmates instead." Hiashi told him sharply again. Only the years of Branch Family obedience made his brother hold his tongue for this long.
"You've shut yourself into the Clan, Hiashi. Don't do that to Hinata and Sasuke as well. So what if Hinata and Sasuke will get their full chakra back and Naruto won't? You think that will stop them? Neji is a year older than the two of them, but he has friends and rivals too. Do you think he would change his opinion of them when he gets his own chakra ceremony?"
Hiashi didn't answer, only looked away.
"But they will change, Hizashi. The second they have their Chakra Ceremony, they will begin to reflect on their past, present, and future as I have. Hinata will see a whole other part of herself. A part she might not even like. As for Sasuke…I know he wouldn't like it. It'll be a heavy burden on the boy. So much so that I'm tempted to tell the Fifth Hokage to reconsider giving Sasuke the ceremony at all."
Hizashi closed his eyes and a long time passed before he spoke. "You know that I should have died by now, right brother?* My memories of my other life ended when Neji turned 5. I can only see the present now."
"I know. I haven't forgotten, brother. I remember everything from that past."
"Then why do you think Sasuke shouldn't make friends with Naruto? What does any of that have to do with Obito's Chakra Ceremony?"
"Because Sasuke will see a bloodied past and it will change him. He will see his true family killed by his older brother, Itachi. He had been so swallowed up by the darkness of revenge that he shut everything else out. The memories come back to me only on my birthday once a year, so I can't see more than that yet, but it sends a shiver down my back. Imagine how broken Sasuke will be. How confused. Naruto wouldn't know about any of it."
"And you'll have to tell Sasuke that he isn't your son after all." Hizashi sighed. "I've come rather fond of the boy, brother. I can see that you have too. He is your son in your eyes."
"Nothing gets passed you, does it?" Hiashi sighed, rubbing his temples harder. "That just makes this mess all the more harder to straighten out. The one good thing is that because there isn't chakra flowing throughout the world, I have my brother still with me. And Neji still has his father."
Hizashi smiled again. "So you do care about your little brother. You're softer than I thought."
Hiashi just snorted in embarrassed rejection. That only made his brother continue to smile. They had grown up in different worlds, but they had come together as brothers…as twins after Obito took over.
"You know we also wouldn't be talking equally to each other now if the Elders were still here." Hizashi voiced his brother's thoughts.
"I know. But I don't regret what I did. They meddled in all of our lives and didn't once give us a chance to think for ourselves. The Bird Cage seal would be on Neji's forehead and the other younger members if something hadn't been done.."
"I still can't begin to thank you for that, brother." He bowed to him. Hiashi shook his head.
"Don't bow to me, Hizashi. You are my twin brother, not some other Branch family member," the Clan Head told him.
Hizashi stood up and went to the door to leave, having nothing else to say. "Please brother, just give Sasuke a chance to make new friends. He and Hinata need a strong friend to lean on in case they don't like what they see at the ceremony." He told him, closing the door.
Hiashi stared at the door, lost in his thoughts. His whole Clan had their chakra back and it had become a law of sorts to not let the children receive their chakra until the age of 12 so they could live as children for as long as possible. But they still went through Taijutsu and weapons training until then.
Still…when they are presented to Obito and touch the chakra sphere he possesses, they not only receive their chakra…but memories of another lifetime as well. But for some reason, they only receive those memories on the day of their birthday. It was odd and unexplainable, but Hiashi couldn't ask Obito about it directly. Again, he wondered if he should never have agreed to making that seal with Obito. Was the price too great after all?
What Hiashi and Hizashi didn't realize was that Sasuke had stayed behind and heard half of their conversation. But some of the conversation had been muddled by the wall barrier.
So the white haired guy from earlier was Kakashi. No wonder Father knew him. Amazing people stick together, right? Sasuke smiled. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to see Kakashi again and talk to him properly.
He froze as they began to talk about the Chakra Ceremony. He knew it wasn't normal to speak about it openly, but they were in their own house. What was that part about him and Hinata changing completely from themselves? It was too much to hear. He didn't want to know if his sister would change in the ceremony. What would happen to her?
But he had withdrawn his ear from the door and quietly snuck away before he had heard the rest of the conversation. However, he was very restless for the rest of the night.
…The next day…
"What?! You mean it, Father?!" Hinata gasped. Sasuke's breakfast roll fell out of his hand onto the table.
Hiashi nodded to his children at the table. "I'll allow you to be friends with Naruto but don't let it get in the way of your training." He told them calmly like last night had never happened.
But Hinata and Sasuke didn't care. They shared a smile and got ready for school quickly. This time Hinata wore something a little bit more casual.
Hiashi watched them leave. "Have a good day." He called for the first time and Sasuke and Hinata left the house smiling.
…
"So your father was okay with it? That's great! My mom agreed too!" Naruto told them when they all sat down. He was turned around and smiling at them. He hadn't slept well that night. He was always thinking about his father and staring into his pictures that he now kept tucked in a box under his bed. But he would keep his secret for as long as possible.
Hinata nodded. "I don't know why he changed his mind, but at least he won't be angry."
"Wanna go to the shopping district after school? I got some money to go to that new candy shop." Naruto asked, wondering if that was cool enough. But by the looks on their faces, he had made the right call.
"Pfft! The candy shop? What are you, two?" An arrogant voice came from close by. All three turned to see Ino smirking at them from where she sat.
"What's wrong with that?" Naruto scowled at her. Ino raised an eyebrow.
"Because the two most esteemed siblings in the Hyuga Clan have better things to do besides stuffing their faces with candy." She waved her wrist like it was obvious.
Naruto's face grew red. He had never had friends before! How was he supposed to know what to say or not?
Hinata frowned at Ino. "I've never been to a candy shop. Thank you for your concern, Ino-chan, but I'll be going with Naruto after school." She retorted formally. Sasuke nodded.
Ino looked mad at being shot down, but she just turned her head sharply away. Shikamaru watched from his desk, slumping onto it, but eyeing the whole scene. Despite what he said or looked like, he was the sharpest person in the room.
"Man, what a pain in the ass." He sighed, pressing his face into his desk.
"Choji! Shikamaru! Back me up!" Ino snapped at the two boys who's Clans were closest to hers.
"Let'em be, Ino." Shikamaru groaned.
"Yeah, Ino. We always went to the candy shop after our training practice." Choji told her then took another bite of potato chip.
Ino looked red and furious. She would get pay back on them later in training, since they always trained together.
"What training practice?" Hinata asked, raising an eyebrow of her own. She thought only Hyugas trained in ninja ways.
Ino turned back to her and flipped some hair out of her face with a smirk. "All the Clans have gotten permission to train by the Fifth Hokage himself. Just ask the other Clan heirs. But I bet Kiba has been training with Akamaru since he was in diapers." She looked over at the dog boy.
Kiba glared back. "So what? It's my Clan's specialty to train with our partners. We're the best trackers in all the Leaf! Don't you go forgetting that, brainy-girl."
"What?!" Ino shrieked. He smirked, touching a nerve.
"The Yamanaka Clan are a bunch of brainy blonds that used to work for the Intelligence Core until the Fifth stopped that line of Ninja work. My mom told me that."
"I'd rather be smart than having to smell just as bad as your dogs!"
Akamaru growled just as Kiba did.
"There's nothing special about your Clan anymore, Ino. You're just a bunch of useless people, a fraction of what you used to be. Same goes for Choji's Clan. All they are now are a bunch of fatsos. I don't even know why the Nara Clan even bothers keeping ties with the both of you. They have a medical history that spins circles around you both." Kiba twirled his finger as he said it.
Uh-oh. Shikamaru looked sharply up and over at his best friend.
"…What did you just call my Clan?" Choji's voice got deadly quiet as he stopped eating his chips for once.
"Fa-"
Kiba never had the chance to finish before the chubby boy towered over him and grabbed him by the collar in pure rage.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT?! WE'RE JUST A LITTLE CHUBBY, OKAY?!" The bigger boy roared at a shocked wide-eyed Kiba. Even Akamaru looked startled.
As the whole class waited for Choji to beat the living hell out of Kiba, the doors opened and he never got the chance.
"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?!" Iruka-Sensei snarled.
"Kiba called my Clan fastsos!" Choji growled back.
"Kiba! Choji! Outside, 10 minutes!" Iruka-Sensei ordered, pointing at the door. Both boys growled but stood outside the door in silence for the next 10 minutes.
"You never wanna call Choji a fatso to his face," Shikamaru's voice drawled out to anyone nearby.
"Or you're a dead man," Ino finished. She was smirking smugly as the chaos she had made.
…
"Did you see Kiba's face when Choji grabbed him? I think he was about to wet himself." Sasuke snickered as the three-some left the candy shop. Each of them had a small bag of assorted candy they bought, but each was carrying their own ice cream cone. They were walking through the other parts of the shopping district.
Sasuke licked his chocolate ice cream while Naruto laughed, "Yeah! I never thought I'd see Choji do that."
"Naruto, your ice cream!" Hinata warned, holding onto her strawberry ice cream.
"Thanks," Naruto licked his vanilla ice cream off his fingers.
"Anyway, what was Ino's deal? I thought she was the silent pretty type. Does she have some beef with the Hyuga Clan?" Naruto asked after a bit.
"No, the Yamanaka Clan doesn't have anything against the Hyuga Clan. I think it's mostly to do with trying to get good relations with us to higher their own status. Lots of Clans do that."
"Huh?" Naruto didn't follow well with that.
"She means Ino was trying to be our friend because of our Clan," Sasuke explained.
"That's dumb. You should only be friends if you really wanna be friends..." Naruto muttered, taking a big bite from his ice cream.
Sasuke and Hinata shared at look of half happiness half surprise. Something off to the side caught Hinata's eyes.
"Hey, look!" She pointed at a colorful sign posted in the ground. Hinata went over and read it.
"Fireworks! It says that another nation is coming this weekend to host a fireworks display for the seasonal cherry blossom viewing. I've never seen fireworks before, let's go see it!" she turned happily to the two boys.
Sasuke smiled while Naruto gave her his traditional huge grin. "Sounds great! Let's go see it this weekend!"
Chapter End…
Author's Note~
Okay, so the plot thickens…Naruto has to deal with keeping his own secret about his father, Hinata and Sasuke have to deal with the Chakra Ceremony when they graduate, and the grown-ups have their own inner struggle. It's all just a big mess and it's going to get messier for the main characters. At least Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata's friendship is alright…for now.
Neji and Choji are pretty much the only ones that truly remain the same. Only Neji is more confident and a little more outspoken when alone with his cousins or friends. And he's not a jerk because his father was never murdered for the sake of the Main Family.
*Okay, so about the other life. I tried to explain the best I could in Hiashi's thoughts. The thing is, the Chakra Ceremony is really an oath of loyalty to Obito. If he accepts, then he'll present the chakra sphere to the person to get back their chakra. So far, only the Hyuga Clan has received this power, even though they typically are great Taijutsu masters. However, if everyone recalls, the Hyuga needs chakra to use their Byakugan and chakra to use their Gentle Fist Styles such as Neji's Rotation. Even though the Hyuga Clan looks like huge Taijutsu masters, they still need SOME chakra to take down anyone with their skills. I think only Lee uses NO chakra Taijutsu in his team.
Anyway, when someone touches the sphere, they also receive memories of themselves from the ORIGINAL story line. Sasuke would see his Clan's slaughter like he witnessed it, Hiashi would see his daughter's lack of confidence, Hizashi would see his own death because of the attack from the Cloud Village on Hinata, Neji would see his father's sacrifice and the Bird Cage Curse Seal placed on him and his obsession with fate…etc.
But the thing is, these 'past life' memories only come to the person on their birthday. They see a whole year of their 'other lives' ahead of time on their birthday, then they have that whole year to carry it in their minds. What they do with that information is entirely up to them. Because Hizashi should have died when Neji was younger, he remembers his death and nothing more than that. He doesn't receive any more memories.
If you'd like me to explain it more, PM me. Though I think I've explained it the best I can.
Next Chapter: Heroes Comeback