AN: So blame my sister. No, really. My little sister is half the time my beta reader and the other half constantly pestering me to update. This one though I struggled with because clan politics are serious and I was not in a serious mood lately. Well I was but it went into my one shot Huntress of Konoha. Thank you for all the feedback on this one, I hope to continue to surprise and entertain. Also new poll on my bio. Longer chapters or quicker updates? I dropped asking what people wanted to see when I realized I do better doing a few chapters to a story at a time. Keeps the flow better.

()()()()()()()

Those red eyes have given me goosebumps.

By the time we leave the Uchiha's it is still only late afternoon. Once more I find myself surrounded to hide me away in the center of the group. This time however beside me walk two of the women who are in the group and as much as I really do like Hizashi's talking, my head hurts and the quiet serenity the women are putting out is making me at ease. They do not have the tell tale eyes, married into the clan, but the dark hair is worn long and the attire blends in. I swear I feel antsy..

The walk back to the compound is filled with soft whispers of fabric but no actual conversation. Only once we are inside and secured with groups of Hyuuga peeling off to go elsewhere, likely to gossip over the events I was not paying attention to, do I get whisked off by Hiashi and Hizashi and the oldest Hyuuga I have ever seen. It's the same study as when years ago they were talking to me, and I first met Neiji. Being back in this room is peculiar. How many studies do these guys have? Also, why isn't Kou's father in here this time? Perhaps he stayed behind and wasn't even in the group we took. I half suspect the entire clan would have liked to be present but it's not exactly possible.

"Ziwei-chan, do you wish to know what was decided?" Hizashi asks softly and I look up meeting his gaze. He seems as serene and composed as ever and I didn't realize we'd actually sat down. I think my brain has gone numb. It wants my body to move.

"Honestly, no. Unless it is something I really really need to know I'd like to not turn myself inside out trying to understand all your double and triple speak with particular inside clan terms. I know I have no head for politics and I trust all of you."

Hyuuga's don't smile often but when they do it's quite awe inspiring. Seriously they have pretty genetics as a lot of them and their hair is insanely perfect. The three of them visibly relax and nod.

Bet Tobirama five minutes of sanity that they pulled something they don't want to admit to.

Wait..with how he's been lately, I take that back. I can still take it back, right?

"Indeed, aside from an amount that shall be made available to you upon graduation the rest is mostly details about how they need to approach you with the respect one so affiliated with our clan deserves. Later on, and only later on, there are other details but before you panic." Hiashi says with his hand up.

I shut my mouth.

Dang do they know me or what?

"None of it involved betrothal's or offers."

"I did hear contract at one point.."

"Sneaky thing aren't you. I didn't even see you jump at that." Hizashi mumbles softly and I grin at him. Most the time Hizashi is formal but he has his moments. Comes with regular black and blue fights with his son I guess, and I just know Hizashi is entertained at the idea I 'supposedly' have a crush on Neiji. Such a proud daddy isn't he. Frankly the amount of humor I'm guaranteed for that one does mean I'll let it last for a while. The rumors that is. Neiji's still too strict and severe for my tastes even when we get older. Odd though, I do seem to be attracting that sort around me. Must be to foil the Lee/Yue clan aspects. Seek balance Grasshopper!

Even my brain is rebelling about behaving so long here. You guys have no idea the strain it's taking to not run over and challenge Kou to some stupid tag game just so I can move. Hehehe Tag..Fishies..we gotta do that again sometime.

"I was using chakra to block my hearing for a lot of it so I wouldn't freak out." I confess though because really, if you can enhance hearing why not block it?

"Show us." There's three sets of byukugan eyes on me now and I just roll mine without shame. They. Spoke. In. Unison.

"You are totally going to use it to block out whining children or people aren't you? I'm guessing those never ending meetings that don't do anything." There's a subtle shifting of their chakra that lets me know I have so busted them but it takes the edge off the stress from the meeting and so I do as asked. A breath in and all I hear is the rushing of my own blood the strange echoing sensation of air being drawn into my nostrils and echoing in my skull of my thoughts. With a second breath out I release the chakra blockage and smile.

"...that...we're going to have to figure out the hand signals to help facilitate that..Tiger maybe boar." The elder says as he peers at me full of curiosity. "Tell me, do you generally go without hand signals?"

"Eh..I use them with genjutsu because it helps the concentration since I am trying to force an idea on other people but usually the chakra will just do what I want it to if I can picture it enough. It's only if I am unclear that I need assistance in focusing it. Or it does things I don't expect and I get drained a lot more as a backlash. Remember, fishies? Shoving the Uchiha boy face into the dirt with an unplanned body flicker?" I shrug and grin. "I don't even know the hand signs for that.."

Hizashi is suddenly laughing and I look at him confused. "What'd I do Hizashi-sama?"

"Nothing you should. As usual." He goes so far as to pat the top of my head. I have clearly broken yet another rule here and my brain is just not in the mood to piece it together. Let's just leave it at I have once again amused the Hyuuga and this is indeed a feat.

"Oh okay. So anything else I need to know about the meeting?"

"Don't accept any apologies if they come, or anything indeed that could seem as if a debt has been discharged. Gifts are fine but thank them for the gift with as little surprise and interest as you can manage and never ask why. I would not put it past any of the Uchiha to try and get you to agree a favor has been done and then say they have done the honorable part and have the rest stricken from needing to complete at the later date." Hiashi says taking back up control of this gathering.

"Favor..." I look from one smug Hyuuga to the next. I can almost see metaphorical tails wagging like smug cats. "You got them good didn't you? That's why you're glad I don't know what the promise is because you want to turn it into something even bigger later on."

"Why Ziwei-chan, you said you have no head for politics."

Not to self. Hyuuga's can do shit eating grins. This is surprisingly terrifying.

()()()()()()()

I tried to forget about the whole fiasco.

Lee didn't bring up the event save for how the fight with Neiji went. He got trounced, but much like me it just made Lee all the more eager to improve. We were currently running around the factory helping out because in all the mayhem we'd missed out turn last week when the whole Clan Silent Stare off occurred.

"Hey Lee, Zi come over here and help us with the trash." One of our distant relatives was waving at us.

"Yosh!" Both of us yelled out and then yes we freaking giggled, because if there was anywhere we could be ourselves it was with the rest of the Lee clan. Easy going and roll with the punches sort of defined the nature. Along with stupidly hard working but happy. So we weren't the only kids rushing about and cleaning up. Maybe later on we'd actually assist with bottling or packaging or labeling and delivering items but that usually went to the older kids.

Clean up duty was our privileged right and really, it was. Because our family trusted the kids of our clan to actually get the job done correctly. It didn't matter if you were washing floors or wiping down railings when an adult handed you the tools, showed you only once and then freaking left trusting you to do it?

It's amazing how motivating doing better was when no one was there saying you did it wrong. I regularly saw my cousins go up and ask for help from each other but it was all voluntary. We did a job well because all we ever got were thanks even if the first time was horrid. An inborn desire to improve because we were given a task was astounding when properly harnessed.

"Here you guys.." Our older uncle pointed to the full trash cans. "They're a bit heavy and I want the runts to learn about how to put the bags in. I want them empty first and I grabbed extras so they don't fill as fast. Don't want to make too much of a mess if they slip and end up needing to be washed out."

"Sure thing." Lee nodded and started pulling out the bags and tying them. I went and grabbed four, using chakra to stack them on top of each other and then carry them out with ease even though just one without chakra would have weighed so much I needed to drag it.

"I got these. You pull them out. Is someone else washing them?" I called over my shoulder.

"I'll ask Ling to do that."

"Ping here?" Lee asked, we weren't the only set of twins. "Because he's good at tying the bags so they are snug around the top. Maybe ask him to show the little ones? He moves slower at it so they'll see it easier."

"Ah good idea Lee.." was the last thing I heard from our uncle as I went out the door humming.

Aside from blocking my sense of smell, this was just fine.

()()()()()()()

"We haven't seen Sakura-chan in a while.." Lee said quietly and I looked over, pins in my mouth as I was putting my hair up in a single top bun for the day as Ten-ten and I were going to practice dodging with our forelocks out. Just to be sure we didn't remove a huge chunk of hair, we would both have a topknot instead.

"Invite her to join ten-ten and me. You can practice on the post but I bet she'd like having people not scared of her throwing live ammo." It came out slow as I eased each pin in so the topknot would be extra tight.

"I think the little blossom would be frightened of hitting you."

"She needs to get over that. Besides, we're all so used to each other it will be good for us no matter how bad her aim is."

Lee pauses, looking down. He's only shy and hesitant around Sakura and you know the cuteness level is kind of addicting. "Look Lee, you can tell her I asked and then repeat what I just said. Even really bad aim will be good because not everyone we face some day is going to be a genius. If she only wants to watch, you can do that together too."

Lee still won't meet my eyes and so with a smirk I go and poke his cheek. "I bet if she is struggling with her aim you can help her..."

If anything gets Lee excited, it's helping people. I'm twirled around in a rib cracking hug before my brother runs off and laughing I stick my head out the window to yell. "Training ground Two!"

"YOSH!"

"Hey Zi-chan!" Ten-ten waves up at me from the street and with a grin I just slip out the window, dropping down beside her with a bounce. Acrobatics training, a two story drop is nothing.

"Ready?"

"Very. Where's Lee running off to?"

"Sakura may come and throw things at us and I have no idea how good her aim is."

"Fantastic! I've been wanting to meet her anyways. Think she has enough things to throw our way or should I unseal one of the scrolls?"

"Unseal one and Lee will probably help her out."

"Oh I love how you think."

We're ninja in training remember? Brains so do not apply.

It doesn't take us long to fall into our stretches and by the time I'm helping apply a little pressure to Ten-ten's back so she reaches farther Sakura is there. Her eyes are shining and even though her body language is unsure you can just tell shes over the moon to have been invited. Lee is going on a mile a minute still reassuring her so I just wave. Awkwardly. With a foot.

"How did you..?" Sakura says and I look over, arms still braced on Ten-Ten's shoulders and lift my foot so it's equal to my head's height in a straight line and wiggle my toes in greeting. "..do ..yes that."

"Lots of stretching. Ten-ten is just still learning but I've been doing it since I could walk really. Something of a family tradition for the girls."

"Wow.."

"If you want when we're doing our cool down stretches I can show you some really easy ones. You have to promise not to judge based on what we can do though, it's like I wouldn't expect to handle the logic puzzles you do for fun."

"She that smart?" Ten-ten asks from where she's trying to get her forehead to her shins.

"Sakura-chan is the smartest girl I know!" Lee agrees and Sakura's face goes magenta.

"Nice! So I unsealed a bunch of extra weapons on that scroll there you guys can use. Thanks for helping us with this!" Ten-ten says as she finally stands, smiling and bows to Sakura. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sakura-chan. My cousins are always talking about you."

"H...hai! Nice to meet you too!" Sakura gets pulled over by Lee who is helping divide up the weapons and explaining the exercise. Ten-Ten's brown eyes meet mine and she smirks.

"You're right. She's so blasted adorable..and together.."

"You in on it?"

"Getting them together? Absolutely. She'd make a good match for him. Especially if she learns confidence." Ten-ten and I both were a bit on the outspoken side but we had enough older shy cousins who could still hit a needle through a target at fifty meters to know you didn't have to be loud to be lethal.

"Let's start."

The practice became sheer mayhem. Ten-Ten is the accuracy master and everything she threw at me was actually aiming for my forelocks. My greater skill in dodging and acrobatics had me twisting out of the way and while I'm behind her in skill my kunai and shuriken went closer to her skull than she wanted just as often. It turned out of course that Lee was great if not wanting to really hit us but Sakura when he adjusted her stance and gave her a little extra praise?

She was a determined thing and no less than twelve times Ten-Ten and I had to drop to the ground. I think the fact we were cackling like mad people only encouraged her. When finally everything had been thrown we started gathering them up and I saw Ten-Ten go over and ask Sakura questions, likely offering to tutor her.

Lee was beaming as he raced me to see who could gather more discarded weapons faster.

For the first time I could forget those red eyes for a while.

()()()()()()

"We're going to graduate soon." Lee said with a tilt of his head a few months later and I nearly ran into a wall.

It had been so long already? I mean I lost time because I was constantly training but...

Wow.

"Zi?"

"Just startled me. I guess.."

"Yeah."

Smiling at Lee I started walking again but my thoughts were elsewhere. That meant if my sketchy memories worked, we had barely over a year before the events I knew of started. So many things had changed but Naruto was still himself if all the rumors I had heard were to be believed. So sue me, the first thing I was debating?

Why didn't we ever see that massive Kinjutsu scroll again after he stole it? It must have been destroyed. How many techniques were in that that if I knew, if the rookie's knew..could have changed things?

I wonder...

"I wanna stop by the library Lee, meet you home?"

"Sure! Want me to grab us some mochi on my way?"

"Please. Don't forget to get extra, I think it's dad's night to cook again."

"Oh..I am glad we have food but I wish he'd let us take over his nights. Or at least let me make the rice.."

Waving we separated and I smiled as I walked into the library. I had an idea. It was crazy, probably wouldn't work, and would definitely be stupid.

Which of course meant I had to try it. Picking out a nice boring history book on my favorite Kage I went to the back and opened it up. I licked my lips. I probably should try this at home but..no one came into the civilian library. Even the librarian was a half asleep genin who never advanced and just let us stamp our own books out since nothing secretive or special was in here.

Rustling in my school bag I pulled out a blank piece of paper and pens to scatter about before tilting my head. Yeah. Back up plan...

I'd gotten surprisingly good at genjutsu with Ko's assistance. Not the battle kind yet, that took a whole different application that you weren't supposed to show kids until after they graduated but subtle? I'd bribed a hidden in plain sight one off him with the promise I wouldn't tattle if he skipped out on our session to go meet with a girl.

A girl that I can assure you would not meet Hyuuga approval but hey. I'm not judging if I get something for it. Besides chiding Ko to remember protection and the pallor of his face before it went red was so, so, so worth it.

I'd managed to learn that as long as I used the same hand signs with genjutsu's I created it worked, it didn't have to be tiger or rat as seemed to be the most common. So for this one, My own rendition of hide in plain sight I had specifically chosen one that could be done without ever drawing attention.

Monkey.

Hands facing each other at the palms, almost looking like one was holding their own hands. The beauty was I could do that, lean forward with my arms crossed and no one would notice.

And I still didn't need to vocalize. Instead I used a mental mantra of sorts because it just helped cut down on how long until I could throw out a jutsu.

'No one can find me. I am not worth the attention to notice. No one can find me.' I thought as my hands met and slightly pulsed out the chakra I could feel it working when I did things this way and it was so smooth, like molten chocolate. The image was already built in my mind, using something I'd practiced and the hand signs to enhance it just made it even more dangerous. This was my first real genjutsu that was all mine and it probably wouldn't work against the eyes of Uchiha and Hyuuga that were out there, but everyone else?

It seemed like my chakra was muted, my presence hidden, memories of me would just be a genderless blah person, right down to sound and scent, encouraging if found to just not pay attention. I didn't hide entirely like the one that Ko had shown me, that would draw attention. No this just tricked anyone around that I was of less interest than anything else in the area. Slowly I felt it settle around me comfortably thick and heavy like a comforter on a cold morning and then let my hands shift.

One on the open page, one on the blank one.

Maybe...

Okay. Chakra manipulation for me unlike everyone else seemed to often boil down to being able to desire something to the point I started to visualize and then keep up the chakra flow enough for the follow through.

My eyes locked onto the words on the page. I needed them to copy over. I imagined a sort of soft seeping in of my chakra, following, finding the marks on the pages and then much as if a building matrix, the forms copying down on the page next to me. Line after line, flawlessly...without any bursts of chakra. I did not need to be found...

If my chakra has grown to be more like a bucket, that motion just felt like someone cracked it in half and most of it went gushing out of me.

Groaning I drew back, letting my head flop down on the book. Okay. That didn't work and it really didn't feel good. Maybe I needed to see if there was a sort of duplication jutsu first?

Grumbling because well it had been a good idea but now I'm tired I shoved the paper in my bag and replaced the book. At least I have mochi to look forward to.

Maybe I should have tried a book that wasn't on Tobirama?