They received one day off each week, though calling it a 'day off' was probably too generous; it was a day of no exercise or physical exertion, but they still had training to complete. In Sakura's case it was reading, and Hiroki had given her a hefty stack of books to study from, on every topic from human anatomy to a history of blacksmithing in Grass Country.
She wanted to groan under the massive pile, but since it had come with a small roll of bills for snacks 'as motivation', she couldn't honestly complain too much. There was this nice cake shop she had been meaning to visit for almost a month now, and hadn't quite had the time…
There were actually a few people already in line, but the girl at the register was quick to sort out everyone's orders and in no time Sakura was enjoying her first bite of a delicious creamy chocolate cake while seated under the awning outside the cake shop. As she let out a soft sigh of satisfaction she glanced around, taking in the lovely summer weather and the nearby patrons. At the next table over, a girl a few years older than Sakura giggled softly at something her older ninja companion said, while a few tables down a Chunin she vaguely recognized from the academy scribbled furiously in a scroll. Sakura frowned slightly and glanced back at the couple; there was something familiar about the girl in the deep purple yukata…
"Sensei?!"
"Oh, good morning Sakura-chan!"
Sakura's definitely male teacher brushed back the spiky profusion of ebony locks that dangled to her shoulders and smiled over the edge of a deep red scarf piled loosely around her neck.
"Fancy seeing you here today! Oh, where are my manners; this is my boyfriend, Hyuuga Tetsuhide. Tetsu-kun, this is one of my Genin students, Haruno Sakura."
The white eyed man offered a polite head nod, sending his long blue-black hair swaying gently.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Haruno-san; Hiroki-chan has spoken much of her team."
Sakura stammered out a similar greeting, but couldn't help herself as she boggled at the definitely female Hiroki sitting across from her. Sensei even had boobs! And, he-she?, did look a little different, the bones of her face a little smoother, a little more feminine, though slightly shaded towards androgyny.
"Sensei, I- you're…" -she paused for a moment, her brows drawing together as her eyes narrowed suspiciously- "Kai!"
The little pulse of chakra didn't seem to change anything, though Sensei smiled at her effort.
"Very good Sakura-chan. But no, I really am being a girl right now. Tetsu-kun is generally ambivalent to gender, but he does prefer girls slightly over boys. Though I wouldn't have thought of using it recreationally if it weren't for Naruto. Such a clever child."
Sakura's gaze flickered back and forth between her teacher and her teacher's boyfriend, trying to come up with something to say as her mouth worked silently.
"Uh... how did you two meet?"
Hiroki smiled cheerfully.
"Through our mutual girlfriend actually, Aburame Hanako. You might like her, she's a very successful kunoichi, very strong. Devastating stealth too, I think she might get an offer to join ANBU in a year or two. What do you think?"
Tetsuhide nodded placidly, his face still set in a mild expression of calm enjoyment.
"She is very good at concealing her presence, and her kikai would be a potent asset as well. Though, you would know better than I."
Sensei waved a hand at her boyfriend goodnaturedly.
"Oh stop. I know for a fact your name was under consideration at one point too."
He tilted his head acknowledgingly.
"Yes, but I am content with my position. Someone has to teach the next generation."
Sensei giggled again, the sound oddly genuine, and gave him a gentle smile.
"And good with children; I'm so glad I didn't kill you."
The Hyuuga's return smile was faint, and bemused, but quite fond.
"I am too. Well, I am afraid I must depart, papers to grade. Haruno-san, it was very nice to meet you. I will see you tomorrow night?"
He glanced back at Hiroki who smiled gently and nodded, before he walked away.
Sakura stared after him before glancing back at Sensei, face contorted with utter confusion. She tried to arrange her thoughts, but there was quite a lot of competition for the forefront of her mind.
"You… almost killed him?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, well; I was planning on it though, a little. How much do you know about the Hyuuga?"
Sakura frowned slightly and thought back over her academy lessons.
"They're one of the four noble clans of Konoha, and… they have a doujutsu, don't they?"
The young kunoichi's teacher nodded approvingly, traces of a smile still lingering around the edges of her expression as she looked after her departed lover, though her eyes had grown slightly cooler.
"That's correct, but do you know anything else about them?"
Sakura shook her head slowly. Sensei hummed and took a small bite of cake.
"Well, it was something of a dirty secret, I suppose; I'm not that surprised you didn't know. You see, the Hyuuga divided the clan into the Main and Branch houses. Members of the Branch house were branded with the Seal of the Caged Bird which would lock away their eyes at the moment of death. In theory this would keep the Byakugan, the Hyuuga dojutsu, safe from thieves. However, the seal also allowed any member of the Main house to inflict crippling pain or death on any member of the Branch house whenever they wanted, which was not very nice."
The younger kunoichi blanched as Sensei shook her head, lips pursed in mild disapproval rather at odds with her tone of vicious despise.
"Now obviously, such a thing is blasphemy against the Will of Fire, and practically treason to boot. If even a single Main house member was subverted, they could force the entire Branch house to do their bidding. So, I thought the simplest solution to the problem would be to just kill off all of the Main house. Except the heiress; Hinata's such a sweet child, I'm sure she would do right by them. But!"
She clapped her hands together, smile back in full force and slightly unsettling given the subject matter.
"Fortunately, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, the head of the clan, saw the light and instituted a change. Now all of the Hyuuga get a seal, but it only protects their eyes. All the members of the Branch house have had their old seals replaced over the last couple of years, so now I don't need to kill anyone! Which is quite a relief, because it would have meant I never got to meet Tetsuhide."
Sakura felt a little bit better about the whole thing, but was still a trifle confused.
"Sensei, how did something like that start in the first place?"
Hiroki took another bite of cake, humming around the fork and looking up to follow the puffy white clouds drifting high above as she thought.
"Well, the thing you need to remember Sakura, is that the Hidden Village system is actually quite new. I know of at least one ninja still alive who remembers the founding; two if you stretch the definition of 'alive'. Your great-grandparents were probably born before Konoha even existed. Bringing everyone together, all those clans and wandering ninja, it took a lot of effort. Many of the clans had traditions or necessities for their techniques that they wanted to keep to themselves, so the Treaty of Konoha which formed the Village had to give them all certain rights, like the right to maintain order within the clan however they liked. The Hyuuga were an outlier, but only in the severity of their measures; they are hardly the only clan in Konoha to enforce rules on their members, some of which you or I might find… unpalatable."
The Pinkette took a bite of her own cake, mulling over the problem, before a slightly troubling thought made her brow furrow.
"Did the Uchiha have anything like that?"
Sensei froze for a fraction of an instant before smiling again, though it didn't reach her eyes. The Uchiha's chin tucked slightly into the scarf to conceal some of her face as her eyes drooped in a slightly predatory way.
"No, nothing like that. The Uchiha were more focused on ability. You weren't recognized as an adult member of the clan until you could use the Grand Fireball jutsu, and you weren't allowed to sit on the clan council until you could activate your Sharingan. There were some… expectations placed on those who advanced particularly quickly, but nothing as overt as the Caged Bird Seal."
Hiroki shifted like a bird ruffling its feathers, fluffing out for a moment with a roll of her shoulders before giving Sakura a teasing grin.
"But that just means you and Sasuke will get to make up your own traditions once you get married!"
Sakura wasn't sure what was louder, her coughing or her blush.
. . .
A/N:Meet Hyuuga Tetsuhide; he is a boss. Sakura is going to learn ALL THE THINGS!
Also, thank goodness for butterflies, or Hinata would have been a sad orphan panda.