Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
The next few years went by relatively peacefully. Hiashi got the old cottage renovated and cleaned up. It was a bit large considering its' only resident was a young boy, but he would eventually grow into it. A maid from the branch family named Natsu was assigned to watch over Naruto and educate him along with teaching him manners. She was a young woman with short, dark green hair who was a tad wary of the boy at first, but her fears were unfounded as he proved himself to be a nice, energetic little boy who happened to have the ability to grow fox ears and a tail every once in a while.
Hinata was slightly disheartened that Naruto would have to 'move out', so to speak, but in all honesty the cottage was only a short walk away from the main compound. He still ate with Hinata's family, and he would often sneak back into Hinata's room at night, much to Hiashi's chagrin.
Of course, whatever Naruto learned, Tamamo also learned. Things like basic history as well as how ninja society worked were all quickly picked up by Tamamo during Naruto's day-to-day life in order to look out for her Master better. Normally this sort of basic knowledge would automatically be provided by the Grail, but due to the abnormal summoning she received no such thing. At least the people here just happened to speak and write Japanese, even if Japan didn't actually exist here. It would have been a massive pain if she couldn't communicate with people here.
When were almost five years old, they began to learn the basics of taijutsu. Hinata was instructed in Juuken, as expected, while a main family guard named Ko was assigned to teach Naruto the basic Academy style. By that time, Hitomi was already pregnant with a second child, and would probably give birth in a few months.
Naruto and Hinata also developed what seemed to be a habit of taking naps under a tree together to outsiders, but in reality they were conversing with Tamamo inside Naruto's mindscape while looking like they were simply resting under the shade of a tree, with Naruto's tail wrapped around Hinata. They had come to the conclusion that coming into physical contact with the manifestation of Tamamo's tail allowed Naruto to pull the person into his mindscape, although he hadn't tried it on anyone but Hinata at the moment. In all honesty, there wasn't much to talk about to a pair of five year olds, although Tamamo was very happy to spend time with the pair, as she wouldn't get much human contact otherwise.
Unfortunately, during the last few months, Hitomi seemed to be in rather poor health. Naruto turned to Tamamo to see if she could cure her with her magic.
If you can get physical contact with her, then I might be able to do something.
He quickly relayed this information to Hinata, and they made a plan. Tamamo preferred to keep her magecraft hidden as long as possible, so it had to be discrete. All they had to do was to get into a group hug. If Naruto asked for a hug out of the blue, it might have been a bit strange, but if Hinata was the one asking then it wouldn't be strange at all. It was a very simplistic plan, but they were only five years old.
So after their daily taijutsu training, the two of them ran off to check on Hinata's mother.
Hitomi looked up from her tea as she saw the two children enter the room.
"Hello, children. Are you done with your training today?" she asked.
Hinata nodded, while Naruto commented on her tired appearance. "You look tired today, auntie."
Hitomi leaned back a bit. "I've been feeling rather tired lately. I hope I'm not getting sick."
"We hope you get well soon." Hinata leaned in and hugged her mother, and Naruto did the same. Immediately, Tamamo got to work, pushing Od into magic circuits as soon as contact was made. The energy flowed into Hitomi's body without her noticing at all. Using magecraft with someone else's body was a strange experience for the fox maiden, but there's a first time for everything.
The hug lasted for several seconds before they pulled away.
"Go on, you two. I'll see you both at dinner, alright?"
Both children nodded and ran off.
Huh, I feel better now. Hitomi thought to herself.
They ran back to Hinata's room to see what Tamamo had learned. Sitting on the bed, Naruto immediately summoned the fox tail and wrapped it around her, pulling her into his mindscape.
The sewer of his mindscape had been breaking apart slowly over the past few years. The walls were crumbling, and the ceiling above had several large holes revealing a bright blue sky beyond the confines of the sewer and rays of sunlight managed to get in through the cracks. The ground wasn't wet anymore, either, which was nice. Unfortunately, the seal itself held tight as always.
"Tamamo!"
The children ran through the bars as usual to greet her.
"Hey, you two." Tamamo smiled and put her hands on their heads.
"D-did you find out what's wrong with my mother?" Hinata asked nervously.
Tamamo frowned. "Someone has been using a slow acting poison on her, designed to weaken the body without killing her outright. I have no idea how long this has been going on for, but if the effects are starting to get noticeable, then it must have been happening for a long time now."
Hinata and Naruto's eyes widened in horror.
"Who would want to do that to auntie?! She's a nice lady!" Naruto shouted.
"Don't worry, she's in no danger right now. During that hug you shared I was able to remove a good amount of the poison, it wasn't too difficult. And as to why people would do that to her..."
Tamamo lowered her head in thought for a bit, before a realization hit her.
"She's the wife of the clan head. If someone was unhappy about the way the Hyuuga clan is run..."
Hinata's eyes widened. "Okaa-san always talks about how she wants to removed the Caged Bird Seal from the clan."
"Caged Bird Seal? What's that?" Naruto asked.
"Our clan is split into the main and branch families. The branch family is supposed to protect the main family, and they wear the Caged Bird Seal on their foreheads to prevent their eyes from being stolen if they die. If a main family member does this," Hinata made a strange hand seal, "it makes them hurt a lot." Hinata explained sadly.
"That's basically a slave seal!" Tamamo exclaimed. "How can a family do this to their own?"
"So that's why I see some Hyuugas wear headbands and stuff! That's terrible!" Naruto shouted.
"That narrows down our suspects. If a main family member was unhappy with Hitomi's way of thinking, then they might want to remove her quietly, although I don't see how a poison that doesn't kill would factor into their plans." Tamamo muttered quietly. "I suppose we'll need to make a plan."
"What about the baby? Will the baby be alright?" Hinata asked.
"The baby should be fine. Judging by how long she has been pregnant, I'd say the baby should come along in about a month or so." Tamamo replied.
Hinata sighed in relief. "I was worried that something bad would happen to the baby if okaa-san's body was too weak."
"Well, the body of a woman tends to be the weakest during... childbirth..." Tamamo's voice began to trail off.
"Oh, hell."
Naruto was currently hiding on the ceiling of the Hyuuga kitchen in the form of a small fly. After Tamamo had gone over the possibilities of places to poison people discreetly, it seemed that food and drink would be the most likely culprit. She instructed Hinata to keep acting as though nothing had happened while she used her A-ranked Shapeshift skill to morph Naruto into a fly to keep an eye on what went on in the kitchen. Tamamo was very reluctant to let a pair of five year olds attempt to hunt down a would be assassin, and wished that they would simply run off to find an adult they could trust to report this to, but the two children had been surprisingly stubborn about this, so in the end she gave in. She supposed that convincing people that someone was poisoning the food without hard evidence would have been difficult, anyways.
She didn't really like using her Shapeshift skill very much, but it was the easiest way to do what was basically an infiltration mission and she wouldn't refuse to use her powers if it would aid her precious Master. She knew that Hinata and her parents were practically family to Naruto, so she would help defend them as well, even if they didn't know it.
Naruto and Tamamo watched as servants prepared various dishes. Under Tamamo's watchful eye, they made sure that none of them were slipping in anything suspicious to the food or drink as they cooked. As a good wife, Tamamo was well versed in cooking Japanese dishes, not that anyone in this world knew what a Japan was, and she would be able to pick up on anything out of the ordinary. Although one thing in particular did stick out in the kitchens, which was the tray of cinnamon buns that Hitomi and Hinata enjoyed every once in a while. She wasn't sure how cinnamon buns got into a place that was so similar to Japan, and made a mental note to find out where those came from.
They watched as a servant dusted the cinnamon buns with powered sugar before putting tray aside for another servant to deliver to the dinner table. Naruto was about to look away when he noticed that the man who was supposed to carry the tray away sprinkled some strange white powder on the buns before carrying it off.
Immediately, Naruto slowly flew towards the man as he heard hushed whispers from around the corner.
"Are you sure this powder is working? It's been months now."
"Be patient, it's not like anyone can notice the extra powder on the cinnamon buns anyway. We still need her to deliver a more suitable heir, and once she does, she won't be needed anymore."
That was all they needed to hear as Naruto flew away, though Tamamo was silently amazed at Naruto's incredible luck.
Naruto quietly stepped into the the room, where the Hiashi, Hitomi, and Hinata were already sitting around the dining table.
"You're late, Naruto." Hiashi stated.
"I'm sorry, I had to go to the bathroom before coming here." Naruto bowed a bit.
"Very well. Have a seat." Looks like those lessons in manners have helped a bit, Hiashi thought to himself.
Naruto took his usual seat next to Hinata and brushed his hand against hers to let her know that he found something.
"Don't worry, the food just arrived, so you're right on time." Hitomi added.
Always so gentle to the kids, Hiashi thought.
The cinnamon buns arrived last. As the branch member put the tray down, Naruto decided to speak up.
"Can I ask what you put on the cinnamon buns?" Naruto asked innocuously.
The man flinched for a fraction of a second, but it didn't go unnoticed by the clan head, who was a master of reading body language.
"That is a very interesting question, Naruto. May I ask what brought this on?" Hiashi asked before the branch member had a chance to defend himself.
"I was passing by the kitchen when I heard someone talk about extra powder on the cinnamon buns and how no one would notice them."
Hiashi narrowed his eyes as he stared down the man. "You will explain."
"I-I was just...!"
"Quit your stuttering and explain yourself. What did you put on the buns?" Hiashi was close to just activating the Caged Bird Seal, but he didn't out of consideration for his wife and daughter.
"I-I just put what they told me to-"
He tried to escape, but he was no match for the clan head and his wife. With a combination attack between the two, he was down in a matter of seconds.
Hiashi stepped outside and flared his chakra while Hitomi went back to comfort her daughter. Within moments, some guards arrived, and he had them call for the one man he trusted above all others, his brother Hizashi.
He quickly explained the situation to his brother, who set out with some guards to find out just what the hell was going on. A quick check from the medic-nins in the clan confirmed that the buns were indeed laced with poison.
Hiashi quietly pulled Naruto aside.
"You have saved not just my daughter this time, but also my wife. I am once again in your debt. Thank you, Naruto." With that, Hiashi gave him a small bow.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I was just lucky for passing by at the right time. Besides, I see you all as family, and family shouldn't owe anything to each other."
"Family..." Hiashi had a faraway look in his eyes for a moment, as thoughts of a united Hyuuga clan entered his mind.
"Come see me after you finish your taijutsu training tomorrow. I have something to give you."