Hiashi Hyuga frowned down at the girl on the ground beneath him. "Stand." he ordered.
Misaki Hyuga grit her teeth and pushed herself to her feet, settling into a stance across from him.
"Again." Hiashi said.
Misaki lunged towards him, lashing out with open-handed strikes as she danced through the movements he had been teaching the girl.
Hiashi easily blocked each of the strikes, but he nodded contentedly with each strike Misaki attempted. The girl was learning quickly. Hiashi had not expected much of her initially, but she had far surpassed his expectations and proved him wrong time and again. In a single semester, the girl had risen to be one of the best students in the Academy.
This, of course, was in no small part due to the constant instruction he gave her. Every weekend, HIashi would either instruct her personally or oversee her training be conducted by another.
These lessons began as nothing more than a path through which the Hyugas could improve relations with the Nara Clan. When Shikaku approached Hiashi for permission for Shinto Nara to train in his compound, Hiashi had not expected much to come of the arrangement. He granted Shikaku's request because it would mean Shikaku would owe him a favor in the future, but events had unfolded in a far more beneficial way. Hiashi gave Misaki a scroll detailing the movements of a long-abandoned clan taijutsu style and helped her through the basics of the style. That was supposed to be the end of it. Out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity, Hiashi watched Misaki and Shinto train together with his byakugan.
Shinto Nara took to the style like a fish to water, surprising Hiashi with his focus and dedication. As his training sessions with Misaki progressed, he transformed the Flowing Fist from a defensive style to an effective means of attack when combined with his Clan's signature shadows.
Shinto Nara was incredibly gifted. The boy was enrolled in the Academy years later than his peers, yet he already outshone all of them. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge and was nearly as rapid with his growth in physical disciplines. And as the boy rose to the top of the Academy, he brought Misaki with him.
Even without his eyes that saw all, Hiashi would have noted the dramatic shift in Misaki's performance. In her first years at the Academy, she, like the majority of his Clan, did not take her training seriously. Hiashi had always been put off by the talent in his Clan that went to waste. So many youths were too concerned with trivial matters, thinking their training and growth unimportant. That was no longer the case with Misaki.
Spending so much time in close proximity to Shinto Nara had a positive effect on Misaki. She absorbed Shinto's work ethic and dedicated herself wholly to her training. Like so many of her Clanmates, the young girl had vast potential, and that potential was no longer being squandered.
Hiashi saw this, and immediately took action. He instructed the girl personally to see her skill grow even more. While her lightning nature'd chakra presented problems in that the Hyuga Clan's library of lightning jutsu was not vast, Hiashi was already arranging for Misaki to receive the instruction she needed from a prevalent practitioner of lightning release in Konoha.
For many years now, Hiashi had tried to cultivate the youth of his Clan into prodigies like the son of the White Fang, a boy so talented that he played a pivotal role in safeguarding Konoha during this past war. Hiashi knew the Uchiha were attempting to cultivate their own prodigy, and he would not allow the Hyuga to fall behind.
Misaki had potential. She had recently awakened a desire to thrive. Hiashi would mold her into a beacon of the Hyuga Clan.
"That is enough for today." Hiashi announced, seeing that Misaki had grown exhausted. "Return home and rest."
Misaki was breathing heavily, but she still straightened her back and bowed. "Hai, Hiashi-sama. Thank you for your tutelage." She turned around and slowly began walking home. Hiashi would watch her with his eyes to ensure there were no complications on her trek home.
Hiashi's lips pulled into a considering frown as he saw the girl home. Misaki's skill presented many advantages for the Hyuga Clan. While she was young, it was never too soon to look towards the future.
She had improved magnitudes in a pittance of time. Hiashi believed that after another month of instruction, she would be prepared to graduate from the Academy. She would have several more months during the second semester of this year to further hone her skills, but she must graduate at the conclusion of the year.
It was no secret that Konoha's Elders were all applying significant pressure to Shikaku to have Shinto Nara graduate at the end of the year. They saw in the boy what Hiashi saw: The potential for Konoha to produce another Kakashi Hatake. While Shinto was much older than Kakashi had been when the White Fang's son graduated, Shinto had only been seriously training for a year and was already putting all of his peers to shame with his skill. He would graduate at the end of the year – it was a certainty, and Hiashi needed to ensure Misaki graduated with him.
Shinto was the catalyst for Misaki's desire to grow. She needed to be on his genin team in order for Hiashi to be confident in her continued growth. Her placement on Shinto's team would also present opportunities for the Hyuga Clan as a whole.
Though distantly, Misaki was related to his daughter, the future head of the Hyuga Clan. After she had risen to prominence among the ranks of Konoha's nin, Misaki would be a prominent figure in both the Hyuga Clan and Konoha itself. Shinto Nara was not from a prominent family in the Nara Clan, but he had attracted the personal attention of the Clan head and received regular instruction from the Nara Clan's matron. In several years, Shinto would be one of the Nara Clan's most prominent figures.
Throughout both Misaki and Shinto's time as nin, they would have helped elevate one-another. Such foundations were exemplary to betroth the two. Misaki would need to join the Nara Clan in full, but Hiashi did not foresee the girl having any issues with this arrangement.
By marrying a relation of the future Hyuga Clan Head to the Nara Clan, Hiashi would secure a powerful alliance. By creating bonds of friendship with the Nara Clan, it would be near trivial to extend those bonds to the Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans, ending the Hyuga's isolation and uniting them with three of Konoha's prominent Clans in a single move.
Seeing that Misaki had returned home without incident, Hiashi deactivated his byakugan and began walking towards the Hyuga Clan Compound's gate. He had other engagements this evening.
The gate guards bowed to him as he exited the Compound, and Hiashi offered them a polite nod as he passed. The short walk to the village proper was swift and relaxing, Hiashi had always enjoyed the vast, towering trees surrounding his home. Hiashi cut through the village until he was once more outside it, taking the fastest route towards his intended destination. When he arrived at the gates of the Nara Clan Compound, the two gate guards were standing alert and focused on his arrival. They bowed shallowly as he approached.
"Hyuga-sama," one of them greeted. "Shikaku-sama is expecting you. Please proceed."
Hiashi nodded to them. "Thank you." He proceeded into the Nara Compound without another word.
Hiashi walked at a reserved gait, allowing the Nara Clan civilians and shinobi alike to see him within the walls of their Compound. It was important they grew to see such visits as regular occurrences if he wished to ally the Nara Clan with his own. It would take time, but he had several years yet before Misaki and Shinto were old enough to wed. He would continue his meetings with Shikaku in that time to let the Nara Clan grow used to seeing Hyuga within their Compound.
Hiashi wove through the roads of the Nara Compound, taking an indirect route to his destination and politely nodding at those he passed. When he finally reached the largest home in the Compound, he walked up the steps to the porch and lightly knocked on the door.
Within moments, the door was open. A man with bushy, spiked black hair stood in the doorway, his shoulders slumped, hands in the pockets of his light brown jacket. "Hiashi," Shikaku greeted. "I'd invite you in, but Shikamaru drew clouds on the walls when we wouldn't let him outside and my wife is… Would you mind sitting on the porch with me?"
Hiashi motioned towards the small table and pair of zabuton on the porch. "Not at all." Being visible at the Clan Head's home speaking cordially with the Clan Head himself would only work in his favor.
"Thanks. Have a seat. Yoshino should have some tea out in a few minutes." Shikaku said, leading the way over to the small table and sitting on one of the cushions.
Hiashi joined him, his back straight and posture perfect, a stark contrast to Shikaku Nara's lax demeanor.
"Is something the matter, Shikaku? Something aside from your son's art?" Hiashi asked, seeing the creased lines on the other man's forehead. He seemed troubled.
Shikaku sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Several patrols we sent out a while ago are late reporting back. The first one wasn't all that concerning, but now there's three that haven't checked back."
Hiashi frowned. "Has ANBU been dispatched?"
Shikaku frowned, irritated. "I'm getting push back from the Elders. I have to wait another two days before I can petition the Hokage again."
Hiashi did not bear as much responsibility in Konoha as Shikaku did as the village's Jonin Commander, but he was familiar with the feeling of those removed from the field dictating what should or should not be done in the field. The Elders had his utmost respect of course, but they had not seen a battlefield for many years now. He believed they should be more open to the reports and opinions of those on the front line, but that was neither here nor there.
"If there is any assistance I can provide, you need only to ask." Hiashi offered.
Shikaku raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, you didn't come here to listen to me drone."
Before Hiashi could speak, the door to Shikaku's house opened, and a woman with a fair face and her dark hair tied back emerged. Yoshino Nara, Shikaku's wife, was wearing a simple pink kimono and had a tray with tea in her hands.
"Hiashi-sama," she greeted. "Please help yourself."
"Thank you." Hiashi said simply, retrieved the pot and a cup.
Yoshino returned to the house after leaving the tea.
Shikaku picked up his own cup and filled it. "Shall we?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
Shikaku was no fool. On the contrary, Hiashi believed he was one of the most intelligent men in all of Konoha. Shikaku knew that Hiashi's goal in coming here was not to discuss Clan matters as he had stated, but both men allowed for the polite fiction to exist. Since Shikaku had accepted this meeting and had not openly called out Hiashi's goal of allying with his Clan, Hiashi accepted that to mean that Shikaku approved of his goal.
For the next several hours, the two men made small talk, having an in-depth conversation that would not amount to much. They would do the same in a week's time when Hiashi hosted Shikaku at his own home.