Chapter 5

Previously -

"Why? We did nothing to you."

"You dared to try to harm my Hina chan. Be thankful that you never succeeded in harming her because if you did then I would have dealt with you lot Itachi style."

Everyone felt the chill in their spines. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Naruto was telling 100 percent truth.

"Come Hinata chan. Take everything you wish to take from here and then you are moving in with me. I am sure my new slaves won't mind."


"Yes Naruto kun. But before that, I want to ask a question."

"Tell me father, why do you hate me so much? When you challenged my heirship, I assumed that it was to save Hanabi from the seal and after some time you would revoke the use of seal altogether. But that's clearly not the case."

Hiashi was silently glaring at Hinata and not answering.

"Answer truthfully slave. Because if you did not, then it may harm us and you know the consequences of that. Now, tell us, why do you hate your daughter?"

When the pain was slowly increasing in intensity, Hiashi angrily answered.

"She is not my daughter!"

"WHAT?"

Everyone was shocked.

"Explain now!" Naruto commanded

"When Hitomi died, I found her diary. She was having a affair with Hizashi before our marriage. Even she did not knew if Hinata is my daughter or Hizashi's. DNA test was ineffective because we were both identical twins and according to test even Neji is my son."

"So you did not know for sure and just assumed?" Naruto asked coldly

"Her behavior and mannerism are all like Hizashi. Her kindness, her hatred of caged bird seal and even her innate water elemental affinity are all Hizashi."

"So you almost destroyed my life all based on a assumption that could never be proven?" Hinata asked angrily but with tears in her eyes.

"My parents had lightening and water affinities and I have wind. Does that mean I am not their son? Stupid fool. As for mannerism, does that mean Neji is not Hizashi's son because I can't see a single shred of kindness in him. Just bitterness at the unfair world."

Hiashi was speechless. Neji too was ashamed at that.

"And remember, if anyone asks, then tell them that Hinata was not sealed because you changed the clan rules so that now only sons who can start their own branch family will be sealed."

No one dared to protest.

"Come Hina chan. Enough of this bullshit. Take everything you wish and then we are leaving."


While Hinata packed all her personal possessions in her pocket dimension, Naruto entered library and took a copy of all the books and Jutsu scrolls. The protection seals were nothing to him now and were destroyed with a touch.

Before they left, Naruto asked her

"Hina chan, are there other main branch members that were not present in that dojo?"

"No Naruto kun" She replied shortly

"Hina chan. Are you angry with me?"

"No Naruto kun. I am just angry at everything. And hurt."

Naruto hugged her. But instead of returning his hug, she forcefully grabbed his collar and kissed him. After a brief snogging session, they separated.

"What was that for?"

"You saved me Naruto kun. Without you, I would have been sealed and spent the life as a slave."

"Over my dead body. I promise you Hina chan, we are going to become so strong that no one will dare something like that again."

They kissed again.


After that day, Hinata moved in with him. They were nervous, the first time they shared bed but then they hugged each other tightly and slept peacefully. There were some awkward situations but nothing serious happened.

It was the day when they would get their IDs, Jiji visited.

Naruto opened the door.

"Hello Jiji" "Greetings Lord Third"

"Hello Naruto, Hinata."

"Please come inside. Would you like something?"

"No thanks. I came here because I may have a potential solution for your situation."

"About that, well, the problem is no more."

"What do you mean?"

"Heirship challenge already happened and I lost. But thankfully elders agreed not to seal me. Thank you for your consideration Lord third."

"I thought it would be held on the day of team selection. Elders agreed to that? How?"

"Father changed the clan rules for me. Now only sons who can start their own branch house will be sealed."

"That's great Hinata. I am so happy for you."

"By the way, what was your solution?" Naruto asked

"My solution was if Hinata leaves Hyuga clan then she can become a ward of Konoha, like you Naruto. If that happened, then Hyuga would not have dared to apply that damn seal on a Konoha ward. Thankfully its not needed anymore."

"Yes thankfully, there is no need now."

"So are you both ready for team placements tomorrow?"

"Yes but we have decided that if we were not put in same team, then we will resign and go back to academy for one more year."

"Don't worry. I am sure I can do something about that."

After some small talk, Lord Third left.


"Naruto kun. Why did you not tell him the truth."

"It was not safe Hina chan. While it may look like he cares for me and maybe be he truly cares about me a little, he is the Hokage. He is the leader of ninja village including everything that entailed."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, why my father choose to kill the Kyubi instead of sealing it in me?"

"Because he was the Hokage and it was his duty to protect the village."

"No Hina chan. He did not kill Kyubi because he acted like a Hokage, no, he killed Kyubi because he acted like a father."

"Why would you say that Naruto kun?"

"Hina chan, it was also a duty of Hokage to make sure that village is strong but he did not turn me into a weapon of mass destruction for the village."

"Jinchuriki are not weapons Naruto kun! They are humans too. And how could you say that? You almost were one."

"Oh Hinata chan. I assure you that Jinchuriki are weapons for the villages to use. Like Jiji told us that day, they are deterrence for war because a single uncontrollable Jinchuriki can destroy a village. There is a very good reason to avoid war with a village with Jinchuriki. Because a Biju can be released from them anywhere at any time."

"But that would kill the Jinchuriki."

"Yes Hina chan. The literal meaning of Jinchuriki is Human Sacrifice. Now think for a moment what would happen if a enemy Jinchuriki released the Biju in our village."

Hinata was shocked.

"It was for this reason, I allowed Jiji to lie about this that day. You remember, when I asked him if he agreed to spread the rumor of new Jinchuriki and he denied. He lied."

"How do you know that?"

"There are truth seals that are also included in security seals matrix Hina chan. And if a single one is activated than they all will activate."

"Then why did you accept the lie."

"I let it go because it was a truly pragmatic thing to do even if Jiji did not have courage to confess it. Most likely because he wanted to avoid harming our relationship irreparably. And also because, I did not want that too."

Hinata was again shocked

"Why did you not tell me that day?"

"You were already worried about Heirship challenge. I did not want to worry you more unnecessarily."

"Ok Naruto kun."

"And now think, why would father despite being the Hokage refused to turn me into a great deterrence for war?"

"Because he loved you...?" Hinata stated hesitatingly

"You are correct Hina chan. But I would like to tell you a secret."

"What Naruto kun?"

"My father was not loyal to Konoha."

"Whaaat? But he was the Hokage!"

"Yes, he was the Hokage but Konoha lost his loyalty even then. After the destruction of Uzushiogakure, when someone suggested that my 12 year old mother to be put in a breeding program for more Uzumaki, Jiji and Elder council did not immediately reject it."

"What? How? Why? What happened next?"

"Mito Uzumaki, wife of first Hokage saved her. Not because of any familial concern as you might assume, but because my mother was supposed to be next Jinchuriki of Kyubi. Every meeting with Hokage is transcribed no matter how inconsequential or secret. And when he become Hokage, and checked the reports, he by chance found the details of that meeting. He never told my mother but he left it for me in a letter which I found when I forcibly unlocked the Book."

Hinata was shocked speechless.

"Ninja world is a dark place Hinata chan. And I don't want us to be stuck in other people's game. I can only trust you Hina chan and no one else."

"Naruto kun, I too trust you with everything I am. And now, I don't think I would be able to trust anyone else easily. I told you about Hyuga affair and if my kidnapping was successful, then I too would have been in a breeding program in Kumo. But that was enemy village. But your mother faced the same danger in her own village! Suddenly, I too have lost all loyalty to Konoha."

Hinata was crying a little and Naruto hugged her.


Now it was time for team selection.

They were in class sitting together like usual when they heard something interesting.

"Did you hear that Mizuki sensei was caught trying to steal Forbidden Scroll from Hokage's office?"

"When did that happen?"

"Just last night. My father saw ANBU questioning his girlfriend about this."

"He had a girlfriend?"

Just then Iruka sensei entered the classroom.

"Good Morning. Today is the day you truly become genin. You will be placed in squads of three genin and a Jonin sensei. I will call out your teams one by one. After that you will be dismissed for lunch. Return by 12:30 pm to meet your Jonin sensei. Alright starting with Team 1..."

"Team 7! Aburame Shino…Hyuga Hinata…and Uzumaki Naruto."

"Team 8! Uchiha Sasuke…Inzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura"

"Team 9 is still in rotation so moving on to Team 10! Akimichi Choji…Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino."

Naruto and Hinata were happy to be on same team. They were indifferent to Shino because they did not know him. Hopefully he won't be too difficult to work with.

Iruka announced, "You are dismissed. Be back by 12:30."

"Hey, If we're going to be a team maybe we should get to know each other a little better. Lunch maybe?"

"That sounds productive. Where are we eating?" Shino spoke monotonously.

"How about Ramen? I know a really good place for that."

"That is acceptable."


They waited briefly for their sensei when a woman with red eyes and untamed black hair. She wore a red mesh blouse covered by what seemed to be large bandages with a rose thorn pattern.

"Team 8, with me!"

Following their sensei they were eventually led to a patio with a few benches. Sitting down the woman began her speech, "My name is Yuhi Kurenai and I might be your Jonin sensei, but more on that later. Firstly I wanted to get to know you all, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. I'll even go first.

My name is Yuhi Kurenai. My likes are genjutsu, my friends, and dango. My dislikes are rapists, fangirls who give kunoichi a bad name, and perverts. Especially perverts. My hobby is practicing new genjutsu. My goal for the future is to show the world that genjutsu is just as strong as ninjutsu and Taijutsu. And that kunoichi can be just as good as men. Who's next?"

"My name is Aburame Shino and my likes are my kikaichu and my family. I dislike people who hate or kill bugs unnecessarily. My hobby is to collect bugs. My goal is to become the best Aburame clan head I can be.

"Who's next?"

"My name is Hinata Hyuga. My likes are cinnamon buns, and Naruto kun. My dislikes are kidnappers and bullies. My hobbies are flower pressing, and training. My goals is to be strong enough to protect myself and everyone I care about."

Kurenai continued, "You're last."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and my likes are Ramen, Seals, and Hinata chan. My dislikes are bullies and stupid sheep who believes in false rumors. My hobbies are training and pranking. My goals is to be strong enough to protect myself and everyone I care about."

Kurenai realized that these two were in a relationship and thought it was cute. She was worried if it would negatively impact the team dynamics but decided to wait for now.

Returning to the task Kurenai spoke, "Now that we know each other. This team is meant to be a tracking squad. But tracking squads tend to be a little weaker in terms of power than other squads. So Naruto is here to bolster our fighting power."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding so Kurenai continued, "However, like I said earlier I might not be your sensei. You see, the graduation exam was only to weed out the hopeless cases. Each sensei has one last test that you must pass to become genin. And individually the pass rate is only 33%"

Shino remained stoic hearing this, while Naruto and Hinata were confident."

"The test is tomorrow at 8 am on training ground 8. If you pass, I will do my best to make your dreams come true. See you tomorrow!" She flickered away.

While Shino went to leave with the same stoic look, Naruto stopped him.

"Wait."

"Look she said that individually we have a 33% chance. Maybe if we work together that will go up. We're a team now. We have to act like one."

Shino walked back and sat down, "Agreed. But what is our plan?"

"Well we can't make them too specific since we don't know what the test is. But there are two things we do know, we are going to be tested on how well we can track, as that is our squad's purpose, and that our sensei is most likely extremely proficient in genjutsu."


Next day

Waiting for their sensei the three genin were discussing possible battle formations when a poof sounded behind them.

"Good Morning genin. Your test will be to track your target down through that forest before noon. And your target will be me. I will be your target. You will have passed once you've tracked me down and landed one solid hit on me. Good Luck!" The sensei that was once there just faded from view.

"Genjutsu! Any idea where she went?"

"I can track her. I was able to plant one of my kikaichu."

"Wonderful. Now here's my plan..."

It had been forty minutes since she had hidden in the forest. She had hoped that they would have at least one altercation by then. And ten minutes earlier when they had passed her by she was nervous that they wouldn't pass. But suddenly she sensed her genjutsu fading.

Naruto was immediately upon her and attacked her with punches, kicks etc. She effortlessly avoided him but she was too late to notice the kikaichu sucking her chakra. When she finally noticed them, she tried to remove them but Naruto suddenly increased his intensity of attack. She realized that he was holding back earlier to give her a false sense of security. This was not a bad plan but she was not a Jonin for her looks.

She ensnared him in a genjutsu which much to her surprise was immediately broken. While she was distracted, she felt a painful strike on her shoulder. She turned around and realized that Hinata used the Gentle Fist on her shoulder. The challenge was over.

Looking upon her three genin Kurenai was immensely proud. "Well Done! You tracked me down, used a good plan and distracted me. And through it all you worked together as a team. You are officially Team 8. I have to go report to the Hokage so I will meet here tomorrow at 8 am."

Naruto was relieved that at least his new Jonin sensei was not biased against him because of false rumors. He was afraid of that despite Jiji's assurance.

Later that day

"Naruto kun. Do you think we should keep hiding our true capabilities. It could make our missions more difficult and risky."

"I understand your concern Hinata chan but first few months as a genin team are for D rank missions only. If lives were at stake then we will of course use our full potential but until then I am hesitant to trust them."


Next 6 months

D rank missions were intolerable. Even more so for Naruto who is hated by the village. Hinata was disappointed by the so called training from Kurenai sensei but Naruto was not. He never expected her to be a capable sensei and he was correct. Team building exercises and Tree walking technique were only thing they received in the name of training.

It was not like they expected much as they were not revealing their real level but just tree walking for 6 months was beyond ridiculous when even Shino mastered it in the first week. Naruto had a theory and Hinata agreed with it. Someone don't want him to be strong. That someone could be one of the sheep who believed him a Jinchuriki or the more dangerous option that they knew about his loyalty to Konoha or lack thereof.

Regardless of that, they are someone very high up in food chain to be able to influence Kurenai sensei. Unless he misjudged him too much, this is not done by Jiji. But if not him then who else?

Naruto and Hinata were not too bothered because their private training was progressing well enough. Hinata chan has progressed to level 2 of water elemental training and also learned some water jutsu. Her medical training was also progressing fairly well. Her precognition due to her muscle reading was now fairly advanced. Soon she will also be ready to learn Chakra Scalpel Technique.

He gave her some really lethal suggestions of combining the Chakra Scalpels with Gentle Fist, Physical Enhancement and Body Flicker technique. The concentration required for all that was simply astronomical but she was determined to master it eventually. She also worked on Advanced Hyuga techniques whenever she has time.

Naruto's training too was progressing quickly now that he is not completely focused on Fuinjutsu. Recently he successfully climbed the waterfall for the first time. Of course, he had a long way to go but for now his chakra control is good enough. He again started his 5 elemental training and finished the second stage for all of them.

He made some weapons using seals that are varyingly effective. First one was a explosive seal on a shuriken. Of course it was not a simple explosive seal because he modified it. He found early on that a clone of a normal seal is useless as it would not activate. So his dream of throwing a explosive seal and using a Shuriken Shadow Clone technique was not really that simple.

But because of his now mastery of seals, he can now modify them. He observed the shadow clone process and understood it in detail. He recorded the change in physical properties and adapted accordingly. After many trials and errors, he finally created a seal that could be successfully clone. It was a simple light seal but it was the proof of the concept. Cloning a seal is possible if it is made with changes during cloning process in mind.

Using this new knowledge, he successfully created a possible weapon of mass destruction. In its first iteration, it was not really that useful because cloning reduced a seals power to a tenth of original. But slowly he increased the efficiency of the cloned seal from 10 percent to 25 percent of original and then finally to 50 percent of original.

He also added a targeting matrix in it so that it can track and destroy a single or multiple chakra signatures as per instruction. The targeting matrix was really sophisticated and extremely difficult to make but with his shadow clones, he had all the time in the world. He successfully created it and integrated it to his formula. He also included a strict restriction so that they cannot be used against himself or Hinata chan. Once the formula was complete, he could create one with a touch and turn any ordinary Kunai or Shuriken into a S ranked weapon.

He also tried another formula in which he used disintegration seal instead of explosive seal. This made the formula infinitely more complicated but he hoped to complete it soon.


Omake -

"Elders agreed to that? How?"

Hinata was silent at that but Naruto answered.

"Well, I appealed to the the goodness of their hearts"

"Naruto. I know those old coots. They neither have any goodness nor any heart. And what were you even doing at Hyuga clan Heirship challenge?"

"I was there to support Hinata chan of course"

"And they allowed you to enter? Naruto! Enough of this. I assure you that I didn't become the Hokage by being stupid and I do remember a few curious things from last time. So would you like to tell me the truth?"

"Are you asking this as a Hokage or my Jiji?"

"Naruto, you are like a grandson to me but I am still the Hokage. Please tell me you have not done anything illegal."

"Technically. It depends. First would you like to tell me what is Konoha's policy on cursed seals?"

"Those are nasty things Naruto. I hope you are asking because of Hyuga's Caged Bird seal and nothing else because those things are forbidden."

"Yeah. Sure. Of course I meant that. I assure you that no one is going to complain about any cursed seal. I promise."

"Okay. If I am not asking as Hokage, will I get the complete truth?"

"Yes Jiji"

Hiruzen took off his hat.

"Okay Naruto. Now lay it on me. What did you do?"

"I may or may not have used a cursed seal on all Hyuga main branch members except my Hina chan of course."

"WHAT! But How? And Why? Naruto! I want complete story now!"

So Naruto and Hinata told him the complete story. From how, since learning about possibility of Hinata being sealed, Naruto continuously spent last two years researching cursed seals and fuinjutsu in general, such that now he is proficient enough that he can apply or remove it with a touch. He developed the stealth seals including anti Byakugan seal especially for Hyuga. Using it he shadowed Hinata for her heirship challenge. He witnessed the kangaroo court styled farce of a challenge and injustice of her disqualification. And then, using Uzumaki technique, he applied slave seal on entire main branch. Also Hiashi's doubt about her parentage and hatred for her because of it.

Hiruzen was shocked, amazed, disappointed, horrified and angered at different parts of the story. He was proud of Naruto for what he accomplished in his quest to save Hinata but was horrified at the lengths he was willing to go for her. The ruthlessness that Naruto displayed was concerning and he was in no delusion that he held any loyalty to the village. As a Hokage, he knew that he should neutralize or at the very least manipulate a possible threat to turn him into a possible asset.

But it was too late for that. With the genius intellect he displayed, manipulation is off the table and he is not sure that even he could subdue Naruto now. And of course, attempting to use Hinata will prove to be end of Konoha. Uzumaki were powerful enough to bind the god of death to a ceremonial mask. Naruto can not be underestimated.

Now the only way forward is to repeat what he did with Minato who started to have doubts about his loyalty and was too powerful to ever subdue. Make him the Hokage.


A/N - If you like the story and want more of it then please review, like and follow. It really gives me motivation.

PS - I still need a Beta.