Hinata was a patient person.
Clearly.
She knew it would take time for Uchiha to act on what had happened between the two of them. He had to take everything in and debate whether or not she was full of shit. She wasn't really a liar though, so this was fine by her. Take as much time as you want Sasuke.
While her clone kept close watch on that target. She herself stayed within the village and kept tabs on Sai and Uzumaki. The more she observed the two and sometimes three when the female teammate was present. The more she was coming to the conclusion that Sai would eventually tell them information about her. While he could not say too much about Lord Danzo, that didn't mean anything when pertaining to her.
This was beginning to turn into a real live cluster fuck. However, she was not ordered to do anything thus she would not do anything. She wished Lord Danzo would make a decision quick though, because she was beginning to lose confidence in whatever it was Sai was doing.
Watching him have lunch with Team 7 and Team 10 was enough for her to want to slit her own wrist. To just let himself be…treated in such a manner.
Hinata was always curious as to why Naruto accepted such behavior from the pink haired female, but Sai? It confused her greatly. Did he pine for normalcy that much that he'd repeatedly let himself get hit? The opposite sex was strange.
Team 10 and Team 7 seemed to fit well together. Compared to Team 8 and Team Guy. The Yamanaka had her friendship with Haruno and Uzumaki had his friendship with Nara and Akimichi. There was less arguments than it would have been with the other teams. Plus Team 10 sensei was very knowledgeable and seemed to be able to train Uzumaki on wind styles.
While she was busy on her mission with Uchiha and Team 7 unfortunate events were happening with Lord Danzo. She noticed a few times when she went to report to him that she had to take extra detours and precautions because he was being watched.
Anbu.
Things were beginning to become complicated now. Lady Tsunade was starting to catch on and her sights were focusing on Lord Danzo. Hinata didn't really understand why. They were practically all on the same team.
The logical side told her that there was no way she could manage to face at the moment the forces that backed up the Hokage. It was impossible even if it was all of the ROOT force. They were entirely out numbered.
The other side of her. The trained side said that she would defend and follow orders until she drew her last breath for Lord Danzo. In the end it really just boiled down to the fact that he saved her. She was his and she would do what he instructed her to do. Small price of freedom and a clear forehead she supposed.
Not only was the Hokage trailing Lord Danzo, there was the issue about the Akatsuki. A terrorist organization bent on capturing all the tailed host and Uzumaki being something they most desired. The organization seems to be advancing fairly well. The only failed attempts so far seems to be the capturing of the nine tails host.
While it was none of her concern, she did notice Lord Danzo seem to be…more urgent. He went on more meetings with outsiders of the village and many of those people seemed to be outsiders that had bad blood with the village or were not supporters of Konoha.
Now…if this was the Hinata a few years ago she would have made educated guesses that he was trying to form alliances and was actually working against the Hokage and wanted the Hokage position for himself.
Also that he was getting a bit desperate.
However, this was not the case. This was not her place and she would simply do as she was instructed until she physically couldn't do anymore. Where would she be if not for Lord Danzo?
She would be in the Hyuga compound withering away with no chance of ever having a free moment. Those people…her supposed family was going to turn on her and brand her. She owed everything to Lord Danzo and would do every and anything for him.
She owed nothing to anyone else. So when she observed the crest fallen faces of Team 10 at the death of their sensei and how the Nara avenged his death with the support of Hatake and the rest of Team 10 she showed no acknowledgement to it.
What did it have to do with her anyways? She wasn't a part of their world anymore.
Sometimes doing the things she does, living in the shadows and observing, she felt like someone watching nature up close. How you couldn't intervene with it because it was nature, it was what was supposed to happen and if you intervened than you were messing up the balance of it.
Maybe that was what she told herself to get by.
So many people were hurt over the death of this man. He must have been very popular and well respected. Seemed to be the perfect leader for Team 10. She was sure he would be badly missed by not only the members of Team 10, but her former sensei as well. Watching Kurenai with those eyes of hers that was a blessing and a curse was when she really noticed her.
Oh, she was pregnant by him? They were going to have a family? Interesting.
This information may seem to be pointless information to obtain when watching her two targets in the village. On the contrary this information was very much important. It pointed out weak spots. Pointing out Team 7 weak spots were already too easy. However, breaking it down to who has the connection with who and how that could be useful was what made this all worthwhile.
Example. Hurting Ino, hurt Sakura and that hurt Naruto. Connections, all about connections.
Wire wasn't surprised how over a short amount of time the Uzumaki was able to make so many connections and comrades. He had an amazing talent to suck people into his world of optimism when they were in a dark place.
He was the light to their depression. However after witnessing him attack his love interest while in transformation and while watching him during wind training prior she was able to start to pick him apart as well.
Who was the light to his darkness?
It was oddly becoming clear that the Haruno teammate wasn't exactly doing good guiding him out of this somber state he was falling into at random times. Naruto suffered from anxiety, depression, panic attacks. It was so clear how FLAWED he was.
Still, Hinata wondered. Was it actually the Uchiha that Uzumaki felt was his light? This was all very annoying to calculate. It would be nice to find this information out simply because it would be good information to hold over Uzumaki's head.
So far her top choices at getting to Uzumaki in a method to break him similar to her method with the Uchiha and his brother would be to use:
-Umino Iruka
-Hatake Kakashi
-Haruno Sakura
-Sannin Jiraiya
-Lady Tsunade
-Uchiha Sasuke
Those were her top choices and judging how he reacts when he is purely upset it would be best to poke him with caution.
All of this is irrelevant if Lord Danzo does not give her orders on when to make contact with her targets. This was maddening.
It has been a month and a half since she had made physical contact with the Uchiha and she was finally able to maneuver her way to report to Lord Danzo without an ANBU nin being fresh on her tail.
It was becoming routine to have him go over the work and look impress. He'd give acknowledgement to the Uchiha's growing skill, Uzumaki's growing skill and her own skills. It was becoming very predictable.
"I think it is time."
This was new. Something not predictable.
"However you see fit. You will be making contact with the people from your past again. However you will still not be living in the Hyuga compound. You will not join back with your former team and will stay steady more so independent. You will be used how the Hokage sees fit. More of an attachment to Team Guy and Team 7 periodically. Your main goal is to end up getting the Uchiha and Uzumaki into another crossover and aim at eliminating at least the Uchiha. Of course you know to wait for the two to battle. The traitor should be in an injured state after battling with his old team. Understand?"
Again. Confusion ran through her. How was she going to have permission granted for all of this?
"You will be leaving here and meeting with the Hokage. Me and her seem to have…tension with one another and giving her a seasoned ROOT member seemed to catch her attention. She knows only of your skill and how useful you could be to her. Nothing more than that understood. You are still Wire and she knows your name as only that. She calls you anything else, anyone calls you anything else and you do not answer…understood."
She could catch a threat when he spoke. "Yes my Lord."
"Good. You are dismissed."
It felt odd walking in the open in broad daylight. It was so…weird. She wasn't uncomfortable, more like annoyed. She worked almost 24/7. A ninja, especially a spy ninja didn't really have the luxury of having days off. So for almost a year straight she had been pretty much functioning off 2-3 hours sleep and off rations or snacks. Ninjas in the day seemed…chipper. Meanwhile she was pinpointing where she could get caffeine.
The night life was more so when she came alive.
Hinata purposely kept herself suppressed and hidden until she made her way to the Hokage office door. Still in her ROOT gear. She pondered to herself if she should've used the window for entrance instead but decided against it. She didn't want to be rude.
She sighed to herself when she felt other chakra signatures in the Hokage's office. It more so annoyed her that it was familiar chakra signatures.
She knocked on the door. Really she knocked. That was comical even to her. Still she saw how easily the female Hokage could feel disrespected and did not want to be at the end of that anger.
"Come on in."
She fought the urge to sigh again and opened the door. Team 7 and Team Guy stood in the room. She knew they were there, but honestly she assumed that she would make contact with the Hokage first than the teams. Everyone looked slightly confused at who just walked into the room. Except Hatake and her cousin. Her cousin looked alarmed.
"Yes. Danzo spoke nothing but great things about you so I assume having you fill in some holes with Team 7 and occasionally with Team Guy would not only get me the man coverage I need, but it would also prove to have your 'leader' look not so…iffy. Also I am sure it would get you out that dungeon you all call a home. Am I right?!"
Tsunade said the last part jokingly, but the reaction from Neji made her pause, "Dungeon?!"
She looked at him skeptical for a moment, not really expecting such a reaction from a posed person like him. At first the person in front of her didn't say anything. It was a long pregnant pause before the hidden frame turned to Neji and spoke in a low tone, "It was no dungeon."
A female? Why was she talking directly to Neji like that?
This caught the blonde bombshells attention immediately. "Hey you…Wire. Remove your cloak and mask."
While she didn't really deem Lady Tsunade as her 'leader' technically. She had orders from Lord Danzo to treat it as such and so without hesitation she removed her cloak to reveal that same standard uniform Sai wore. Her long blackish purple hair went down to her waist and after that she removed her mask to show eyes similar to Neji's.
Tsunade stared for a moment because she only saw one pair of eyes that looked so close to lavender from a Hyuga. "Holy shit you gotta be kidding me…that son of a bitch." Tsunade almost broke her desk with the amount of force her fist pounded her desk in frustration.
Hinata frowned at the cursing but did not make any other reaction. Tsunade snapped her head at Neji and frowned. Judging by his reaction, he had to have known about this. Those fucking Hyuga's and their secrets.
'The Second Hyuga Affair'Hiding Hyuga Hinata former heiress from being branded. Fucking great.
"Oh my God it's Hinata!" Sakura held her hands to her chest as a big wide smile ran across her face and her eyes immediately swelled with tears. A realization than hit her and she gave a sharp look to Sai. He lied to her.
"Hinata…how the hell did you get into that slime ball Danzo hands."
She made no reaction to this and honestly looked confused. Tsunade frowned at this and was going to repeat herself, but Sai spoke up. "That's not her name."
Neji frowned at this but didn't say anything. Meanwhile Naruto gave him a confused look, "What?"
"She technically doesn't have a name…she has a codename like me."
Tsunade had already looked at the paperwork Danzo sent her over about this 'aid' she was getting from him. She was beginning to think it was his way of being malicious. Rubbing in her face that he took and twisted something of hers. "Okay. Wire."
"Yes Hokage-sama"
Tsunade had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Yes. This was definitely his way at being malicious and downright rotten. "How did you end up in ROOT?"
"I volunteered."
The room got quiet and Neji ignored the stares glancing his way. Tsunade held her interlaced fingers to her lips as she looked straight at said 'Wire'. "I don't believe you…Neji. Was it because she volunteered?"
She sliced her eyes at the older Hyuga who noticed all the attention be directed to him. He closed his eyes clearly not liking the spotlight before opening them to answer, "Yes Hokage-sama."
Sakura and Naruto frowned at this. Naruto being the first to speak up, "So you knew exactly what we were talking about that day! You asshole! You tried to make us look crazy and you questioned our feelings for Hinata! I really thought she was dead or something! What the HELL!"
Neji sent Naruto a heated look and the two stared one another down for a moment, "It was none of your concern. The both of you. It was not my place to tell her private affairs, I…I made a promise to her to not do that and to watch over Lady Hanabi."
Naruto eyes widened at this, accepting and hardly understanding his decisions. Slightly feeling like an asshole for questioning Neji's relationship with Hinata.
Hinata internally frowned at what was going on at the moment. This was all proving to be as annoying as she thought it would be. She didn't know how long they were going to go on this investigation of her whereabouts in ROOT. She simply wanted a purpose of being here at the Hokage's office at this moment without being scrutinized.
The shocked reactions would come and go. With everything going on in the shinobi world no one had time to dwell on what happened to her. She was no one.
Tsunade eyes went back to 'Wire' and just stared at her for a moment longer before speaking, "So you just volunteered to go into ROOT one day?"
"Yes Hokage-sama." Hinata didn't understand this. The Hokage was going to keep getting the same answers.
Insert the heavy sigh Hinata was expecting from Tsunade, "This makes absolutely no sense. You know that right? WHY? I don't understand WHY? Your former teammates would like to know this you know. Also your sensei. There were many people that cared about you. That were LOOKING for you. Just be honest and tell me why."
'Because I'm a coward.'
"Hokage-sama."
Tsunade turned to look at Neji who was bowing particularly low at her, "Please."
She heard the pleading in his voice and frowned at him. He wanted her to drop the questions. Whether because it was too public or because of something deeper.
She wanted to deny the request, but she could see how this was probably a touchy family matter and how the rest of Team Guy and 7 didn't need to know about this first hand. Plus Neji was an amazing ninja and never asked for anything out of her. He was beyond reliable and never complained. She could grant him this one request.
"Fine…but I am not done with this." She went on to open her mission log and go through what she wanted to use 'Wire' for with Team 7 at the active moment. A sick annoying feeling told her that Danzo was hoping she wouldn't further investigate into the female Hyuga before her. Little did he know she was going to have these two teams stuck on Hinata like white on rice.
It was her initial plan anyways. They were able to get a reliable ninja with Sai. Who surely while still somewhat still loyal to Danzo, his loyalty for Team 7 was starting to outweigh the other. She didn't want to admit it, but ROOT had some pretty good gems under all that dirt. Just had to polish them off a bit. So she accepted having another ROOT ninja join her ranks. What she did not know was that it was Hyuga Hinata.
She remembered the day it was alerted that Hinata did not report to Team 8 like she was supposed to. Her sensei went to the Hyuga compound and the response she got was that Hinata was not there either. The whole village was on high alert in case it was another kidnapping fiasco.
However, she should have known better. There was no missing person report filed by the Hyuga clan. Hiashi made no brash decisions to go off and kill someone. It was like Hinata never existed. She should have known it was another Hyuga Affair.
She figured Hinata wasn't as bad as Sai on the socially inept scale. She believed a lot of this behavior was by choice of Hinata. The young woman in front of her was hiding something. She figured nothing crazy of the sort being malicious, because than Neji would not be covering for her. Still, something just wasn't right.
Once the mission was identified as 'Itachi Pursuit'. Hinata learned about all the missions details and was actually feeling somewhat satisfied that her attempt at getting into the younger Uchiha's head mentally actually worked.
Being placed on this mission was making her real mission easier… much easier. This was all coming together nicely.
When they all left the Hokage's building in her mind she was going to go straight to her quarters and start mapping out her plan on taking the Uchiha out.
What she wasn't expecting was her cousin to take her by the arm and drag her somewhere secluded of prying eyes.