Naruto : Wind of Catastrophe

When I climb out of my sleeping bag, the moon is shining high up in the sky, its rays mingling with the flickering light of our campfire. The forest is quiet. We managed to travel a fair distance away from the carnage of our shinobi-made clearing before setting up camp for the night, but it hadn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination.

We were all exhausted, and I had to deal with my injured throat on top of all the cuts and chakra depletion that I shared with my teammates, though the latter thankfully went away after a couple hours.

Lee was so beat up from his use of the Celestial gates that Gai had to carry him. Gai, who had also used the gates, bore the burden without a wince. He just smiled and congratulated us on our victory over Tiger and even cried at one point, he was so proud.

Jonin are scary.

So we had walked, because even if we had wanted to run only the two jonin of our party were in any shape to run. Gai told us we'd stop once we made it past the border, and nobody argued. We all wanted to make sure nothing like that battle happened again anytime soon, and we also all wanted to get some rest as soon as possible.

Except it's past midnight now, and I'm still awake.

Finally, I heave an aggravated sigh and crawl out of my sleeping bag. I grab a bottle of water from my pack and take a few cautious sips. It burns going down my throat, but it's a healing burn. I glance around at the sleeping forms of my fellow genin plus Gai bundled up in their sleeping bags, then set about walking over to the fire without stepping on any of them.

I reach the flame, burning without throwing off any smoke, and take a seat next to Hatake.

"Do you ever sleep?"

"Not if I can help it," he says, eye crinkling. He's sitting cross-legged on the other side of the fire, scribbling on a slip of paper. Beside him lay a set of scrolls with thick black bars encircling them, three in all. "The silence gives me time to catch up on my reading, you know." And yet I don't see his little orange book anywhere.

"What are you writing?" I ask, resisting the urge to crawl around the fire and peer over his shoulder like a five year old.

"A message for the Hokage. He likes to know about surprises ahead of time."

A preemptive debrief on the attack, then. "I'm guessing those scrolls aren't full of cultists," I say. Hatake shakes his head. "What happened to the other three?"

"Two of them managed to destroy their bodies before we could finish them off," he says grimly. "There wasn't enough left of the captain to seal away."

So on top of getting our asses kicked and losing our target in the crossfire of Hatake and Gai's fight, we didn't even get to snag all of the ANBU corpses. What a mess.

Hatake finishes writing his message then, folding it up and scrawling the words 'For the Hokage' on it. Then he pricks his thumb with a kunai and flits through a string of hand seals, summoning a dog in a cloud of chakra smoke. The tall, thin summon animal accepts the load of scrolls on its back, and gently takes the message between its teeth. Then with a bow of its head it takes off in the direction of Konoha in a burst of absurd doggy speed.

"So," I say, wracking my brain for something to say. I take another sip from my canteen. "Are you gonna tell me why those guys attacked us?"

Hatake sighs, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the clear night sky. "I told you that I didn't know."

I arch a brow at him. "You also told me that you can't perform elemental ninjutsu without knowing shape transformation. And that your little orange book isn't totally porn. And-"

"I suppose I did," he interrupts me, scratching at his cheek. "But this is different. I really couldn't tell you exactly why they did what they did."

"But you could tell me your best guess," I say. He doesn't respond. "It had something to do with Sasuke, that's obvious. The ANBU that we fought was gunning for him the whole time."

My eyes narrow, and I voice the suspicion that started nagging me the moment I stabbed Tiger in the chest. "That's not it, though." The shift in the man on the other side of the fire is nigh imperceptible and I almost don't notice it, which says something about how much I've surprised him all by itself.

"What gives you that idea?" He asks, tone light. Too late for that, Hatake. I've got you now.

"They didn't go after Neji," I say. "They didn't mention him, and the ANBU that came after us actively tried to kill him along with the rest of us. It doesn't make any sense, because Iwa could get just as much out of the Byakugan as the Sharingan. They're both stupid strong. But they completely ignored Neji. It doesn't make any sense."

Hatake chuckles, and I realize that I've made a mistake somehow.

"Now that I know the reason for."

I scoff. "I'm all ears."

"They didn't try to capture Neji because unlike the Uchiha, the Byakugan does not belong solely to its user."

Out of all the possible misdirections and/or half truths I'm expecting, that isn't one of them.

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask, staring at Hatake. The fire throws shadows across his face, making his expression even more inscrutable than usual.

"Did they ever teach you why the Hyuuga joined Konoha back in the days of the Clan Wars?" Hatake asks. I shake my head. "Back when there were no hidden villages to ally one's clan to, personal strength was everything. If you were weak you were enslaved, or you were killed. Usually both. It was far worse if you had a desirable bloodline. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"But the Hyuuga are strong," I point out in confusion. "Like, really, really strong." They may be a bunch of uptight wannabe nobles, but even I can't deny their ability as shinobi. It's not even a matter of them lucking out and spawning a bunch of prodigies. Even shy, quiet Hinata was one of the hardest sparring partners I ever faced back in the Academy.

Being an incredible shinobi is literally in their blood. It makes me so mad.

"Not back then," Hatake disagrees, ignoring my disbelief. "Back then, they hadn't even begun to tap into the potential of their bloodline. Their Byakugan made them more dangerous than the average shinobi, but their ability to see the inner workings of a chakra system was squandered on swords and fists."

"No Gentle Fist?" What was a Hyuuga without the Gentle Fist?

"They hadn't figured it out yet," Hatake confirms. "And it cost them. The Hyuuga clan were as notorious as the Uchiha and the Senju, but they weren't nearly as powerful. They were hit the hardest by the anarchy of those times, and by the time they arrived at Konoha's gates there were only a few dozen left. They lost hundreds to shinobi seeking their priceless bloodline."

"Wait, wait, wait," I cut in, waving a hand. "If they really lost that many people, how are they still the only clan that has the Byakugan?"

"Two reasons," Hatake replies without missing a beat. "Both of them are due to the widespread lack of information on bloodlines back in those times. The first is that for a long while, when a shinobi got hold of a Hyuuga, they simply took their eyes for themselves. It was assumed that since the Byakugan continued to function within the new host that they would pass on to the new shinobi's offspring just like with the Hyuuga.

"The second reason is that when people began to realize that they'd have to breed the Hyuuga into their clan to establish the bloodline, they assumed that anyone would be compatible as long as they were of the opposite sex. What nobody realized back then is that very few people are compatible with bloodlines like the Byakugan. Dozens upon dozens of half-Hyuuga children were brought into the world and then erased from it when it was discovered that they didn't possess the fabled doujutsu of their mothers and fathers

"When they heard word of a village founded by two of the strongest shinobi clans in the world that could protect them, the remnants of the Hyuuga scrambled to join. And as a welcoming gift, the Shodai Hokage's younger brother, the future Nidaime, gave them a seal." Hatake's finger scratches at the ground, digging a pair of lines and an x into the dirt.

"Its purpose was simple. If ever a Hyuuga branded with it were to fall into enemy hands, upon their death their Byakugan would go cold and unresponsive in their eye sockets. No matter what anyone tried, it became impossible to take the eyes of a Hyuuga for your own. And seeing as it was still a mystery who was compatible with the bloodline for breeding and why, the Hyuuga were finally given room to breathe."

He gives me a wry smile. "The alliance with the Uchiha and the Senju didn't hurt either, I'm sure."

"... Okay, that's a pretty good reason not to go after Neji," I concede. "Still, them attacking us makes even less sense now. Sasuke's just one kid, and they didn't even know for sure if he had a Sharingan. It's almost like they wanted to-"

My breath freezes in my throat.

Hatake gazes up at the stars, and says quietly, "Almost like they wanted to start a war."

...

 Don't forget to write a review and throw power stones for the story :)

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :

 p atreon.com/CarriePoppins