"Wha-what?!" squeaked Hinata.
"He is beneath the notice of the Hyuga clan. If it changes in the future, then perhaps you would be able to associate with him then. If that occurs, I will consider changing my mind." Hiashi looked over a scroll before placing his hanko at the appropriate spot, then handed it off to a scribe. He paused before taking the next scroll. "Your studies into this 'holy warrior' art do not actually require his presence, do they?"
"N-no sir," admitted Hinata.
Her father took the next scroll and made a point to study this one a little longer. "Then you will train in this other style for a year and then be evaluated at that time. Dismissed."
Fu waited until Hinata was gone before frowning and glancing to the side.
"You have a question?" asked Hiashi.
"Yes, Lord Hiashi. She is to learn these other skills?" asked Fu.
"If it makes her stronger, it benefits the clan," stated Hiashi, frowning at a supply requisition as if it had offended him somehow. "If it makes her stronger and can be taught beyond Hinata - it strengthens the clan. If it fails to make her stronger, she is already a great disappointment and it can be stopped there without further trouble."
"Yes, Lord Hiashi."
"If, however, the one year evaluation turns out to have benefits - I will consider further action at that time." Hiashi Hyuga finally signed the agreement he was looking at, handed it off to the scribe, then found another piece of paper underneath. A glance at it revealed it was the initial setup for an interclan trade agreement. Much less of note than the dispute with the trading company he'd just been looking at.
Feeling a bit tired, he signed it and only wondered what it had been much later.
When Fu ran across it, he almost freaked out - which had the possibility of becoming fatal for a branch family member. Painful was more likely if he questioned it. Well, the safest thing to do was pass it along.
"Paperwork paperwork paperwork," grumbled the Hokage. Trade agreement, approved. Exclusive use of Konohagakure Brand Sake at the Dew Drop Inn - denied. Intel report on troop movements in Iwa - flagged for followup. Send one of the quieter, more subtle, sneaky jonin to investigate further. Hyuga inquiry into marrying one Hanabi Hyuga to one Naruto Uzumaki - approved. Food requisition for the Jonin Lounge, check...
Waitaminute. What?
Hiruzen Sarutobi started looking for the sheet again, sure that he'd drowsed and missed something. Naruto was NINE years old. Hanabi... wasn't that the youngest of Hiashi's family? Wasn't she FOUR?
Finally he found the errant sheet, and if he hadn't known better he'd think it had been trying to sneak away. Yes, this was the first of three such forms that were normally used when clans were to intermarry or enter into a closer relationship. Not unheard of for the especially traditional clans to make various arrangements of this sort. Usually not the sole survivor of one clan and a potential heiress. Though wasn't the second-born usually relegated to a branch house?
Naruto Uzumaki of Clan Uzumaki. Hanabi Hyuga or other specified Hyuga.
The possibility that Hiashi Hyuga had made a joke was considered for perhaps one tenth of a second before Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that was considerably less likely than Orochimaru showing up in Kiri, having opened up a burlesque theatre and doing stand-up comedy.
Well, this WAS the first of three forms that were usually submitted on such things. It basically was a letter of intent, and indicated that one of the two parties was interested in negotiating something with the other. Sometimes it never got to the other two forms, because this was just sort of an opening legal statement.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, being the Third Hokage, a ninja known as the Professor who'd seen all sorts of truly weird crap in his life - immediately came up with three theories to explain this.
1) Naruto was pulling a prank. The calligraphy was too good for Naruto to have written it, but this COULD be part of an elaborate prank being pulled on the Hyuga clan.
2) Hiashi Hyuga's signature-stamp was down there on that appropriate line. If anyone could have figured out Naruto's heritage, he'd expect the Hyuga clan could do it. What would the Hyuga clan get out of it? The Uzumaki clan was known for powerful chakra and fuuinjutsu talent. The Hyuga clan typically didn't use too much fuuinjutsu besides that Branch family seal, and had average chakra reserves. So - it COULD be that a member of the Hyuga family had approached Hiashi with the idea of increasing those chakra reserves and trying to bring in some fuuinjutsu talent.
3) Hiashi or one of the Hyuga clan was simply doing something to keep themselves from getting pranked. The boy had managed something with a can of paint, a stinkbomb, and a strand of tripwire that had managed a neighboring but far more minor clan - the Sugimoto clan - some difficulty.
Number three was nearly as unlikely as Hiashi simply getting drunk and making a joke that someone else in the clan took seriously.
The other two? Not likely either. Whatever the case, the paper refused to vanish in a puff of logic.
After careful consideration, more than he'd spent on most of the rest of the paperwork, Hiruzen Sarutobi smirked. Number one was the most likely, but Naruto would have had to have gotten some help from someone. Someone who wanted to pull a prank on the Hyuga clan. THAT list was entirely too long for serious consideration. So - the obvious conclusion was that this was part of an elaborate prank.
He'd have to step in before things escalated, but this showed signs that it could get quite amusing in the future.
"I... what?" asked a four year old girl.
"You're too young to be formally engaged or married, so you needn't concern yourself with such," said the branch member.
"I... see," said Hanabi. So. She was not to be the heir after all.
"On the other hand, if this boy does distinguish himself, it could save you from my own fate," noted the Branch family member, her hand touching the little lace cap that covered the seal on her forehead.
"Eh? Explain," demanded Hanabi.
"Marriages to other clans would be seen as less valuable, if bound by this sort of seal," said the Branch maid, who was Hanabi's teacher after all. "After all, one's wife being incapacitated or killed by an errant hand-sign would be a major breech of interclan relations. Another sort of seal is used in such cases, rare though they are. While it would still seal the Byakugan in case of death or the eye being removed from the wife's head - the marriage-seal is rather less painful. There was an agreement three generations ago where there was an interclan marriage, and the children with the Byakugan were brought back into the Hyuga clan to strengthen it. Those without had a seal applied to make sure that didn't crop up in later generations but were allowed to make a name for themselves thereafter. Unfortunately, the members of that clan did not survive the last great ninja war."
"I see," said Hanabi with all the dignity a four year old could. Which, considering that she WAS a Hyuga, was rather more than one would get out of an Inuzuka.
"A concern for much later, Mistress Hanabi. Would you care for more lessons on history or should we return to traditional games?"
"Well, I had to do SOMETHING when they were being a big no-fun group, didn't I?"
Qilue regarded the cat in the mirror with an expression of disdain.
"You disapprove?"
"I can't honestly see how this could possibly work out in a way that doesn't involve stabbings," said Qilue finally.
"Your drow upbringing is showing. Mind you, these ARE ninja - so it is certainly possible. Unlikely I'd think. Besides, she's four. He's nine. In another three years when things really start to happen - it is possible everyone but you and I will have forgotten about it."
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(Posted Thu, 20 Feb 2014 16:05)
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