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Aquilla looked around the office to see his teammates engrossed in their work. After completing the Baizan mission, Tern had already begun preparing herself to go after another high-profile target. In her wake, Boobook and Mor were wrangling the anti-ROOT initiative to close cases. Hippo was barely in the office, spending his days outside developing and working contacts; he had even been assigned an additional special surveillance assignment recently.
Then there was Ratel, who was everywhere he looked; the clone force made the five-man squad many times its size.
He was the only one not swamped with work, which was supposed to be a good thing, but Aquilla felt anxious about being left out because the mind is a complex thing. His situation wasn't even strange because ANBU's work was supposed to be long stretches of nothing punctuated by short periods of absolute chaos. But his squad, however, always seemed to be in the middle of something.
Instead of sitting around and feeling paranoid, Aquilla informed the staff he was going out in case they needed to contact him and left the office wearing a straw hat with a short veil that obscured his eyes and the upper part of his nose. Half an hour later, he entered a charming café tucked away in a residential area.
"Welcome back, sir! Your usual?" said the sole proprietor with a bright smile.
He had been frequenting the establishment often enough that he had become a regular. The coffee was average; he'd had better. It was in the opposite direction from his house. The only upside was that it was quiet. So then, why did he visit so often? Because a commercial complex stood two blocks away from the café.
"Here you go. Enjoy!"
He took a couple of minutes to enjoy the hot coffee and pastry before leaning into his chair and weaving a handful of hand seals that sent a burst of chakra into his pale eyes, hidden behind the veil. Rushing blood bulged the veins around the pupilless eyes as his vision expanded in all directions. He could see the proprietor, even though the man had his back to him; the kid on her tricycle with her mother walking behind her; the wind brushing against the chime hanging on the outdoor balcony of a nearby house.
He breathed out, filtering everything through his field of vision, and focused on his real target: a training dojo.
His vision extended out, piercing through the café wall, travelling through the air, and penetrating a couple of buildings before arriving at the target. He concentrated and scoped his vision through a full-height wall into a massive yard where several shinobi were training, and among them, his target.
Shimura Fumuna was a chūnin of the Hidden Leaf and an important figure in the Shimura clan, and before Danzō fled, he was one of his closest aides. ANBU had been aware of him long before ROOT's exodus. They believed he had no active connections to ROOT or its operations, but that didn't discount him as a valuable source of information on Danzō. They had even brought him in for interrogation when Danzō had left the village.
Of course, it wasn't that easy, as the man didn't know Danzō's location or any information about his plans, but the Shimura clan was currently under the heaviest surveillance. ANBU had tabs even on their youngest genin. Aquilla was currently doing the same. The dojo was infamous for hosting many clan shinobi and, in part, functioned as a social hotspot. Two to three times a week, Fumuna visited the dojo for a two-hour session, and there were rumours that he had been conducting meetings in the dojo itself.
So, Aquilla had been keeping an eye on the man, noting down everyone he came into contact with, and passing their information to his intelligence network in case they were a possible lead to ROOT. And for that, the café was a near-perfect place to stake out the dojo from.
It was in a part of the residential area that was fairly inaccessible from the area on the dojo's side. Rooftops around the city were essentially part of the shinobi pedestrian infrastructure, and one could find as many shinobi moving through rooftops as on roads. However, this residential area had houses with slanted roofs lined with clay tiles, which were susceptible to cracks and breaking when people jumped on and off them. There had been so many complaints that the Lord Hokage had passed a law ages ago prohibiting anyone from hopping on the roofs of such houses, thereby reducing the number of shinobi in the area.
It was also at a suitable distance from the dojo, which lay within his Byakugan's range of perception. No two Hyūgas' Byakugan were the same. Everyone had varying characteristics. Some could see exceptionally far, while others might have a stronger capacity to see through multiple barriers. Some could perceive chakra with greater clarity, while others had a narrower cone of blindness. At this distance, he could see everywhere in the dojo.
However, Aquilla's dōjutsu was as useful as it was eye-catching. It wasn't meant as a brag, but the Hyūga were born head-turners. Aquilla was used to the attention, but attention was antithetical to his job. If, for any reason, anyone doing anything nefarious got a hint that there was a Hyūga hanging out nearby, they would immediately abandon everything. The Hyūga district of the Hidden Leaf Village boasted the lowest crime rate in the city for that very reason.
Aquilla couldn't be seen roaming out and about—with or without his mask—which made the quaint café with a proprietor, who was fed the story that his customer only wanted some peace and quiet without anyone bothering him, the perfect place to be. Though he suspected that the proprietor had some exaggerated fantasy brewing in his mind, Aquilla hadn't said anything since it worked in his favour. Besides, in a strange way, the café was also among the few places in the village where he could comfortably sit under a roof as an ordinary human being.
The baked goods made the two-hour focus period much more bearable, of course, and after two hours, Aquilla closed his little notepad. It seemed Fumuna had left the dojo after an uneventful day.
"Please come again!" the proprietor said with a smile as he left the café.
Aquilla politely bade him farewell. He wanted to tell the man to improve his coffee, but that might create a conflict and jeopardise the stakeout location. He returned to the office, filing away all his notes and any material he couldn't take home. While he was in his office, he caught sight of Tern. They shared a nod and then went their separate ways. Among the squad, they were the most distant from each other—both in location and emotionally as well.
Tern worked primarily outside the village, while the scope of Aquilla's work was limited to the Hidden Leaf Village. But the truth behind their distant relationship was that he was tasked with investigating anyone with a significant connection to Danzō, and by definition, the Shimura clan was at the centre of it all. They hadn't talked about it, but she no doubt knew he was looking into her clan—people she personally knew—and that had created a natural barrier between them. Not that the distance was totally on her or his job, either. Fraternising with someone related to the main suspects of his work would cloud his judgement. It was better if they maintained a strictly professional relationship.
If he ever had to look into Tern, Aquilla wouldn't be hindered by any personal connection to her.
———
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When Aquilla left work, instead of returning home as he usually would, he headed to the Hyūga main house. The Hyūga Ward was a picturesque place, to say the least. It was well-maintained by the authorities, and the residents had a high level of civic sense and treated public infrastructure with respect. The Hyūga clan was among the most avid patrons of the arts; their part of the village featured many stunning stone works, detailed sculptures, charming murals, and other public artworks that elevated it. Many painters, photographers, and magazines would regularly come to capture its beauty.
Once, he had felt proud of it. The Hyūga Ward represented the Hyūga pedigree and how they held themselves to a higher standard than others. How long did that view last? He didn't blame himself. He was young, after all. These days, it all seemed like an attempt to hide the reality—to put the overwhelming beauty upfront in hopes that it would hide the ugly. It clearly worked because people treated and saw the Hyūga exactly like the clan wanted them to.
He arrived at the ancestral home of the Hyūga clan. Of course, the real ancestral home still existed in their ancestral land, their home before the clan moved to the Hidden Leaf Village. This home here was merely the residence of the current head of the main house. He was guided by the house help to the sitting room, where he was served tea that went untouched, despite having been replaced once, as he waited for half an hour for the clan head to join him.
"There have been interesting movements in the West from the Hidden Sand. I'm thinking about getting involved. There might be a possibility of skirmishes," Hiashi said as soon as he sat down. No greetings or polite small chat. "I want information on the situation, so we can decide how to go about getting the most value out of it."
As an ANBU-nin, he had access to sensitive information. It was a commonplace practice for clans to tap their ANBU members for information. Of course, they had to be careful because it could always come back to bite them in the ass. Clans also often sought out specific operations they believed they could handle comfortably and used that information to build plans to bid for control of those situations.
"Yes, I'll look into it—"
"Father?"
The sliding door opened, interrupting their conversation as a child stepped inside, only to freeze with an expression of surprise when she saw him. It was the eldest heir of the main house, Hyūga Hinata. Clearly, she wasn't expecting him to be here. When Aquilla saw her, his first thought was of the kidnapping incident a few years back and the aftermath of it. He subconsciously clenched his fist resting on his thigh, remembering what the branch house had lost that day.
"A-Ah—"
"We are busy, Hinata. Leave us," Hiashi said curtly.
The little girl looked crestfallen, like she had made a big mistake when all she had done was interrupt his meeting. It wasn't even her fault, because had Hiashi arrived on time, they would have long since been done.
"Is there anything else?" Aquilla asked.
"No, that is all."
"Very well. Please have someone send me the information. I'll look into it," Aquilla said, standing up. "May I take my leave?"
Hiashi stared at him in silence. Aquilla didn't avert his gaze. Even though he was summoned here, tired after work for something that could've been a message delivered to him, he was still an ANBU-nin.
"You may," Hiashi finally replied.
Aquilla promptly left the house. Every moment spent there made him feel sick. As he walked back home, he felt utterly tired. Every moment spent in the company of the main house drained him. Though he was sure many others in the clan would pay to be in the company of the main house, he didn't blame them. In some ways, he was the same. Becoming an ANBU-nin had gained him the main house's favour, and it had improved his life in many ways as a result.
While he was in his thoughts, the sound of soles dragging against the ground caught his ears. Through the open door, he peered into the yard to see a boy rapidly spinning on his feet. Even though the barrier of chakra was missing, it was clear that the boy was emulating the moves of the Hyūga's Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.
It was part of the Hyūga clan's nin-taijutsu. While every Hyūga shinobi had the Hyūga's Gentle Fist hammered into them from a young age, the Eight Trigrams—a secret chapter of jutsu under Gentle Fist—were reserved for the members of the main house. Some members of the branch house, those who showed talent and, more importantly, loyalty to the main house, were taught it as well, as a reward. Aquilla was given the opportunity to learn Revolving Heaven when he made ANBU.
Right now, he was seeing a boy who wasn't even a shinobi on the verge of mastering that art. He knew the boy wasn't taught how to perform that move. He also knew the boy. There wasn't anyone in the clan who didn't know the boy because of his genius, but even then, Aquilla wasn't expecting this level of prodigy. Hyūga Neji, the son of the late Hizashi Hyūga, a former head of the branch house.
"…Focus on your balance," he said.
Neji stopped and gazed at him out on the street. As they shared a silent gaze, Aquilla saw anger, pain, and caution, all swirling in a chaos of emotions in the young eyes.
"You're close. Carry the momentum from your feet up towards your body," Aquilla said, and gave him a couple of rotations' worth of demonstration before walking away. He didn't wish to say any more. Otherwise, he'd risk being blamed for passing on clan secrets without permission. ANBU or not, he couldn't take that heat.
He finally reached his home, where he lived alone. Feeling that he needed a bath to relax, he decided to have one, opting to draw one at home. There was a natural hot spring nearby that he often visited, but he didn't feel like walking there. While he waited for the water to heat up, he stepped in front of the sink to wash his face and remove his forehead protector, revealing a white bandage beneath it.
That, too, was unfastened, strips of white cloth falling around his shoulders to reveal a green juinjutsu seal.
The Cursed Seal: Caged Bird.
The fate of all Hyūga apart from the main house.
He looked at himself in the mirror and, even now, could see the lingering shadows that haunted Neji Hyūga in full force. However, unlike the young boy, all of those swirling emotions were washed over by resignation.
That, too, was the fate of all Hyūga apart from the main house.
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The link is in the synopsis!