Chapter 1
Though to the common eye the world was calm and serene, those with the astute eyes of a ninja could see the flickers of chakra, and hear and see the blurs and whispers as the masters of darkness rushed in and out of the massive compound.
The Hyuga Clan compound was in absolute pandemonium, with shinobi blurring from one building to another as they mobilised their men to search for their lost child. His elder twin's absence had been the first to alert them to the plot, and now the clan rushed to chase after their Clan Head, who was trying to secure the future of their clan.
Hizashi had also wanted to leave, but was stopped by the elders, who wanted to bury the matter to protect the clan's honor. So even as his youngest son remained in enemy hands, Hizashi could do little but put his trust in his brother that he might succeed in bringing him home.
But he could not sit idle, not for his Hikari, nor for his brother.
"We must inform the Hokage," Hizashi pleaded once more as he addressed the clan elders, who held the command now, with his brother chasing after the treacherous Kumo bastards.
"We will do no such thing," and it was his father who spoke those words.
"I will not let you bring shame to the Hyuga name," but this matter went beyond the Hyuga clan. This concerned the entire village and its security.
"If Kumo gets their hands on Hikari's Byakugan, then the village..." but before he could plead his case, another elder cut in from the side.
"Silence!" and the monsters in front of him cared more for decorum than his own child.
"We have already made a decision regarding that," his father declared as Hizashi's heart sank, as he looked up and saw his father continue in his cold and cruel voice, as he stripped his son of his future.
"This is not the first time that an enemy has tried to get their hands on our eyes. This is exactly why we must preserve our traditions, so that we can foil all such plans," and he was shaking his head now.
"No," he whispered, but it was ignored as the man continued.
"We are lucky that the treacherous bastards took the branch child rather than the Princess," and he cursed himself and his birth in that moment, for he had passed on the misfortune to his children as well.
"There is still time. Hiashi is chasing after the Kumo team as we speak. Give me leave and I shall go to aide him, together we can save Hikari even without the need of the rest of the village..." but his words and pleas fell on deaf ears as the elders announced their verdict.
"We have already activated the seal," and that was the final blow, as Hizashi felt his world still at those words, for this went beyond indifference. This was absolute cruelty.
"No!" he gasped, yet the damage was done as his father continued triumphantly.
"Even if they succeed in escaping to Kumo, they shall never get their hands on these eyes," but at what cost?
"It is truly a blessing that we applied those seals today," added another elder, as his heart grew heavier as he shook over his son's fate.
"When they realise that the Byakugan has been destroyed, Kumo will realise that all their effort was in vain...."
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HIASHI HYUGA
The Hyuga were one of the oldest and most powerful clans of their continent. Their doujutsu feared across the lands, boasting a heritage that traced itself back to the progenitor of chakra and ninshuu, the Sage of Six Paths himself.
They were among the only three clans that could boast such a heritage, along with the Uchiha and the Senju. But unlike their counterparts, their prestige had begun to fade away.
Revered, they may still be for their prowess and their Kekkei Genkai, but it had been many decades now since the Hyuga clan had been feared as the Uchiha, and the blame for it all lay with one thing only.
Prodigies.
Unlike their two major rivals, the clan had no prodigies to boast of. They had produced elite shinobi, yet none of their men could rival the prowess and influence of men like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.
Even beyond the two founders, prodigies continued to rise. Some from the storied clans, yet their clan remained deprived of this privilege.
Even in his own generation, Hiashi was amongst the strongest in his cohort along with Choza, Shikaku, and the rest. But as powerful and skilled as a shinobi he was, Hiashi would be the first to admit that he was no match against monsters like Namikaze and Fugaku.
Namikaze, especially, was in a league of his own and had turned the tide of the Third Great Ninja War all by himself. The blonde was an exemplary shinobi, whom many in the village looked up to, unlike himself and his own brother, who were respected yet were not revered.
Even in recent history, the Uchiha clan had produced two more geniuses in the form of the Teleporter and the young prodigious Itachi Uchiha, Fugaku's son. The two of them had already begun to show their might and were being touted as the next hope for a troubled Konoha.
Troubled because, three years ago, just as Konoha had entered the era of Peace, tragedy had struck once more and had robbed their village of their pride and protector, Minato Namikaze.
The Kyubi's rampage had killed hundreds and had decimated major parts of the village, and as news of it spread over the lands, their enemies grew bold, and though Iwa remained neutered, the war mongering Kumo had turned their fangs upon their village once more as the Sandaime took over the mantle of Hokage once more.
The war had lasted three years until peace was made, or at least they had thought so. Because, unlike them Kumo had no interest in peace.
Kumogakure ahd always been envious of the Kekkei Genkai of their village, and were willing to stoop to the absolute lowest just to get their hands on Konoha's valuable Kekkei Genkai, especially the famous Byakugan of his clan.
They had struck at night and had infiltrated the clan compound to kidnap one of their children, and much to his dismay, had succeeded in robbing his clan of their future.
And Hiashi may not be Minato, but he was the clan head, and so it fell to him to protect his clan. They had tried to capture his daughter, and the mere thought that Hinata had been in danger made him growl as Hiashi blurred through the forests as he chased after the Kumogakure monsters.
But the gods had played another trick, and just as they had brought him into this world a few seconds before his brother, Hinata had been spared as the Kumo nins had taken the youngest child of his younger brother, Hikari Hyuga.
And the young boy was the next hope of the clan, a child brimming with potential who was the youngest Hyuga in a century to awaken the Byakugan. It was a tragedy that he was born a spare to a spare, but Hiashi had been determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past and had planned to support the child as much as he could so that he may fulfill his potential and in doing so bring back much of the lost prestiege of his clan.
Fast and skilled as the Kumo ninja may be, these forests were his home, and so Hiashi ran past them and jumped down right in their path, forcing them to halt.
"Shit!" one of them cursed, as the retinue of four began to grit his teeth as he saw him.
"How the hell did he get here so fast!" they lamented as Hiashi pushed chakra into his eyes and felt the world expand as the chakra, the invisible lifeblood of nature itself, became visible to him.
"Give me back the child!" he commanded, but the leader of the Kumo's retinue stepped forward and smirked.
"And why would we ever do that?" and he had a sack hanging on his shoulder, carrying Hizashi's son.
"You are but one man! Do you really think that you can stop me?" and the man was right, he was alone.
"And how do you know that I am alone?" he asked, as the dark-skinned man smirked.
"Because I am a sensor," and he had expected that.
"How else do you think I managed to avoid all those guards around your house and take your very heir from right under your noses?" and Hiashi cursed himself for ever letting that happen, for this was on him.
All of this was his failure as the clan head.
But the man had made a mistake, for Hikari was not the clan heir, though he could not blame him for thinking so. Hikari may be as young as Hinata, but Hizashi's second child had reserves that dwarfed both his daughter and his eldest son.
It was why he had been hopeful that he could bring back the lost glory of their clan, and had been insistent that he be spared the fate of his brother and father. But in the end, the elders had refused to let go of their traditions, and the young boy was branded with that accursed mark along with his brother, just as Hizashi had been decades ago.
He had gone to check on the child for himself, only to discover his abduction at the hands of Kumo.
"We can take him!" the Kumo nin rejoiced as they realised that he was all alone, and he saw all of them take out their kunais as they began to surround him.
"Let's go," and they jumped towards him at once, attacking from all sides, and for any other shinobi, it could have been a bit troublesome to deal with such a situation, but he was a Hyuga.
"Eight Trigrams Palms..." and he entered the stance, as he pushed chakra into the tips of his hand before he began to spin, as he used his clan's kinjutsu.
"Revolving Heaven!"
BOOOOOM!
"AGHHHHH!" and his attack tore through the first three overzealous Kumo nin, and their leader had tried to defend himself, but in the end, even he was thrown back into a tree as Hiashi walked up to the head of the Kumo's retinue, who tried to jump up.
"Eight Trigrams..." and in the blink of an eye he was in front of him, as he deprived the man of his ability to mold or use chakra.
"...Sixty Four Palms!" and the Kumo nin grunted in pain as he sealed tenketsu, forcing him to his knees as the sack left his hands and Hiashi reached for it, cradling it safely in his hands before it could hit the ground.
"YOU!" the Kumo nin cursed, as he fell to the ground as Hiashi cut off the sack and held Hizashi's child in his arms.
Relief filled him as he saw that the boy was fine, for he would not be able to forgive himself if something had happened to him. Hiashi had already failed the child once today, and he had no intention of doing letting it happen again.
"Now time for you to di..." but before he could land the finishing blow on the Kumo-nin, the little sleeping child grunted as Hiashi felt the chakra in his body shift.
"What..." and his eyes widened as he saw the Caged Bird Seal appear on the young child's forehead as he gasped in realization.
"No!" but the slumbering child woke from his sleep, as Hiashi saw the seal twist and turn, as it was activated and began to erode away at the boy's Optical Chakra pathways.
And he saw the veins around those little eyes erupt as the young child's visceral pain-filled screams filled the forests around Konoha.
"AGHHHHHH...."
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And days later, the two twins stood at the gates once more, their faces so similar that none could differentiate between the two, as a promise was made.
"Promise me that you will protect him," whispered the younger of the twins, as the older twin nodded. His body rife with guilt and revulsion for himself, and for the sacrifice that his brother was being forced to make.
"I will. I promise..."
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