Tacit Understanding Between Konoha Ninja Clans

Deep within the Hyuga clan grounds, an air of tension now hung over the place, utterly unlike its usual calm.

An hour earlier, Hyuga Hiashi had hurried back with his younger daughter, Hanabi, under the escort of several Hyuga ninja. Without even taking the time to change out of the clan head's kimono, which was dusted with a little dirt, he had immediately and gently pushed the still bewildered six-year-old Hanabi into the arms of his wife, who had come out to meet them.

"Take Hanabi to the inner rooms. Without my permission, no one is to come near." Hyuga Hiashi's voice was low and urgent, and his usually stern face now seemed covered in a layer of frost.

He looked at the worry in his wife's eyes, and at the unease reflected in Hanabi's pure Byakugan, and sighed faintly in his heart.

"The clan grounds need to be placed on the highest level of alert."

Madam Hyuga nodded. She did not ask any questions, merely held Hanabi tightly in her arms and murmured to soothe her.

She knew that anything capable of making her husband this urgent, to the point that he had no time even to explain, was no ordinary matter. It was probably connected to the faint sounds of explosions and chaos coming from outside.

She gave Hyuga Hiashi one deep look, then turned and quickly withdrew toward the depths of the inner residence with Hanabi, escorted by two Hyuga kunoichi.

Hyuga Hiashi watched his wife and daughter leave, then turned and issued a low order to the trusted clansmen who had long been waiting beneath the corridor in the courtyard. "Homon!"

"Here!" A refined-looking Hyuga Jonin of about twenty-five, with a Konoha forehead protector tied around his brow, immediately dropped to one knee.

He was a