It was Saturday, and Hinata woke up in her bed.
Her little tummy rumbled. Mm, it was time for a hearty breakfast.
"Good morning, Father."
Hinata walked out of her room in her pajamas and went into the living room.
Spring had arrived, and warm sunlight streamed through the window, filling the room with warmth.
"Hinata, come and eat."
Hiashi looked up from his newspaper and spoke gently to Hinata.
On the dining table sat three bowls of noodles, two steamers of buns, and four cups of soy milk.
All of it was Hinata's breakfast.
"Thank you for the food."
She had been eating this much for quite some time now. At first, Hinata would get so embarrassed that steam rose from her head, but now she could face it calmly.
Besides, eating more could strengthen her body, which meant that what happened that night probably hadn't been a dream.
She had never been able to eat her fill before, anyway. Now she could comfortably eat until she was full.
Mmm, steamed buns are the best!
Meanwhile, Hiashi's lips twitched slightly as he secretly watched his daughter from behind his newspaper.
Ah, why had his daughter's appetite suddenly grown so much?
Surely awakening the Byakugan shouldn't cause this. Could the people from Kumogakure have done something?
But little Hinata had said that Mēidémìngzǐ from Kumogakure had only abducted her and hadn't done anything else.
After examining her, Konoha Hospital's top doctor had said that little Hinata was entering a growth spurt, so naturally she would eat more than before.
But!
No matter how hard Hiashi thought about it, he couldn't understand why it was this much more.
A four-year-old could eat two or three times as much as an adult, yet her stomach barely changed.
Even the Akimichi Clan couldn't do that!
Still, there were benefits. Little Hinata had grown stronger, to the point that she could even hold her own against Neji when they sparred.
Neji: Guys, does anyone understand what I'm going through? The young lady accidentally passed out after sparring with me, and afterward, her appetite became abnormally huge. Now she's stronger than I am, and I even feel like she's going easy on me when we spar.
The whole order of things has been turned upside down!
In about fifteen minutes, Hinata finished breakfast and let out a burp.
Mm, about seventy percent full. But this is enough. I can't shock Father too much.
Hiashi: It's fine. No matter how much more you eat now, I won't be shocked.
"Father, may I go out and play with my friends today?"
Her month of confinement had ended, and little Hinata's recent behavior had been very... friendly, so Hiashi couldn't really find a reason to refuse.
But her friend... couldn't be that Jinchūriki, could it?
The scarlet figure from that night flashed through Hiashi's mind, but a moment later, it was replaced by the sight of him saving his daughter.
Ah, never mind. I'll explain it to the Third later.
Judging by the Third's earlier attitude, he probably wouldn't be too opposed to little Hinata. After all, we Hyuga aren't like those red-eyed freaks...
"All right, then. Have Tōru take you."
Hiashi rubbed his temples and agreed to little Hinata's request to go out.
"Thank you, Father!"
Little Hinata bowed to Hiashi, then skipped all the way out.
"Take it slow on the way!"
Hiashi called out.
Ever since Hinata had been abducted that day, Hiashi had begun reflecting on his relationship with her.
As a father, he did love his daughter dearly, but that kind of love simply wouldn't work in an environment as rigidly governed by clan hierarchy as the Hyuga.
On top of that, with his daughter's shy behavior, he had no other way to deal with it besides being strict.
Besides, his nephew, the exceptionally talented Neji, had been branded with the Caged Bird Seal. If Hinata performed poorly, he wouldn't have the face to have a heart-to-heart with his younger brother.
But he hadn't expected a single abduction to let little Hinata awaken her Byakugan and... unlock her potential. Now he could openly show her familial affection, too.
Outside, Hyuga Tōru led little Hinata toward Naruto's home.
"Young lady, this is as far as I'll take you. I'll come pick you up this afternoon."
Uncle Tōru brought little Hinata to the front of the apartment building. Naruto had told Hinata which home was his before.
"Mm, goodbye, Uncle Tōru."
Little Hinata shyly said goodbye to Uncle Tōru, then entered the apartment building.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking rang out, but what came from inside the room wasn't "Who is it?"
Instead, it was a cry for help, and the voice didn't sound like Naruto's.
Little Hinata didn't know what to do. After a brief moment of hesitation, she activated her Byakugan.
As veins bulged around her eyes, the scene inside the room appeared before her.
!!!
Naruto was sitting on a boy she didn't recognize, pinning down his legs. He seemed to be doing something naughty!
How could this happen! I was here first!
Pfft, no! Nothing can come of two boys being together!
As Naruto's friend, I have to step in and stop this filthy play from happening.
Although little Hinata's thoughts weren't quite this lively, that was more or less what they amounted to.
"Hah!"
Little Hinata exerted herself and pushed the door straight open.
With a bang, the door slammed hard into the wall. In the living room, Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at little Hinata from a strange position.
Huh? Did I get the wrong idea?
(〃'▽'〃)
"Oh, Hinata! What brings you here?"
Seeing that his best friend had arrived, Naruto hurriedly put Sasuke's legs down and got off him, inexplicably feeling something strange.
Don't get the wrong idea! Naruto and Sasuke had only gotten into a fight while fooling around, and then Naruto had knocked Sasuke down.
Then Naruto had asked Sasuke whether he gave up.
The result was easy to imagine. With Sasuke's personality, how could he possibly submit to Naruto?
And so, little Sasuke had been manhandled by Naruto until he howled.
To the ANBU nearby, it was just two little kids playing around, so they hadn't intervened.
And so Hinata had come across this scene when she arrived.
Inside the Sealing Space, Hashirama could relate. After all, when he had gone out to play with Madara back then and Mito caught them, it had probably felt much the same.
Kurama: Hey, hey, hey. You were already married then, yet you went out fooling around with that evil Uchiha Madara every day. You were lucky Mito put up with you at all.
You have no idea where Mito vented all that anger when she got mad...
"Um... my confinement ended, so I came to play with you."
Hinata's face was red, partly because seeing Naruto made her inexplicably shy, and partly because she was embarrassed by her thoughts and actions when she had barged in.
"Oh, I see. Perfect timing. Let me introduce you. This is my little follower, Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke's legs were still terribly sore, but he had to uphold the pride of the Uchiha Clan.
So he struggled to stand up from the floor and nodded to Hinata with a reasonably polite expression.
Someone from the Uchiha Clan?
Looking at little Sasuke, whose face was full of pain as he endured it and tried to act cool, little Hinata remembered how her clansmen described the Uchiha.
"The Uchiha? Just a bunch of red-eyed lunatics. The redder their eyes, the worse their illness."
"They always use Uchiha honor and pride as excuses to pull some show-off stunt."
"They can't compare at all to our powerful Byakugan, which has no side effects."
"If you meet someone from the Uchiha Clan, young lady... just go along with what they say if you don't want an argument."
That last remark had taken Hinata's personality into account at the time, but now...
One only had to look at the door lock she had just pushed straight open.
Hiashi: My daughter has what it takes to become Hokage! Gwahahahaha!
Before you continue