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Severed Fates: Hyuga SI Ch.11
🕑 Added 2025-09-01 18:02:25 +0000 UTCChapter 11
HIKARI HYUGA
And in the past year, Hikari had rarely, if ever, had a day to himself, for when he was not out doing missions, he was training under the watchful eye of his sensei, and the rest of ANBU, who seemed rather hellbent on making his life as miserable as possible.
But he had endured, and endured, and now the results were here.
“The Hitai-ate,” Hinata whispered as he showed the leaf headband that he had been given six months ago. Usually, he would not need to wear it as an ANBU, but as Hikari Hizashi, a young genin of Konoha, he would have to wear it on his body.
“You became a shinobi,” she gasped in surprise as they sat in one of the parks near the Academy, as he showed her his hitai-ate.
“Yeah,” and it took her a second to register his words before she asked with a gasp.
“But how?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“There are other ways of becoming a ninja apart from the academy,” and if she understood his meaning, she did not speak further and congratulated him.
“Congratulations,” she added finally as she handed him back his hitai-ate.
“Thank you,” he answered and put it in his pocket.
“Still, I have heard that your final test is in a day or two,” and she nodded enthusiastically.
“Yeah, and then I will be a ninja as well,” and of course, she would be, and he glanced back and saw the guard looking at them with clear disdain and disapproval as Hikari mouthed out to her.
“And what of Naruto-kun?” he asked, as she stopped at once and her face flushed in an instant.
“Aaa...aaa,” and he laughed, seeing her reaction as she became tongue-tied at the question.
“Still, I saw him as well, and he truly is as energetic as you said he was,” and his energy was clearly unnatural for a no eleven-year-old lives as he does, and works as hard as he does. Yet it was a shame that the boy lacked anyone who could guide him properly. At the same time, his education at the academy was being hampered by his own lack of interest and the deliberate actions of a hidden party.
“You saw him,” she asked in surprise, and Hikari had been free for some days now and had spent all that time looking into the intelligence screw ups that had happened in his last few missions, and where others saw nothing, he saw a pattern.
The sources of intel for the first two screw ups were now dead, and he feared that such a fate would soon fall upon the source of the intel for the third assassination attempt. Luckily, or rather unluckily, the source of that intel was a simple chunin who also worked at the academy.
“Yeah,” and the boy’s reserves were even greater than he had thought, and even without any training, they were at least a hundred times his own, yet his control over it was so abysmal that he could not perform even the most basic jutsus.
Naruto’s chakra control would never be as fine as his own or even Hinata’s, but still, he needed to learn how to control his chakra at least to some decent level. Otherwise, it would continue to trouble him.
“And let’s just say he leaves quite an impression,” and she smiled at that.
“But as he is, he will fail the test,” he was blunt as he told her that, as Hinata’s smile dulled and her eyes dropped to the ground, and she did not question his words, for she knew better than to doubt him.
“Really?” she asked, and he nodded, and she seemed dejected for him before her eyes lit up.
“Then why don’t you help him?” she suggested suddenly, and he nodded.
“I will, in my own way. But I believe there is someone else more suited to this task than myself,” and then he pointed towards her.
“You...”
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And so that very night, keeping his promise with Hinata, he quietly and silently followed the chunin Mizuki, who had provided the intel for his last mission, into the forest as he tried to chase down his source.
And he sat on the branch of a tree outside and watched as the chunin entered a cave, and he sat there and waited for him to leave. Yet minutes turned into hours, and the man did not appear, forcing him to jump down from the tree and enter the cave himself.
A few steps later, the smell of blood and death hit his nose as he jumped forward and reached the source of the smell, for there he lay in a pool of his own blood—Mizuki.
And above him, written in his blood was a message, clearly meant for him.
“I see you,” and suddenly he heard the sound of burning, as his head snapped to the side as he spotted a burnt paper tag, strapped to Mizuki’s face.
“Shi....”
BOOOOM! BOOM!
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And as the cave exploded, a masked nin watched it all from the outside and slowly slid off his mask to reveal a pair of round glasses covering his eyes.
“And that takes care of all the loose ends....”
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HIRUZEN SARUTOBI
And what little joy and delight had reeled into his life because of the appearance of another prodigy in the leaf was quickly eaten away as he read the report from the Intelligence division, about the traitor amidst their ranks.
“A traitor in the academy,” and Hiruzen was truly enraged at the negligence of the Intelligence Division, and Inoichi Yamanaka seemed equally irate and remorseful as he nodded.
“Yes, Sandaime-sama,” and as he read through the file, there seemed to be little doubt that they had made a grave mistake in the case of one Mizuki, for they had allowed a traitor to infiltrate into the most delicate position within the village.
And while the position of an Academy teacher was not a particularly coveted job, none could argue against the job's integral nature, for that person was responsible for giving the future shinobi of their village a strong foundation.
And now he feared for his students and wondered at the extent of the damage done by this curse.
His allegiance, though, remained in question, though the file contained a clear hint that he was an associate of his former student, Orochimaru, which made him wonder just what exactly he was planning.
“Though with Mizuki dead, we have no way of confirming much of the intelligence mentioned here, but we believe that he was working for one of your former students, and was not the only one,” and the names of three other chunin were mentioned in the file as well.
“What of these two?” he asked, yet the Yamanaka clan head shook his head in frustration.
“I am afraid they are dead as well,” and Hiruzen’s eyes narrowed at those words as he put down the folder.
“And now Mizuki is dead as well,” he repeated as he reached for his pipe and put it into his mouth.
“Do you understand what this means?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, Sandaime-sama,” Inoichi answered with a stern expression.
“There is at least one more operative still working with the village,” and this person had killed Mizuki before the chunin could be brought in for questioning.
“We are investigating the entire incident, but there is one more concern that I would like to bring up,” and the man seemed a bit hesitant, as Hiruzen encouraged him to continue.
“Yes,” and with that, he looked him in the eye and levelled a somewhat grave and dire accusation.
“After this ordeal, I had my men look into all of the intel failures, and they found a rather concerning pattern.” Since he had not mentioned it in the file, it must have been rather dangerous, such that he had thought it wise not to leave any written record of this accusation.
“Though I can prove little right now, it seems like the Foundation is at work again,” and Hiruzen’s lips thinned at those words.
“Are you certain?” he asked, and he knew how the ANBU and the intelligence division were not fond of the Foundation’s involvement in village matters.
“Yes,” and as ruthless and loathsome as the organization was, Hiruzen believed it to be a necessity.
“I will take care of this,’ he assured the Yamanaka clan head, for he would have to demand some answers from Danzo about this whole affair and what he had done, and though his old teammate’s judgment was often clouded by hate and anger, Hiruzen trusted him in matters concerning the village and its safety.
“Thank you, Sandaime-sama,” and yet he stopped the man before he could leave.
“Wait,” he cut in, for he was not quite done with the man yet.
“This report,” he asked, pointing towards the file.
“Hikari Hizashi was the one who gave you the initial intelligence, wasn’t he?” and the report made no mention of his name, yet Hiruzen’s instincts were correct as the Yamanaka clan head nodded.
“Yes,” and that was rather interesting and intriguing.
“What do you think of his work?” he questioned, and Yamanaka seemed surprised by the question before he answered.
“He has a keen eye for intelligence and has a very sharp intuition,” and this had been the basis of this entire exercise, for the boy had sensed that something had been wrong and was brave enough to investigate it.
Hiruzen had suspected the clans to be involved in the matter, yet for now all fingers seemed to be pointing towards his former student, yet it made him wonder if Orochimaru had specifically targeted the Hyuga exile, or was it all just a coincidence.
“Now, we must move on to the more concerning matter,” he sighed, frustrations piling up inside him at his own failure.
“The academy,” Inoichi guessed correctly, and the session was ending, and there was little they could do to remedy the glaring deficiencies that Mizuki may have left in their students.
“I will need you to make a comprehensive report on Mizuki’s classes and what he has taught them. Comb through it all, and give me a report as soon as possible,” and given that his own daughter had been a student of Mizuki’s, he realised that the man may have a greater motivation for the task.
“Of course,” but that was not their only concern.
“And since Mizuki was compromised, we must consider that all of the information about the new batch of genins is in the hands of our enemies.” The academy years were formative for a ninja, and now all that information was out there in the hands of their enemies.
“Habits, techniques, talents, and so forth,” and in the ninja world, these small things mattered much, and so he would need to remedy that.
“We must move ahead with the mindset that all that information has been leaked to our enemies,” and so with that, he would have to alter many of his plans.
“It seems like the jounin sensei’s this year will have to work extremely hard....”
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At the academy, the students were informed about the death of one of their sensei, and as the students wailed and cried in sorrow, few noticed the stiff expression on the faces of Mizuki-sensei’s replacement.
Then they reviewed each class taught by the said sensei, so as to honor his memory, but a few amongst the class saw it for what it was, and began to wonder about what exactly had happened with their late teacher.
The classes came to an end at their usual time, and the students all left the gates only to be greeted by friends or families. Amidst that crowd a blonde boy watched the rest of his peers with envy as he saw them laughing with their families of friends, while the few gazes that lingered onto him were all filled with hate and nothing more.
Yet as he took a few steps forward, ignoring those hate-filled gazes, he found his path blocked by the familiar face of a classmate, and it was a girl, he realised. Hinata, he remembered her name, for she was amongst the few girls who did not make fun of him, and was a recluse much like himself because of her pale eyes.
She was not alone and was joined by a boy with similar eyes who was eyeing him rather strangely as Naruto greeted her.
“Hi, Hinata,”
“Ano...Um...” and she flushed at his greeting, as the boy beside her looked at her before suddenly breaking out in a laugh, as Naruto frowned in anger.
“Hahaha....,” and he laughed, as he held his abdomen, as Naruto’s patience ran thin.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked, feeling insulted, as he turned towards him and apologized.
“I am sorry, I am not laughing at you,” he answered, and he did not believe him, but unlike the rest of his classmates, he did not look at him with disgust and anger as he offered him his hand.
“Hi, my name is Hikari Hizashi,” and Naruto was not one to refuse a greeting.
“And I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I am going to become the greatest Hokage, so you better not be laughing at me,” and he was surprised when he heard no retort, but saw that the boy smiled.
“Yes, Hinata’s told me about you and your dream,” and that surprised him as he turned towards the blue-haired girl.
“And who are you?”
“I am her cousin of sorts,” and that was why he had the same pale eyes as her.
“And we wanted to ask if you would be willing to come and train with us...”
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Comments
SilasDrekken
It occurs to me unless he's wearing something with fuin the Hyuga guard should be able to see his ANBU tattoo if he has one. But I assume him being ANBU is kinda an open secret to the adult ninjas of the clan. Though Hinata will see it if she activates her byakugan with him nearby if she's paying attention.
Radiant Tiefling
Thank you for the chapter.
