In his private study at the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi was brooding. A dark look was on his face as he stared into space, a cup of tea that had been brought to him hot was now ice cold and a plate of dango was left untouched.

Ever since he had seen his daughter return, and felt what could only be described at merely the first bit of anger she'd be willing to act upon, Hiashi knew he'd have to face her again. At least this time he was ready, and when she got to the Hyuuga compound Hinata would hopefully be subdued enough to not start a fight in a place where she was clearly outnumbered.

Not to say Hiashi wanted to beat her into submission like some kind of abusive father, despite the fact that was how many saw him. A fight was what he was hoping to avoid, a fight started by her that is. He wanted to look firm, imposing, like an authority figure she could obey, but he had no intention of actually striking her first. Not that she needed to know that. However, the same could not be said for his daughter in terms of striking first.

'I never should have let that old fool take her away for this. Now Hinata is exactly what I feared she'd become. All the motive of a Branch House member to hate, and all the power of a Main House member to do something about it.'

Something like that could lead to infighting within the clan. The Main House members would without a doubt follow Hiashi, but the Branch House members…who would they follow? Fear of the mark alone would not be enough to cow them if Hinata could destabilize the Main House, but that wouldn't mean Hinata herself was safe from the Branch House members, or vice versa.

"Neji…they would follow Neji." He said as he stroked his chin in contemplation. His nephew, even if he did not realize it, was the unofficial head of the Branch members. After all, they idolized him as the genius of the Hyuuga family as did many of the main family.

Hiashi let out a long sigh, if only Neji had been born his son instead of the son of his late brother, so much could have been different. But still, in the event of a civil war within the clan, who would Neji follow? He had always been loyal and done whatever Hiashi had commanded but still, he loved his cousin Hinata, and Hiashi knew that if Hinata ever headed this family, she would very well end the ancient practice of indentured servitude that was forced on the branch family.

The more he pondered the worse his anxiety became, the last infighting within the Hyuuga clan had taken place 200 years ago and it had nearly wiped out their entire bloodline.

Hiashi suddenly slammed his had down making a loud banging sound. "No, I will not allow it!" He was still Hyuuga Hiashi, head of one of the mightiest clans in all of the Land of Fire, he would not tuck tail for anyone, certainly not his daughter. When she returned, he would remind her of her place, at his side or at his feet.

However as the hours passed, the confrontation that he was anticipated fortunately never happened... because Hinata did not return to the estate that night. He had waited patiently, expecting her to walk through the gates but as time passed and the sky grew darker she had not returned and Hiashi felt his ire rise, as he had spent the entirety of the time waiting for her, only to look and feel like a fool when in the end he retired for the night.

The next morning Hiashi went out to look for her, byakugan ready, to see where she had been. After an hour he found her. Frankly, he shouldn't have been surprised to see exactly where he found her.

He ground his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, a member of the Hyuuga family in such a location. If his father could see this he would be turning in his grave, or he would be if he hadn't been cremated.

He went up and knocked hard on the door.

"Yes, can I help you?" Jiriyia said when he opened the door that had belonged to Naruto's old apartment. He had a pleasant smile on his face, as if he was greeting some door-to-door salesman rather then the head of a clan.

"I know my daughter is in there. Why did she not come home last night?"

"Home is where the heart is. Where do you think Hinata's heart was last night?" Jiriyia asked back.

"Can I just speak to her please?" The Hyuuga head requested, he did not know why he was even requesting it, he was Hinata's father he should not have to request to see his own daughter.

"I'll give you the opportunity, though whether or not she wishes to indulge you is another matter. But let me make one thing clear first Hiashi. Just in case it needs to be made clear. Clan head or not, jonin or not, right now you have no jurisdiction here. I am the closest thing to a property owner here and now, so that means you are a guest in my home, and you will abide my wishes. Understand?"

Hiashi wasn't certain if the sannin's claim was true, but there was a sense of logic to it he could not fault, so he nodded. With that, Jiraiya welcomed him in.

Having never set foot inside this dwelling before, Hiashi did not know what to expect. Considering what he had heard of Naruto's lifestyle, he would have imagined something dilapidated and so unfurnished even a Spartan would have said he didn't have enough. Yet everything was in good condition, walls, windows, furniture, everything. Sure, it wasn't up to his standards, but he supposed someone who didn't know any better could live here without complaint.

A bedroom door opened and Hinata came out, wearing the outfit from yesterday. "What's the matter? Upset that I didn't come crawling to you yesterday?"

"Hinata, you were expected back home last night." He said, speaking in his imperious tone, as if he was addressing a teenager who had stayed out past curfew.

"And I told you I had no intention of putting on a show for any of you. Unless you wanted to be the one I used for target practice."

Hiashi withheld any nonverbal response he might have given. "Hinata, it is not unreasonable to wish to see how your progress has been over the course of your training."

"No, but history has shown that when it comes to the clan judging me, success is expected but not appreciated, and failure is scorned and not allowed to be forgotten. The only form of reward the Hyuuga give is merely a lack of punishment; our one motive to do well is so we can be left alone. But negative reinforcement tends to cause negative consequences, and the one you've earned is my disdain."

Hiashi exhaled deeply through his nostrils, he was not used to being spoken to like this, especially not by his daughter. "Hinata, have you ever considered the possibility that maybe, just maybe, I didn't have malicious intent for being so firm with you?"

"No." She answered bluntly and without even a moment of hesitation.

The sheer directness of her answer was like a kunai to his eyes. "You... you really think so little of me?"

"No more then you ever thought about me. However, maybe there was a time when I thought you were being firm for my own good, but you were the one who gave up on me Father. I've had other sensei's who had other approaches to teaching me, and with them I've flourished. When you made me your responsibility, you never once considered trying another approach to teaching me. No, you decided if I couldn't be taught the Hyuuga way than I was simply unteachable. You blamed my struggles solely on my supposed lack of talent, never considering the fault was anything other than my own. How can I possibly give you the benefit of the doubt when you love the clan's traditions more than you love me?"

"You're a Hyuuga. It's natural to assume that if the Hyuuga regiment doesn't work for you nothing will." Hiashi protested.

Hinata rolled her eyes. "My mother was different; did you ever consider that when you made your decision?"

Hiashi was not willing to go into that subject, especially with Jiraiya watching. Once with Tsunade was enough. "Hanabi showed no-"

"I'm not talking about Hanabi, I'm talking about me!" Hinata interjected, getting tired of this debate. "I have maybe more chakra than the entire clan put together! I'm practically like Naruto-kun when it comes to quantity alone! And for all your talk about wanting me to be the best I can be, you specifically designed my training to stunt me and go on to wear down my self-esteem with my skills! And now that I am strong enough, mentally and physically, to stand up for myself, you want to see what my limits are so you can put me down again if you're scared enough! Exactly how do you not have malicious intent for me?"

"Hinata you are taking this completely out of context." Hiashi protested. "I didn't stunt your growth because it amused me. I did it because you needed to learn not to let your power go to your head. Yes, you have the most power in the clan, and yes you could potentially change the clan in the future to suit your desires. But what if you decided that wasn't enough for you? What if in the end you merely replaced the tyrants you were hoping to get rid of? If you never learned humility or restraint, you could have grown up to believe that you're the only one in the clan who mattered. Can you honestly say you would have been happy to become such a person?"

"So instead you wanted me to be too afraid to change things." Hinata replied, then raised an eyebrow. "No, that's not it isn't it? You didn't say I could change the clan like it was a bad thing. What, you want me to change the clan but you..." She trailed off, her eyes briefly widening then narrowing. "You do want me to change the clan, you just want me to change it by your standards instead of mine."

"What do you mean?" He asked, wondering just how close she was to figuring out his goal on her own.

"You say I can change the clan like it's a good thing, so clearly you want me to. But you also fear just how much I can change it, so you tried to keep me from doing it yet. So you undermined me, yet anticipated I would grow stronger in the future despite that. This can only mean you wanted me to get strong enough to change the clan, but only willing to do so under your directions. In short, you were plotting to use me."

Hiashi jerked. "No not at all. I want to help you accomplish your goal Hinata, but I just think you need my direction to get the best result."

"The best result for you. A result that you can be proud of. A result where the freed Branch House Hyuuga won't go after you once there's nothing to stop them. You can spin it however you want, Father, but in my eyes, you were at best using me. And I have no intention of being used."

"Hinata, you can't go around acting like you alone know what's best for others."

"Like you did with me?" She challenged.

Hiashi was speechless, knowing that from that moment on, any argument would only hurt him.

Hinata turned away from him. "I'm only here for a short time Father, I don't plan on getting comfortable. Your home has nothing I need right now, so I don't see a reason to go there while I'm here. Now please be on your way, I need to get ready."

Without a word or anything else, Hiashi turned and left the apartment. But once outside, Jiriyia stopped him.

"I want you to ask yourself one thing Hiashi, and really think about it. Home is where the heart is, where do you think Hinata's heart is?"

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "You already asked me that."

"Where do you think Hinata's heart is?" Jiriyia repeated, then went back inside and closed the door.

'What kind of question is that?' The Hyuuga head asked himself as he went back towards his home. 'I get that he's making a reference to the Uzumaki, but to what end? She's at his place, that's been established. Why bring it up again... unless there's more. Wait, is he saying that Hinata really might have given up the clan to be with him?'

The fact that she gave up going to their property to go to his instead was answer enough. Feeling dejected and like he had just lost a major battle, Hiashi headed home.

Days later it was time to head for Kiri for the annual chuunin exams,

Naturally it being on an island, none of the Konoha genin could just walk there, they had to go to one of the ports for a ship ride. When they got there, they all saw it was going to be slightly more complicated than that.

There was a large ship waiting for them at the docks of one of the port cities in Land of Fire. "Hello everyone, you're from Konoha?" A man wearing a Kiri hitai-ate greeted when they arrived. He was a heavy-set man, yet he looked more like a bureaucrat then a ninja.

"Yes we are. Might I ask what you're doing?" Kakashi asked politely.

"Let me guess, none of you have ever taken the chuunin exams in Kiri have you?" The Kiri nin asked. All of the Konoha jounin shook their heads no. "That makes sense, seeing as how we haven't hosted an exam here in quite a while. This is a standard security measure for the exams. You see, we can't just let any ship come to our village during this exam. It would be the perfect time for an enemy to slip through. So, no one gets to the exams unless we personally bring them across the sea."

"I can see the reasoning behind that." Asuma noted.

"Yes, and we have rather particular rules regarding people who enter." The Kiri nin then proceeded to get the names of each and every one of them, writing them down on a scroll, then after he had gotten this information from them he gave them each a stamped voucher. "You need to keep these with you at all times. Once you arrive at the island, show them and get them stamped again. If you do not have these vouchers with you when traveling through our village you will be detained and possibly placed under confinement until we have verified your identity." The man said in a matter of fact voice and he paused before handing the voucher to Kakashi.

"By the way, why is there an extra jonin? Last I heard, you guys still did one jonin per three genin." The Kiri nin asked. There were nine genin there at the moment, and four jonin.

"I am here primarily as an extra hand for my comrades should they need it for later." Kakashi explained as he was the only one here who technically had no jurisdiction, not with Sakura filling Shikamaru's old spot on Team Ten. "In later stages of the exam the locals have the most advantages in terms of what to learn from, so I'm here to 'even the odds' as you might say."

The Kiri nin thought it over then wrote this down on his scroll, "Good enough for me, at least for now, however you may need to explain that to Mizukage-sama, and if she doesn't like it may Kami-sama have mercy on you."

The Konoha group was given permission to board and they went off towards Kiri. They knew they were being watched by the Kiri jonin, and it made them uncomfortable, but it was a necessity.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" Kakashi inquired to the Kiri nin that had let them board.

"You can, but I may not answer."

"Have there been any new additions to your village lately?"

Those that heard the cycloptic jonin ask this listened much closer. They all knew he was really fishing for information about Naruto.

"Oh sure, it has been quite some time since the chuunin exams were last in Kiri, so it's only natural that the village has changed a little since then." The Kiri nin answered.

"That's not exactly what I was asking." Kakashi said.

"If you're asking for anything unrelated to the exams, or anything that could give your genin an unfair advantage, then do you really expect me to tell you?"

"Can you tell us anything about the Kiri genin participating?" Sakura jumped in on her sensei's behalf. "I remember hearing about what Momochi Zabuza did as a genin, so I can't help but wonder if anyone else is like that."

'Nice job Sakura.' Kakashi thought, glad his student wasn't just directly asking about Naruto.

"You'll have to see for yourself, but I don't think any of them are as vicious as Zabuza was." The Kiri nin answered.

Not sure what else to say without being blunt, the two remaining members from Team 7 dropped the subject.

"Ready for the exams you two?" Kasumi asked her two students.

"Once my sister brings back my sword I sure will be." Shiori asked, having been required to leave her sword at the forge for a sharpening.

"Any hints you can give us without breaking the law?" Naruto tested.

Kasumi smiled. "Nice try kid. No, but I do have some advice. The genin from other villages are likely going to go for Kiri genin first. Mostly since your teams will be one genin shorter, thus giving them a numbers advantage by default. The other reason is in these exams the foreign participants do have a habit of targeting the locals first. I think it's a matter of pride or something."

"Did you do that in your exams?" Shiori asked.

"Actually I took my exams here in Kiri, so I was on the side that was ganged up on."

"I bet you were quick to show them that they picked the wrong target" Shiori had said with a grin.

Kasumi smiled lightly. "I did. However I don't want to hear about the two of you picking any fights with any foreign genin outside of the exams. If I do then I pull you both out."

"You would pull out the best duo team in the whole village?" Naruto said shocked. While they were not officially the best team, Naruto and Shiori liked to consider themselves as such.

"Not only will I pull you both out, I will have you both on D-ranked missions for the next year. We are Mist Ninja, we are going to conduct ourselves with a certain level of restraint and honor. However, that being said if you both don't outscore every other team I will make you do 100 swimming laps around the entire Land of Water archipelago."

That was plenty of incentive for the two of them.

In her office, Mei was looking over the final details for the exam, while Ao was as always standing silently by her side.

"Everything is set up and prepared for all of the events?" She asked as she handed the file with all the details back to Ao after signing her signature to the bottom.

"It has, my lady. All of the events have been set up to exact specifications, I oversaw this matter myself" Ao said with a small amount of pride.

"Good, this is our first year hosting the Chuunin Exams since the end of Yagura's reign. It has taken us so long to get Kiri back on it's feet Ao, I want this exam to be memorable." She said as she fixed her eyes on Ao who felt a small shiver of fear go through his spine.

"I can assure you my lady, this exam will not only be the greatest ever held in the history of Kiri but also the history of the unified exam program. And this will be demonstrated by the opening ceremony."

Mei tapped her finger against the wood of her desk. "Good, because if the crowd is not awed at the opening ceremony and if I do not hear the crowds cheering at the tournament, then I can promise you one thing Ao-"

The one-eyed ninja visably gulped before asking "Promise me what, my lady?"

"That I will kill you. It will be slow, painful, and you will be screaming." She said in a very calm voice with a dazzling smile on her face, which somehow only made her threat seem even more dangerous.

"I understand my lady." Ao said with a bow as he quickly moved to leave but he stopped at the door when Mei's voice called.

"One more thing Ao, have you made sure to take care of all the 'loose ends' should any of the genin from the Land of Fire ask any questions?"

Ao looked over his shoulder and nodded. "Of course my lady, everything there has been 100% taken care of. I oversaw that matter personally. All of the evidence is ready and prepared if needed."

Mei's smile grew wider and more catlike. "Excellent, you are a good and dependable shinobi, Ao. Now…go away before I cut out your other eye"

The militaristic jonin was quick to obey.

At the old shrine where Utakata had made his residence, the container for the six-tailed slug sat at the top of the stairs led up the hill where the shrine was located. He took out his bubble pipe and filled the end of it with a soap mixture and started to blow, making a series of bubbles and then watching them float away.

"A penny for your thoughts?" A voice said suddenly. Utakata looked down to see that coming up the steps, leaning heavily on his cane was old Kaji himself. Utakata did not say anything as the old blind swordsman continued his climb up the stairs. When he finally reached the top he was huffing, but that didn't stop him from taking next to the jinchuuriki.

Utakata poured more soap into his bubble pipe. "If you want to kill yourself, there are easier ways to do so than dropping dead from exertion coming up stairs."

"Oh please, I survived a hundred different battles against S-class ninja who make the ones now a days look like d-rank genin, I am not going to let some stairs do me in."

"I will make sure they put that on your headstone." Utukata said softly.

The two of them sat in silence for a long period, until Kaji broke it. "Will you be going to watch the exams?"

"I have more important things to do."

"Oh? Like what?" The old blind swordsman asked, but the bubble blower just blew more bubbles. "So are you going to tell me what is going through your mind"

"Blood, oxygen, and electrical impulses, the same that goes through your mind." He replied as he blew out two large bubbles that floated in front of both of them before they joined together into one.

"Oh come now boy."

Utukata blew out another bubble before answering. "Something feels off in the air."

"Ahhhh you can sense it too then?"

"I don't sense anything, I am just saying that something feels off in the air."

"Missing nin do you think? Rogue ninja?"

"I think that a large number of genin of various talents, skills, and motivations will be coming to Kiri and that some of them might harbor ambitions other then earning the title of chunin."

"Have you told the Mizukage?"

"I expressed my thoughts to her but whether or not she chose to act upon my words is her business, not mine."

Kaji leaned heavy on his cane, and though he could not see it, his gaze was focused on the village. "Why did you really come back Utukata?"

"To train the boy just as you are training him." The dark-haired man said as he gently tapped his finger against the side of his bubble pipe.

"Or did you come back because you missed your home and you wanted to protect it if a time came when a great danger fell upon it?" Kaji asked

"I personally could care less if this entire rock sank into the sea." Utukata said solemnly, though Kaji could tell he did not mean it.

"You know, Harusame… he would be proud of you, and how far you've come along."

At the mention of his old sensei, Utakata stood up. "Good day Kaji-sensei." He spoke quietly, almost like a whisper, before he walked back to the main building of the shrine.

Kaji called over his shoulder. "I will save you a seat at the exams for when you come to watch."

Utakata did not even respond. After a while Kaji too stood up and proceeded to make his slow descent back down the steps, needing to get back to his dojo. After all, he needed to prepare something special for Naruto and Shiori before the exams began.

On one of the smallest of the islands in the Land of Water, which was literally nothing more than a mile-long piece of black rock jutting out of the ocean, five individuals stood, their black coats drawn tight around their bodies as the waves hammered the shore.

Kisame took a deep inhale. "Ahhh it feels good to be home. Nothing like the smells of salt and the taste of sea spray."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "If the rest of the islands are like this then I am not surprised so many Kiri shinobi become missing nin. This place is a dump, hm."

"We are not here to judge the geographic details of this land." The white zetsu said. "Indeed. We are here to make sure the Yakuza don't kill the jinchuuriki." The black zetsu finished.

"I still don't see why we don't just try and capture them here and now." Beniko, who was now partnered with Deidara, stated.

"The Yakuza obviously." Deidara remarked.

At this point Itachi, who was silent during the whole trip (though being Itachi, the Akatsuki had long learned that this was the norm for the young Uchiha so no one thought anything of it) spoke up.

"It's not just the three Yakuza leaders headed to Kiri that are our concern Deidara. There are the forces within Kiri itself, plus all the shinobi arriving for the Chunin Exams from other lands, and that's just the ones we know are coming, assuming there are no unexpected arrivals. There is also the problem of heightened security from the fact that this is Kiri's first exam in decades. Any new measures made are likely a result of new management and a response to what happened in Konoha's botched exams a while back. Coupled with our lack of knowledge of what some of these people are capable of, including both jinchuuriki, any capture mission attempted under those circumstances would be too risky."

Beniko sighed in resignation. "Fine, you have a point there, even if that's the most I've ever heard you speak since I joined this group. As long as I get payback on that bitch jounin from Kiri and add her to my collection, I don't really care what you do with those two."

"Just don't let that grudge get in the way of your mission, Beniko. Protecting the jinchuuriki from any attempts by your former bosses to kill them is our top priority. Should your assumptions be correct and they only plan to observe Uzumaki in preparation for a future assassination, you'll have plenty of time to try your luck with this jounin you speak of, as long as you don't get yourself killed by her instead of the other way around." White/Black Zetsu said, with Beniko glowering at the plant-like creature at that last part.

As the rest of the group bickered while waiting for the order to move out to move out Itachi, who went back to being his usual quiet self, could only think of the strange turn of events that led to this, especially in regards to Naruto, and what they might mean moving forward.

'It seems we will be meeting again, Naruto. I don't know what happened between our last encounter and now but I will find out... very soon.'