Hyuga Residence

The entire Hyuga Residence was in a jovial mood, celebrating their princess' 3rd birthday. The clan heads and heirs of all major clans within Konoha were also in attendance for this event. They had to show up to be honest, after all they have to give some face to the Hyuga clan. Even though the Uchihas and Hyugas are always at loggerheads about who has the superior Dojutsu, even the Uchihas had to accept that the Hyugas were one of the biggest clans in Konoha and give them due respect.

When Rai and the rest of the Kumo delegation showed up, they were personally invited in by Hiashi and his twin brother Hizashi Hyuga. Almost everyone in attendance turned their eyes towards us. Their gazes were less than welcoming. It's quite obvious that they still bear a grudge after the war. Most of them would have lost clansmen, friends and comrades during the war and having one of the perpetrators responsible near them is sure to bring out some unpleasant feelings. But, we paid no heed to this and continued to follow behind the Hyuga twins. It's not like they would try anything, we were here under the invitation of the Hyuga clan head after all. Not to mention this is also under the arrangement of the Hokage.

We were first brought to the center of the room where a middle aged woman and 2 little kids were standing. The kids were of course Hinata and Neji who was acting as Hinata's protector already. The lady standing next to them is the mother of Hinata and Hanabi, Kimiko Hyuga who is a splitting image of the older Hinata from the series.

(AN: Name is made up. There is no mention of her name in the series)

After the obligatory pleasantries with everyone wishing her a birthday it was finally Rai's turn to do the same.

"Happy Birthday Little Princess. I have a gift for you if you'd like." Rai says with a smile and turns to Hiashi to see if it was alright. Seeing Hiashi nod with a smile, Rai took out a light pink colored bracelet with flower patterns and offered it to Hinata.

"t-Thank You." Hinata replies shyly. And judging by the looks of it she did seem to like the gift.

Rai smiled back and went back to join his grandpa. Rai also noticed that Kimiko Hyuga was pregnant with Hanabi but she was slowly losing her vitality and will definitely end up dying during childbirth. Death during childbirth is kind of a sore subject for Rai ever since he saw his birth mother from this life succumbing to her death the same way.

But, there's nothing he can do about it and honestly even if he could, he doesn't think he should either. Rai sighs and walks away.

"What are you sighing for?" – Grandpa

"It's nothing grandpa. Not something I should meddle in anyways." – Rai

"Hmm. That's surprising for you to back away from anything at all. You're normally the first person to meddle in things you have no business with." – Grandpa

"Hey. That's not true. Anyways, it was about Hiashi-san's wife. She is losing her vitality and seeing that she's pregnant right now, she'd probably have complications during pregnancy. I was just thinking about that." – Grandpa

"I see, that's too bad. She seemed like a nice lady. Maybe I should tell Hiashi to be careful if he doesn't know about this already." – Grandpa

"Sure Grandpa, do as you please. I'll just hang around here." – Rai

Rai looks around and sees quite a few people that he knows from the show. The Ino-Shika-Cho senior trio were chatting amongst themselves. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were also standing nearby. When he glanced towards them he noticed that Ino was staring at him quite fervently. The moment their eyes met, she quickly turned away with a blush.

'Are you serious right now? She's only like 3. Why the hell is she already blushing? I don't think I even knew what was a boy and girl at that age. This is ridiculous. Ugh. I initially wanted to go and speak to them for a bit but I'm not going anywhere near there now. Don't need her to go all fan girl on me like she did for Sasuke.'

Seeing Ino acting this way, Shikamaru curiously glanced towards Rai to see what made Ino react that way. Curious about who Rai was. He asked Shikaku.

"Dad, who is that guy?" – Shikamaru asks. This gained the attention of both generations of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Shikaku looks towards Rai and answers.

"That's Rai, the Third Raikage's grandson. Why'd you ask?" – Shikaku

Shikamaru looks towards Ino who was blushing and says "Just curious."

Inoichi on the other hand being a daughter-con was incensed thinking Rai was going to take his precious daughter away from him. "That little bastard, I'll..."

Before he could even finish what he was saying Shikaku says "I wouldn't even think of touching the kid if I were you. Hokage-sama himself asked us to be polite and leave a good impression on them. And especially the kid. He's a complete monster. He's not even 8 years old but his strength is well in to the Jonin rank." – Shikaku

The rest of them were dumbfounded. If it wasn't Shikaku who was telling them, they'd for sure think it was a lie.

"But, that's insane. Even Kakashi and Minato were not this talented." – Choza

"Yup. That's why don't even think of trying anything. Shika, if possible try and speak with him." – Shikaku

"What a drag... is that even necessary?" – Shikamaru responds lazily

"Well. He could be the next Raikage you know. Actually scratch that, he will be next one for sure as long as he is alive and he wants to be the Kage. That much I can guarantee." – Shikaku

Shikamaru just silently ponders over something while the rest are also in their thoughts the exception being Ino who now has stars in her eyes.

Rai has no idea that just one look in that direction caused such a conversation to take place. He continued to look around for something to do until he noticed someone standing on the side. Rai smiled and walked towards him.

"Hello, I'm Rai. What's your name?" – Rai says to the black haired boy

"Hello. I'm Itachi. Uchiha Itachi." – Itachi

"Why are you standing here alone?" - Rai

"It's nothing. I came here with my father, he's the clan head of the Uchiha Clan. He should be around here speaking with someone. Are you a part of the Kumo delegation? I saw you standing with the Third Raikage when you went up to greet the Hyuga Princess." – Itachi

"Yea, I'm from Kumo. I just came along with grandpa since I was curious about Konoha." – Rai

"By Grandpa you mean the Third Raikage?" – Itachi asks

"Yup. He's my grandpa and my dad is the current Raikage too." – Rai replies with a smile

Itachi sees the Kumo headband that Rai's wearing and says "So, you're a Genin already? Do you go on missions often?"

"Yup, I became a Genin 6 months back. Honestly, it's quite boring doing missions. I mostly just train majority of the time. What about you?" - Rai

"Well, i've been a Genin for a while now. But, i don't go out on missions much. But, you've only been Genon for 6 months now? How old are you anyways? - Itachi

"Me. I'll be 8 years old in a month. Hehe. I just look huge is all." - Rai

"Itachi, there you are. We are leaving now." - Fugaku

"Well, it was nice meeting you Itachi. Nice to meet you as well Fugaku-san." Rai said with a slight bow and walked back to where he was standing before.

"Itachi. It's better to not be seen with people from other villages. The village is already suspicious of us after the Kyuubi incident. Let's not give them another reason to point their fingers at us." – Fugaku

"Understood Father." – Itachi

"Good. Let's go." – Fugaku

Rai just sat there bored not knowing what to do anymore. He was observing the rest of the contingent to see who was acting suspiciously. He still does not know who would try to kidnap Hinata or if more than one of them is in on the act. So, he just silently sat there waiting for something to happen.

It's at times like these that he misses Alice. He could have at least have a mental conversation with her to relieve his boredom.

(AN: I'm seriously struggling to make conversations here.)

He turned towards his grandpa who was having a conversation with Hiashi and from the looks of it, it was not a conversation that Hiashi was enjoying. He probably did not know that his wife was sick. Oh well, it's his problem to deal with it. He can probably call on Tsunade or some other medical ninja to check up on her. Perks of being the clan head of one of the major clans in the village.

After a while, Grandpa comes back towards me.

"Rai. I think we're about done here. We should head back now, we'll be leaving back for Kumo early tomorrow morning." – Grandpa

"Alright Grandpa. But, shouldn't we see whether someone among us will sneak out and try to kidnap Hinata just in case?" – Rai

"I don't think they will. Unless he is stupid enough to try something like with me around." – Grandpa

'Oh. Grandpa. I'm quite certain it will happen otherwise, I wouldn't have the quest from the system.'

"Alright then grandpa. Let's head back." - Rai