Chapter 004 – Second Gift

[Year 69 – Early January – Konohagakure – Hyuga Compound]

Later that night, when the festivities had already ended and silence once again had returned to the Hyuga Compound, Hiashi was woken up from his evening meditation.

Like most times, he used the evening to train not only his taijutsu, but also his Byakugan, as the rest of the day he was busy with his duties as a Clan Head.

So the moment he sensed intruders around his daugther's quarters, he rushed there without hestitation.

For some reason his Byakugan couldn't get a clear view of the insides of his daughter's room, though he clearly saw several intruders waiting outside, while one of them went into the room.

As soon as he arrived, he striked at the intruders without hestitation.

Targetting their tenketsu, he knocked them out effortlessly, as they couldn't put up any significant resistance.

Hiashi wasn't just an ordinary Jonin afterall, he was an Elite Jonin with his power close to the lower reaches of a Kage, and judging by their chakra levels the three intruders he came across, where only Chunin at best.

Ripping open the door to his daughter's bedroom, Hiashi was prepared for the worst, but what he found was completely outside his expectations.

"Wha...", too shocked, he couldn't even finish the words that lay on his tongue.

The last intruder – Kumo's supposed Head Ninja – was standing a few steps in the room, not moving an inch, while a silver-haired boy sat corss-legged on the floor.

His daughter, Hinata, still soundly alseep on the bed, looking as angelic as ever.

"What is the meaning of this?", Hiashi managed to asked after composing himself, though his tone was no longer emotionless and strict, but strained and angry.

"My second gift. Though this one is more for you than for your daughter, Hiashi Hyuga.", a child-like voice sounded out in his mind.

"Make sure to immobilize him, before you remove the paralysis seal, I have placed on him. The moment he commits suicide, your clan will face an unresistable pressure from both Kumo and Konoha, no matter his deeds, as the Hokage is a coward, who would much rather sacrifice your whole clan than risk another war.", the voice continued, while the small boy took out a familiar black bracelet from his Haori and placed it on the floor.

*Puff*

The next moment the Senju Heir vanished in a puff of smoke, making it clear that it had been a Shadow Clone from the very beginning.

The next thought that went through Hiashi's mind, though had nothing to do with the intruder or politics, but was much more straightforward than that.

'Ryuma Senju... what a monster...'

…

[Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

Receiving his clones memories, Ryuma was assured that his decision to have one of his Shadow Clones transform himself into a replica of the bracelet he had gifted to Hinata, had been the right one.

As a wielder of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, being well practised in Yin Release and Fuinjutsu, it was easy enough for his clone to conceal his own chakra once he had transformed and use a simple Chakra Suppressing Seal to further hide his chakra fluctuation.

Once Hinata had went to bed and fallen asleep, it was even easier to place down a fuinjutsu trap involving Paralyzing Seals and Chakra Suppressing Seals, while his Yin Shroud made it hard even for dojutsu users to detect him if they didn't explicitly search for him.

Yin release was tricky like that, even though Ryuma doubted that this would work a second time.

Maybe once he improved his Yin Shroud, mastered the Yin Nature Transformation and used a few seals to aid in his concealment, it could, but that was more of a long-term goal.

A technique to conceal himself completely from even the most powerful dojutsu wasn't that easy to create afterall.

Dispelling all his Shadow Clones, one after another, Ryuma produced another ten to take their place, before going to bed himself. Kokuyo still seated on his left braid.

Slowly, but surely his chakra reserve were growing to monstrous levels, which allowed him to summon more and more Shadow Clones and sped up his training by leaps and bounds.

Something he also desperately needed, if he planned to be on equal footing with the true monsters of the Shinobi World.

…

[A few days later]

"Young Lord, Paku has just arrived with his targets. Do you want to meet them now?", Yui reported quietly, after she arrived outside the training hall, seeing Ryuma training his stances and katas with utter focus.

Not answering for awhile, Ryuma first finished his kata, before taking a towel, which had been prepared beforehand and wiped off the sweat from his forehead.

"I am sure they will have many questions of their own, so I will meet them now and give them an explanation. Have them wait in the Main Hall while I freshen up.", Ryuma replied.

"Yes, Young Lord."

…

Walking into the Main Hall a few minutes later, Ryuma's gaze immediately captured the two unfamiliar red-headed females in the room.

One of them was a haggard-looking woman, while the other was just a girl no more than four years old.

"Well done, Paku. You are free for the next few days. Though do not leave the Compound for now, so I can reach you, should the need arise.", Ryuma said mentally, as he gave the arms master a short nod of acknowledgement.

"It was nothing, Young Lord.", Paku responded with no visible reaction to being addressed mentally, as he gave a short bow and retreated from the Main Hall.

The two redheads however seemed surprised at the weaponmasters words, as they didn't hear Ryuma's part of the conversation. A slight tinge of fear was even visible in their eyes, while the older woman seemed to tighten her hug on the child minutely.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Uzumaki Aika and Uzumaki Karin. My name is Ryuma Senju, heir of the Senju Clan and distant relative of the Uzumaki."

Though both visibly shocked at being addressed telepathically, the older woman managed to compose herself, as she answered in a hesitant and doubtful voice.

"I-I think you have made a mistake, Mylord. M-my daughter and I are just normal civilians, there is no clanblood in our veins. I-I'm sorry, but you must have received wrong information."

"Even if you do not know of your heritage, that doesn't make it untrue. My eyes can see it clearly, the raging fires of Uzumaki lifeforce burning in both you and your daughter bodies. The simple fact that you had to almost kill yourself, while healing injured shinobi with your blood, is a tragedy in itself. But such things will not happen to you or your daughter again, on that you have my word."

The boy's voice stopped for a moment, before he uttered his next words with great gravity.

"The Senju may not be what they used to be, but letting our long time allies suffer such a fate is a stain on our reputation that will be impossible to remove, I fear. Nevertheless, I can offer you an abode inside the Clan premises and enough wealth for both of you to live comfortably from now on."

"W-why would you do that? What is it that you want in return?", Aika couldn't help but ask the silver-haired child before her.

She had met many shinobi in her life and most if not all, were only interested in exploiting her ability to heal others by letting them bite her. Never had she encountered someone that was willing to help them just out of the kindness of their hearts.

Furthermore, Aika knew very well of her heritage. She still remembered her home going up in flames, as her parents dragged her to safety, something neither of them had survived.

Her own mother had her swear an oath that she never tell others of her heritage for fear of presecution. In fact she wasn't just an average clan member either, but one of the direct branch with her mother had been the little sister of the last Uzumaki Clanhead.

Aika knew of the relationship between the Senju and the Uzumaki, but to be honest she had never entertained the thought of seeking help from them, because not only were they nearly extinct themselve, but she also distinctly remembered that not a single one of those so-called allies had come to Uzioshigakure's aid in their time of need.

"I want you to be an Uzumaki.", the boy's words rang out inside her head, shocking her into silence.

"D-do you know what you are asking for?", Aika asked quietly with a slight tremble in her tone, feeling her daugther grab onto her arms tighly, as Karin had seemingly sensed her distress.

"I am the last male Senju alive, so I know very well what I am asking of you... You have three days to make your decision. If you do not want to accept my offer, you may leave at any time. Yui will provide you with enough funds to settle down in Konoha for a few years, afterwards your fate will be up to yourself.", the silver-haired boy answered, while his deep grey eyes stared deeply into own, before he simply rose and left the hall without another word.