Naruto : Monsters: Chapter 13

He tried scowling down at me through his tears, his weariness and distrust clear.

I ignored his reaction, and gave him a genuine smile, ignoring the sting as my lips split open. "Let's be friends."

"…Huh?"

...

"So," Setting my backpack down, I turned around to face my gathered family and geez did a lot of them turn up. I placed my hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I'll be spending the next couple of days at this guy's place."

Naruto, who had been gawking around at the Hyuuga estate like some kind of country bumpkin seeing the city for the first time, which now that I think about it may have not been too far off the mark, jumped at my touch. He stopped looking around and finally paid attention to what was happening around him, cheeks quickly colouring when he noticed the eyes of my entire clan on us.

And I wasn't exaggerating by much either. It felt as if every Hyuuga on the entire estate had come to see us off. We were standing before the main gates, in what I would have ordinarily called the front yard to the compound if it wasn't for the fact that it was bigger than most soccer fields.

Standing on the stairway leading up to the main building was a blank-faced Hiashi, who gazed impassively down at me with his hands tucked into the sleeves of his kimono. His brother Hizashi was standing to his left and just a step behind, while my grandfather stood to his right. Surrounding them on either side were the Clan Elders, every single last one of them, all of whom were wearing faces of grim disapproval.

Several other Clan members were there as well, most of whom probably turned up to watch the free show more than anything. All of them were either behind the Elders or far off to the side, none of them stupid or brave enough to stand between us. 

A handful of my younger cousins, those too short to see through the crowd and have yet to master the Byakugan well enough to watch from a distance, have climbed up to the second floor of the compound and opened up the windows to peer down at us.

I actually spotted my little sister Hanabi, up by one of the windows, carried in our mother's arm. She was leaning forward as far as she could go, enthusiastically waving goodbye with both of her hands, and I could faintly hear calls of ittrerashhai coming from her.

Let me tell you, for a stoic bunch, the Hyuuga simply loved to gossip, especially the non-ninjas among them. And a scandal like this one must have been too much for them to resist, so it came as no surprise to see so many of my relatives turning up. 

There must have been a hundred of them out here, and that was just what I could see. No telling how many were sneaking a peek from afar with the Byakugan.

Kou was standing a little bit off to the left, right next to the group of Elders, where he was downing his flask of whiskey as if it was water. A couple of the less self-disciplined Elders kept shooting him envious looks rather than ones of disapproval like they normally would have.

Well, after he gave his report of what happened today, me punching the son of the Uchiha clan head, then bowing down in public before his other son, the Uchiha Heir, before going to immediately start a fight with the village Jinchuuriki, only to befriend said Jinchuuriki, bring him home like a lost puppy and request to sleepover at his place.

That alone was enough to tempt any man to drink. That the Clan Head had immediately approved my request without so much as a word of complaint probably was the final nail on the coffin.

I just realized….this was only my first day at the Academy. These poor bastards are going to have to put up with another six years of this shit.

"Hikaru." My eyes turned back to my father, who was coolly looking down at me from his place up the stairs. Hiashi, as he usually did when in public, showed nothing of what he was feeling, hiding his thoughts behind an expressionless mask. "Do you really intend to go through with this?"

His tone was neutral, hinting at neither approval nor disapproval. Normally I would have had some idea of what he was thinking about, reincarnated or not I was still this man's son after all, and I had seen sides of him that he would have never revealed to anyone else. Yet for the life of me, I had no idea what he was thinking at this moment.

Hiashi has been acting strangely this whole time. He had always been a logical person, practical and conservative in his approach, the type to only rock the boat when the benefits greatly outweighed the risk. Something that I had always understood and approved about him. 

But when I decided to ditch the first day of the Academy and barged into his office dragging a confused Naruto in tow, he didn't raise so much as a single word of complaint.

Even when I told him that I wanted to crash at Naruto's for the next couple of days he said nothing, just calmly watching me as I spoke, the only sign of his surprise was the slight quirking of an eyebrow. He simply called a clan meeting with the Elders, had me repeat my request after Kou had given his report, before quickly granting me his approval.

I had come expecting a yelling war to get what I wanted, but he didn't raise so much as a single complaint. He even went as far as siding with me when the Elders had naturally protested my request, shutting down all of their objections.

What was Hiashi thinking, and when had he changed so much?

"You do understand what this means?" He turned his calm eyes on Naruto before setting them back on me, "Your actions will have repercussions, many of which I will not be able to protect you from. Knowing this, will you still continue?"

"Of course." I answered resolutely, "In my entire life, had I ever regretted my decision once I made up my mind on something?"

"No," There was something in his voice, a flicker of emotion that I could not quite decipher. "No, you haven't." Hiashi searched my face, looking for something, before slowly nodding. 

"Very well, you have my blessing. You may leave, but you are to return in two days at the latest. And I expect you to attend the Academy from now on, any more unapproved absences will no longer be tolerated. Understood?"

One of the Elders, unable to restrain himself any longer, had stepped forward to voice his disapproval, "Hiashi-sama you can't seriously be planning to allow-" only to immediately stop when Hiashi raised a hand.

"Now, go Hikaru," Hiashi commanded. "Leave before I end up changing my mind."

I didn't need to be told twice. Quickly lifting my backpack and throwing it over my shoulder, I grabbed a confused looking Naruto by the scruff of his jacket, who yelped in indignation at my manhandling him, and began dragging him away.

Yet even as I quickly made my way to the gate, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I had missed something important in our conversation. 

But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't figure it out and I had no intention of staying long enough to find out, not when there was the real chance of Hiashi regaining his senses and changing his mind.

The last thing I heard as I walked out of the gate was little Hanabi yelling out an adorable 'Bye-bye'.

...

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