Naruto : Monsters: Chapter 73

Then, before I had a chance to get a word in, Danzo turned and hobbled away, his cane thumping on the ground with every step. 

A path seemed to appear in the crowded restaurant as he walked, waiters smoothly moving out of his path or customers pulling their seat in to give him room but they did it in a way that appeared so natural, that if I hadn't known they were all Root I wouldn't have realised what they were doing.

...

I kept my eyes on him the entire time. Both on him and any of the Root members that happened to stray too close to where I was sitting. Somehow, despite all of my fears, it looked like I just might be able to walk away from this meeting alive and with all my body parts intact, but I wasn't about to let my guard down until I was safely back home, behind the thick compound walls and surrounded by the dozens of guards protecting the place.

Just as I thought I was free of him, when he was only a single step away from walking over the threshold of the restaurant and into the street outside, Danzo stopped.

"Before we part ways, I would like to leave you with a word of warning." Danzo didn't bother looking at me as he spoke, his back facing my way. "Consider it a gift. An apology for taking so much of your time."

"What is it?" I asked, eager to see him gone.

"In the world of Shinobi, there is a dark side to everything. No matter how innocent it may appear at first, hidden beneath the surface you'll find the ugly truth. Your clan is no different."

"Just what are you trying to imply Danzo?" I nearly snapped at him, far too tired to bother with adding an honorific. At this point, I couldn't bother to bring myself to care what he thought of me. I wanted him gone, to get to the point and leave.

"Just what I said. It is hard to notice oddities of our surroundings when we are born into it, so it is no surprise that even one as perceptive as you would not have noticed. But do you not find it strange that Hyuuga Mio is your mother."

"…Are you threatening my family?" I asked, letting a hint of steel leak into my voice. I didn't care even if he was Danzo if he thought-

"Nothing of the sort, I assure you. I just thought you should be aware of the circumstances surrounding your birth." Danzo still faced the door, not bothering to look at me. "The Main House of the Hyuuga Clan is famed for consistently producing children with the strongest eyes in their generation. Far superior to that of the Branch House. 

The secret is simple selective breeding. While the Branch members are allowed, within reason, to choose who they will marry, the Main House members are not. While they may nominate a candidate, in the end, it is up to the current Head along with elders of the clan to decide who they will marry. They research the potential bride's or groom's ancestry, taking into account the risk of in-breeding along with unwanted hereditary traits such as genetic illnesses. 

It's almost impressive how methodical they could be. They also examine the bride's or groom's physical, intelligence and chakra capabilities along with a variety of other factors known only to them and then, and only then, would they come to a decision. 

For generations, they have chosen their Heir's spouse in order to produce the most powerful children possible. And while controversial at times, the system has worked. The Byakugan of the Main House is far superior to those of the Branch House."

"Yes, I am aware of all this." This was all basic knowledge to me. I knew that part of the reason why both my father and I could see so much farther with our Byakugan than the vast majority of my clanmates could be attributed to good genes. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Have you ever not stopped to wonder then, why Hyuuga Mio was ever allowed to marry your father?"

My mouth was already halfway open to sprout out a reply before I found myself pulling up short.

He was right. Why was my mother allowed to marry Hiashi?

I hadn't really thought of it before, it's not like it really mattered to me how my parents got together, but now that it's been pointed out to me I couldn't imagine either my grandfather or the other elders approving the match.

Mio wasn't a ninja, she was a civilian. My mother hated violence – she was the closest thing to a pacifist I had ever met since my reincarnation – and never had any interest even as a child in becoming one. Even if she had, it was unlikely that the Academy would have accepted her due to her poor health.

This alone should have been enough to disqualify her from becoming my father's wife, but then there were her eyes. My mother's Byakugan was weak, a little below average compared to Branch House members but absolutely abysmal by the standards of the Main House.

For this fact alone she should have never been permitted to marry Hiashi.

"Hyuuga Mio's eyes could only be described as mediocre at best," Danzo spoke as if reading my mind, "yet her blood was allowed to mix with that of the Main House's. Hiashi insisted that he would accept no other but her and finally, after several months of pleading, his father finally relented and gave his consent. It had caused quite an uproar at the time. 

Many members from both Main and the Branch House had strongly opposed the marriage, some went as far to call it an act of betrayal. The only true difference between the members of the Main House and the Branch House was the superior bloodline of the former, without it then the division of the Clan into different Houses holds no meaning."

"Even I do not know how Hiashi managed to go through with the marriage despite the fierce opposition" Danzo admitted, "At the time I was not as well informed on the Hyuuga Clan's internal politics as I would have liked, but not long after the wedding, he had announced that his wife was with child. 

This did nothing but further exacerbate the already delicate situation he found himself in as it meant that the main bloodline would be polluted with weakness, but Hiashi tried to quell the unrest by promising that the child will be a strong one, that his heir will be the strongest the clan had ever produced.

"No one truly believed him, recognising the baseless bluff for what it was, but they were willing to wait and see. For a time. Once the child was born and proven to be inferior, then they would have all the proof they needed to bring the sham of a marriage to an end and pair Hiashi with a proper wife. 

There was even talk among the more radical members of your clan that should Hiashi still refuse to voluntarily annul the marriage even after proving that his bride could not produce a proper heir, then Mio should be forcibly removed from the situation – for the good of the clan. 

And once she was no longer part of the picture, it would only be a matter of time until Hiashi could be made to see reason and remarry again. This time to a more appropriate wife, one that will give birth to a powerful heir."

I felt my heart turn cold.

It had always bugged me on what had happened to Mio in the show. The women I knew, who had birthed and raised me in my second life, would have never permitted her children to grow apart from her. She would cling to her daughters, woven herself into their daily lives and made sure that they knew how much she loved them every single day.

Yet she had never appeared in the show.

She was never there for her daughters. Hinata and Hanabi grow up never knowing a mother's love or the comfort they could find in her arms. She hadn't even been mentioned, not even in passing, and until I had been reincarnated I hadn't even been aware what her name was. Though it was never outright stated it was heavily implied she had passed away.

And I was getting a pretty good idea on how she died.

"But then you were born." Danzo carried on, his back still facing me. "The greatest prodigy the Hyuuga Clan had ever produced. Despite everyone's fear and expectations you were not weak, you were superior. Excelling in every way, both in mind and body, just as Hiashi had promised, thus quelling all those that had voiced their discontent. But I do not believe I need to explain to you what would have happened if things had turned out differently if you hadn't been born a prodigy."

No, no he didn't. I didn't need to imagine what would have happened, I had already seen it happen.

Hinata.

Timid and shy, weak in both spirit and courage, she was everything that the Clan had warned Hiashi she would be. Weak. With the evidence there for all to see, Hiashi no longer had a leg to stand on. But my father was nothing if not stubborn, I could easily imagine him refusing to leave his wife. He would have even gone as far as siring another child – Hanabi – in a second attempt to create a strong heir with his wife.

But they were not willing to wait.

They already had all the proof that they needed in Hinata, they would not wait and waste who knew how many more years for Hanabi to grow and prove them right again. No, they had to put a stop to this now before Mio continued polluting the bloodline of the Main House with her weakness.

So they killed her.

Was that why Hiashi was so harsh on his eldest daughter? Because she was the reason why he had lost his wife? Because of her weakness, the one he had tried to beat out of her in an attempt to rid of it, was that why their relationship had become what it was?

And Hinata, was that why she had been so timid? Because she knew it was her fault that they took her mother away?

I would never know.

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