Chapter 8.4- One Thousand Hands

There wasn’t much training I could do with how tired I was, and how late the day was already getting. That meant I returned home plain ing to have a quick dinner and go to bed. Hopefully waking up earlier tomorrow would give me time to strategise against my probable opponents for the tournament. I went to the Academy with eight of the other participants, and had spent some time fighting another three. The Iwa team were the ones I knew the least about, but I’d still gotten the chance to see them fight in their grand duel with the Kumo team during the second test. I knew red hair had lava, Big one could use Earth release almost as well as I could, and the last one was their genjutsu specialist. That was enough to make a very basic plan against each of them that would develop into something more complex as the fights went on and I got to see more and more from them.

“Welcome back, Shorirama-sama” I waved the Hyuga orderly aside as I walked in to begin working on my Dinner. Cooking was a bobby from my old life, and I’d quickly learned that the best food I’d be getting in this house was what I made myself. My mother had an all Hyuga household as part of her marriage agreement, and for some reason, the Hyuga seemed to prefer their food being as bland as their personalities.

“Your mother wants to see you” I heard one of them say, and turned abruptly. It couldn’t be me that she was talking to, but the words were clearly addressed at me.

“Who?” Surely, I’d misheard.

“Your mother, the Lady Hinori-sama. She has asked to see you” She clarified, but the words still made no sense to me. No sense at all.

“You must be mistaken” I said, turning away.

“She very clearly made her intentions known to me. She asked that I have you sent up to her room the moment you returned.” She said again.

“Swear it. Swear it on your life” I demanded.

“I swear”

I turned away from the kitchen, appetite fleeing as quickly as a Toshiro’s composure in the face of a beautiful woman. My House was one of the largest in the Senju Compound. It was a wide duplex that spanned a massive amount of land. It was built in the traditional Senju style out of wood that resonated with me whenever I placed my fingers on it. Hashirama had built it himself. The ground floor held the servant quarters and kitchens while the top floor was where the family was supposed to reside.

My mother had the whole East Wing to herself. An art room, a music room, a library, and massive bedrooms to ensure that everything she possibly needed was within the home for her. I stayed on the West Wing. There were seven bedrooms on the West Wing. I stayed in the same one I’d always stayed in. One of the other rooms used to belong to my nanny, but I’d outgrown having one once I joined the academy. So the rest of the Wing was empty. The truth was, beyond the staff, the House was mostly empty most of the time. The staff that I didn’t know as well as I probably should have.

It wasn’t entirely my fault since Mother had them switched out every year or so and I only really came here to sleep. The rest of my time was spent in either Grandma Mito’s place, or the Clan Library. Not to talk of the time spent on missions or training.

On getting upstairs, I moved right to the East Wing. Left, Right, Left… I never payed such close attention to my feet before. Did I always walk so loudly? It felt like every step I took on the wooden floorboards creaked. I couldn’t even apply chakra to my feet to deaden the sounds like I instinctively would. Mother was chakra sensitive to an extreme level.

“I am in here. Come on in” I heard her voice from the art room, and walked in to find her bent over staring at a painting. It was of a red sun, overlooking the village. Leaning to the side to look out the window in front of the easel showed that it was how the village presently looked in the sunset. Beyond the colour of the sun, of course.

Walking closer, I could notice a few differences. For one, some buildings were missing. Either missing, or replaced with something else. It seemed almost random. For a few seconds, at least. Before I noticed what all those buildings had in common. The Hokage tower was replaced with a playground. The academy was gone. It was just another generic apartment building. The Barracks were also missing. Same with the village armoury. She’d removed everything that identified Konoha as a shinobi village.

“It is good to see you so well, Mother” I said when I noticed the silence between us had grown awkward. She hummed in reply. When I feared that this was going to turn into one of those, she spoke again.

“I saw your performance at the Exhibition” She started.

“Indeed? I wasn’t aware that you left home” I replied. I hadn’t seen her in the crowd either. Sure, I hadn’t been paying that much attention, but something told me I would have noticed the Hyuga Princess’ presence if she’d shown up. Mother would be the centre of attention in any building she walked into. There would have been too many people staring at her in the stadium for me not to notice.

She pointed behind me, and I noted a screen on the wall. It looked like a television from my past life. I walked forward and noticed it was covered in seals.

“Your Grandmother dropped this off this morning. She was very insistent that we watch your performance together. Would not take no for an answer” She said, and I swallowed a chuckle. That sounded precisely like Mito.

“I hope you enjoyed the show, then” I said.

“You have grown strong. Much stronger than either your father and I were at your age. Your Grandmother says you remind her of her husband sometimes” She replied, and I resisted the urge to preen at the praise. I wasn’t a pre-teen. I was above this. But somehow, it seemed like I wasn’t. Against my will, I felt warmth bloom in my chest. I detested the control this woman had over me.

“Thank you” I said with a bow. To not acknowledge the compliment would have been rude. When in doubt, lean on Hyuga etiquette training to get through things.

“Quit”

What? “Quit what?”

“Being a shinobi. I saw it with my own eyes today. You are strong, you will be one of the strongest in your prime, but that is not a good thing. Strength invites challenge. It was your father’s strength that made Iwa send a kill squad after him even when the war was basically already over. It was your Grandfather’s strength that had assassin after assassin sent after him until his body could just no longer keep up…. Hold on, where are you going? Come back here, Shorirama. I am your mother. I command you to come back here...”

Her voice was drowned out as I slammed the door to the house behind me.

A/N; Some background info on MC's life.