It was a fine morning in Konoha despite the various bouts of rain for the past few days. It was business as usual for the civilians and s.h.i.+n.o.bis alike. Sunagakure had issued a full surrender to Konohagakure after finding out that their Kazekage was murdered and replaced by Orochimaru that was manipulating them from the start. Both villages suffered the same loss of valuable military power and Konoha had accepted the surrender and they had begun mending their recently broken alliance. Konohagakure was steadily recovering despite the heavy damage done but in another shade of light, the casualties count would have been greater if it weren't for the two students of the late Hokage that came to the rescue and also the large phoenix that everyone seemed to talk endlessly about. People couldn't stop praising their heroism in the recent attack. Although Jiraiya had pretty much known to avoid unnecessary attention, Hikari didn't do well as most of his day was spent by showing his fiancé around the village. The people always greeted them if they had seen the couple pa.s.sed by. Bashful as he always did, he mentioned that all of that wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the other Konoha ninjas. Hitori couldn't help but felt proud of her fiancé and gave him a peck on the cheeks whenever she had the chance. The people who saw it had their heart warmed by sights of such an act.

"Hikari-kun, I heard that there is a good Dango stall at the end of this park," Hitori said as she tightens her grip on Hikari's forearm.

"Hmm?! Dango? What's that?" Hikari asked, baffled by the potential nature of food befitting of such name. Hitori could only giggle at the boy and pulled him to follow her stride towards the said Dango shop. When they arrived there, Hikari feasted upon his eyes on a small, open, family-friendly shack. From the distance, he could already guess that it was a sweet shop judging by the inviting smell. Hikari was surprised to see his sensei, Kakas.h.i.+ was there with a couple of friends. They seemed to be arguing with each other as to why they decided to go there. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei seemed to be expecting someone in this case.

"Not really, sometimes I stopped by to buy some stuff. Right now, I am meeting up with someone," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei presented his case, "I'm waiting for Sasuke-kun. Oh, hey lovebirds!"

His friends must have thought that he was calling them the L-word when Hikari and Hitori came into their view, they were shocked to see the younger couple.

"Good Morning, Kakas.h.i.+-sensei. Fancy seeing you here. Oh, where are my manners! Good morning sensei, my name is Hyuuga Hikari and this is my fiancé, Hitori," Hikari said before he bowed towards his sensei's friends. They smiled at the younger couple so fondly and the woman looked like she was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with happiness and glee. Hitori, being the shy one she was, hid behind Hikari immediately. The only thing that could be seen as the tiny section of her head was peeking at them. Hikari rubbed the back of his head and told them that she was just a shy person. The woman went ahead and held out a hand to Hitori.

"I'm Yuuhi Kurenai. Hinata's sensei. Welcome to Konoha, Hitori-chan. There's no need to be shy here, I hope you like it here," the famed genjutsu mistress said as the woman introduced herself. Hitori shooked her hand and went back behind Hikari in a flash.

"Pleasure to meet you and don't ever call me chan, I am older than all of you brats combined," Hitori monotonously said with a threatening tone. Hikari was immediately nervous at her words that might offend the other party but was shocked to see Kurenai-sensei went in and hugged Hitori as she rubs her cheek onto the golden-haired girl. Hitori's face went so red that she squealed in protest to no avail. All of them who were present let out a chuckle at the two girls. Who knew Kurenai had a soft spot for shy girls and Hitori had such weakness. It's no wonder that Hinata had been a.s.signed to her care.

"I'm Sarutobi Asuma. I'm in charge of your cla.s.smates, the Ino-s.h.i.+kCho trio," the other man said. Hikari had heard his name somewhere before.

"Sarutobi-sensei's son. He had told me about you. My condolences," Hikari bowed at the man. When he rose, he was met with an apologetic smile towards him by the man.

"My condolences too, Hikari-kun. He was always proud of you, his best student," Asumsensei said. If it was a few days earlier, Hikari would have burst out into tears but he was a different person now. He had lived a life so positively ever since he was living here in this village. He smiled weakly and looked into the clouds imagining patterns into them so that it would look like his late sensei. Suddenly, he felt two strange chakra signatures inside of the Dango shop. One was big that could rival himself while the other one was dark, calculated, lonely and wallowed in guilt. He immediately looked inside for the source and his eyes were feasted with the sight of two travelers clad in a black cloak and wore straw hats inside of the shop as if they were hiding their faces. Hikari was going to mouth something but the one who Kakas.h.i.+-sensei was waiting had arrived.

"Oh, Kakas.h.i.+-sensei, it's very different from you to arrive first," Sasuke said from behind them.

"Well, for some occasion..." Kakas.h.i.+-sensei replied. Hikari turned away from the shop to greet his teammate.

"Morning, Sasuke," he clipped, clearly he was distracted for the time being.

"Hn, showing your fiancé around the village, huh?" the Uchiha said in his mocked tone. Both of them weren't very closed in the first place, thus their awkward interaction with some. But both of them shared a camaraderie as to the well being of the team, meaning they can count on each other to take care of the team. There was no reply from Hikari as the two chakra signatures he felt had disappeared from the shop.

"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded but when there was no answer he was getting he turned away from them grumbling about wasting his time coming here.

"You like Dango right, Sasuke? Would you please show Hitori the best choice in this shop," Hikari said, earning a glare from his fiancé whilst Hikari immediately whispered his wishes through hand signals to the Jounins and Hitori, "I doubt Sasuke would follow through but we need to make sure he didn't follow us."

"I got better things to tend to. Hn," the boy said and continued to walk away. When they were sure that he was further away, they immediately murmured with each other.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Impressive sensing, Hikari-kun. But leave this to us Jounins," Asumsensei smirked and all of the Jounins disappeared from the dango shop. Hikari breathed a sigh at their att.i.tude towards him. He would always be viewed as the meek, psychologically troubled genin that he was, not that he mind about it. He went into the shop and bought her some dango. As they enjoyed their dango, Hikari's mind was drifting elsewhere. This was funny to Hitori because Hikari was denying his desires to follow and back the Jounins up. He hastily ate his dango and waited for Hitori to finish hers.

"Let's get you home, it's not safe here," Hikari said tagging her along but he stopped when Hitori refused to budge.

"I am millennia of ages, love. Don't forget about that, I can fend for myself. Go, I can see it in your eyes that you wanted to follow them. Summon me if necessary. I'm going to look around for a house for us," Hitori grinned and gave him a peck on his cheeks before she disappeared in a ball of flame. Hikari chuckled at her antics. He could always trust her to back him up in need and encourage him if he felt down. How he loved the old bird. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hikari arrived at the scene and stood next to Gai-Sensei who was ready to fight. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei was knocked out, all the more reason for his presence to be valid there. He must a.s.sist the Jounins. The Jounins, however, was startled by his carelessness.

"What're you doing here, Hikari-kun?!" Asumsensei was angered by his presence. He thought that Hikari-kun would endanger himself.

"Don't worry Asuma, he can hold his own. He's your father's student, trust in him," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei croaked. "Careful Hikari, he has the Mangekyou Sharingan, don't look in his eyes."

"Sit back and rest, sensei. I'll be fine," Hikari clipped. His hand tore off his headband before he went into his stance, ready to attack and looked at the two enemies in the eyes directly.

"Byakugan, huh? Pretty gutsy for a foolish boy," the blue-skinned man said as he brandishes his sword. When the other one made eye contact with Hikari, the boy was engulfed in his genjutsu immediately. Hikari was tied to a crucifix and millions of the raven-haired man emerged wielding a sword ready to stab him.

"Foolish of you to come here. Don't you know who I am, Hyuuga boy?" the man said and his clones pierced through Hikari one by one. In theory, his Kekkei Mora could outwit Uchiha's most prize Kekkei Genkai but he had no time for theory instead, he would just do it.

"I could say the same, Uchiha Itachi. The man who slaughtered the entire Uchiha only but his brother in the quest for power," Hikari chuckled as the designed world was faded into a white s.p.a.ce with two of them standing face to face with each other. "So silly of me, but your chakra clearly doesn't say that that is who you are."

The Uchiha's face was in shock. His dojutsu powers were beaten by a Hyuuga which was impossible. He was vulnerable in this world that he had no control over. He tried to beat the genjutsu with his Mangekyou but failed miserably. Anger crept through his psyche as he stared at the boy to death.

"How do you do this?!" he demanded. "You're nothing but a sn.o.b Hyuuga brat."

Hikari laughed haughtily and his left hand went towards his bangs.

"I am gonna pretend that I didn't hear your condescending comments. One, you are mistaken to only a.s.sumed that I am just a Hyuuga and two, your eyes are nothing but a watered-down knock-off version of my clan's secret, Uchiha brat," Hikari said and lifted his bangs. His Rinne-Sharingan flared towards the Uchiha with a quite ominous murderous intent oozed out of him. Itachi was now visibly shaken.

"I can do this the hard way and force the truth out for myself, Itachi-san. But I am giving you the chance to tell me your life's story. I will have nothing but the truth, no one will know but us, I promise you that. We're inside your mind after all," Hikari said.

"What's it to you?" the man demanded. Hikari let out another dark laugh.

"Well, I believe that you are not what you and the people say you are. With that much guilt and loneliness surrounding a man's chakra and not to mention how pure-hearted you are, one could deduce that you were forced to do something that you would never think off for the sake of something that was more important to yourself and chose to live in the shade of darkness as retribution for the things you did, knowing that what you did was for some greater good. Am I right so far?" Hikari ventured.

"Hn," the patented Uchiha grunt escaped his lips.

"Oh, come on! I had enough of that grunt with Sasuke. Tell me, d.a.m.n it! The cat is out of the bag, I already know that you're not a bad person," Hikari protested and Itachi just smiled at Hikari.

"Before I tell you, what's your name?" the man asked. Hikari bowed and introduced himself as his brother's teammate, Otsutsuki Hikari. Itachi finally understood how did the boy defeat his dojutsu and smiled yet again.

"I was formerly an ANBU captain during my time here in Konoha and I had worked for both sides; the village and the clan. I gathered the information for them. One time, Uchiha clan planned a coup against Konoha after they became tired of being scorned for the Kyuubi attack when they had played no hands in the accident. Naturally, when I reported this information, I was ordered to eliminate the threat to the village. I was torn in between the love for my clan or the love for the village. When I decided that the latter was far more important to me, I requested the elders that if I were to follow their orders, Sasuke alone must be kept alive no matter what and in turn, I would live as a rogue-nin who murdered his entire clan for power. Sandaime-sama's was protesting, he was against such cruel ways as he believed that negotiations were still the best way in dealing with the Uchiha threat but the councilman Danzo had swayed the others to continue with the mission as the Uchiha never forgets and they had always been a thorn in the flesh of Konoha. I agreed to him because it was the truth. My clan would never let it go and the other people could die in the process. We were a clan that embodied hatred, we gained power through hatred. A few nights afterwards, Sasuke became the only living Uchiha and I hoped that one day he would come and destroy me for my sins towards my clan," Itachi explained. Hikari's eyes were in tears unconsciously for such a selfless man that was sacrificing his whole life for the sake of the village.

"Don't shed your tears for me, Otsutsuki-sama. I did what I had to do because I am a s.h.i.+n.o.bi of Konoha," Itachi chided but his eyes were soft like he had found someone after being lost in darkness for an eternity of time. Hikari was going to say something else but he was cut out.

"You must know this, during the ma.s.sacre, I didn't in fact slain the entire clan but I was a.s.sisted by a man I believed to be Uchiha Madara. I a.s.sumed that you are familiar with him. The greatest s.h.i.+n.o.bi the Uchiha had ever produced, presumed dead after battling the Shodaime-Hokage, Has.h.i.+rama Senju-sama. His Sharingan bested mine during our first encounter with each other when he was volunteering himself to kill the whole clan as an act of revenge for banis.h.i.+ng him from the clan. Which led me to believe that he was scheming something dangerous to the village. I've kept a close tab on him just incase by joining this organization since then," he continued. Hikari's eyes widened as he heard this revelation. He knew now that the Uchiha that Hagoromo was mentioning was Madara and that he had already planned this ages ago.

"Hmm, the man you met seemed to fit my intel. There is indeed an incoming danger, Itachi-san, one that would affect the whole world. If he truly was Madara, he must have obtained the Rinnegan from his fight with Shodai-sama. With this, am I correct to a.s.sume that your organization was collecting tailed beast?" Hikari ventured. The man widens his eyes at Hikari.

"Correct, the leader was chasing peace through tailed beast coercion but how did you know?" Itachi asked.

"Trust me when I say that nothing good will come out of it. Bringing the chakra together would unleash the greatest threat the planet had seen millennia ago, a beast far worse than the Bijuu. I hoped that we can agree that history should never repeat itself," Hikari pressed.

"I can see that. But I'm not sure that I can hold them all off if my cover was blown. Most of them are strong S-ranked criminals and it was the leader who was using the Rikudou's jutsu," Itachi informed. "He was the one with Rinnegan and last time I checked, he is not an Uchiha."

Hikari could only look at him, puzzled and paused for a moment.

"Only an Uchiha with the Senju blood could awaken the Rinnegan, the Otsutsuki genes were split in between the Sage of Six Path's children. With the clans always be on each other's throat for so long and their dwindled number, not to mention being watered-down by reproduction, it is impossible to manifest the Rinnegan. We need more information and we can't afford to have a battle here, not that we now have a mutual goal," Hikari finally said.

"I agree, Hikari-kun. Please keep this matter a secret from everyone, even Sasuke. I can't promise that I can find a whole lot of information, understand that. They are as secretive to their own member as they are with strangers. I will send a summon to you for their whole information that I had so far," Itachi finally said and immediately, Hikari released him from his genjutsu. His ears were greeted with the sound of someone slumped down and then a gasp from each of the Jounins.

"What did you do, Gaki?!" the blue man was holding up Itachi as he demanded answers from the boy. His other hand was going to swing the big sword at the boy.

"Kisame, stop it. We've been overpowered and outnumbered. Let's leave, this is not why we came here. The boy is not a normal Hyuuga," Itachi muttered. The blue-skinned man was still had his eyes on Hikari but when he made contact with him, a faint shade of red was glinting on the boy's forehead along with some murderous chakra that was emitting from him. Kisame gulped and disappeared along with Itachi. Hikari let out a sigh of relief and he tied back his headband and he then turned around to see the still-gaping crowd. Gai-sensei was the first to react as he gulped his surprise down.

"As expected from Sandaime-sama's student. To defeat the Uchiha dojutsu, a true prodigy bathed with the glory of his springtime of youth!!!" Gai-sensei said as he grinned and gave Hikari a thumbs up. Others, seemingly recovered from the shock, began to see Hikari in a new light. They could see why the Hokage and Kakas.h.i.+ believed in him so much. They hastily made their way back to help Kakas.h.i.+-sensei as he was now unconscious. Hikari walked home slowly as he tried to unravel the mysteries that he had uncovered today. He couldn't possibly connect more dots on the puzzle as he was on another day. For most of his journey home, he was baffled the entire way.