Life in the Hyūga Clan was one filled with lessons and little time for fun. Kids were expected to be trained ninja, elite killers; we were scouts, spies, and we should be able to do first aid. Cook, clean, and more.
Not to mention that women had even more to learn, given that we were expected to take care of our household once married. And that was even more so for me.
Due to my talent, I was to marry into the Main family and become the wife of the next clan head. Which would make me Hinata's mother if I were to go down that route. Honestly, I wasn't too keen on that.
I was already a mother, and two of my three children had turned out badly, so I wasn't really feeling for more.
Hiashi wasn't bad, a bit arrogant, but that was expected of him. He took great care of me, always asking if I was okay, if I needed anything. He was a good kid. Which was almost strange considering how he would turn out later, such a bad father to Hinata.
"What are you thinking about my little snowflake?" A voice came from behind me moments before a large hand settled on my head, messing with my hair.
"Father, careful, you will mess up my hair." I couldn't help but complain. It was hard enough to convince everyone to allow my hair to grow out fully, when it didn't look like a mess due to him messing with it.
"Hahaha. Don't be like that, you sitting there, deep in thought, it's just too cute." He teased before finally letting my hair be.
"I was just thinking about whether or not I would join the academy." I quickly came up with an excuse.
"Ahhh." He sighed. "I doubt it; the clan has already sent both Lord Hiashi and Hizashi this year, so the chances of them sending more next year are slim." But don't worry, the academy is mostly a waste of time anyway."
I flashed him my best smile. "It's okay, if I don't go, I get to spend more time with you and mom anyway."
My words just caused him to laugh happily and mess my hair up further, much to my dismay.
I was used to long hair, it felt right, not to mention my Ten no Ito Shibari worked best the longer my hair. And while I couldn't use such powerful techniques right now, I still hoped to be able to do it again.
"Dear, leave little Yuki's hair be, she spends so much time taking care of it." Mom decided to come to my rescue.
She stepped out onto the porch, sleeves rolled up, hands still dusted with flour from whatever she was baking. Her hair was tied back in a simple bun, and her smile was soft, worn at the edges by years of service and early mornings—but no less genuine for it.
Father leaned back dramatically. "Ah, I've been defeated by the alliance of women!"
Mom rolled her eyes and walked over to sit beside me, brushing a bit of dust off my shoulder. "It's not an alliance. You're just mean to her hair."
I leaned against her lightly. Her presence always carried warmth—grounding, comforting. I might be countless times older than her, but something about it still felt good.
"It is an alliance, all against Dad and his hair ruining ways." I joked as she started to gently comb her fingers through my long, snow white strands.
We sat in silence for a while, listening to the wind rattle the bamboo chimes above the porch. Somewhere nearby, a group of kids were practicing stances—loud enough to hear grunts and sandal slaps against stone. Probably Kenta and Sora's group. Kenta always yelled when he kicked too hard.
"I should go train too," I said after a moment. "I can't afford to fall behind."
"Who's behind?" Father scoffed. "You're faster than most adults I know."
"But still not fast enough." I stood, brushing off my sleeves. "I need to be stronger."
Mom gave me a look—gentle but firm. "Just remember to be kind too, not only strong."
I didn't answer. I just nodded.
She was a great woman; she wanted me to be a child, but in this world, there were no innocent childhoods.
More so since I knew that it wouldn't be long before war once more took hold of this land. And the third great ninja war would be horrible, needing even children to fight.
Waving to them, I took off running. I needed all the training I could get. The gentle fist wasn't bad at all. At mastery, it would allow someone to reach the Elite level.
And with proper use of the special techniques that came from the gentle fist and the Byakugan, one could reach the level of a clan head, which was the old term for someone who had the strength of an Elite Jōnin.
To reach the level of Clan Lord, or Kage, the Gentle Fist alone wouldn't be enough. But it was still important, it was the first step I could take towards power. And I could take it freely under the protection of the clan.
If I wanted to start using the many jutsu I had learned while inside the moon, the clan would never agree. And I had no intention of trying to fight them just yet, I was far from ready.
"Hey Yuki! Come join us!" Nanako shouted as soon as I got over to them.
She waved both arms in the air like she thought I wouldn't see her otherwise, despite the fact that she was the only one in our little group who wore a bright pink sash over her training yukata. The others—Kenta, Sora, and Toshi—had already spread out across the courtyard, sandals kicked to the side, feet planted firm in the packed dirt.
"You're late," Kenta grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "We already did warmups, and Nanako cheated."
"I did not!" Nanako protested. "You're just sore because I got through the kata faster than you."
"Because you skipped the breathing breaks—again!"
I stepped into the circle and dropped my stance. "I'll settle it," I said calmly, letting chakra flow into my palms. "Loser gets water duty."
"Oh, now you're in trouble," Sora laughed, backing up and settling into a wide-legged stance. "Yuki's got that look. You're gonna get smacked, Kenta."
"Not this time," he said, eyes shining.
We paired off—me with Kenta, Nanako with Sora. Toshi volunteered to count us in.
"Three… two… one—go!"
Kenta came in fast, leading with a low strike meant for my side. I twisted my hips, sweeping his palm aside with an open hand, and stepped in with a light counter. He ducked, feinting a sweep with his leg that forced me to hop back, but I caught the motion early.
He'd gotten faster.
I adjusted my footing, catching his next strike mid-flow and turning it into a grappling movement. Not to overpower him—just to shift his balance. He stumbled slightly, caught himself, and grinned. "Almost."
"Almost isn't enough," I said, and tapped his shoulder—right over a chakra point.
He froze.
"That was cheating," he muttered as he relaxed, rubbing his arm. "You went for tenketsu."
"You would've, too," I said.
"You're not wrong."
Across the courtyard, Nanako had Sora in a headlock, both of them laughing so hard they could barely stay upright. Toshi was doing cartwheels for no reason at all.
This—this was what we got instead of a normal childhood.
It wasn't much. But it was ours.
We spent the next hour cycling through drills. Switching partners. Practicing strikes and blocks until the skin on our palms stung and our sleeves clung to sweat-damp arms. But no one complained. These moments, rare as they were, were a kind of peace.
After our final set, we all collapsed in the grass by the garden wall. Nanako passed around a pouch of salted plums she'd stolen from her older brother's snack drawer. Sora flopped back into the shade with his arms behind his head.
"You think they'll let us go to the academy next year?" Toshi asked, chewing thoughtfully.
"No chance," Kenta said. "They already sent Hiashi and Hizashi. They won't send more until they graduate."
I tuned out their conversation. I didn't care much for the academy. The clan sent a few kids there, mainly because it was pointless. We fought using the gentle fist, which couldn't be learned there. And the knowledge taught was also not all that useful.
The clans all had their own systems for training their young, which had been developed over centuries.
So the academy was mostly for civilians, and the clans only sent kids there for political reasons. After all, the Hyūga Clan has hundreds of kids of all ages, enough to fill entire classes at the academy.
So why even bother at that point? No, we were trained at home, where we would learn to put the main family before anything else, be it ourselves or the village.
I'm sure the Hokage didn't like that one bit, but he couldn't do anything. We were little more than slaves to the main house.
Not that most treated it like that. Everyone just accepted it. some people had a little resentment in their hearts, but the main family rarely did anything to earn more.
While they sat back and enjoyed the hard work of the branch house, it wasn't like we suffered under them.
Nanako flopped down beside me and stretched her legs with a dramatic sigh. "My arms are going to fall off."
"You've said that every day this week," Sora muttered.
"One day it'll be true," she said, "and then you'll be sorry."
Kenta laughed and leaned back on his elbows. "If your arms fall off, we'll just reassign water duty."
"Hey, I already lost one match today. Don't push your luck."
I smiled faintly at their voices, half-listening as I traced a pattern in the dirt with my finger.
"You're quiet today," Toshi said, nudging my side. "Thinking again?"
"Always."
He gave a little laugh, but didn't press. None of them ever did.
We sat there a while longer before we were called back by one of the older cousins. Time for afternoon chores. Some would go to clean weapons, others to scrub hallways or help in the kitchens. I'd be assigned to scroll copying again, no doubt.
Nanako groaned and rolled to her feet. "Come on, let's go. If we're late, they'll make us polish the dojo floor again."
"You mean you'll be late," Kenta teased, jogging ahead.
"I swear I'll throw my sandal at you!" she called after him, already laughing.
We followed in pairs, lighthearted but moving with purpose. That was the Hyūga way. Duty, always—just softened when no elders were looking.
As we walked past the stone lanterns near the side gate, I glanced back at the courtyard one last time.
It was empty now. Silent. But I could still feel the energy lingering in the air—scuffed dirt, echoes of laughter, the ghost of a strike still hanging in the space between where Kenta and I had clashed.
This was our world. Harsh. Disciplined. Weighted with expectations. But still, in tiny cracks and rare afternoons, it felt almost like a childhood.
It was this rare peace that made people fight so hard for the village, because it had been absent during the Warring Clans period. When clans clashed constantly, and you never knew when you would be attacked.
However, this peace was false, hollow, since it had been bought with so much blood. And it wasn't even adults who paid the price; every way was fought with little kids my age. All went out to fight for a village that should have protected them; instead, they gave their lives protecting it.
(End of chapter)
Yeah, the Academy is shit, its useless, really, people like Sakura came out of there, and while she might have proven herself later, on her first mission, she was no different from a civilian, no training, no skill, nothing.
And clans here are big, I mean, during the Fourth Great War, Konoha had like 12k people to send out, where did they come from? Sure, not from Naruto's generation, which is what, 12 people? Even counting everyone seen in the anime and named, would you even reach a thousand?
So yeah, clearly there are plenty of people around, and here, it's clans, clans are big, massive in size, thousands of members for a big clan. And well, it won't stay like that, the third war was hard, brutal, huge amounts of deaths, but for now, the Hyūga Clan and Uchiha clan, those a massive, entire villages of their own within the village.