[Naruto] The Return 4/5

[runespoor7]

Title: The Return
Author: runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the middle of a war the usual thing is that people die. It's more unusual when they return alive after having been thought dead for three months. Hinata, after being a prisoner in Sound, does.
Notes: in this part: Temari, Neji. And, well, politics, but what else is new?

Part I
Part II
Part III

Comments

[mariagoner]

Oh, I do believe that I love this chapter even more than your previous ones, if such is even possible. I love the oblique way you approach this story through people who are only vaguely related to the Hyuuga, if only because it serves as a beautiful way of showing how fucked up the clan really is from the outside peering in.

Your Temari is a revelation, btw. In fanfics and too many other forms of media, I often notice a distressing tendency to (for lack of a better word!) feminize strong woman characters to the extreme when they fall in love or get into a relationship. Thankfully, your Temari is as strong, abrasive and intelligent as the one from the Naruto canon, for all that she's involved with Shikamaru. (And I swear, I heard a chorus of angels singing in the background when she acknowledged that she wasn't jealous of Ino in any way. Huzzah for good common sense!) I really enjoyed viewing Neji through her eyes and also understanding why even someone who didn't know Hinata well could realize how vital she is for the well-being of the Hyuuga. Kudos to that.

I can't wait for the future chapter in which Hinata reunited with Neji. I have a feeling that it'll be intense, for lack of a better word!

[ballades]

BASCH <3

For the record, I can't stand squealy girly Temari either.

Self pimpage... why do I feel guilty?

[mariagoner]

Thank you for the recc! And sorry for being incommunicado before-- grad school apps really beat the hell out of me for a while. ::sigh::

[runespoor7]

how fucked up the clan really is from the outside peering in
Yeah, there's that. There's also the fact that no-one from the outside cares enough to try and understand what's going on and what the repercussions are, before Naruto decides that it's his business.

Wee, thanks for telling me that about Temari! She's just so much fun to write. (Damn, I need a Temari fangirl icon to express my love.)

I heard a chorus of angels singing in the background when she acknowledged that she wasn't jealous of Ino in any way
I fail at imagining ShikaIno. InoShikaChou OT3, I get. ShikaIno? Just... where?

Temari has no involvement with the Hyuuga - she wasn't born in Konoha and, the way I write her, has no respect for clans. It makes her much more impartial than a lot of others. (And I'm so glad you liked Temari's realisation about Hinata; I loved writing it, but I was afraid it'd be too... over the top?)

[mariagoner]

It's true that people in Konoha seem ridiculously incurious about what the hell is going on with their blood-line clans. Which is bizarre... I mean, if nothing else, shouldn't they be afraid there's another impending Uchiha massacre about to come for the incredibly rigid Hyuuga? Or even why that massacre happened in the first place?!)

It's a good thing, then, that Temari has her wonderfully analytical mind set to the task...

[runespoor7]

I think Konoha is under a Denial no Jutsu.

Seriously though - civilians wouldn't know much, normal ninjas would have so many other things on their minds than remote clan trouble, and the Council seems to be somewhat convinced that Konoha's great clans are the best thing ever. Which pretty much leaves the ANBU, and I interpret their role as doing the dirty jobs and shutting the hell and possibly not developing an identity plzkthx, and the Hokage, who may or may not be blind to it or concerned about other things and shell-shocked, but whose power is anyway effectively limited.

Another reason would be that pre-Uchiha massacre, the village at large had no reason to fear such a thing would happen (admitting there has no antecedents in any clan), since the Uchiha seemed like pretty isolationists little buggers who should totally have known better than sending a thirteen-year-old into ANBU and then let him free to roam when he was suspected of being a murderer even though they'd threatened him so he knew he was under suspicions.

Post Uchiha-massacra, I suspect more denial from the village at large, and the knowledge that no Branch House member can attack a Main House member due to that lovely seal on the part of the Council/Hokage. Of course no Main House would have a reason to wish the clan destroyed, right? Now I kinda want to read a Hinata-pulls-an-Itachi fic in which she is still the heir.

Phew, that was long and rambly.