[Naruto] Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son - 3

[runespoor7]

Title: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son (or: a cage is a cage is a curse, dammit.)
Author: runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/ficlets. So far, drabbles include various flavours of implied Neji-Hina-Naru combinations , but it's really Hyuuga-centered gen with occasional cameos of other characters.

Comments

[outlawpoet]

mm. It's very affecting, but I don't know that Hizashi is so nice as to let his son be surpassed by a branch member without comment. In the anime flashbacks, it looks like Hizashi was training his son really hard, even when he was super young. When Hizashi sacrifices himself, he says something like "I've only shown my harsh side to Neji, thus far, but I want to show him something else

[runespoor7]

It's true that I didn't go into Hizashi's motivations here... Maybe he did comment. Maybe he tormented himself over that issue. Maybe he hadn't realised how far ahead of Neji Hinata was. Maybe he decided that it'd be far better for the Hyuuga if its heir became a chuunin on his first try, effortlessly, rather than enter at a more uncertain level.

And of course, all this is entirely Neji's perspective, who may perfectly well be trying to find excuses for authority figures not to enter his team in the exam and to justify that of course Hinata would enter and of course he likely wouldn't be able to defeat her

Commenting on all three sets in one...

[vindiya]

Wow. The idea of Hinata being so good is an intriguing one. But at the same time its one that some people might not be able to see as a possiblity. I like the idea of "What it would be like had Hizashi been the older son" It puts a new perspective on both Hinata and Neji's lives that I've never seen before

[runespoor7]

Thanks for your compliments!

Yeah, the idea for this bit was role-reversal, for which I'd gladly bend over a desk anytime as a concept. I know it's, jarring may be too strong a word, but basically that's that, to see Neji thus lacking in drive, but... Even in canon, to me he read as more passive than Hinata; and here he is already accepted. He only starts questioning things when he realises the extent of Hinata's skill (which is, after all, subjective; this is Neji's PoV. He's not a master of Kaiten and won't have seen flaws in it, especially since he was in shock).

Gah, I'll link you to the answer I made to outlawpoet. Which is long, but I think covers most of the shaky grounds.

I like MainHouse!Neji and BranchHouse!Hinata because I can make puppets out of clichés! (or, alternatively, branch out. *has several more 'exotic' ideas*) Thanks again for leaving a review! *waves*

[riah_chan]

Reading this made me wonder how the dynamics of Team Gai would have changed with Neji being so different. A lot of Lee's motivation was to become strong enough to beat Neji so if Neji wasn't quite so strong (and jerky) would Lee be training that hard? Anyway, I enjoyed this chapter.

[runespoor7]

Hmm. Canonically, we know of Lee's motivation even before he was on a team with Neji and Neji was a jerk, so that'd probably stay about the same. But I imagine Neji wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Lee's ambitions, or his measuring stick, or his Eternal-Rival-In-The-Making either. Most of the Lee-Neji dynamic would be gone

[mariagoner]

OH GOD, I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH. And I am so, so, so happy you didn't break my heart with this drabble as you did in the last set! ::is still a bit traumatized over that one::

And I guess I'll be the requisite one to stand up for the Hinata-becoming-stronger-than-Neji theme in this series! I actually think it's wicked plausible, since I don't particularly think Hinata was an awful ninja in terms of pure skill as a member of the Rookie 9. In fact, out of all of them, her data books shows she's the one with the highest skills as taijutsu! But she seemed to be crippled with fears and doubts placed on her by her father and the impossibly high standards given for a heir. And I think that, if she were given both a stirring motivation to suceed and low expectations to fulfill, she'd actually do damn brilliantly as a ninja. A genius of hard work indeed!

(And ditto to 'sanity' not quite being part of Hinata's genetic make-up. Hell, it's not part of any Hyuga's, is it? But Christ, her putting Kabuto in the hospital is somehow hella sexy

[runespoor7]

This is likely as close to straight-forward, angst-free, no-twist-involved fluff as I'll ever go. (*fluff-writing can't hold my interest for more than two days before I try to break it down*) *toothy griiiiiiiin* But otoh, angsty death-fics writing get boring almost as fast.

I'm glad you think it's believable. :) I'm aware I'm pushing the envelope with Kaiten, but honestly, how could I resist? if she were given both a stirring motivation to suceed and low expectations to fulfill Oh dear god yes. That's exactly what I've been wanting to say/show with this ficlet.

The only sort of interesting sane characters are characters who are a bit too sane. Kabuto comes to mind. (Team Ten is the exception.) I think Hinata didn't like the fact that a random outsider would try and pass judgements. And she may, in fact, have come to the realisation that she wanted to defend Neji then, and so she went slightly over-enthusiastic

[mariagoner]

Nah, I totally wouldn't call this fluff! I mean, there's elements of sweetness in the interaction between Naruto and Hinata and a lot of joy inherant in the idea of an ass-kicking AU Hinata (and I do mean A LOT) but... fluff? With not one but TWO people almost being beaten half to death even before the fic starts? ;)

And as for Au!Hinata learning Kaiten... well, why not? It doesn't need to be a kaiten as powerful as the one Neji mastered, but if Hinata was pushed to her limits... And Orochimaru!Container!Hinata would probably indeed be quite unwilling, unless Neji really fucks things up with her... but who's to say that Orochimaru and Kabuto won't try more things with her in the future? O.o

(They're going to train together after the chuunin exam. ...and I'm not going to write it because omgtehfluff.)

::bats eyelashes:: O'cmon, why ever not? It'll be fun and, if I know you the way I think I do, I'm sure you'll sneak a bit of darkness in afterwards. After all, in this uni, it's Hinata who'll probably almost die (if not ACTUALLY die)

[runespoor7]

What? But - look! No one's dead! And *gasps* no-one's angsting or repressing or Doing Their Duty! (And hey, Chouji's totally sitting with his friends and note how no badage is mentioned, so I think it's fair to say that he wasn't sandpuréed. And Kabuto's only milking it for all that's worth - boy's got better regenerative powers than Naruto, what with his being conscious and consistent.)

I definitely agree with the level of Hinata's Kaiten. (That's my excuse.) I think Orochimaru would prefer his container to be willing. Less problems with the container's body later on, perhaps?

I don't know what Neji possibly could do to fuck things up with Hinata here. Except maybe if she realises that he genuinely condones the Main House/Branch House division, and that he thinks 'it's really for everyone's good', and he absolutely doesn't realise what it makes her feel. That might prove sufficiently mind-breaky to make her snap. (But what of Naruto.)

but who's to say that Orochimaru and Kabuto won't try more things with her in the future? O.o