Death.
Swift and unavoidable. In the Warring States Period, children become soldiers, with death lurking around every corner. Clans of shinobi littered the land slaughtering each other for territory and resources. Corpses fed plants and animals alike as blood drenched the Shinobi world. As time went on, some clans proved themselves superior to the others in the art of killing. One such clan was the Hyūgas.
Eyes slightly red from shedding tears, Hyūga Haruki gathered himself. Deliberately and slowly, he removed Hyūga Hiroshi from the arms of the late Kaguya Kiyomi, eyes steeled with resolve. The medics slowly placed a sheet over her before lifting the body and heading outside to bury her.
Hiroshi stared up at his father, expression nigh identical. Despite the little experience he had with death in his previous world, after he finished grieving his mother, a strange tranquility descended upon him. As it did, his brain began to process the context clues around him in order to determine who, where, and when he was.
'...I'm Hyūga…and Kaguya from the looks of it. My Byakugan has activated…and if my mother's death is any indication, I seem to have awakened the Shikotsumyaku as well.'
"What a quiet child. Hello Hiroshi, I'm your father, Hyūga Haruki, and that was your mother…Kaguya Kiyomi. I'm the Clan Leader of the Hyūgas. I know you don't understand what I'm saying but I was told you're supposed to talk to babies while they're young…"
Haruki puffed before looking off the side, awkwardness permeating the tent. Feeling foolish, he shook his head before exiting. Gathering the medics, the Hyūgas dashed back to the Hyūga Clan compound. Japanese-style wooden houses lined the outside of a gargantuan square clearing filled with training equipment. As the Hyūgas landed within the clearing, several elder members of the Hyūga Clan appeared swiftly afterwards.
"Hyūga Haruki, where have you been? For the past two years you have been acting strange, leaving the compound frequently and almost living in your personal territory You've disallowed the usage of our Byakugan in your territory among other absurd rules, we've had enough! And now you're borrowing medics??"
The Hyūga Clan Elders clamored around him, bombarding him with questions and demands, completely ignoring the swaddled baby in Haruki's arms.
"ENOUGH! I need to feed my child, especially now that his mother is gone."
Like a bomb went off in the Hyūga compound, the elders ceased speaking in shock.
"...Another child?"
One Hyūga elder with greyed hair and a white beard, Hyūga Hayato, spoke softly. As if finally visible, all Hyūga eyes turned to meet Hyūga Hiroshi.
"White hair and red dots, but with a Byakugan? This child is half-Kaguya. You've tainted our bloodline!"
"He activated his Byakugan upon seeing his mother die. And if you'd pay more attention, you'd realize it's still activated."
Byakugan widened flabbergasted. Crowding around Hiroshi, they all saw it. The pronounced veins around his eyes signifying the usage of one's Byakugan. After activating theirs, they too saw the flow of his ocular chakra.
"Impossible!! The earlier you activate it-"
"The purer it is of course. His blood might be half-Kaguya, but the half-Hyūga portion of his blood is stronger and purer than all of you."
Haruki sneered as silence descended upon the compound, Hyūga Elders doing their best to process this information.
"Oh, and we're doing things my way from now on. The Hyūga clan has been stagnant for far too long. Other clans are innovating and evolving. Can you say with certainty that we can beat the Uchiha's or Senju's? And just because I beat Uchiha Tajima does not make all of you capable of overcoming Uchiha."
Furrowed brows, huffs, and sneers were his only answers.
"Precisely. The Gentle Fist is too weak!"
"Preposterous!! Are you trying to betray your clan?"
Hyūga Hayato hollered, spittle trailing his words. Electricity sparked in the palm of Hyūga Haruki as he intoned..
"Eight Trigrams: Piercing Railgun"
Flicking his palm forward in a manner reminiscent of Vacuum Palm, the lightning gathered into a small orb before discharging forward far faster than its parent technique. It ripped straight through 3 training dummies before colliding with the walls surrounding the training grounds detonating in a storm of flames and electricity.
"That is what happened when I used my lightning chakra affinity instead of regular chakra for a Vacuum Palm."
Despite him modifying the technique, the elders didn't even bother to yell at Haruki, opting instead to look at the devastation.
"...What's a railgun?"
"...no clue, but it sounded cool. It fits, doesn't it?"
Haruki adopted a look and stance of pride, nodding intermittently.
"Can you modify all of our Gentle Fist techniques like this?"
"Of course I can. Just like any other ninja, we Hyūga have chakra affinities, and it's foolish not to use them. There are 5 different ways we can modify it based on your affinity. Mine are Lightning and Wind, so my Gentle Fist modifications are focused around the destructive power/speed of lightning, and the cutting power of wind. For the two years I've been sparse, I've been developing this nintaijutsu with Kaguya Kiyomi…my late wife. She named them Calamity Fist and Severing Fist."
Another Hyūga elder, younger than Hayato and beardless, Hyūga Itsuki, approached Hyūga Hiroshi holding the hand of a small child.
"Father…"
"Hyūga Hikaru, meet your half-brother, Hyūga Hiroshi."
Bending down, Haruki handed Hiroshi to Hikaru, who held the baby gently.
Hiroshi trained his activated Byakugan on his doll-like elder brother in this life. A pair of activated Byakugan stared right back at him.
'A bowl-cut?? Am I gonna have to get one too?? Also…Uchiha Tajima? That's Madara's father's name…so I'm in the Warring States period. And if my father beat Madara's father, does that mean I'm in the same generation as Madara and Hashirama? Maybe a little younger. The Hyūga clan leader in the warring states period didn't get air time likely because the only ones of note were the Senju and Uchiha clans.'
"I only managed to modify the Gentle Fist for my affinities, but it shouldn't be too difficult to help modify it for the last three affinities. Let's get to work. Oh, and I need a wet-nurse for Hiroshi."
'A wet-nurse?! >.> Huehue. Anyway, modifying the Gentle Fist? I thought the Hyūgas didn't get around to that before Hinata.'
5 years later…
Tripartite Border - Senju, Uchiha, and Hyūga
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu"
"Water Release: Gunshot Jutsu"
The battlefield became engulfed in mist as a large Fireball and equally sphere of condensed water met in the middle. Shuriken punctured the fog spinning as they sought their target.
Clink!
A kunai deflected every shuriken sending them harmlessly away. The mist settled and two children were revealed. One, with medium-length spiky black hair and the other with long smooth brown hair.
"Madara, we don't have to fight you know…."
The black haired child, Madara, simply glared before pulling out more shuriken and beginning to seal.
"Foolish Hashirama, all of you Senju have to die. No more talking. Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Flames surged from his mouth, shuriken hidden within, all targeting Hashirama. Madara followed closely behind. Hands blurring as they sealed, Hashirama slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall"
The earth rumbled as a large wall of earth shot from the ground blocking Madara's attempt. Hashirama ran through additional hand-seals before placing them on the earth wall before him.
"Earth Release: Rock Gun Jutsu"
The wall fractured as large fragments of stone broke off and launched towards Madara.
"I want a turn. Eight Trigrams: Maelstrom Revolving Heavens."
Catching both child shinobi off-guard, a large dome of swirling water appeared in between them. Just barely casting Substitution Jutsu in time, a wooden log and several large stones were ground into dust and wood chips upon meeting the dome.
"Tch. So close."
Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara leapt back before their eyes met the new arrival. Silky-long black hair framing two pulsating Byakugan met their gaze.
"Hyūga Hikaru if not mistaken…"
"Indeed. My targets, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, I presume?"
"The Hyūgas won't stop fighting either?"
Without even bothering to answer, lightning sparked on Hikaru's palms before he launched himself at the two. No more words were had as the three began to duel, strikes parried, kunai and shuriken deflected, jutsus countered and negated. Despite being no older than 7 years of age, all three surpassed many of their elders, potholes and craters littering the battlefield within moments. As if by agreement, suddenly, the three separated.
"Since when were the Hyūga so skilled?"
Madara panted as he stared at Hikaru in surprise.
"Since we stopped holding ourselves back."
Pride suffused the area emanating from Hikaru. Hashirama seemed impressed as well.
"Well it looks like the three of us won't get much further fighting like this. We should get back to Tobirama and Izuna."
"Mmmh? Oh. If I were you, I'd be very worried about them."
Madara and Hashirama's heads shot towards Hikaru.
"What are you talking about?"
Single-pupil sharingan swirled in Madara's eyes and chakra burst from Hashirama pressurizing the air around him as they spoke in infuriated unison.
"Ah. You didn't know? I might be the elder brother and Hyūga clan heir…but Hiroshi is much stronger than me. He just doesn't enjoy killing much. Unfortunately the elders gave us our missions this time. And if my mission was to kill you two…well…I'm sure you can infer what his mission was."
Chakra filled the air and cracked the ground as Hashirama ground his teeth anxiously and furiously. A second tomoe began to appear in Madara's eyes as his Sharingan swirled faster and faster in fury.
BOOOM!!
All heads swiveled to the east as a huge explosion ripped through the forest.
"IZUNA! TOBIRAMA!"