Haruka (春花)

All over the village one thing was felt at once. Dread. They know this feeling, it's the same as it was five years ago. It seems the demon really was just biding its time.

It took Anbu ten seconds to arrive at the location of the foul chakra. It took the Hokage eleven. No one found what they were expecting. They had been prepared to see a ten tail monster growing out of a girl's stomach, or a girl to be turning into said monster. What they found was a very dead cloud ambassador, a frozen Hyuuga Hiashi, and a white haired girl with ringed Sharingan-like eyes standing protectively in front of the Hyuuga heiress. The white haired girl is covered in blood. After only a moment the chakra, and transformation fades leaving only a blood soaked Uzumaki Haruka, a Hyuuga heiress clutching the other girl for dear life. And a now rushing Hiashi eager to see his daughter safe, along with her savior.

The girls were both unharmed, in fact the blood on the Uzumaki seems to be entirely from the cloud nin. The Hokage speaks to everyone present, his face grim, knowing the whole village felt this. "No one here shall speak of what happened here ever again, as far as we're concerned Hiashi found the cloud nin kidnapping his daughter and another child, and he killed him for it."

As one the Anbu present salute the Hokage and fade into the shadows. The Hokage turned to Hiashi and said, "Now tell me what you saw."

"Sir I arrived just as he was about to stab my daughter, then Haruka used what I can only assume is its chakra. She killed him so fast I could have blinked and it was over. One moment he's alive attempting to stab my daughter and the next he's on the ground with Haruka ripping her hands out of his chest. I tried to approach and make sure they were alright but she growled at me and stood in front of Hinata, she remained that way until she passed out." Hiashi said, with mixed feelings. On the one hand she saved his daughter and was aware enough to continue protecting her. But on the other she could only barely recognize friend from foe, and clearly the demon can exert some influence on her. Still she had saved his daughter and for that she would have the Hyuuga clan on her side.

The two men neglected to think about the fact that Hinata was still very conscious and could hear their conversation, even if she didn't understand all of it. But she knew one thing, for certain, Haruka had come to rescue her. She swore at that moment, to in return always be there to protect the boisterous redhead.

Hinata would soon come to learn that she had a lot of protecting to do. The Hyuuga affair as it's come to be known, caused a change in the citizens of Konoha. Before they merely hated and ignored the girl, hoping she would go away. Of course they were more scornful when she talked to them, but now. Now they were out for blood. They had all felt it that night, that horrid chakra returning. Seeing the demon still residing in human form they realized that perhaps she wasn't a demon before. But now surely the demon has taken possession of her.

Hinata often found herself coming home with bruises from pushing Haruka out of the way of rocks being thrown at her, and taking the hit instead. And much to her fathers dismay has recently earned a reputation for insulting villagers who took to insulting the redhead. He sees no problem with protecting the redhead. Hell he even has standing orders that no matter the time of day, or what is going on the girl is allowed to enter the compound, no questions asked.

The Hyuuga clan had at first been against the sudden support of the girl, beyond just letting her be friends with his daughter. But he told the elders the truth. If nothing else they saw a chance to earn a loyal and powerful bodyguard for the heiress, so they allowed it. It didn't take long for the rest of the clan to follow.

It's because of this that much to Hiashi's delight, Hinata took a sudden interest in training, and he quickly found out that when his daughter is not hesitating she's actually more talented in the gentle fist than he ever was.

That is perhaps the only truly good news for the clan as a result of that night however. He had lost his brother as a result of the political fallout with Kumo. Not only that the greater council meetings have been rather annoying as he's constantly hounded by the civilians for helping the demon girl. While the shinobi claim he's trying to gather power. Is it so hard to believe he would help his friend's child?

The Sandaime had been feeling much the same as he rubs his head as a migraine seems to be growing as he listens to the councilors squabble among themselves. The two Civilian seats have since been filled, though really it's only accurate to call one of them civilian seats. Yamada Takao is the new head of the civilian education system. He's a rather stupid man despite the position he fills, but he's got a way with words and the civilians elected him for it so they can deal with the fallout of being so easily swayed.

The other seat, for the head of the hospital, which is only technically civilian because it's not reserved purely for shinobi, is the only female student of the late Yondaime, and the youngest member of the council. Nohara Rin is currently 19 years old and the third greatest medic in the history of the village. Her hair has grown in the past few years, reaching down to her waist. She still has the purple markings on her face similar to those of an Inuzuka. She had been working as the third in charge at the time of the attack, but her two superiors died when an emergency ward set up outside the hospital was hit by an attack.

She took to the responsibility like fish to water and saved thousands of lives, both through her own skills, and her orders to the other medics.

"Enough. We're not here to discuss Haruka, this is just our monthly meeting to discuss the current needs of both councils and the current state of affairs in the village." Hiruzen, done appraising Rin, speaks.

Takao speaks. "But that's just it Hokage-sama, the civilians are feeling unsafe with that thing around, and we feel for the safety of our people it would be best to get rid of her."

"I understand your point and I assure you the girl will not be a harm to the civilians." Why can they never just leave this be, there is actual work to be done.

"But sir, we all felt the beast's power, and now look, she is even making Hiashi-dono's daughter act depraved." Hiashi cuts in at this point.

"I fail to see how my daughter defending her friend is in any way depraved." He said with disgust in his voice. His eyes locked on the other man.

The Hokage speaks again. "I said we will not be discussing Haruka today, so now aside from any Haruka related matters what is there to report?"

Shikaku speaks up at this point. "Troublesome." The collective council stares at him waiting to see if he'll say anything else. Finally he does, "We've found Orochimaru's missing apprentice." Following this Inoichi speaks up.

"I've already both interrogated her and done a mind sweep, she can't remember anything other than being told they were leaving on a training trip, and an intense pain in her shoulder. But otherwise she is still as loyal to Konoha as you or me, Hokage-sama."

He nods, "That is excellent news, We'll give her a probationary period of three months, if nothing happens then she'll be given her rank of chunin back, for now she will be treated as a genin."

The rest of the meeting went by rather uneventfully as they discussed mostly budgeting and the allocations of missions, as well as overall mission intake for the past month. Calling an end to the meeting Hiruzen said, "Meeting adjourned, see you all in a month."