After an intense two hours of sparring and teasing, we finally stopped and took a breather. "Damn, Hiashi, have you gotten rusty while I wasn't around? I don't remember you being this easy to beat."
Hiashi was sitting beside me, breathing hard and covered in sweat, his training clothes were sticking to him. "I admit, fighting against you naked… was more difficult than I expected." He admitted.
"You don't get any anti-seduction training at the academy?" I admit, the academy was a place I was somewhat curious about, after all, it was the place where Naruto became a ninja, and a terrible one at that. It was also the place that produced geniuses like Sakura, the first Kunoichi of her year, and the most useless one.
It was where people like Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyūga would learn what they needed, which appeared to be next to nothing, yet, at the same time, it was a place that produced people like Minato Namikaze.
I hadn't been there myself, yet such an important place, how could I not be curious? I knew some things and had talked a lot with Hiashi about his days there, but there were always more things to learn, an endless mystery that just kept unfolding.
"Hardly, we were mostly told of the threat of it, hardly any real training, nothing that compared to what you did at least." He snorted dismissively.
"Maybe I should talk with Lord Tatsuo about being your personal instructor when it comes to that?" I teased, causing him to flinch.
"That will hardly be necessary, I doubt there is much risk, not when I will be married to the biggest seductress in the world." He bit back, earning a giggle from me at the attempt.
"Well why don't we just ask him to be sure." I said loudly, at which point a cough came from the door to the training room, before it slid open, and the clan leader, Lord Tatsuo, Hiashi's father, stepped into the room, eyes firmly closed and a blush on his cheeks.
"So you noticed I arrived, good work young Yuki, my son could learn a thing or two from you." He said, trying to sound like himself, but he didn't quite hit the mark.
"Father! When did you get here?!" Hiashi jumped to his feet, stepping in front of me protectively, blocking his father's view of my very naked, very sweaty body.
"You missed our scheduled meeting," Lord Tatsuo said with another polite cough. "So I went looking for you. When I found you were... occupied... I decided to wait outside."
There was a weight to his words, but also clear restraint.
His own son, bested by a member of the branch family—and not through combat prowess alone, but through sheer embarrassment—was hardly a proud moment.
Yet he could hardly blame Hiashi. After all, how could one prepare the heir of the Hyūga main house to handle being ambushed by a nude seductress with perfect form and a wicked sense of timing?
Hiashi kept standing there like a wall between us, as if his body could undo what his father had already seen—and clearly heard.
Lord Tatsuo didn't comment on my nudity, nor did he look in my direction, but the faintest twitch in his jaw betrayed his discomfort.
"Given the times we live in," he began, tone carefully neutral, "I find it difficult to fault either of you for... pursuing future responsibilities with some enthusiasm."
I arched an eyebrow and smirked, despite the sweat still trickling down my neck. "So you're saying I should seduce your son more often?"
Tatsuo coughed again—deliberately, this time. "What I am saying is that your instincts are not misplaced. The clan needs strength and continuity. Should anything happen to me—or even to Hiashi—we need heirs ready to uphold the Hyūga name."
"Not exactly a romantic proposal," I muttered.
"I leave romance to poets and playwrights. You are not marrying into the main family for poetry, Yuki. You are here to support Hiashi and give him an heir."
There was no cruelty in his voice, just firm certainty. "And from what I've seen..." He gave a stiff nod in my vague direction, still not daring to actually look. "You are quite capable of ensuring that."
Hiashi groaned behind his hands. "Father, please."
"Silence. You were the one defeated by a naked kunoichi wielding seduction like a kunai. Show some humility."
I tried and failed to suppress a giggle. "I wouldn't mind if he showed some courage instead."
Tatsuo straightened his robes, smoothing down the creases. "All jesting aside, I approve of Yuki's eagerness, but I still ask that you at least try to maintain the dignity of the Hyūga clan main family."
Tatsuo turned toward the door again, clearly eager to make his escape before I said something even worse. "I will speak with the elders regarding a more... accelerated timetable for your union," he said over his shoulder. "The war has made many things uncertain. But bloodlines should not be one of them."
With that, he gave a short bow—still not once meeting my eyes—and swiftly departed, leaving the scent of formality and panic in his wake.
Hiashi collapsed to his knees with a groan. "I'm never going to live this down."
"Oh, I think you'll live," I said, grinning as I leaned back on my palms. "Just maybe not with your dignity intact."
He gave me a sidelong look. "You're enjoying this way too much."
"I've spent half a year getting chased through forests and nearly killed by puppet monsters. Let me have my fun."
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I admit, I had fun teasing Hiashi. After just a few days back, I was becoming restless and bored; my body needed to move, my entire body craved action, and Konoha didn't have a lot to offer.
So I had to find fun wherever I could, and well, Hiashi just had to suffer. I almost wished Naruto were around, just so I could mess with him for some fun. I bet he would make Konoha a lot livelier.
"I guess you haven't been around here a lot since last time." I asked Hiashi as we walked down the quiet shopping street, stores all around, yet few people between them.
"I have mostly been working, either helping out with clan matters or learning about my future duties." He said stiffly.
"Hmm, I guess there is no peace to be had even inside the village itself?" It was a sad sight, but it also made shopping a lot easier, fewer people around, fewer people to slow you down.
"Yes, almost the entire clan is busy, either those like you who are sent out to fight, or those who have to struggle to keep everything running behind the scenes, with fewer people, those who remain have to work harder."
I nodded to his words; he wasn't wrong. While fewer people meant fewer jobs to be done, some tasks couldn't be reduced, like patrolling the clan compound, or keeping it clean and orderly. Sure, fewer people meant fewer people to make a mess, but the clan compound didn't decrease in size.
"I think I would lose my mind, sitting in the clan all day, busy with work. I would need to move my body some more." I muttered as I stretched.
"I'm sure the kids will keep you busy."
I paused mid-step, looking at him in surprise. "Really? I'm impressed, I didn't expect you had it in you." I studied his face closely. He had somehow managed to say something like that without breaking his stiff face.
"You shouldn't underestimate the future clan leader." He boasted.
"Yeah, I guess I will have my hands filled with the manchild that is Hiashi Hyūga," I shot back and skipped a few steps ahead.
"Very mature of you Yuki, very mature." He replied dryly.
"If you want, I can show you just how mature I am once we get back home… unless you would rather do it here? I was told that children consumed in a place like this will be good with money."
"Damn it, Yuki, please don't say things like that in public. If the elders heard you, there would be trouble."
I knew he was right, my joking wouldn't be accepted by the elders, even Tatsuo wouldn't approve, not if it risked the clan's image.
He might not mind me being proactive in the privacy of the main family compound; he no doubt expected that I was careful, so there wouldn't be any chance of damaging the prestige of either the clan or the main family. But out here? Yeah, I had to act in certain ways.
It wasn't that I disapproved of that, I had once been both a queen and goddess. I was more than a little used to acting in those ways, but found it very liberating to act more carefree.
Still, even if I had to rein myself in out here, it didn't mean I would stop having fun.
"Anyway, why did you bring me out here? I was sure you had done enough shopping for the rest of the year." Hiashi asked a moment later.
"Please, I haven't been doing any shopping for months! I'm way behind, I need a ton of stuff!" I argued.
"Really? Because so far you haven't bought anything yet."
"Well, I have already bought a lot of the things I need, so I'm really just scouting around for another few things, and I figured you could use a break, and what better excuse to let the elders allow it than by claiming we needed some bonding?"
"You will have the entire clan wrapped around your fingers soon enough if you continue like that, Yuki."
"Please," I waved him off. "I'm aiming way higher than just the clan." I opened my arms towards the entire village. "All of this will be mine one day!"
"Really? Hokage? I didn't think you were interested in that position."
"Plenty of people want it, and honestly, once this war ends, we will likely end up with a new one. The Professor is past his prime."
I didn't correct his assumption about my ambitions; I wasn't aiming for just Konoha, but the entire world!
"Yuki, don't say things like that. He is still the Hokage and has a lot of support. I doubt he will step down anytime soon."
I just smiled at him, because he wasn't wrong; the third still had good support. However, that wouldn't last, not when the casualties really started to pile up. But Hiashi couldn't know just how bad things would get.
"Alright, let's go in here and see if they have something fun." I said as I dragged him into a store.
"Wait! Yuki! This place! It's!" Hiashi tried to struggle free, but I gave him no chance.
"Wow, who came up with something like this?" I asked the young woman working in the store as I held up one of the items the shop sold.
"I'm not sure, the owner just gets it made, we often get stuff that never sells, but we still make enough to make up for some of the stranger articles." She shook her head as she answered, clearly she was fed up with the owner.
"Does this sell?"
"Oh yes, it's very popular! One of our best sellers, and if the look on your boyfriend's face is anything to go by, I'm sure you can understand why."
Turning around, I held the red leather harness against my body. "Really Hiashi? Would you want me to wear this the next time we train?"
He sputtered and went bright red. "Yuki, please, mind yourself!" he stressed, all while looking like he wished he could just dig himself into the ground.
"Please excuse him, he is a bit shy." I apologized to the clerk.
"Oh please, you aren't the first to struggle with your man. It happens often enough, you should have seen the last time I had someone from the Nara clan dragged in by a woman, poor man looked dead when he walked out."
The clerk was more than happy to spend the next hour just talking about other customers, and Hiashi looked mortified as he slowly realized that he too would become another story this woman would tell others.
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