826A/N: What's up weebs.
Aaight look I had far too long sat in a car with nothing but my phone and I couldn't get this idea out of my head. No promises this won't die an ugly death.
Most important points:
1) I've aged up Neji from being barely Hinata's senior to being the same age as Itachi; more on how that changed things in flashbacks.
2) In canon there is no upgraded form of the Byakugan other than the tenseigan. (which is pretty much on the rinnegan's level) But, that bored me so now there is an 'Upgraded' Byakugan. More details on it's powers and it's aquisition later in the story.
3) I'm using the timeline that when the Uchiha massacre happened, Sasuke was 7 and Itachi was 12. At graduation, Sasuke is 12 and Itachi is 17, and by the time they meet after the botched chunin exams, Sasuke is 13 and Itachi 18. These ages are the same for Hinata and Neji now.
4) Danzo is just a little more...pragmatic, than in Canon.
Anyway, let's begin.
White Eyes
Prologue
~5 years before graduation.
The third hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat at his desk in the Hokage tower. The endless stack of paperwork in front of him was temporarily forgotten, as he leaned back in his chair with a pipe in his mouth. His guard had been dismissed; as far as anyone could tell he was completely alone in the room. "Report." He said, softly.
"The situation is out of control." Said the voice of Itachi Uchiha. It seemed to come from atop a bookcase, and the Third wasn't sure whether the Uchiha prodigy was actually there or somewhere else in the room. Or it was a double bluff, or triple...but the situation was too serious for Hiruzen's usual games.
"Extrapolate." He said, simply.
"Shisui is dead." Itachi replied. "Suicide. And nobody is going to believe it."
"You will take the blame?" The third asked.
"I have no choice." There was a pause. "My Mangekyo has awoken."
"I see." Hiruzen replied, neutrally. As far as the Uchiha knew, that required the murder of one close to you. "Which I suppose means using the kotoamatsukami to stop them is off the cards."
"I agree." Itachi replied. An interesting choice of words, suggesting it was unfeasible rather than impossible. Hiruzen knew where one of Shisui's eyes had gone. He wondered about the other.
"The situation is about to escalate." Itachi continued. "Before, we had a week. Now, I don't know. I...can't continue to hide my disapproval from them, Hokage-sama."
"I understand." The third replied. It was sometimes hard to remember Itachi was still just twelve. "So, old friend. Do you still insist that the best course of action is a massacre?"
That was not addressed to Itachi. There was a pause, before an unoccupied corner of the room spoke up. "The Uchiha should not be exterminated, no."
The third raised his eyebrows. "Really, Danzo? I'm glad you have regained some sense."
"Do not mistake my intentions." The voice replied. "The primary objective is, and must always be, the protection of Konoha. The Uchiha clan dead is better than a coup d'etat, but it is not optimal. Their ability to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan makes them an incredible asset to the village. A value which must be weighed."
"I trust you don't intend to let the attack succeed?" The third replied, once again feeling dirtied by the Root leader's pragmatism. "They intend to kill me, Danzo. I would find that rather upsetting."
"This week will not end without bloodshed." Danzo replied. "But we possess the privilege to chose whose blood. No, I do not believe that we should let them get away with their machinations. That would look bad. We also cannot be seen to appease them, for the same reason."
The third thought. "So you intend to appease them without doing so visibly. Which you realise would require them getting more power in the government, which in turn would involve-" he paused, as he realized where Danzo's mind was going.
Itachi caught on too. "You want us to massacre a different clan? Are you sure you don't just really like clan massacres?"
"The Senju are the object of their hate, but they barely exist as a clan at this point, and lack a reasonable scapegoat." Danzo continued, oblivious to Itachi's insubordination. "Inuzuka, Nara, Aburame, none possess enough political power for killing them to do anything. Which leaves us with one."
"The Hyuuga." Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Danzo, the Hyuuga haven't done anything."
"We don't need a reason we can justify to the daimyo. Legally, we aren't meeting right now. We need a scapegoat with the power and motive to have reasonably slaughtered their entire clan completely independently. The Hyuuga conveniently provide one."
"Neji." Itachi whispered.
The third winced. "The Hyuuga's use of the caged bird seal is...questionable."
"You're looking for the word barbaric." Itachi supplied.
"Neji does have the skills and he does have a motive." Hiruzen continued, nodding his head to concede the point. "Would he do it, Itachi? For the good of the village?"
He knew the two boys were close.
Itachi paused. "He would never kill Hinata; that's the current heir to the main branch. As much as he rants about her...well, you know how I feel about Sasuke."
"It's ideal to leave at least one alive." Danzo muttered, thoughtfully. "A male heir would be more convenient, but she should be able to continue the clan."
Itachi shuddered, but kept going. "Neji's just left the hospital for reasons he won't talk about. Tomorrow, he'll be in fighting shape. And yes, he'll be willing. I'm sure of it. He has a better reason than what we planned for me, at least, which really was just being a really big meanie."
"Are we certain about this?" Said the Hokage. "We are going to stop the Uchiha from betraying us...by killing the Uchiha's enemies?"
"Pragmatically, it makes sense." Danzo replied. "The Hyuuga's value is comparatively limited. The Byakugan doesn't have a Mangekyo."
Hiruzen kept carefully silent.
There was a blur, and Itachi became visible in the center of the room. He bowed to the Third. "I'll go tell him. S-class secrecy, I know." He rose, and walked towards the door, pausing with this hand on the handle. "...Neji's never going to forgive himself for this. You know that, right?" He vanished in a fluttering of crows' wings.
Sarutobi glared at the corner of the room that probably contained Danzo. "I'm totally disbanding Root after this."
"Whatever."
A few days later
A seven year old Hinata Hyuuga skipped happily back towards the Hyuuga compound after an afternoon of her favourite pastime; Naruto-spotting. She had admittedly gone on a bit longer than she had planned to, and now it was dark-out, but the two gate guards she'd expect to chew her out were conspicuously absent. Thinking nothing of it, she was able to walk in unhindered, praising her good luck.
She got ten steps before she saw the first body.
Her eyes narrowed at the person conspicuously laying on the pavement, eyes open, looking up to the sky. "Auntie? What's wrong?" Hinata knelt beside her, shaking her arm, but she didn't move. Frowning, Hinata slowly, carefully, went through the hand seals she had been taught for years, eventually calling out "Byakugan!" And looking down to assess the woman's chakra network. It wasn't there. There was no signature blue glow, no pulse of energy through her tenketsu. And now that Hinata's eyesight was enhanced, the woman didn't look to be breathing either. "Help!" Hinata called, scrambling away with a startled gasp. "This woman needs help!" She turned around, but couldn't see anyone else, so she ran further into the Hyuuga compound, expecting to see the night guard, expecting someone to see her, at least. All she found was more bodies. Crying, she ran past corpse after corpse, all visibly unharmed, but with no life flowing trough their bodies. Her eyes pointed out in painstaking detail every face, every terrified expression. She held back her bile and stumbled, desperately making her way to her own house, hoping against hope that-There! Her eyes finally made out a chakra network through the wall. She shoved her own door open, running through the hallway, up to her parents' bedroom, bursting in to find-
She blinked, and her Byakugan fell away in her confusion. "Neji?"
Her older cousin turned towards her, away from the dead bodies of her parents. There were no visible pupils, nor irises in his eyes. They were orbs of pure, lavender tinged white. "Tell me, Hinata." He spoke. "Do you believe you can defy fate?"
"Hey big brother!"
Itachi smiled as he closed the door to his home behind him. "Hello little brother. What are you doing up this late?"
"I wanted to wait up for you." Sasuke pouted. He walked forward and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, what's up with your eyes? Are you crying?"
Itachi chuckled, wiping off the blood dripping from one of his eyes. Internally, he cursed the consequences of the Mangekyo's power. "It's nothing, little brother. I'm here, and everything's alright."
So hopefully that explains the main changes going into this fic. Sasuke still has his family, Hinata does not, Naruto is...mostly the same. We'll see the effects of this next chapter, which will come out...(throws dart at dartboard) I dunno. It might already be out. I've written it, though, so you'll get it.
