THE TIGRESS' LANTERN - A HINATA HYUGA FANFICTION

PROLOGUE - THE STORM

A/N: Hello Everyone! Amaterasu No Mangaka with a new book. This one is in dedication to my favorite Naruto Character - Hinata Hyuga. The Elements are a bit dark and out of character but I hope you all like the book.

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The rain came down hard from the black sky over the Land of Fire - a vast land of plentiful forests and powerful warriors known as Shinobi and Kunoichi. In the center of the Land of Fire was a village that was ruled by the Hokage - Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Hidden Leaf Village was large and wide with different numbers of buildings - from stores to homes. It was in this village that many legends were made and it is in this same village that another legend was about the be carved into the scrolls of time.

- Konohagakure (The Village Hidden in the Leaves / Around Midnight / Hyuga Clan Estate -

A pale clenched fist stuffed a folded blue shirt into the bottom of a backpack before doing the same with 4 more shirts and 5 pairs of pants of the same fabric and color. This same hand grabbed a pair of sandals that as besides the backpack and placed them on top of the pile of clothes before putting a few more items into the bag - a wallet full of money, kunais and shurikens, and a cloak. The fist clenched until it released the pressure it was holding and dropped down the side of the body it was attached to - this body belonged to the Heiress, or rather, Soon-To-Be Ex-Heiress of the Hyuga Clan of the Hidden Leaf Village - Hinata Hyuga.

Hinata was a 12-year-old girl who was rather small for her age - she had pale skin and hair that indigo in color. Her eyes were the color of pearls but they were tinted red from the crying and her cheeks were painted pink from the stretch of her muscles from her frowning, lip-biting and rushing blood. Hinata turned away from her back and sat up on her bed as she placed her face in her hands while her elbows were sitting on her thighs; she sniffled and her heartstrings tugged with every single thought that ran through her mind.

She was worthless.

She was unloved.

She was unwanted.

She was seen as a burden that no one wanted to be around.

She was used to hearing this kind of thing from her clan - mainly from Clan Elders, even her own father. She could handle that but when she heard it from the ones she trusted and cared for, the ones she was paired with after graduating the Ninja Academy - it hurt her with no end. She remembered how it happened - it was just a few hours ago.

- Flashback / Midday / The Sun shines brightly in a cloudly sky -

Team 8 was asked to meet at the Training Grounds by their sensei - Kurenai Yuhi - to see if they were ready for any C-Ranked Missions. Hinata was walking through the trail when she saw her teacher and her teammates - Kiba Inuzuka & Shino Aburame, along with Kiba's Ninja Hound, Akamaru - waiting by the training posts, waiting for Hinata; Hinata was about the cross the threshold of trees so that her team could see her but when Kiba started talking, she hid behind the last tree to see what he was going to say.

"When is that weakling going to get here? Akamaru and I have plans." Kiba said as he petted his hound. Hinata's eyes widened and looked around, horrified that Kiba would say that.

"She's probably training, Kiba. You know how dedicated she can be." Kurenai said as she folded her arms. Kiba looked at the red-eyed woman before he continued his rant.

"I don't see why - she's freaking worthless! I mean, I understand that we are starters at being ninja but she is just pitiful! She can't even control her Byakugan and she's supposed to be on a team with trackers? It'd be better if Akamaru took her place and we just booted her." Kiba ranted.

"Look Kiba, I know the girl isn't the strongest but she was placed on our team and you just have to deal with it. I know I do. I'd rather spend time with my bugs than that worthless wrench." Shino said. Hinata's Chakra was shifting from her emotions - Anger & Sadness were building up inside her but to hear her own team talking about her like this... She took a step from behind the tree and made her way over to them - when they saw her, their gold-plated smiles were one display.

- Timeskip -

Kurenai held Kiba back from attacking the Hyuga Heiress out of his anger, she looked into Hinata's eyes and didn't see a single ounce of remorse for what she had just done - During training, Akamaru bit Hinata's ankle to distract her so that Kiba could attack her but what she did was unexpected. She kicked the pup off her ankle and sent him flying into a tree where he hit hard and landed on the ground. Shino checked on the pup and found out that his heart stopped for a while before it started again but he was in pain. Hinata made no move to help or check on the pup, this is what angered Kiba.

"What's wrong with you?! Why did you do that to him?!" He yelled at her.

"This is a fight! There is no friend or foe in this. He attacked me so I was going to defend myself to win this fight." Hinata said with no emotion - this caused the teacher to look appalled at what her student just said.

"Hinata, this was just a spar - attacking Akamaru like that was uncalled for." She said. Hinata scoffed and walked away from them without saying another word but something inside her was stirring - regret what she did to Akamaru.

As the day went on, she heard the mummers of discontent among the village but the worse hit was when she was passing Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. She heard Naruto talking to Ichiraku about her -calling a Weird Girl and Paled-Eyed Freak. Sakura was with him and she was agreeing with him, calling Hinata a number of names and Sasuke as just agreeing with him. Hinata looked at the ground and walked down the dirt road to go home.

When she got home - her father, Head of the Hyuga Clan - Lord Hiashi Hyuga - called her into his office. Apparently, Kunreai went to the Hyuga Compound and told him what Hinata had done during training and he was not happy about it. He called Hinata a 'Useless Barbarian' and even went as far as saying it would have been better if Hanabi was the firstborn. Hinata refused to cry and went to her room not saying anything to the man. It was at that moment she decided -

'I'm done with this village.'

- End of Flashback -

Hinata sat on her bed, the room lit by a single lantern, with her headband in her hand; eyeing the symbol engraved in the metal while in her other hand, she held a kunai. With everything that happened in her life, her teeth locked in anger and metal met metal - she had severed her ties to this pathetic village. She threw the headband aside and the kunai after it; it went soaring and caught one of the ribbons before nailing the symbol of the Hidden Leaf to the wall on her far wall.

She got up and opened a drawer before she pulled out the only thing that mattered to her - Her Mother's Necklace. Her mother loved tigers and, on her deathbed after giving birth to Hanabi, gave that necklace to Hinata and begged her to keep Hanabi safe. Hinata closed the necklace in her hand as the tears fell from her eyes.

'I'm sorry, Oka-san. I failed you.'

Hinata placed the necklace in her jacket pocket before she grabbed her bag and slung it over her back, she blew out the lantern's light before she opened her window - letting in the wild winds and the rains that were beating against her window. She placed her foot on the window seal and pushed herself from the building and landed in a small alley outside of the Hyuga Clan Compound. Activating her Byakugan and using the heavy rain as cover, she made sure she was alone before leaving the alley and traversing the streets, ducking in alleys and behind stands when she saw someone coming. She made it to the opened gates of the village and saw that the patrol was asleep in their station from the rain, this caused her to scoff and walked out of the village down the dark road; her figure disappearing from the gates as she was consumed by the rain, the pain, and the anger.

'I promise you, Konoha. If I ever see you again, I'll make sure you regret what you and your people have done to me.'