Naruto: Ero-ninja

Revenge Arc

Hinata smoothed out the kimono that she wore as she critiqued her appearance one final time. The kimono was of a light violet color similar to the jacket that she had used to wear. The kimono, although of great quality, was so more for the talent of the tailor, rather than a result of the material she had selected as it was actually rather inexpensive. It was a deliberate choice that she had made since she felt it fit her new role as the Branch Family's representative. A role that had forced her to retire from active duty, although she was still a reservist.

In truth, she found that outside of the interactions with her old team, which admittedly had been happening less and less as they transitioned into new phases of their careers, she didn't really mind becoming a civilian. Particularly since she had found a calling in helping elevate the Branch Family's standing within the Clan. In many regards, she was almost grateful that her father had forced her hand as moving in with the Branch Family had been a rather eye opening experience for her. It highlighted how a person could say that they wanted to change something without having a true understanding of what it was they needed to.

She, for example, had learned that although it was easy enough to point to the Caged Bird curse mark as an example of inequality within the Hyuuga. It was an issue that extended much further. Her new accommodations for instance, could easily have fit into the walk in closet of her sister's room, and although her old room had been on the small side for Main Family members. It had easily dwarfed even the Branch Family Elder's room, who had offered his up to her, but she had turned him down. A move she knew which had won her over even more support from members of the Branch Family, and contempt from members of the Main House. She knew many of her sister's supporters had described her apparent humility as a means to grow her support among the Branch Family, which was also somewhat infuriating to her. Especially as she simply had not wanted to burden the kind old man any further than she knew her presence already had. Furthermore, it had caught her attention recently that members of the Branch Family were having their wages from missions taxed at an unreasonable percent.

The Clan Tax wasn't exactly a Hyuuga only creation since all the major clans had one. It was supposed to cover the costs incurred for the clan as a whole. At Five percent, the Hyuuga Main Family's had been one of the highest she believed. But, she had learned that the Branch Family's was taxed at an exuberant Fifteen percent. To make matters even more unbearable to her, there was talk among the Main House that they would raise it to twenty percent while increasing their own contributions to seven. She hadn't delved into the matter too deeply yet, but she wouldn't be surprised if the lion's share of the money was being used to maintain the comfy lifestyle of the Main Family during their recent finical hardships. It angered her that rather than scaling back their costs, the Main Family was instead trying to further burden the members of the Branch. She could almost hear how some of them would refute her claims to such by pointing out how they were giving more as well.

She took a cleansing breath since she would fight that battle when it came about. Instead, she turned her thoughts towards considering how best to raise the Branch Family's standing. She was aware that the biggest hurdle facing the Branch Family in that regard was the system was rigged against them. To that end, she resolved that she would simply go around the system to accumulate power for the Family outside the clan, which she figured could in turn, be used to force changes within it. Particularly if the Main Clan's powerbase began to crumble outside of its compound while the Branch Family rose to prominence.

She already had made plans for how to do just that, and it would also allow her to help the Great Tree Shipping Company. Naturally, she had to keep them to herself and had, outside of the Branch Family Elder, who was still somewhat skeptical of it. But, he had pledged to discreetly gather the money that she would need to implement it. She smiled as she felt events were conspiring in her favor since her plan was to purchase the Ports within the Land of Rice paddies similar to how the Main Family controlled those along the Land of Fire's Eastern Coast. With the previous Daimyo's death, the young woman that had assumed control had asked for investors to do exactly that. Naturally, Karin had been more than interested, but currently the company didn't have the cash on hand to be a serious player in the bidding process. Especially as many companies had expressed their interests in purchasing them as well. But, with the current tension between Kumo and Konoha over Yugito's defection, many of those companies had dropped out. This was because if war did break out between the villages, then those ports would likely be the first thing seized by one side or the other. Not exactly something which a company was willing to risk after investing a load of capital into refurbishing them.