Chapter Text
Hinata's sandals scuffed against the cobblestone path as she made her way toward the Hokage Tower, the morning sun casting long shadows across Konoha's streets. The village was slowly coming to life—shopkeepers raising their awnings, children laughing on their way to the academy—but the normalcy of it all felt hollow to her.
Last night's events played on a relentless loop in her mind. The bitter taste of sake. The way Naruto's eyes had followed Sakura across the room. The warmth of Sasuke's body beside hers when she woke—
She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms.
'No. Don't think about that.'
A sudden flurry of movement snapped her from her thoughts. A chunin materialized before her in a swirl of leaves, his breathing slightly labored.
"Hyuuga Hinata," he panted, "you're summoned to the Hokage's office immediately."
Hinata's stomach dropped. "A-all of us?"
"Every unmarried shinobi between eighteen and thirty." The messenger's eyes darted nervously. "They're saying it's some kind of... marriage decree."
The world tilted.
---
The Hokage's office was packed to bursting when Hinata arrived. Bodies pressed together in the confined space—Naruto's bright blond spikes visible near the front, Sakura's distinctive pink hair beside him, Shikamaru's lazy slouch against the far wall. The air hummed with tension, thick enough to choke on.
At the front of the room, Tsunade stood with her arms crossed, her usual confidence replaced by something darker. Beside her, a hawk-faced man in ornate robes—a Fire Daimyo official—unfurled a scroll with a snap that silenced the murmurs.
"By order of the Allied Shinobi Nations," the official intoned, his voice carrying the weight of inevitability, "the Shinobi Marriage Law is hereby enacted."
A beat of stunned silence. Then—
"The hell you say!" Kiba's outburst sent Akamaru barking. "You can't just—"
"Silence!" The official's chakra flared, a suffocating wave that had even the jonin stiffening. "This is not a debate. After the devastation of the Fourth War, our nations face a critical shortage of skilled shinobi. This law ensures the next generation will be strong."
Hinata's fingers found the hem of her sleeve, twisting the fabric as the man listed the terms:
1. Mandatory pairings based on chakra compatibility and bloodline potential
2. Weddings within three months of matching
3. No divorce permitted
4. Children required within two years
5. Refusal means exile and loss of shinobi status
The room erupted.
Naruto's voice rose above the chaos, raw with disbelief. "There's no way! You can't force people to—"
"Enough, Uzumaki." Tsunade's interruption carried the finality of a hammer strike. Her eyes, when they met Hinata's across the room, held something perilously close to apology. "The Daimyo's council has spoken. We comply or face sanctions that could cripple Konoha."
A cold sweat prickled down Hinata's spine. Her gaze flickered to Naruto—only to find him staring at Sakura with naked desperation.
'Of course.' The realization settled like a stone in her gut. 'Even now, it's always been her.'
A medic-nin moved through the crowd, distributing small parchment seals. "Place these on your wrists," Tsunade ordered. "They'll determine compatibility."
Hinata accepted hers with numb fingers. The moment the paper touched her skin, it flared to life—inky black tendrils spiraling outward in a pattern she'd never seen.
Gasps rippled through the room.
"Look at Ino-Shika-Cho's!" someone whispered. Their seals shimmered in complementary golds and greens, the Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka trifecta confirmed even by this forced system.
Then a different kind of murmuring started. Heads turned.
Hinata followed their gaze—
—to where Sasuke stood apart from the others, his own seal pitch black.
The official's lips curled. "A perfect match. Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke. You will wed within the allotted time."
The floor dropped out from under her.
Naruto's reaction was instantaneous. "NO!" He whirled on Tsunade, blue eyes wild. "You can't—Hinata can't—"
"Stand down, Uzumaki." The Fifth Hokage's voice brooked no argument, but her knuckles whitened around her sake cup.
Hinata couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The seal on her wrist pulsed like a second heartbeat, its darkness mirroring the man now staring at her with fathomless onyx eyes.
Sasuke took a single step forward. The crowd parted like water.
"Fine."
That one word, delivered with icy precision, shattered whatever fragile hope remained.
The official beamed. "Excellent! We'll begin arrangements immediately. The Uchiha-Hyuuga union will set a precedent for—"
"Wait."
Hinata didn't realize she'd spoken until every eye turned her way. Her voice, usually so soft, cut through the room with unexpected clarity.
"I... I need time."
Tsunade's gaze sharpened. "Hinata—"
"Three days." She clutched her sealed wrist to her chest. "Please."
A beat of silence. Then Sasuke's voice, closer than she expected:
"Three days."
When she dared to look up, he was already walking away, his cloak swirling behind him like a living shadow.
Naruto reached for her. "Hinata, we'll fix this, I prom—"
She sidestepped his touch. For the first time in her life, Hinata Hyuuga turned her back on Naruto Uzumaki and walked out without a word.
---
The training ground was deserted when she finally collapsed to her knees, the dam breaking. Tears fell unchecked onto the packed earth.
How could this be happening? Married to Sasuke? Bound forever to a man who'd looked at their union like a mission debriefing?
A rustle of grass. The scent of ozone and iron.
"You're crying."
Hinata didn't bother wiping her face as Sasuke emerged from the treeline. "Y-you followed me."
He stopped just outside her personal space, his sharingan catching the sunlight. "We need to talk."
"About what?" She laughed, the sound bordering on hysterical. "The wedding colors?"
Sasuke's jaw tightened. "About last night."
Hinata went very still.
"What do you remember?"
The question hung between them, loaded and dangerous. Hinata searched his face—the sharp angles, the cold beauty, the eyes that gave nothing away.
"Enough," she whispered.
A beat. Two.
Then Sasuke did something unimaginable. He knelt. Not in supplication, but at her level, his voice dropping to something almost private.
"The law changes nothing."
Hinata's breath hitched.
"We'll marry. Fulfill the requirements." His gaze flickered to her stomach so quickly she might have imagined it. "But what happened between us stays buried."
It shouldn't have hurt. She shouldn't have cared. But something in his tone—the finality of it—made her chest ache.
"And if I say no?"
Sasuke's eyes flashed. For a heartbeat, she saw something raw beneath the ice. Then it was gone.
"You won't." He stood in one fluid motion. "You're a Hyuuga. You know duty."
The truth of it was a knife between her ribs.
As he turned to leave, Hinata found her voice. "Sasuke."
He paused.
"Why did you agree so quickly?"
The wind stirred the leaves around them. When he finally spoke, his words sent a shiver down her spine:
"Because I always knew they'd try to control the last Uchiha." A humorless smile. "At least this way, I choose who destroys me."
Then he was gone, leaving Hinata alone with the weight of their future—and the terrifying realization that somewhere between last night and this morning, everything had changed.