Hyuuga

Hyūga- A name that is instantly recognizable to most shinobi in the world, and for good reason. Once, in a glorious time almost lost to the world, the Hyūga controlled the first of the continent's great empires after the discovery of chakra. They were the original rulers, the first record keepers. It was the Hyūga that conquered the Land of Fire, and then the Land of Wind immediately after. It was only accursed luck that allowed the Land of Stone to resist the advance of what was power incarnate in these early days. Most things were still done with weapons and good ole taijutsu, with a healthy dose of strategy added in. The Hyūga were dominant in the final two categories, even for centuries after the collapse of their empire, and were an unparalleled fighting force at the time of its formation.

Near the start of this empire, a bastard of the Hyuga was born: Hideshi Hyuga. His eyes were black, and when he grew older they transformed into a pale hue in a mockery of the pureness of the Byakugan. He was shunned, berated, shamed, and eventually driven out in an act of hostitlity that has marred the name of the Hyuga ever since. The Hyuga slaughtered every direct member of Hideshi's family, missing the accursed bastard due to a tip from a friend of his who had managed to catch wind of the plot. And thus, the beginning of this bloody rivalry between the two dojutsu of the Land of Fire would begin. The Hyuga's dominance would continue even after this bloody night, their sullied name not reflecting in their steel grip on their holdings.

However, it was exactly this dominance that allowed the Land of Stone to come together and repel them and eventually destroy them almost entirely under the iron fist of the Tetsudashi and their powerful bloodline. This war against the Hyuga would not have succeeded if not for Lady Luck. Their power was snatched away in less than two decades, forever dooming them to less than they felt they deserved.

It was Rikuto who led the Uchiha into open rebellion at a moment of weakness from within the clan. The early death of an emperor and a disputed succession that threatened civil war set the stage for a rebellion the likes of which had never been seen before. In 351 A.S at age 52, Rikuto Uchiha wielded his red eyes against the white of the Hyūga. He slaughtered all of the Hyuga led forces near his village, forces that were searching for their clan to exterminate his own kin. This small village in the south of the Land of Fire was the spark that ignited the first civil war in memory on the continent.

Rivers of blood flowed for months as supporters of the Hyūga in the Land of Fire rose to meet the demands for men while unhappy nomads and lesser clans from the Land of Wind rose in rebellion in tandem with the Uchiha. Though no planning between the two had occured, their attempts for freedom were began within two weeks of each other. A hurried meeting between Rikuto and these clans forged an alliance under the condition that the Land of Wind would be under no obligation to the Land of Fire any longer. Hideshi was more than happy to accept the terms for the aid.

Two years of bloody war where continued after, where brothers fought brothers and entire generations threw themselves at each other in a violent maelstrom of destruction. It was the first true test of Ninjutsu in a war, and the results were absolutely devastating. Rikuto had forced his clan to completely master the katon element, while the rest of the Hyūga merely dabbled in the arts in favor of enhancing their physical skills. Most other clans were similar, but the ones that weren't happened to side with the Uchiha. Because of this, the Hyūga were forced out of the Land of Wind entirely with any and all military presence erased. In a desperate attempt at a peace deal, they surrendered a small kingdom of land unto the Uchiha with plans to bide their time and then retake everything they had lost.

Their troubles were not over though, as the Tetsudashi to the northwest invaded the Land of Fire that was under the control of the crumbling empire. The severely weakened state had no choice but to surrender and become a vassal after a quick and merciless war effort by their northern neighbors. This step is what gave the Tetsudashi enough resources to finally do what no other clan before had done and conquer the entire Land of Stone. This led to the formation of the Iron Empire, a watered down version of what the Hyūga Empire had once been. Half of the land the Tetsudashi gained was ruined after years of constant warfare, and was of little use for a generation or longer.

The Hyūga during this time of subjugation were seen as weak due to their numerous losses for almost a full century. Their wealth and power declined, and when the Iron Empire invaded the Uchiha held lands to the south the Hyūga found many of their youths joining in an attempt to gain back the honor that had been so absolutely wrenched from their grasp.

In a twist of fate too cruel for them to ever accept, the Hyūga found themselves giving an oath of fealty to a new leader in the Uchiha clan. He was the first to have gained the three tamoe Sharingan, and his skill was famed throughout the land. He had yet to lose a single battle or duel, killing anybody who got in his way with ruthless abandon. He was the first Kazuya Uchiha, the founder of what would become known as the Scarlet Kingdom. It was a short lived subjugation though, as history would never know that it was the Hyūga that hired the team of assassins that finally managed to end the somewhat aged Uchiha clan head. The plan was flawlessly executed, and it is a secret known only to the clan elders and the clan leader among members of the clan. It is a secret they simply cannot, and will not, let die.

When the Scarlet Kingdom collapsed, the Hyūga moved to reclaim their ancestral lands as a sovereign state. The Uchiha didn't have the power or loyalty from vassals due to their short reign, and the split of what was still a powerful clan only made the decision easier to make. The Uchiha, despite their desires, were forced to surrender most of the north and north-east Land of Fire. Other clans pledged loyalty, expanding their realm by proxy to encompass almost a third of the Land of Fire proper with the Uchiha directly controlling much of the south-west with a few clans also expanding their realm size. It wasn't as large as the Hyūga's, but it was still a large and powerful state in its own right at the time.

The Hyūga remained relatively calm for a few decades, solidifying their power. Hiyoto, the best clan head the clan has ever had, established a library whose sole focus was recording the history of the world around them. Events from every land were recorded as word got to them, and this library has been maintained in the ancestral stronghold of the clan ever since. The urge to retake the same lands their clan history claimed to have once held was still strong in the blood of the clan. With this urge, they declared war on a vassal of the Uchiha and drew them into conflict again. This war was quick due to Hiyoto Hyūga's leadership. He was a skilled taijutsu fighter in his own right, but his raw talent was not anywhere near the level as the clan's most skilled fighters. However, it was his mind and his fully matured eyes that set him apart as a paragon of the era. His predictions were almost always proven to be true, and soon his word became accepted as fact as his inhuman intellect and sheer understanding of the world around him became the level to be measured by even now.

This cunning allowed Hiyoto to end the war after only a couple battles by sacrificing five-hundred soldiers as bait for a trap. As soon as the enemy army engaged, exactly where Hiyoto caluclated, he detonated a cache of explosives underneath the Uchiha led army that devastated it. Almost forty percent of it was wiped out just from the explosions and crumbling earth underfoot, while an uncalculated amount died from their wounds later. Two Uchiha princes were killed in the trap, and every man on the Hyūga side used as bait died as a result.

The blow was decisive though, and the Hyūga wound up taking the rest of the eastern Land of Fire from Uchiha vassals as their price for peace. It was either accept or lose everything, and this attack is one of the primary factors in what resulted in the true hatred of the Hyūga rather than the regular hatred of them on the part of the Uchiha. The Uchiha understood why the Hyūga acted so hostile, as they would do the same if placed in the position of what was once the noblest clan on the continent. However, numerous fairly devastating skirmishes between the two clans had always been going on even when they were supposed to be on the same side ever since the two had become two separate entities. The Uchiha were fed up with the constant warring, but were just as unrelenting to let bygone be bygones as the Hyūga were. And thus, the wheels of war keep churning. The Hyūga never could quite garner the power to invade the Uchiha and be successful, though they did keep their eyes peeled for any opportunity that might present itself. Hiyoto took advantage of this down time to build his clan's economic and production capabilities to unseen levels before, and have only been recently matched. Under his leadership, the clan rose to heights close to but not quite at the level they had been at while ruling the lands they now fought to win back.

The division was widened when the newly awakened monster in the Land of Wind led by the Kazehana invaded the Uchiha held lands in a bid to expand their realm to greener lands. This was the opportunity the Hyūga had been waiting for. They don't come to the aid of their cousins and the Senju as the two with some loyal vassals held back the tide of men sent by the Kazehana. Ultimately, the combination of Senju and Uchiha was exceptionally powerful and resulted in a successful defense of the Land of Fire. Almost immediately after the truce was signed, the Hyūga invaded the Uchiha held lands. The Senju chose to defend the Uchiha again, adding an obstacle the Hyūga hadn't exactly anticipated.

This war would be the first of many that would come to a relatively bloody stalemate between the two clans for a few more centuries. Through it all, the Senju hired themselves out to other clans including both the Uchiha and Hyūga. Their wealth was bought with the blood of the Land of Fire, and may be one reason they were ultimately the ones who began to speak of true peace first.

The final war between the two rival clans that ended in the foundation of Konohagakure was particularly bloody, with numerous casualties to both clans directly as well as to their loyal vassals in a very short time frame. The majority of the war was fought with small scall battles after the momentous losses of the first few months, though these games of cat and mouse led to a couple large battles in the last year. The final battle was one that was not intended to turn into a large battle, but things don't always go as planned. Toro Hyūga, the father of Tsuyo Hyūga, had led a small force of his kinsmen to scout out an area. They stayed in a small village as a temporary headquarters when they got to the area in question, unknowingly a little more than ten kilometers away from a large force of Uchiha.

The first night they were in this village, Tsukami Hyūga awakened her fully matured Byakugan after dedicating the last decade to perfecting her skill with her eyes. This newfound vision granted the Hyūga the incredible advantage of twenty kilometers in scouting ability- which led to the discovery of the Uchiha army. Alerted at this, Toro sent word back to gather a force and circle around his coordinates. The message was taken by the fastest shinobi in the entirety of the Hyūga held territory, a man belonging to the Sarutobi clan. Once delivered, the army sent the requested men. They journeyed all night to ambush the Uchiha camp at dawn and the results were absolutely devastating to behold. Thousands of men were killed in the attack, and dozens of Uchiha lost their lives as the main camp was one of the first places hit and with the most men out of any part of the camp.

This battle raged, with one of the famous Uchiha brothers wielding his Mangekyo Sharingan against an entire division. Toro Hyūga left his daughter, Tsuyo, breaking a vow he had made to her in order to deal with the threat himself. The ensuing battle lasted for an hour before the Uchiha brother began to run out of stamina and had to stop spending so much chakra to do so much damage at once. Toro's stamina was virtually unrivaled at the time by most natural men, and he had no issue outlasting his long hated, long forsaken kinsman before dealing the killing blow himself.

Hours after, the second Kazuya Uchiha and the Senju clan head came to visit the resting Toro. This meeting, prompted by Kazuya and carried through by the silver tongue of the Senju persuaded a Toro already distraught with the toll the war had taken on his lands into a ceasefire that would also result in a powerful nation capable of surpassing that of the three which had already been formed. The Land of Fire came to exist as one nation thanks to two clans finally seeing no sense in killing each other anymore. At least, not in such an open and brutal fashion as war. The council formed to choose leadership for the new lands was comprised of numerous clan heads from minor and major clan heads in the Land of Fire who held large enough tracts of land to be considered powerful.

A concensus was reached that Kazuya Uchiha would become the First Hokage, and Tsukami Hyūga would become the first Fire Daimyo. She had been unfortnately blinded in the final battle between the two clans from shrapnel caused by an explosive tag. Medics didn't get to her in time, as she was lucky to survive. Her eyes were a dear price to pay for her life, however, though she now frequently jokes about the situation when it is brought up. All lands in the Land of Fire were kept officially under the ownership of the clan that held them, though the territories were almost entirely subject to the Fire Daimyo as she would be the one to dictate where resources were allocated and to what regions. Her straight as an arrow, blunt approach to accomplishing her goals and a relatively unbiased opinion on the state of her country and its people means that the Land of Fire is under good leadership.

Toro died from illness not long after the village was founded, as did his heir from the same sickness. This led to Tsuyo Hyūga attaining the title of head. She is a gifted martial artist and archer, with an impeccible sense of the world around her even without the use of her eyes. Her ascension was disputed at first, though she quieted any doubts of her abilities with an almost lethal match against her one serious contender for the title. He lost an eye, and she gained loyalty. It is under this new leadership and with newfound allies that the Hyūga find themselves, with all the potential of new glory there for those who wish to take it.