upRooted

Hiruzen Sarutobi's first indication that his political plans had gone to shit was the disappearance of the Hyuuga Clan and the teacups. Piles and piles of goddamn teacups. Scattered all over the place.

Scratch that, the real first indication was when Orochimaru found some long-lost juvenile Orochi Clan members....on his parent's grave. 

Just like the white snake he'd found so long ago.

Or so he claimed. 

Sarutobi was one hundred percent certain these two kids were Civilians without a single whiff of Chakra...despite Orochimaru insisting they have some sort of wood release no matter how much the bratlings like to play around with sticks. 

The boy-child only "spoke" in hisses understood by Orochimaru and his Snake Summon. The deranged brat spent most of his time trying to murder Orochimaru. The daft Snake in turn gazed upon Baby's First Attempted Homicide with all the love and adoration a parent looks upon Baby's First Steps.

The girl-child looked nothing like her brother but had inherited Orochimaru's love of scholarship. Always had her nose in a scroll, that one. She could speak Chikyuu-go unlike her "brother" Hari. And sometimes it was if her brain glitched and whatever concept she was trying to convey got lost in translation. 

Sarutobi was one hundred percent certain they weren't members of the Orochi Clan because Danzō Shimura was the one responsible for making Orochimaru the last of the Orochi Clan. 

Anyway, he'd figure out what shit the creepy Snake was trying to pull later. 

And what the girl-child meant when she called him "knock-off Danburudoa". 

~~~~

 Hiruzen Sarutobi had a Hyuuga Clan to find.

News of their disappearance trickles into his office when several Hyuuga branch house members fail to turn up at their jobs and various Hyuuga youth fail to make it to class at the Academy. 

A Civilian neighbor on a late morning dog walk notes that the Hyuuga Clan compound door is still shut tight when previous days they'd be wide open, guards at their station, and family members bustling off to work.

They report the oddity to the Jōnin Standby Station. A team is dispatched for a welfare check. They discover the wards have been disengaged. When they knock on the gate of the compound it swings open easily. 

Calling into the property does not bring anyone to the gate. They wonder if the property is abandoned or if somewhere inside the bodies of the Clan members are hidden from view. 

The Jōnin show great presence of mind and dispatch a messenger to the Hokage's office and request backup before entering the property. 

When a full investigation team arrives, the forensics-nin carefully make their way through the compound. 

Discounting the wild birds flitting about in the trees, not a single solitary living soul is found. Not a person, not a pet, not a single farm animal. 

Just goddamn piles of teacups! 

Here and there in the Main House are small piles of teacups!

None alike either. 

And none matched the tea sets in the Hyuuga family's cupboards either. 

For all intents and purposes it looked as if someone spirited away the Hyuuga clan and left behind teacups in trade.

Except the Branch member's dorms are empty too. Like the Main house, it looked as if their meagre possessions had been left behind. 

The storehouses and workshops were fully stocked. Accountants were checking the Clan Elder's books against the inventory they could find. 

Whatever the motive was, it probably wasn't robbery. 

The only thing missing were the Hyuuga themselves. 

And the most valuable thing the Hyuuga had was Byakugan. This was alarming to say the least. 

After conferring with Danzō Shimura, Sarutobi summons the ANBU to headquarters and has them drop everything to secure the village and find the missing Hyuuga.

Honestly, this couldn't of come at a worst time. Danzō had arm twisted Shisui Uchiha into confessing the Uchiha Clan were traitors. 

They needed Hyuuga support in case the spies and traitors Root planted in the Uchiha Clan didn't come through and dispose of them. 

The same day the Hyuuga went missing in Konoha, hundreds of teaspoons were found dumped in a pile outside the Uchiha Clan's gate facing Konoha. The perplexed guards took them inside and examined them and found them to be ordinary kitchen utensils and sent them off to their Lost and Found storage room. 

While out shopping, Mikoto Uchiha mention this peculiar event to her dearest friend Kushina Uzumaki and her boyfriend, Minato Namikaze. 

Both are intrigued by the mystery of the teaspoons to drop by the Uchiha compound and spend the night investigating them with Mikoto and Fugako. 

The spies stationed outside the Uchiha Clan gates never makes this known to Sandaime Hokage or ANBU or Root. 

When asked about it later they would state they were distracted by Orochimaru's brats running around waving their sticks at people. 

~~~~~

The next day there was still no news of Uchiha Clan's destruction. Not a whisper.

Shisui Uchiha has gone missing.

And Itachi Uchiha went missing too. Well, he was supposed to go missing with his infant brother. After killing his Clan. But instead the Uchiha Clan was alive and well and Itachi was missing missing! 

Then Danzō went missing. Along with half of ANBU and, known only to Sarutobi, all of Root disappeared. 

The day after the Uchiha found the pile of teaspoons abandoned at their gate, all the missing Branch Hyuuga members were found unconscious on the ground in the courtyard of Uchiha compound guesthouse. 

They had no memory of where'd they'd been or how they got inside the Uchiha Clan compound or what had rendered them unconscious. Every single Branch man, woman, child, and elder was suffering short-term amnesia. It was as if someone had stolen their memories of the past couple of days!

It was pretty fortuitous though....if the Hyuuga hadn't been there, the Uchiha Clan would never have been forewarned about the slaughter planned by their misguided, brainwashed kin. 

Just as the Hyuuga family were headed down the road back to the Hyuuga compound they collectively sensed the infiltrators and turned and rushed back to warn the Uchiha Clan of the threat. 

Despite being only Branch Hyuuga most were adept fighters too. 

When the dust settles, Itachi and Shisui and Obito give them an earful about ANBU, Root, and the Third Hokage. 

Nobody, not the Uchiha, not Kushina and Minato, or the Sannin are happy. They have a lot of questions about just how far the Third Hokage and the Fourth Hokage candidate went to further their political careers. 

Orochimaru's plans to leave Konoha and found his own Village start to look pretty good to everyone present. 

As a thank you for the Branch Hyuuga's help, Kushina and Namikaze removed the 'Caged Bird' seal placed on them. Because people who are experts at sealing stuff are also experts at unsealing stuff.

Goddamnit!

When Hiruzen Sarutobi began to make a fuss over the Uchiha and Branch Hyuuga abandoning Konoha for Orochimaru's newly founded Otogakure, Uchiha Elder tells him that any broken bonds between the two Villages and two Clans were broken by Konoha first! 

So Konoha's reputation and strength take quite a hit. 

~~~~~~

The Main House Hyuuga eventually turn up.

Several days after their Branch members abandon Konoha, they appear out of nowhere in their Clan compound. They too have no memory of where they've been or who attacked them. 

They squawk mightily about the loss of their servants. Who is going to cook, clean, and guard them! 

The weirdest thing is not a single one of the damn teacups can be found!

Where they came from and where they went is never resolved. And eventually they're entirely forgotten by everyone in Konoha.