Hyuuga Neji glared at nothing in particular as he ate with Hinata and Hanabi and his uncle.
He could no longer bear it.
"It's not fair!"
Hiashi sighed. "Neji, we know you hate being in the Branch family, but that's the way it has to be."
Neji stared at his uncle blankly. "What?" he asked in a genuinely confused tone. Then he shook his head. "I'm not talking about that. Naruto got banished."
"She failed to bring back Uchiha -" began Hiashi, but he was cut off by Neji slamming a fist on the table, his lavender eyes flashing.
"We all failed, Uncle," Neji spat. "Yet they banished Naruto. Who fought Gaara. Who beat Gaara. Who..." It was inconceivable. "Who defeated me. She couldn't beat Sasuke because Sasuke was her friend. Why weren't we banished as well? Unless it has to do with the creature inside her."
Hiashi's jaw dropped. "You know?"
Neji looked at his uncle like he was stupid. Looking at his two daughter, he saw the exact same expressions mirroring their faces.
"Uncle, there's red in her chakra. Unlike with Kakashi-sensei, her chakra isn't red as a whole," Neji said matter-of-factly. "Plus, I doubt the Yondaime..." Neji trailed off. "The Yondaime is her father!"
Hiashi froze. Now that he thought about it...
"They sent Minato's daughter away." His wife, if she were still alive, would be in a fury right now. Himawari had been a friend, not particularly close, but still a friend, of Kushina. And Hizashi would be angered at their choice - Hizashi had had a crush on Kushina.
"There isn't anything we can do," he said regretfully.
Neji scowled.
~:~
Kiba saw Naruto pass him, a mask in hand. People were yelling at him, but drifted away only to glare at Naruto as she passed.
The young girl had always been a rival of Kiba's, but Kiba suddenly realized with a start that the glares and hate and taunts were normal for her. For a girl who'd done nothing wrong.
Kiba walked home, not for the first time missing his ninken companion.
He heard angry questions being directed at him - Why didn't you bring back the Uchiha boy? - but they only made him angrier.
Akamaru had died to defend Kiba from the Sound nin.
He stepped into his family's compound and entered his home. Usually, he'd be hungry, but he wasn't today. No, the thought of food made him feel sick.
Tsume looked at him with motherly concern. "Are you alright, Kiba?"
Kiba didn't answer for a long moment.
"Kaa-san, why does everyone hate Naruto?"
She pressed her lips together and set her spatula down.
She told him a quick story about how a child had a dangerous demon sealed in her, and how nobody could talk about it thanks to a law, and the child was thought to be the demon.
She told it as factually as possible.
Kiba was smarter than everyone thought, so he was struck mute for a few minutes after Tsume's words.
"But that's so..." Tsume nodded, grimacing at the thought of her Kiba being turned into a demon lover -"...wrong! How could they punish the girl because of something she couldn't control?!"
Tsume froze.
"How the hell can they shun a child who didn't know that law? How can they hurt a kid and laugh about it?!"
Tsume coughed. "She's a demon, Kiba -"
"Naruto is not a demon," Kiba hissed. "She's a kid who had the misfortune of being the only baby who could withstand holding the demon! Did you ever think for a minute that if she was a demon she'd have put up with this damn village? Kamis above, I'm beginning to wonder why it's still standing if that's the kind of crap that you think even a demon would be okay with! Why the hell did you think that Uzumaki Naruto was a demon?! She's a human being!"
Kiba stood up, his chair falling to the ground with a crash. He stormed into his room angrily and slammed the door.
~:~
Shikamaru sighed as Chouji slept.
Then the machines changed tone, and Chouji's eyes opened.
"Hey, Chouji," Shikamaru said to his friend.
"Hi," Chouji replied. "Did you bring any food?"
Shika shook his head.
"Naruto got banished," he informed his friend.
Chouji blinked. "Did you?" Chouji wondered, in case his friend was a currently wanted ninja.
"No." Shikamaru sighed. "I just came to say I'm still thinking on what to do."
The nurse entered. "Sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours are over, Nara-san."
Shika sighed yet again.
"Mendokuse," he said out loud as he stood. "I'll see you later, Chouji."
Chouji watched his friend leave.
"I wish I could go with you," Chouji said quietly, already knowing what his friend would do.
~"~
Nara Yoshino looked at her sullen son for about two minutes at the dinner table before she thwacked him on the head.
"Nara Shikamaru, speak your mind or I'll use my spoon," she threatened him, lifting her wooden spoon for emphasis.
"I don't think she should've been banished alone," the young chuunin said bluntly. "It's not her fault that she has a bijuu sealed in her. If anything, we should have been blamed, clan or not."
Yoshino and Shikaku stared at their son.
"I'm not sure on what to do," the young Nara explained.
Nara Shikaku sent his wife a knowing look. His son knew what he was going to do, he just hadn't figured it out that he already knew.
Well, his son was going to need supplies, so...
He stood up, ready to go get them, when Yoshino's wooden spoon cracked on the back of his head.
"SIT DOWN!"
Meekly, he sat. Yoshino got up, instead, and left the kitchen.
Shikamaru smirked at his father's meekness.
