A/N: Enjoy. Thank you all reviewers and all readers. I think it'll be like five chapters or so. I won't do Kiba's team or Ino's team since Neji doesn't really affiliate with them, but I will do the Hyuugas and one chapter for Gai and Lee, and one for Tenten. So, yes, around five.
Disclaimer: Don't own.


Chapter Two: Team 7

Neji smiled a genuine smile. The sun kissed his body as he walked faster, to the one place he wanted to go. He walked faster, passing random villagers. Not one looked at him, but he didn't care, he didn't even notice. He passed by Ichiraku Ramen Bar, and stopped.

Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi.

What?

Neji realized the three familiar figures of Team 7.

Team 7. The legendary team that was proclaimed the next Sannin Three. Like Orochimaru, Sasuke left and the team was left broken.

Uzumaki Naruto, Kyuubi vessel and the one obnoxious hyperactive boy that made Neji open his eyes. The blue-eyed boy had defeated Neji in their first Chunnin exam, and how such a dropout could beat a Hyuuga prodigy was unimaginable. But Naruto turned heads as he yearned for acceptance and for his one goal in life: being Hokage. Neji respected the Hokage, saving him from the darkness. Naruto had turned his dream in reality, making his ambitions solid.

Haruno Sakura, best healer in Konoha, and the Hokage's girlfriend. She had once been a Sasuke-fangirl, but when Naruto went to hell and back for her, the girl had finally opened her eyes. Sasuke was still gone, still a missing-nin from Konoha, and still a mass murderer like his older brother.

Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. Gai always challenged the ninja, in anything and everything, yet Kakashi persevered with luck alone. Neji respected the older ninja, for his skill as a ninja, and for defeating an enemy he could not.

Team 7... Neji respected every one of them... for what they contributed to Konoha... and for what Naruto contributed to himself. He wondered what Sasuke would react to the news that Neji died... but now he's back... and he's alive!


He walked closer to the quaint shop, pushing away the curtains. He smelled the scents of ramen fill his nose, and suddenly he was hungry.

"Naruto?" he said.

The blond ninja did not look back at the mention of his name.

"Naruto?" Neji repeated, walking up to the ninja and tapping his shoulder. Suddenly his hand went right through the boy as he gaped in horror.

What the-

No one can see you.

Who are you?

No one can see you.

Neji stared at his hands. They looked real enough.

"Naruto," he said a bit louder.

No one can hear you.

Neji watched in shock, as the boy stared down at his ramen, not touching it. He was silent, staring at the noodles. Neji looked over at the female of the team and he found her crying.

"Sakura. Stop crying," Kakashi murmured. "You're hurting Naruto more."

Only he seemed the most normal. Neji knew Kakashi lost almost everyone he loved, and he had long ago realized that things come and go.

Sakura sniffled. "But..."

"You never knew him," Naruto growled in a voice he never uttered at his girlfriend. Sakura was quiet, staring at the Kyuubi with shining green eyes.

"You never knew him like I did. He shouldn't have died."

Neji watched the boy, his eyes wide.

"He's a prodigy. Number one rookie. The best of the best. He shouldn't have died... Neji doesn't die!" Naruto yelled the last words, his fist slamming against the table. The ramen dropped to the floor discarded, but Naruto didn't even care. The boy shook slightly, and Sakura's hand dropped onto his shoulder. Silence filled the ramen stand, and Neji stared at Naruto. Was this really Uzumaki? Naruto always smiled, shouting insults and being hyperactive. Why was he so quiet, so angry but in so much control?

"It's not your fault," the kunoichi murmured.

Neji faintly remembered that Naruto assigned him that mission. That mission when his blood was shed... that mission when the demon took his life.

Naruto shook his head, and Neji saw the shimmer of tears. His eyes widened.

"Naruto..." he whispered.

Suddenly the Kyuubi stood up, his hands pushing against the table. Without saying a word to Sakura or Kakashi, he turned on his heel and walked out.

Neji stood up and followed him.


Why am I here?

You wanted to.

Who are you?

Death.

What do you want?

It's what you want.

What?

The voice did not answer, but its last words rang in his ears. Neji's chest burned as he watched Naruto slam his fist into the wall, glaring at the dent he caused.

"Neji," he murmured.

Neji was silent, watching the boy. Was he really that important to Naruto? Was he as important to Naruto as Naruto was to him?

"I'm sorry," the Hyuuga murmured, before leaving the blond boy alone. He took off at a run, leaving the Sixth Hokage behind. He remembered the memories he shared with the blond kitsune.

They had fought in the Chunnin exam, when Neji still believed that his fate was sealed, that he could not change it. When Neji was still the bird with clipped wings in a dark cage, when he was still bitter and arrogant, Naruto proved him wrong, showing him that not everything is permanent, that things, and fate, can change. Make your own destiny, he had said. "Unlike me, you are not a loser." And Neji lived by those words.

They had traveled together in the failed Sasuke retrieval mission, and Neji's belief that Naruto would stick to his promise to Sakura, and that Naruto would bring the Uchiha's sorry ass home strengthened as the team continued on, ticking off Chouji, and then himself. He dropped to the ground, dying, and he remembered how Naruto opened his eyes, showed him life can be changed. At least... at least he killed his opponent, he showed everyone that he was born excellent, a genius by every right. People believed in him, and he would show that Hyuuga Neji was indeed a Hyuuga, the best clan in Konoha, the best of the best. He was always in Naruto's debt for leading him to the light, and he still was. Naruto and Tenten were the first people he saw when he opened his eyes, in that hospital after he sacrificed his body to save his friends.

Tenten.

Neji ran faster. He had to see her.

But his feet stopped him in front of the Hyuuga compound.


A/N: Hope you liked! Well... things are starting to piece up... I know its short and it sucks... but, there's not much to write. A lot of drabble... since this is practically a drabble fic. Please review.