As Neji predicted, Kakashi's sound training grew more rigorous and complicated over time. Localizing one ringing bell led to localizing two, then three, then many, sending a shuriken at each source of sound in the space of a heartbeat. Then the bells were set in motion, held in the hands of his teammates as they ran and leaped, crisscrossing and drawing farther away, then closer. When all possible permutations of the bell exercise had been exhausted Kakashi took the bells away and turned the training over to Gai, leaving some very specific instructions. Neji was to go through it all again, except that now he would be listening for the little involuntary sounds given off by his comrades, the tiny noises of life.
Weeks passed, and Neji progressed to the point where he was able to hear approaching threats and fend them off with his kaiten before they could touch him. Actual opponents he detected by the beat of their heart and the rasp of their breath, audible to him regardless of any efforts at stealth. Projectiles, kunai and shuriken and senbon, were harder, but they made a slight whistling as they flew, that he learned to recognize after many painful cuts and slashes. In the best cases he could detect and localize an approaching threat quickly enough to focus a blast from his hakke kusho at it, pushing it away without having to spin at all. Now when Lee or Tenten attacked him, he stood a reasonable chance of neutralizing their assaults.
"That was excellent, Neji-san!" Lee called to him from the ground one afternoon, having just been knocked backward ten meters by the kaiten. "I never even got close enough to land a single blow!"
"You're noisier than all the others, Lee. I could hear your approach even without channeling extra chakra to my ears."
"I think it is the result of my youthful enthusiasm," replied Lee seriously. "But still, Neji-san, it would not do to be overconfident, when—"
Whatever else he might have said, Neji didn't catch it. Whistling in from all directions he heard dozens of projectiles of various types, closing fast. There was no time to think; he just automatically began pumping chakra out of various points on his body, then spun in place to create a whirling wall of energy. He kept it up a little longer than usual, since lately Tenten had been throwing her weapons at him in two waves, the second just a beat behind the first, timed to strike in the vulnerable instant just after he came out of the spin.
Metal rang on earth, then stopped. He decided that was all she'd thrown at him, and ceased the flow of chakra out of his body. As he straightened up and tried to listen for her position, something rustled less than a meter away, and then with a guttural yell Tenten punched him hard on the cheek. He staggered backward, jaw throbbing.
"This time, I'm the second wave!" she said. She was breathing heavily; she had run in after her weapons, using the confusion of the kaiten and the noise of falling projectiles to disguise the sound of her approach.
Lee protested: "Tenten-san, he was not ready to receive your attack!"
"Do you think enemies will wait until he's ready? Others won't hesitate to take advantage of his blindness, even if we do!"
"Yes, but Tenten-san, that was brutal!"
Neji spat blood and spoke. "It was brutal, Lee, but also necessary. I will tell you again: I do not want you to spare me." Lee was having some trouble on that front; his natural sense of honor prevented him from going all-out against a blind man. It was galling to receive sympathy from someone you once regularly defeated.
Tenten, though, had no trouble using her full power when they sparred. If anything, she seemed more vicious, more cunning than he'd ever known her to be. Though he couldn't see her face he knew there was an anger driving her, a hard hot rage ignited by their abortive conversation on that first night of training. She'd probably been expecting him to say something, respond in some way to her emotional outburst, and become infuriated by his silence.
It was not that he did not want to speak. He had thought about it, and he knew now what his answer was: It was anathema to him to depend on anybody, but if it had to be someone, he was glad it was her. He knew she would understand the words as they were meant, a declaration a long time coming. But he could not, would not, say such things to her while he was like this, weak and pitiful. He would wait to take the hand she had offered until he was once again proud and strong, himself. He had no idea how long that would be.
Meanwhile her anger grew, though he thought with some frustration that she ought to understand him and his desire not to combine one kind of vulnerability with another. She never talked to him outside of the bare necessities, allowing her weapons to speak instead, in their cold steel voices. Not since that first night had she walked him home, choosing instead to yield the responsibility to Gai or Lee. In one extreme case she had even volunteered to do Lee's pushups for him so that she and Neji would not have to be alone.
All in all it was an awkward and fraught situation, in which Neji was blind in more ways than one. Together with his disability it was simply too much to handle at once, so he'd opted for a decidedly Gai-esque solution: training. Training was simple and straightforward, and exhausting enough to leave no energy for anything else. Ultimately it would make him strong enough to resolve these issues.
"Neji!" called Gai before Tenten could come at him again, "how are your chakra reserves?" The problem with Neji's new technique was that it ate up chakra at a moderate but steady rate, which combined with his new dependence on the kaiten to lower his stamina in battle.
He took stock of himself. "Low," he told his teacher. "I've had to hold my spins for longer, and that drains my reserves pretty fast."
Gai's loud laughter echoed off the trees, now bare for the duration of the winter. "Yes, I can see you're being tested by the determination of our lovely Tenten! Impressive! And you, Lee, need to copy your teammate's enthusiasm! In useful training there can be no holding back!"
"Yes sir!" said Lee. Neji heard his hand brush softly against his bangs – he was saluting.
"For now, Neji," continued Gai, "we'll take a break from sparring. I want you to return your hearing to normal to conserve your chakra, and we'll focus on physical conditioning instead."
One way around Neji's decreased stamina was to increase his supply of chakra, which could be done through exertion and hard physical training. Neji supposed he was lucky that that was just the sort of instruction Gai excelled at.
"All right," Neji said, and returned his hearing to normal. It was as jarring as the transition from the Byakugan to ordinary sight, a staggering loss of insight. If Gai followed the same pattern as he had the past week, they would now go on a lengthy run, followed by various calisthenics, culminating in bizarre weight-lifting exercises of Gai's own devising. Neji had point-blank refused to wear weighted clothing.
"Let's go!" cried Gai, and the team set off at a run. Neji was careful to run in Gai's footsteps, so that he would avoid any obstacles. One thing he had not lost with the return to normal hearing was his increased awareness of the direction and nature of sounds, and he could tell with ease that Lee was running behind him, Tenten bringing up the rear.
"Gai-sensei," he began carefully, before he became too winded for speech, "I was wondering if you had given any further thought to my training."
"What do you mean, Neji?" asked his sensei from two meters ahead. "Are you not pleased with your progress?"
"That's not what I mean. I am satisfied that Kakashi's technique will enable me to repel attacks. But I am still unable to navigate. Objects that emit no sound, like rocks and trees, are essentially invisible to me. I am fit to defend only, not to travel or attack." This concern had been growing in Neji's mind for some time, and he felt the time had finally come to voice it.
For a while Gai didn't speak, the only sound from him the rhythmic thudding of his strides. Then he said, "It's a problem Neji, I know. You still have to be led around the village. I don't have a solution yet, but I've spoken to Kakashi and Lady Tsunade, and in time I'm sure we'll hit on something. The important thing is that we still haven't given up."
Neji greeted that with silence. No matter how keen his hearing was or how fast he could spin out a kaiten, in the end he was useless so long as he could not find his own way. No shinobi could function while having to be led by the hand. As to how he could fix that, how he could transform himself again into an offensive weapon, he was like his teacher – at a loss.
***
Neji's defense against incoming attacks was complete, as effective as it was going to get. It was not quite at the same level as before he'd lost his sight, but his quick reflexes and sharp hearing brought it close. Now, at Gai's behest, Neji was allowing Lee to approach him at close quarters and engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Gai was determined that Neji should recover his ability to use taijutsu.
Taijutsu had always been Neji's greatest strength, his first and last resort, his surekill. His juuken was the best in the village, and since his rise to chuunin it had never been beaten. Now everything was different, for the juuken was useless without the Byakugan to guide it. He was reduced to ordinary taijutsu, punching and kicking, hoping to inflict damage through the application of force. In this arena the resident expert was Lee, a fact which Neji found himself reminded of again and again, painfully.
Lee ran toward him from across the training ground, and Neji waited until his teammate had closed to a meter. Then he struck, aiming a punch for Lee's core, where his heart could be heard beating rhythmically. But Lee was just too fast; he dodged Neji's blow without difficulty and returned one of his own.
By listening, Neji ascertained that Lee had dodged off to the right, and, predicting that a counterattack would soon follow from that area, he stepped left and ducked. This helped a little, so that when Lee's fist made contact it was with Neji's shoulder instead of the intended target, his gut. It was a hard hit; had it landed correctly it would have left him doubled over on the ground.
Lee's other fist came whistling in to finish the job, and Neji heard it in time to dodge. But he opted to take the hit instead, guessing that, in his eagerness to attack, Lee would have left himself open for an instant. At the same moment as the second blow landed Neji lunged forward and struck, and though pain blossomed in his cheek he felt the satisfying sensation of his fists making contact with Lee's body.
"That's right, Neji, use your guts sensor!" Gai called, as Lee stumbled backward and grunted with pain. By this he meant instinct, of course, and he had spent nearly half an hour trying to convince his students that it was more accurate than sight. To Neji it all seemed like a lot of guesswork, and he would gladly have traded his 'guts sensor' for even one normal eye.
He was wondering whether he ought to charge again or wait for the attack to come to him, when Lee gasped in surprise. Tenten had been sharpening her weapons under a nearby tree, and now the scrape of metal against metal ceased and he heard her clatter to her feet.
Straightening, Neji finally noticed what had spooked his team – there was someone coming. He had failed to notice the footsteps because he'd been focused on the battle. The tread was heavy, confident; he did not recognize it.
"Who is it?" he asked Lee in a low voice.
"It is Lord Hyuuga," his teammate answered in awe.
Lord Hiashi Hyuuga — Neji hadn't seen him since before the accident, and had not intended to make contact until after his retraining was complete. It shamed him to be seen by his uncle while still in this state. He wondered how long Hiashi had been watching, how much of this messy excuse for taijutsu he'd seen.
Tenten had come to stand near him, her movement accented as usual by clanging. "He just turned up," she said. "And he doesn't have his Byakugan engaged – I don't think he was watching you."
Neji nodded his thanks. She was still angry with him, but had evidently decided to put it aside for the moment. She had chosen to stand beside him to face Lord Hyuuga. It was a comfort.
Lord Hyuuga stepped briskly over the frozen ground and came to a halt before Gai. "I was wondering," he said in his deep authoritative voice, "whether I might borrow Neji for a while."
"He could at least say hello to you first," Tenten murmured disapprovingly. "He is your uncle."
Neji shook his head slightly. "No, this is Gai's training session, so he will speak to Gai first. The proprieties must be observed."
She huffed in unmistakable derision.
"Er, sure, Lord Hyuuga," replied Gai, obviously ill at ease. "Take as long as you like."
"Yes, thank you. I'm sure you could use the time to train your other students – this kind of rehabilitation is no doubt dull for them."
Tenten sucked in a breath. "Why, that—"
"Let it go," advised Neji. "It was not an insult."
"Then what would you call it?"
"The truth." Lord Hyuuga came within earshot, and they fell silent.
Hiashi stopped a few paces away. "Neji," he said without preamble, "I want you to come with me now."
"Yes." No other response was possible. Hiashi did not acknowledge Lee or Tenten, just spun in place and started back toward the village.
"Neji-san—" Lee began.
Neji held up a hand to quiet him. "We'll resume our match later," he said shortly, and followed his uncle.
Hiashi set a quick pace, and Neji hurried after him, needing to stay in his wake to avoid obstacles. He was not going to trip over something and fall in front of this man.
"Neji," said Lord Hyuuga, "we are approaching the village now. I am aware that you still have difficulty navigating – do you need me to lead you?"
Neji was reminded uncomfortably of Hiashi's influence, that would let him keep track of his nephew's progress from afar. And though the offer was unexpectedly thoughtful, the idea of letting his uncle take him by the hand and walk him through the village was horrifying.
"If I walk behind you, Lord Hyuuga, I can follow the sound of your footsteps, so long as we proceed slowly."
"I see. I had heard that your perception of sound has improved, and now I see it's true. Impressive."
Was Lord Hyuuga patronizing him? Unthinkable, but there was no way he was actually impressed by something like that, when his perceptions extended to a depth most people only dreamed of.
Neji didn't know where they were going but opted not to ask, choosing instead to concentrate on the sound of Hiashi's footfalls, on not running into anything. The noises of the town, the babble of the crowd and the clink of money and the creaking of cart wheels, grew louder; they must be in the heart of Konoha by now. Amid the hum of voices Neji occasionally caught his own name, though he chose not to listen further. It seemed his plight was well known, his current appearance shocking.
Of course Neji couldn't see his own reflection in a mirror, but he had a fairly good idea of how he must look. His skin was all but healed, though a few shallow scars remained around his eyebrows and the bridge of his nose. The day he had gotten out of the hospital Tenten had assured him they weren't so bad, though he wasn't really sure he could trust her objectivity. His eyes, though, were still ghastly, empty gaping pits that caused even the stalwart Lee to gag when they were revealed. He had taken to wearing bandages over them, not because he was vain but because it was tiresome to hear people react in horror at the sight of your face.
He thought he knew where they must be headed, and when Hiashi came to a stop and said, "Here we are, Neji – the Hyuuga Main House," his suspicions were confirmed. He'd been here before, to train, and could see it clearly in his mind's eye: a square wooden building in the old style, a place of paper screens and hardwood floors, built around a central courtyard open to the sky. It was huge and traditional, much like the Hyuuga clan itself.
The interior was barely warmer than the winter air outside; Hiashi would not have wasted time or resources on making his family more comfortable. They were meant to be stoic and uncomplaining in all things. Neji followed his uncle straight through, over the slick polished floors, on a route he knew well. They were going to the courtyard.
A wooden walkway circled the courtyard, perhaps half a meter above the ground. Neji heard Hiashi come to the edge and stop, then step down and turn.
"Neji," he said, an unaccustomed note of uncertainty creeping into his voice, "perhaps I should—"
"That is not necessary, Lord Hyuuga." Neji advanced carefully to the spot where he'd heard his uncle step down and felt for the ledge with his foot. He found it, then waved his hand through the space to his right, knowing there ought to be a support beam in the vicinity -- there it was. Using it as a guide, he successfully lowered himself down from the walkway.
It had taken a little while, and Hiashi had watched in silence. "You are resourceful," he said when Neji stood at last on the dirt. "But this is unacceptable, for me as well as you."
What was he supposed to say to that? If his uncle was embarrassed by him, there was nothing he could do about it that he had not already done.
"I have followed reports of your sound training closely," Hiashi continued, "and though I can appreciate the utility of such a thing, I saw immediately that it would not solve your entire problem. You are still incapable of navigation or true independence. And I am only guessing at this, but I would suspect that in close combat you are at a decisive disadvantage."
"That is true," said Neji. There was no use denying it. "At close quarters, sound location is too slow and unfocused to let me counter an enemy's attacks. I have great difficulty telling where an opponent's blows are coming from, so Gai-sensei has been trying to … hone my instincts." He was absolutely not going to say the words "guts sensor" to Lord Hyuuga.
"Hn," said Hiashi, a certain judgment of Gai's method implicit in that single syllable. "I have been consulting a number of people about this issue, including Lady Tsunade. The Hokage was in favor of adapting some of the techniques used by Otogakure. When it comes to sound-based jutsu, the Sound-nin are by far the most advanced." Neji remembered the various machines and techniques used by Orochimaru's subordinates during the chuunin exams years ago; all of them had relied on the manipulation of sound waves. It was an ingenious notion, but somehow … distasteful. "But I rejected that option," said his uncle, "because the situation in the Sound village has become opaque since Orochimaru's death, and they were never allies of the Leaf to begin with. We have no way of knowing whether they have anything that might help us, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't share it."
"Our next thought was to look closer to home, at the Aburame and Inuzuka clans specifically. I spoke with each clan head, and received the same answer from both: the close relationship their ninja have with animal familiars is genetic and cannot be acquired through training alone. It would be possible to equip you with a dog trained as a guide, but that would only suffice for everyday civilian activity – it would not fit you for battle."
Neji was actually relieved to hear that. Dogs were a hassle, and he had no desire to become like Kiba, as much canine as human. As for bugs, the mere thought of letting tiny chakra-sucking beetles take up residence in his body made his skin crawl. With his enhanced hearing he would be able to hear them creeping, crawling, feeding. He suppressed a sudden urge to scratch.
"No," Hiashi concluded, "the solution to your problem is not in another village or even another clan. It is right here, with the Hyuuga."
Neji tried to process that. "Lord Hyuuga, all of the clan techniques I know require the Byakugan for execution, with the exception of the kaiten and the hakke kusho." He did not say the rest of what he was thinking, that there might have been other techniques that did not require the Byakugan, hidden from his family by the Main House.
"That is true of all the techniques I know as well," replied Hiashi, answering Neji's tacit question. "But ours is a unique and flexible jutsu. That is what makes this clan so powerful. If the required technique does not yet exist, we will simply have to create it."
"Create a jutsu?" Only masters were capable of that, after years of study and practice.
"Yes. Actually, it's already created. I have spent the last several weeks perfecting it."
Several weeks? Hiashi was a jounin and the head of Konoha's most important clan; surely he did not have so much time to waste on helping a disabled member of the Branch House? "Consultations and development of a new jutsu –it sounds as if you have gone to a lot of trouble for my sake, Lord Hyuuga."
"You're right," said his uncle, "I have. But you are a member of my clan, and I consider your training a part of my duty. You are also my brother's son. You should have known I would not simply discard you because of an accident."
Neji could hardly believe this was coming from the same man who had disinherited his eldest daughter because she did not live up to his expectations. It seemed Hiashi had changed since that time, and he would have bet that Hinata was the cause. In seeking to change herself she had affected many others, including Neji and her own father.
He didn't say any of that to Hiashi, of course. Such a personal discussion would have been unseemly and embarrassing to both of them. All he said was, "What sort of a jutsu is it?"
"Ah," said Hiashi, relieved that the talk of his motives was over, "it was actually Hinata's idea. I call it the hakke chousen."
Hakke was the standard prefix for all of the Hyuuga clan's jutsu – it referred to the pattern of their juuken strikes. It was the second part of the name that was unique, and chousen meant "long line."
"Hakke chousen," Neji repeated. "How does it work?"
Hiashi cleared his throat. "It's an adaptation of Hinata's jutsu, and she was supposed to be here now to discuss the theory with you. But as she's still not here, I'll do it. Are you familiar with Hinata's shugohakke technique?"
"Yes." She'd used it against him when they sparred a few times. It allowed her to emit short blades of chakra from her palms, with which she could stab an opponent. Coupled with the Byakugan it was an accurate and deadly form of both defense and attack. But he didn't see how it was relevant – without his sight, it was no more useful to him than his usual attacks.
"Good. Hinata can increase the length of her blades, but only up to a point. She is also limited by the fact that she can only accurately control chakra emitted from her palms, and not from her whole body. But your mastery of the juuken is more advanced than hers. You could emit chakra from multiple locations simultaneously and form it into blades long enough to sweep out an area of tens of meters."
"But to do any damage, I would still need to know the exact location of my opponent. Forgive me Lord Hyuuga, but I do not see how Hinata's technique will solve my problem."
"You wouldn't be using it to attack, Neji, but to see. Until now your perception has been like a bird's, based on sight. With Kakashi's help you have adopted something of the bat, learning to understand by sound. The hakke chousen is a different model again – the cat. The chakra beams you emit will be like whiskers. Where they are interrupted, where they are disturbed, you will know that there is an obstruction. At long distances they will permit you to navigate, and at short distances they will give you a finer picture of an enemy's movements than is possible through sound."
It almost sounded plausible. Neji felt a small flowering of hope, and quickly stamped it down. "Is something like that even possible?"
"I would not have brought you here if it was not. But it is by no means easy – it requires fine control, a large supply of chakra, and specialized reflexes. You will be essentially navigating by touch, which takes time to adapt to. Though the idea was Hinata's, she lacks the control to properly execute it. I have learned the hakke chousen, but my mastery is still incomplete and my range is short. These are flaws that only time and training can overcome."
Neji breathed deeply, and there was no suppressing hope this time. "Time is something I have in abundance, Lord Hyuuga, and I am more than willing to train."
"I thought you would say that, Neji. Let us begin."
Just then the front door slid open and slammed closed, and hurried footsteps pounded through the house. "Forgive me, father!" said a breathless Hinata as she burst out onto the walkway. "The report to the Hokage took longer than expected. I ran all the way here!"
Hiashi did not acknowledge his daughter's apology at all. "I have already explained the concept of the hakke chousen to your cousin," he said, "and we were about to attempt it."
"Oh! Neji-nii san! How are you?"
He did not really feel like exchanging pleasantries, he wanted to start. But Hiashi had said this was all her idea, and he owed her some acknowledgment. "I am fine, Hinata-sama. Lord Hyuuga has said you invented this technique?"
"I w-wouldn't say I invented it, nii-san. It was just a vague idea I had. Father was the one who put it into practice."
Hinata's way was timid and retiring, a sharp contrast to her confident and domineering father. "Hinata, false modesty has no place among shinobi," Hiashi told her sharply. "You are a Hyuuga, and you have done something important. Don't forget that."
"Y-yes. Then … I did invent it, nii-san, but I cannot carry it out myself. Still, I wanted to be present for your training, to, um, help however I can."
Neji bowed slightly in her direction. "Thank you," he said gravely. He could hear her heart pounding, either from the run or from embarrassment. Probably the latter –attention made her uncomfortable.
"Right then," said Hiashi. "To begin with, Neji, emit a steady stream of chakra from your right palm, and try to shape it as long and thin as possible. I will activate my Byakugan to observe, and Hinata will do the same."
Flesh slapped softly on flesh as Lord Hyuuga and his daughter simultaneously clasped their hands together and began to form hand signs. At the same instant they said, "Byakugan!" Neji felt something then, a quick thrust of an ugly emotion – jealousy.
Putting aside that disturbing development for the moment, he concentrated on following his uncle's directions. Emitting chakra from his palm was no problem; it was the first step in the juuken, one he'd mastered as a small child. Shaping it, though, was harder. His jaw tightened as he focused, pouring all of his will into that tendril of chakra, stretching it out farther, and farther still. Suddenly he felt an odd resistance, and he pushed through it by doubling his chakra output.
"Um, nii-san, I th-think that is too much. You have … put a hole in the tree."
An old cherry tree, planted right after the house's construction, stood in the courtyard; it was often referred to as the symbol of the main branch. Evidently the resistance he'd felt had been his line of chakra striking it.
He ceased emitting chakra at once. "Have I killed it?" he asked.
"No," replied Hiashi, not at all angry. If anything, he sounded impressed. "It's a very small hole, Neji. A centimeter across, and the tree is at least seven meters away from you. That kind of focus and range on your first try is encouraging. I think this technique will work."
"Try it again, nii-san," Hinata urged, "only use less chakra this time."
He tried again, and this time when the chakra ray hit the tree he maintained the same mild output and moved his hand slightly, causing the ray to play up and down the trunk. The push and pull of chakra on his palm fluctuated slightly with irregularities in the bark, giving him information about the topography of its surface. In a certain position he froze, lowered his hand slowly, then raised it again.
"A knot," he said. "There is a knot in the bark here, about a meter and a half from the ground."
"That's right nii-san! You are exactly right!" Hinata sounded delighted; she even forgot to stutter.
"Yes, good," said Hiashi. "Though of course maintaining the output and interpreting the information increases in difficulty with the number of lines. Try a second one now, from the left and right hands simultaneously."
He obeyed, and soon he was able to 'see' both Hinata and Hiashi, by holding a palm out toward each of them. They raised their arms, and he could feel it; they turned in place, and he could tell them what direction they were facing. Though, he felt a little uncomfortable, as though he was groping them, and deliberately used the smallest amount of chakra possible so that they wouldn't feel anything. He told himself it was no more invasive than the Byakugan itself, which Master Jiraiya had once referred to enviously as "the ultimate peeping jutsu."
Before he left that day, Hiashi told Hinata to attack him, to give him a taste of what the chousen could do at close range. Someone who didn't know her well might have expected her to have the same problem as Lee, a reluctance to come at Neji with full force, but this was meant to help someone else and was in front of her father. She did not hold back.
As this was taijutsu and less range but more precision was required, Neji tried something different: ten short rays instead of two long ones. He felt Hinata extend one hand in front of her and pull the other back, taking the Hyuuga stance. Then she rushed at him and he stepped sideways, turning to keep his rays focused on her. Her right arm broke one ray and then another; she was bringing it up in an arc toward his shoulder. He suddenly knew where it would be, and reached out swiftly to intercept it. His hand met something, closed around it – her wrist. He had caught her.
"That's enough!" called Hiashi. "As you can see Neji, the chousen allowed you to read her movements. In time it will enable you to do so with enough precision to fight on equal terms with sighted ninja. Of course attacks against the chakra network are lost to you now, but with this you should be able to replace them with gouken techniques." Gouken was the strong fist style employed by Gai and Lee, that focused on defeating the enemy by inflicting external damage.
Neji released Hinata, a little stunned by what he'd just accomplished. To make such a leap in a single day …
"Good job, nii-san," she said to him softly. "I knew you would be able to master it."
"Mastery is a way off," he replied.
"It is," Hiashi agreed. "That is why I will speak to Might Gai and persuade him to send you here for an hour or two each day. You will train with me, or perhaps with Hinata. To improve this technique you will need the assistance of someone who can see chakra."
"That is very generous, Lord Hyuuga."
"I have already said that it is unacceptable to me to see you helpless. And it may not be as big a time commitment as I thought, given what I've seen today."
"Um, the sun has begun to set," said Hinata. "If you return to the training grounds now, your team will probably still be there. Would … you like me to lead you there?"
Neji was tempted to refuse and attempt the journey alone. But that would have been rash; the chousen wasn't refined to that level yet. So he let his cousin guide him, and she was happy to comply when he asked her to walk a little further ahead so that he might practice directing himself. The sound of her footsteps was clear and easy to follow, and his chakra rays let him measure the width of the street, trace the outlines of the buildings on either side. When a small child dodged between them he felt it and was able to come to a stop in time. It was a small thing, unimportant by most objective standards, yet to him it felt disproportionately large.
This hakke chousen, in conjunction with his sound techniques, was the answer he'd been searching for. With this, he could regain his independence and ability to fight. With this, he could become the kind of person who could give Tenten her answer, a proud Leaf-nin once more.
