Chapter SEVEN

Before they know it, it is a week before graduation.

The tension is high and Sakura can almost feel the excitement flowing through the air.

She and Hinata has begun learning the basis of chakra and the most simple of theories ever since they could speak. Any and all possibilities they would be tested on has been hammered into them long before they had taken their first step out of the compound. There is no doubt they will be able to pass.

What haunts Sakura's mind is her future teammates.

Her brother, top of his year and no doubts a prodigy, had been put under Maito Gai, a certainly eccentric but a very skilled and well known Jounin. He had been paired with Rock Lee, a boy with absolutely no ninjutsu capabilities, to balance things out. The girl, Tenten, had most likely been thrown in with no regards to her own abilities.

In the eyes of superiors, potential was everything. They wanted Neji out on the field as soon as possible and probably didn't care about his other teammates.

Sakura knows that potential wise, she is probably top female of her class but she cannot read who her potential teammates will be.

However, if there is one thing different compared to all the other years, it is that this year, there are a handful of clan heirs. Clan children would no doubt be put in teams where their true capabilities could be brought out.

Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji were most certainly in a team.

There was a possibility either her or Hinata would be paired with Inuzuka Kiba or Aburame Shino, perhaps both, to create a tracking team.

Finally, there was Sasuke and Naruto. The two of them came from well known backgrounds and both the Hokage and the Uchiha will no doubt keep quiet if they are put on a team with a bunch of inexperienced civilians.

Sakura doesn't know which is better. It will no doubt be awkward if she is paired with any of the clan children. Then again, the possibility of being paired with a bunch of civilians who probably hadn't even considered their first kill didn't make her feel any better.

She swallows her sigh when she sees Neji looking at her with what she can tell was worry.

"Sakura?"

The pinkette shakes her head. "Nothing, nii-sama." She smiles and Neji seems to notice her turmoil, for he simply nods and does not press any further.

The two of them have just dropped Hinata off at the main house and were making their way to their own.

Sakura glances over at her brother. "Nii-sama? May I ask a question?"

Neji turns to look at her and nods. "Of course."

"What do you think of your teammates?"

Neji blinks at her and for a second, his steps slow. "Is this about your graduation?"

Sakura nods and turns away for a second when she notices that they have arrived.

Neji hums thoughtfully. He reaches out, slides the door open, then he gestures for Sakura to enter first. He closes the door behind them.

Sakura takes off her ninja sandals and places them neatly to the side then waits for her brother to do the same.

"I do not...particularly like my team." Neji admits quietly. "But I believe we will be able to work well enough together and Gai-sensei is an amazing shinobi in his own right. However, there is a clear limit as to how far they can go." He narrows his eyes. "It annoys me to see them struggle to achieve more than they will ever be able to. It is their fate to not be able to go any further and yet, they fight."

"We fought harder than anyone. Even then..." Sakura trails off. "Fate is set in stone." Her eyes darken. "I refuse to believe it to be any other way.

"Yes." Neji says firmly. "Why else would we have had to suffer so much?"

Sakura glances over to her brother. "Would you like to spar?"

Neji eyes her. "Don't you have school work?"

Sakura shrugs. "It is nothing too difficult."

Neji smirks a little. "Very well."

Observing had always been their greatest weapon.

With their status, both as branch house members and the pariah siblings, their clan mates had ignored them unless a situation called for it.

Growing up in close isolation, surrounded by hatred and dismissal from all sides, Neji and Sakura surrounded themselves with each other's company.

They absorbed the emotions around them, one day wishing to take revenge.

It didn't have to be physical revenge. All they had truly wanted to do was prove that they could be more than simple branch house defects.

As a part of the clan, they had of course been taught the Gentle Fist. If there was something more shameful than being a branch house was having members under the Hyuuga name who could not fight.

Still, being branch house members, there was a limit to the Hyuuga techniques they were taught. However there was nothing stating that they couldn't teach themselves.

After all, no one in the main house would believe any branch house member competent enough to do so.

What had first pushed Neji and Sakura to train in the main house techniques had been spite.

Both of them, Sakura especially, had been gifted with chakra control that could make any Hyuuga envious. Status as a branch house or a main house member did not define the strength of the Byakugan. With the aid of their dojutsu, they had observed and remembered the movement of the chakra when one performed a technique.

They kept hidden from the rest of the clan and in the security of their own home, they honed their skills. They filled in the gaps that were usually taught through theory, molding the techniques into something similar but slightly different. Through observation and their own minds, they had replicated and bettered the full extent of the Gentle Fist technique.

If there is one thing Hyuuga Hanabi does not want to do, it is dying under the wounds caused by an metaphorical weapon.

Society is as great a monster as anything beyond its walls.

Hanabi thinks she understand pressure from society better than most. She has always been watching, after all.

There were those who bent to accommodate the expectations while others completely shattered under its weight. There were those who struggled and then there were those who fought back.

Hanabi thinks only one, maybe two, would keep you alive, because she knows bending wasn't as easy as it sounded and once you yielded, people would begin to expect more and more out of you, until you finally snapped.

There was Hinata, her older sister, of course, whom she had watched crack and break right before her eyes. She was someone she admires, someone she respects, because she thinks the only thing holding Hinata back is the fact that she is too kind and she did not want to see anyone hurt.

Hanabi thinks that while it might seem naive, it is very difficult to keep your innocence in a shinobi world like theirs and Hanabi doesn't even know half of it.

As far as Hanabi is concerned, Hinata was not less or anything; she simply did not match the ideals of the clan and in this particular community they had been born in, that made you an automatic failure.

And so, while she admires her, Hinata is not someone Hanabi thought she could become, nor was she someone Hanabi wants to be like.

Hanabi is not naive and she knows preaching for peace wouldn't get her anywhere. She needs something much more to be able to achieve greater things.

Then there was Neji and Sakura.

Neji and Sakura are people she idolized. They are like an indestructible, undying fire. No matter how many times they had water poured over them they kept their flame alive, and they would continue to do so until the day came where they found oil.

And Hanabi knew that then, they would blaze into an inferno and swallow everything around them.

This was why Hanabi wants to be just like them, because it is people like Neji and Sakura that will probably be able to tear through any and all restrictions.

Anyone who knew what to look for will be able to see that they had been molded into what they were long before they were old enough to make the choice and now, they had hardened to the point they could not bend, strengthened to the point they could not break and had become powerful enough to turn their struggling into something more than futile resistance.

And as she watched Neji and Sakura's occasional spar, she knew that it is because they fought for a promise and reached for the beyond.

Hanakotoba:

Japanese Cornel :

Endurance/Worship/Respect

So, we did a little research on Hanabi and we've got to say, she was not like what we had expected her to be.

Don't worry, the character of Hinata that appeared during Hanabi's POV is simply what Hanabi sees her sister to be. We don't plan on suddenly making Hinata the kind of person Hanabi is picturing her as. Also, there is a difference between 'admire' and 'idolize', and while Hanabi respects Hinata for who she pictures her sister to be, she does not necessarily want to become like her. Neji and Sakura, on the other hand, are people she 'idolizes', someone she wants to become like one day.

...Yeah...

Darque: So, I think team allocations will be next chapter.

Raven: Yeah, probably.

Darque: THen things will begin to move~

Raven: But right now, you have an issue, right?

Darque: Right. So, I have this summer concert thing coming up.

Raven: And you said you didn't want to go?

Darque: Yeah. While I'm done with them, my exams took over most of the past few weeks and I missed a lot of the rehearsals. Also, I don't want to go to school anymore. Not at the moment anyways.

Raven: But you need an excuse.

Darque: Yup. My teacher stalks us and she knows who exactly has exams on that day, so I can't say I still have exams. I need a reason in case she decides to hunt me down.

Raven: So currently, we're taking suggestions!

Read and Review~