Oh dear god, I'm so sloppy with updates, and now that I have finals coming up... I'm sooo sorry guys! I'm going to be a lot more motivated from now on! Please don't hate me.

Neji was critical.

"Damnit!" Ino cursed, the nurses around her working frantically to regulate his heartbeat, pumping chakra into him as she tried to keep him alive. The poison was spread all the way through. Apparently it was destroying him from the inside out, also containing a genjutsu which was causing him to thrash around. Ino could only imagine what sort of jutsu was making Hyuuga Neji lose his composure.

He had dropped to his knees on the field and begun to claw his own eyes out. It was the most gruesome thing Ino had ever seen. Blood seeping out through his fingers, her screaming, Shikamaru yelling at her to do something, her standing back—Shikamaru overpowering Neji, restraining his hands with shadows, and forcing him to the hospital. Normally, this would have been a job for Sakura, but, well, considering the circumstances Ino was the only one there. So they put her, the amateur, in charge of the operation. Fools, Ino thought as tears threatened to seep out of her eyes. She bit them back and barked, "Get my father in here! We need to stop the genjutsu!"

"Your father is unavailable; we already attempted to contact him," answered one of the nurses. Ino ground her teeth.

"Fine! You there!" She pointed at one of the chakra-giving nurses. "Support my body!"

"Yamanaka-san, I'm not sure that's a—"

"Mind-transfer jutsu!"

The first thing Ino felt was blinding pain. Of course. She would feel everything the subject felt. She'd been working on a way to eliminate that factor, but had so far been unsuccessful. So for a good three minutes she acted exactly like Neji had: screaming in agony. Then she began to swim through the brain. There were flashes of everything, all sorts of memories. She ignored them, wanting to violate the patient's privacy as little as possible. Then she saw the monster of a genjutsu, constricting the entire cranium. She didn't want to know what it was showing Neji. She just knew she had to kill it.

Ino had been walking in minds since she was young. She knew from experience that she could summon a weapon—but it was always different, depending on the mind. In Sakura's mind, it was a kunai, last she'd checked. In her father's, a bow and arrow. She wondered what it was in Neji's.

She concentrated, and a katana formed in her hand. She snorted. Of course Neji would have a traditional sword. Ino wielded it as best she could, went to the roping monster and methodically started to cut through it.

Then it did something no genjutsu had ever done before.

It reared up and fought back.

Ino fell right out of Neji's mind, landing back in her own body, breathing hard. The first thing she noticed was the absence of noise. Of beeping monitors or chakra sensors.

Everybody was staring at her.

A feeling of dread washed over Ino. No. Not again. She couldn't have possibly… Neji had to be…but that silence…

A flatline.

She leaped into action. "I'm going to chakra-start his heart! I'm making an incision in his chest, now! Somebody help me!"

But nobody moved.

"What's wrong with you?" Ino screamed. "We have to save him!"

"Y-Yamanaka-san…" one of the nurses started tentatively. She stared at the ground. "the patient is clinically dead. He has been for two minutes now."

Ino glanced at Neji's pale, unmoving, bloodied form. She collapsed, sobbing, into the only chair in the room.

Then Tsunade burst into the room. She strode over to Neji and placed her hand on his forehead. She frowned, concentrating. Her hand came away bloody. "This boy is not dead," Tsunade said. "It's a coma, the likes of which I have never seen before."

"But…how is that possible?" a nurse asked. "All the vitals are down, his heart is not beating…"

"His heart is beating, but not enough for us to detect. It can beat less because all of his blood has been thinned out by some sort of poison. It flows much easier, and freely. It is still powering his brain. So clinically, he may be dead, but he…"

Ino was shocked. Tsunade had deduced all this from just one quick examination? It was no wonder she was the hokage, the most renowned medical kunoichi ever…

"…he is still alive. And so, he can be saved. His eyes"—she looked down at the empty sockets pityingly, as they'd had to remove the horribly mangled eyes—"are gone, and consequentially his byakugan. But there is still hope for Hyuuga Neji." She turned her back, everyone else staring at her in awe. "Ino, come with me."

Sakura had never really liked the Sand.

It was mostly the weather. Sakura, despite her sunny disposition, disliked warmth—she preferred rain, snow, hail, anything but constant sun. And sandstorms? Those were the worst. She marveled at how people could be so dressed up in robes when she had to rip a bit of her Sound shirt just to feel a little more of a breeze. She was still sweating bricks. She knew she would be lobster-red for a week, but sunburns were merely a distraction. A painful distraction, but she could deal with it.

The Kazekage's building was naturally the tallest one there. Easy target. As she and Sasuke walked in their respective transformations, they decided to assault the building from both sides—Sakura would attempt to go in the main entrance and Sasuke the back entrance. It went unsaid that any violence was acceptable, but there should be no killing.

Sakura waited behind a slab of stone until one of the guards went to relieve himself. With a dull thud, she knocked him unconscious. To make sure he wouldn't awaken and come back or be found, she buried his clothes and dragged him into a large cactus shrub thing. She clapped together her arms and transformed as best she could. She went back to the front entrance where the guard had been stationed, acting like nothing had happened. Now for the surveillance part…

She waited there for a good five minutes before another guard came out through the double doors. "Hey, Junichi. Your shift's up. Go and get washed up."

Ah. Sakura assumed there was a guard's quarters, where the officials off duty would relax, bathe, etcetera. She had no idea where it was, nor did she care to go there. Then again, she didn't know where the Kazekage's office was either.

Suddenly, an elderly woman with a cane barged in. She was breathing heavily. She looked around wildly, her eyes landing on Sakura. "You, there," she gasped out. "Young man. Take me to the kazekage, now! There's been urgent news from Konoha! There's another traitor!" The lady walked over to Sakura, latched onto her arm. "Help me to the kazekage's office; I can't climb stairs very well…"

"Ma'am," Sakura started, attempting to sound very, very dim, "I don't know where it is."

The lady looked incredulous. "Just take me up those steps there and a few halls to the right! Honestly, how can you defend the kazekage if you don't even know where he is?"

And so Sakura had no choice but to pick up the woman and voluntarily carry the news of her own betrayal to the kazekage.

About halfway up the stairs, a much younger lady with medic robes cornered them. "Aiko-san!" she cried. "Finally, I found you! You're in no condition to be walking around…" she looked at Sakura. "Thank you for bringing her here, sir. I'll take her now, sorry she caused you trouble."

"But there's a traitor!" The woman wheezed. "A traitor I tell you! The bird said so!"

"Yes, we've known there's a traitor for quite some while," the nurse said tiredly as she carried the woman away.

So that's it, Sakura thought glumly. They already know.

She went up the remaining flight of steps, quickening her pace, and, once she reached the top, started walking to the right.

However, she moment she started, another guard crashed into her. She fell hard against the wall, her head hitting it with a painful thump.

Gaara rounded the corner.

Sakura was lying on the ground, and she realized her transformation had been destroyed. She was lying there, right in front of the kazekage himself, the target!

"Sakura-san?" Gaara said, looking mildly surprised. "I didn't hear you were coming. What are you doing here?"

Sakura froze. He wasn't…attacking her. He didn't know she was a traitor. She was perfectly safe here in the Sand! So there was no need to use force after all…where was Sasuke anyway? Of course! Sasuke! He was the traitor they knew about, not Sakura!

"Kazekage-sama," Sakura croaked.

"Please, you can address me as Gaara," the insomniac said. There was still an aura of danger about him, but he seemed so much more…stable. Like he wouldn't lash out and kill anybody randomly. But of course—if he was a madman he wouldn't be kazekage. He held out his hand to pull Sakura up from the wall she'd fallen against, and told the other guard, "Leave us." To Sakura: "Let's walk toward my office."

Sakura had been on a few diplomatic missions to the Sand with Tsunade, but had never actually met Gaara after his appointment. Now, she walked next to him cautiously.

"G—Gaara, then. Uh…" she thought rapidly, keeping the goal in mind. She was briefly distracted by seeing a ring on his finger which matched the description exactly of one of the rings she and Sasuke were supposed to obtain. "This isn't exactly an official mission. Tsunade-sama didn't want this going out. There is an issue with…another Jinchuuriki. We figured we could…use your assistance."

"There are problems with Naruto?" Gaara inquired, his facial bones moving in a way that suggested that, had he had eyebrows, he would have skeptically raised one.

"N—no, nothing like that," Sakura assured, willing herself to stop stammering and looking so guilty. "It's—it's the eight-tails. In Kumo. He has been causing trouble for us, has stolen a few valuable things. We thought that maybe you could reason with him, because we don't understand why it's happening."

"Naruto is much better at issues such as that."

"Naruto is busy, and we need him to stay in Konoha," Sakura lied, the falsities coming to her easier now as she started to work out a story in her head. They arrived at the office just in time for another guard to come walking down the corridor. The guard made eye contact with Sakura. Looked surprised. Narrowed his eyes. Lifted his hand and made the three hand signs that she and Sasuke had agreed on—yes. This guard was Sasuke. He was probably wondering why she was in her real form… Gaara had not yet noticed him; his back was turned to Sasuke. "Oh, here's my friend now. Heiiji!" she waved. Sasuke got the point and immediately transformed back into the other alternate identity, one with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a round face. A Leaf headband was slung across his forehead, and Sakura was grateful her slashed hitai-ate was in her bag where Gaara couldn't see it. Gaara turned and examined Sasuke—well, Heiiji.

"I don't recognize him from the Chuunin exams," Gaara said. Sakura thought quickly and blabbered,

"Oh—well, see, Heijii—he was already a chuunin; he is two years older than us. Hokage-sama didn't want to send a full team as it would look to suspicious and this is, after all, unofficial. Heiiji-kun, this is Gaara-sama! Gaara, this is my friend, Akabaya Heiiji."

"It's an honor to meet you, Kazekage-sama," Sasuke said—unfortunately in his normal voice. Realizing this, he made his voice a little lower and gruffer. "Sorry I'm late, Sakura. I lost you for a moment there."

Gaara appeared to be studying Sasuke. Eventually he said, "Let's go into my office. We'll further discuss this matter there."

In the Hokage's office, Tsunade had intertwined her fingers on the desk, and was intensely staring at Ino. It wasn't quite a glare—there was no blame in the look. But it all the same made the young blonde feel uncomfortable. There was almost pain in her mentor's gaze. Then Ino understood, with a sinking feeling.

"You want me to stop being a medical-nin," she said, her voice trembling. "You think I'm a failure and should stick to the flower shop. I can't even hold a candle to Sakura…is that it, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade let out a slow breath and raised an eyebrow. "No, actually. I was going to entrust you with finding a way to get Neji out of his coma. I want you in charge of the case."

"What?" Ino cried. "But—but I failed! With him and Lee! If I acted quicker and didn't freak out, I could have saved them! But I..I…" her voice cracked. "I don't want to be responsible for the death of another person!"

In a sudden burst of anger, Tsunade slammed a fist down onto her desk. It left a sizeable dent in the wood. "Just be quiet, Ino! Your self-confidence, or lack thereof, is killing them! Listen to me. Neji, Lee, and most of the people you'll have to heal are ninja. They understand that they are putting their lives on the line for something they believe in. Of course we want to prevent their deaths, but it's not something you should be hurting yourself over! As a medical nin, you're going to have to face the fact that some of your patients are going to die! And this is not about Sakura. As far as I am concerned"—her tone wavered for just moment here—"Sakura was never a Konoha ninja. She is a threat, and you should not look up to her for that! Become your own person, Ino. You are the most qualified person right now to figure out the boundaries of the coma Neji is in—you're the mind-walker, and you know what you saw. Get to work. You have a whole library at your disposal. Push aside your personal feelings and do your job!"

Silence.

"Y—yes, Tsunade-sama," Ino said in a small voice. She turned to go.

"And Ino." She turned back once more and was surprised to see Tsunade's eyes moist. "I believe in you."

"Let me see him! Let me see him!" Naruto yelled, trying to push past Ino, who was blocking the doorway to the hospital room. "Somebody hurt Neji, I have to find out who—"

"Naruto, his family is in there right now!" Ino reprimanded. "You have to be respectful to the Hyuuga! Besides, he can't say anything. He's in a coma. He's practically dead!"

"But Ino-chan, I wanna see…" Naruto whined. "How did he get injured anyway? He wasn't on a mission, was he? And where's TenTen anyway?"

Ino pursed her lips. Maito Gai had explained where Neji and TenTen had gone, but somehow she figured Naruto wouldn't take kindly to being told his friends wanted to kill the very person he was trying to save. "I don't know. He's in a coma, so it's not like I can get any information out of him."

"But Ino, he's my friend!"

"Wait ten minutes until the Hyuuga are gone, okay, Naruto?" Ino sighed, giving in. Naruto nodded reluctantly, then sat down into a chair outside the room, sulking. Ino turned around and went back to continue recounting what had happened to the Hyuuga. There were fortunately only three who came—the Hyuuga leader, Hiashi, and his two daughters Hinata and Hanabi.

"So he is still very much alive, it's just that his blood is so thin that his weak heart has to beat less. We are doing everything we can. In the meantime…" she bit her lips, knowing what she was going to ask would not go over well. "I understand this is a controversial topic but… the cursed seal could very well be contributing to the genjutsu or interfering with our healing attempts. Could you, somehow…well…remove it?"

Hiashi drew himself to his full height and glared at her. "Are you implying that a main house member has activated the seal to hurt Neji?"

"N—no, Hyuuga-sama! Not at all! It's just…it would be much easier for us to…treat the patient….without fearing…well, the curse seal is a bit, you know, unstable, so all I'm saying is…"

"Father, she's right," Hanabi said. She knew her opinion would be valued by her father, since she was the one in this room he trusted the most. "Neji has already lost the byakugan, anyway. If he betrays us, its secrets will not be passed on to anybody else. Furthermore, Neji has always been very obedient and resigned to his servitude to the Main Branch, so I don't see why we would need to maintain such control over him."

Hiashi seemed to consider it, then he sighed heavily. "You have reason, Hanabi, but this is, as Yamanaka-san said, too controversial. I would have to discuss it with the clan elders…"

"We don't have that sort of time," Ino responded. "We are too afraid to provide Neji with nourishment or intravenous fluids in fear that it will make the poison worse or something of the sort. He grows weaker every day…"

"I cannot make a decision that the elders might oppose"—

"So," a voice interrupted from the doorway in almost a growl, "You value your status in the clan over Neji's life?" Everybody whirled to see Naruto standing there.

"Naruto!" Ino groaned. "I told you to stay out! Don't be disrespectful to the"—

"That cursed seal," Naruto growled, "Has destroyed Neji's life over and over again. Are you going to let it finally end it? It's a despicable practice, what you're doing! The way somebody was born should not affect how they are treated!"

Hiashi said calmly, "You're the one who beat Neji using the unfair nine-tails power? Uzumaki Naruto? Well, listen to me, boy. You have no place to speak to me like you are. The Hyuuga clan has worked this way since the founding of the Leaf. There is no need to fix something that is not broken."

"Not broken?" Naruto spluttered. "The branch members are being tortured!"

"The branch members understand that they are destined to serve."

"Oh yeah? Well, Neji here didn't seem too happy about that, if you remember his whole monologue during the Chuunin exams! Oh, wait, he's a branch member, his words mean nothing! If that's so, why are you here at his bedside? It's not like you care for your family at all!"

"Enough!" Hiashi bellowed. "You speak out of place, boy! I care for my family, but Neji is not the only family member I have! Removing the cursed seal from the head of a Hyuuga branch member could mean chaos! The whole Hyuuga regime would be gone!"

"If it's a regime bent on forcing slavery upon others, let it rot!" Naruto screamed.

Deadly silence. Death glares. Hiashi Hyuuga looked about ready to 128-palm the insolent, spiky-haired outcast.

Then Hinata walked to stand next to Naruto.

"Hinata?" Hiashi asked dangerously. "What is the meaning of this?"

Hinata was trembling, shaking like a leaf being blown off a tree. She was losing her grip on everything she'd been taught, but somehow, she knew it was right. Naruto was the correct one here. "F—father… I—I fought Neji d-during those exams. He tried to k—kill me. He was so upset with the way things worked that…he was ready to risk your melting his brain. Things are so unsatisfactory that… well…the threat of death…soon it won't be enough to contain the Branch members anymore. They should be defending us of…of their own will. All Hyuugas should reign by love, not fear. So even if removing the seal branded upon Neji will cause uproar…it is the r-right thing to do to save him. Please, father, move to abolish th—the use of the curse seal. O—or I will no longer be p—proud to be descended from Hyuuga."

Ino couldn't believe it. Timid, submissive Hinata was…taking a stand in her own way? She was willing to throw aside the clan? Naruto was gazing at the girl by his side. "Hinata-chan, you…"

Hanabi lowered her head.

Hiashi said only, "I will consult the elders and move to have Neji's curse seal deactivated in an effort to save the life of a valuable warrior. That is all. Hanabi, come."

Hanabi followed Hiashi out of the room, her feet dragging ever so slightly. She looked back at Hinata with an expression of…longing? Before she turned back and went after her father.

Hinata burst into tears, and Naruto instinctively placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata, what you just did was amazing…don't cry. Please don't cry."

At that, the purple-haired girl buried her head in Naruto's chest, but Ino could see the blush running up the back of her neck as she fainted.

"Eh? Hinata? What's wrong? Ino, what did I do?"

"Nothing," Ino replied, trying to stop a laugh. "But you should take care of Hinata for a while. She needs somewhere to live, since she won't be welcome with the Hyuuga. I'd offer myself, but then the Hyuuga would get angry at the Yamanaka and there would be a whole uproar. You've already pissed off Hyuuga enough…" Ino let out the laugh, tears of mirth starting to flow down her cheeks, even as Neji lay behind her, his life dwindling.

Gosh, I seem to be abandoning Sasuke and Sakura's stories a bit :/ But we've heard a lot about them, so I thought we'd check in with the Leaf! So, Hinata grows a back bone -le gasp-, Naruto puts together feasible arguments -LE gasp-, Ino is working on Neji's case because Tsunade believes in her -LE GASP-, and Sakura actually comes up with a halfway believable lie! LE GAAAAAAAAAAASP!

And Hyuuga-bastard is a prick (yeah, no surprise there).

Thoughts? Suggestions for future events? Con-crit? REVIEEEWWWWWWW MY LOVLIES! MWAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH