Disclaimer: My request to have my name changed is currently being processed. Until then, I won't own it.
Dedication: For everyone who still reads these things I write.
Wishing all a (belated) Merry Christmas XD
Nakajima headed silently down the hallway, his stride confident and unhurried as he approached the one room he had yet to go inside of. His friend had been most mistrusting, but he couldn't say the same for his son.
What had once been a simple and straightforward plan was now becoming increasingly convoluted with every step since the arrival of the three Konoha ninja. The kunoichi, especially, was proving to be a bigger nuisance than a help. The only role he had intended for her to play was the witness of his unwitting accomplice's attempted assassination. He hadn't expected her to be skilled enough to sense his chakra presence and he certainly hadn't included the appearance of two extra shinobi in the equation.
However, that was all but irrelevant to the overall scheme.
He had succeeded in getting rid of his ward's loyal bodyguard while Soichiro himself had kindly assigned his own guards to protect his fiancée. The kunoichi was too badly injured to do anything, and he had managed to turn her words into sufficient distractions for her teammates without anyone suspecting a thing.
Even if anyone did realize anything now, it would already be too late.
Fools.
"Nakajima-san, is there something the matter?" Soichiro questioned cautiously, eyes narrowing slightly when he saw his guardian enter his study without his permission.
Nakajima's long sleeves whispered against the wood as he set a bottle of sake and two cups on the desk between them and sat down, his movements slow and deliberate.
"You've been working so hard since you came home; I thought I'd come and have a drink with you." His voice was smooth, pleasant even; enough to rid his temporary ward of his short-lived suspicions.
The boy may not have been stupid, but he clearly lacked the judgment and awareness of the realities of life that his father possessed. And it was this naiveté that was going to bring about his unfortunate... expiry.
"The wedding is less than three days," Nakajima commented casually, pouring the warm wine into each cup and handing one to his charge, keeping the other for himself. "You should be relaxing and getting ready instead of doing all this work."
"I'm trying to finish what my father left behind," Soichiro replied offhandedly, his eyes never leaving the paper in front of him as he took the warm sake cup.
"I'm sure your father would be proud," Nakajima said kindly, hiding his triumphant smirk behind the rim of his cup when Soichiro smiled at him and raised his own to his lips.
"You mean it was Nakajima all along?"
The question was asked out of pure curiosity, but Neji felt somehow slighted by the incredulous inflection in the blonde's tone.
"Aa."
"But what would he gain from killing Fujimura-san?" Kazuya continued, speaking out loud what both of them were thinking.
"I don't know," Neji replied truthfully, channelling even more chakra into his legs to increase his speed.
Tenten had actually been assigned the mission, and Fuuma's odd behaviour and obvious personal relationship with their client's fiancée hinted at a much deeper level of involvement in the entire affair. On the other hand, Neji technically had no personal attachment to the man he was supposed to be protecting apart from the fact that his clan leader would be extremely annoyed, to say the least, if he failed.
However, Fujimura Soichiro had saved his and his teammates' lives back in Lava Country and Neji fully intended to return the favour.
His gaze zeroed in on the door. It was locked.
"Fuuma," he began, but the blonde was already one step ahead of him, palming a shuriken from the pouch on his waist with one hand and forming a hand seal with the other.
The two of them came to a halt outside Fujimura's office. Neji dealt their obstruction a quick, chakra laced palm thrust and they burst into the room with a crash of what had once been the door against the wooden floor. The sound of breaking china followed a second later as Kazuya's shuriken found its mark, shattering it into so many pieces of porcelain and causing the contents to splash onto the holder's lap before swerving in a neat arc and returning to its smirking owner's hand.
"Hyuuga-san, what is going on?"
Neji's multi-directional vision flickered briefly towards the affronted, sopping Soichiro, but he kept his hard, colourless eyes trained on the still calmly seated Nakajima.
"The wine was poisoned," he answered.
Nakajima's face stayed perfectly straight, revealing nothing.
Soichiro turned his shocked stare on his father's so-called best friend just in time to see the latter vanish into thin air.
"The roof," Neji stated curtly. Both of them turned towards the ruined doorway.
"Sorry about the door," Kazuya called over his shoulder, sounding more amused than apologetic.
Too stunned to do anything else, Soichiro could only watch dumbly as the two shinobi leapt out of sight.
Neji appeared on the roof, blocking the path of the man in front of him. Nakajima immediately changed direction and headed for the opposite building, only to jump back to his original position to dodge the fuuma shuriken coming his way.
Kazuya landed neatly on the other end of the roof, snatching his shuriken out of the air as it flew past him, trapping Nakajima between himself and Neji.
No one moved for an entire minute; Neji took the opportunity to study his opponent.
Nakajima's overall skill was passable; the only thing the Hyuuga prodigy was slightly impressed with was his chakra control. To be able to suppress his chakra so well as to have fooled even him was not something easily accomplished, but neither was it something that hadn't happened before. He clearly had good knowledge about poisons and their usage, and his movements were slightly faster and his emotions more controlled than those of your average shinobi, but Nakajima was not a offensive type of fighter. He was far too much of a coward to risk his life in actual battle. His methods and the fact that he had been trying to escape proved this.
But that didn't mean he couldn't fight back when pushed into a corner, like he was now.
"You're not going anywhere," Kazuya stated, crouching into a battle position.
Nakajima merely stood there, not assuming any stance whatsoever as he gave a dark laugh. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Fuuma-san."
He took a step forward and then disappeared, reappearing almost instantly in front of a stunned Kazuya. The Fuuma clan heir recovered quickly, readying his weapon to block any attack if it came, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
Dozens of chakra strings shot out of Nakajima's sleeves, wrapping themselves around him and forcing him to drop his shuriken. One sharp tug of the strings sent Kazuya flying into one of the garden's trees and the second succeeded in tying him to it.
Neji watched the scene impassively, blocking out the shouted curses from Fuuma that were directed at both Nakajima and himself for ignoring his so-called partner's plight as Nakajima turned to him.
"Hyuuga-san, I don't suppose you're going to just let me leave."
Neji's narrowed eyes and unblinking silver glare was an answer in itself as he slid into his stance.
"Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou!"
The uneven footing and slant of the roof they were standing on would make the execution of his technique more difficult and possibly slower, but it was still doable. Unfortunately, he had barely gotten in the first two strikes when he saw a brief flash of chakra in Nakajima's feet before the latter leapt out of his reach.
There was a loud clang as Neji's kunai met Nakajima's tanto.
"If you were going to fight me, shouldn't you have helped your teammate first?" Nakajima asked tauntingly, his gaze as cold and piercing as the steel blade of his short sword.
"He's a hindrance," Neji replied curtly.
Their weapons were still locked in place as they pushed against the other, neither allowing his strength to wane in the slightest. Neji decided that it was time to put an end to this stalemate.
The Hyuuga's other hand shot forward and his Byakugan caught sight of the chakra strings on Nakajima's fingers doing the same. His chakra laced palm froze barely inches from Nakajima's chest, held back by the thin metal wires that had secured themselves around his wrist and lower arm.
Neji tried forcing his hand to move, but it was a futile attempt. Plus, he knew from previous experiences with a certain weapon mistress' chakra strings that he wouldn't be able to break them.
Nakajima laziliy reached into Neji's thigh holster and helped himself to one of his kunai, much to the latter's displeasure. With a sneer turning the corners of his mouth upward, he raised his ill-gotten weapon.
A fuuma shuriken whizzed through the almost non-existent space between them, cutting the strings binding Neji's hand to Nakajima's and forcing both men to jump back as quickly as possible.
The shuriken swerved suddenly in mid-air and headed straight for Nakajima, who managed to avoid it at the price of having the kunai he'd stolen from Neji knocked out of his hand.
"Hindrance huh? You should be glad I bothered to save your sorry ass."
Neji didn't even spare the shinobi who had landed beside him so much as a glance.
"I didn't realize it would take you that long to get out of that pathetic trap," he returned coolly.
"Why don't you try getting a kunai out of your holster and cutting yourself free when your hands are tied behind your back?" Kazuya retorted indignantly, but Neji didn't have time for his childish antics.
"Fuuma, behind-"
"I don't need you to tell me what to do," Kazuya snapped as he spun around, throwing two of his trademark fuuma shuriken that turned the attacking chakra strings behind him into so many bits of metal.
"Your flimsy strings aren't a match for my shuriken," he said, returning Nakajima's glare with a one of his own and a smirk as the two fuuma shuriken he had used earlier returned to his hand. "Why don't you just give up before I accidentally kill you?"
Author's Note:
Err... hi.
I think you might be a bit confused as to why Neji didn't just use some random Hyuuga technique to cut through the strings so I thought I'd clear some things up before you guys ask me to.
Neji's fight with the spider dude during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc had me going into a lot of theories since I didn't really understand the principles behind the whole chakra thing. I eventually came to the conclusion that Neji was able weaken the webs by absorbing the chakra inside.
Since that spider guy was sort of separated from his webs, it meant means that there was a limited amount of chakra in the webs themselves. So once all the chakra inside was absorbed, the webs could be broken easily.
On the other hand, chakra wires (the stuff Tenten attaches to her weapons during her Twin Rising Dragons) technically have an unlimited supply of chakra since the user is constantly manipulating them (eg. Kankuro's puppet jutsu). As a result, Neji can't absorb the chakra completely and hence is unable to cut through the metal because it's enforced with chakra while Kazuya's fuuma shuriken, which are also enforced with chakra, can.
I've probably bored you to death with the explanations, but unfortunately, they are necessary for understanding some of the stuff that's going to happen. XP
In other news, my usual beta reader Midnight Memories has her exams coming and I'd like to thank her for taking the time to check through this chapter as well as wish her the best of luck :) Unfortunately, this means that she'll be unable to beta read future chapters until further notice.
Luckily, my friend and fellow anime fan has kindly offered to beta read the chapters to come. I've sent chapter 11 to her now and hopefully, I'll be able to get it up by New Year's.
Bye bye.