Chapter ELEVEN

The next morning, Neji wakes up before the sun is out. He lies there for a while before with a deep breath, he sits up. He opens the windows and folds his futon before he goes through his morning routine. It is still early when he changes into his daily attire. He senses a shift in the air and with a quick check using his Byakugan, he notes that Sakura has woken up.

Once Sakura becomes an official shinobi, she would be required to focus more on her role as a part of Konoha instead of simply a branch house Hyuuga member. She would be under constant watch from some Konoha shinobi or another but while that would increase the number of watchful eyes, it would lessen the number of Hyuuga shinobi waiting for her to slip up. Once she was acknowledged as a Konoha shinobi, she would lawfully be under the protection of the Hokage.

He shakes his head before he unwraps the bandages around his right wrist and tightens them.

Once in awhile, deeply buried thoughts would surface and he has to force them under again. Who knows what would happen if anyone found out?

Neji waits for Sakura to finish changing for the day before he once again exists his room and calls out to her.

"Sakura?"

He hears a pause before there is a shuffle of feet. "Nii-sama! Please come in."

Neji slides open the door and lets himself in. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Nii-sama." Sakura smiles up at him and gestures to the spot beside her. "What may I do for you?"

Neji gratefully sits on the cushion. "You're early."

Sakura shrugs. "I could say the same about you." She picks up the kunai she had placed down when he had entered and slips it into her pouch. "I think I have the right to believe Hatake Kakashi will be late to arrive, but it never hurts to be prepared."

Neji hums thoughtfully. "Why don't we head out early today?" He suggests. "Meeting plans or not, we have plenty of time."

Sakura smiles. "That would be nice." She says. "We could buy breakfast on our way. It has been a while since we had the time to do so."

Neji excuses himself to go grab his things while Sakura finishes the last of her preparations. The two of them meet up outside their house and head out together.

"Nana-san's tea shop should be open already." Sakura says. "Should we head there?"

Neji nods. "She serves excellent nishin soba." He says.

"And dango." Sakura agrees.

"It's decided." Neji leads the way up to the closest roof and Sakura lands soundlessly beside him. "Breakfast will be nishin soba and dango."

Sakura lets out a soft laugh and Neji smiles at her before they take off.


The two of them arrive at Training ground 3 just as the sun had fully risen from behind the hills.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Neji asks. "Gai-sensei said Hatake Kakashi will probably be a few hours late."

Sakura bites her lip. "I might take the chance to look around the training grounds." She finally says. "And if Naruto-san and Sasuke-san happen to arrive, I'll see if we can work something out. Both of them seem to have personal knowledge on him."

Neji nods. "Okay." He casually glances around then gives her hair a ruffle. "Take care." He says. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

Sakura smiles. "Thank you."

Neji draws away and returns the smile before he jumps onto the closest roof and vanishes over the other side.


Neji keeps his senses focused on his sister until she is no longer visible. He knows that Sakura is more than qualified to become a Genin and that he has nothing to worry about.

Skill wise, anyways.

He knows next to nothing about Sakura's relationship with her new teammates and the only thing he can recall about them is the time they jumped in to defend Hinata. From their actions, he knows that while they don't seem to be bad people, they have clearly grown up on the bright side of life. Different views often led to clashes and while Neji knows he cannot force blind people to see the many side of life, he is not going to take ignorance and naivety as excuses if they ever hurt Sakura, intentionally or otherwise.

Once they make Chunin, they would have a short 'off' period where they would be called in to take missions with a variety of others in order to plot out teams.

If they ever needed the time to take advantage of, it would be then.


Once Neji is gone, Sakura turns to the training grounds and activates her Byakugan as she begins to slowly makes her way down the stairs. The word 'Survival' hints at something physical and for all she knew, it could be to survive a countless number of traps set up in the training grounds.

At first glance, there seems to be nothing wrong. She had walked past these very grounds the previous day and there is nothing to indicate any traps had been buried.

Certainly nothing chakra activated, anyways.

She makes her way over to the shade offered by the trees and looks around a little more before she begins her warm up. As her body automatically falls into her daily kata, her thoughts begin to wander.

The first thing that comes to mind is the changes to her daily routine. She is no longer required to follow Hinata around, so while training would probably eat up most of her day, she would have more free time, as should Neji.

She comes to a graceful stop and slips into the next kata without a pause. She senses the arrival of Naruto and Sasuke just as she is finishing off her fifth kata. She comes to a halt and turns pointedly towards them. Naruto grins and waves while Sasuke simply nods in her direction. Sakura waits until they are a little closer before she nods back. "Good morning." She says politely.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Naruto says. "You're early."

Sakura blinks. "There is nothing wrong with coming early."

Sasuke looks at her thoughtfully. "True." He sits down on the ground and Naruto plops himself down next to him. Sakura blinks curiously then slowly follows.

Naruto is the first to speak. "I asked tou-chan about the test but he was tight lipped about it."

"Obito grinned at me but didn't tell me anything either." Sasuke says.

"Neji-nii-sama's Jounin instructor happened to be Hatake Kakashi's...friend, I guess you could say." Sakura says. "But all I managed to get out was his favorite food, that he is always late to everything and he has a contract with ninken."

"Tou-chan said that the test is left up to the Jounin instructors." Naruto says. "So knowing how one Jounin does it won't help us in this case."

Sakura's gaze falls to her hands. "So all we can really do is be prepared for everything he could throw at us."

"Pretty much." Naruto scrambles to his feet. "Wanna warm up?"

It takes Sakura a second to realize that the question is directed at her. "Me?" She asks, just to make sure.

"Course." Naruto grins. "We're gonna be a team." He says. "We might as well start now." He sticks his hand out and Sakura takes it before her mind catches up to her actions.

"Thank you." She allows the blond to pull her up and brushes off her clothes.

"You never warm up." Sasuke says, nudging the blond. "Do you even know what warm up is?"

Naruto scoffs. "It's not my fault you get cramps if you don't."

Sakura catches the dark glare Sasuke shoots the blond and glances down at her hands. Were these two friends or enemies? She glances up to see Sasuke opening his mouth, no doubt willing to pick a fight. "We-We'll be moving around a lot." She blurts out. "We should start slow." She meets Naruto and Sasuke's gazes when they look at her. "We could run a few laps then do a few kata."

"That...sounds reasonable." Sasuke nods. "Three laps around the training grounds, then."

"I'm so gonna beat you, 'tebbayo!" Naruto takes off and Sasuke follows without missing a beat.

Sakura stays rooted to her spot, not sure exactly what was going on. She was but a mere branch house member. There was no way someone like the Hokage's son, or the second son of the Uchiha clan head was taking her suggestion seriously.

"What're you doing, Sakura-chan?"

She quickly looks up. Naruto and Sasuke have both paused in their running and were looking back at her.

Sasuke jerks her head pointedly. "You're the one that suggested it." He gestures towards the grounds.

Sakura stares at them for a few seconds before she nods firmly. "Right." She quickly catches up to them and matches their pace when they start running again. "Sorry."

"No problem, Sakura-chan." Naruto quickens his pace and Sasuke automatically does the same. Sakura decides to keep her speed but finds that she doesn't really mind when the two of them dart off.


Hanakotoba:

Anigozanthos:

Imagination/Possibility/Surprise/Strangeness/Shock/Shyness


Nishin soba: Herring soba (Nishin is a type of fish)


There are many things we simply thing don't make sense in the NARUTO-verse.

For one, how can Naruto be the only person to not know about the Kyuubi everyone seems to know about for the first twelve years of his life, and some random betrayer just happens to be the first person to actually bring it up to his face?

You might think 'It's cause the Hokage said not to' or something, but then, why didn't the Hokage simply make 'No bullying Naruto' a rule? Or even more simply, tell everyone who his father was? Being the son of the Fourth Hokage and being the Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi probably came with the same amount of danger.

Why we are bringing this up now is because in this story, we will be adjusting bits and pieces and these changes will be backed by the previous argument. Some things just don't make sense and not even plot-no-jutsu can make it make sense.


Darque: I'm back in Hong Kong...How sad...

Raven: I'll miss you...some times.

Darque: Oh! You hurt me!

Raven: Well, you know how much weight my wallet lost?

Darque: No?

Raven: An unhealthy amount. Pore Wallet-kun.

Darque: What are you saying? As the childhood friend, it's your job to pay for my needs.

Raven: What about the other way around. I bought EVERYTHING.

Darque: It's the male's job to pay for the female's needs.

Raven:...Now you're just making things up.

Darque: I'm not.

Raven: Then where did that come from?

Darque: My brain.

Raven: You call that 'making up'.

Darque: You don't. My brain is a very reliable source.

Raven:...

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