hmmm once again nuthin much to say so enjoy the chappie : ) o and that cliffie will remain a cliffie till bout halfway down this chapter lol

diclaimer: me: zzzzzzzz

Kakashi: :nudges me with foot: wake up, you've gotta do the disclaimer

me: :rolls over:

Kakashi: :without lookin up from book, kicks me in the side:

me: ok, ok, me don't own :falls back asleep:

Kakashi took a deep breath as consciousness came back to him. Opening his eyes slowly, he started to look up, but couldn't move his head very far. The back of his neck was numb. Glancing around, Kakashi realized that his cloth to cover his eye was gone. He closed his left eye quickly and looked around the best he could with his right. From what his hanging head could allow, all he saw was rock. He took another deep breath and smelled one other person, but wasn't exactly sure of their position because of the dank rock smell. He tried to move his hands, but they were bound around something cold behind his back. Kakashi moved his legs and found them free at least. He tried to lift his head again, it slowly moved as his muscles protested. When he was able to look around, he found that he was in a small crevice and light was filtering down from a wide crack near the ceiling. A person was sitting next to it on the outside with their back to him. Kakashi's neck gave out and he hung his head again, with a slight queasy feeling. His groggy mind was starting to slip back into unconsciousness. He fought against it, but failed and went back to sleep.

Neji ran quietly amongst the trees. All of them but Sakura, Lee, and Tenten were searching for any sign of their missing friend. Neji felt the most helpless of them all because he couldn't use his byakugan. A clearing was coming up ahead. Slowing down, Neji came to the edge of the tree line and stood at the bottom of a grassy hillock. He stepped quietly out into the opening and listened carefully. Nothing came to his eyes or ears so he climbed to the top quickly. Once he reached the summit, he knelt down so as to lessen the chances of being seen. The sound of water rushing came quietly to his ears. As he crept towards the source, he came to an edge that cut steeply down to a large river. Men were standing on the banks closest to him. Counting them quietly, Neji saw another person wandering aimlessly towards the burly group. It was a teenage girl. He went back to counting and found that there were 14 men on the river bank. Looking back at the girl, he saw she was still walking towards the bend that had hidden her from the view of the men. Rounding it, she stopped and all the men looked at her.

"Who the hell are you?" one man demanded.

The girl stood stock still.

"Bitch, we asked you a question, now answer it!" another shouted.

She didn't say anything.

Neji shifted position, then fell. The earth that he was laying on had given way and he slid down the brush covered slope. Everyone on the bank looked up and saw the falling dirt and rocks.

Neji kept repeating the word shit over and over in his mind. He landed on his side on the bottom, the dirt cloud enshrouding them all. Lying right where he landed, head buried under his arms, he thought quickly. Nothing came to his mind except the shocked look Naoya had given him when he saw his eyes for the first time.

"What the hell!" a man coughed out finally.

The dust cloud thinned and Neji stood up, with his now free hair hanging all around him, keeping his eyes down.

"Just who the hell are you?!" a man demanded.

Neji looked up and right at the men. They all stepped back when they saw his white eyes. Taking advantage of it, Neji pulled out 3 kunai and threw them at the men then followed the knives. The kunai hit 3 men, only wounding them, but Neji continued with Taijutsu, knocking everyone out cold in the clearing, except for the girl. Standing up straight in the midst of the bodies, he looked right at the girl. She gasped and fell backwards.

"D-don't hurt me! I didn't see anything! I promise!"

Neji walked towards her, his eyes never leaving hers. She started shaking as he came closer. Reaching down, Neji picked her up by the shirt collar and held her up against the rock that made the bend.

"Your name?" he hissed.

"Karina."

"Karina what?"

"Karina Morii."

"Tell me, Karina-san, have you seen a man with white hair around here?"

She stared into Neji's white eyes again. He could feel her chest start to heave with sobs. Fear covered every part of her face. Neji never looked away, but made her look right into his eyes.

"Have you seen such a man?" he repeated.

She shook her head no.

Neji opened his hand and she fell to the ground near his feet, not looking up. He pulled out another kunai and held it to her throat.

"You better not be lying to me," he growled.

Her body was stiff. "I swear I've never seen a white haired man in these parts."

Neji turned the kunai around and hit the back of her head with the blunt edge, knocking her out as well. As her body slumped to the ground, Neji retrieved his other 3 kunai and resumed the search.

Sora stared at the villagers that were standing around her now. "What have I done to anger you?"

"You're hiding one of them bastards that attacked our village, aren't you?" a blonde haired man asked quietly.

"No," Sora shook her head violently. "I would never do that."

"Then what are these?" A short, brown haired man came forward followed by another carrying the packs from Tenten's room. They opened a couple of them to reveal ninja weapons. Everyone glared back at Sora.

She stared at the bags, trying to come up with an excuse quickly.

"Well?" a woman demanded.

"I-i…"

"Those would be ours."

Everyone turned to the doorway. Standing tall there were Sakura, Lee, and Tenten.

"Just who the hell are you?" the blonde man asked again.

"We're the ninjas that Sora-san has hired to figure out this mess," Sakura replied.

"Ninjas!" Everyone was staring in fear and hatred at them.

The 3 felt the oppressive stares, but remained standing tall.

"Yes, we were visiting her when your village was attacked. She then asked us to find those who've done this," Lee said.

Everyone looked at Sora angrily.

The short, brown haired man stepped towards her, "You've been hosting ninjas and not telling anyone?!"

Sora regained her composure and looked the man straight in the eye. "Yes. I had healed one of them a long time ago and we've remained friends since. If you don't like the idea of help from ninjas to fight against ninjas, then I'll just send these 3 back to their village."

The others looked at each other.

"How do we know that they're not the ones who did this in the first place?" a person in the back asked. Everyone in the room agreed loudly to this, but one man. It was the youngest of the 4 wounded hunters that were brought to Sora.

He came forward and looked at Sakura. The pink haired girl stared back. The man started to smile then looked at his fellow villagers. "If they are the ones who destroyed ¼ of our town, then why would they help heal us?"

"What? What are you talking about Ryuichi?" the blonde demanded loudly.

"Simple, I remember this very girl tending to nearly everyone in this room. She helped Sora take care of us from the start."

Sora and Sakura exchanged wide eyed looks.

"If that's true, then what were the other two doing?"

"I was unconscious in the room behind you, recovering from poison," Tenten replied.

"And I was guarding this house," Lee added.

The others looked at one another, muttering. The 3 shinobi heard many saying that they still didn't trust them and that their weapons should be confiscated. Sakura stepped forward and banged her fist on the doorsill twice to get attention.

"If you wish for our help, then tell us now, otherwise we'll be taking our leave. Either way, we keep our weapons or we won't be able to fight the enemy."

More muttering erupted amongst the people. Lee shifted so he could be ready to run for the bags any minute, but stopped. The hunter had stepped forward and grabbed all 8 bags and, limping, placed them by Sakura's feet. He looked into her green eyes.

"I ask that you aide us in figuring out who attacked us and for what reason." He bowed as low as his stiff body would allow.

Sakura felt a small blush start to appear on her cheeks, but took a small breath and looked at the others in the room. Slowly, one by one, they all bowed to them; some more than others.

"Well, now that that's decided, we can communicate freely."

Everyone looked up and saw Gai walking into the clearing followed by Naruto and Neji.

Naruto looked at the people that were still somewhat bowing. "Why are they bowing to you, Sakura-chan?"

The villagers blushed and stood up straight. The blonde man spoke up again. "And who might you be?"

"Maito Gai. I'm the one in charge of this little youthful group." He stepped up behind Lee.

Everyone looked at the resemblance between the two then some rolled their eyes.

"How many more surprises are expected to come from these people?" the blonde asked while looking at Sora.

She ignored him and looked at Gai. "Did you find him?"

Gai sighed and shook his head slowly. "My eternal rival isn't one to leave for a long amount of time and leave a young lady unguarded. Something must have happened to him. We didn't see any sign of the boy either."

Sora fell to her knees.

"Sora-san!" Sakura ran over and knelt by her. "Sora-san are you all right?"

"Why does everything happen to those two?" Sora whispered into her hands.

The shinobi standing in the doorway both heard that and saw the sadness run through the woman's body.

"It'll be alright Sora-san. Kakashi-sensei's strong. I'm sure he'll find his way back here with his same, lame excuses," Sakura said, smiling sadly.

Sora smiled up at the girl, "They were pretty lame excuses."

Both women chuckled softly.

"You're late, Karina," the stocky man said from his rock.

"I'm sorry, Murai, but I ran into some trouble while delivering a message to the men on the bank."

"What kind of trouble?" a scrawny teen asked bouncing up from behind a rock above the crevice.

damn, not much in this chappie but at least we see Neji more in this lol, i would post the nxt to make up for it, but i still don't have a lot of pages typed ahead of this to be willing to do that lol but rest assured, we see a lot more action in the upcoming chapter, it's all Kakashi in the next chappie : )