The Naruto franchise is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 13: Emerald Dreams

The morning sun rose to mark Neji's rapid progress westward. Ordinarily, it would take a team of shinobi three days to make the journey from Konoha to Suna, but the prodigy was confident that, traveling alone, he could make it in two. The first day would be spent primarily in Fire Country, where he felt relatively safe and could devote his attentions toward what he had read the night prior.

Hachimon: The Eight Great Gates

The Eight Great Gates regulate the flow of chakra in every shinobi. Though they significantly limit the maximum operating capacity of the human body, they also prevent a shinobi from burning themselves out via uninhibited overexertion. These gates can be forced open with concentrated pulses of chakra at varying degrees of risk to the user's health.

Kaimon: The Gate of Opening. The first gate regulates the muscles. By releasing the natural inhibitors in the brain, the user has the potential to increase his or her muscular output by a factor of five. This may result in rupturing of muscle tissue.

The Hachimon were not unknown to him. He had witnessed firsthand the devastation they could unleash, both on an opponent and on a shinobi's own body. What was the true purpose of the scroll?

Shimon: The Gate of Death. The eighth and final gate allows a shinobi to access all of his or her body's energy at once and is exponentially more powerful than the first seven gates combined. Opening this gate is extremely hazardous, as the chakra rapidly consumes the body and vice versa. Always results in death.

Neji's brow creased as he recalled what Gai had said.

"Even the noblest of eagles is fated to fall," Gai said, his dark eyes inscrutable, "To die and to return to the earth."

"But in doing so," Gai continued, "In accepting fate and shedding his pride, the eagle becomes part of something bigger. He becomes something more than himself. Do you understand, Neji?"

Could that be the secret to the jutsu?

No, Neji decided. Gai was capable of many things, but he would not willfully send a student to die.

What was he trying to tell me, then?

~o x o~

"Oi, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto landed in a crouch on the stone bench next to the rose-haired medic. She looked up and offered him a half-hearted smile.

"What're you doing all the way out here?" he asked, adjusting his hitai-ate.

"This is where Sasuke left me the night he abandoned the village," she said quietly, gazing into her lap.

"Ah," the blond jinchūriki said softly, much of his exuberance dissipating. He had noticed a while ago that Sakura had stopped referring to their former teammate as "Sasuke-kun".

"It's about Neji, isn't it?"

Sakura sighed.

"Is it that obvious?"

Naruto, having been on the receiving end of many of Sakura's bone-shattering punches over the years, wisely chose to remain silent.

"I just don't understand why everyone I fall in love with ends up leaving," Sakura said, her voice constricted.

"Sakura-chan..."

Naruto thumped his teammate once on the back, reassuringly.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan," he said, broadcasting his irrepressible grin, "That fate-obsessed bastard will be back before you know it."

Seeing his former teammate still crestfallen, Naruto switched tracks.

"It's hard, y'know," he said, "Being alone. Neji's father died when he was three. Even though he was part of a big clan... he had no one, growing up."

"But," he said, thumping a fist into his palm, "He doesn't have to be alone anymore. Sometimes that bastard is just really stubborn, and you hafta crack him one to get him to see you."

Naruto pantomimed an uppercut and Sakura laughed softly in spite of herself. The jinchūriki beamed a smile back.

"So how about you treat the future Hokage to some ramen, eh?"

"...no."

"Awww, Sakura-cha~an...!"

~o x o~

Neji added another bit of wood to the fire, watching the rabbit he had caught roast idly. The prodigy had made good time that day and would be in Suna by afternoon on the next if he continued the pace.

He wondered if he should have said goodbye to Sakura before leaving.

The Hyūga sighed. He hadn't even been able to call her by her first name while fully aware of himself. Then again, she hadn't done the same either.

He wondered if she even wanted to.

Neji ate what he could of the rabbit, leaving the rest for hungry foxes. Before settling in for the night, he doused the fire and scattered the firewood he had gathered. Old habits died hard. The prodigy moved out a short distance from his cooking fire before situating himself comfortably in a tree, taking care to set a defensive perimeter of traps around the location first.

He wondered what it would be like to not be alone.

There were no clouds and the heavens were clear when Neji fell asleep, but in his dreams, the sky was emerald green. The stars twinkled brightly.

~o TBC o~

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