With hindsight, historians can sometimes see reasons for actions that those making them were not fully aware of. However, it would be folly to believe that our site is perfect. There will always be reasons we cannot understand. Sometimes even the person making the decision cannot understand their reasoning. If anything can be said about the decision-making process, though, it is that only fools believe there's one reason for any action.

-Excerpt from the preamble to the History of the Fourth Great War by Kei Hyuga

Musashi was perched in a tree just over the swamp. He had been following the remaining Rain ninja who had surreptitiously slipped away from the previous battlefield. As his target came to the surface and started to climb out of the water he noticed it was the older ninja who had survived the battle.

As soon as the man placed two feet on dry ground Musashi pounced. Crashing against the other ninja, he slammed him into a tree before grabbing his right arm, twisting it around and pinning the other ninja's left against the tree with his body weight. With his remaining free hand, he pressed a kunai against the man's neck.

"Why shouldn't I kill you?" He hissed into the man's ear.

"Because we are allies," the man said through his gritted teeth.

Musashi's lacked any humor as he said, "Now you see," he twisted the man's arm further, "I have a hard time believing that. It was people from your village who killed my teammate back there and that's one of those things I take personally."

"Exactly, if I was in league with them, why wouldn't I have stayed behind with them instead of sneaking off like I did?"

Musashi would concede that the man had a point, but he didn't loosen his grip. "Then who were they?"

"Rebels," the man spat out. "Didn't you see their Hitai-ate? They had slashes right across the symbol for my village. What respectable ninja would do that? What ninja would not replace it immediately?"

He tried to remember back to the battle earlier and he could remember seeing that damage when he had looked to see what village the attackers belonged to. He supposed rebels might deface their Hitai-ate like that as more of a condemnation of their village's leadership more than the village itself, but still it seemed an extreme measure. However, even if this man was telling the truth, this was all news to him. "What rebels?" He asked not loosening his grip a bit.

The man grunted and then pleaded, "Please ease your grip a little. I'll tell you what I know." Musashi slackened his grip, but only a little, allowing the man to reposition his arm.

"They are our shame," the man began taking in a deep breath. "About fifteen years ago, only a few years after the last Great War, there was this group, traveling around promoting peace or at least that's what they said. They claimed no allegiance to any village or country. Well what happened next is what you would expect to happen.

Musashi nodded even though the other man couldn't see him. Hidden villages have not always been the sole power of countries. Before ninjas the samurai had ruled and then religious sects had battled with the ninjas for dominance. His home village of Kiri had only recently put down the last of those sects. No wonder this group had been greeted with so much suspicion. He had known about the Civil War, of course, as he had had a part in ending it, but his question wasn't being answered. "I know about the war, but Hanzou doesn't strike me as the type of man to leave loose ends. If there's a rebel settlement in the open, why isn't it wiped out?"

"We can't. There's some sort of barrier surrounding what's left of their village. We can't get in, but they can get out. There used to be patrols around the barrier to prevent them from leaving, but with this war those forces had to be redeployed. They number less than twenty. It's not like they're a real threat."

When Musashi had met Hanzou, he hadn't struck him as the type of man who would leave things unresolved, but then the future Amekage would not have held up the plan in fear of looking weak either. Slowly, he started to ease back on the Rain ninja. "How big is this barrier?"

The other man turned around, slowly rubbing his shoulder. "A little less than six miles in circumference, but that encloses the entire settlement, which is pretty convoluted."

Damn it, if those four ninja were in there they could emerge at any point and slip past him since there was no way he could watch the perimeter by himself. It was frustrating but after a minute of thought he realized that there was no way they could reach Konoha before the general attack began, so in that aspect there was no need to hunt them down anymore. Except that it was frustrating to be so close and not be able to finish the job. Right now, though, they were more of a professional insult than a tactical threat. "All right, we're going to go report this situation to Hanzou and the Tsuchikage."

Neji Hyuga drifted back to consciousness. It was not completely a novel experience for him. He had been unconscious before, but it had been many years since then. It was a lot like waking up, only a great deal more painful. As his eyes opened he felt a dull ache in his shoulder and a pain in his head. With his good arm, he reached up to examine his shoulder.

He felt medical gauze which meant it had been treated. Between that fact and the fact he was lying in a bed in a dimly lit room, he concluded that he must be in a hospital. Then he remembered the last thing he saw, several Rain ninjas standing around him. Was he captured then? Why wouldn't they restrain him and more importantly where were his Genin?"

As he sat up, the bed groaned underneath him. At the far end of the room sat a man with his back to him at a desk. He seemed to be writing with the aid of only one small lamp which was providing the illumination for the room. The man turned at the sound of his movement and stood once he saw he was conscious.

"Lay back down," the man ordered as he rose.

Neji did so, but more because he couldn't quite summon the energy to swing his legs off the bed more than out of a desire to be compliant. As the man came to stand over him, he noticed the Hitai-ate with the Amegakure symbol upon it. Strangely though, it seemed to have a very deliberate slash right across it. He found that unsettling, but then the man was shining a light in his eyes and he winced away from it.

"They say you hit your head against a tree when you collapsed," the man offered in way of explanation for his actions. After a moment he clicked off the light and stated, "But you look fine."

"Where's my team," Neji demanded.

"You're Genin? They're in the next room. I had them in here for a while, but they're a loud bunch. I will get them in a minute."

Neji resisted the urge to smile at that. He still wasn't quite sure what his status was. Was he a prisoner or something else? To his surprise, he was almost afraid to ask as if inquiring about his status would somehow change it. Then he remembered the gouge on the man's Hitai-ate. For some reason he found such disrespect disconcerting.

The medical-Nin walked away and he heard water running for a moment before the man returned with a glass in hand. "Take this." The man said holding a soldier pill. When he hesitated, the man added, "I'm not going to poison an honored guest."

Guest Neji thought. "So, we can leave?" He asked before swallowing the pill.

"After you meet with our leader," the man responded as he turned around. "I'm going to send your team in now."

He nodded as he felt the pill working. It was like a shot of adrenaline that numbed the pain. After a second, he wondered who this leader was. Hanzou was the leader of Ame, but he doubted that would be the man he would be meeting. Of course, why exactly this leader would want to meet with him was an open question. Well, he would agree with whatever it took to get him out of here as long as his team went with him. Though, he had the disturbing thought that they might be kept here as hostages and then ransom back to their village. That happened on occasion.

Then he heard the door open and a cry of, "Sensei."

Propping himself up, he smiled as Akako and Yuudai came to the side of his bed. "Report," he commanded looking between the two of them. He saw Jiro still standing in the doorway, dressed in new clothes, but looking uncertain.

The other two straightened and Yuudai began. "We were watching you fight when a ninja appeared right behind us."

"You screamed," Akako interjected.

"I did not."

"Yes you did."

"Continue." Neji said heading them off before they digressed any further.

"Well," Akako continued, "before we could do anything, he said 'they were here to help' and that's when the other ninjas took out the one you were fighting. When you passed out they picked you and Jiro up and carried you back here after."

"What about the other ninja I was fighting?"

"We didn't see what happened to him," Yuudai answered. "Well, they brought us back here which is an abandoned village that's pretty big. They've more or less given us free reign and I don't think there's that many of these guys here. We counted fifteen ninjas in all, but there might be a few more we just didn't see."

"Good job."He was pleasantly surprised that they had the forethought to notice such things. Their report put his mind at ease and it made him feel a little easier about meeting this leader. With this in mind he glanced over at Jiro who had not moved from his position at the door. "Could you two give Jiro and me a moment alone?"

"Hu, why?" Yuudai questioned.

"Come on you," Akako said grabbing his arm and pulling him away. "We'll just be outside sensei," she said right before she pulled Yuudai through the doorway.

Jiro slid out of the doorway, allowing the door to close, but didn't come any closer. The Jonin sat up, which was a lot easier this time and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His old clothes were gone, replaced with some sort of one piece clothing which he remembered the medic wearing. He shrugged that off and gestured for his student to come closer. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Jiro said not moving and looking down. With the oversized shirt he was wearing, he looked even smaller than usual.

This was one of the few things of being a sensei he didn't like. Dealing with emotional baggage was something he should have a lot of experience with, but his troubles growing up never seemed to translate. His arrogance and sense of unchanging destiny had been beaten out of him both by Naruto and eventually the truth regarding his father's death. However, he doubted that was what was bothering Jiro, and although he would normally let his students work through their problems, now was not the time. "You didn't say anything during your teammates report and you're not meeting my eyes so out with it."

His student remained silent and Neji sighed in frustration. Then he remembered the last few minutes of the battle and he guessed that what was bothering Jiro. "I wasn't going to allow him to hurt you. I was just making him think I would allow-"

"I know sensei."

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I need to know what's bothering you. This is not a time you should be distracted."

The small brunette shifted nervously and said, "I've been thinking that I should stop trying to be a ninja."

"Oh, why?" This was a bit unexpected.

"Because I'm not very good at it. I wasn't just useless during that fight, but I almost got everyone captured. The team would be better off without me."

Neji nodded understanding what his student was saying. "Jiro listen, you handled the situation as best as you could."

"Sensei, don't say that," Jiro sighed. "It doesn't matter how well I handled the situation. I nearly got everyone captured."

"Well that's true I guess." The young Genin winced at his words and he took that as a good sign. "You're not a natural genius. Not everything comes easy to you like it does for some others, but that could be said about both of your teammates too. In that regard you are the exact opposite of what I was at your age. I was at the top of my class at the Academy and I was even able to take on both of my teammates at once in a spar and neither of them were pushovers."

"Now, let me tell you of another ninja I know. He was the worst at the Academy and a year behind me. Now, when I say he was the worst I mean that in every sense of the word. He didn't even graduate the first time around. Still, he worked hard and pushed his limits. We ended up facing off against each other in the first round of the final exams and he kicked my ass."

The crude word made Jiro look up at him his mouth agape as he said, "What?"

Well, at least he knew he had his student's full attention. "Every time I thought I had defeated him, he got back up and in the end like I said, he kicked my ass. I mean I was carried out of the arena and he did a victory lap."

"What happened was, I had complete confidence in my skills. Now it's good to be confident in your abilities, but not so much so that you believe you're infallible. That's a hard lesson to learn and I guess I even have trouble with that today. That battle we were just in showed me that I have been overly relying on my Byakugan. Do you know what you have in common with the ninja who defeated me?"

"No."

Neji allowed himself a slight smile. "Both of you know you're not the best. Both of you know you have limits. Most importantly of all, though, is both of you know that you can push past those limits." He let his words sink in for a minute and then added, "I think you have the potential to be a great ninja and I will do everything I can to help bring that out in you. However, if you want to quit, that is your right. But I would like to point out, that I would much prefer to have a ninja at my back that knows his limits, then one like me."

Jiro was silent for a long minute before he looked up and said, "You really think so?"

"Have you known me to lie?" The kid laughed, a short harsh one, but still a laugh. "Don't make a decision now, but try to put off thinking about it until we get back home."

"All right sensei. I will."

"Good. Why don't you send the other two back in?"

"Okay."

Jiro went to the door and let the other two back in. They passed the time discussing what the abandoned village looked like. His team painted a strange picture of large stainless steel metal buildings that stretched impossibly high into the sky. Some were half collapsed, while others were burnt out and still, others seemed to still stand as silent sentinels. Rubble and craters strewed the streets. Neji really couldn't imagine such a place as it seemed so alien that he didn't have a point of reference.

Akako was describing how most of the bridges looked as if they had collapsed into the river when the medic-nin quietly slipped back into the room. He watched them for a moment before he spoke up. "You seem well enough to meet with our leader. Please follow me. Someone else will come and give your Genin some supplies for your trip."

Neji nodded and rose before asking the man, "How long will this meeting be?"

"I was not told. Now please follow me." Without waiting for a response, the other man turned around and left the room.

Annoyed at the rudeness, but not seeing any other recourse, he followed, figuring it was better not to give any orders to his team before he left. The two of them walked down the long dimly lit hallway before going down a staircase. Although he was tempted to activate his Byakugan, he resisted the urge.

At the bottom of the stairs was a steel door, at that, the man knocked on loudly before turning to him and saying, "Go inside. When you're done go out the same door you came in. I will wait here."

That was almost enough for him to raise an eyebrow, but he supposed that if this man had desired to go against Hanzou he would have to be strong. More curious than nervous now, he opened the door and stepped inside.

Whatever he had been expecting it wasn't what he found. The room was large, but it was predominantly empty. In fact, the only thing in the room seemed to be a single hospital bed with someone in it. With no other options, he started walking towards the bed. The figure in the bed turned out to be an emaciated man. His cheeks were sunken and his collarbone jetted out. He seemed near death, but his strangely colored eyes were fixated on him and showed no sign of weakness.

"Not what you were expecting am I?"

"No," Neji answered seeing no reason to lie.

"I was a God or at least, so I thought. I dared to stand up to this corrupt world and was cut down."

"I see," he attempted to keep his tone respectful, but that was hard as he was beginning to suspect this man was insane.

"You don't recognize my eyes do you?" The man said harshly before shaking his head. "No matter, I'm a failure."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he ignored the comment. "You're men saved my team, thank you for that."

The man turned his head slightly. "It was not an act of peer generosity. I have a message for you to take back to your village."

Neji nodded solemnly.

"The supposed conflict between Rain and Grass country is a mere distraction. In a few days, a force of Iwa ninjas supported by Ame ninjas, will cross the border and head straight for Konohagakure. Their orders are to leave nothing but scorched earth."

He felt himself break into a cold sweat at those words. Certainly his village had been attacked before, but to be told about it in advance like this was chilling. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He closed his eyes and tried again, "And how do you know this?"

The other man's expression didn't change but the next words he spoke were bitter. "I was on the precipice of taking control of this country's military from Hanzou, when Iwa interfered. I wish to stop their plan. Your arrival was advantageous."

Through his concern, Neji saw a flaw in what the man was saying and it made him suspicious. "If you knew of this why did you not send one of your men to Konoha?"

"I only recently ripped this information from the head of the man you were battling earlier and no, he did not know the exact details of the attack." The bed ridden man waited for him to nod before continuing, "If your village manages to fend off this attack, there is a flaw in their plan you may be able to exploit. That flaw is that Hanzou has overestimated his forces. He believes they're battled harden from years of fighting me, but really they are war weary."

"And how do you suggest we exploit that?"

"If you fend off their attack then send a small force here and I will tell you how it is possible to assassinate Hanzou. If he is removed then his forces will collapse. Iwa will be alone. They don't have the ability to maintain a war for long."

"All right, I will pass that information along. However, I will have to leave immediately."

"Agreed," the man said sighing as if he was exhausted, "but you'll never make it over the eastern border now. My men have prepared a small boat you and your team can take down stream into a neighboring country. From there you can reach your home village in about a day. Normally, the river would be guarded, but I've already sent men to clear your way."

"Then I shall go immediately."

The moment he turned around the man said in a much louder voice than he had spoken thus far, "One more thing."

Neji turned around and looked over his shoulder and said, "Yes?"

"When you send a small force back here, make sure that the great Jiraiya is among them."

"I will pass that along." Without another word, he left the room.