Chapter Six: Welcoming Committee
Sometime later, days and weeks had less hold on Neji; he was walking to the gates of Konoha. Tenten and Lee were walking behind him. They were looking somewhat awkward as they did, having gotten into full gear soon enough.
"So why are we heading to the gate, Neji?" asked Tenten. "I mean, we were sort of in the middle of a card game."
"Why would I know more than you?" asked Neji.
"You can see the future, Neji," said Rock Lee. "And you are the person who insisted we come out here?"
Neji paused. "...Didn't I tell you what our mission was?"
"No," said Tenten. "You showed up at the ramen stand and told us we had a mission from the Hokage."
Neji paused. "I see.
"I apologize; I must have witnessed the possible future and thought it was real. Suffice to say, we're about to meet some very unwelcome visitors. And also some old friends."
"Oh really, who?" asked Rock Lee.
"Cloud Ninja for a start," said Neji.
Coming to a halt by the gate, they halted.
Neji had seen this moment in many dreams and futures. Yet, it did not prepare him for the surge of hatred he felt. Before the gates came a huge brute of a man with a blonde beard. He wore a Hokage's garb that bared his muscular chest. To his left hand was another. He was a smaller dark-skinned man wearing a bandana and sunglasses.
To his left was a beautiful, graceful woman clad for war. Her hair was tied back behind her head, and she was scanning around them. Bringing up the rear were three others. The first was a gorgeous blonde-haired woman with breasts nearly as large as Tsunade's. Her hair was in a bowl cut, and she was statuesque, to say the least. With her was a pretty, red-haired Cloud Ninja and a white-haired boy. Those three had swords.
Neji knew their names. He'd been planning to kill them for many visions. But not here.
The brute was the Raikage of the Cloud, a murderer and honorless coward. The man next to him was Killer Bee, an idiot, but a powerful one and a Jinchuuriki for the Eight-Tails. The one to the left was Yugito Nii, a Jinchuuriki of the Two-tails. The last were Killer Bee's students. And those behind, doing a fairly good job of hiding, were also powerful.
Neji controlled his rage and bowed respectfully. "Greetings to you, Raikage. I am Neji Hyuga of the Hokage's ANBU. I bid you welcome to the Leaf Village on behalf of all the clans."
The Raikage was taken aback. Obviously, he had not been expecting this meeting. Neji had timed things to that end. "...I was not expecting a Hyuga to meet me."
"The Hokage believes that history should not be forgotten," said Neji. "I am here to escort you to the Hokage. He should be waiting for us now.
"With me are Tenten and Rock Lee."
"You are the ninja who defeated several members of the Akatsuki, then," said the Raikage.
"We completed our mission objectives, no less," said Neji.
"A wise policy," said the Raikage. "With me is Yugito Nii, one of my finest ninja."
"It is a pleasure to meet you," said Yugito, nodding.
"Killer Bee and his students, Samui, Karui, and Omoi," said the Raikage.
"Yo, I'm Killer Bee," said Killer Bee. "Coming to the Leaf here as a trip is free,"
"Is he... rhyming?" asked Tenten.
Neji then saw millions of possible futures where he had to have an extended conversation. The image of hearing dozens of different possible lines made him wish his ears could bleed. "And that's the limit of my tolerance.
"I was wondering when I'd hit it. I was perfectly willing to put up with Guy-sensei's eccentricities. And smiling in the face of my archenemy was doable for the sake of the Leaf. But I am not willing to smile in the face of my archenemy while listening to a rapping Jinchuuriki.
"As such, I shall meddle in all future, in all possible futures, to ensure we are never again in the same room together."
The Raikage narrowed his eyes. "This isn't much of a welcome."
"You tried to turn my cousin into a breeding slave. You threatened war with my village when you were caught. Then you murdered my father in cold blood and ripped his eyes out," said Neji. "All while breaking your word of honor to the Leaf and violating the guest right.
"I want to know what you expected. Did you think we would be glad to see you?"
"No, I suppose not," said the Raikage.
"Would you prefer I pretend to like we have forgiven you completely for actions you are wholly unrepentant for?" asked Neji.
"No, I prefer honesty," admitted the Raikage. "It makes negotiations easier."
"Then why don't we get moving?" asked Neji. "I don't even know why the Hokage wanted us to come here." Rile them up, make the three back there feel unwelcome. They'd do something stupid and cause further chaos.
Chaos, chaos, chaos was the word.
The Leaf needed to be on high alert for what came next. The ensuing scuffle would tip some hands, which would help later. Neji skimmed through the resulting conversations. He, Tenten, and Lee led the Raikage to the office. As he did, he considered how best to kill the Raikage off.
Under no circumstances was the Raikage leaving here alive. Damn world peace, and damn the Leaf. Neji would have his vengeance at the end of all this. The only question was how to factor it into pre-existing plans and make his failure complete.
Either way, Rock Lee and Tenten took his cue and kept a stony silence. The Cloud Ninja got glares wherever they went. Which was entirely deserved, but not nearly enough.
Either way, they came to the Hokage's office and halted. Neji turned to them. "This is the Hokage's main office. You and two others will be allowed to enter."
"Of course," said Raikage. "I'm surprised at you. Usually, the Leaf pretends to want eternal friendship before it sticks the knife in."
"I expect you'd receive a similar welcome anywhere else in the world," said Neji. "No one has forgotten how you built up arms when everyone else was disarming. Or how you routinely violated every rule and treaty using your superior as a threat.
"You had a decade of doing whatever you wanted. Everything that happens from here on out is on your head."
At that moment, Yamato and Anko landed. "Neji, you brought the Raikage here? But... he wasn't supposed to arrive for another hour."
"I sped up the pace when I neared the Leaf so as to avoid a welcoming committee," said the Raikage, seeming impressed. "Evidently, the Hokage is more observant than I gave him credit for."
"Why did you not simply ask that there not be a welcoming committee then?" asked Lee.
"Because he wanted to show off, obviously," said Tenten. "The Raikage was trying to prove we couldn't see him coming."
"I dunno, bro," said Killer Bee. "They seem pretty slow,
"Way I see it,
"The Hyuga be it,"
Neji clutched his head possible futures of hearing his obscene rapping assailed him. Endless echoes of rhymes and verses shot out in response—entire conversations.
"Are you okay?" asked Tenten.
"I just listened to a week's worth of his terrible rapping in a single moment," said Neji.
"...Wait, you've been listening to Killer Bee's rapping for weeks?" asked Yugito Nii, seeming somewhat horrified.
"Bee, perhaps you should speak normally," said Raikage.
Killer Bee shifted. "Right uh, sorry. I'll tone it down while in this town."
Blood dripped from Neji's left eye as he plotted grisly revenge. Soon.
"...Be that as it may, Neji, you met them here?" asked Yamato, moving up to him. "I guess it was good luck that you were at the gate."
"What are you talking about?" asked Neji. "The Hokage ordered me to do this. It's the only reason I went to the gate. I was in the office with Tenten and Lee and..." Neji halted. "And..." He looked up to the Hokage's office. "I haven't been here today. Tenten, Lee, you were with me when we were at the Hokage's office, weren't you?"
"Neji, you were the one who told us about the orders," said Tenten. "You barged into my apartment and disrupted our card game."
Neji halted.
As he stood there, he found himself looking at a myriad of different universes happening at once. Slowly but surely, he was losing his grip on this one and where he was now. Who was he? Was he the Neji Hyuga he saw before his eyes here?
If he could see possible futures and pasts, could he see possible presents? And if there were possible presents, they were all real. Slowly but surely, he found himself fall back. And then Neji saw himself hit the ground. Tenten ran to his side.
It had been such a good plan too.
"Oh no!" said Tenten. "Get Lady Tsunade, quick! The visions are overloading him!"
"Someone, get sedatives quickly," said Anko.
Neji found himself pulled along with his body at an increasing distance. He found he had less connection increasingly to himself as he did. Who was Neji Hyuga, really? Was Neji Hyuga just a body a formless spirit inhabited? Was anything around him really real at all?
He saw his plans continuing around him, but he was detached. Maybe Naruto and the rest would win; they did in some futures. Maybe they would lose. But did it really matter? Even if they didn't get the future they wanted, they would appear in a different timeline. Past, present, and future were very irrelevant.
All were happening at once around him in this chamber that was the universe.
Actually, Lady Tsunade was pulling out all the stops to try and save him. But then, she wouldn't be in different universes. So did it matter whether or not Neji chose to inhabit this one?
A profound sense of empathy consumed him.
What was a single timeline to him if all the timelines of the universe were around him? Even if he made one choice, he'd have made a different one in a different timeline. So...
Why was he still here?
Neji supposed he wanted things to work out with Tenten. He'd like to see where Naruto went with his plans. Perhaps he would like to see the Leaf saved and reformed and the Branch Clan restored. Except all of that was something else.
What did Neji want, really?
In the end, it was to not be a slave. But he was not actually a slave in this place, was he? Neji had no obligations here, no attachments. Nothing to force him to do anything.
It was an unsatisfying answer.
Neji looked at possible futures where he and Tenten ended up together. Then he saw the image of a Caged Bird Seal mar them. He saw a world where he tried to become free of his family, but his own conscience stopped him from destroying them. Neji saw himself embarking on the path of revenge, only become as much of a beast as the Raikage. Neji saw Naruto's promise to change the Hyuga and forget about it later.
That...
That made Neji very angry.
A morbid fixation kept Neji in this world rather than any practical hope for betterment. He hated this place, hated every stone of it. And the people left a great deal to be desired. And the part of him consumed by apathy more than anything wanted to just leave.
To finish, label it complete.
And yet...
To go on.
To persist in trying to save this worthless world, to save the people within it, when no one had asked him to. To do what was right, even knowing it would make no difference. To try and change the unchangeable simply because the way things were was wrong.
That would be the bravest and most heroic thing a person could do. Such an act would be greatness incarnate, even if no one was around to see it.
Grasping the narrow threads, Neji Hyuga became who he was.
His eyes opened. "Neji, you're awake, finally."
Lady Tsunade was by his side, and Neji found he was not seeing a dozen possible futures. "Yes, I am."
"I admit, that display may not have been the first thing we wanted," said Tsunade. "But, given the situation, I can hardly say I blame you."
"The Raikage only respects brute strength," said Neji. "Having someone tell him the truth to his face made him regard us as less weak. I've scanned the timelines; an early confrontation here helps in most."
"Neji, how many timelines have you been looking through?" asked Tsunade.
"Yes," said Neji, sitting up.
Tsunade looked furious for a moment. She had shed her green jacket and looked very good without it. "This is no time for sarcasm! You were hyperventilating when we got you in here. We had to temporarily seal your chakra points just to make it stop!
"I told you that you had to be careful in using the Kyuseishi Byakugan!
"Why have you been misusing it?"
"Lady Tsunade, in the past few weeks, I have done battle with five different S-ranked ninjas," said Neji. "In most of the timelines where I confronted them, my entire team died horribly.
"I've had to cycle through timelines just to keep us all alive. I got very good at it.
"And I started to use that future sight to observe my enemies in battle. I can memorize their fighting styles and learn their techniques through observation."
"And you thought you could do all that without consequence?" asked Tsunade.
"I'd say the result speaks for itself," said Neji. "Orochimaru has become an ally, the Akatsuki are almost defeated, and the Leaf is strong again."
"Right, and meanwhile, you, Neji Hyuga, are going on missions the Hokage gave you. In an alternate timeline," said Tsunade. "One where he was stupid enough to put you in the same room as the Raikage!"
Neji sighed and remembered it. Another blackness that existed outside of the timeline that he could not look into. "...Something much worse is coming, Lady Tsunade. Much worse.
"I've seen the image of a burning tree again and again. The threads of fate are all converging on the Leaf, and something... something is coming."
"Yes, well, I've shut down your Kyuseishu Byakugan for now," said Tsunade. "You have no ability to use it, and you will not be using it for at least a week. This is your doctor's orders."
"It doesn't matter," said Neji. "I already chose this chain of events anyway, so I should have already put the pieces in play."
"There is something else, Neji," said Tsunade. "I had the Yamanaka Clan examine your mind. You've been brainwashed by the Akatsuki."
"What?!" said Neji. He'd never...
How could he not have detected it?
"As far as I can tell, someone inlaid jutsu mind," said Tsunade. "We've never seen anything so effective before. They've been observing through your eyes for a long time. It's possible that they were prodding you to look through so many futures."
...Of course, whoever did it must have been controlling what he saw to set up a given chain of events. They would need to only have set things up in a way that he would have impulses to see things a certain way.
"Did you break it? asked Neji.
"Yes, fortunately," said Tsunade. "However, given the nature of your ability, you may not be out of the woods. If they were able to put such a jutsu in your mind, they might still be observing alternate timelines. As such, we need to seal your eyes for the moment."
Neji nodded. "...I see.
"That is a wise precaution. I suppose the rest will have to be up to normal footwork.
"How did you seal my future sight, but not my other abilities?"
"It was actually pretty impressive on my part," said Tsunade, smirking. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, drawing attention to them. "I deduced that an ordinary Byakugan only takes energy from the chakra network of the wielder. However, your variety draws in chakra from the surrounding area to power it. So, by limiting the rate at which that chakra can come in, no more future sight.
Though I admit, it wouldn't have been possible without Kabuto."
"Kabuto?" asked Neji, remembering some of his visions.
"Yes, that's me," said the man at the edge of the tent.
"Oh, you're here," said Tsunade.
"Yes, I am," said the bespectacled man. "I have some chakra patches to apply if you don't mind Lady Hokage."
"I'll apply them myself," said Tsunade.
Kabuto nodded and handed them to her.
"Kabuto," mused Neji. "Wasn't there an investigation into you about a year ago?"
"Oh yes, that," said Kabuto, adjusting his glasses. "It was an unfortunate mix-up. Mizuki, one of the schoolteachers at the academy, was found to be selling information. When interrogated, he implicated me.
"Obviously, I was found not guilty.
"Either someone impersonated me, or Mizuki was a very bad liar."
"Please excuse us," said Tsunade.
Kabuto left, and Tsunade turned to Neji and spoke. "Neji, turn around; I need to apply these to you."
"To what end?" asked Neji.
"You've been nearing chakra exhaustion for some time," said Tsunade. "I think that you were avoiding running out by drawing on the chakra in the air. Can you confirm?"
"Not consciously," admitted Neji. "But I have seen possible futures. It is revealed the Kyuseishi Byakugan can spend more chakra than it absorbs."
"Either way, you were overdoing it," said Tsunade, shaking her head. "I'm doing to have to apply these to you in order to ensure you can keep operating. No more missions for you."
"I understand," said Neji, getting down onto his stomach.
"Is that all you have to say? You could have died out there?!" said Tsunade in sudden anger. "You're too important to the Leaf and to me to just be thrown away!"
"As you wish," said Neji simply.
Tsunade began applying the patches to his back, one at a time. "...You know, for one whose motivation is resentment of control, you never disobey orders."
"Would it help?" asked Neji with a shrug.
"Don't you have any will to live, Neji?" asked Tsunade. "Anything you want to do with your life besides follow orders?"
"Would I be able to pursue it if there was?" asked Neji. "My path was determined from the moment a Caged Bird Seal was put on my head. Perhaps at birth. The most I have ever been able to do is gain some distance between myself and Hiashi. That, and tell them how I hold them in contempt without being killed.
"I've already exceeded my hopes for the future. And now that I am an asset to the Leaf, I have no time for dreams. I must either serve the Leaf or become a rogue ninja. And since I can be killed at will, becoming a rogue ninja is impractical."
"You can't just give up on life. You could still find love," said Tsunade.
"And put a Caged Bird Seal on their forehead and the foreheads of my children," noted Neji, seeing that future.
"Well, there are worthy causes," said Tsunade. "Naruto intends to change all this, to become Hokage. You could support him and-"
"Die so that the Hyuga subplot can be safely dropped?" asked Neji with a smile.
"Subplot?" asked Tsunade in shock.
"Oh, I've taken to observing possible futures by organizing visions. I sort relevant events into twenty-minute episodes," said Neji. "It helps a great deal in organizing.
"Naruto never does anything about the Hyuga Clan. Fixing it would require either ruthless action. Or political scheming he has no talent for. I'm usually just someone he clashes with early on as a starter antagonist and then forgets about."
"Naruto would not do that!" said Tsunade, finishing up.
"Not consciously, but there are always more important things to attend to," said Neji. He sat up. "Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, and Naruto focus on those. We meet up once or twice, we're friends, but nobody ever mentions the Caged Bird Seal again.
"In the end, the best I can do is die to bring him closer together with Hinata-
"Idiot!" said Tsunade, slapping him. "You're contradicting yourself! Think about what you are saying for a minute! You keep talking as if Naruto is just some pawn in a game! But if you're really in control of that game, then you've broken your own rules!
"Naruto had a fight with Hidan, didn't he? And as for infinite understanding, he hates Sasuke! His entire team is verging on collapse because of a personal vendetta!
"You might be saying that there is no possible escape and that everyone should just give up. But you are fighting against it too!"
Neji thought he'd been here before. He'd been in an arena a little later than now, and they had been fighting. "...No.
"No, no again. Not this time.
"People cannot change. They are who they were destined to be, regardless of the actions we take. All else is details." He stood up. "I'm going to go get some Ramen. Then I've got to figure out how to make this timeline work."
"You and me both. Just don't pick a fight with the Cloud," said Tsunade with a sigh.
Neji walked out.