The Wanderers
Chapter 31 – Neji – Personal Burdens
A/N: I know the antagonists of this series are very odd, compared to what normal bad guys in Naruto are like. So what I'm going to do is after this chapter and the Naru/Hina one, I'm going to write Lee's chapters. It is in his part of the story that the bad guys are mostly revealed. I want to thank everyone who gave feedback around this issue, it's a learning experience for me, so I'm sorry if its more convoluted then I meant it to be. There is a lot happening in this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be some lasting injuries.
***Previously-On***
After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.
After setting up the village to his specifications, Neji went to the capital town in the Land of Rice Fields to meet with the Daimyo. After taking a small detour to pray to a shrine for his supposedly deceased companions, he had an interesting conversation with a young girl before meeting the man face to face. He made a convincing case for his village, and with a few addendums the Daimyo agreed to his request, but only on one condition. Neji agreed to an arranged marriage with the man's daughter, and was pleasantly surprised that the girl was the same one he had spoken to earlier. With Yuko he found a kindred spirit, one that he hadn't expected to be so enamoured by considering their union was arranged. Several months later he discovered that she was pregnant with his children, which he was ecstatic about. With his ANBU with him, Neji travelled to the Fuuma clan complex, and after a set of battles convinced them that joining Otogakure was the best move.
***End Summary***
***Eighteen Months after Separation***
The white robed leader of Otogakure leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Come in."
A team of four shinobi apologised and entered the room, saluting as they took their positions in front of the long desk at the back of the room.
Neji reached out and showed them a piece of paper, taking note of their reactions to their mission. It wasn't that they were apprehensive; they just thought it was probably beneath them. They were relatively young, two of them were from the Fuuma clan and one was from the Nakaru clan, their leader a Jounin from the founding of the village.
"Do you understand? This is a very important mission for our village." Over the past year and a half Neji had perfected his 'leader' voice, which was both reassuring and commanding at the same time. It meant that even with his youthful appearance, he still came off as a wiser older shinobi.
The Jounin showed the sheet to his team, who all nodded in turn. He turned back to their leader and bowed respectfully, "This shouldn't be a problem, sir."
"Good." The Hyuuga crossed his arms with a slight frown, a look he had been adopting for a long time now. "If you require another team, get word back to us as quickly as possible and we will send a backup team."
"Yes sir."
They left the room and Neji sighed, leaning back in his chair again. "They better come back in one piece. I'm sick of losing my people."
"It's called being a good leader" came a voice from beyond the door.
Neji sighed again as the door opened, revealing a young woman walking into the room with a set of books in her hands.
"Don't give me another speech, Tenten. I get enough flak from my wife as it is."
The ex-Konoha shinobi dropped the books on his desk and placed her hands on her hips, staring straight into his white eyes. The musical symbol on her forehead protector was scratched and torn, but the projectile user refused to have it repaired. She was proud of what she had accomplished for her village.
"Don't play that card with me, Neji. You'll get no sympathy from me."
Neji smiled slowly, "You know, with that scar I can never tell if you are being serious or not."
His old companion scratched her face absentmindedly, her fingers running over the old scar on her lip that set her face in a constant smirk. "It's called being deceptive, Neji. I never hear the others complain."
Her leader shook his head and stood up from his chair, turning around to look through the glass at the village he had created. After a year and a half they were several hundred shinobi strong, and Otogakure had enjoyed remarkable success as a shinobi village, yet Neji still felt it wasn't enough. When he had heard about Shikamaru and the other's survival he was initially overjoyed. But after listening to the council of his top shinobi and his extremely wise wife, Neji decided that it was best that their village continued to progress in secrecy.
"I just sent those four on a mission…they might not come back from. I can understand why some people would want to be in a powerful position like mine, but the burdens of leadership are quite heavy."
He continued to stare out across the night as Tenten joined him beside the window. "I don't know what it's like, so I can't give you any advice. Have you talked to Yuko about this?"
Neji turned his white-eyed gaze to his old teammate with a frown attached, "While she might be used to her condition, my wife has enough on her mind. Being that pregnant has taken its toll on her."
Tenten responded by slapping him lightly across the shoulder with a laugh. She was the only one besides Yuko that got away with treating him so casually; Neji was treated with a large amount of respect by his subordinates.
"That's what you get." She looked at the clock on the wall for a few seconds before gasping. "Damn, I'm going to be late again!"
"Your six-month anniversary dinner?"
Despite being unable to control most of her mouth movements, Tenten was able to convey her amusement easily to her old friend. "You know, that's always going to be creepy. Knowing everything that's happening in the village is kind of weird."
"You haven't shut up about it for the past week. Don't be giving me grief; I can give you kitchen duty if I wanted to."
It was the same banter they always had; their relationship hadn't changed since their days in Konoha. They both wondered how those they hadn't heard from were going, they were both concerned about Lee and the others, but they tried to keep positive.
"Then no-one would operate the forge, and you know that. I should go. Kidomaru isn't the most patient person in the world."
"No, he's not." Neji grinned again at the reminder of his ANBU shinobi. "I don't think I'll ever understand what brought the two of you together. You two are so different."
Tenten scoffed and walked across the room, opening the door slowly. "I'm just going to say one thing. Six arms."
"Get out of my office."
He tried to make it sound like a joke, but out of all the images he wanted in his mind that was far from his preferences.
Tenten laughed again and shut the door behind her, leaving Neji to sit back down at his desk and begin sorting through the reports in front of him. Their intelligence network had grown substantially, and the amount of dirt they had begun to gather was substantial.
Several hours later Neji groaned as he emerged from his bathroom with a towel around his waist. He lived above his office since he spent so much time in that area, and with a long day of giving out missions and reading reports he was exhausted.
"Long day?"
Neji smiled as he saw the silk-covered form of his young silver-white haired wife. She stood at the window in their bedroom wearing a long black silk dress. Neji had no clue as to why she liked wearing black so much, but he found it a fascinating contrast to his white robes.
"Same as usual. Not as hard as yours, I'll bet."
She smiled with both her lips and violet eyes as her husband of over a year walked over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. As was their custom over the past few months he helped her to their large bed and let her rest her head on his chest. They both placed their hands on her large belly and smiled; it was only a few months before they would be getting a new addition to their family.
Neither of them had expected it, but after nearly a year and a half of marriage they found that they truly loved each other. It wasn't just a physical relationship, as Neji might have suspected initially. He found that Yuko filled in the aspects he wasn't good at, and was adept at getting the tense Hyuuga to relax.
A short knock on the door broke their little moment together, Neji sighing as he thought it was another problem he would have to mediate. The Nakaru and the Chiza clans had been working well since their inception into the village, but the number of little squabbles between the clans was enough to give Neji a migraine.
He went to get up, but Yuko refused to move, preferring to cover the both of them with a blanket and call out for the person to enter. The door swung open and an old woman walked in with an exasperated look on her face.
Her entry caused both of the expecting parent's faces to light up, but that wasn't because of her personally. It was the pair of eight-month old babies in her arms.
"They wanted to spend the night. Is that okay, sir?"
Neji grinned slightly, he'd told her that as his children's nurse she didn't need to address him in such a manner, but she never listened. "Of course. Yuko and I will make room in the bed."
Both of the children were fast asleep when they were placed under the blankets, but that didn't stop their parents from doting on them. Their boy had short spiky white hair and was the picture of his mother, despite both of them having inheriting Neji's eyes. Their daughter had Neji's black hair, but beyond that and her eyes she looked nothing like either of her parents or her twin brother.
The nurse excused herself and left the family to their own devices. As Neji watched the sleeping faces of his children, he couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride. He hated that he wasn't there at their birth, but every second he spent with them was a joy he never thought he would experience.
"Soon they'll be walking around by themselves" commented Yuko softly. She cooed quietly as Neji massaged her shoulders.
"And then another one will be here. We should think of a name for the new baby before it is born."
They decided not to know the sex of the baby until it was born. The first time they hadn't even realised that she had been carrying twins, but it worked out perfectly in settling their original arguments over what to name their children.
Their little girl had been named Akari, after one of Yuko's childhood friends that had died when she was young. Their son was named Hizashi, after Neji's father. He felt it an appropriate sentiment, considering his Hyuuga lineage and how his father had been such an important role model for him.
Yuko nodded slowly and nuzzled her head into his chest. "After this one, let's not have another one for a while, okay? I'd like to spend some time not being pregnant, if that's okay."
Her husband kissed her on the forehead, but before he could respond he saw that she was fast asleep, just like their children.
Neji couldn't help but smile and stare at the family he had created lying in bed with him.
Even before leaving Konoha to compete in the Chuunin Exams, I could never have imagined myself in this kind of position. A loving and beautiful wife, two amazing children, with another on the way.
Despite the circumstances that had led him to this point, Neji was extremely grateful at his current situation. He was not a man easily impressed, but living as the leader of Otogakure and as a husband was more than he could ever have asked for.
A week later Neji watched the last council member enter the room. He nodded at the robed man's bow and indicated for him to take his seat. They had this meeting once a week, Neji liked to keep the leaders of the village informed about what was happening in the village, it also gave him a reason to sort out any internal issues that might have arisen.
The council of Otogakure was made up of six members. Neji as the leader of the village, the three current heads of the clans that made up the bulk of the village, Yuko as a representative of the civilian and Daimyo's interests, and Jin as the elected representative of the non-clan associated shinobi of the village.
Despite being heavily pregnant, Yuko still took to her job in gusto. If anything, people found she was more effective when she had less time to do things.
The clock on the wall ticked past the hour, signalling for the meeting to begin.
Before any of the clan heads could speak, Neji placed up a hand to silence them. "Before you say anything, I have a few things to clear up."
Standing behind him, his secretary silently passed him a sheet of paper, to which Neji nodded his thanks while placing it in front of him.
"Our current forces stand at four hundred and thirty one shinobi. With our ANBU now at thirty, and our number of Jounin increasing, we are almost at a level of strength that we can make ourselves properly known to the shinobi world. We have been operating like we are still Orochimaru's personal army, but that time is almost over."
The clan head of the Chiza crossed his arms with a frown, "And then what? You haven't exactly been forthright on what the next stage of the plan is."
"I know that Touro, and in a few weeks it will be made clear. I simply wanted to give you the outline." He indicated to the three clan heads with a wave. "You all have things you want discussed, I know that. But for now I want you all to take a look at this. This is something we've only been able to confirm in the past month."
He made his way across the floor to the side wall beside the large table in the room. Flicking a switch on the wall, he waited until the map on the wall appeared completely before extending a pointer and indicating to the map.
The other council members didn't bother to hide their surprise, but Neji cut them off. "This is what we know."
"Konoha was destroyed over two years ago. As far as we know, there is no shinobi presence in the Land of Fire. But that isn't the main point."
He pointed to the Land of Wind. "To this day, the Hidden Village of Sand has been attacked thirteen times. It began with an attack by one of their own, but after that we haven't gotten any more intel about who is attacking them, and why they are so persistent. Suna is holding, for now, but their forces are dwindling."
"Are we going to render assistance?" asked Arashi, the clan head of the Fuuma. He was the most level-headed of the clan heads, and Neji was constantly impressed with his efforts in improving the village.
"No. Unless they ask specifically, I would rather not expose our infiltrators to save another village that could become an enemy later on down the track. Some of my old companions are in that village, they can handle themselves."
Neji indicated to the next point of interest on the map. "Something that we all know, but it is worth mentioning again since we have new information. Kumogakure was attacked a year ago, this we know. What I can tell you, that we've discovered, is that they were almost destroyed by the invasion. We don't know how they survived, because our information suggests that it wasn't a shinobi force that attacked them."
Jin snorted, leaning back in his chair. "Are they that soft?"
"It's not like that. I suspect it was the same force that destroyed Konoha. Something is moving in this world, and I don't know what or who it is. Coupling with the uprising in the Land of Earth, things are very odd in the world of shinobi." Neji didn't hide his apprehension, it was extremely unsettling, especially considering the information he wasn't telling them either.
He pointed back to the map, trying to keep his voice level. "This is the main point of contention. Something extreme happened in our world and it was so well covered up that we had to pay a small fortune to get the bribes necessary to get this information."
He let out a slow breath.
"The Hidden Rain, the Hidden Moon, the Hidden Star, the Hidden Grass, the Hidden Haze, the Hidden Waterfall."
He hesitated momentarily, not sure how he should frame the next bit. Before he could however, the clan head of the Nakaru spoke up. "What about those villages? They are all pretty minor, except probably the Hidden Rain and Hidden Grass."
Neji placed his pointer across both his hands and stared straight at his gathered council members.
"Over the past year all those villages have been destroyed."
For the first time in a while, there was dead silence in their council room. None of them seemed to believe what Neji had said, but considering the massive increase in the number of missions given to them as a village from their Daimyo it made a scary amount of sense. Yuko wasn't surprised, Neji had told her previously. He didn't keep anything from his wife, primarily because she was so very good at getting him to talk.
Eventually they recovered from their shock enough to have a proper discussion about the implications.
"What does this mean?" asked the Chiza clan head.
"Are we next?"
Neji shook his head at Arashi, "The other villages don't even know we are here. We have gotten no inclination that we are a target just yet. However I've had several teams booby-trapping the old village in case that gets attacked. Our survival is the most important thing we have going for us."
"So we don't know anything about this enemy, why they are attacking shinobi, or even if they can be stopped? All that effort into an information network seemed to have gone to waste, sir."
"That's not true, Touro. We do know some things. As you know, last month I declared the Land of Fire a dead-zone for our shinobi. This is why. We have nothing substantial, but it is the only reason why they would destroy Konoha first besides fear. Whoever this enemy is, I believe they are using the Land of Fire as a staging area. That's why any shinobi that are sent there or pass through don't return."
He sat back down at his seat and watched his shinobi leaders begin to discuss their concerns among themselves. As much as he trusted Dosu as the head of their intelligence division of the ANBU, the information seemed so unbelievable it was hard to swallow. Judging from the pattern of attacks, and going by some of the shinobi that they had lost in the Land of Fire to unknown reasons, Neji had come to a frightening conclusion that he dared not share with his companions, lest it cause panic.
Someone wanted to destroy the world of shinobi, and they were succeeding.
"I have an obvious question." They all turned to the heavily pregnant Yuko, who blushed slightly. She'd been flushed for most of the day, but that didn't stop her from wanting to contribute. "What villages are left, and should we be seeking alliances with them?"
A smile slowly came over Neji's face. It was something he'd wanted the other shinobi to come up with, but Yuko had clearly sensed they weren't going to come up with it on their own.
He turned their attention back to the map from his seated position, "At this time, seven. The big four: Suna, Iwa, Kumo and Kiri are still the major powers, but they have been losing people as well. The other two are the Hidden Snow, who have yet to reveal themselves completely but we know they are still strong, and the Hidden Water, which we all know about."
The other shinobi grumbled their acknowledgement. They had all had 'dealings' with the Hidden Water in the past, none of them friendly. Neji had tried to keep diplomatic with the troublesome village, but his patience had worn thin as well. They were on the verge of war with the smaller village.
Jin shook his head slowly in disbelief, "It's hard to comprehend. That must be nearly a thousand shinobi, gone. We haven't seen such numbers since the last Shinobi World War. At least then, we knew who we were fighting."
They all nodded in agreement, while Neji's secretary passed him another sheet of paper. He skimmed it quickly, and by the time he reached the numbers he felt a violent need to throw up.
Instead he chose to swear loudly and slam a fist into the table.
The conversation within the room stopped immediately, and they all turned to face their leader.
Yuko reached out from her position beside him and lightly touched his arm. "What is it?"
Neji slowly stood up from his chair, not bothering to hide the furious look on his face. "Too far…they've gone too far…"
He flipped around and glared out at the village, his fists both clenched in a rage. Behind him, the shinobi turned around the piece of paper to see what had incised him so. They all collectively gasped when they saw what had happened.
Touro Chiza rocketed out of his chair in outrage, "How could they…all those people…"
"It's unthinkable. No human could do this…"
Jin scanned over the numbers with a scowl, "We are going to get them for this, right? You have some sort of plan, right?"
"Calm down! We can't do anything if we don't think rationally." Arashi was the calmest in the room, but the anger was clear in his voice.
Yuko was calm as well, but she was immensely saddened by the news. "Those poor people. They did nothing to deserve that…"
"Was it because of our shinobi? Was our presence the factor in them doing this to that town?"
"Sir, what are we going to do?"
"Hyuuga-sama!"
"Sir? What is the plan?"
"ENOUGH!" Neji's raised voice was enough to shake the table in the room, and later he would realise that doing so with his heavily pregnant wife in the room was a bad idea. But for now, he needed his most important people to be focused.
He turned around and regarded his people, trying not to look his concerned wife in the eyes.
"Call all our shinobi in the field back to the village. Every mission is cancelled unless it is deep-undercover and at least an A rank or higher. Dismissed."
The three clan heads bowed their acknowledgements and disappeared from the room. Jin lingered for a moment and walked around the table. "You have a plan?"
Neji nodded slowly, closing his eyes as it became clear to him what he needed to do.
"We will march across the countryside, attack the Village of Water, and burn it to the ground."
Jin threw him a quick salute, "Yes sir. Anything else?"
His leader considered it for a moment before regarding the shinobi with a serious expression.
"I want every Jounin and higher in our forces in the meeting hall by the end of the week. We need strategies, defences and planning."
His shinobi nodded and disappeared, leaving Neji alone with his concerned wife. The Hyuuga leader slowly retook his seat, sighing as he looked back at the details on the report.
"Will we be going to war?" Yuko sounded surprisingly calm to Neji, but he knew she was hiding her stresses.
"You can't talk me out of it. This won't stand."
She smiled sweetly and took one of his hands into hers. "I won't. This is something we have to do."
Neji stared at the four photos attached to the report with a heavy heart. "I knew this was going to happen. When I sent them on that low ranked mission…I had such a bad feeling…"
"You can't blame yourself. They did their duty, you know that."
He tried to smile, but couldn't bring himself to actually feel anything other than outrage at the situation. Even if they had been normal civilians he hadn't known, no-one deserved that kind of treatment.
They sat in the room for a few minutes silently, while Neji tried to work out how they were going to work his declaration.
"Neji…"
He turned to his wife slowly, "What is it, Yuko?"
She frowned, something she rarely did, taking the report from his hands and looking at some of the smaller details from the scout that had given them the information. "What if this is a set-up? To force you to destroy another village that the enemy could not?"
Neji had thought of that, but the evidence was overwhelming against the Village of Water. "Perhaps it is. It certainly will work out for them in any case. But we can't let this attack on our people, and our civilians go without a response. I refuse to let any of my people go unavenged."
The next day Neji had buried himself into his work when a loud knock on his door caused him to lose concentration on the report he was reading.
"What is it?" he snapped to the empty office door.
It opened slowly and his expression immediately changed upon seeing the silver-white hair he had come to love. "I'm sorry, Yuko. It's been one of those days."
His wife smirked as she let herself into his office. "It's okay."
Neji smiled back, and then frowned when he saw a woman enter with her. She wore a Sound forehead protector, but Neji didn't recognise her. He had made a point of personally analysing and assessing each of his shinobi, he was a micro-manager at heart, but she didn't resonate with him at all.
"Who is this?"
Yuko just shook her head and turned to the woman, "This is what I'm talking about. Can you do anything about it?"
The woman bowed respectfully to the pregnant leader, "I'll have to do an analysis first."
Neji stared at his wife through tired eyes, but before he could ask again she placed up her hands. "She's our head doctor, husband. She's here about that thing we've been talking about."
He continued to look at her with a blank expression; he had no idea what she was talking about. Trusting his wife, he indicated for her to proceed, sighing as he rubbed his eyes.
The doctor bowed slightly and moved around his desk, placing her hands around his head. "Sir you'll need to relax so that I can get a proper analysis."
"What is this about, Yuko? I have a lot of work to do."
His wife of a year and a half moved some of the papers on his desk and sat opposite him, taking one of his hands into hers. "It's about the memory problems you've been having, dear. We talked about it the other night; you were really concerned about it."
Ignoring the blue aura around his head, Neji nodded slightly. "Okay then. But it can't take long; I have a class to teach in twenty minutes."
Yuko grinned and straightened out her skirt. "You don't have to teach every taijutsu class you know. We have people who can do that."
"That's not the point. It's…look we'll talk about it later, okay?"
A few minutes later the doctor stopped her analysis and began to write on her clipboard, but Yuko shook her head. She told the doctor this was strictly off the books; they didn't want the other shinobi knowing anything about something that was wrong with their leader.
The doctor hesitated, but agreed to keep it to herself. She stood back slightly so that she could speak to both of them. "I've completed my analysis, and all I can tell is that I'm not sure. The section of your brain that contains memories has a small number of burnt-out neurons, but there is nothing to explain how they might have happened. It would explain some long-term amnesia though."
Neji took a slow breath and leaned back in his chair. "Are you telling me that I'm going to be like this forever?"
"Long-term memories, once embedded, cannot be recovered if lost. Even if they somehow are retrieved, they cannot be completely recovered."
He looked over at his wife, who seemed to be taking it all in fairly well. It was likely that she suspected it was something like that, and while he was grateful to her for bringing the doctor, he would have liked to have done it without worrying her.
"How detrimental are we talking here?" he asked quietly.
The doctor considered what she had analysed for a moment before looking at him grimly. "In the short-term, it shouldn't be so bad. You'll very occasionally forget names, perhaps locations, but nothing to suggest you aren't at full strength."
Neji nodded his acknowledgement and placed his hands together, contemplating what he had heard. "I think I know what has caused this problem. Can you do another analysis?"
She looked at him curiously, but moved to place her hands around his head again anyway. "I'm not sure what more I could look at though."
The blue aura appeared around his head, and once Neji knew she was in position he pushed his eyes through to their second stage. His black and white eyes instantly began taking in massive amounts of information while the doctor analysed his brain.
She kept her surprise to herself, and after twenty seconds she told him to cancel the technique and try to relax. He complied without a word, while staring at his wife with a sly grin. She frowned at his look but didn't say anything as the doctor continued her work.
After another minute she sat back down and looked at Neji straight. "Your assumption is correct. In those twenty seconds you had that technique active, I could see clear degeneration of your neural tissue. The flood of information was literally burning out the other memories to compensate."
Neji sighed; he didn't want to hear that. "So I can't use the Kuroi Byakugan then?"
"I didn't say that. I said those were the consequences. There was a short period of time through which there was no damage, you could use it for that and then cancel it to prevent further memory loss."
"How long?"
"Two seconds."
He snorted, that might be enough for the technique to get some information but it was hardly combat effective if it was only used for two seconds. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."
The doctor bowed to him and Yuko before taking her leave. Yuko waited until she was gone before asking Neji what he thought.
"To be honest, I'm relieved it's that" he responded quietly. "It means I have control over how this affects me, and by how much. I don't have to worry about getting worse until I need to."
She smiled and stood up off his desk, giving him a light kiss on the cheek before moving around the desk. She was due for another check-up at their hospital, and despite Neji reminding her that she didn't need to; she liked keeping herself busy with work.
"You seem pretty calm, for someone who has just been told he is losing his mind."
Neji just grinned and picked up the report he had been working on, pulling out a pen to begin writing again. He waited until his wife had left his office before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling.
It does concern me, this is true. I've overused the Kuroi Byakugan over the past year and a half, but it has been necessary. I'll likely have to do the same for the next while as well. Especially if this attack requires it.
But how can I complain? It just showed me I'm having another son.
The distance between Otogakure and the Village of Water was surprisingly short, though Neji was grateful that they were able to catch a scout and re-establish their estimation on where their enemy resided. Two days across the country and they found themselves behind a hill looking at the small shinobi village.
It was a third the size of their village, and by Neji's estimation their standing force was around eighty shinobi of around Chuunin strength or higher.
He had left a full quarter of his shinobi in charge of the defence of his village, all specialised in defensive techniques. He had also set up a communication seal that would be able to instantly tell them if their village was under attack, and he took comfort in the fact that they were only four hours away at break-neck pace.
He wiped the water off of his face and stared back at the village. It had been his intention to attack immediately upon reaching the enemy village, but his closest advisors had indicated that invading a village called the Village of Water, while it is pouring down rain, is not the best tactical manoeuvre.
They had been waiting and holding their current position for the past two hours, both waiting for the rain to finish and to recover their strength. He watched his shinobi silently preparing themselves for battle, the general cheer and laughter that usually came between his shinobi was gone, replaced with the grim realisation that they were not here to do good things.
Neji had given a speech to all his shinobi before leaving Otogakure, reminding them that they were fighting an enemy that had destroyed their own, and this was something he couldn't forgive. They had all cheered when he had led them out of the village, and on the way he had made sure that there were no participants that were apprehensive about the attack.
They all wanted to avenge their companions. And none of them thought it was an overreaction.
"Bah, why is there so much damn rain…"
Neji felt a smirk come onto his face as he looked over at his forgemaster, seeing her wring out her hair with several unseemly words under her breath.
Beside her Kidomaru flicked a wrist and produced a wide umbrella, holding it over the young girl with a charismatic smile. She nodded back to him and thanked him for his help, since she was still unable to smile any more than her forced smirk allowed.
"My pleasure" responded the six-armed shinobi.
Behind the two of them the pink-haired ANBU shinobi let out a short scoff, "Can the two of you take your shit elsewhere? Some of us would like to fight without that image in our heads."
It was hard not to recognise Tayuya, even while she wore her ANBU mask that appeared positively demonic. She was the only one of the current ANBU who wore such a mask.
Just to spite her, Kidomaru and Tenten displayed a show of affection that caused even the fool-mouthed shinobi to blush, which was surprisingly easy to tell despite her mask.
"So what are we going to do sir?"
Neji turned to see his intelligence officer standing beside him, with his squad behind him. Dosu had been one of the first to adopt a group of shinobi to work under him, and while he was a strict leader he seemed to bring the most out of his people.
"We wait an hour for the rain to stop; if it doesn't then we move to strike anyway. I don't want them to have any more time to set up their defences before we attack."
"Do you think they know of our movements?" Dosu already knew the answer, but he wanted to see if Neji knew. They had an interesting relationship, one of both equals and non-equals.
"If they don't, then this will be far easier than I expect. Always assume your enemy has prepared at least somewhat for your approach."
"Of course. We'll be ready to move on your mark."
oOoOoOo
Neji never professed towards being a genius when it came to tactics, but enough study had rendered him well equipped to handle such an engagement. They had split their attack into three venues. The left-hand side would be taken care of by a quarter of their force, led by Sakon and Ukon. The other side was to be attacked from afar, which was to be led by Kidomaru and Tenten. The remainder of the shinobi force was going to attack the village head-on. Neji was going to lead that attack himself.
Several of his subordinates had expressed concern over their leader placing himself in harm's way, but Neji had reminded them that he would never place one of them in danger without willing to put himself there.
True to his prediction, the rain didn't let up one bit. They had located several scouting parties, but the bulk of the Village of Water shinobi had gathered in their village.
It wasn't a castle, nor did it look particularly well defended, but the Sound shinobi knew better. What they lacked in numbers, the enemy shinobi made up for in both cunning and brutality.
So when Neji's forces attacked the village with over three hundred shinobi, it wasn't that he was aiming for overkill, it was that he wasn't the type to underestimate his opponents, not anymore.
He commanded the two side groups to move into position before ordering his Jounin in his attack group to prepare their shinobi.
"Sir, if I might speak to you for a moment."
Neji nodded and indicated for Jin to stand beside him. They had all given up on shielding themselves from the rain, though the women seemed to be having a worse time than the men. "What is wrong?"
"I have a concern about this attack." Jin hadn't said anything before, and wasn't known for this kind of thing, so he caught Neji's attention.
The Hyuuga leader indicated for him to keep it down so that the others couldn't hear, but motioned for him to continue regardless.
"This has all the indications of an enemy trap. I kept it to myself for the most part, but I felt it was something I wanted to share with you. Something doesn't feel right here."
"I agree. But this is something we have to do." Neji no longer had a seething rage in his voice; instead it was replaced with a cold fury.
"Have we tried negotiation?"
Neji simply glared at his subordinate. "It's a matter of respect and honour, Jin. We tried to keep the peace, and they bit us time and time again. I won't tolerate anything they have done."
Jin grinned slowly, "I agree. Just wanted to make sure we are on the same page."
"I don't know how your wife puts up with you, Jin."
"You should hear the things the women say about you."
Neji just shook his head, "Get into line, Jin."
He waited until the moment was just right before turning to his shinobi.
"This won't be fun. This won't be easy. But it is necessary."
He indicated to the village.
"No quarter."
Neji trusted his shinobi enough that he didn't watch the entire battlefield through his black and white vision from his Byakugan. He instead concentrated on the people he was personally leading, on the main area they were attacking.
From what he saw, there were about half the enemy forces standing against them, just over forty shinobi. The small skirmishes they had been having with the Village of Water rarely ended in their defeat, so it wasn't surprising to him that their forces were so depleted.
Despite this, Neji waved forward the two hundred shinobi at his side. He didn't wait for them to move past him, choosing to charge forward himself with his arms rapidly running through a large set of handseals.
His orders had been for each unit of shinobi to follow their leader's orders, who in turn were to follow the ANBU's orders. They all had their own set of objectives to complete, but ultimately they were there to destroy the village and its inhabitants.
Before calling for the attack, Neji had checked and felt a wave of relief that there weren't any older people or small children in the village, meaning he didn't have to worry about collateral damage.
It was a sound that he would never forget. All his shinobi charged forward at once, each activating their own techniques while defending themselves from the defender's thrown projectiles.
Neji nodded wordlessly to the bodyguard by his side, silently informing Jiroubo to cover his own approach while he completed his technique.
The ANBU shinobi nodded in response and clapped his hands together, sending a massive chunk of earth straight into the side wall of the shinobi village. The Village of Water shinobi tried to stop the attack, but Neji slammed a hand outwards, sending a large pressure vacuum of chakra into the massive projectile.
The combination attack obliterated an entire section of the village, allowing their shinobi to advance into the village without too much opposition. Neji swore under his breath as he saw a Fuuma shinobi fall to the ground, having been impaled by a thrown spear from the wall. He was thankful that the offender was destroyed immediately by a dozen Fuuma clansmen, but it still hurt to see someone die for his war.
He leapt onto the wall from the ground below, using several spikes of chakra to deflect thrown projectiles before landing and immediately defending himself from two attackers coming at him with raised swords.
He ducked underneath a head-high swing and rapidly tapped the chakra points in the attacker's throat, closing up his wind-pipe permanently before spinning around and slamming a closed fist into the stomach of the other shinobi about to attack him.
As Neji helped him to the ground, making sure that his strike hadn't killed his attacker before indicating to one of his subordinates that had joined him on the wall.
"Find out what he knows, and tell me yesterday" he ordered, already on his way into the main portion of the village and expanding his view to see how the battle was faring.
It was one of the most one-sided battles he had ever fought in, from what he could see. While the Village of Water shinobi might have the territory advantage and the weather advantage to enhance their techniques, the sheer number of enemies combined with their superior abilities made the battle almost laughably short.
The long range group from one side had encountered a reinforcement party that they had identified earlier, but had taken care of their objectives without suffering a single casualty. As per Neji's orders they hadn't left any of them alive, and while he could see some of his shinobi weren't so happy about the order, none of them hesitated. They all wanted their revenge for their companions.
On the other side, it was a massacre that nearly turned Neji's stomach. Sakon and Ukon didn't waste any time destroying the small amount of resistance that had been set against them. There were barely any remains to recognise that they had been in a fight, but Neji was satisfied that they hadn't suffered any casualties either.
A group of shinobi appeared at his side, each of them bowing in respect while making sure there were no other enemies around.
"Sir, I have the information you asked for."
Their Hyuuga leader continued to stare around the complex while indicating for the shinobi to make his report.
"The leader of the village is hiding out in a small encampment several miles away. His best shinobi are there."
"So he abandoned his village to save his own skin. The bastard."
Neji smiled grimly as he saw the majority of his forces coming together around him. He nodded in acknowledgement and waited until all the leaders were in position before relaying his next set of orders.
"Find anything valuable in the village and return it back to Otogakure. I want this village gone by the end of the day."
He indicated to three of his main shinobi. "Jin, Tayuya, Jiroubo, I want the three of you to come with me. We are going to find and destroy their leader, making it as if their village had never existed."
His shinobi bowed in acknowledgement and went about their work, while Neji moved out of the village with his three bodyguards.
He figured it would have been wiser to take more people with him, but he wanted to find a few things out from their leader, which meant minimising who could hear it. He also wanted their forces to return to Otogakure as quickly as possible, in case one of his horror scenarios came true.
"They don't look that tough…"
"Grow a pair of balls, Jin. Go home to your woman, you sissy."
"Guys…teamwork…condescension…blah blah blah."
Neji just shook his head and concentrated on the group in front of them. He knew Jiroubo had started to give up on telling his companions off for their lack of teamwork. It was partly because he knew that they never listened, but it was also because he was just tired of dealing with Tayuya's crap.
"Why are we waiting? Shouldn't we just take them out? I want to go home."
"To go back to that boy-toy of yours?"
"Screw you, Jin. At least I'm getting some."
"Would the two of you shut up for five seconds to let me concentrate?" Neji had a headache that could crack a boulder, and he didn't want to deal with them either.
"Sorry sir."
"Yeah"
Neji analysed the situation with his regular Byakugan, taking note of the small group of shinobi a hundred metres away from them. They obviously knew of their presence, since there were four shinobi standing in defensive positions around the shinobi that was clearly the leader. He looked like he was wearing a bizarre parody of the Kage robes that the Sandaime used to wear.
I doubt he is of Kage-level strength, but his bodyguards are clearly Jounin. I should have brought more people with me.
Neji expanded his vision, noticing two shinobi hiding a short distance away with their hands placed in unusual handseals. He nodded his approval at the tactic; it was clever for what they were trying to do. But with Konoha destroyed, they had no idea there was a sensory type like Neji faced against them. He had made special care to not let it out beyond the Land of Rice Fields that he was in charge of Otogakure, and control over their level of information was the key to Neji's long term plan. He knew it was controlled because of the spies placed in the other villages, but after this attack he knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to admit their level of strength to the world.
Which may bring that enemy onto our heads. I still need another year or so.
He turned to his three shinobi and gave them their orders.
oOoOoOo
The enemy shinobi all frowned as they heard slightly alluring flute music coming from all around them. They seemed to recognise that it didn't make sense in relation to their rain-heavy environment, but before they could do anything they were under attack.
Neji appeared within their ranks out of nowhere and slammed his fingers into the leader's body, causing him to slump down to the ground. The four shinobi around him raised their weapons to avenge their leader, but found themselves unable to move. Standing with his back to his leader, Jin slowly sheathed his sword, waiting until the blade was completely sheathed before letting the shinobi fall apart from the dozens of slashes he had given them.
Tayuya stood up from her hidden position and sighed, placing her flute back into her pocket and putting her hands on her hips. "That was far too easy. Why are we even bothering with these losers?"
Neji ignored her and watched through his Byakugan as Jiroubo destroyed the other two shinobi with his Earth techniques from underground, acknowledging that the battle was over before looking back at the unconscious leader.
He tapped him twice on each limb before slapping him awake. The leader's eyes snapped open, but he couldn't even move an inch. He resolved to spit at Neji's robe and glare at him hatefully.
The Otogakure leader shook his head and wiped the spit off of his clothes. "Don't give me that. You knew this was coming. You couldn't not know."
"Screw you. We did what we knew to be right!"
Neji didn't change his expression, but he was surprised at the leader's reaction. Not about what he said, but what his eyes were telling him.
This isn't a butcher wanting more land or power. He has the same attitude that I do right now.
"Before you die, why did you destroy one of our towns? Slaughter our people and abuse our shinobi? It makes no sense. Did you want to die?"
Despite being immobilised, the leader still found the ability to laugh at Neji's confusion. It was a pained and angry sound, with the Hyuuga leader unable to sense any begging in his voice.
"We…only did what you did to us. They…they will come for you…" He laughed again. "You are going to die, just like we did. There is no place for us anymore…"
He continued to laugh incoherently, causing Neji to stand up slowly and turn around to regard his shinobi. "He's mad. Tayuya, use your genjutsu to extract as much information as you can, then kill him."
The pink-haired ANBU let out a tsk, but pulled out her flute again and kneeled down opposite the leader.
Jin reattached his sheathed sword to his belt and noticed the look on his leader's face. "Something on your mind, chief?"
The Otogakure leader looked over at his most experienced Jounin with a sigh, "I don't know what's going on in our world, but it can't be good. Will we become like this lot? Mad and slaughtered in mass numbers?"
"We'd tell you if you were going mad, you know that. The stuff you've done for our village is far more than any of us could have imagined."
"Thanks. Let's go home. I'm sick of this country."
***Nineteen Months after Separation***
Even as the leader of a shinobi village, Neji had felt an overwhelming need to have a day off. It wasn't his suggestion, but Yuko had delighted in informing him that he was to have a day of 'rest and recuperation'.
He sat on the roof of his office and watched the village quietly. It was fairly late in the afternoon, and many of the families were gathering to have dinner together. After their attack on the Village of Water things had quietened down considerably, but the missions were still coming in. He'd just finished a negotiation with the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water, meaning that their income would increase again.
Despite being his 'day off' he still found himself preoccupied with what had happened in the attack. While he had tried to dismiss the leader's comments as the ravings of a madman, he couldn't shake the feeling that they needed to be stronger, and it needed to happen quicker than they had been going.
That goes for me too. The progress of the ANBU is astounding, and I need to be better.
"Aren't you meant to be 'relaxing'?"
Neji let out a short laugh and indicated for the voice to join him. "This is relaxing for me."
Tenten sat down beside him and sighed, her hands were still sore from her metalworking. "Just when I think I've got you figured out. Did you give any thought to what I suggested?"
"Yeah. You made a good point, but the timing is wrong."
"What makes you think that?" Tenten enjoyed a unique position amongst the Sound shinobi, and Neji often used her as a soundboard for his more outlandish ideas. She had a fresh perspective that was in contrast to both the ANBU and Yuko a majority of the time.
"We know the positions of what…five of them? While you and I would both like to see our friends again…I think it would draw too much attention to us."
"It bothers you that Naruto and Hinata haven't been found, doesn't it?"
Neji smiled, he'd already had this conversation with his wife. "My cousin can handle herself. And even so, I know Naruto wouldn't let anything happen to her. What bothers me are the others: Lee, Kakashi, Itachi…all of them. There are so many things happening that I worry they might have been caught up in it like we have."
"Yeah. You'd think Lee would have found us by now."
"Regardless, I know what I have to do. It might take a year or more, but we'll find our friends again. All of them."
Tenten went to make another comment, but was silenced as a shinobi appeared in front of the two of them, bowing his head respectfully.
Neji cocked his head slightly, "What is it, Rokuro? Jin is handling business for the day, you can report to him."
The Chiza shinobi shook his head slightly, still staring at the ceiling floor. "Respectfully sir, you asked me to tell you when Lady Yuko was taken to hospital."
Neji frowned for a moment as Tenten couldn't help but squeal beside him. He shrugged and thanked the shinobi for his efforts, dismissing him before standing up and stretching.
Tenten looked up at him with her eyes sparkling. "Aww, you are gonna be a daddy again."
He took a few moments before smiling slowly and looking down at her. "I suppose I am. Tell Jin he may have to cover me for another day or two. I don't want Yuko to be on her own like last time."
"I don't think she blames you for that Neji. You were on the other side of the country at the time."
"Still, I want to be there."
Tenten let out a short laugh and made a loud whipping sound.
Her leader took the time to glare at her with contempt. With her face constantly in a smirk it was hard to be frustrated at Tenten for extended periods of time, so Neji had found other ways of punishing her.
"Just for that, you don't get to see the baby."
Her cries of anguish were drowned out as he leapt off the building and raced towards the hospital.
oOoOoOo
Seven hours and four fractured fingers later, Neji was once again a father. The doctors allowed them a few minutes to themselves with their white-eyed son, which the young couple was grateful for. Neji had tried to hide his knowledge that it was boy and failed, but Yuko was just happy that their son was healthy and safe.
The three of them lay on the bed quietly as the baby slept in Yuko's arms. Neji couldn't keep a massive smile off of his face, they only had a few minutes before the nurses were going to bring the twins in to meet their younger sibling, and then there would be no quiet at all.
"He's so small" commented Neji absentmindedly.
Yuko let out a tired sigh and used her free hand to poke his arm. "You try pushing that out and see how small he is."
Her husband grinned in return and showed her his bandaged hand. "I've suffered enough pain for one day. I never thought you had such a strong grip."
She simply smiled and continued to rock their son slowly. He was fast asleep in her arms, making little baby sounds that were absolutely adorable to their ears. He seemed to be the same as the twins, able to sleep soundly from the get go, which Neji found was a strange trait for young children to have but wasn't complaining. It was nice to be able to sleep when he wasn't piled up with work.
He leaned over and lightly kissed his wife on the cheek before placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. Yuko looked like she had stormed a castle by herself, yet she still looked radiant to him.
"Hey…did you find out what I asked you about?"
Neji frowned, which he often did when he was thinking, before shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Remind me what it was again."
"How I don't really want to have another child in the next few years? That thing?"
"Ah, yes. I talked to Tenten about it, apparently kunoichi make a sort of…thing…that stops them getting pregnant. I could ask her to help you with that, if you'd like."
She nodded slightly and nuzzled his arm around her shoulder slightly. "Don't expect any for a few months…but I think three is enough for the moment."
He laughed lightly at her comment, but understood why she wanted to wait. He'd been given the horror stories, and after seeing his wife give birth he had no real inclination to repeat the act anytime soon.
"Have you thought of a name yet?"
When he didn't get a response Neji repeated the question, but upon looking down he saw that Yuko had fallen asleep in his arms, just as their newborn son had fallen asleep in hers. Her silver-white hair was across her face and down onto her hospital gown, and in Neji's face as well, but he didn't care.
He was happy.
Author's Note:
For those concerned, the attacks that Neji mentioned in the council meeting that haven't happened yet, I will be writing a bit later on. The destruction of Amegakure, the attack on Kumo, those kinds of things have happened at this point, but not from his perspective. So I must ask for a bit of patience in that regard. And any villages not mentioned here, assume that they aren't in the story. I tried to mention the known ones, from the anime and more.
Sorry this came out so late. I was out of the state at the NRL Grand Final, and didn't get any chance to write during that weekend.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.