Happy New Year! The holidays kept me busy, and I had to go back and catch up on early timeskip events, but I haven't forgotten about the story.

As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

There was a downfall to being an exceptionally skilled team: breaks between missions didn't always happen. It wasn't the first time Team Gai had suffered a quick turn around, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Neji was just glad Lee and Gai had allowed them a calm, reasonable pace back to Konoha, so they were decently rested and ready for Tsunade's announcement.

The kazekage. Taken. It felt surreal to hear. Kages were separate from the rest of the village. Beyond the threats and dangers of their lowly grunt work. Sandaime's death was the first time Neji even considered a kage could be lost, and even then it had not been an easy realization. Gaara was young, but no doubt he still possessed a skill to match any other kage; villages didn't simply allow anyone to hold such a title. And he was taken.

They needed to get him back.

Adrenaline began to kick in. This wasn't just about saving Gaara. Neji had a chance now to do what he was too young and too immature to do when Sandaime had been killed. He could help save him. It would honor Sandaime's memory.

It was three days to Suna, no matter what Gai and Lee's delusions pretended otherwise. They would need to maintain a fast, but steady pace. Over exerting themselves traveling wouldn't help them once they met the enemy. Tenten's endurance was the worst of the four of them—she was still building up her speed with the new scrolls, which were much heavier than her previous ones—so it was best they traveled at her speed, not that he would be able to convince Lee and Gai of that. While Neji reluctantly respected Gai's enormous power and fighting spirit, sometimes he wished for a more strategic-minded team leader.

Tenten brought up the rear of their team, as she tended to when Lee and Gai ignored pacing logic. Falling back a step to join her, Neji kept his voice low to avoid the others listening in. "Will you be able to maintain this pace the entire way?"

"If I have to, though I'd like to rest a few more times than they'll want to. I'm sure Lee will just complain I need to work on my stamina or something."

"If you truly need a rest, I'll support you."

"As opposed to me just saying I need one?" Tenten said with an annoyed smirk.

Neji grinned back. "I've seen you push through a lot while complaining about it."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "I'll remember that when this is over and you're whining for a shower."

Neji groaned. He was already grimy from the last mission, and they were heading to Suna now. That meant a lot of sand in places it shouldn't be. He'd focus on the mission for now and let the rest be another day's worry.

The slight tease left Tenten's face as she looked forward to the two green-clad men in front of them. "Given the stakes, we should probably make it clear what happens if it comes down to saving one of us or saving the kazekage."

"We've already discussed this." Neji adjusted the bag on his shoulder, glad to have something to fidget with. They were professional and knew the risks, but that didn't mean he liked to think about choosing the mission over Tenten. She was more than just the girl he was dating, she was his teammate and best friend. They'd been through too much together to imagine losing it.

"Before we were a bit too arrogant for our own good and talked about it like it was a formality. This is different. We're going up against people who can take a kage. We need to be clear; we can't afford mistakes."

She was right, of course. Romantic feelings clouded judgment, usually when a clear head was needed most. It was practical to have clear expectations for both of them.

"The mission is too important to fail, to both Konoha and Suna. Gaara must be rescued. That has to be the priority." It wasn't an easy admission, yet despite the implications, Neji grinned. "But the day I can't trust you to survive without me is the day we can't work together anymore."

Tenten smiled and nodded. "Watch my back, and I'll keep them out of your blind spot."

Ever since they'd begun dating, Neji was glad to have waited so long. If they'd begun a few years ago when the attraction first surfaced, he wasn't sure they'd have had the same relationship they did now. He'd spent his time with her as a teammate, knew her every strength and weakness. A trust was built from that. An absolute trust that kept any worry he might have in check. There was no obsessive pampering or concern between them the way he'd seen in Sakura for the Uchiha during their first chuunin exam, forgetting everything else. He could never imagine acting like that with someone who he had to trust to see what he couldn't.

They were a team, and that mattered as much as anything else.

Akatsuki really out did themselves in their preparations. First there was the fish person. It wasn't often they met someone capable of matching Gai, but if anyone was going to be able to, it would be Akatsuki. That delayed them longer than preferable.

Then, there were the seals being spread out, which separated them from Kakashi's team. Neji still couldn't believe Naruto was back, or the level of chakra in his coils system. Almost three years with one of the Legendary Sannin had certainly been worthwhile it seemed. If Sakura's improvement was any gauge, it would be interesting to see what Naruto was capable of.

Now, having finished his job with the seal, Neji's greatest obstacle to returning to the cavern to provide backup was . . . himself.

He clicked the mic on his collar. "A clone of myself just appeared."

A round of acknowledgements came over his ear piece, followed by Gai's voice. "Be careful, Kakashi. It seems we won't be there as soon as planned. We need to take care of these things first."

"Understood," was Kakashi's reply.

Neji shifted into his jyuuken stance and the clone mirrored him. Time to find out how good the copy was.

Neji never thought he'd be frustrated by how skilled he was, but this copy was too accurate. Every strike, every feint, every technique he knew the copy knew too and countered, parried, or mimicked with obscene ability. Neji knew how to fight another jyuuken user, but how did you fight against yourself? There were no surprises or strategies that he could come up with that the copy couldn't predict. The only advantage was that the same was true for Neji against it. The fight was a draw from the moment it started and did nothing but stop them from providing aid to Kakashi's team.

"Ingenious really. They're using our own abilities to delay us," he said into the mic.

"Try not to admire the enemy too much." Tenten's voice cracked in his ear. "I can't gain any ground against it."

"I can't either." Lee that time.

"Neji, can you see what's happening with Kakashi's team?" Gai said.

"Hold on." Neji might not have been able to immediately defeat the clone, but a few quick strikes followed by a vacuum palm gave him enough distance to shift byakugan back to the others. His stomach dropped. "They're inside. Two Akatsuki are there, but the kazekage . . ."

Neji couldn't finish that sentence. It would make the figure he saw—the prostrate body with no chakra inside it—real. Had they really failed before they got here? No. If they couldn't save the kazekage, then they'd damn well make Akatsuki suffer for it.

"I see." Sometimes even Gai understood subtlety. "We need to hurry."

That was easier said than done. Nothing was working. Minutes dragged on and still the clone countered every move Neji made. Kakashi's call for them to join Sakura as he and Naruto trailed the second enemy made their plight more desperate, but not simpler. No one is equipped to defeat themselves.

Craters from dueling kaiten were scattered across the field as if a sudden meteor storm had made a pock-marked mess of the area. Neji's coils were suffering from a similar beating, though not as visible or damaging. He could evade as well as he hit, but each fighter had still landed enough glances and sheering quips to the other's coils system to lay the ground work for worsening damage later on. Thankfully, he'd avoided all attempts to get hit by the 64 points. Unfortunately, so did the clone. Neji was beginning to loathe himself.

Kakashi called in a second time; he would be leaving range of communications soon and still they were stuck. What was the point of sending back-up for Kakashi's team if back-up couldn't help them? The simple brilliance of their situation was both rage-inducing and worth respecting. Akatsuki had effectively cut their problem in half.

"Status," Gai called once Kakashi had gone silent again.

A series of explosions made Neji's ear ring. That was Tenten's fight. "I can't get an advantage. Everything I try she counters."

"Same here," Lee said, followed by a rather painful sounding grunt. Neji couldn't tell if it was the real Lee or the double.

"And here," Neji added to the chorus of stalemates.

It might have been the same information, but one thing was clear from their reports: this was going on too long. All of them were breathing much heavier than before. That made sense, except it was the first thing that didn't match with his clone. The double appeared as fresh to the battle as when they began.

The longer the stalemates lasted, the worse it would get for them.

Neji had a new appreciation for what Lee and Tenten went through sparring with him. His ego and his rank always reminded him that of the three of them, he was the most skilled, but he hadn't actually experienced it before. Even his training with Hyobe and Hizashi couldn't match the difficulty he was having against himself. Tenten, Lee, or Gai would be far better suited to fighting his clone than he was.

That was it. Neji used kaiten and put some distance between himself and the clone. He needed a moment to calculate. Shifting byakugan's vision, Neji estimated the distances between each member of his team.

"I have a plan," he said once all the details were in place. "We can't keep fighting ourselves. If it drags on too long, we'll get too tired to keep up with the clones. But we have an advantage over them. We're a team."

"What do you mean?" Lee's voice was rough and quick.

"They may have our abilities and strength, but they're still only clones given orders. They don't have years of teamwork supporting them. We need to stop fighting ourselves and help each other. Tenten, you head southwest and Lee you head northeast and you should meet in about 420 meters. Lee, you may have to make up more of that distance. Since Tenten is usually the one who deals with escaping enemies, her counterpart will probably hold her up more than the rest of us."

"I'm not looking forward to this plan," Tenten grumbled.

"Don't worry, Tenten" Lee said, and Neji could almost hear the ping in his smile through the earpiece. "I'll run as fast as I can."

"I'll head east and meet up with Gai-sensei."

It was best Neji went to support Gai. Lee's skill set was too similar, and as strong as Gai was, they would need the best they had to take down a perfect clone of him. Neji might think the man was crazy at times, but he was also one of the most powerful shinobi Neji had met.

"Excellent plan, Neji! No technique can be stronger than the eternal bonds of youth that bind a te—" A grunt and hiss of air cut off Gai's spiel before he could go too far. That was for the best as far as Neji was concerned.

Now he had to escape his clone. Luckily he'd already put some distance between them to use byakugan, so it was only a matter of keeping ahead. Tenten would have it worst, being their ranged specialist, but Neji wasn't without some ranged attacks of his own. He would need to keep a careful watch on his clone's chakra the entire chase. He only hoped delaying the fight to meet up was ultimately quicker than remaining in a futile stalemate.

His escape was slowed only by a few dodged shuriken and kunai and one narrowly missed burst of chakra that ended up shattering the branch he was about to step on instead of his foot. At times it seemed like his clone was faster than him, but if so only incrementally. The distance between them closed, but not enough to catch up.

An explosion in the distance nearly distracted him from another nasty burst of chakra, and sent him to the ground again. His clone didn't waste the chance and went in close, striking quick and fast to prevent another escape. "Damn."

Gai's voice came over the comm. "Neji, what was that noise? Can you see?"

"I'm stuck fighting again, hold on." Without warning, and against his usual fighting pattern, Neji spun mid-strike into kaiten and threw his clone off him momentarily. He would have liked to have used that moment to run again, but they needed to know what was happening with Kakashi's team, or what was left of it at the Akatsuki's hideout.

"The cavern's roof is collapsing." Given what Sakura learned from Tsunade, he had to wonder which side was responsible for the damage. "Sakura and Chiyo-sama are still fighting. It's hard to tell their condition. I'm not sure how much more the cavern can take."

The clone interrupted any further investigations with a series of palms strikes that seemed faster than before. Neji must have been wearing out more than he thought. Escaping to meet up with Gai half way might not be possible any longer.

It would have been at least another five minutes of straight running to meet Gai. If Gai wasn't delayed any further and ran at top speed, he could perhaps make it to Neji in less than ten minutes. Then they still had to deal with both clones. Neji was banking everything on the clones lifelessness. He read nothing in its face, no pleasure from a landed hit, no frustrations in a missed one, no cocky arrogance that Tenten swore she saw when a mission was completed. Its existence was to fight and defeat the opponent, nothing more. If another clone appeared, that mission should remain, leaving the real selves with a partner to help them and the clones separate and alone.

They had to meet up first.

"Gai-sensei, I've been forced to the ground. If I move far, I expose myself to attack," he said, shoving the bitterness of that admission back down his throat. He could use this to their advantage. "If this thing has all my strengths, then it has my weaknesses, too. I'll set it up to keep the clone's back on your approach and direct you into its blindspot. As long as I keep it distracted, you should be able to land on clean hit before it notices you."

"How will I be sure you'll be you?" Gai said, proving that even in his eccentricities he was an intelligent fighter. "I know, when I see you, give me a Nice Guy pose and I'll know!"

And then he said that.

"Great idea, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted loud enough to make Neji's ear ring. "We should all do that!"

A high-pitched voice, thoroughly out of breath and half choking by now, came on next. "I'm dodging a lot of weapons here. Don't make me laugh!"

Anger and frustration could be wonderful tools sometimes. Neji landed a solid hit against the clone's left bicep thanks to their idiocy. "The clones don't talk, that's how you'll know!"

Neji could hear the light going on in Gai's mind. "Oh, so they don't."

Neji made for his clone's wounded arm again, which it dodged easily, but opened up enough room for Neji to get past. Now the clone's back was to where Gai would emerge. He just needed to keep it there until Gai arrived.

It wasn't that difficult, actually. Before they'd had an open field to move across, but now the trees confined them. Both kept to close quarters, which in jyuuken could mean very little footwork if properly guided. All the while, Neji kept a keen awareness on Gai's progress, issuing small orders to keep Gai from being noticed. Either the clone couldn't hear them talking or it was only concerned with Neji himself, which was what Neji was counting on. No matter what Neji said, it made no attempt to turn or look behind. A poor copy. If Neji heard what he was saying, he'd know what was being planned.

"You're almost here," Neji said, striking low on the clone to keep it from leaning back and shifting its vision. "When you pass two parallel trees you should see us. The clone has its back to you."

"YOSH!" The sound echoed, arriving once through the earpiece and a second later through the air. The clone ignored it.

If Neji had blinked, he'd have missed Gai's entrance. He was a blur in a breath. A green streak from the trees screaming at the top of his lungs, arm poised to strike. For once, he deserved the name Beast.

One hit. Gai's fist, the combined strength and momentum behind it, concentrated to a single point of contact. Neji dodged out of the way as all that raw power exploded against the back of the clone's head and sent it careening into—and almost through—a tree behind him.

It was good for Neji's ego to lose to his teammates every once in a while, and even if it wasn't exactly him but a clone that lost, this was one of those times. He and Gai shared a rank, but his instructor just showed the difference an extra twenty years of experience created between them. Of course, it was the optimal attack with little to no warning and a clear target, but Gai still took Neji down in one strike. It was moments like this that made Neji honestly respect Gai as his instructor.

"Did I hit the right one?"

If only he'd keep his mouth shut.

Neji was glad his clone hadn't been smarter or Neji might have been the one sliding down the broken bark of the tree instead of his clone, now dust and dirt once more.

"Behind you!" Neji called as a second Gai emerged from the tree line, leg raised mid-swing.

With all the swiftness of the wind changing directions, Gai contorted to meet the kick with his own, and the concussive shock tossed them both away. Gai took the chance to retreat back to Neji's side. "Now to deal with me."

"My clone seemed ignorant of anything besides attacking me, even when you were close enough to hear. It will probably defend if directly attacked, but if you are distracting it, I might be able to get in close enough to surprise it."

Gai nodded and resumed his attack on the clone while Neji disappeared into the trees. Neji took the momentary calm to check on the others' fights. Lee and Tenten hadn't met up yet. As Neji'd suspected, Tenten was having a difficult time finding an escape route that wouldn't end with her being impaled.

"Tenten, Lee's coming up behind you. The clones appear to focus only on their match, so keep it distracted long enough for Lee to get in close. Lee, your clone's catching up, so you'll need to take Tenten's clone out quickly. Don't hesitate because it looks like her. Find a kill opening and take it."

"Don't worry about knowing which is the clone," Tenten said before Lee could ask. "It'll be the one not cursing." From the frustrations straining her voice, and a bit of hoarseness, Neji could only imagine what she'd been screaming at herself.

Satisfied for now, he filtered back to the Akatsuki's hideout. The number of puppets scattered in broken heaps—twisted and skewered and dismantled—was beyond Neji's imagination. There were only two puppet users there. How could they control so many puppets? The only relief was that nearly all appeared inert. Chakra strings connected only a couple, but it was difficult to assess if the fight was over or merely in the end game. For now he took comfort in the fact that both Chiyo and Sakura were still alive. Neji returned his focus to the fight at hand. They needed to hurry.

Gai and his clone fought in near-perfect rhythm, his clone being a fraction faster than Gai himself, who was feeling the wear of so prolonged a fight against someone of his own caliber. Neji needed to time his attack perfectly. As Gai's takedown of his clone proved, his instructor was still stronger than him, and his clone wasn't suffering from the same exhaustion. He couldn't risk using a distance attack that would do only minimal damage right away. There had to be immediate debilitating damage, which meant a strong, close torso hit. He needed a heart strike.

Neji shoved down the disgust he felt at the realization of what he had to do. Ever since his first chuunin exam, Neji deliberately avoided coming close to a heart strike when training with his teammates. He rarely made a torso hit higher than the lowest few ribs or and never crossed over to the left side of the sternum. He always remembered Hinata's face the moment before he'd hit her. That look of understanding that it couldn't be stopped . . . that she was going to die. He never wanted to see that on someone he cared about ever again.

It's a clone, he reminded himself as he slipped through the branches above to find an opening. It's not Gai. It's a clone. Neji shook out his head and focused on the task at hand. They needed to finish this now.

Neji watched and waited. Patient. Silent. Gai had yet to lose control of the fight, though he was solidly on the defensive at this point. He matched the clone strike for strike, but never gained ground. It was a losing stalemate with time dwindling down. The clone struck low, faster than Gai now, and a hit at full strength would do more damage than they could afford with no word from Kakashi.

Neji jumped down, chakra enveloping his hand in a bright blue glow visible to the naked eye. He landed behind the clone, using the falling momentum to add physical pressure to the invisible damage that would happen within the body. Closer his hand came to Gai's green-clad back, his familiar, respected form—his friend. Then contact.

Neji grimaced. The palm strike landed to the right of the heart, only nicking it. Even knowing it was a clone, he hadn't been able to perform a kill shot. And he reminded Lee not to let appearances stop them.

His attack wasn't useless, though. The long pause as air left the clone's lungs and chakra burst through his chakra pathways, shredding organs along their lines, gave Gai the opening he needed. Before the clone had managed to look up and assess the situation, Gai catapulted him into the air and followed in the all too recognizable Lotus stance. When they hit the ground, all that was left of the clone was dust.

"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei," Neji said, knowing this was a rare time the title was appropriate. "I had a clear opening and should have made a heart strike."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Gai smiled. Not the over-exaggerated "Nice Guy" smile that shimmered in the sunlight. Merely a smile. "Not wanting to hurt your comrades is not a failure Neji. That's what makes us a team."

Neji soaked in the calm guidance, so rare he'd have to tell Tenten about it once this was all over. For this moment, Neji felt that connection to his instructor that Lee had. A reverence and understanding so often lost beneath Gai's buffoonery.

"We've successfully defeated our clones!" Lee's exuberant voice called over the earpiece, stealing away the moment.

"As have we," Gai said with all the pride and enthusiasm befitting his team. "Good work, Lee, Tenten. Now, head back to the Akatsuki hideout to support Kakashi's team. Neji, what's happening there?"

Once in step behind Gai, Neji adjusted his sight out to the mostly-destroyed cavern and searched for the players there. "It appears we've missed one of the battles. Sakura and Chiyo-sama are leaving the hideout now. I see no remaining chakra in their opponent or his puppets."

"As expected of Sakura-chan!" Lee screamed far too exuberantly for Neji's eardrum.

"Can you find Kakashi?" Gai asked.

"Give me a moment." Neji followed the route Sakura and Chiyo were heading, then further along a path of destruction much too easy to find. It seemed stealth was not in the other Akatsuki's mind.

Neji had to blink when Naruto came into view. He'd seen before the kind of immense chakra Naruto was capable of building, but, now, Neji wondered how any one person could contain that much, and in the pit of Neji's stomach he knew that probably wasn't the extent of it. What was Naruto capable of?

"Kakashi and Naruto are still in pursuit. We should hurry to catch up."

"All right," Gai proclaimed with his youthful atmosphere restored. "Everyone back as fast as you can! We can't let our comrades down!"

Tenten stood next to him, her fingers brushing his own in search of comfort. Neji hadn't wanted to believe his eyes before, and he was less inclined now. But his eyes were never wrong and no amount of wishing from him or screaming from Naruto was going to change the fact that Gaara, Kazekage of Sunagakure, was, indeed, dead.

Yet, for all their futile denials, Neji wondered at the hope and certainty he witnessed on Chiyo's face. There was nothing to be done . . . was there?

He watched her coils as she knelt over Gaara's body, weak but bright and moving. Moving into Gaara. Surely it wasn't possible. Gaara's coils were dark and still. There was nothing to restore. Even if there was, Chiyo was far too weak to offer assistance.

"Take mine!"

Neji's gaze raised to the boy kneeling over Gaara's body, hands outstretched. Desperation. Fear. Hope. Need. The need to help. The need to save him. Because . . . of understanding. Naruto understood something that Neji's eyes couldn't see, but it was strong and deep and there was no risk too great in light of it. Neji had seen empathy in Naruto before—he had a feeling that was what attracted Hinata to foolish boy—but this was much more than empathy.

Naruto's chakra, bright and growing beyond what any one person should have, merged with Chiyo's on its path to Gaara, whose coils began to illuminate in Neji's sight even as the old woman's dimmed. It wasn't a repair. It was an exchange. And Naruto had no idea. He simply gave up all he could and waited for Gaara's eyes to open. Unafraid.

It seems there was another person Neji couldn't help but respect.

Not that he'd tell anyone.