As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

"Thanks for getting them to stop. I don't think Kakashi-sensei could handle three straight days as Gai's bouncing backpack." Sakura sat down by their fire, readjusting her forehead protector back to its casual place as a headband. Her mostly unconscious instructor lay a few feet away, looking none the better for being still again.

Tenten smiled, a sly little expression as she glanced over at Neji. "Well, it was rather our fault for goading him on like that. It's not often I'm faster than him."

And after being denied their unnecessary race home, Gai and Lee had gone off to train before resting as the rest of them were. Sometimes their obsessive training regime was a blessing to the rest of them.

"I'm never going to get that image out of my head." Naruto groaned.

Neji agreed. Seeing a grown man bopping around like a ragdoll tied to a hyperactive dog was on his list of things he wished his exceptional memory could forget, but since it was Naruto who said it, Neji merely glared in reply. The oblivious blond might have earned Neji's respect on a certain level, but that didn't mean he had to like him or admit it . . . ever.

Naruto looked up from his instant ramen in time to catch Neji's scowl, returning one of his own. "What?"

Neji lazily looked away, as though he couldn't be bothered to reply. It was rather fun baiting Naruto; it annoyed Naruto so to be denied a fight.

"Hey! What's your problem with me?!" Naruto screamed, which earned a hard punch from Sakura.

"Quiet! Kakashi-sensei's trying to sleep."

"He started it." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and shot a glare dripping with loathing back at Neji.

"Don't pay him too much attention, Naruto. Neji's just frustrated that he's starting to respect you." Tenten grinned at the cold glower settling on his face.

"He told you he respects me?" Naruto said, his voice hesitant, as if he weren't sure whether to be pleased or insulted.

"I said no such thing." Neji defended, loathing sparking like lightning between the two young men. Tenten needed to keep her mouth shut.

Instead, Tenten leaned close to Sakura, but made no effort to keep her voice quiet. "He didn't have to. I saw him when they were bringing Gaara back. It's the same expression he gets when Gai-sensei does something amazing and doesn't ruin it by acting like, well, Gai-sensei."

Naruto's lips curled into a sinister smirk at this information. "Heh, you respect me."

Neji forced himself to return to his disinterested state before Naruto realized how irritating it was that he knew. "Whether I do or don't, I still don't like you."

"Why?" Sakura said before Naruto could respond. "I've never figured out why you two can't stand each other. We're not even the same year, so it's not like you had to deal with Naruto all through the Academy."

"You know, I'm curious too," Tenten added, and with both women expectantly staring at them, it was becoming rather uncomfortable. "I know why Neji doesn't like Naruto. That one's obvious, but why don't you like Neji?"

"Tenten," Neji whispered through clenched teeth. "Maybe you should go join Lee and Gai. You could use some endurance training."

The two women ignored Neji's empty threat, thoroughly engaged with each other now. Sakura's eyes lit up at the secret hidden behind Tenten's words. "Why does Neji hate Naruto?"

At this Tenten finally paused, and Neji was relieved to see some sense come back into her teasing. "I can't say aloud, which is a clue, but if you don't over think it, it's obvious. There aren't many things Neji cares about that much to get constantly angry about."

After a moment, Sakura's eyes widened with recognition. "Of course. That makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Naruto mumbled through a mouthful of ramen.

"Nothing," Sakura dismissed with a wave of her hand. "So why don't you like Neji?"

Naruto muttered something lost in the waterfall of noodles slurping into his open maw. "I don't like him cause one: he doesn't like me, and two: he's was an asshole to Hinata."

"That was a single misunderstanding, for which I apologized and was forgiven." Neji sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. In truth, though that time had been difficult for them, going through it had strengthened and equalized their relationship considerably more than if he'd picked her up as planned. And, if not for that, Hinata would never have been allowed to be genin. Far more good came from his mistake than Naruto caused in his ignorance.

"Naruto?" Sakura called, breaking Neji from his exasperation enough to look at the source of his frustrations.

An odd expression had settled on the irritant's face, silencing him with closed twisted lips and tense jaw. Naruto's eyes darted back and forth as he thought, as though staring at a puzzle no one else could see. He couldn't have been more obvious if his hands moved in front of him to put the pieces together. When the puzzle seemed to come into place, Naruto's eyes widened and, slowly, raised to meet Neji's.

Without byakugan active, Neji's reading of people wasn't perfect, but it didn't have to be to catch the recognition in Naruto's face. Understanding. Guilt.

"You finally figured it out?" If the idea wasn't staring him in the face it would have seemed ludicrous. After all this time, now he knows?

"Wait, what'd he figure out?" Sakura asked, looking to Tenten for some help.

"He doesn't like me, because Hinata does," Naruto said more tentatively than he was prone to. The hesitation didn't last long. "What kind of stupid reason is that? And if he knew, why didn't he tell me? Wait a minute, you guys knew too, didn't ya, that Hinata liked me? Did everyone know? Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"In my defense, I didn't know until after you left with Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said. "But how'd you figure it out all of a sudden?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "Hinata told me. I went to say hi after getting ramen with Iruka-sensei and she told me about the wedding and then said she liked me."

Tenten looked at Neji. "Wow, I never thought Hinata would actually confess that with the wedding coming up. Think she's trying to get out of it?"

Neji shook his head. Surprising as it was, his little sister's resolve to go through with the wedding was frustratingly strong at this point. And, though he loathed to admit it, the clan was beginning to truly respect her for making the decision.

"So what did you say back?" Sakura asked, her eyes gleaming for want of the gossip.

"I was so surprised I didn't know what to say, and when I tried she stopped me. Said she just wanted to be brave enough to say it. Didn't want nothing from me." Naruto's chin lowered to his chest as he struggled to think. "I don't get it. Why didn't she tell me before?"

Neji's agitation at Naruto's continued ignorance was reaching its limits. Without saying a word, Neji pointed to Sakura.

"Huh?"

Tenten sighed and flashed Neji an exasperated glare. "Your very loud and obvious crush on Sakura."

"Besides," Neji added to placate his girlfriend, "she knew a clan wedding was in her future. Why pursue someone who doesn't want you and you can't have in the end anyway."

"Who said I didn't want her?" Naruto almost yelled, embarrassment and ego raising his voice.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Do you?"

"I didn't say that either." Naruto shook out his head and mumbled unintelligibly to the ground. "I don't know. I never thought about it before."

Sakura waited for his grumbling to quiet down. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. Haven't exactly had time to think about it with Gaara and the Akatsuki." Guilt soured Naruto's expression. "It feels wrong to just do nothing. Should I ask her out?"

"No," Neji said like water on fire. "You leave her alone as she asked." As much as he wanted his sister happy, it was too late and too much was on the line for Naruto to come barging in upsetting her world. It was her decision, and Neji would try to support it.

"That's a bit harsh," Sakura said.

Naruto merely scoffed. "As if I'd listen to you. You wouldn't want me dating her anyway."

"You're wrong," Tenten said before Neji could reply. "Neji would have been the first to cheer you on if you'd wanted to date Hinata, because that would've made her happy."

Sakura came to her teammate's defense while he glowered uncertainly at his meal. "But the wedding's not making her happy. She's just going along with it to keep her team. Would it really be so bad? Surely she's proved her point by now."

Neji wished that were true, but even if by some miracle they could convince Hyobe to consent to letting her out of the wedding without coming back to the clan, Neji could see the truth of Naruto's confusion. "Answer me this question, Naruto. Why would you want to go out with her now? Has your infatuation with Sakura disappeared over the last three years? Has hearing Hinata's confession magically made you love her back when you'd never saw her anything but a friend before now? What, exactly, has changed?"

Loathing filled Naruto's blue eyes as he glared at Neji, but for once the boisterous ninja took a moment to think before speaking. "Me and Sakura . . . me and Sakura isn't gonna happen. I know that. It's just fun to pretend and mess with her. And I'm not saying I'm in love with Hinata, but I know how it feels to like someone who doesn't notice you." Naruto kept his eyes away from Sakura. "It sucks and Hinata's my friend. I don't like the idea I did that to her."

That's what Neji thought he saw hidden behind the confusion. "So guilt and pity are what you would offer her. That is what you think is important enough to jeopardize all the work she's put into gaining the clan's trust and respect. I may not agree with the wedding, but because of it the clan is beginning to see her strength. You should know how hard she's worked for that."

"It just . . . it just seems unfair," Naruto muttered.

Beside Neji, Tenten gave him an imploring expression that said he'd been too direct in the truth. Perhaps he had, but it was necessary to be clear to someone as dense as Naruto. Still, Neji sighed; it was difficult to deny her request, even a silent one.

"Hinata would welcome your affection, no matter your intention. But so long as you only want to assuage your own guilt, leave her be. Three years changes people. Hinata's grown more than you can imagine. You'll be proud of her, when you get to know her again, but don't push your way into her life on a whim.

"She's worked too hard to break her word to the clan now and be seen as nothing more than the spoiled heiress again. Your goal is for the village to recognize you, correct? Imagine almost achieving it and then having it all ripped away. That's what you would do to her, so you'd better have a damn good reason to do it."

Naruto filled his mouth with noodles to avoid saying anything, and his eyes never raised from the Styrofoam cup in his hands. This time Sakura stayed quiet. They understood. By the frustration in his eyes, Naruto hated it, but he understood. Hopefully that would be enough.