As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

The sheer scale of the Allied Shinobi Forces humbled Neji as his unit rejoined the others. He'd seen it when they first assembled, but that had been orderly with fresh faces ready to go into battle and old grievances buried by necessity. Now they'd fought together—died together. Their enemy had done what no one else managed; he unified them.

As much as Neji felt the camaraderie that the others did, his gaze searched the sea of faces for those he cared for. His mother, Isamu, and Osamu were near the back of the running mass of bodies with the medical unit. The twins needed their eyes healed from the long night on watch, and Naomi was still assigned to guard the med-nins when needed. A part of him was glad his mother would be further back than the rest of the army. It was selfish, but it comforted him nonetheless.

He spotted one of the people he searched for and weaved his way forward to reach him. Lee looked both tired and thoroughly filled with youthful guts and vigor, which satisfied the Neji's concern for his teammate.

"Lee!" Neji called. He sped up past the shinobi next to Lee in order to get close enough to talk without screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Neji! You're alive, as fitting my eternal rival!" Lee screamed, ruining Neji's attempts to keep things quieter.

"Where's Gai-sensei? I thought he was in your unit."

"He's left with Kakashi-sensei. They're already with Naruto. Have you seen Tenten?"

Neji shook his head and returned to his search. Tenten was in the First Unit along with his father, and which Hinata's team joined. If he found one of them, he'd find them all.

So many faces. Neji switched tactics and searched the for a coils system that he recognized. His enhanced gaze caught sight of a familiar pattern of chakra and he focused on it. Tenten. Next to her ran Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Hizashi. Osamu had informed Neji of Hizashi's survival before they left to join the other units, but it felt good to see with his own eyes. Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji weren't too far from the group, either.

Neji grinned at Lee. "Found them ahead of us. It'd be a shame if they entered the battle before us, don't you think?"

"It would be a great disgrace to our manly pride!" Lee thrust his arm out in a thumbs up and his smile pinged with Gai-level hallucinations. "Race you there!"

Neji grabbed his oblivious friend's arm before he could barrel through the entire army. "You don't know where they are."

Enthusiasm not deterred, Lee shifted his focus. "Then we must both arrive before the battle starts or we must do a hundred laps around the village on our hands when we return home!"

Neji rolled his eyes, but a smile was on his face. "Sure. Follow me."

The army kept a steady pace so as not to overexert everyone, but Neji and Lee had the endurance to speed up to the front of the line. They weaved through the shinobi with Hyuuga grace instead of Lee's straight-minded intent. It took longer, but no one else was affected either—a fair trade off.

Neji was about to call out to them when Lee finally caught sight of Tenten and the others and proceeded to leap over the remaining shinobi between them to join his teammate. Neji's mouth twitched at the fact that little stunt meant Lee arrived first. Neji tried to keep it from being a competition, but if it were a competition, he damn well wanted to win. Shoving his ego down until after the war when he could get back at Lee properly, Neji sprinted the last distance to his family with a little less care about who was in his way.

"Neji-niisan, you're all right," Hinata said it as a statement, but she gave him a once over to check for injuries anyway.

Neji did the same to her, Hizashi, and Tenten. "Glad to see you are, too." Neji looked at Hizashi. "Really glad."

"Now we all have to stay that way," Hizashi said with love, worry, and pride looking back at his children.

Tenten piped in, though Neji suspected it was to distract Lee more than anything else. "We have each other to make sure we do. We can do this!"

It was inevitable that one day he'd no longer be on a team with Lee or Tenten, but for this moment he was glad to have them back. This was a battle that would define their generation of shinobi and he wanted to fight it with the people who made him the man he was: his family and his team.

Shikaku's voice broke through Neji's thoughts. Not only Neji's, but everyone's. The army listened as Shikaku laid out the situation they were running into and the battle plan to follow. The kage were powerful, but it was good to have a strategist when it came to war.

After Shikaku finished, Hizashi looked at Neji and Hinata. "We may not be part of the first push, but anything could happen once the battle starts. Stay alert, protect each other, and know that I'm proud of both of you."

Neji and Hinata nodded. "We will." They were family after all. Neji wasn't going to fail Hinata again.

For all that Neji had experienced in his short career as a shinobi, nothing prepared him for the monstrousness of the Ten Tails. It overcame the combined effort of the alliance's attempt to immobilize it for only few minutes. Now, Neji watched far off cities burn from a single attack. He listened to Shikaku's last command, knowing there was nothing to be done to stop his death. But this was war. There was no time to be upset. They had to protect Naruto until he was ready.

Neji landed next to Naruto, who looked to him for understanding. "What just happened?"

"Focus, Naruto."

"But what happened to Shikaku and Inoichi?"

The Ten Tails interrupted any chance to answer with a sweep its massive hand-like tail. Hizashi and Hinata joined Neji in a defensive stance in front of Naruto as the tail shifted to return their direction.

"Neji, Hinata," Hizashi called out, "kaiten all together."

They couldn't destroy the tail, but three absolutes defenses in unison deflected the tail and gave them all a moment to breathe. Hizashi turned to Naruto with the experience of someone who'd been to war before.

"Naruto, focus on what's at hand. This is war and people will die. People are dying right now, but if we don't succeed—if you don't fulfill your part of the plan—everyone will die. Shikaku and Inoichi knew what was happening and gave us a way to save their children fighting here. Don't let their deaths be in vain."

The confusion fled Naruto's face. "Right."

"You're the key, Naruto," Neji said as Hizashi returned his attention to the enemy in front of them.

Hinata nodded. "So we'll protect you until you're ready."

"Hinata."

There was a hitch in Naruto's voice that made Neji shift his enhanced vision to see him. It wasn't fear that affected Naruto; it was a memory he didn't want to remember. One with the kind of pain only Neji would recognize, because he was the only one who saw that pain on Naruto's face before. This wasn't the first time Hinata stood against his enemy to protect Naruto.

Neji shoved that thought away. They had a job to do, and he wouldn't be able to trust Hinata to protect herself if he dwelt on that day. It appeared Neji wasn't the only one to heard Naruto's trepidation.

"Never doubt that the Hyuuga are the strongest in Konoha," Hizashi said with the absolute authority of the Hyuuga clan head. A momentary grin escaped him. "Especially my children."

And people said Neji was arrogant.

The shriek of the Ten Tails ripped across the battlefield and all its tails raised high into the air. A rain of wooden spikes expelled from the ends of the finger-like tendrils so thick all three of them had to hold kaiten far longer than usual, leaving their defenses frayed. Still the attack rained on.

Hinata came out of her kaiten first. She'd improved her coils considerably over the years, but she didn't have the brute force endurance to maintain kaiten this long. She slid back into the shadow of Hizashi and Neji's protection while recovering her bearings. Hizashi came out of his rotation next, but late enough that Hinata was able to move forward for another short rotation. When Neji finally ended, it wasn't his father that took his place.

Naruto and a couple clones, eyes marked with sage chakra, ran out with his wind-sharp rasengan ready for attack. "Thanks for the cover. Now it's my turn."

Unlike their defense, Naruto's attacks broke the endless wooden rain for each tail it struck. They needed the help, but Naruto's attack was foolhardy. He dropped to the ground again, exhausted.

"Neji-niisan, with me," Hinata called as she ran for Naruto.

He followed without hesitation. "How's you chakra?"

"Not enough for another kaiten yet."

Neji nodded. He wasn't much better off after holding it that long. They'd need time to recover their chakra—time they didn't have. One of the tails barreled across the battlefield straight for Naruto. Neji and Hinata took up a guard position in front of Naruto and released all the chakra they had left in a combined vacuum palm that tossed the tail back.

The next moments passed in slow motion. Both looked up. The tail rose. Spikes flew. Flew—straight for them, for Naruto. Hinata looked back. She looked at Neji.

Naruto had to be protected. Without him, the war would be lost. All they had to do was stand there and he'd be safe.

But Neji couldn't let Hinata die. She wanted him to trust her, to stay at her side and not stand as a shield in front of her. He'd tried . . . tried to forget that terrible day, and up till now he'd succeeded. In this endless moment though, all Neji felt was the weight of her lifeless body in his arms; all he saw was the emptiness in her white eyes. Neji couldn't let his little sister die again when he was right there to protect her. He wouldn't—

Neji felt himself yanked backward away from Hinata—away from his chance to save her. Like a starting bell, Hinata's scream set time running again.

Neji tumbled twice before catching himself. Terror clamped his heart tight as he looked up to find his sister, but she wasn't in front of Naruto. Hinata lay to his other side with one of the wooden spikes piercing her right shoulder, but she was alive.

So was Naruto, who stared wide-eyed in horror in front of him where Hizashi fell. Neji stopped breathing at the sight of his father as broken and battered as Hinata had been when Neji found her after Konoha's destruction. Hizashi had been the force that threw Neji and Hinata out of danger, and he took the blow to protect all three of them.

"Dad!" Neji scrambled forward and pulled Hizashi from the ground. The wood spikes tore from back to front, making it difficult to hold him upright, and blood stained Neji's hands. "Hinata, help him."

Hizashi placed a hand on Neji's arm, silencing him. "No father wants to outlive his children."

"Dad . . ."

Hizashi struggled to keep his eyes open enough to see Neji. "Take care of your sister. She's going to need you now more than ever. And Hinata," he paused and Neji shifted his hold so Hizashi could see her. "It's going to feel like the world is on your shoulders. Just remember, there are people to help you bear that weight, if you let them."

Crying and clutching her wounded shoulder, Hinata nodded. "I love you, Dad."

Hizashi smiled. She'd never called him that. Hinata had slipped up with Naomi before, but never with Hizashi, who looked too much like her real father.

No longer able to keep his eyes open, Hizashi held tight to Neji's arm. "Naruto, I'm entrusting my children's lives to you. Don't . . . don't . . ." Hizashi's hand went lax and he never took another breath to finish his thought.

Neji laid his father to rest on the ground, tears blurring his perfect vision. Hizashi's death felt different from Hinata's. There was no denial or endless emptiness that had paralyzed Neji before. Neji was here to witness the end, and he understood why Hizashi sacrificed himself—understood that it was a father's duty to protect his children. That didn't stop the pain, but it didn't leave Neji blind with rage either. Not that he didn't want to kill Obito and Madara with his own hands, but this time Neji could think beyond the grief to more important things.

"You failed to save another, Naruto. Look around you! Can you still say you won't let your comrades die in the face of all the dead?" Obito's jeering echoed across the battlefield as Neji left his father's body to go to Hinata.

Like Neji, she understood there was more on the line than their grief. Removing the wooden spike from her shoulder was the most pressing concern. She didn't have the strength or leverage to pull it out on her own, so Neji carefully examined the wound to avoid doing more damage.

"But then you're words have been a lie this whole time," Obito screamed, anger and contempt amplifying his voice. "You'd never let your comrades die? You already did! Nagato fixed your mistake, but he didn't erase it!"

Neji yanked the spike from Hinata's shoulder, and, hard as she tried not to cry out, a muffled scream escaped her. Her chakra-laden hand pressed against the gaping wound to quell the bleeding. She wasn't skilled enough to heal the entire injury, but at least she wouldn't get worse from blood loss.

Concern washed over Hinata's face. "Naruto-kun?"

Neji was so focused on Hizashi and Hinata, he hadn't paid attention to Naruto. That was a mistake. Naruto was vital to Shikaku's plan, yet he was no longer with them. His blue eyes watched the blood spread down Hinata's sleeve, his mind trapped in a past that made his hands shake. Hinata no doubt screamed back then too, much more than she did now. Did that take him back to a bloody body pierced not through the arm, but through the head? To the moment when life became death?

"Can you still say those words when you friends stand in front of you ready to die again? Will you continue to fight knowing you'll lose them one by one, because you can't save them? Because hopes and ideals can only end in pain!"

This asshole was pissing Neji off. Talking as if he was the only person who understood pain and grief. As if his way was the only one available. If there was one thing Neji had learned in his life, it was that you never know where a path will lead you in the future. What frightened Neji, though, was how Naruto flinched and mentally retreated more and more at Obito's words. Naruto's eternal optimism was one of the best traits he had, yet now he saw the pain of the past moving imagining the same pain in the future.

As if he wanted to break Naruto rather than kill him, Obito continued. "You cling to a reality where your mother and father are gone, where Jiraiya is gone. Why? Why suffer in a reality filled with conflict? Why live in a world that can only lead to solitude surrounded by the dead? Join us and enter a dream where you will never be alone again."

A dream where those who were dead were with them sounded tempting in the midst of Neji's grief, but a fake world would always nothing more than shadows dancing on the walls. How did they remind Naruto of that?

Hinata moved close enough to Naruto to reach out and take his hand in hers. Holding tight, she brought both to rest over her heart. "Can you feel that, Naruto-kun? My heart is broken and hurting, but it's beating."

Awareness returned to Naruto's eyes. He stared at her as if she were the only thing he saw or heard in the world.

"I'm alive because my father was willing to die to save me. That doesn't mean you or I failed him, and my death before doesn't make your words a lie. Wanting to save your friends comes from the same place in your heart that hurts when you lose them. It comes from love, and that's what makes us friends and family.

"My father entrusted our lives to you, but remember that your life is entrusted to us, as well. That's what love does. It makes us want to protect each other. We won't always succeed, but those we lose held those words in their hearts, too. And those words remain with us in our memories of them, pushing us forward to keep hope alive. If we let go of that, we let go of them, and that would be true despair."

"I'm going to make you the same promise that got me through everything in my life: I'll stay with you, whenever you need me. You'll never be alone, because when we can't stand on our own, we have to stand together."

Hinata held her wounded arm out to Neji. He took it and wrapped his other arm around her waist to support her as she stood. During the whole process, she never let go of Naruto's hand.

"If one day I'm no longer here to keep that promise," she paused and looked at Neji, "there are others who will fulfill it for me. Just be the man you've always been, the one who believes with all his heart that he won't let his friends die."

A soft smile touched Neji's lips. Hinata really was better than him. All Neji felt at Hizashi's death was the pain and anger, yet Hinata talked of hope and love. He didn't realize how much he need to hear hope right now. From the look on Naruto's face, he'd needed hope, too.

Neji held his hand out to Naruto. "We're not strong enough to defeat the enemy alone. Stand with us."

Naruto closed his eyes for several moments, his face calm. When he looked up at them again, he took Neji's hand and, together, they helped him stand. "Thank you, Hinata. Neji."

Chakra, so thick and powerful Neji could see it, surrounded him and washed away all his exhaustion. Even knowing the plan, experiencing the Kyuubi's chakra firsthand was beyond all expectations. It was as if he'd never truly experienced chakra before. Was this what Naruto felt all the time?

Hinata rose up a little taller as the chakra enveloped her in the same bubbling red aura. Between them, Naruto glowed bright as the sun with the Kyuubi's chakra, all doubt vanished from his face.

"I'm going to make sure you keep that promise," Naruto said, shifting his grip so he held her hand palm to palm. "Because I'll never let my friends die."

"I can help with that," a new voice called. Sakura landed next to their small group and headed for Hinata. "Let me heal you."

Naruto let go of them both to give Sakura room to work and to fulfill his part of the plan now that the Kyuubi's chakra was ready. That left a quiet between them that Neji wished would be filled by anything except the body of his father lying at his feet. Kneeling down, Neji tugged his father's forehead protector off to reveal the now unmarked skin. It felt wrong not to see the seal, like his father wasn't his father anymore. Hiashi was the twin without the seal. The brothers were as indistinguishable in death as they were at birth.

Hinata rested her hand on Neji's shoulder and wiped the tear tracks from her face with her other.

"You're not alone either, little sister."

"I know," she said, taking a deep breath. "But it won't do for the head of the Hyuuga clan to cry in the middle of the war."

Neji covered her hand with his own to offer Hinata—his sister and his clan head—the support only touch could give. He'd assumed that their lives would be different after the war, but without Hizashi . . . the clan was Hinata's. His father was right; she'd need Neji now more than ever. He had to survive the war. They both did.

No matter what.