As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.
Neji blinked a perfect dream from his vision and stared out at the clear sky above. He had no words to describe the swirl of emotions for the situation. The joy of being alive and awake—of knowing their enemy had to be dead for it to be true—was tempered with sorrow. That perfect world was gone, Hizashi was dead, and Hinata would lose the life she loved in order to take her place in the clan.
Neji grieved worst of all for that last reason. His little sister was not ready to return to the clan, and that could leave everyone on the edge. Hizashi had warned Neji of all his fears should the clan head die in battle. Now, it was up to Neji to keep those fears from coming true.
"Neji," Tenten said in a soft chirp that held little of her usual strength. She reached out to take his hand and find the comfort his presence offered. Neji leaned closer, needing the same from her.
"We won?" she asked. Closing her eyes to bury the memory of that other world, Tenten forced a smile to her face.
Neji took a good look at their surroundings. "I don't see any enemies, and I can't feel any build up of chakra. We must have won."
"What happens now?"
"I don't know," Neji said. They hadn't had the luxury of thinking about the future until now. They'd lost all formal military structure during the battle with the Ten Tails, so there were no longer units—just one massive army reduced by terrifying numbers.
How many had they lost? A third? Half? Or was it more than that? How would they handle the dead? Most were trapped under debris and would need to be excavated. And then what? They couldn't take so many back to the villages. Days of travel brought the risk of disease spreading from the corpses. Not to mention the stench of so many bodies baking in the sun. No, they couldn't bring them back. Neji's heart ached at that realization—Hizashi wouldn't come home.
"Let's go find the people we love," Neji said, forcing away anymore thoughts of the dead. They needed to remember all the living people to be thankful for.
Tenten stood up and brushed off her pants. "Where to?"
A good question. Neji followed Tenten's lead, then activated byakugan. Between him and Tenten there were a lot of people to find. His family, her family, Lee and Gai, and their friends. A cursory scan of the battlefield relieved some worries right away. Many of their friends were gathered with their teams, which meant he found several at once. Neji relayed to Tenten each person he found once verifying they were alive and not seriously wounded.
He pushed his search out farther, but stopped at a sight his mind failed to process. It was the same as seeing Hinata's dead body—too unbelievable to accept. He grabbed Tenten's hand and began running through the crowd.
"What is it?" Tenten asked, shaking off his grip so she could fall in step beside him.
How did Neji describe what he saw? Tenten would have as hard a time believing it as he did. That body—charred and broken—shouldn't be alive, and yet a tiny flicker of chakra continued to course through the body. Neji couldn't think of that thing as Gai. Gai was loud and boisterous and would celebrate the end of the war by challenging Lee to a thousand push ups. Gai wasn't . . . that.
"I found Lee and Gai," Neji finally responded. "Sakura and Kakashi-sensei are with them. Gai . . . Sakura is treating Gai's wounds."
Tenten lowered her gaze to the ground. "It's bad, isn't it?"
Neji nodded. No explanation Neji could offer would come close to what he saw; instead, they ran the rest of the way in silence. Tenten would understand when they reached Gai.
Like the rest of the landscape, the area Gai lay in was nothing but the scars left over from a great battle. Lee knelt next to Gai's body, crying tears that felt more real than his usual overflowing manly expression. Sakura knelt opposite Lee, and sweat dripped down her face as she focused all her attention on healing Gai.
Kakashi watched over the two younger shinobi, but Neji caught enough subtle cues to tell that his concern was for Gai. Kakashi's expression reminded Neji of how he felt when Lee's legs were destroyed with no expectation of recovery. Was that how Neji and Lee would be one day? Reluctant—often unwanted—rivals, but the closest of friends deep down. Neji could see the seeds of that relationship growing between him and Lee already, so it was comforting to witness their future. Kakashi looked genuinely happy that Gai had survived.
Tenten gasped softly at the sight of Gai's body, but the shock lasted only a moment as her concern turned to Lee. She knelt down beside their blubbering teammate and wrapped a soothing arm around his shoulders.
"What happened?" she asked.
Lee tried to both scream and cry at the same time, which only resulted in his sobs getting louder. "Gai-sensei fought the enemy in the greatest example of manly pride and sacrifice!"
Both Tenten and Neji looked to Kakashi for an actual explanation.
"Gai fought alone against Madara while he was the Ten Tails' jinchuriki. He opened all eight inner gates and became the fastest, strongest person alive, but it destroyed his body in the process. If not for Naruto, Gai would have died."
"Naruto?" Neji asked. Like Kakashi, he took a watchful stance a few steps away from the group.
Kakashi sighed and, for a moment, appeared much older than usual. "That's a different story, but, yes, Naruto saved Gai."
"Naruto saved everyone, didn't he?"
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and glanced at Sakura. "All three of the new legendary sannin saved us."
"I didn't do nearly as much as Sasuke and Naruto," Sakura said.
Kakashi ignored her modesty, or more likely, her inferiority complex being stuck next to Sasuke and Naruto all her career. "That doesn't mean you weren't an important part of the battle."
"It doesn't matter," Tenten interrupted. "Thanks, Sakura, for fighting on and for helping Gai-sensei. Hard as it is to say, I would miss his eccentricities in my life. We've been together through so much."
Neji understood her sentiment from the bottom of his heart. He may loathe the way Gai acted or all the bonding he tried to rope Neji and Tenten into, but Gai was his teacher. He loved Gai in his own exacerbated way.
Sakura looked up at them and smiled. "I can't heal all of this. I'm mainly stabilizing him enough to be transported back to Konoha. He'll need a lot more treatment there, and even then he might not reclaim full functionality."
"As long as Gai-sensei is alive, he will be loud and obnoxious no matter what condition he's in," Neji said with a chuckle. He didn't always show his teacher the respect he deserved, but knowing how hard Gai fought, he deserved the sensei right now.
Kakashi straightened, a slight move that changed his demeanor from watchful to serious. "Neji, how's the rest of the army doing?"
"Last I checked most were still in shock," Neji answered as veins of chakra thickened at his temples to feed byakugan. "Some shock is wearing off, though most are helping to find the wounded. Med-nins are setting up triage camps, and the kage are trying to restore order."
Neji furrowed his brow. He'd found his mother and the twins during this scan, but not Hinata. "Where are you, little sister?" he grumbled.
"I'm sure Hinata's fine," Tenten said, used to his over-protective nature.
"I'd be happier if I—" Neji paused as his target finally came into view much farther away from the bulk of the army than he expected. "What are you doing all the way out there?"
Tenten murmured a discontented harumph. "Explanation for those of us who can't see?"
"Hinata, Kiba, and Shino are running away from the main group. I think they're searching for something. Hinata's riding Akamaru. I've seen her do that when they're tracking so she doesn't have to concentrate on where she is."
Though the older shinobi had been ignoring the back and forth between Neji and Tenten, this information caught Kakashi's attention. "Do you see anything out there? There shouldn't be any enemies left."
Neji shook his head. "Nothing I'd take note of. It's just empty ground, no different than anywhere else after the battle. She can't be searching for Mom. I saw her helping transport the wounded to the triage area."
A nagging worry settled in Neji's stomach. Why were they running away, and why were their expressions so serious? Those weren't the faces of people pleased to be in the real world again. He wanted to stay with Tenten and Lee until Gai stabilized, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong with Hinata.
"Go on, Neji," Tenten said. "You want to know what's happening. I'll stay with Lee and Gai-sensei until you get back."
Neji sighed with a smile. Tenten never failed to remind him why he loved her.
"Yeah," Lee added through his blubbering. "We won't let anything else happen to Gai-sensei or we'll all have to walk the entire way to Konoha on our hands!"
Tenten eyed her teammate. "Don't lump me up into that. I plan on walking—walking."
Her refusal didn't deter Lee. "Then Neji and I will keep our manly promise for you!"
It took effort to keep from groaning aloud. Why did Lee always have to still include Neji when Tenten backed out? He needed to get out of this before Lee blew it out of proportion. Logic rarely worked on his teammate, but distractions did.
"Who's going to carry Gai-sensei back to Konoha if we're both on our hands?" Neji asked.
Lee's tears turned into full "manly waterfalls," and he raised one leg to push up into a dramatic pose. "I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will carry his eternal rival on his back just like Gai-sensei did for him."
There was a collective shudder from all but Lee at the memory of Kakashi flopping like a rag doll on the trip back from Suna.
"How about we simply make sure nothing happens to Gai in the meantime?" Kakashi suggested with a happy expression too practiced to be natural.
"Right. I'll be back as soon as I find out what's going on." Neji nodded to each of them before heading out.
Neji and Hinata had been on opposite sides of the battlefield before Hinata's team left the main group, which meant he had to cross the recovery efforts without drawing too much attention to his haste. No point alarming anyone, especially if nothing was wrong.
But Neji couldn't shake the feeling that even if nothing was wrong, it didn't mean everything was all right. The longer he watched his sister's face, the more desperation he saw—desperation, guilt, and grief. The battle was over, so why would she continue to feel such emotions?
At least, Neji confirmed they were looking for something. The way Kiba and Akamaru cast about, the faint glow of Shino's swarm, and Hinata's byakugan active was the pattern they normally used to track. The question was, what were they looking for?
By the time Neji reached the other side of the main group, Hinata's team had stopped. Shino's swarm collected in an area that didn't appear different from anywhere else to Neji's eyes. Kiba and Akamaru must have caught a scent, though, because Hinata dismounted to allow the big dog more freedom to search. After a few seconds, Kiba motioned to a smaller area and Hinata nodded.
Neji refocused on what beneath the rubble was so important for them to find. It didn't take long to see the reason, and Neji's heart sank with that understanding.
Hizashi. Hinata's team found Hizashi's body. That was where the desperation Neji saw in his sister came from, though her emotion showed stronger than he expected, even given her target. Hinata didn't want to find Hizashi's body. Hinata needed to find Hizashi's body. But why?
Akamaru dug through the chaos left from the battle, while the three humans cleared away the area around him to keep debris from collapsing into the hole.
Neji slowed, but made no attempt to hide his approach. When Hinata glanced up, all Neji saw was pain. Not joy or relief at being released from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but then she didn't have as many reasons to be happy. Their father was dead, and her life would never be the same because of it.
Before Neji could say anything to comfort his little sister, Akamaru stopped digging and barked. His furry head dipped low into the hole, and dust billowed out from his snuffling.
When dust settled, Akamaru jumped out of the hole to reveal Hizashi's shoulder and arm. Not even Neji could hide the grief upon seeing a piece of his father's corpse. Neji joined the others at the top of the hole and wrapped Hinata's hand in his. For a moment, it looked like Kiba and Shino intended to jump down to retrieve the body, but Hinata stopped them with a shake of her head. This was a job for Hizashi's children. They needed to be the ones to free him from his accidental burial.
Neji and Hinata walked down the slope leading into the hole. The pain was too much to rush in and grab him, and the slow descent allowed them time to prepare. It wasn't much time, but it helped. Kneeling on either side of the exposed arm, Neji and Hinata dug through the debris in silence.
They unearthed Hizashi's lower torso and legs first, since that was the least disturbing area of the body. His torso was more difficult to reveal. The wooden spikes that killed him remained in his body, and couldn't be removed until his entire body was freed. That left only his head. The air felt heavier as familiar features were revealed from beneath the rubble. Hinata ran her fingers through his hair while they wept over their father's sealless face.
Neji knew this body was Hizashi, but part of him remembered the death dream where Hiashi walked the halls with a bare forehead. Did Hizashi now walk those same halls? Would Neji be able to tell them apart when he joined them one day?
The seal was only one small change in Hizashi's appearance, and yet it made this body an imposter. This was not his father, who never went bare-headed. It was someone else. But that someone else was also dear to Hinata, who gazed down not at the imposter Neji did, but the two fathers she knew made into one. Guilt and shame slipped into Hinata's unguarded expression, but when Neji reached out to comfort her, she turned away. As much as he might want to free his sister from her burdens, there were some Hinata had to deal with on her own.
Akamaru whined, drawing Neji and Hinata from their grief. Beside the dog, Kiba looked toward the army and sniffed. "People are coming," he said in a gentle voice.
"Hyuuga are coming," Shino corrected, though he focused on the bugs crawling over his hand.
A quick sweep with byakugan confirmed their reports. His mother, the twins, and several other clan members were all heading their way, no doubt wondering why their new clan head ran so far away. Neji wiped the sorrow from his face and slid his arm under one of Hizashi's armpits.
"Give me a hand. We should make Dad . . . presentable." Neji said. The spikes made it too awkward to lift Hizashi by himself. "Especially for Mom."
For a moment, he didn't know if Hinata heard him, but then something happened that Neji had only heard of after the fact—her face fell blank. No emotion, no nervous tics, and no micro expressions to hint at her state of mind. She took hold of Hizashi's other arm with steady hands and jumped with Neji to the surface.
The longer Neji watched this eerie calm on his little sister's face, the more unnerved he became. He knew this was how she managed Ran's sealing, but she looked unnatural to Neji, like a doll moving by the will of an unseen hand. This was not the Hinata he grew up with.
Once they removed the spikes piercing Hizashi's body, Neji bowed his head in respect. "You understand the dead will likely be left here, don't you? There are too many to take back."
For one second, Hianta's calm facade cracked, and Neji saw the eyes of a three-year-old girl shaking her father's body—a body that would be taken from her never to return. "I don't care if I must carry him back to Konoha myself. He's coming home."
The moment passed, and Hinata's mask returned. Neji's heart ached to see her hiding her pain from everyone—even him.
"The clan will understand your grief," he urged. "You don't have to hide it."
Her voice was a disturbing, placid tone when she spoke again. Not fully emotionless, but the feeling wasn't real. "The clan needs to know I can handle this . . . handle them."
Her demeanor reminded him too much of Kakashi's practiced happiness—in control but hiding everything, never letting anyone in. It worked for Kakashi, but Hinata showed her emotions to all around her. An emotionless Hinata felt wrong.
"Hinata-sama," said the first of the clan to arrive.
The woman took in Hizashi's body then turned back to her new clan head and bowed deeply. Words were not needed for Hyuuga in times like this. Once again, the clan's world had been turned topsy-turvy, but instead of a child hiding behind her mother's legs, the clan had a woman capable of leading them.
Neji stood sentinel behind his sister and clan head. Now was not the time to show his discomfort at Hinata's false calm. He would support and protect Hinata through the transition as Hizashi told him to, no matter what Neji's own fears for the future told him.
What would become of his clan . . . his family . . . his sister? Would they weather the coming storm?
Only time would tell.