Ch. 3

Neji was surprised to hear he was being reassigned, and to a team with a rookie captain no less. But when he arrived at training ground 6 that morning, he was even more surprised to see his new teammates were acquaintances of his. Kiba and Shino would be his teammates. They waited on the last 2 members of his team to arrive, the medic and the new captain. Neji was staring off into space while Kiba and Shino talked about how it would be nice to be on the same squad again, with Akamaru barking in agreement. Training ground 6 was a lake so the three had to stand on the water, Neji didn't mind, it felt nice when little waves would lap up over his sandal and cool his toes. The morning mist was beginning to recede. And from the placement of the sun, Neji guessed it was about time for his captain to show. Just as the thought passed through his head, he spotted a figure at the end of the lake.

Naruto was right on time, his team waiting. He had seen Sakura on the way over and informed her that her presence wouldn't be necessary at this training session. The crestfallen look on her face while he told her was worth it. Naruto began to walk out to the three on the water.

They had already noticed him and were now silent, standing at attention, or in Kiba's case mounted. They looked quite formidable, Neji in his blue hawk mask, Kiba atop Akamaru in his grey dog mask, and Shino in his green ape mask. Naruto smirked; he was going to have some fun.

Neji soon saw that it was Naruto who was walking towards them, the fox of the ANBU. Naruto the ANBU captain. It seemed funny that when they were kids Neji thought of him as a nobody with no future, but a loss in his first Chunin exams had taught him different. Then time and again Naruto proved himself. In the war, the Akatsuki fights, and every other time he had seen Naruto fight for the village and his friends.

"Naruto?!" Kiba yelled breaking the silence.

"You got it dog boy, and it's Captain Naruto to you." Naruto said in a jovial voice.

"Ha-ha, never in my life would I have seen this coming." Came Kiba's response.

"Congratulations Naruto." Neji greeted, Shino remained silent but he nodded his head in Naruto's direction. Neji took this as a hello.

"Well," Naruto began, "I was thinking that since we're together again we have a little sparring match." Neji rolled his eyes, leave it to Naruto to act unlike any ANBU captain he had ever had before. Suddenly there were two more Naruto's. Neji noticed he didn't use any hand signals, that meant all three are clones. Neji quietly activated his Byakugan.

"You won't find me Neji…" Neji was suddenly brought back to the situation. "I'm not even close by."

"How did you know I was looking?"

"I can tell..." Naruto said sounding smug.

"I could tell right away you were just a clone." Kiba boasted rubbing Akamaru's hair.

"Clones from so far away?" Shino inquired.

Naruto smirked and said, "I'm just that good bugsy." He was still being a little overconfident in Neji's eyes. Naruto wasn't dealing with just anybody, he was dealing with one of the Konoha 11, an ANBU, and most of all, a Hyuga.

"Well, let's get this started," announced the lead Naruto. Everyone dropped into defensive stances. The entire scene became silent, tranquil, the water was like glass. Then in an instant, it seemed as if the lake was exploding. Massive waves sprang off everywhere as the six fighters went at each other.

Neji lost track of the others right away, he had his own Naruto to worry about at the moment. The first attack was a swift kick to Neji's head, Neji blocked with his right forearm easily enough. He returned fire with a left hook which was in turn blocked by Naruto's knee and the two went skidding across the water apart from each other. When their momentum stopped they immediately went back on the offensive at one another again. Naruto had a kunai in his Left hand. Neji didn't even see him draw it, and it was thrown at Neji's head just before the two were about to collide. Neji dodged but lost his footing as his sandal slipped beneath the surface.

Then, in an instant it was over, Naruto had Neji pinned, one arm behind his back and face in the water. Neji had no idea how Naruto had covered that space in that amount of time. He was over 100 feet away, but as soon as the kunai was over his shoulder, Naruto was on top of him. It was impossible for Naruto to be that fast. Naruto let Neji up. Even with his Byakugan activated, Naruto had somehow gotten the upper hand with little difficulty. He hadn't even used KCM. Then Neji saw it, the kunai Naruto had thrown was imbedded in a tree a few hundred feet away at the shore of the lake. It had a tag on it that looked familiar. He looked at Naruto.

"Family secret." Naruto replied to the un-asked question. Neji remembered seeing the reincarnated Minato do something similar in the war. Neji was not happy with his performance against Naruto. Sure Naruto was good, but Neji was completely outclassed a few moments ago. How good had Naruto really gotten? They had fought side by side in the war, but when you're allies you don't notice what the other is doing as much since you have to focus on fighting your own opponents.

"How is everyone else faring?" Neji asked, hoping he was not the first one to be defeated.

"Kiba is done, off that way," he said waving his hand in a general direction. "But Shino is proving difficult, he's hiding in the trees. Oh, there he is. Anyway, go to the Hokage's office. I'll be waiting." And then he was nothing more than a puff of smoke.

As Neji walked to the Hokage's office he ran into Kiba and Shino. All three were a little embarrassed by the way Naruto had made quick work of them. Even Kiba was quiet, not wanting to bring up the events that just transpired.

"The medic was not there." Shino simply stated.

Neji hadn't noticed. He forgot that there was another member supposed to be there. Perhaps Naruto didn't seem to think it was important for a medic to show up for a quick spar between old friends. Naruto actually seemed quite chipper today. For the past few years he had become more and more morose. Hinata had been quite distraught and asked Neji to investigate. Neji smiled to himself as he thought about how even though Hinata had become a respected Jonin instructor, her schoolgirl crush had not disappeared, much to the chagrin of Neji's new teammate Kiba.

The three came upon the building soon enough and they were about to enter when Kiba put a hand on Neji's shoulder. Neji turned to the Dog masked Nin.

"Have you seen who our medic is? Is she hot?" Neji processed what Kiba asked and looked slightly annoyed. Despite this, he turned to Shino and got no response. Then back to Kiba who shrugged, lifted his mask, and winked. Neji understood. It was Byakugan time.

Why not? It was always good to go into a situation knowing as much as possible. Neji activated his Byakugan and searched the rooms of the Hokage tower, there were three people sitting in her office. The Hokage was there, naturally. Naruto was also there. And…

As shock filled Neji's face, he exclaimed in a hushed voice, "You guys aren't going to believe this."

Author's Note

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