Don't worry about updates. I've got the first ten chapters typed and stored on my computer. I'll update tomorrow, but school starts on Monday, so the next update will be Wednesday and after that on Saturday. If I get a lot of encouraging reviews, I may be persuaded to update sooner.
As always, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Two
Naruto had been calmly having lunch with Iruka (well, calmly for him anyway) when he saw the white-eyed genin start freaking out. Though clumsy with words and despite often coming off as an idiot, Naruto had a big heart, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for the older boy. "Eh, Iruka-sensei." He adjusted his forehead protector. "I'll be right back." He ran outside and paused in front of the door to Ichiraku, looking left and right for any trace of Neji. The blonde preteen finally glimpsed the long-haired genin walking down the street and chased after him. Luckily, the streets weren't too crowded and it wasn't long before he caught up to him on a bridge overlooking a small river.
"What do you want Naruto?" Neji didn't even bother facing him.
"To help." Naruto searched for the proper words. "You seem sad inside."
"Go away."
"There's nothing wrong with being sad when something terrible happens. It's only natural. I mean, you can even cry if you want to."
Neji scoffed at the boy's idiocy and faced him. "You think I'd cry?"
"No, but you shouldn't hold it inside. That only makes the pain worse. I should know."
"What do you know?" Neji demanded, angry veins standing out in his face. "Have you ever had to just stand by and watch people get hurt knowing you couldn't do anything?"
"Neji..."
"Had your closest friend ever been raped because you were too weak to protect her?"
Naruto hung his head. He had expected Neji to still be upset over his loss in the Chuunin exam finals and not over something of this magnitude. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't know what I was talking about."
Neji sneered at him. "What's the matter Naruto? Don't you have a pep talk to give? Aren't you going to tell me everything's going to be okay?"
"I don't know what to say. I just know that I never want to be in your shoes and have to stand aside and watch Sakura-chan in pain."
"I'm not standing aside. I'm going to kill the ones who hurt her."
"Neji..."
"I don't have time to waste waiting for the jounin to conduct their investigation. They could attack someone else in that time."
Naruto formed another sentence. "I'd be angry too if I was you, but I'd also want to spend as much time with her as I can, to make sure she knows that I care about her."
Neji glared at him.
"Why are you here anyway? You're not helping anyone by moping around. Don't you want to be by her side when she wakes up?" He scratched the back of his head. "I hear girls like it when you're there for them."
"Are you trying to say she's not important to me?"
"No. I'm saying revenge shouldn't be more important than the person you're getting it for."
"I've already asked you to go away. I won't repeat myself."
Naruto didn't say anything more, he just shrugged and walked off. The hardest thing about helping people was getting through to them when they didn't want the help you can tell they so obviously needed. And Hyuuga Neji definitely didn't want anyone's help.
After he was sure Naruto had left, Neji continued deeper into the forest, to the spot where his team often practiced. To his disappointment he was not alone. Gai-sensei and Rock Lee were already there and judging from the lack of sweat on their bodies they hadn't been there very long. Damn that Naruto.
Neji chose not to verbally acknowledge his sensei and teammate and attacked the sparring dummy strung up in the tree. Naruto knew nothing of revenge, but he knew what strength was, a lesson Neji in all of his training had missed. He wouldn't forget the true meaning of strength this time and he would prove to everyone his worth.
"Gai-sensei, Neji seems more intense than usual." Lee sweatdropped as the first dummy fell after a strong kick to the throat area, and Neji launched himself at the second one without even so much as a pause.
"Ah." Gai rested a hand on his protégé's shoulders. "You should understand his motivation."
Hearts replaced Lee's eyes as he thought of his love. "Sakura-san."
Gai smiled widely, a twinkle in his eye and the sunshine glinted off his pearly white teeth. "There is nothing so beautiful as love in the spring of youth."
Neji didn't even slow down his movements. "I'm not in love with her."
Gai and Lee crouched lower and began whispering loudly to each other. "He's taking it pretty hard."
"I would too if I were in his shoes."
Gai straightened up and addressed Neji as well as Lee. "Gentlemen, I have most excellent news. This year's second Chuunin exam will be held in exactly one month and two weeks and with one exam already under our belts I am confident that if we train nonstop we will make Chuunin for sure." He smiled widely and held up two fingers in a V.
Neji kicked the dummy again and it crashed to the ground in front of him. "How will we pass when one of our squad members is crippled and the other one is in a coma?"
"Lee will be well enough to compete by then."
"And TenTen?"
"That has been considered. The doctors estimate that she'll be awake before this week is over."
"I didn't mean physically. What if she's not okay emotionally?"
"Then we'll deal with it as a team." Lee assured Neji.
"That's right." Gai pulled a long black sash from his jacket pocket. "In the time being I have a special training exercise for you Neji." He extended the cloth towards the boy.
Neji took it from his teacher and stared at it distastefully. Gai-sensei's taste in clothes left much to be desired. "What do you want me to do with this?"
"It's a blindfold." He continued at the boy's puzzled stare. "Even though your techniques are strong, they revolve around the use of Byakugan just like Lee's revolved around his legs. What this lesson is going to do is ensure that you're still a strong shinobi should you lose your eyes."
Neji understood the man's concern. Lee had almost lost his future as a ninja, and he was trying to make sure the same thing didn't happen to him. He lifted the sash to his eyes and tied it tightly around the back of his head. "What now?"
"We won't do anything to strenuous on your first day. I just want you to use all your senses but your sight to form a mental picture of your surroundings."
That wouldn't be too hard. He'd come here many times to train and knew the area by heart. He carefully stepped over a tree root and directly into the tree.
Gai laughed heartily. "Not as easy as you thought?"
All his senses...He could hear nothing but birds and the occasionally passing breeze, but that was no surprise. One of the first lessons you learned in the ninja academy was to be silent. Making a picture by touching or tasting everything would be stupid and time consuming. His nose wasn't nearly powerful enough to pick up anything the average ninja couldn't, so that eliminated that. The slow wind blew by again, picking up a few leaves and swirling his long hair around his face, giving Neji an idea. The wind was coming from behind him, but was particularly weak off to his right. So that meant something had to be blocking it, either a tree or a person. He picked up a rock and flung it in that direction. There was the sound of contact, but no cry of pain, so that ruled out the human being theory.
While he couldn't hear Gai or Rock Lee breathing he could almost hear the faint whistling of the wind through the trees, helping him to locate all of them. The picture was becoming clearer, but he still couldn't get accurate readings on Gai or Lee without..."Byakugan!" He felt the veins ripple and stretch across his face. Suddenly, everything was perfectly clear, Lee was standing only a few yards in front of him and Gai was...where was Gai?
A large hand crashed into his face sending him reeling onto the ground. "I told you not to use your eyes. The punishment for disobedience is three hundred laps around the village."
Neji groaned and pulled off the blindfold. No matter how ridiculous the punishment seemed, once Gai made up his mind there was no changing it. Maybe if he was lucky his legs would give out around lap one hundred and he'd be excused from the remaining ones. Maybe.
