Notice: I do not own Naruto, and make no claims of copyright on the
characters who are not my property. Original characters, however, are mine.
Author's Notes: This chapter is again, mostly talk. Again, this is important stuff though. Here are probably the most writing time any series characters aside from Neji will get, Tenten and Gai, who I had to work with more than I originally intended. This is the first chapter seen through Neji's eyes.
Midday Words, Choices
The hospital rooms of Konoha are bland and boxlike, designed for security and not pleasantry. Most of the ninja injured seriously enough to end up in one were not conscious anyway, so décor was not a consideration. It made it hard on those who spent long recovery periods here though, for they had little to do, and even less to distract them in the band surroundings.
For Hyuuga Neji, five days in the hospital, it was excruciatingly boring. He had awoken after sleeping for two days, his body recovering from Tsunade's healing. The medics had told him little, and he did not know anything beyond the deadly fight and waking up here. Neji didn't like that. He was supposed to be dead, he had seen into his wounds, and had felt the blood leaking out of him as he lay beside the Sound he had slain. How did I survive? Neji wondered, and asked the question repeatedly, but no one would answer. Oh, it was said that Tsunade had healed him, but Neji was not satisfied. I got back to Konoha somehow, and I want to know how that happened.
The last three days in bed had been the worst. His strength had returned quickly, as a blood transfusion had dealt with the only truly serious problem to his body, and Tsunade's skills had rebuilt the damaged muscles. He felt almost as fit as ever by now, and wanted to get out the hospital. He needed to know what was going on.
Neji had received some news, since he had not been without visitors. Indeed, Tenten had spent a tremendous amount of time with him, enough that Neji had actually gotten irritated by her near constant presence. She'd brought him little news though, aside from the usual happenings around Konoha. It had been aggravating that she could tell him nothing about his mission, especially when Tenten said she had asked Gai-sensei. That his sensei did not come by also aggravated him, though the nurses said he had been very attentive while Neji was asleep. There was something going on, it was easy enough to tell. Everyone is hiding something from me, some strange secret. That had been obvious when Naruto and Shikamaru had come to see him. The young Chuunin had been taciturn, not that Neji really knew him anyway. He had been grateful Neji had survived, and had congratulated him on a mission well done, but that was all. Still, despite the standard no motivation attitude, it had been easy to see that he had been holding something back.
Naruto had been more vocal, and Neji had been surprised to actually appreciate the crazy ninja's presence. Not that he considered Naruto a friend, and neither did Naruto really, despite his best attempts to seem otherwise. Their fight had been too loaded during the Chuunin exam. It will be a long time before I forget what was said there, Neji realized during that visit. A long time for him too. Still, he had been slightly surprised to be so glad to know his comrades were alive, especially when Naruto sobbingly told him what had happened to Chouji.
It seemed more likely that Shikamaru would tell it, but Neji saw the tears at the corners of the Chuunin's eyes when Naruto spoke. Ah, he thought. So he does care. It was sobering to hear of Chouji's death, even though Neji had not known the other genin hardly at all, and still thought him to be something of a fat weakling. Perhaps I was wrong about that, though, if he beat an opponent like mine. Regardless, it was sobering to learn that a genin he knew had died. Neji didn't know many of the other members of his class well, several had died in the invasion he'd been told, but that had barely brushed him. To have a teammate, even such a brief one, die, that was far more hard hitting. He also couldn't help but wonder, our foes were supposed to be far beyond us. Was it Chouji's fate to die there? Was it mine? That was a far more disturbing question.
When asked Shikamaru had refused to answer, and had reminded Naruto of the same. "What's the problem?" Neji had demanded. "How did I get back here? There's an answer, so what is it?"
"Ah, don't worry." Shikamaru told him offhandedly. "Someone'll tell you soon enough. Why's it matter anyway?"
Neji was sure even Shikamaru realized the foolishness of his last question, but didn't press the matter. No one was talking to him freely except Tenten, and she was out of the loop. He resolved that as soon as the nurses released him he would find Gai-sensei and make sure he got the answer. That only made the waiting harder to take.
Tenten stayed with Neji most of that morning, but they had run out of things to say to each other. Neji was focused on finding out what had happened on his last mission, and Tenten seemed, distracted. It was long past the point where she could fool Neji, but he waited, hoping she would tell him what was on her mind. She was perhaps the only person he would treat that way who was his age, but then she was perhaps his only real friend. In the end though, when at noon Tenten was about to leave without saying anything, Neji spoke up. "What's wrong? Tell me."
"I shouldn't Neji, I don't know anything." She replied quietly, but with sadness.
"I'm sick of everyone trying to talk around me Tenten, don't you start with that too." Neji replied angrily.
"Well, alright." She said, still sad. "I've been assigned to a mission."
"A mission?" That was puzzling for a second, and Neji asked another question without bothering to puzzle out the implications. "Lee and I are still injured, and isn't Gai-sensei posted here for defense? How do we have a mission?"
Tenten put her head in her hands, and sobbed without replying.
"Tenten," Neji admonished harshly. "You're trying to hide your face so I can't see that you're recalling something terrible. Don't."
"Neji," She began slowly, but then the words just flowed out on their own. "We don't have a mission, I do. I've been assigned with three other genin to a chuunin's team. They're old comrades from our class, and we're going to complete a bunch of C rank missions, I guess there aren't enough people. Neji, you're injured, and Lee's still not been healed. Gai-sensei's busy, I think they're going to break up our team. No, I know they are, Gai- sensei's coming at noon to speak with you, and I'm sure that's what its about. I bet you'll be teamed with Shikamaru and Naruto again. Why? Why do they have to break us up?" Tenten started sobbing again.
Neji just looked at her blankly. Break up the team? He reaction began with numbness. We haven't really been a team since Lee got hurt, he realized. Yes, he had trained with Tenten, trained a lot really, while preparing for the exam, but it had just been the two of them, Gai-sensei had been mostly absent. He probably cheered Naruto during the chuunin exam, Neji thought. Tenten's the only one who stuck by me. Is that what upsets her? Once he thought that it was obvious. Yes, that was what upset her. That realization made him even number. The team was one thing. Neji had never considered it permanent, just a point fate had pushed him to, something he would leave behind when he became a chuunin. Lee and he had never gotten along anyway, and Gai-sensei was hardly his favorite teacher either. But Tenten? That was saddening. She's the only one who cheered me when I fought Naruto, I'm sure of that now. Have I angered everyone else so much? Do they all hate me? No, Neji realized, they don't hate me. Everyone thinks I'm a fool. Soberly he continued the thought. They were right too, Naruto proved them right. I have to remember that.
The realization made Neji feel a little better, as he understood better what he'd been discovering since his defeat at the chuunin exam. It left him, however, with Tenten still sobbing. He knew he had to do something, but he wasn't good at this situation. He wasn't even sure how he felt. I knew fate would drive us apart eventually; she and I were made for different paths. Did she never think that? Or was she like Lee, did she think hard work could change that? Neji couldn't answer those questions, but he knew he had to say something. He responded as his usually blunt and frank self. "Stop it." He told he sternly.
Tenten's head jerked up. Neji continued. "It's good that you have a mission, you'll do well." He believed that certainly, he knew Tenten was not so feeble as many had thought she was. She's a component ninja. "I'm sorry the team is being broken up." Neji was surprised to find he believed that too, but he did. "It would have happened eventually though." He said with brutal frankness. "If Lee or I had become a chuunin, or you had, that would have broken up the team. You know that. You know it would have happened."
Tenten wiped away some tears and nodded, and she rapidly returned to herself. "I hoped I would still be on your team."
Neji nodded at this, his own eyes growing unusually sad. "We don't always get what we hoped for." He said, but felt he should add more than that. "Perhaps we will work together in the future though, in a squad of chuunin, or elsewhere."
That did it, Neji realized as Tenten smile at him. That was what I was supposed to say. He made sure to remember this situation, for he rarely said the right thing to people.
"I hope that happens." Tenten said, smiling again. "I've got to go now, Neji. Gai-sensei's coming, and I have to report."
Neji said nothing more, but just nodded to her.
She left quickly, saying nothing more, and leaving Neji to stare at the walls again.
Beyond the sadness Tenten had brought him with her revelation, there was something else disturbing about what she had said. She expected him to join Shikamaru and Naruto, but they had visited him and said nothing about anything like that. Neji would not believe that if he and Naruto were to be on the same team the other ninja could have avoided speaking about it. No, there was something else going on. It has to be tied to how I survived. I'm supposed to be dead, so what are they doing with me? More than anything right now, Neji wanted those answers; he needed to know what his place was.
Only a few moments after Tenten had left, Gai entered. Neji jolted upright as he did so, and then scowled. Gai wore an unusually dour expression, hardly what Neji expected from a man coming to greet a recovering student. Something strange has happened, Neji was certain, what is it? Will Gai-sensei tell me?
Gai sat down in the chair Tenten had occupied, though I was perhaps too small for him. He sat with his arms crossed, hands fidgeting. He seemed unsure of what to say. Neji did not say anything, he wanted Gai to say something first.
"Neji," Gai began finally. "I'm sure you have been wondering what happened to you."
Neji nodded. "You are all keeping some strange secret, even Naruto knew but did not tell me." Neji said that as if making Naruto keep a secret somehow made it far more terrible than otherwise.
Gai did not look particularly happy with the response, but it seemed he had expected it. Neji had long learned there were moments when his sensei was utterly transparent, and others when he was every bit a true ninja, and impossible to read. This moment seemed to be one of the latter. "Neji," Gai continued. "We chose to keep things from you because certain things had to be decided. Those things were decided this morning. The Hokage has sent me to tell you everything."
Neji said nothing.
Looking perplexed, Gai fumbled for somewhere to start. "Ah, what do you remember before waking up here?" He asked, unsure.
It was a reasonable question, Gai had not been in to see him, and had apparently not asked Tenten or his teammates what he remembered. "I remember that I should have died." Neji answered coldly. "I had beaten Kidomaru, he died. I was lying there, and I could see my wounds, and feel the blood leak out. I was going to die, and I couldn't do anything about it. Then I woke up here. That's all."
"Ah," Gai managed, rather shocked by how frankly Neji said it. "Well, I suppose I should tell you what happened afterwards. You've already had Naruto tell you how they fared I gather. I'll say what happened to you. I've been told you've been asking everyone how you survived."
"I have." Neji said. "So what happened? I don't see how I ended up back here, even if someone had dragged me I shouldn't have made it."
"Yes, well..." Gai gathered his strength, knowing that this would be difficult to explain. "There was another ninja in the woods that day. He is the one who saved you."
Another ninja? Some ANBU on patrol? Neji wondered, but nodded for Gai to continue.
"This ninja, he is not an ordinary ninja." Gai rushed forward. "His name is Draci Xi, a ninja from the Lightning, and a dragon ninja. He summoned a dragon that brought you back to Konoha. Here Hokage-sama healed your wounds. That is how you made it back."
The words sank in slowly, and Gai was silent for a time, allowing Neji to sort them. He did not know what a dragon ninja was, presumably someone who could summon a dragon as Gai-sensei said he had. The name was unfamiliar as well, but Neji knew nothing about the ninja of other villages, so that was not surprising. He knew already that the Hokage had healed him, but the rest made little sense. "Why would a ninja from lightning save me? Don't they want the secrets of the Byakugan? If he found me dying he could have tried to take them from my body."
Having revealed what he had to reveal, Gai appeared more comfortable. "Draci Xi is unusual, he has been working with Konoha against the Sound, and he collects debts. He wanted Konoha to owe him for saving you, that is why he did it."
"So that is it then?" Neji asked. "I was saved by this lightning, and now Konoha owes him something?" Neji didn't like the idea of being responsible for some debt the whole village owed. "I'll help to pay it back if I can."
Gai reacted oddly to that remark. He almost recoiled for an instant, but then regained his composure immediately. This confused Neji more, his sensei was holding something back. "Odd," Gai remarked. "That you should say that."
"What is it?" Neji demanded, his patience at its limit. There was something about this dragon ninja that Gai-sensei had yet to say.
"The reason we waited to tell you what had happened till today is because of that debt Xi collected." Gai was now more serious than Neji had ever seen him, even in battle. "Xi decided to call in that debt, and several others Konoha owes him. It was decided this morning."
"Why does this affect me, unless I am to serve on some team to fulfill this mission?" Neji continued. "If this why Tenten was assigned to another team."
"No, Tenten was given a mission because Konoha has need of every ninja now." Gai replied. "This affects you because of what Xi requested in return for his debts." Gai fell silent, not wanting to continue.
Neji prompted him mercilessly. "What did he request?" He demanded harshly.
The words snapped out of Gai instantly. "That you be his apprentice."
"What?" Neji was astonished. A lightning ninja I have never heard of has asked me to be his apprentice? That can't be, such things never happen. I'm a member of the Hyuuga branch family! What is this? But Gai's voice would silence him.
"Draci Xi has requested that you be his apprentice, you have apparently impressed him, and he has said that he will train you to be a dragon ninja." Gai continued in an even more somber tone. "Neji, the Hokage has agreed to Xi's request."
Neji blinked. "They've what?" He managed, not believing what he had just heard.
"The decision was made this morning, Konoha cannot reasonably refuse the dragon ninja's demands. If you agree, you become his apprentice, if not; Konoha will be forced to pay the debt some other way. That's the way things are right now." Gai looked disheartened.
"I'm just supposed to accept this, that I'll be trained by someone I know nothing about, someone not even from the Leaf?" To Neji it seemed like an ill-conceived joke of some kind.
"No!" Gai managed with quite a bit more enthusiasm than he had the whole conversation. "You can choose however you chose. No one will force you to do this."
He knew Gai's words were the truth, but also that what he had said earlier was true, that he would do his part to bear this debt, since otherwise he should be dead. "How am I supposed to chose?" He asked. "I know nothing about this man, and about this decision you have made."
"I am charged to tell you." Gai replied, once again deadly serious. "My last act as your sensei, however you chose. If you chose to abide by the decision, well then you can meet with Xi this afternoon. If not, Konoha will surely assign you to a team, since a ninja who has demonstrated your abilities cannot be spared."
So, Tenten was correct, one-way or another we are broken up. It was surprisingly saddening to have that confirmed. Neji thought about it a moment more, but then, we were broken apart five days ago, when this Xi saved me from death and claimed my life. If he had not, I would be dead, and the team would be ended regardless.
"So, Gai-sensei, explain this." Neji said evenly. "Who is this Xi, why does he want to train me, what is a dragon ninja? I will need to know."
"I knew that is what you would say." Gai replied. "Though I had hoped you would reject the idea. Have I been such a bad teacher to you, Hyuuga Neji?" The words were coarse, but there was powerful emotion behind them.
Not long ago Neji might have said that Gai had indeed been a bad teacher, as he had been forced to teach himself most of his skill with the Byakugan. Now though, now he knew that it had not been about techniques, but that Gai had been trying to teach him how to be a ninja. I never really listened to him, but that is as much my fault as his. So his answer was different. "No, but the Neji you taught would have died fighting a Sound ninja. Perhaps this Xi can teach me otherwise?"
"Perhaps he can." Gai did not sound very confident of that. "Very well, I will tell you, so listen carefully."
The Jounin began to recite the history of Draci Xi and the Dragon Ninja. "I do not know that much about Draci Xi's early life. He was a Lightning ninja, and apparently rather talented. He rose to the rank of Chuunin in his second exam, at thirteen, joined an ANBU squad two years later, and served in a number of Lightning conflicts. He was apparently a skilled chakra manipulator, but knew extraordinarily few jutsu. Having been an ANBU for only a year, he was picked out as an apprentice by the then last dragon ninja, a Lightning ninja named Draci Naravki." Neji caught that both Dragon ninja apparently shared the same family named, but he allowed Gai to continue without saying anything. "Xi was trained as a dragon ninja for a year and a half, after which he had only intermittent contact with his master and rejoined the ANBU. He served in the ANBU for some time, and was made a Jounin at some point during that period. However, he did not teach students as most Jounin do, but instead he was taken from the ANBU and made a Hunter-nin, taking the place his master had held. He was ideally suited to being a Hunter-nin, being a dragon ninja.
I do not know how much time Xi spent as an ANBU, or how much time he spent as a Hunter-nin, or really what he did during those periods, though I know he did not serve against Konoha in the war, but tracked missing-nin from both sides at that time. He served as both as a dragon ninja for eleven years, until eight years ago. This was about a year after the treaty, and the attempt to kidnap Hinata. You know of the decision made after that. Apparently, the Lightning had not agreed amongst themselves about what had happened, and there was a conflict. One group swiftly emerged victorious, but a large number of ninja were declared missing. One of those, an extremely powerful ninja, is known to have killed Draci Naravki. The Hunter-nins, they went after this woman, but they failed. Only Draci Xi survived, but he did not kill her, only managed to recover the dragon ninja artifacts she had stolen.
Xi quit the Hunter-nins after that, and went out alone. Lightning sanctioned him as their agent, and he reported as a spy, but he undertook his own actions. No one knew what he was doing."
Neji absorbed all this information as Gai spoke it, this complicated history of the other ninja, Draci Xi. He does not seem so special, Neji thought.
Gai continued. "No one knew where Xi really was for those eight years, though there are reports. However, we know now that he served as a spy in Konoha for some time."
If he was a spy, then why is he not dead? No one could get away with spying on Konoha. Neji didn't understand it.
"Xi revealed himself during the Chuunin exam." Gai said. It begins to make sense, Neji thought. "I do not know how strong he was among the Lightning, Neji, but when he revealed himself at the exam, and fought the Sound and Sand ninja, he was extremely strong. He is stronger than me or Kakashi, certainly, perhaps almost at the Sennin level, though Jiraiya-sama, and Hokage-sama are stronger than he is. Xi fought for us that day, you did not see him because you were in the Hospital, but he aided myself, Kakashi, and other Jounin at the stadium, and then went out into Konoha, where he fought the great snakes summoned by the Sand and Orochimaru, holding them back until Jiraiya-sama arrived to slay them. We have counted that he killed over twenty-five ninja that day."
Twenty-five? Neji did not believe that, could not believe that. No ninja could fight so many fights and win, even against weaker opponents. Could they? He interrupted Gai. "How?"
"Because he is a dragon ninja," His sensei answered. "But wait a minute for that. After the Chuunin exam, Xi has continued to aid Konoha. He fought Sound Ninja all along the border with their country, and sometimes into theirs, since the Lightning have given him that right. He killed many of them. He also tracked ninja from other countries that were coming to spy in the Leaf, and has helped us drive many of them out, or driven them off himself. Then he saved your life five days ago, and went on to try to aid your teammates, but he was too late."
It did not seem all that extraordinary to Neji, not that much more than what he had heard Gai say of the exploits of other Jounin such as his rival Kakashi, and paled in comparison to what was said of the Sennin. But Gai clearly did not like this Xi, and yet he had given him a lengthy list of accomplishments, and said he killed twenty-five ninja in one day, as well as fought great snakes. That alone was astounding. Perhaps there is something to this man, he decided. "So why does this Xi want to train me?" Neji asked, for Gai's long explanation had provided no hints to that.
"He wants to make you a dragon ninja." Gai answered. "He believes you have the skills required, and the opportunity was there. Perhaps he is actually doing it because it believes it will be good for you. He told all of us that, and also that you had great potential, but he has never trained students before, so I do not trust such motives."
"Do you not trust him?" Neji asked, knowing that Gai, for all his seeming foolishness and ridiculous actions, was a surprisingly shrewd judge of character. Which may be why he never really liked me, Neji recalled, since I was hardly a good person.
"No, I do not not 'trust' him as you say. I do not like him." Gai scowled. "His is a dragon ninja, and it is hard to see past that. You see, Neji, the dragon ninja are an old style, the peak of their power was before the Great Ninja Wars. Now Xi is the only one left. Dragon Ninja are not likeable, for their purpose is to kill." He let that stand in the air for a moment. "All of Xi's jutsus are designed to kill enemies, and they are very, very, good at this. That is how he killed twenty-five ninja in one day, each of them took only a single technique. I do not think Xi is an evil man, but he is harsh and violent. He measures his life by his debts; all the dragon ninja do so. Still, he defended Konoha when he could have fought for Orochimaru, and has risked himself for us several times. Perhaps when you meet him you can decide."
"All their jutsu kill?" Neji repeated.
"Yes, that is how they were created." Gai did not try to justify it. "Perhaps Xi can explain why to you, I do not understand him."
Neji considered all that Gai had told him for long minutes. He believed that he should repay this debt that he had incurred, and that Konoha should not suffer, since it was his life that had been saved. If Gai could no longer teach him, than perhaps having another Sensei, even a Lightning nin, made sense. Neji realized that though he was learning a different way of life, he was not ready to walk alone yet. I do not wish to serve with Naruto and Shikamaru, I cannot do that yet, and I'm not ready to be his teammate. Yet, I wonder what this Xi can teach me. How to kill? Do I want to learn that? I already can kill with my hands. What is he offering to teach me, to be some kind of assassin? It was a difficult decision, and Neji's mind attacked it from many different angles. He was adept at seeing a solution others could not, but in this case he had only one choice, yes or no. In the end, he could not decide based on what Gai had told him. He was not yet ready to make the irrevocable choice. "I will meet him before I decide." Neji told his sensei.
Gai's eyes were downcast but he said nothing more than, "He is waiting at our training site, I will not go with you."
Author's Notes: This chapter is again, mostly talk. Again, this is important stuff though. Here are probably the most writing time any series characters aside from Neji will get, Tenten and Gai, who I had to work with more than I originally intended. This is the first chapter seen through Neji's eyes.
Midday Words, Choices
The hospital rooms of Konoha are bland and boxlike, designed for security and not pleasantry. Most of the ninja injured seriously enough to end up in one were not conscious anyway, so décor was not a consideration. It made it hard on those who spent long recovery periods here though, for they had little to do, and even less to distract them in the band surroundings.
For Hyuuga Neji, five days in the hospital, it was excruciatingly boring. He had awoken after sleeping for two days, his body recovering from Tsunade's healing. The medics had told him little, and he did not know anything beyond the deadly fight and waking up here. Neji didn't like that. He was supposed to be dead, he had seen into his wounds, and had felt the blood leaking out of him as he lay beside the Sound he had slain. How did I survive? Neji wondered, and asked the question repeatedly, but no one would answer. Oh, it was said that Tsunade had healed him, but Neji was not satisfied. I got back to Konoha somehow, and I want to know how that happened.
The last three days in bed had been the worst. His strength had returned quickly, as a blood transfusion had dealt with the only truly serious problem to his body, and Tsunade's skills had rebuilt the damaged muscles. He felt almost as fit as ever by now, and wanted to get out the hospital. He needed to know what was going on.
Neji had received some news, since he had not been without visitors. Indeed, Tenten had spent a tremendous amount of time with him, enough that Neji had actually gotten irritated by her near constant presence. She'd brought him little news though, aside from the usual happenings around Konoha. It had been aggravating that she could tell him nothing about his mission, especially when Tenten said she had asked Gai-sensei. That his sensei did not come by also aggravated him, though the nurses said he had been very attentive while Neji was asleep. There was something going on, it was easy enough to tell. Everyone is hiding something from me, some strange secret. That had been obvious when Naruto and Shikamaru had come to see him. The young Chuunin had been taciturn, not that Neji really knew him anyway. He had been grateful Neji had survived, and had congratulated him on a mission well done, but that was all. Still, despite the standard no motivation attitude, it had been easy to see that he had been holding something back.
Naruto had been more vocal, and Neji had been surprised to actually appreciate the crazy ninja's presence. Not that he considered Naruto a friend, and neither did Naruto really, despite his best attempts to seem otherwise. Their fight had been too loaded during the Chuunin exam. It will be a long time before I forget what was said there, Neji realized during that visit. A long time for him too. Still, he had been slightly surprised to be so glad to know his comrades were alive, especially when Naruto sobbingly told him what had happened to Chouji.
It seemed more likely that Shikamaru would tell it, but Neji saw the tears at the corners of the Chuunin's eyes when Naruto spoke. Ah, he thought. So he does care. It was sobering to hear of Chouji's death, even though Neji had not known the other genin hardly at all, and still thought him to be something of a fat weakling. Perhaps I was wrong about that, though, if he beat an opponent like mine. Regardless, it was sobering to learn that a genin he knew had died. Neji didn't know many of the other members of his class well, several had died in the invasion he'd been told, but that had barely brushed him. To have a teammate, even such a brief one, die, that was far more hard hitting. He also couldn't help but wonder, our foes were supposed to be far beyond us. Was it Chouji's fate to die there? Was it mine? That was a far more disturbing question.
When asked Shikamaru had refused to answer, and had reminded Naruto of the same. "What's the problem?" Neji had demanded. "How did I get back here? There's an answer, so what is it?"
"Ah, don't worry." Shikamaru told him offhandedly. "Someone'll tell you soon enough. Why's it matter anyway?"
Neji was sure even Shikamaru realized the foolishness of his last question, but didn't press the matter. No one was talking to him freely except Tenten, and she was out of the loop. He resolved that as soon as the nurses released him he would find Gai-sensei and make sure he got the answer. That only made the waiting harder to take.
Tenten stayed with Neji most of that morning, but they had run out of things to say to each other. Neji was focused on finding out what had happened on his last mission, and Tenten seemed, distracted. It was long past the point where she could fool Neji, but he waited, hoping she would tell him what was on her mind. She was perhaps the only person he would treat that way who was his age, but then she was perhaps his only real friend. In the end though, when at noon Tenten was about to leave without saying anything, Neji spoke up. "What's wrong? Tell me."
"I shouldn't Neji, I don't know anything." She replied quietly, but with sadness.
"I'm sick of everyone trying to talk around me Tenten, don't you start with that too." Neji replied angrily.
"Well, alright." She said, still sad. "I've been assigned to a mission."
"A mission?" That was puzzling for a second, and Neji asked another question without bothering to puzzle out the implications. "Lee and I are still injured, and isn't Gai-sensei posted here for defense? How do we have a mission?"
Tenten put her head in her hands, and sobbed without replying.
"Tenten," Neji admonished harshly. "You're trying to hide your face so I can't see that you're recalling something terrible. Don't."
"Neji," She began slowly, but then the words just flowed out on their own. "We don't have a mission, I do. I've been assigned with three other genin to a chuunin's team. They're old comrades from our class, and we're going to complete a bunch of C rank missions, I guess there aren't enough people. Neji, you're injured, and Lee's still not been healed. Gai-sensei's busy, I think they're going to break up our team. No, I know they are, Gai- sensei's coming at noon to speak with you, and I'm sure that's what its about. I bet you'll be teamed with Shikamaru and Naruto again. Why? Why do they have to break us up?" Tenten started sobbing again.
Neji just looked at her blankly. Break up the team? He reaction began with numbness. We haven't really been a team since Lee got hurt, he realized. Yes, he had trained with Tenten, trained a lot really, while preparing for the exam, but it had just been the two of them, Gai-sensei had been mostly absent. He probably cheered Naruto during the chuunin exam, Neji thought. Tenten's the only one who stuck by me. Is that what upsets her? Once he thought that it was obvious. Yes, that was what upset her. That realization made him even number. The team was one thing. Neji had never considered it permanent, just a point fate had pushed him to, something he would leave behind when he became a chuunin. Lee and he had never gotten along anyway, and Gai-sensei was hardly his favorite teacher either. But Tenten? That was saddening. She's the only one who cheered me when I fought Naruto, I'm sure of that now. Have I angered everyone else so much? Do they all hate me? No, Neji realized, they don't hate me. Everyone thinks I'm a fool. Soberly he continued the thought. They were right too, Naruto proved them right. I have to remember that.
The realization made Neji feel a little better, as he understood better what he'd been discovering since his defeat at the chuunin exam. It left him, however, with Tenten still sobbing. He knew he had to do something, but he wasn't good at this situation. He wasn't even sure how he felt. I knew fate would drive us apart eventually; she and I were made for different paths. Did she never think that? Or was she like Lee, did she think hard work could change that? Neji couldn't answer those questions, but he knew he had to say something. He responded as his usually blunt and frank self. "Stop it." He told he sternly.
Tenten's head jerked up. Neji continued. "It's good that you have a mission, you'll do well." He believed that certainly, he knew Tenten was not so feeble as many had thought she was. She's a component ninja. "I'm sorry the team is being broken up." Neji was surprised to find he believed that too, but he did. "It would have happened eventually though." He said with brutal frankness. "If Lee or I had become a chuunin, or you had, that would have broken up the team. You know that. You know it would have happened."
Tenten wiped away some tears and nodded, and she rapidly returned to herself. "I hoped I would still be on your team."
Neji nodded at this, his own eyes growing unusually sad. "We don't always get what we hoped for." He said, but felt he should add more than that. "Perhaps we will work together in the future though, in a squad of chuunin, or elsewhere."
That did it, Neji realized as Tenten smile at him. That was what I was supposed to say. He made sure to remember this situation, for he rarely said the right thing to people.
"I hope that happens." Tenten said, smiling again. "I've got to go now, Neji. Gai-sensei's coming, and I have to report."
Neji said nothing more, but just nodded to her.
She left quickly, saying nothing more, and leaving Neji to stare at the walls again.
Beyond the sadness Tenten had brought him with her revelation, there was something else disturbing about what she had said. She expected him to join Shikamaru and Naruto, but they had visited him and said nothing about anything like that. Neji would not believe that if he and Naruto were to be on the same team the other ninja could have avoided speaking about it. No, there was something else going on. It has to be tied to how I survived. I'm supposed to be dead, so what are they doing with me? More than anything right now, Neji wanted those answers; he needed to know what his place was.
Only a few moments after Tenten had left, Gai entered. Neji jolted upright as he did so, and then scowled. Gai wore an unusually dour expression, hardly what Neji expected from a man coming to greet a recovering student. Something strange has happened, Neji was certain, what is it? Will Gai-sensei tell me?
Gai sat down in the chair Tenten had occupied, though I was perhaps too small for him. He sat with his arms crossed, hands fidgeting. He seemed unsure of what to say. Neji did not say anything, he wanted Gai to say something first.
"Neji," Gai began finally. "I'm sure you have been wondering what happened to you."
Neji nodded. "You are all keeping some strange secret, even Naruto knew but did not tell me." Neji said that as if making Naruto keep a secret somehow made it far more terrible than otherwise.
Gai did not look particularly happy with the response, but it seemed he had expected it. Neji had long learned there were moments when his sensei was utterly transparent, and others when he was every bit a true ninja, and impossible to read. This moment seemed to be one of the latter. "Neji," Gai continued. "We chose to keep things from you because certain things had to be decided. Those things were decided this morning. The Hokage has sent me to tell you everything."
Neji said nothing.
Looking perplexed, Gai fumbled for somewhere to start. "Ah, what do you remember before waking up here?" He asked, unsure.
It was a reasonable question, Gai had not been in to see him, and had apparently not asked Tenten or his teammates what he remembered. "I remember that I should have died." Neji answered coldly. "I had beaten Kidomaru, he died. I was lying there, and I could see my wounds, and feel the blood leak out. I was going to die, and I couldn't do anything about it. Then I woke up here. That's all."
"Ah," Gai managed, rather shocked by how frankly Neji said it. "Well, I suppose I should tell you what happened afterwards. You've already had Naruto tell you how they fared I gather. I'll say what happened to you. I've been told you've been asking everyone how you survived."
"I have." Neji said. "So what happened? I don't see how I ended up back here, even if someone had dragged me I shouldn't have made it."
"Yes, well..." Gai gathered his strength, knowing that this would be difficult to explain. "There was another ninja in the woods that day. He is the one who saved you."
Another ninja? Some ANBU on patrol? Neji wondered, but nodded for Gai to continue.
"This ninja, he is not an ordinary ninja." Gai rushed forward. "His name is Draci Xi, a ninja from the Lightning, and a dragon ninja. He summoned a dragon that brought you back to Konoha. Here Hokage-sama healed your wounds. That is how you made it back."
The words sank in slowly, and Gai was silent for a time, allowing Neji to sort them. He did not know what a dragon ninja was, presumably someone who could summon a dragon as Gai-sensei said he had. The name was unfamiliar as well, but Neji knew nothing about the ninja of other villages, so that was not surprising. He knew already that the Hokage had healed him, but the rest made little sense. "Why would a ninja from lightning save me? Don't they want the secrets of the Byakugan? If he found me dying he could have tried to take them from my body."
Having revealed what he had to reveal, Gai appeared more comfortable. "Draci Xi is unusual, he has been working with Konoha against the Sound, and he collects debts. He wanted Konoha to owe him for saving you, that is why he did it."
"So that is it then?" Neji asked. "I was saved by this lightning, and now Konoha owes him something?" Neji didn't like the idea of being responsible for some debt the whole village owed. "I'll help to pay it back if I can."
Gai reacted oddly to that remark. He almost recoiled for an instant, but then regained his composure immediately. This confused Neji more, his sensei was holding something back. "Odd," Gai remarked. "That you should say that."
"What is it?" Neji demanded, his patience at its limit. There was something about this dragon ninja that Gai-sensei had yet to say.
"The reason we waited to tell you what had happened till today is because of that debt Xi collected." Gai was now more serious than Neji had ever seen him, even in battle. "Xi decided to call in that debt, and several others Konoha owes him. It was decided this morning."
"Why does this affect me, unless I am to serve on some team to fulfill this mission?" Neji continued. "If this why Tenten was assigned to another team."
"No, Tenten was given a mission because Konoha has need of every ninja now." Gai replied. "This affects you because of what Xi requested in return for his debts." Gai fell silent, not wanting to continue.
Neji prompted him mercilessly. "What did he request?" He demanded harshly.
The words snapped out of Gai instantly. "That you be his apprentice."
"What?" Neji was astonished. A lightning ninja I have never heard of has asked me to be his apprentice? That can't be, such things never happen. I'm a member of the Hyuuga branch family! What is this? But Gai's voice would silence him.
"Draci Xi has requested that you be his apprentice, you have apparently impressed him, and he has said that he will train you to be a dragon ninja." Gai continued in an even more somber tone. "Neji, the Hokage has agreed to Xi's request."
Neji blinked. "They've what?" He managed, not believing what he had just heard.
"The decision was made this morning, Konoha cannot reasonably refuse the dragon ninja's demands. If you agree, you become his apprentice, if not; Konoha will be forced to pay the debt some other way. That's the way things are right now." Gai looked disheartened.
"I'm just supposed to accept this, that I'll be trained by someone I know nothing about, someone not even from the Leaf?" To Neji it seemed like an ill-conceived joke of some kind.
"No!" Gai managed with quite a bit more enthusiasm than he had the whole conversation. "You can choose however you chose. No one will force you to do this."
He knew Gai's words were the truth, but also that what he had said earlier was true, that he would do his part to bear this debt, since otherwise he should be dead. "How am I supposed to chose?" He asked. "I know nothing about this man, and about this decision you have made."
"I am charged to tell you." Gai replied, once again deadly serious. "My last act as your sensei, however you chose. If you chose to abide by the decision, well then you can meet with Xi this afternoon. If not, Konoha will surely assign you to a team, since a ninja who has demonstrated your abilities cannot be spared."
So, Tenten was correct, one-way or another we are broken up. It was surprisingly saddening to have that confirmed. Neji thought about it a moment more, but then, we were broken apart five days ago, when this Xi saved me from death and claimed my life. If he had not, I would be dead, and the team would be ended regardless.
"So, Gai-sensei, explain this." Neji said evenly. "Who is this Xi, why does he want to train me, what is a dragon ninja? I will need to know."
"I knew that is what you would say." Gai replied. "Though I had hoped you would reject the idea. Have I been such a bad teacher to you, Hyuuga Neji?" The words were coarse, but there was powerful emotion behind them.
Not long ago Neji might have said that Gai had indeed been a bad teacher, as he had been forced to teach himself most of his skill with the Byakugan. Now though, now he knew that it had not been about techniques, but that Gai had been trying to teach him how to be a ninja. I never really listened to him, but that is as much my fault as his. So his answer was different. "No, but the Neji you taught would have died fighting a Sound ninja. Perhaps this Xi can teach me otherwise?"
"Perhaps he can." Gai did not sound very confident of that. "Very well, I will tell you, so listen carefully."
The Jounin began to recite the history of Draci Xi and the Dragon Ninja. "I do not know that much about Draci Xi's early life. He was a Lightning ninja, and apparently rather talented. He rose to the rank of Chuunin in his second exam, at thirteen, joined an ANBU squad two years later, and served in a number of Lightning conflicts. He was apparently a skilled chakra manipulator, but knew extraordinarily few jutsu. Having been an ANBU for only a year, he was picked out as an apprentice by the then last dragon ninja, a Lightning ninja named Draci Naravki." Neji caught that both Dragon ninja apparently shared the same family named, but he allowed Gai to continue without saying anything. "Xi was trained as a dragon ninja for a year and a half, after which he had only intermittent contact with his master and rejoined the ANBU. He served in the ANBU for some time, and was made a Jounin at some point during that period. However, he did not teach students as most Jounin do, but instead he was taken from the ANBU and made a Hunter-nin, taking the place his master had held. He was ideally suited to being a Hunter-nin, being a dragon ninja.
I do not know how much time Xi spent as an ANBU, or how much time he spent as a Hunter-nin, or really what he did during those periods, though I know he did not serve against Konoha in the war, but tracked missing-nin from both sides at that time. He served as both as a dragon ninja for eleven years, until eight years ago. This was about a year after the treaty, and the attempt to kidnap Hinata. You know of the decision made after that. Apparently, the Lightning had not agreed amongst themselves about what had happened, and there was a conflict. One group swiftly emerged victorious, but a large number of ninja were declared missing. One of those, an extremely powerful ninja, is known to have killed Draci Naravki. The Hunter-nins, they went after this woman, but they failed. Only Draci Xi survived, but he did not kill her, only managed to recover the dragon ninja artifacts she had stolen.
Xi quit the Hunter-nins after that, and went out alone. Lightning sanctioned him as their agent, and he reported as a spy, but he undertook his own actions. No one knew what he was doing."
Neji absorbed all this information as Gai spoke it, this complicated history of the other ninja, Draci Xi. He does not seem so special, Neji thought.
Gai continued. "No one knew where Xi really was for those eight years, though there are reports. However, we know now that he served as a spy in Konoha for some time."
If he was a spy, then why is he not dead? No one could get away with spying on Konoha. Neji didn't understand it.
"Xi revealed himself during the Chuunin exam." Gai said. It begins to make sense, Neji thought. "I do not know how strong he was among the Lightning, Neji, but when he revealed himself at the exam, and fought the Sound and Sand ninja, he was extremely strong. He is stronger than me or Kakashi, certainly, perhaps almost at the Sennin level, though Jiraiya-sama, and Hokage-sama are stronger than he is. Xi fought for us that day, you did not see him because you were in the Hospital, but he aided myself, Kakashi, and other Jounin at the stadium, and then went out into Konoha, where he fought the great snakes summoned by the Sand and Orochimaru, holding them back until Jiraiya-sama arrived to slay them. We have counted that he killed over twenty-five ninja that day."
Twenty-five? Neji did not believe that, could not believe that. No ninja could fight so many fights and win, even against weaker opponents. Could they? He interrupted Gai. "How?"
"Because he is a dragon ninja," His sensei answered. "But wait a minute for that. After the Chuunin exam, Xi has continued to aid Konoha. He fought Sound Ninja all along the border with their country, and sometimes into theirs, since the Lightning have given him that right. He killed many of them. He also tracked ninja from other countries that were coming to spy in the Leaf, and has helped us drive many of them out, or driven them off himself. Then he saved your life five days ago, and went on to try to aid your teammates, but he was too late."
It did not seem all that extraordinary to Neji, not that much more than what he had heard Gai say of the exploits of other Jounin such as his rival Kakashi, and paled in comparison to what was said of the Sennin. But Gai clearly did not like this Xi, and yet he had given him a lengthy list of accomplishments, and said he killed twenty-five ninja in one day, as well as fought great snakes. That alone was astounding. Perhaps there is something to this man, he decided. "So why does this Xi want to train me?" Neji asked, for Gai's long explanation had provided no hints to that.
"He wants to make you a dragon ninja." Gai answered. "He believes you have the skills required, and the opportunity was there. Perhaps he is actually doing it because it believes it will be good for you. He told all of us that, and also that you had great potential, but he has never trained students before, so I do not trust such motives."
"Do you not trust him?" Neji asked, knowing that Gai, for all his seeming foolishness and ridiculous actions, was a surprisingly shrewd judge of character. Which may be why he never really liked me, Neji recalled, since I was hardly a good person.
"No, I do not not 'trust' him as you say. I do not like him." Gai scowled. "His is a dragon ninja, and it is hard to see past that. You see, Neji, the dragon ninja are an old style, the peak of their power was before the Great Ninja Wars. Now Xi is the only one left. Dragon Ninja are not likeable, for their purpose is to kill." He let that stand in the air for a moment. "All of Xi's jutsus are designed to kill enemies, and they are very, very, good at this. That is how he killed twenty-five ninja in one day, each of them took only a single technique. I do not think Xi is an evil man, but he is harsh and violent. He measures his life by his debts; all the dragon ninja do so. Still, he defended Konoha when he could have fought for Orochimaru, and has risked himself for us several times. Perhaps when you meet him you can decide."
"All their jutsu kill?" Neji repeated.
"Yes, that is how they were created." Gai did not try to justify it. "Perhaps Xi can explain why to you, I do not understand him."
Neji considered all that Gai had told him for long minutes. He believed that he should repay this debt that he had incurred, and that Konoha should not suffer, since it was his life that had been saved. If Gai could no longer teach him, than perhaps having another Sensei, even a Lightning nin, made sense. Neji realized that though he was learning a different way of life, he was not ready to walk alone yet. I do not wish to serve with Naruto and Shikamaru, I cannot do that yet, and I'm not ready to be his teammate. Yet, I wonder what this Xi can teach me. How to kill? Do I want to learn that? I already can kill with my hands. What is he offering to teach me, to be some kind of assassin? It was a difficult decision, and Neji's mind attacked it from many different angles. He was adept at seeing a solution others could not, but in this case he had only one choice, yes or no. In the end, he could not decide based on what Gai had told him. He was not yet ready to make the irrevocable choice. "I will meet him before I decide." Neji told his sensei.
Gai's eyes were downcast but he said nothing more than, "He is waiting at our training site, I will not go with you."