Hyuuga Neji; 3 Years Later
Age 16
-The God Awful Truth-
Today I had to do one of the things I least looked forward to ever since I graduated the academy as the number one rookie.
It was almost as if they did this so that it would discourage people from becoming the number one rookie.
I had to return to the academy and speak with ninja hopefuls and their parents about becoming a ninja. Of course, I was supposed to make it "nice" in order to make the students be enthusiastic about returning. In my opinion, if the students were afraid of becoming a ninja by the sound of my talk then that's reason enough for them not to become one.
When the number one rookie came to our academy when I was six years old, he hadn't amounted to much. He was still a genin and most other students from his year had already surpassed him.
I made sure to put on my chuunin vest.
I was sitting in my room, going over in my head exactly what I was going to say, when there was a knock at my door.
Ah, here comes my uncle to put me in my place again.
"Neji," he said, opening the door before I even told him he could come in.
"What is it?" I said.
"Have you seen Hinata?" he asked.
"I'm not her baby sitter." I answered.
I know that technically, in a way, I actually sort of am, but I was sure that my uncle would do a fine job at reminding me of that fact.
"I see." He said. "Sorry to bother you."
With that, he shut the door.
I was very surprised. I got up out of my chair and opened the door to see that he was walking away. So I shut the door again. For once, he had had a talk with me without somehow turning it around to reminding me about my dead father and my horrible fate.
With a shrug, I turned around only to see Lee standing there right in front of me.
"Hi Neji!" he shouted.
I nearly had a heart attack. I hated it when he climbed in my window and he knew that. But still, he tended to do it anyway.
"Lee, what have we talked about concerning coming in my window?" I said, though I knew it was going in one ear and out the other. Ever since he had become a chuunin, he seemed to think that we were buddy-buddy again… as if we were ever buddy-buddy.
He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "GUESS WHAT!!" he shouted.
I wrenched him from me. "I don't want to know." I replied.
"Yes you do!!" cried Lee, getting down on his knees.
This was so pathetic. "Fine." I said. "What is it?"
"Ino called me earlier today—" Who's Ino? "—and she said that she and a bunch of people are going down to a club and that she set me up with Sakura!"
"Wow, Lee." I said, trying to express the fact that I couldn't possibly care less no matter how hard I tried with my expression and my tone. "I'm so happy for you."
"Really?!" gasped Lee. "Neji, you're such a friend!!"
"And you know me so well." I said, being entirely sarcastic.
"I do!" said Lee with an enthusiastic nod.
I lowered my head and put a hand to it. Lee was no more mature than he was when I had met him four years ago. I believe he was way overdue for some growing up.
I waited for Lee to leave, but he didn't.
"Well, you've told me your news." I said finally. "Now I wouldn't mind if you left. I have places to go. And close the window on your way out."
"Where are you going?" Lee asked.
I should have just left that part out. "I have to go and speak at the academy because I was the number one rookie four years ago." I answered. "It's not like you know anything about that though."
"Wow!" said Lee. "I wish I was the number one rookie so I could speak at the academy!! Instead, I have a date with Sakura!!"
I didn't know whether he was being sarcastic or not, so I only eyed him suspiciously.
"Well, I have to go and tell Tenten!!" said Lee, running over to the window. "Then I'm going to get ready and then I'm going to go and pick up Sakura and then I'm going to go to the club!!"
"Good for you." I said, going to the window as well, ready to shut it and lock it as soon as he was out of it completely.
"Have fun speaking to the little kids!" he said, swinging one leg out the window.
"Go." I said.
"I'll tell you all about my date tomorrow!" he said, now sitting on the ledge.
"Just go." I said.
"You should come along after you're done!!" he said, jumping out but sticking his head back through.
"Please go." I said. He pulled his head out of the window and I shut it.
I didn't have the time or the energy to deal with migraines.
After double-checking to make sure I was wearing my chuunin vest, I decided to be on my way. I didn't tell a single soul I was leaving or that I was even doing this talk.
Well, except for Tenten.
I had told her.
And she immediately decided that it was her duty to come along since she was the best female ninja in the class from our year. Best female ninja in the class… that's not saying much.
So not only did I have to talk to a bunch of kids, but I had to spend the time with Tenten. It's not that I hate Tenten, she's just annoying.
I reached the academy, and Iruka was waiting outside to greet me.
"Neji, good evening!" he said. "So nice of you to come!"
"Iruka, Tenten's coming along too." I said. "Do you remember Tenten?"
"Of course I remember Tenten!" said Iruka. I could tell he couldn't remember Tenten.
"She was the best female ninja in the class from my year." I explained, and he nodded. "She's really excited about this." I added.
"Oh!" said Iruka. "But you know, you didn't HAVE to ask her to come."
"I didn't ask her." I clarified. "She volunteered."
"That was nice of her!" Iruka said. "Well, the students and their parents should be arriving at around 7:15 so why don't you go on inside and get yourself ready?"
Without saying anything else, I went inside. 7:15 was certainly an odd time to decide to start a meeting like this. But I wasn't going to dwell on the time.
I didn't have much set up. So I went up to the front of the classroom and just started organizing things on Iruka's desk. I guess I sort of did it subconsciously and got a little to absorbed in my task because I didn't even notice when someone came into the room.
"Neji!" I heard. I turned around to see Tenten standing there in a skirt.
I went back to organizing.
Tenten in a skirt??
I turned back around. Why was she wearing a skirt? She knew we were talking to ninja hopefuls today and if they saw her in a skirt then they wouldn't take her seriously.
"Why are you wearing a skirt?" I said.
She blushed. "I wanted to look nice for the presentation."
I knew what it was all about. I bet she was going to that club afterwards where everyone was hanging out and no doubt Sasuke would be there. It's no surprise to anyone to hear that Tenten also had a crush on Sasuke.
"You're supposed to reach out to female students to make them excited about being ninjas and work hard." I told her, hoping that I would teach her a lesson for a similar situation. "Not make them think that being a ninja is fun and oriented entirely around getting a boy to notice you."
She looked nervous and slightly blank. Perhaps she didn't quite understand what I was saying.
Time to spell it out.
"Too bad though." I said. "Every other girl in the world thinks Sasuke likes them too."
She sighed.
"Oh, I don't care about Sasuke." She lied. "I just wanted to look nice!" Then she cleared her throat to change the subject. "So what are you going to talk about?"
She was here at the meeting and she didn't even know what I was going to be talking about? "Being a ninja." I answered.
"Oh, okay!" she said cheerfully. "What should I talk about?"
There was no time for her to ramble to the students. "You're not going to talk." I said. "You don't even need to be here."
"You two almost ready?" came Iruka's voice.
"I'm all set." I replied.
"Uh…yeah…" Tenten stuttered nervously.
"Now, the students and their parents will be here any minute." Iruka said, looking at the clock. "Remember, we're PROMOTING the thought of becoming a ninja so be sure to sugar coat it. These kids are only six and seven years old and they'll learn about all the other stuff later on."
"I know." I said.
The students and their parents started to arrive. They all sat around the classroom. Tenten looked like she was in La-La Land and Iruka was signaling for me to start.
"Ten years ago," I began. "A boy who graduated at the top of his class came to speak to me, just like I am doing so to you. I graduated as the best ninja in my class for many reasons. I eagerly wanted to become a ninja, and knew it was my destiny to do so. The boy told me about this, and I believed every word about it, jumping at the chance to become the best in my year.
"But…" I continued, trailing off a bit. Iruka was nodding contently, but I knew that nodding would not last after I said this next part. "Being a ninja is not all fun and games. It's hard work. I earned this chuunin vest. Someone didn't just give it to me. There were many difficult aspects that I had to endure in order to become the ninja I am."
Iruka's nod slowly transformed into a shake of the head.
I felt Tenten tap me on the shoulder, but I ignored her and raised my hand.
"Don't let anybody tell you that you can be a ninja just because you're wearing the forehead protector. You must risk life and limb for your village. Why, many genin die on their first missions. You may come to lose a comrade in an exam… or you may even be the unfortunate loss of the group—"
I was interrupted because Iruka began to clap.
"All right!" he cheered. "Let's all thank our friend for taking some time out of his day to speak to us!"
The crowd hesitantly clapped. Although I was not finished, I felt as though my message had been sent to them.
"Tenten, would you like to say a few words?" Iruka asked.
I was curious to see what sort of pointless statement she was going to come up with. "Oh…um! Hi everyone! My name is Tenten and I'm a genin. By working hard, I also hope to become a chuunin someday! I have already vowed to become a great ninja, and I hope all you will too!"
That was even more disappointing than I had originally anticipated.
"Well, thanks to you all for coming today!" said Iruka.
He said a few more words and then the kids dispersed.
Tenten left to say bye to the kids at the door, but Iruka pulled me aside.
"Neji, we talked about what you would say." He said. "And you didn't mention any of that."
"I remembered it just before I got here." I said. "I felt it was important to add."
"It wasn't acceptable." He said. "I am very disappointed in you."
What was he going to do about it? I wasn't his student anymore and he didn't outrank me. So I only nodded at him and went to the door.
"What did Iruka have to say?" Tenten asked immediately.
She had no right to know or even ask that sort of question.
So I disregarded it.
"I'm going home now." I told her.
"Hey Neji!" he called.
I hardly kept myself from cringing. "What is it?" I said, turning around and stopping.
"A bunch of people went down to the club tonight for a get together!" she said.
I knew this. Now why was she bringing it up to me?
"And?" I led since she wasn't going on.
"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go?" Tenten asked.
Then it hit me. All this time…not Sasuke.
She had been interested in me.
I walked right up to her. It was time to set things straight before everything got out of hand. I saw the way girls clung on to Sasuke and, while I knew it would never get that bad with Tenten, I didn't want to have to deal with her while I was focused on becoming a ninja.
"Tenten," I said, making sure she heard me. "It is natural for a sixteen-year-old girl to develop a crush on a sixteen-year-old boy. However, the thought of you and I together just is not natural."
"What…?"
I almost heard her heart break.
"Go home, Tenten." I said.
I turned away from her.
"Hey!" she yelled, sounding angry. "Neji, you can't tell me that you don't like me at all! What about all those times we trained together?!"
I sighed. "That is so like a female to take something as serious as training and turn it into flirting. Don't make me repeat myself, Tenten. I have never had any interest in you and I never will. And don't let me catch you watching me again."
I left her with that.
I had never even begun to consider that Tenten ever had any interest in pursuing me as a boyfriend. Now, the more I thought about it, the more it disgusted me. How long had she been harboring this affection towards me?
Were all those offers to train with me just so she could satisfy her girlish desires?
Female ninjas really are disappointing. I have yet to meet a single one with motives other than to impress a male.