Hyuuga Neji; 6 Years Later

Age 19

-So Angry-

I was so angry.

I needed to vent.

I needed to vent.

There's Hinata.

No…she's too easy of a target.

I went into the personal Hyuuga training grounds, took one look at the tree that stood alone in the grounds, wound up and punched it as hard as I could. The tree shook and birds poured out of its branches, flying up into the air.

How could I have not been promoted?

I had done so well in the tournament. Any common fool would be able to tell you that much.

Even someone who wasn't a ninja knew that I deserved to be a jounin, or at least recognized for my skill.

I hit the tree again.

But no more birds flew out.

They had already all flown away.

It had been a long time since I used fists instead of my palms.

I was so angry.

Maybe I was being a bit immature. I put my back up against the tree and slid down it so I was sitting.

I watched as the birds flew further into the distance.

"Father…I know this is the Main House's doing." I said. Though I could not think up a rational reason as to why or how the Main House would conspire with the Hokage to keep me from becoming a jounin.

"Um…Neji…?"

I closed my eyes.

What had possessed Hinata to come over here?

I looked up to see her standing over me.

How dare she stand over me.

I stood up so I was higher than she was.

"What do you want?" I said, looking down upon her.

Her eyes shifted back and forth as she cowered like a scared puppy. She didn't answer.

She came over to say something but now was too afraid to say anything.

"I thought so." I said, shaking my head in disgust.

She thought she was better than me. But she had quit being a ninja. I started walking back towards the house.

"Neji—"

Was she calling my name AGAIN?

I turned around.

"What?" I said angrily.

"I'm—" she stuttered. "I'm…I'm sorry…you weren't promoted…" she paused and looked down at her hands. "I thought you did well."

What was she trying to do? Get on my good side? Well, it wasn't going to work. After all this time pretending she was high and mighty compared to me just because she was born to a different mother.

I couldn't even respond to her ridiculous attempt. No matter what she did I would NEVER accept my destiny as her so-called 'protector'.

She didn't say anything more and well she didn't or else I may have overreacted and accidentally hit her instead of the tree.

I was so angry.

I could feel my hands begin to cramp up because I was clenching my fists so tightly.

I saw Lee coming up behind me.

Lee?

What was he doing here? In my house?

"Lee, what are you doing here?" I said without turning around. I was pretty sure I was just hallucinating because there is no reason why Lee would be in my house.

"So you didn't pass the jounin exam either?" Lee said.

How dare he.

"So?" I said, turning around to face him. What did he think? That he was on the same level as I was? I was far superior to him. At least he didn't pass though.

"So…" Lee shrugged. "Let's train together."

I raised an eyebrow.

"For old time's sake." He finished.

He had to have a hidden agenda. I read his expression and his body language, but it revealed nothing to me.

"You want to train with me?" I clarified finally.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "It's been too long. Five years."

I turned my head away from him, unable to look him in the eye anymore. "You kept track." I said in the most degrading tone I could muster. "That's so sad."

"Well…I always thought of you as my friend, Neji." Lee said.

I looked at him with a questioning expression.

"And it made me sad when you didn't train with us anymore."

"Lee, stop." I said.

I don't know why, but the words he was saying were…disturbing me.

"But it's been five years!" Lee said. "Didn't you ever think of those times when you, me and Tenten all trained together as a team and we went missions and entered the chuunin exam and—"

I put my hand up and Lee stopped almost immediately.

"Stop talking." I said.

"But—"

"I'll train with you…" I started. "If you stop talking."

Lee nodded.

Lee may not have been on the same level as myself, but he could still prove to be a worthy training and sparring partner. After all, our styles complimented each other. Hopefully, he had gotten more skilled than the last time I fought him. When we were fourteen.

"Neji, let's go where we always used to train back when we were on the same team!" Lee exclaimed as he skipped along.

Whatever happened to not talking?

When Lee finally stopped skipping, I got a good look at him. He was taller than me. Why was Lee taller than me? I didn't like Lee being taller than me.

We reached the training areas.

I'm not one to reminisce, but I hadn't been there in five years and it did make me feel a bit nostalgic. I glanced around the training grounds. Everything seemed so small and insignificant.

"Those were some good times." Lee sighed.

That might have been going a little too far.

"So what should we do first?" Lee asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Lee pretty much interjected immediately after he had asked the question.

"Let's spar!" he said.

That was ALL that was on his mind.

"Lee…have you stopped thinking about that at all in the past five years?" I asked him flatly.

"Well…" Lee said haltingly. He looked like he was searching for the right words, which was completely unlike him so that means he must have changed a lot since the last time we had really conversed. "You said you'd fight me only when I got stronger. And I think I've gotten stronger…"

I had full intentions to spar with him, but I figured I'd at least psych him up a bit so it would be more challenging. "You THINK you've gotten stronger?" I said. "Lee, if you only THINK you've gotten stronger—"

"I KNOW I've gotten stronger!" Lee corrected himself, looking completely serious.

"I don't want to bother unless you KNOW you're stronger." I said.

"I am stronger!" said Lee, striking a fighter's stance. "I'm stronger than you are!"

"Are you?" I said.

"Yes, I am!" said Lee. "And I'll prove it!"

"Then let's see." I said, getting in my stance as well.

Lee looked like he was about to attack, when he suddenly dropped his stance and looked past me.

At first, I peered at him questioningly. Then, upon turning around, I saw Tenten standing there, hiding half way behind a tree. I gave a heavy sigh at her presence. How annoying.

"Hi guys…" she said. "Are you fighting again?"

"It's just a spar!" said Lee, walking by me and over to her. "Nothing serious!"

Nothing serious? Is that the way Lee saw this fight? If he wasn't going to take me seriously than I had no business with him. I had to deal with people not taking me seriously all the time so I didn't need Lee joining in.

"Lee, I think we're done." I said.

"What?" said Lee. "We've hardly started! Strike that, we HAVEN'T started!"

I looked over at the way Tenten was looking at Lee. She didn't love me; that was for certain. She loved Lee.

In order to get away from this training area, I had to go by them both. I began walking and then stopped when I was parallel to them.

"Neji!" said Lee, sounding desperate.

"Lee, you are no stronger than when I last fought you five years ago." I said finally. "I cannot believe I even began to think you would be a worthy opponent and that you actually progressed all these years. You're the same as you always were."

"Neji, stop!" said Tenten.

"There is a REASON why you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu." I said, ignoring Tenten. "It is not in your fate to be a ninja. If it was your destiny then you would not have been born with that impairment."

I was very disappointed by Lee.

He didn't say anything on his own behalf, and neither did Tenten.

Why was I cursed with having them as my parasitic teammates? Why were they, rank wise, on the same level as I was? I was clearly infinitely stronger than both of them.

I didn't look back at them a single time as I made my way back towards the Hyuuga complex.

I was so angry.

The only things female ninjas ever accomplished was making male ninjas worse by distracting them. That's what had happened to Lee and that's what I was certainly not going to let happen to me.

I went back into the Hyuuga training grounds. No one would bother me there.

When I reached the grounds, there was a man and his son there. I knew who they both were because they were both in the Branch House, though I did not know their names. The boy was only six years old, but he had already been burdened with the curse seal marking.

"Good afternoon, Neji!" said the man.

I don't know them, but they know me. Oh well.

"Did you receive your jounin vest today?" the boy asked me.

I looked down at him.

"No, I didn't." he said.

"Hichou, go on inside now." Said the man.

The boy shrugged and went back inside. At least he still had his innocence…

"Neji…" said the man. "I was wondering…if there was any way you could train my son, Hichou."

"Train your son?" I repeated.

"Yes." He said. "He really looks up to you, and I want him to be a great ninja like you are. He's very skilled and I feel as though you will be a good role model for him."

I can't say I've ever been called a good role model.

"I'll think about it." I said.

He bowed his head to me.

Maybe I wasn't so angry anymore.