Why!?

She was gone for so long but even the absence from school wasn't able to stop her from beating him! She was still dominating in the classroom and would have without a doubt improved her physical abilities as well. She must have spent the time away to get stronger so that she could beat him at the one thing he was still able to excel at since her unbearable arrival in his class. Taijutsu.

He would not allow her to become the number one in the class. It would always be him!

It was impossible that she had overtaken him in everything! He was a Hyuga! His fighting prowess was the one thing that he was not going to let her take away from him. They were going to see who was really the best once class resumed. He would ensure that.

Kasumi Yamanaka.

It's almost a good thing that you have returned. It was time for a good challenge. Reinforce to everyone in the class and the Academy that Neji Hyuga was the best, not some random Yamanaka.

She was the only thing that made the Academy interesting. Someone of his power, strength and potential needed a rival, someone who was almost just as strong but more importantly could make him stronger. It was time for her to be taken down to size.

He was the best. He would always be the best. He was going to prove to everyone that he was the best.

He was going to challenge Kasumi Yamanaka. She dared to beat him academically and so he would annihilate her in physical combat. It was the area that mattered the most anyway, the ability to stay alive and win on the battlefield. Nerds like her would perish within the first second because they lack combat ability. He was going to prove this. He was going to prove that he would be the better shinobi. He would ultimately win.

The self-proclaimed taijustu master and strongest future shinobi of the class sat in his corner of the fence that enclosed the school's outside area. Alone and brooding. He spent the whole lunch break thinking about his perceived failure in the classroom, just because he didn't finish first, and the revenge he was planning to fight for in the combat lesson that their sensei had promised would start at the conclusion of the break.

He spent the whole lunch break alone. As always.

The whole class learnt long ago to leave the orphaned Hyuga alone. He didn't attend the Academy to make friends, unlike the Yamanaka, he was there to become stronger and a great shinobi. To most onlookers his isolation and exclusion was a sad story made even worse by his personal backstory. All of the adults and even some of the brats knew about his father and a few knew about his fate and destiny that was predetermined by his family's traditions and customs. He tried not to think about this too mush. All he had to do was get stronger and be the strongest. It was the only thing he had control over and the only way he would ever obtain control.

Even with all of this swirling around in his head he was immediately aware of when the signal came for the end of the break.

He smiled.

Neji Hyuga allowed a genuine smile to come across his face. It was gone in an instant so that no one accidentally got the opportunity to see it. While the smile may have been genuine and brief it was in no way friendly or inviting. It was a pacing expression of determination, revenge and conveyed everything that he had been thinking about, a clear indication that he was going to stop at nothing to prove himself.

Kasumi may have known that Neji was coming for her but there was no way that she would be able to predict the extent or magnitude of his conviction.

Neji didn't have to go far to arrive at the area that would serve as his arena for revenge as the rest of his class also made the short journey to the clear space that was the training field for the Academy's classes. As per their sensei's orders the class was preparing themselves for the impending combat class. It wasn't known what the 'physical training' that was promised was going to be. It could have been exciting like weapons and combat training or boring like strength training which was just running laps of the compound for hours. Either way most of the class would agree, at least initially, that it was more exciting than the stifling theory of the classroom. Everyone seemed excited.

Almost everyone.

Kasumi, Daiki, Tatsuya and TenTen were all concerned about what Neji could potentially do. They all wore worried expressions and Neji couldn't stop himself from marvelling at this reaction. He was very proud of his handiwork. Fear was a good thing to see in your enemy. It meant that they knew your power and superiority and understood their inadequacy. It meant that they would become desperate and more likely to make a mistake. It made victory even sweeter.

Neji was looking forward to this.

He would be disappointed.

"Alright class. We're heading over to the targets first to do some weapons practise and then we will finish the day off with some partner combat training. Wait, wait, wait!"

Before Itona Sensei had the chance to finish his instructions, almost as soon as he said 'weapons practise', the opportunity was taken away by the excited flood formed by the students rushing towards the other end of the enclosed compound where they now knew their lesson was going to begin. Even with the teacher's exclamations nothing much changed in the situation, the class was just overly happy that they wouldn't be running laps that afternoon although if they kept up this behaviour that may be changed. The noise from the chattering children simply drowned out whatever he had wanted or tried to say.

"QUIET!"

It turned out to be an effective way to get everyone's attention but the Hyuga was completely unimpressed with his classmates' antics. In his opinion if these classmates weren't going to take their education and training seriously then they didn't deserve to become shinobi. If they couldn't take this seriously then they wouldn't take their duty as a shinobi seriously and then should never be given the honour in the first place. It was insulting to all other shinobi. In Neji's opinion their sensei was too soft on the others.

The sudden and loud bellow had gotten everyone's attention again. With a quick cough in an attempt to sooth the ache in his throat Itona was then able to continue conveying the rest of the instructions to his students.

"Now class, for this exercise I want you to get into pairs. Wait!"

Before the class had another chance to get excited at this new bit of information Itona had to warn them to remain calm and raised a hand to reinforce his request for silence. When things had settled again, he was able to drop the main bombshell onto his unsuspecting students.

"This person will then be your opponent for the taijutsu training but this time I want it to be someone who you have never fought or practised with before. For the next few months whenever we do this you will go with someone different so that by the end of it you would have partnered up with everyone in the class,"

This earned groans and complaints from everyone but a single student.

Neji Hyuga.

This was his opportunity. Kasumi would usually team up with the Inuzuka or their civilian friend and she had already fought the other female before. This was perfect. She couldn't go with her friends. She had no reason to refuse his challenge.

This was it.

As he went to approach his 'rival' and announce his challenge she started walking in the other direction which wasn't towards him to accept his challenge or admit her inferiority. Kasumi and her group of friends made their way over to the sensei as soon as he had finished relaying the entirety of the information to the class. The had realised how much trouble Kasumi was in and needed to try and do everything they could to help her out of this impending predicament. Neji noticed that the civilian born male looked over his shoulder quickly at the Hyuga that was marching towards them and after saying a few brief words to the rest of his group they increased their pace. This only served to infuriate Neji further and he actually ran the remaining distance to stand in front of Itona just as Kasumi was trying to weasel her way out of the destined fight with him for the title of the best which he would win and achieve.

"I know I fought TenTen not all that long ago but I have missed a bit of class and she is one of the best in the class when it comes to weapons training and combat so I was wondering if it would be okay for me to train with her today. Just for today so I have a chance to catch up on everything that I missed. Please sensei. You did say that we would be rotating and fighting everyone so this could be my time with TenTen and I can go with someone else next time, please,"

The teacher seemed to be considering this proposal but Neji was never going to let that happen.

"Itona Sensei! I don't think that is a good idea,"

Said shinobi could do nothing but let out an exasperated sigh. Of course, Neji would be impatient and cause problems. He would fight her eventually but that wasn't good enough for him. While one hand was held out in front of him to stop the group of students from bickering amongst themselves the other hand was massaging the back of his neck to try and alleviate the sudden onslaught of tension which had magically manifested at the Hyuga's arrival and declaration. He was very hesitant to ask his question as it would undoubtably cause more issues but he really had no other choice.

"Why wouldn't it be a good idea Neji? It seems reasonable enough to me,"

Neji was actually displaying an emotion but the victorious smirk was not an indication of good news for his fellow classmates next to him.

"Clearly she hasn't fallen behind as much as she claims. She displayed this in the classroom, she has more than kept up with the rest of the class. And it wouldn't be fair to let her go with her friend for that reason and not allow the rest of the class after you just instructed them otherwise. You wouldn't be playing favourites now would you, sensei?"

Everybody was speechless for a few moments because of this last remark. As soon as Itona appeared to be defeated and prepared to speak again, Kasumi spoke up herself and started clutching at any straws possible. She was going to do anything to escape from the annoying Hyuga.

"That does make sense but the thing is that it is easy to stay ahead of study because I have the textbooks to study at home but with this type of training, I need to be able to see it and have to get taught it in order to comprehend it properly. I can't practise something that I don't know. All I'm asking for is some help catching up so that I am then able to practise at home. If I can do this then when we have our next lesson I will be up to speed and able to join in properly. I'm asking to train with TenTen because she is the best female in this field in this class. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it like that, wouldn't you say so Neji?"

It had already been solidly established that Neji Hyuga was not someone who took defeat gracefully or without a fight.

"I'm the best in the class so following your logic it would make more sense to train with me wouldn't it?"

Of course, the smart-ass Yamanaka had an answer for everything, much to the Hyuga's chagrin.

"Your offer is very considerate Neji and I would appreciate your help but there are others in the class who could possibly do with it a bit more than myself. TenTen is more than capable of helping me for this one lesson but there are others who would appreciate your help and expertise a bit more. Thank you for your generous offer though,"

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!

The worst part was the way she was being all respectful and polite, she even did a bow at the end! It was evident in the look in her eyes that she knew exactly what he wanted, she was purposefully trying to avoid the fight. She was such a coward!

"Why don't you train with someone else then? Teaching is a good way to learn so you could be helping out the others and as you said, TenTen doesn't the assistance as much as some of the others do,"

This wasn't perfect but it was still a good form of revenge for her refusal of his challenge. She hated interacting with other people. She may even agree to battle against him if it meant avoiding the rest of their class.

"But everyone else already has their partner and has started and it would be rude to interrupt them now just so that we could change. You wouldn't want sensei to appear to be playing favourites by asking some of the others to change now, would you? So, if I have to choose a partner from the people remaining it would make sense to go with TenTen or even Daiki or Tatsuya out of the remaining people if we go by your philosophy,"

Why did she have a god damn answer to everything!

Wait.

There was five of them standing in front of sensei which meant that there was one more person that she could partner up with.

Yes! His plan would still work.

"I think that Lee might need your help more than me anyway,"

NO!

Before Neji had a chance to retaliate Itona finally intervened between his two arguing students. Each had made their case and it was clear who had won.

"Enough. Kasumi, I will allow you to train with TenTen today but next lesson I expect you to go with someone outside of this group, that includes you Neji. You need to interact with your peers more. The whole purpose of this is to get to know the people in your class so if you ever have to fight together then you at least have a basic understanding of their skills and fighting style. Am I clear?"

"Thank you. Yes sir,"

"Now Neji, I think it would be a very good idea for you to help out Rock Lee today as he has been falling behind a little. As Kasumi said, he might benefit from your help in the training more than she would and we wouldn't want your generous offer to go to waste. Daiki and Tatsuya, because this has taken so long to sort out, I will allow the two of you to work together today as there is no one else remaining but next lesson, same with Kasumi, I expect you to have a different partner. This goes for you as well TenTen. Understood? No more staying within this group of yours. Not until the last few lessons at least. The idea is to get to know your classmates. If you lot aren't capable of figuring this out yourselves then I will make a roster but I was hoping you would all be responsible enough and capable enough to do it by yourselves by now,"

"Yes sensei,"

That chorus signalled the end of the discussion. Kasumi had been able to avoid the confrontation for now but had been informed of the inevitability of it coming up again in the future. Hopefully she would have enough time to train a bit before that occurred, maybe even with a bit of help from Nami she may stand a chance when it did eventuate. Neji was furious at being outsmarted and this turn of events but there was nothing that he could do about it. All he could do now was put up with the presence of one of his pathetic classmates and stew over his revenge even more. Not only was she beating him but she was outsmarting him and denying him his challenge to prove who was truly the best.

Damn her!

"Neji!"

Oh no.

Kasumi had backed him into a corner. He was unable to escape and would have to endure the torture of his defeat. He had lost and this was his punishment.

They called him 'Dork Lee' for a reason.


"We have previously just been using kunai, right? But when you weren't here we started practising using the small shuriken. Oh! Guess what! Sensei says that when we perfect this then we can start using larger ones. Isn't that great?! I can't wait to use them. The biggest ones would be as tall as us. How amazing is that?! And we will get to use them all the time when we become proper kunoichi,"

Kasumi could only grin and shake her head at her excited friend.

"You really love weapons, don't you?"

"Don't say it like that!"

"Okay. Okay. Let the lesson begin. After all, I am here to learn from the best,"

"Yeah. Yeah. Alright,"

With this the girls collected their weapons for training and made their way to their designated target for the afternoon lesson. In other words, the only target that wasn't currently being used by their classmates. Once they had positioned themselves a decent distance away, TenTen started the private lesson for her friend.

"So, you have to hold it like this or you can' throw it straight and make sure you keep your other fingers curled close to your hand or you might cut them when you throw the shuriken. Got that?"

After a nod of confirmation from Kasumi the other girl then threw her weapon in demonstration of the theory she had just attempted to explain. The shot wasn't that bad. The shuriken had a slow spin but it still covered the relatively short distance to its mark and even impacted the target on the ring that surrounded the bullseye. Not a perfect hit in the centre but still closer then what most of the others in the class would be able to accomplish at this point.

Then it was Kasumi's turn.

With a large amount of assistance from TenTen she was able to get her hand positioning correct and even did some feint throws to check the path of her arm and throw were correct. All that was left was to do it for real and release the deadly weapon towards the wooden stump. With confirmation from her 'teacher' that everything seemed correct, the Yamanaka went in for the kill.

"I'm guessing that's not how it's done,"

For a first throw it wasn't bad but it was nowhere near what most would have expected from the gifted Yamanaka girl. Even with her time off no one would have guessed that the absence would have overridden her natural knack for excelling at the Academy. Instead the shuriken was now stuck in the side of the target that stood adjacent to her own.

"Hey, at least you know you can make the distance. That's something, right?"

Neither girl could contain their laughter any longer after this and the loud noise brought a bit of unwanted attention to the duo. Neji could be seen scowling in disdain from a few places over as he tried desperately to summon every ounce of patience he could possibly have in order to endure the classmate he had unfortunately been paired up with as said partner chatted endlessly into the ear of the disgruntled Hyuga in search of advice as the boy had failed to throw his weapon far enough to even reach the target. Not much further away, Daiki and Tatsuya could be heard chuckling in unison with the girls and Itona was just shaking his head at the antics from where he was observing the class. At least it proved Kasumi's point about falling behind in terms of her physical skills and combat ability but at the same time she needed to be seen taking this opportunity to train with her friend seriously.

"Okay. Okay. I'll try again. Maybe I might even hit the right stump this time. The last thing I want to do is end up hitting an ally instead of an enemy. Okay. I hold it like this and…,"

The shuriken flew through the air and this time, with a bit more instruction from TenTen, Kasumi was able to hit her own wooden target but got nowhere near the target that was painted on the wood with the shuriken only just impacting at the very top of the post.

"That was better,"

"Yeeeaaahhh. How long do you think it will take until I can actually hit the main target?"

"Maybe a month or so,"

"Wow. Thanks TenTen,"

"Any time,"

Once again the girls started laughing but this joy was never criticised by their teacher. Itona knew that the girls were still working hard and that the laughter, if anything, was a good thing that motivated them further. It appeared that Kasumi needed an opportunity or two to laugh a little and enjoy herself. Itona wasn't playing favourites, he was just looking out for the welfare of his students and right now the Yamanaka just happened to be the one who needed his help and attention a little bit more then the rest of her peers. For now anyway. She was a tough kid, it wouldn't take long for her to bounce back from whatever she had been through.

By the end of the designated time period for the weapons practise both girls had made considerable progress in their own way. TenTen had gotten to the point where every shuriken not only hit the painted target but was either a bullseye or just shy and hitting the next ring over. Most of them were bullseyes anyway. Kasumi was now able to throw the weapon properly so that she hit the target that she was aiming at and no longer endangered any of her nearby classmates. She was now capable of landing the shuriken within the middle three rings but had yet to hit the centre directly.

The bullseye from the adjacent target didn't count.

Neji had been able to successfully pass the lesson without killing his partner but Lee didn't progress nearly as much as Kasumi had with her better, nicer and more patient teacher. The boy was still the laughing stock of the class because of his chakra issue and inability to use jutsu and even though Kasumi felt sorry for him and wanted to talk to him on more than one occasion she was put off by his excessive energy and demeanour. The best thing about Kasumi's improvement from working with TenTen was that it proved her entire argument and gave her a bit more confidence as well as some sort of assurance that she hadn't fallen behind as much as she had feared. With any luck she would be capable of defending herself against the Hyuga within a few weeks, maybe a month at most, so all she had to do until then was stall for as much time as possible and avoid the situation any way she could.

The students were given a few minutes to rest and hydrate before the next component of the physical training lesson. This gave Kasumi and TenTen a chance to catch up with Daiki and Tatsuya with the boys enquiring about their Yamanaka friend's progress.

"I though you went with TenTen to avoid Neji but you definitely needed the help. I mean, who knew that you would have better luck hitting your neighbour's target rather than your own! If we base your taijutsu skills off of that I think anyone in the class would be capable of kicking your ass right now,"

"Thank you Daiki. As always, your words of encouragement and support are invaluable,"

The conversation between Kasumi and Daiki continued in a similar fashion for a while until Itona signalled for the beginning of the next section and TenTen finally dragged Kasumi away. It was time for the boys to leave as well and focus now on their own training.

"We didn't learn too much taijutsu but we did spend a bit of time practising holds and throws. You probably know most about it already but we can go over a bit of that for a while if you want before just regular practise,"

"Sounds like a plan, teach,"

The new nickname caused another loud eruption of amusement from the girls before they put their training plan into action and commenced the important training.

Usually the one on one fights were done in front of the entire class in order for the others to observe, take notes and learn from the mistakes and accomplishes of their peers but today, and for the foreseeable future, the combat lessons were going to be a little different. With the rotation of the pairings for the training until everyone had fought with everyone else the time allocated was changed and so was the structure of the lesson. The time given for the class was extended so that some one on one training could be done before the public fight in front of the rest of the class. Usually it was either training or fighting but with this new lesson plan it was now going to be a combination of both. This way the students would have a bit more of an opportunity to learn about the different styles and techniques of their classmates. It also meant that if someone was struggling in a certain area of their combat then someone who had a bit more proficiency could lend them the necessary assistance.

With this extra time TenTen and Kasumi planned on giving the Yamanaka a chance to get back into her fighting rhythm before going before the rest of the class and hopefully she would regain some of her strength and confidence as well.

The training between the two girls went smoothly but was over far too soon. Kasumi had demonstrated that she was now clumsy and awkward with her attacks and her reflexes were slow. It was a stark contrast to the fight the two girls had previously had. Kasumi was no longer one step ahead of her opponent. She could no longer predict and counteract the movements but instead the girl was falling for every feint and into every trap set by her friend which would undoubtably lead to a few bruises appearing the next day or even by the end of the afternoon. At least Kasumi was able to experience a few first-hand demonstrations of the holds and throws that TenTen had mentioned earlier, Kasumi had tasted dirt numerous times within the short training period because of these techniques. Hopefully she wouldn't get into too much trouble for having dirty clothes when she returned to the Yamanaka hell hole and the demons that resided within.

Then it was time for the real fights.

Everyone was once again gathered on one side of the clearing in their pairs in anticipation for the last section of the combat lesson. The pairs rotated through with the fights not being very eventful until it came down to the last three fights which all promised to be extremely interesting in their own ways.

"Let's go! I can take you on!"

First came the hilariously one-sided fight between Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee. Even with Lee's confident outburst the fight was still over in mere moments with the Hyuga taking an easy victory. It took a single punch to the side followed by a leg sweep for Lee to hit the ground hard enough for the match to be over. It took the boy so long to regain his breath after it was fiercely knocked out of his chest that the match was clearly awarded to Neji who had won with minimal effort.

It was the next match that Kasumi and her friends were concerned about.

Kasumi had a bit of an opportunity to practise with TenTen but she was still a lot weaker than she was before. Worst part was the whole class was going to discover how weak she had become. That could cause problems for not only her but her friends as well. The powerless are often picked on, as was obvious with how everyone treated Lee. Neji might also cause a heap of trouble as well since he wanted some dramatic fight or something which wouldn't happen if there was such a power difference between them now.

Oh well.

The moment of truth.

"TenTen and Kasumi. You're next,"

The duo made their way into the centre of the dirt arena and took their starting stances.

It all went downhill from there.

The fight was slow motion in comparison to everyone's expectations and most of the previous fights as well. Most of the class didn't believe these two were taking things seriously, everything was sloppy and half-hearted. The thing was that TenTen and Kasumi were so concerned about everyone finding out their secret that the worry was revealing everything. TenTen's punches were restrained and purposefully missing their mark half the time and Kasumi was tripping over her own feet like a new born foal. It was embarrassing and their plan was turning out to be a disaster.

The finale wasn't anything spectacular either. Kasumi went for a leg sweep which TenTen used as an opportunity to grab her arm. With this hold she was able to use the other girl's momentum to roll her over her back. This all resulted in Kasumi face down in the dirt again with TenTen sitting on her back with the Yamanaka girl's arm still held but this time in an awkward and slightly painful position. Most thought that Kasumi would bounce back from this somehow but the girl was too exhausted from trying to keep up with her friend and didn't have the strength or even a plan to get out of the predicament.

Things had really gotten bad.

After that abysmal performance it was time for the last fight of the day, Daiki and Tatsuya. Even though the two of them were friends it was still a vast improvement on the previous match. The two boys would be considered experts compared to the standard set by the girls only moments before. They were fighting hard because they needed to redeem their friend group and show everyone that they were still people who were not to be messed with.

It had everything a proper fight required; strong punches, precise jabs and clever dodges.

Everything the girls had been unable to demonstrate.

Then came the bombshell.

"We have time for one more fight before school is out for the day. So, who wants to go again?"
This information from Itona caused the colour to quickly fade out of the faces of four particular students as they turned their attention to the smirking Hyuga.

"I have an idea sensei,"

The Hyuga stepped forward to announce his challenge, not wavered at all by the Yamanaka's poor performance.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is my present to you. Thank you for the support and please keep the reviews coming. I love them!

I have a few more things to do with this story before a bit of a time skip towards the main canon but I hope you all keep enjoying it!

Bye! :)