I don't own Naruto or any of the characters or situations associated with it.

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Delay

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Uchiha Setsuna silently fumed as the bane of his existence walked off with the chakra-deficient moron and the tomboy knife-nut for their Friday sparring sessions with the insane green-spandex –wearing eyebrow-man.

It just wasn't fair.

The little bug-bastard had been responsible for killing over a third of the Uchiha clan (including both his parents and his older brother) and denying it its rightful place as the premier clan of Konoha, but instead of being punished for it, the little blond git had been lauded a hero and had been declared a friend of the Uchiha by none other than that traitorous bastard Itachi, the murderer who had seized control of the clan by ordering the massacre.

It was so unfair!

In under a month the creep was going to pass his genin test. He almost literally couldn't fail, his Kawarimi was flawless, his Henge so advanced that it was solid and he was using a high-ranked kinjutsu for his Bunshin. With all the extra training that he received from the Jonin of Konoha (and there seemed to be a damned competition between several of them to see who could teach him the most impressive moves), he was guaranteed not only a pass but the chance to gain an apprenticeship! Solid rumour said that the elite Jonin had almost come to blows several times over who should get him, and that Maito Gai had won the competition by somehow refraining from using the word Youth for a full fortnight whereas Hatake Kakashi had failed to avoid reading his orange books or visit the memorial stone for the same time period. And since Naruto was also the current Rookie of the Year, Tenten was the Top Kunoichi and Lee (due to his medical condition) was technically the Dead Last, Gai was effectively pre-training his trio of genin, meaning that they'd probably end up hitting Tokubetsu Jonin before he'd even reached the damned rank of Chunin.

It really wasn't fair!

And to add insult to injury, his bastard-clan-head Itachi had ordered him to keep an eye on the Baka and try to get on his team if possible! And since the blond bastard used moves that relied on his Kami-damned Kikkai or his thrice-cursed limitless chakra reservoirs, even if Setsuna copied his Jutsu (which these days he wasn't allowed to do without first getting permission, damn it), he couldn't actually use said Jutsu because he didn't have enough chakra himself!

Sparing one last glare at the gate through which the trio had vanished, Setsuna stalked off to join the rest of his class in assembling for Taijutsu practice.

He completely missed the pair of pale eyes that had been watching his thought-revealing expressions.

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"Hiashi-sama."

Hiashi looked up and one eyebrow almost twitched in curiosity at the realisation of who was kneeling outside his study door.

"You may enter, Neji-kun." Hiashi responded and Neji rose from his formal prostration and moved to in front of the desk before dropping down and bowing deeply. "What is so important?"

"Hiashi-sama, I am currently uncertain as to the importance of Uzumaki Naruto to the Hyuuga Clan." Neji said. "I have reason to believe that someone may be planning to move against him."

Hiashi stiffened. "Such an act would be… highly inadvisable. For many reasons."

Neji took a deep breath, composing himself. "Hiashi-sama, would one of those reasons be linked to the red Chakra that Uzumaki-san carries within himself?"

"That chakra is an S-class secret, not to be spoken of to one who does not know." Hiashi said firmly. "But yes, that is one of the reasons. Who is planning the actions, and what are the actions being planned?"

"The person I believe to be planning the actions, based on his expressions when around Uzumaki-san and a few words that he chose poorly, is Uchiha Setsuna, a classmate of mine at the Academy and my rival for the position of second-place behind Uzumaki-san." Neji reported. "I have not yet determined what the actions he is planning are, only that they will most likely be detrimental to Uzumaki-san's health."

"But his plans could remove Uzumaki from your path to claiming the title of Rookie of the Year." Hiashi noted and Neji's expression briefly flashed with annoyance.

"Although I believe myself to be a better ninja than Uzumaki-san, I wish to prove that without reliance on such dishonourable techniques as Setsuna seems willing to use. I believe in the superiority of the Hyuuga Clan's traditions, and will use those and only those to prove my worth."

Hiashi nodded, allowing a brief flicker of pride to show in his eyes. "Excellent, nephew. You have done well in bringing this to my attention. Do you have any thoughts on how to proceed?"

Neji briefly frowned in thought. "Most of the teachers at the Academy dislike Uzumaki-san, they cannot be counted on to prevent whatever Setsuna has planned. I lack the contacts to bring in observers such as ANBU and even had I such contacts, it would not be proper for me to usurp the responsibilities of the Clan Head in that way. Unless you have further orders for me, I think that the best course of action will be to continue to observe, but to act if Setsuna tries anything to actually harm Uzumaki-san."

"Again, excellent." Hiashi said. "You are correct. I shall personally inform the Hokage about this situation, your choice of actions meets with my approval."

Neji bowed at the dismissal and backed out of the room, leaving Hiashi to consider what he had just learned. Walking away from the study, he paused at the sight of Hinata practicing her calligraphy. She was weak, but…

Neji frowned in thought then turned and walked back to Hiashi's study.

"What is it, nephew?" Hiashi asked and Neji went into the full formal prostration, causing Hiashi to lift one eyebrow.

"Lord Hyuuga." Neji started before he could convince himself to abandon his thought. "Should Setsuna try to move against Uzumaki-san, it will cause the Uchiha to move to show that the Uchiha clan as a whole did not support Setsuna's actions. It occurs to me that at that time, it might be wise to form a closer tie between the Hyuuga clan and Uzumaki-san, but Uzumaki-san and I are rivals and so attempting to form a friendship with him at this stage would be seen as suspicious. However, our rivalry does not affect how the rest of the clan is seen in his eyes…"

"Your thoughts have merit." Hiashi said slowly. "Perhaps Hinata may prove useful for something… would she be able to befriend him if I arranged to have her close to him?"

"I believe she would." Neji said, "But it may raise a new problem in turn. Uzumaki-san was raised by Mitarashi-san, it is possible…"

"That Anko-san would choose to train Hinata." Hiashi said with a thoughtful expression. "Given my daughter's inability to learn the more advanced forms of Jyuuken… I see. Your point is well-considered. You are dismissed with my thanks."

Neji retreated as fast as he could without showing any disrespect.

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"Greetings, my youthful friend." Gai half-shouted as Anko landed in front of him. "It is good that you are back once more. I hope that your mission was a success?"

"Thanks, Gai, it was." Anko smiled as she straightened up. "Anything new since my last check in?"

"No." Gai said, then he frowned. "Actually, yes. Naruto and myself finally completed the external hive that we were constructing when you left, stocking it with the plants he ordered from the Yamanaka's shop, and his Hive has split off a new colony for it with a new Queen."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "So we have an independent Death Bite colony?"

"It is still linked to Naruto." Gai shrugged, looking confused. "I know not how, but Naruto-kun is able to send chakra to the Outside Hive. The cage surrounding the hive has a full board on it for communications, we have tested it and it works."

"That should reduce the load on Naruto." Anko nodded, then she frowned. "Although, having part of Naruto's Hive permanently apart from him seems… wrong."

"It remains linked to him. As Naruto-kun put it, 'The Colonies are four, the Hive is One'. "

Anko frowned for a few more moments, then slowly nodded. "Well, the Aburame keep spare Hives in their compound in case one of them suffers damage to their Kikkai. Heh, I guess I'm just too used to thinking of Naruto and his Hive as being one and the same."

Gai nodded, his normal exuberance in abeyance. "I know just what you mean, Anko-san. But since when did Naruto-kun follow normal logic?"

Anko stared at him wide-eyed, then a disbelieving chuckle escaped her lips, a chuckle that soon turned into almost hysterical laughter.

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Setsuna smirked as he fingered his Kunai. He'd been practicing as much as he could without drawing unwanted attention and he knew that he could do it. He peered round the tree again and bared his teeth briefly. The bug-bastard Naruto was sat with his back to him, with Tenten and Lee facing him, sharing their lunches and talking.

Drawing his Kunai, Setsuna spared a brief glance at the poison-coated blade, then he took a deep breath and carefully selected his target. The spine at the base of the neck. A solid hit there, and Naruto would be dead before he could react. Even if it was not instantly fatal, the poison would kill him in seconds. Smirking, he drew back his Kunai, then his hand snapped forwards.

"Look out!"

Setsuna flinched at the shout, but he'd already released the Kunai. It flew straight through the air…

…and missed its target as Tenten pulled Naruto sideways. Cursing, Setsuna flung a barrage of shuriken to force them to dodge, then he used the Shunshin that he had copied from his cousin to appear behind Naruto, slamming a second poisoned Kunai into Naruto's lower spine, pulling it sideways to slice through one of his kidneys. He had less than a second to rejoice in his triumph before his world evaporated in bugs and pain.

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"Naruto! Hive, report!"

Neji landed next to the distraught Tenten and his eyes widened as he saw the armlet usually concealed beneath her sleeve in detail. A Death Bite Beetle was almost ricocheting across it, with another doing the same on the identical armlet that Lee was wearing.

"What's happening?"

The swarm of beetles that had engulfed Naruto and his attacker began to retract and Neji's eyes widened further as he saw large numbers of the bugs dissipate in clouds of smoke, proving that they had somehow been Kage Bunshin.

"The Hive is trying to stabilise Naruto-nii-kun." Lee said, focusing intently on his armlet. "Anko-sama and Gai-sensei are on their way. Tenten-san, what did that combination mean?"

"I think… Naruto's going into a coma." Tenten said, her eyes flicking between the armlet and the diminishing swarm. "Neji, what's going on in there?"

Neji blinked, then activated his Byakugan. An instant later, he turned, dropped to his knees and threw up.

"Oh Kami, Setsuna's… the Kikkai…"

A pair of hands pulled his hair away from his face and started to rub his back. Once he stopped throwing up, Neji let himself be pulled back upright.

"Sorry." Tenten said and Neji shook his head, reactivating his Byakugan.

"No, I… wasn't ready. His Kikkai have… almost eaten Setsuna and have encased Naruto in a cocoon. They seem to be congeregating around his wound… they're using medical chakra?"

"The Kunai was poisoned!" Lee gasped, his attention once again fixed on his armlet. "The Hive is trying to fix it, but…"

A slight ting announced the ejection of the Kunai from the now-visible cocoon. Before the trio could react, Anko had appeared from nowhere and scooped up the weapon, first sniffing the blade, then lightly licking it.

"Mitarashi-sensei…"

"Shit." Anko whispered. "Not good. This poison doesn't have an antidote…"

"The Hive says that it can deal with the poison, but it will take… three months?" Lee relayed and Neji almost jumped out of his skin as a hand dropped onto his shoulder.

"The Hive told me that you tried to give a warning." Gai aid, staring at the cocoon that held his favourite student. "Thank you."

Neji nodded slowly, then sighed.

"Dammit. I didn't want to claim the title of Rookie of the Year like this." He whispered. "Damn it. This isn't right."

Gai sighed. "He will not be able to be on my team then. Holding Lee-kun and Tenten-chan back for three months would do both them and Konoha a disservice. Neji-san, you tried to save him, so I thank you. Perhaps you would be willing to join us?"

Neji opened his mouth to protest at Gai's apparent disregard for his cocooned student, then he noticed the Kikkai moving rapidly across Gai's armlet.

"Is that… what he wants?"

Gai tilted his arm so that Neji could see the Kanji inscribed on it more clearly. The Kikkai leapt across to the Kanji for yes, then the one for Thank-you.

"Naruto?"

Yes. Replace. Team. Strong.

Neji blinked several times, then bowed towards the cocoon.

"I will do my utmost to live up to the standards you have set, Naruto-sama."

Thank-you.

"No… thank you."