Disclaimer: It's still not mine…

Author's Note: I've done some research for this one, so I hope it doesn't suck. Thanks to all the reviewers. It's because of you that I even make attempts at writing. Seriously I blame all the good stories out there for discouraging me. You guys write so well, I just dont think I'm in the same league, so like, why bother? Sorry, for the self-abuse. Anyway, hope you like it

PS Chapter 8 is finished already. Please PM me if you'd like to help me with a beta read. Heck if you'd like a sneak peak that's fine too.

The sensei walked back and forth at the front of the room, drawing illustrations from the lecture that seemed to never end. No matter how much Neji wanted to zone out, or lay his head down on the desk, he couldn't. It wasn't allowed. The only choice he had was to sit there with perfect posture, and quietly listen. Having extra life lessons taught to you as a Hyuuga probably gave Neji a more unique childhood.

".. are not opposites. Rather, they are interdependent. For example, day cannot exist without night. Light cannot exist without darkness." The lecture continued as the teacher wrote down key phrases on the board.

While the desire to be a normal kid died shortly after his father, it didn't mean that Neji had to enjoy all of the extra requirements put on him by the main branch. Self inflicted training and studies was one thing, being taught Yin and Yang by the families designated mono-toned teacher was another. Of course, when the teacher literally can see out of the back of his head, you have little room to slack off.

"This supports the idea of balance. And just as Yin becomes Yang, they also are apart of each other, they exist together." The sensei's voice perked up, "Remember, just as there are stars in the night sky, there is also light within the darkness."

This was apparently the point where the teacher hoped Neji would be in awe of the wise knowledge. Instead Neji's clever mind went fast at work in processing all this information. "Doesn't that also mean that there's some darkness hidden in the light?"

After a moments pause, the teacher blinked.

The impact of the kunai sent the assailant's body flying backwards away from Neji, finally pinning the target to a tree nearby.

"You're lucky that I want them to understand the importance of following orders," a voice came from over head as Tenten came jumping down from a tree. "You piss me off Hyuuga Neji, acting all tough, putting yourself out there to be a sacrifice so your team can get away." Tenten words came out in a jumble between throwing more projectiles, catching her breath, and lecturing the silver eyed team leader.

"I don't care what happened in your dreams or what you think will happen now. But I'm sure as hell not leaving without paying back the person who hurt Hiro! So you can fight me or fight along side me; it's your choice: make it quick."

Tenten wasn't exactly the most delicate kunoichi to grace the ninja ranks in the Leaf Village. It's possibly the reason why Neji thought he was able to tolerate her for so long. Tenten was a capable, strong asset, and in the many years he'd been around her, she'd perhaps become something else... something unknown to even himself. But all of this did nothing to escape the fact that she wasn't strict when the need arose. Inside of the ferocity that Tenten now displayed was the hint of a smile and satisfaction. It reminded Neji of the first chuunin exam he took, of when they went to retrieve a dazed and unconscious Rock Lee. If he recalled correctly, even though Lee had a good amount of damage to his inner ear, Tenten violently shook him to wake up.

There was a need to apologize, but that wasn't what she was looking for. Apologies could come later when they were safe. What Tenten was upset about was the fact that Neji had inadvertently devalued her strength. By sending her away earlier, it was a signal to Tenten that she would be a hindrance to the fight. No matter the fact that Neji's true intent was to keep her and the rest of the team alive, Tenten made it clear that above all things, that she was a Ninja. Trivial factors, such as being able to walk away from the mission came second.

A smirk creped onto Neji's face. "Fine, let's get his done then. But as team lead, I call dibs on taking down the one who hurt Hiro."

And all of the sudden, the Neji that Tenten knew was back. Whatever was brooding around in the back of his head was suddenly cleared. A little bit of a stern talking to seemed to snap his focus back to what was important.

"Okay, but you have to get him good for me too." Tenten shot back with an energetic smile.

Crouching low, Tenten's hands pounded to the ground as she shouted out for a summoning jutsu. Several long blades spiked up from the ground and slid across the terrain like the fins of sharks poking out in the sea. They cut through the ground, splitting the roots of trees, fallen branches and the limbs of people who stood in the way. The blades swam across the ground and gave no mercy to anyone caught standing in it's path.

Neji ran in the wake of the blades as kicked up dirt billowed behind the metal. As he ran down between the walls of people, the corridor quickly caved in, flooding with attackers to replace the fallen. In the distance, Neji saw him, the apparent mastermind, standing calmly while the world erupted with violence around him. Neji would make sure that this man's last moments were anything but the calm he was living out now.

Meanwhile, Tenten had her weapons at hand, and summoned clothing acting like armor adorned her shoulders. As much as she was a master of almost every known weapon, she could very possibly be considered to be a weapon herself. Every drop of blood her opponents drew, she turned into a possibility to summon more and more weapons. Through openings in the fight, Tenten would change; it was like she was decorating herself slowly, piece by piece with weapons. It was her determination that she would not go quietly along with Neji's predictions. She was going to use this day to yet again prove to Neji that not everything in the future was set in stone.

Neji moved and battled his way closer and closer to the leader. For every stride that he advanced, the leader moved back. It was instantly obvious that it was a strategy to draw them apart, much like he used on Hiro. But none of that would matter in a short while. Soon it would all be over with Neji standing over this man's corpse.

Neji was nearly exhausted by the time he caught up to the enemy leader. The man, dressed in a ragged cloak which covered dark blue ninja clothing, stood on the water at the base of a waterfall. There was no where left to run. Neji had been carefully watching with his Byakugan while fighting and following the man; there were no traps set to ensnare the leaf-nin. It was becoming obvious that this man, wasn't a mastermind as Neji had previously thought. While he lead an impressive number of ninja, this waterfall ninja wasn't making tactical retreats, he was making moves away to get out of danger.

"Coward..." Neji thought to himself. "The only way he was able to hit Hiro was due to the fact that Hiro was overwhelmed defending off the others."

"You're done for now. There are no more of your minions around to shield yourself from me. And I've seen your moves, you may be fast, but not fast enough." Neji shouted over the sound of the waterfall.

Confidently, Neji walked across the face of the water, exerting a small stream of chakra from his feet to keep himself from sinking. The mist produced from the water hitting the rocks was a welcome refreshment from the heat of battle. When he was 10 yards away, the man started doing hand seals, which prompted Neji into a defensive ready stance.

"Driving Rain Technique!"

As water came down like needles from the falls, Neji smiled. There was no way that an attack of this caliber would work against a Hyuuga.

"Kaiten!" Chakra shot out from his rotating body to create a bubble like shield around him. The water needles harmlessly splashed to pieces as they hit the side of Kaiten. When the move was finished, Neji again continued to walk confidently across to water. A Small part of him wanted to savor this easy opponent that had cost him a teammates injury.

As he drew near, the mist from the falls started getting thicker and thicker, beginning to obscure his view. Of course with the Byakugan, this meant nothing. Even when the mist became dense, he still saw his opponent running off to the right, apparently to 'surprise' Neji with an attack from behind. Right before the ninja lunged with a Kunai towards Neji's back, the Hyuuga spoke. "I Still see you."

Neji spin quickly to intercept the attack, using Jyuuken he hit the hands of the enemy targeting spots on his arm that would make it impossible for the man to continue holding his kunai. It was becoming obvious that there would be no enjoyment derived from this fight. Neji settled to finish it quickly.

"64 Hands of Hakke!"

In his mind, Neji visualized the symbols at his feet. Standing in the center of a Taijitu symbol, the symbol which represented the principles of yin and yang, with each of the trigrams surrounding it. Quick as a blur, Neji's hands shot out, reaching for the 64 tenketsu points that would shut down his opponents chakra. As his fingers moved to the first target, they were stopped millimeters short. Something was dreadfully wrong; Neji's entire body was locked in place.

"Too dangerous, too dangerous." The man said as he relaxed. "I've seen what your bare hands can do to people, it seems as though they are quite deadly."

Neji's mind was spinning. No matter how much he willed his body, it wouldn't move. Meanwhile, the man in front of him moved easily; it didn't make sense. "But how?"

"Oh, you're wondering why you can't move right? Most people are always baffled by it. It's the mist obviously. While people usually think that the mist is used to hide my presence, that's just a secondary effect. The real purpose behind it is to surround my prey. Then, I supply the chakra to make a solid mold of mist around you, to keep you from moving."

Neji was racing through his thoughts finding an solution to get out of the trap of mist. While he was in this position, he'd be unable to do kaiten to free himself. He could however expel chakra from his body to blow away the empowered mist, but he already knew he was getting dangerously low on energy. Even if he used enough chakra to free himself, he wouldn't be out of danger if he passed out from chakra depletion.

"Now this technique requires a lot of chakra, and I still have to use it on that teammate of yours that came back. So if you would please, die quickly."

The man's right hand reached into his weapons pouch to pull out a kunai, but the weapon slipped out of his partially closed hand. Pulling his hand up, little red dots were slowly becoming visible across his forearm.

"I guess this is thanks to your taijitsu." The man flashed an awkwardly grateful smile. "I suppose I'll just have to kill you with my left hand." This time the waterfall nin's left hand reached across his body and into the weapon pouch. Pulling out a kunai in with his steady hand, the object of death slowly moved towards Neji's throat.

There was nothing left. Neji was out of ideas, out of chakra, and out of time.

The blade moved gracefully, and from what Neji could tell, it would cut right through his neck and throat. Though this would end the fight, Neji understood that this alone wouldn't kill him. Clinically, he would die from the suffocation of not being able to breathe. If he panicked at the loss of oxygen, his body could unwittingly spasm, which would force him into unconsciousness. Even if he were to try and hold his breath, the reflex to breathe would eventually take over. His only choices left were between loosing control and dying quickly, or remaining calm, and dying moments later with the panic of death in the background of his mind the entire time. Neji resolved to do the latter, hoping on the chance of finding an open, and possibly doing something that could help Tenten for when she would have to fight this man.

To Neji, a death more painful would be worthwhile to possibly save Tenten.

Within an inch of his sacrificial neck, the blade stopped. Bewildered, Neji saw the man maintain an unnatural stillness. In fact, everything around him seemed to have stopped. As if time itself was halted. Neji's own heart refused to beat.

From behind the waterfall-nin out stepped the man from Neji's nightmares. His onyx eyes were trained on Neji. His black hair flowed gracefully behind him as he strode out into view. His eyes, dark as fear, were a complete compliment to the hair draped around his shoulders. With a teasing smile that was drunk with elitism, he spoke softly to Neji.

"Didn't I tell you that you were going to die today?"