Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Naruto landed right out front of the Academy. It's weird how quiet it is. Eerie. I expected Reiji and Kaito to be yelling at each other, able to be heard from miles away, Naruto thought. As Naruto pushed the door open, it creaked loudly in contrast to the former deafening silence.

"Hey guys, I'm back." Naruto looked around, startled to find how empty the hallway was. What the hell?

"Kaito? Lola? Reiji? Anyone here? Iruka?" Naruto yelled, his voice reverberating off the walls, as he strode down the hallway. Continuing to follow the path Naruto became more and more uneasy. Finally, he arrived to where the three had paused in their labor. Soap buckets were upturned, spilling the wet contents all over the floors and walls. More disturbing, however, was the slight tint of red in the water, which grew more and more noticeable as Naruto followed the trail to the outdoor training facility.

When Naruto walked out the double oak doors, he was stunned. Shining red blood soaked the ground, with kunai and shuriken strewn around the red soil, most of which stained maroon from use. Blood covered the large rocks; blood covered the tall maple trees; blood covered the weedy grass; blood covered the single ripped cloth floating from one end of the field to the other.

The once white cloth, now tarnished red, was once part of shirt. Snatching it out of the air, Naruto gazed at it.

"What have I done?"

Earlier

While both Reiji and Kaito were still frozen in shock at what had just transpired, Neji burst into the clearing. The man's Byakugan was activated, as he glared at two of the three Genin.

"What happened?" A voice as cold as ice asked, obviously displeased with the scene he arrived to find. Lola still writhed in agony on the ground, shrieking with pain.

"A sparring match just got a little out of hand, Uncle Neji. While we were fighting a little mishap-" Kaito began, hoisting himself up to his knees, before Neji interrupted.

"We shall discuss this later. For now, all of us need to get this girl to the hospital." Neji stated, still devoid of all emotion.

"Is it really bad?" Reiji asked, with an uncharacteristic amount of uncertainty in his tone. Maybe Reiji was intimidated by the pulsing eyes, or maybe genuine concern and guilt tainted his thoughts.

Ignoring the boy, Neji eased Lola up into his arms, trying his hardest not to aggravate the wound. Knowing that it would be best to get her to the hospital as fast as possible, he disappeared in a flash, certain the other two would follow.

The uninjured Reiji began to follow, slowly behind--in no rush to get to the hospital--after Neji left. Yelping with pain, Kaito dragged himself to his feet. Wincing after each step as he ran, Kaito followed right behind Reiji.

"She'll make it laddie, don't ye worry nothin' 'bout that." A large, doctor with a long fiery red beard told the threesome. The Irishman was certainly losing his Battle of the Bulge, and had braided locks of hair running down, past his shoulders. A pipe hung from his mouth as he looked over his notes about his newest patient.

"What happened?" Kaito asked. "I mean why did the kunai do so much damage?"

"Compared to when ye took one in the shoulder and kept on fighting? Well, this one hit a major artery leading directly to the heart. The lass nearly died, however, ye were fortunate enough to get her here on time, even if ye shouldn't have moved her." As the obese Irishman finished speaking, he took out his pipe for a moment to blow a perfect smoke ring.

"So," Reiji started slowly, "It was all just bad luck? That was the problem: a once in long while fluke?" If anyone else had asked that, their voice would have almost sounded like pleading—desperate to know the answer. Nevertheless, this was Reiji; he never lost his cool.

The doctor chuckled, his pipe bobbing with the man, a deep rumbling from the belly—but not from mirth. This chuckle was dry and coarse, laughing at the farcical question. "No, no, no. My, dear boyo, ye have flipped things up. Yes, 'twas unlucky that the weapon hit a major artery, but it only partly severed it. Had it been cut anymore there would have been little we at the 'ospital could have done by the time the lass arrived. In addition to that, lad, a couple inches over and it would have gone straight through her heart—killing her instantly. If anything boyos, you were pretty damn lucky." The man had waved his pipe around with such vigor, to illustrate his point, he had extinguished it.

"Why wasn't she taken to a medic-nin? No offense, but they are much better at healing patients."

The older man waved one of his hands, clearly dismissing any potential offense; the other held his pipe as he relit it. "None taken, laddie. Over the last ten or so years, there's become a shortage of ninja medics. Thus, all of them special ninja healers are far too busy to deal with most patients. They only take the worst cases, and, while Lola definitely wasn't doing well, it was within our capabilities as normal doctors to fix it. The lass should be transferred to a medic-nin soon. Since she's a ninja, they'll want to check up on her before we clear her."

"Dr. O'Dea," A nurse yelled, as she wheeled a stretcher in. "We have another patient we need you to check."

Dr. O'Dea sighed, and muttered, "Ever since we opened this damn clinic seven years ago it's been packed every hour of every day. I swear one of these days I'm gonna need to get me sleep." Taking a long drag on his pipe, the doctor walked away, ready to deal with another patient.

Neji watched as the man left, before turning to look at the two boys with dispassionate eyes. "Follow me," was all he said, as he turned and walked outside of the hospital.

When they were far enough away from the surrounding public, Neji railed into them. "What do you think you were doing?"

"Like I said, Uncle Neji, we were just sparring."

Neji's frown tightened into a scowl. "Do you take me for a fool? I told you Kaito, my eyes see everything. I witnessed most of your fight; I saw you two beating each other in hand to hand with my Byakugan and thought nothing of it, until Reiji ground your face into a boulder. I was a few miles away so it took a few minutes to arrive, so I was unfortunately not able to avoid this catastrophe. I know most of what happened I only want to know the why."

Reiji finally spoke to the cold ninja. "Heated tempers managed to flare after being cooped together after a few hours. It spiraled out of control, sir, I did not mean to cause any harm to either of my teammates. My father is expecting me home; may, I leave?" Reiji asked politeness and courtesy oozing from his voice.

"Go." Was all Neji said, so Reiji bowed formally and dashed away.

Kaito sputtered indignantly, "B-but, he's--"

Neji interjected. "I know he was lying; that was obvious."

Kaito stood there, mouth agape, in shock, before he exploded in anger. "WHAT?! You're just gonna let him leave like that? Are you out of your mind?"

Neji stood there stoically, waiting until his nephew finished his rant. When the boy finally did stop, Neji continued. "I let him go because hi not my nephew. I care nothing of him; he has no value to me. You however, are of my blood, and thus, I can--and will--punish your indiscretions. Likewise, I will not tell his parents, because, again, he is none of my concern."

Kaito humbled, knowing his uncle was correct. "I'm sorry, sir. I should not have started the fight today. It was wrong of me to do so. I willingly accept my punishment." Eyes staring downward he winced, preparing for the axe to fall.

"For now, just know that you are treading on very thin ice. I'll give you a more definitive punishment later. Before you ask, yes, your father will know about this."

Kaito groaned. That was the worst punishment Neji could have done to him. His father would not care about how the fight was started and maybe not even about Lola's tragic mishap. But, when he learns about how Kaito got his ass kicked—horribly. Kaito shuddered and refused to think about it.

"Not all bad things came from this, though." Kaito raised his head in confusion. "I did manage to witness your fight, so I know what you'll need to work on. Meet me tomorrow in the training field; we shall discuss it more then. Now, you need to go home. Your mother is probably worried about you."

"Yes Uncle Neji. I'm leaving, right now."

As the two boys left, Neji spotted an anxious blond rushing to the clinic. Heading him off, Neji called out to the other man.

"Naruto! Come here."

"Sorry, Neji, I don't have time-"

"Kaito and Reiji are safe, and Lola will be fine."

"You know what happened? Tell me!" Naruto yelled as he darted over to Neji.

"It seems Reiji and Kaito got into a fight. Both are fine—even if Kaito may be sore and in need of a little patch up." Neji said downplaying Kaito's injuries a little bit. "Lola, however, is not faring so well. She tried to stop the fight and was hurt in the crossfire. The only thing I don't know is where you were during all of this, Naruto."

Naruto stared at his feet. "I got bored, so I went to Suna, hoping to find something cool to do."

"I know you never wanted to be a sensei," Neji snapped, "but the fact is you are one. Thus, you have certain responsibilities to them. One is not leaving them alone when they are doing a mission."

"Kakashi never helped out during missions-"

"I'm not saying help them do their work, but to oversee your squad as they do the work. Your sensei always watched over you three—whether you saw him or not."

"But it'll be sooo boring just watching them do stuff."

"Then find something to do. All of the other Jonin all ready have. Kakashi has his book; Asuma finds pleasure in smoking; Gai can give youthful speeches for hours on end; and Kurenai just seems to have infinite patience. Learn from them."

"You're right, Neji. I shouldn't have left them. Guess at heart, I've still got too much of my irresponsible side. Funny, I taught you to change your fate, and now you're gonna turn right around and teach me responsibility." Naruto gave a dry chuckle, and even Neji broke into a small smile.

"One last thing before you go. Would you mind if someone were to give Kaito private lessons on the side, along with your teaching?"

"Sure, of course I don't mind. Why would I?"

Neji smile widened minutely. "I forgot you haven't been around recently. There have always been instructors who have their students learn their way and only their way. I knew you would allow it, but in recent times, it has become necessary to ask the Jonin instructor to give extra side training. Even clans cannot train their children in their unique styles without the permission."

"Why? That's ridiculous!"

"Konoha—like all villages—have had fewer ninja so in order to meet the number of Jonin needed to teach the Hokage had to lower the original standards. In order to keep these men here teaching, she must give in to most of their wishes."

"But parents can't teach their kids. Why would the people not want them to learn styles like the Gentle fist or Shadow possession?"

"Because some of them are so arrogant their students must fight like the teacher. Ebisu was similar to many of these before he trained you—though even he was not quite so disagreeable. If parents can't teach techniques before they graduate, they have to wait until they child is a Chunin, and they join ANBU to complete hereditary training."

"Well, that's stupid. Go ahead and let anyone you want teach Kaito. I'm going to go tell Lola's parents its okay for them to teach her, too, along with telling them one of their daughters is in the hospital."

"I must speak with Sasuke." With a flash both Jonin leaped in opposite directions.

Sasuke meditated in front of the fire in his house. The sun had almost finished going down, stretching the shadows of the furniture to abnormal lengths. A knock on the door startled Sasuke out of his relaxation. Grumbling he stood up and strode purposefully toward the door. Swinging it open, he was not surprised to find Neji on the other side.

"Good evening, Sasuke." The longhaired man greeted pleasantly. Stepping aside to let Neji in, Sasuke returned the greeting.

"I came here to speak with you about Kaito," Neji began. "I witnessed the boy in a fight today, and thought that he could use some side training."

"Was he victorious?" Sasuke asked. Seeing Neji shale his head, Sasuke sighed and asked, "What desperately needs improvement?"

"A few things stood out to me—some easy to fix others more difficult. One, his taijutsu form is very sloppy. He has the power but not the finesse. Third, his lack of jutsu make him a very one-dimensional fighter. That is harder to fix than most of the others, but the least pressing issue of these four. Second, he loses his head every single time. He has no plan or strategy; he only rushes in swinging, feeding on his anger. He is a smart boy; he just needs to calm down and think. I honestly have no idea how to teach them this so he'll use it in real battles. Finally, he needs a lot more speed. His quickness is decent, but since he doesn't have power, or jutsu to rely on, he'll need to be fast."

"You are right. Those problems need immediate addressing. I'll try and arrange for Rock Lee or Gai to help with his taijutsu and speed, while-"

"Actually, I thought you could teach him those things."

"Rock Lee is the best taijutsu specialists in Konoha. The boy should work with them; it makes much more sense."

"Rock Lee is not Kaito's father."

Sasuke did not reply for a minute; instead, he chose to glare at Neji for a few moments that seemed to stretch endlessly.

"I copied the taijutsu from Lee. It makes more sense to go straight to the source, and since I am the boy's father—as you mentioned—I'll decide who trains him. Thank you for telling me this, now please leave." Sasuke muttered through clenched teeth.

Neji's eyes narrowed slightly, before he dashed away into the night.

Sorry this was a boring chapter, but next time will be more interesting (I hope). This chapter was also rushed out a little, so please pardon any mistakes. Sorry, for any Irish stereotypes that may offend.

I just got the game Bully for PS2, so I might not update for a while. Any ideas you have for me, you should leave in a review or Fan fiction PM me.

I'll explore where Lola's family lives next chapter. I realized in these seven chapters that I've only progresses the story three days. Shoot, I'm going to need to do a montage eventually.

In addition, I will eventually explore what Kaito, Naruto, Lola, and maybe even Reiji think and feel about this little disaster. How does Kaito feel about losing, and pulling a girl in front of him as a shield? Does Reiji care that this little thing happened? Will Lola forgive either boy? Is Naruto going to be responsible from now on? No one knows (except me).

For all you Rock Lee fans, rejoice. He now has a bigger part than showing up at a restaurant and saying five lines. Yay! Gaara and Temari will show up again one day. As will Kiba and Ino.