Chapter four and I'm ready and rearing to go!

Naruto: Chronicles of a Seer.

Chapter 4: The Byakugan Vs the Sharningan

Traveling back was proving to be slower than traveling to the village. Saiyuri was carefully wrapped up so that she wouldn't be exposed to any elements. While she was lighter than most people, she was still 100 pounds of extra weight. They would have to stop and switch every so often to give the former carrier a time to rest while they kept going.

Instead of trying to make it back to Konoha in a day, they decided to stop mid-way and camp for the night. The weather had started to warm up by the evening and Saiyuri was able to not be wrapped up. She sat sipping some water that was in a spare canteen. There was no real worry that she was going to escape. She had tried standing up once, but she got dizzy and ended up leaning against Lee. Her recovery was becoming quicker. However her relief was the fact that once they were back on Konoha, that she would be able to receive treatment from Tsunade.

Tenten handed her some food that they had prepared for the night. She took it with a small nod while listening to Neji and Lee's conversation.

"So on that mission most of the opponents we faced were heavy on their ninjitsu. They were really surprised at how fast I was able to take them down by using only Taijutsu! They did not realize that I was in the Springtime of my Youth!"

Gai patted Lee on the back heartily, "That's my boy! Soon All the enemies of Konoha will know the names of the beautiful green beasts of the Leaf!"

Neji shook his head, "Most ninja it seems feel that they have to stress their ninjitsu more than anything else these days. They forget that sometimes it's better to have a good balance."

Saiyuri had been listening, now she joined in unexpectedly, "Sometimes a Ninja is limited. Just like Lee is limited to his Taijutsu, my body isn't very strong and I cannot land blows hard enough to take someone down. So I must compensate by concentrating more on ninjitsu and Genjutsu."

Tenten rubbed her chin, "Yeah, it's obvious that you don't have a good constitution. Why is that?"

"I was born two months premature. I've always had complications. My body doesn't seem to gain very much weight. And I can't digest certain meats very well, so I don't get as much protein."

"That ninjitsu you used when you were in my dream, what was that?" Neji looked at her with curiosity in his white eyes.

"It is one I made myself in training with Kimimaru. I call it the Subaki no Shuriken. I can use a small and constant remote flow of chakra to manipulate objects around me. I am also able to manipulate the functions of another person's body. At full strength I can paralyze nerves, shut down body functions, and cause bad reactions." She took a drink of the water before continuing, "I finish fights quickly so I put my body under the least amount of physical strain. My mind can take all sorts of punishment."

"I bet that, since you have that 'second sight,' you're probably not affected by many types of genjutsu." Gai added.

"There hasn't been a single genjutsu that has fooled me to date. I just can't get affected by them."

"That's impressive," Tenten remarked, "Even kekkei genkais like the Byakugan and the Sharningan can't say that. To be able to be unaffected by genjutsu would be a very valuable trait."

The seer set her plate down and sighed, "I don't wish to discuss myself much further at the moment I feel very tired…"

Without a word her entire body froze, her eyes seemed to become slightly paler for a few seconds, then they became normal again.

Neji stood up, "What's wrong Saiyuri?"

She turned to him, "Sasuke is close."

The three of them immediately jumped to their feet and looked around. Saiyuri didn't move, she looked back down at the empty plate while the others were searching for the direction that Sasuke could be coming from.

"Neji!"

"I'm already on it."

Neji had already activated the power of the Byakugan. His concentration went in all directions of his sight. He scanned for several feet until…

There he was. He was coming at them at very high speed. He seemed much more mature than what he was the last time he had seen him. He also seemed much colder. His Sharningan was also activated. He was obviously ready for anything.

Neji pointed out the direction where he was coming. Tenten turned around and sent some fine needles his way. Sasuke didn't even flinch. He simply sidestepped them as they came at him and landed in the campsite.

The Uchiha had suspected that they wouldn't have to tie up Saiyuri. He had seen her get sick a couple of times and he knew how bad she got when she was sick. She was obviously very calm in her situation. She knew that he was coming. That was probably why she didn't put up a fight when they came to capture her. Saiyuri never took unnecessary risks. Especially if it meant that she could take damage.

He looked around at the several familiar faces. So the Hyuuga that took down Chikato was indeed the one he suspected. Neji had changed. He looked much more like his arrogant clan dressed. His hair was also noticeably longer. However he was still obviously Hyuuga Neji.

Tenten simply looked like an older version of her younger self. He had never really noticed her that much. So in reality, to his memory, she didn't seem like she changed that much at all. All he could guess was that she had gotten a little taller.

Lee was still Lee, and the only difference was that he had the chuunin vest. He still had a bowl haircut, he still had bushy eyebrows, he still had large beady eyes, and he still was the same in both attitude and discipline. He could expect the same from Maito Gai. He didn't look like he changed at all.

"Sasuke, it's been a long time," Lee had said to him, "I don't know what to tell you."

"Hmph! I don't need any affection from you Bushy Brows. I'm here to take back Saiyuri."

"We can't let you do that!" Lee put himself in fighting position, "Our orders are to take her back to Konoha for questioning."

Sasuke didn't say anything else. In an instant his mirror wheel eyes were mere centimeters away from Lee's. They didn't look too happy. As for Lee, his eyes were even wider (if that was possible) in shock.

"I don't give a damn about what your orders are."

Lee knew that Sasuke wasn't joking around. He jumped backwards and didn't waste any time. The weights on his legs came off. He was going to defend Saiyuri and the rest of his team.

"Good, you're not going to pittle around. At least I'll give you that!"

Sasuke drew his sword. But it was Tenten again who struck first. She had already brought out her staff. She jumped to Sasuke's side for an attempt to land a blow to his head. However the Uchiha was too fast. He had stepped out of the way quickly and with a flash of shining metal, the staff was little more than several small wooden disks.

Tenten had no time to act shocked. Gai brought her out of the way before she was able to get hit. He stood in front of the rest of them.

"Let me handle this one. I've got experience against the Sharningan!"

Their former sensei brought out two kunai. He readied these against Sasuke's next bladed assault. Sasuke accepted this challenge and came in head first towards his opponent. Gai jumped backward ducking under the blade only to be forced to block a knee. He then attempted a slash with his left kunai. The smaller knife met the black sword. However it wasn't an effective tool. The Blade sliced right through the kunai and proceeded to give Gai a long cut up his arm.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Tenten grabbed onto her wounded leader. The wound was pretty bad, but not fatal.

Neji had observed Sasuke's movements in shock. The difference of two years was extremely big. Sasuke's movements were fast, and Neji's Byakugan was having a hard time keeping up with them. Already he had proved himself against Gai, a person who was far more experienced than himself.

Suddenly, he could hear the voice of Saiyuri. But it wasn't in his ears. Rather, it was in his head.

"Fight him. I will guide your actions."

He looked back to Saiyuri. She had kept the same position. Her head was bowed low. She looked heavy in her concentration. Her eyes were still opened. She hadn't moved since Sasuke had entered the campsite.

Then she did something. One eye closed for a second. Then it opened again. She winked at him. He just knew she was winking at him. Suddenly he felt a little bit better about facing the Uchiha.

He turned around and shifted into the jyuuken fighting stance, "I cannot let you take her Uchiha Sasuke."

The red-eyed ninja turned to the white-eyed one, "You think you can take me Hyuuga?"

"Let's see which of us has the better set of eyes."

For the first couple of moments, nothing happened. They stared at each other. Neji was keeping his mind open for Saiyuri's council.

"Move to your left now!"

Neji did, only to see that a wide-eyed Sasuke was staring at him eye to eye in disbelief. Sasuke didn't think that he could have dodged that blow. He tried again, this time he would try and fake him.

"He won't land a blow with the blade. Jump and strike him!"

Neji now wasn't afraid of the black metal that was passing in front of his face. He lifted into the air to avoid the roundhouse kick that Sasuke was trying to deliver. Then, with a hand charged with chakra, he landed a hit to the tenketsu on Sasuke's left shoulder.

"Get behind him and aim for his sword arm!"

Sasuke jumped backwards and rubbed the small pinpoint where Neji struck. Neji was already where he needed to be. Sasuke could see the incredibly fast movement of his opponent. But the searing pain in his left shoulder interrupted him at a bad time. Neji struck about four tenketsu near Sasuke's hand. The searing pain forced the blade from the Sharningan-ninja's grip.

"Out of the way! Now!"

Disarming Sasuke was only the beginning. Sasuke had gone at him with his fists now. Neji wasn't able to move fast enough. However, with the early warning, he was able to block the blows that were coming at him.

Neji found his opening without Saiyuri's help. He charged both arms and landed them with good force on Sasuke's chest. It sent him flying backwards into the tree.

Sasuke couldn't believe that Hyuuga Neji was able to defeat him! He had known since the first chuunin exam that his strength was indeed impressive. He had heard how badly he defeated his younger cousin and how he nearly defeated Naruto when he was using his special powers. He also remembered that Neji didn't have any Sand-nins intervening when he fought Kidamaru. Somehow he was able to beat him.

He held his chest in pain. That last blow was more severe than he expected. He wasn't able to feel it at first, but now his lungs were having a hard time expanding. It seemed that with every breath he took in he was experiencing pain.

Without warning, Neji was forced to jump out of the way of a Kunai. Chikato landed behind Sasuke.

"Sasuke-sama!" The large sound-nin grabbed the Uchiha. He didn't even bother to try and face the Hyuuga again. Once Sasuke was secure in his grip, he retreated.

Lee stood up in shock, "Neji… how were you able to do that?"

The Hyuuga turned around, his eyes becoming normal once again, "I wasn't doing it alone."

All of them turned to Saiyuri. She was looking at Neji with a smile of satisfaction.

"Well done Hyuuga Neji."

-End of Chapter 4.