Shikamaru let go of Neji and walked around to stand behind him. Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Neji's waist. " Lean on me." said Shikamaru. Neji did. He let his head fall back onto Shikamaru's shoulder. He lifted his first two fingers and brought them to his forehead right next to his curse mark.
He channeled chakra through his fingertips to his forehead in a steady amount. Shikamaru let his arms drop from Neji's waist. He moved to his side and put his hand on the underside of Neji's arm in a gentle, supportive grip. Neji then went through five hand signs.
There was a puff of smoke and as it cleared Shikamaru could make out a shape. It was a hound. Like the Inuzuka had as their partners. The hound was the size of Akamaru, kiba's hound. It walked up to Neji and looked at him. " Nice to see you Diamond." said Neji. Shikamaru couldn't believe the hound was Neji's. "Can he talk?" asked Shikamaru. "No he can't talk" said Neji. " I feel a layer of chakra covering him." said Shikamaru. " That's because it's a henge." said Neji. And with that, he broke the henge.
There was another puff of smoke and this time, Shikamaru's mouth went slack jawed. The hound's fur was a combination of black and brown. " The color of the fur sets him apart from them to begin with. When did you get him?" asked Shikamaru " When I was out on a mission with my team, I found him in a bush. He's a ninja hound by the way. He took an instant liking to me. So I brought him home and trained him. I had to hide him. I needed him when I went blind. So I looked for scroll that had instructions on how to create a seal so I could have him on me. I also have a summoning contract with him." said Neji.
" How do you communicate with him if he doesn't talk?" asked Shikamaru. " That reminds me, can I have my hair tie back ?" asked Neji. Shikamaru handed him the hair tie. He watched as Neji applied chakra to the hair tie. There was a puff of smoke and in his hand, lay a dark brown collar. " Can you hold onto me for a second?" asked Neji. Shikamaru tightened his grip. Neji let out a short whistle and Diamond jumped up on his hind legs and rested his front paws on Neji's shoulders. Neji slipped the collar on his neck. There was a pulse of chakra that Shikamaru realized came from Diamond. " So how does this work the communicating thing?" asked Shikamaru " Chakra bursts. If I have him out, he can warn me by a chakra burst." said Neji. He let out another short whistle and Diamond backed up and dropped back to all fours. " Does he bark?" asked Shikamaru. " Yes he does. Go ahead and pet him, he needs to know you anyway." said Neji.
Shikamaru let go of Neji. Shikamaru walked forward and hesitantly held his hand out to Diamond. Diamond sniffed Shikamaru's hand and licked him. " Diamond if I ever need help from someone in the village you go to him." said Neji. " He's pretty tame." said Shikamaru. Neji just nodded. " Is this whole forest sealed?" asked Neji. " Yes." said Shikamaru. " Do you mind if I train?" asked Neji. " No I don't mind, but how are you going to train?" asked Shikamaru. Neji didn't answer. He took off, Diamond by his side.
Shikamaru was amazed Neji could still move so fast despite being blind. Shikamaru just about had a heart attack, when he saw Neji was heading in the direct path of a tree. His fears however, were unfounded. Neji ran up the tree. Once up high enough, he jumped to the next branch. He continued to jump from branch to branch. After awhile, he stopped. " Where is he Diamond?" asked Neji. Diamond sent out a chakra burst, pinpointing where Shikamaru was.