" How did you do that?" asked Neji. As his breathing slowed down. " I was out here training. I went to bend down to pick it up and something cut my fingers. I found out later that I could manipulate my blood to be used like chakra strings. It's not like the puppet mastery jutsu, but it can be useful when I can't reach the blade in battle." said Shikamaru. " Wait a minute, how are you not bloodless?" asked Neji. Shocked. " Because, I can harden my skin and thin my blood as needed." said Shikamaru.
" Wait, so are you sensitive to blood loss?" asked Neji. " No, but I always know when something has cut my skin. I just don't feel pain." said Shikamaru. " We need to get back." said Neji. Shikamaru nodded and dropped his arm from Neji's shoulders. Neji turned around. Shikamaru reapplied the henge. Diamond trotted over to them with Neji's headband in his mouth. Neji took it and retied to his forehead. Diamond reapplied his henge. Shikamaru's arms slipped around Neji's waist. Neji went through thirty five hand signs and they were gone in a puff of smoke.
They landed inside the seals of the Hyuuga compound. Three things happened at once. Hiashi exclaimed, "Neji, Shikamaru, what did you do?" Shikamaru let go and walked around to stand at Neji's side, and something hit the ground with a thud. Neji's and Shikamaru's heads snapped up simultaneously. They saw Hiashi's face. " We're fine, we just did some training." said Shikamaru. Neji turned to face Shikamaru and put a hand on his chest. He healed the thin, but bloody gashes going down Shikamaru's chest.
Neji let his hands drop and stepped up to Shikamaru. Shikamaru put a hand on Neji's lower back, healing the hole. Neji backed up and turned around. Together, he and Shikamaru proceeded past Hiashi and into the compound. They sat down and Neji did 75 hand signs. " What did you just do?" asked Shikamaru. From beside Neji. " I activated the seals because I needed to talk to you." said Neji. Shikamaru nodded. Just then, Hiashi came waltzing into the room with a look of murder on his face. He raised an eyebrow in Neji's direction.
" Really Nephew?" asked Hiashi. " Yes Uncle, I did." said Neji. With a smirk. Hiashi stood there, staring at Neji, but oddly enough, he let out a low chuckle. " You are very gutsy, My Nephew." said Hiashi. Neji stared back at Hiashi, happy to see him relax in the company of others. Suddenly, a wave of chakra burst through the compound forcing Hiashi backwards and out of the compound. Shikamaru looked at Neji in shock. Neji was panting and wished he hadn't done that so soon after getting such recent trauma.
Neji leaned over and rested his head on Shikamaru's shoulder. Shikamaru draped his arm over Neji's shoulders.
" You shouldn't have done that. It's to early for you to use chakra." said Shikamaru. Neji shot him a weak glare. " I know. Chakra exhaustion is going to be a sever problem for both of us. How good are you with identifying chakra signatures?" asked Neji. " I'm OK with it. I know Asuma's, Ino's, Hiashi's, and yours." said Shikamaru. " Good, but you need to be able to tell who's coming up to you. Without, making it obvious." said Neji.
" Now how am I going to be able to discern who's is who's. And how am I going to be able to differentiate between two chakra signatures that are almost the same, like twins?" asked Shikamaru.
" You can tell. What do you feel when Akamaru passes by you?" asked Neji. " I feel suppressed chakra, like he's trying to hide it from Kiba." said Shikamaru. " And why do you think he's trying to hide it from Kiba? Why would Kiba knowing be an issue for Akamaru?" asked Neji. Shikamaru mulled it over in his mind. Five minutes later, Neji broke the silence. " Lets walk by him and then you can tell me what you feel." said Neji.