WARNING: I would just like to remind everyone that this story will be worked on but these two chapters are all there will be for a LOONNGG time... But I hope that doesn't discourage you from reading.

Please Enjoy :)

As of 2/9/2017: Minor fixes

As It Should Be

Mewmewmemint

Chapter Two

News of Neji's return had quickly spread throughout the village like wildfire. There wasn't a single person in the village who didn't know the tale. The courageous Hyuga whose actions saved many lives during the war and sacrificed himself to protect Lady Hinata and their hero Naruto. He was alive and home!

Two days ago, when Sasuke Uchiha had returned from a long mission in Suna. Sakura Haruno had been waiting by the gates with her daughter for his return. As the two finally caught sight of his form nearing, they noticed he wasn't alone. Sasuke returned with the supposed dead Neji.

From there the guards immediately took him in to confirm his identity and set off to alert the Hokage and the Hyuga family. The news reached the prestige Hyugas first. When Hinata heard of his return she struggled to comprehend the situation.

The Hyuga household slowly turned into chaos amongst the Hyuga leaders. Blame was being tossed around, rash shouts made assumptions, and no one listen to anyone else. All was a blur to the Hyuga woman until realization sunk in. She had then rushed at a speed rivaling Konoha's Green Beast, arriving at her husband's office before the second messenger.

Naruto was one of the first to lay his eyes on the supposed fallen hero as Hokage. At the interrogation building, everyone was guarded. No one was to have direct contact with the man until all possible scenarios were explored. Not even the Hyuga family was granted permission to have direct contact. Hinata relied upon and trusted her husband's word that the man was possibly Neji.

All at the same time, Sakura had passed Ino on the way home. The pinkette informed the blonde of Sasuke's return with the Hyuga man. Ino was shocked and ended relaying the news to some friends, who told other friends. For towns in quiet and peaceful periods, it is no surprise when exciting news spread as fast. Everyone in town had known by the time the sun rose again the next day. It was only on the edge of the village, far away from the gossip did the word not reach.

...

In a small hut, three genins were being trained by their inexhaustible teacher and his former teammate. With his former teammate being the best weapon mistress he had known, there was no one better to help train his genin on a 4 days and 3 nights training camp like Tenten. With all the flattery and persistent pestering Lee could muster, Tenten really couldn't resist the request.

Their 3rd day was finally coming to an end, the genin was exhausted, even Lee's little mini-me was, and Tenten felt proud of that. Not only did she succeed in exhausting them, but they were also making leaps and bounds in their progress. Lee's mini-me struggled at first, but with a familiar persistence and extra work, he began to get the hang of the many different weapons. The female genin of the group reminded Tenten a lot of Sakura, her bright spirit but was blunt and harsh attitude towards her teammates, when they were lacking was exactly like the medical genius. And like Sakura, she easily caught on to the ideas only after a little practice. The third genin caught on the fastest between the three. Tenten would give a demonstration, and he would get it in 1 or 2 tries, a genius… In more than one way he reminded Tenten of her old teammate… Just like Neji, the young boy tended to keep on a silent persona, he was smart, and, though not directly or obviously, he cared for his teammates.

"Alright," Tenten announced pulling herself out of her thoughts, "That is enough for today. You all have been progressing at an excellent rate. Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last day here. We will only have time to have a morning practice to summarize what we have learned. Then we will head back home to home-cooked meals." She said smiling at Mini-me's loud excitement and the girl's smile. "Now head inside and rest. Just because we have a short day of training tomorrow doesn't mean it will be any easier. I have to get a whole day's worth of training in that short time, expect no breaks." That statement changed the two genins' mood dramatically and the third just look at her with eyes saying he was up for the challenge. Three headed inside leaving their teachers to clean up.

"Lee, you really have a good team," Tenten said turning to her friend with a smile.

"Of course! They are the Best of the Best!" Lee exuberantly shouted, "Thanks Tenten for your help this week. I really couldn't have taught them any better."

"It was nothing! And I was kind of surprised," Tenten began as she took a seat on the front porch bench, "I never expected to have as much fun with this as I did. It sort of reminded me of the old days. You, me… Neji." Leaning against a post, Lee looked at Tenten, whose eyes were trained on a bird's nest. Three tiny baby birds chirped away as their mother fed them one by one. For a rare moment, Lee let the silence continue, and he wasn't the first to break it as she began to speak again. "Lee, what do you think he would be doing if he was still here? It doesn't feel like much time has passed but in a way it has. Naruto is Hokage, many of our friends have children, many have become teachers to the new generation, and I can't help but wonder… what would Neji be doing now? Would he be here helping with this training camp? Would he be away on a top secret mission? Maybe he would be would be arguing with a girl on wanting to marry her and not letting her raise a child on her own?" Tenten jokingly asked at that last part.

"Neji would have been extremely frustrated not knowing how to express his feelings to the girl," Lee continued the joke, "and she would have ended up taking control of the situation, not allowing them to get married till after the baby came!" The two friends joined together in a laugh at the idea.

"I really wish I could see where he would be today," Tenten continued. The silence between them hung in the air as the watched the sky change. Again Tenten was first to speak up.

Lee got up from his post and took a seat next to Tenten, resting a hand on top of her hands, "I am sure, that wherever he is, he is finding a way to enjoy himself. He must be becoming even stronger as he watches over our village!" Sometimes Lee didn't make much sense to Tenten but she understood his intentions were good. She softly smiled back at him.

"Lee, I hear you caught the eye of a nurse." She sang changing the mood, "Gai says his nurse- I believe her name was Fuuko-keeps looking at you with the eyes of a 'youthful flower'?"

Tenten's eyes studied Lee as he pulled his hand back; his cheeks instantly turned a light shade of pink.

"Miss Fuuko is kind and dedicated to her work! Gai is right about Miss Fuuko being a youthful flower!" Lee loudly stated, enthusiastically standing up again. He didn't catch her accusation as she had hoped.

"Lee," she stressed getting his attention, "I mean she seems to like you! What do you think?" She teasingly smiled at her teammate, observing the blush rise again.

"T-Tenten, I must become stronger! I must train this future generation!" Lee shouted all flustered. Trying to discreetly avoid the subject.

"Yes…" Tenten gave up for now. "Well anyways, it's getting late. I am going to finish cleaning up out here. Why don't you start making dinner?" Tenten said getting up. Lee energetically agreed and headed in. Making it into training, Lee challenged himself to do one hand push-ups till the water boiled, and jumped on one leg place to place to gather different ingredients.

Outside Tenten started picking up the weapons scattered across the forest grounds. Thoughts of Neji often plagued her mind, she figured it was the same for Lee and Gai too, but when the thoughts began she always ended up questioning the 'What if's and 'What would he do'. He had the potential for more than he achieved. Tenten believed that if he was around now he would have been making a difference, as much as Naruto had made, maybe even more. His life was ended too early. Not that the cause wasn't noble, people said that there was no better way to die in battle than for loved ones. But to Tenten, it was as if his story wasn't finished and she could never shake that feeling away.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Tenten tried to get her mind off the subject. It was no use living on the 'What if's. She felt that once she got back to the village she would busy herself again to avoid these thoughts. Since the war ended, Tenten's ninja life had become less prominent, and she was able to open up the weapon shop her parents' had always dreamed of. Sure, she wasn't becoming rich off of it with peace spreading throughout the nations, but she made enough. With tools for carpenters and weapons for the academy, she got by. Even if her shop produced more tools than weapons she was satisfied, it was peaceful. She did still go on the occasional mission to help travelers and priceless pieces stay safe from nomadic bandits. With that money and the money from her shop, she made all that she needed.

Pondering of what new projects she could create next, Tenten finished picking up all of the weapons and was about to head inside to help Lee before dinner took ten times longer than it should.

Before she reached the door, she sensed a chakra coming closer into the hut's direction. Looking in the direction of the source, Tenten's muscles tensed as she sensed for the newcomer to come nearer. She rested her hand over her weapon holster for safeties sake. Soon the figure was near enough for her to realize there was no threat. The chakra was one of familiarity.

Landing a few feet away from her, Kiba stood next to his giant dog. Kiba had grown even taller since the war passed, his hair was slightly longer, and he had taken to growing hair on his chin. It amazed Tenten how much everyone had grown in the last few years.

"Yo, Tenten, why the hell are guys so far away? It took me and Akamaru forever to catch on to your guys' scent!" Kiba blurted. "Lee is here right? I smell him, go get him." Tenten didn't like the way he ordered her to get Lee. Something must have been up and she refused to move till Kiba gave her at least a little more information. Seeing that, the man continued, "Something... strange has come up in the village. It's very important. And I am pretty sure both you and Lee are going to want to hear this. Can you get Lee?" His response seemed to satisfy Tenten as she went for through the doorway and called for Lee to come out.

"What's going on?" Lee asked when he came out to see Kiba standing in front of them. Both adults turned the attention to Kiba. Taking a deep breath, Kiba walked past them and sat on the bench. He leaned forwards resting his elbows on his legs contemplating where to begin.

"Yesterday, you won't believe this. Heck, I can hardly believe it! No one can!" Kiba leaned back into the bench and saw the nest, the three baby birds now nuzzled up to their mother for warmth. In a calmer tone, he continued, "Yesterday he returned to the village. It's hard to believe it but he is alive." He paused and looked at the two jounin, seriousness dominating his face. "Dammit, Neji's alive."

No words were spoken as moments passed. Only the sound of the leaves rustling and arguing genin in the hut could be heard around them as they processed the man's words. The teammates looked towards the other. Lee and Tenten, both doubting that they heard Kiba right. After all, Neji had clearly died, stabbed through his torso, huge chunks missing. Multiple organ failures, the blood losses and he had been so cold when Lee had held him. His cursed seal had faded and his heart had stopped. There was no way he could be alive. Lee was first to voice their thoughts.

"I'm not sure if I understand. Neji is dead. We all saw it."

"I know! That's what I thought too!" Kiba exclaimed, "There was no way someone could survive that in the middle of a battle. None! I don't know all the details and I haven't seen it myself, but these are words from Naruto himself. He sent me to find you guys to tell you. I know Naruto can be stupid but apparently, he saw Neji with his own eyes! Hinata believes it is him too! She wouldn't stop crying when she told us about it. None of this makes sense but he's alive. I don't know how he is alive, but if you think about it… his body was never recovered after the battle. Many bodies were lost in the chaos of the war, but I guess it really meant something."

Another moment of silence passed as Kiba's words were settling.

"Look, I know this might be hard to believe, but Naruto and the elders are requesting both of your assistance. Because of this unbelievable circumstances, those closest to Neji are being summoned for an investigation to be sure if this is truly Neji. But everything so far has seemed pretty legit. After all, he seemed to pass in the Uchiha's eyes when he brought him back."

Tenten eyes looked towards Lee, not sure what to feel. He was standing just as lost in thoughts as she was. Tenten wanted to believe it was true. She wanted to believe more than anything that it was. But Tenten was not naïve. The fact Neji was alive was not indicating good possibilities. Could someone have used the Edo Tensei? If so why and who? If he had survived why hadn't he come back sooner? It had been 10 years. Neji couldn't be alive… there was no way. Neji was dead… but if it were true…

"We need to head back." Interrupted Kiba, "I'm sorry to end training early but, as you can understand, the situation is messed up."

Lee was first to respond, nodding his head at Kiba. Before heading inside to gather the young genin, Lee gave Tenten a glance. Her expression still hadn't changed. While Lee wanted to cry, she wasn't allowing any emotion to surpass her features. She was stuck in her thoughts trying to rationalize with logic. Lee understood her shock was being expressed differently. He wanted to know what was going on now. Tenten… she seemed to be stuck on the how and why.

Kiba turned his attention toward the brunette, noticing she hadn't once spoken a word out loud about the news he had given them. He was a little concerned. "Tenten, you okay?"

Hearing her name brought her out of her thoughts. It took a moment to register Kiba's question. When she finally spoke her voice was quiet, "I don't know."

If everything was true and Neji was alive and there had been no strings attached, she would be overjoyed. But she knew things couldn't have been that simple. But if it really wasn't him, and it was some kind of trick, she felt she wouldn't be able to handle it. It would be exactly like she was reliving Neji's death again, and the first time was hard enough.

Tenten begins to head to the door but stops when Lee comes out with his confused genin.

"We're ready to go," Lee states. Holding up a bag to Tenten, he says, "Here, we got your stuff all packed up for you."

Reaching for her bag, Tenten looks up and meets her eyes with Lee's and thanked him. They both felt lost. But the news that came to them couldn't be ignored.

The news created a spark beginning to grow into a small flame, if ignored it could begin to hurt and become damaging to their thoughts. But if tended to, the small flame could bring hope and light to them. The only way to know whether to hope or fear was to see to it for themselves.

...

It didn't take long for the Jounin to make it back to the village. After Lee saw to his genin make it home, they made their way to the interrogation facility. Traveling in silence, it didn't too long for the three to reach the building.

The building was one almost all ninja of chūnin rank and up were familiar with. On the occasional job, a mission would revolve around finding specific suspects for interrogation. It had been awhile since Tenten had been here. In truth, she actually only had been here on two other occasions. Both cases involved highly dangerous enemies and both involved missions with Neji. One was Tenten and Neji's first mission together without Lee or Gai. It was also the first time Tenten realized that Neji actually cared for his teammates, in his own little way that is.

The ninja they needed to hunt down had been found lying low in their village. He had been caught spying and relaying information to the Village Hidden in the Rain. When his cover had been blown he had fled from the village. That was when Lady Tsunade sent Neji and her to track him down. They were able to successfully catch the man and bring him back but not without landing Tenten to the hospital for a couple of weeks. Later they found out their man had committed suicide with a poison pill hidden under the guy's nail. Though they succeed in retrieving the man, both Neji and Tenten never felt satisfied with the results. Their next retrieval mission went without a hitch.

Even through the memories, nothing could ever make this building look inviting. It was the most intimidating buildings in Konoha, in Tenten's opinion. It was more unwelcoming than the village's prison. The building was angular, built with solid brick stones ground up, surrounded by a brick fence that was twice the height of the building. The only other material used was a strong metal creating the doorways and doors. There were no windows and all materials were made chakra proof.

Upon approaching the building, a guard came up to the three ninjas and explained to Kiba that his job was complete. Only Neji's teammates were allowed to go any further and then ushered Tenten and Lee through the guarded gates. On the other side of the gates, it was just as Tenten remembered, filed with at least a dozen of guards pacing the grounds. Once inside the doors, another guard came up to them with a metal chest. They were both instructed to dispose of any and all weapons on their persona into the chest, security's sake. After condensing all of her weapons into 3 scrolls, Lee and Tenten were off again. They traveled through dozens of hallways, each looking just like the previous hall, but the guard kept leading them deeper and deeper underground.

"Tenten, do you think Neji is hungry?" Lee commented out of nowhere. It had earned him an incredulous look from the woman which he missed as he looked at their surroundings, "I mean, do you think he has been doing all this time? Do you think maybe he was in poor health and barely ate? Maybe that was why he didn't come back sooner? He was injured badly."

"I don't know, Lee," Tenten replied only looking straight ahead. She knew what Lee was doing, he was trying to make it seem real. He was actually believing that there could be hope in Neji's return. It couldn't be true, "Even if he was hurt that badly and didn't die, this is Neji we are talking about. He would have found a way. And yet it was Sasuke who found him. From the way, it sounds Neji seemed to be in well enough health to travel back with Sasuke. So why didn't he come back on his own? And that is if his wound didn't kill him. Think about it Lee, Neji was stabbed through major organs, his cursed mark disappeared, and medics even proclaimed him dead. I want to believe it's true but realistically everything isn't pointing otherwise."

Tenten hated herself for saying it. Lee's gaze refocused on the ground as he took in her words. She wanted more than anything to be wrong. She wanted to be optimistic like Lee; she wanted Neji to really be in the same building as them, alive again.

No one spoke up the rest of the way down the halls. It wasn't until they were lead up to a door several stories underground when the guard spoke.

"This is it. A few rules first. One, no speaking with him, two, no contact with him, and three, what is seen here cannot be spoken outside these walls, even if just to each other. These rules must be held up unless stated otherwise by the Hokage himself. Are we clear?" the guard asked, his stone grey eyes waiting for Lee's and Tenten's nods, "Good. One more thing. Since we have not been able to find evidence that he is truly Neji Hyuga some… precautions have been taken. Don't let it affect your actions." With that, the guard's gruff hands reached for the keys at his side and unlocked the door and he ushered them in.

On the other side of the door, the two ninjas found themselves on a balcony. The balcony stretched the length of the room's wall. Beside the door, there were two guards on either side of the door and further in the teammates found eight other individuals on the balcony with them. Lee and Tenten first caught the eyes of the Hokage himself. His blue eyes pierced theirs with a rare seriousness. Behind him stood two of the village's elders, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane. To Naruto's left stood Konoha's famous strategist, Shikamaru. The three remaining occupants were Hyugas. The two oldest of the Hyugas were the prestige Hyuga Elder. They both stood to the right of the Hyuga clan head, Hiashi. The last one was Hinata standing closest to the railing.

"Now that everyone is here, let us begin." Announced Utatane.

"Straight to business as always Utatane. You haven't changed very much." Responded the Hyuga elder turning his back away from the newcomers. "Has he been interrogated yet?"

"E-elder!" Hinata's voice squeaked at the elder's rash words. "An interrogation seem too-"

"Lady Hinata! It would only be the proper procedure here. Any other ninja would receive the same treatment." Interrupted the elder harshly. The stare he gave Hinata caused the girl to look away and over the balcony.

"An interrogation is for enemies." Naruto came to the defense, try to control his anger but failing to hide the intensity his eye held for the elder.

"The Hokage is right." All eyes except Hinata's turned to Hiashi when he spoke those words. "As the Hokage and Hinata say, a traditional interrogation is too rash."

"Traditional." Shikamaru spoke catching on quickly to the Hyuga's words, "are you suggesting something else?"

The Hyuga turned his eyes to the strategist, contemplating the words inside his head before speaking out loud.

"Though Neji was once a valued member of this village, there is no guarantee this man is or is not my nephew." He spoke, "we cannot simply let him re-emerge with our village. Though a traditional interrogation is not necessary, we need something to determine whether or not he is a threat."

"I agree with Lord Hyuga," said Mitokado.

"But what will we do?" Naruto spoke up. His gaze went over the balcony like Hinata's unwavering one.

"Is..." Tenten began. Nothing was making sense her nor Lee. Everyone in the room had been talking about the matter seriously. But Neji was here? In Konoha? That fact still couldn't sink in. And when Tenten began speaking and all eye once again landed on the pair, her body all of a sudden became hyper aware of their surroundings. The mugginess of the room stuck to her skin, she could feel the rough cement beneath her sandals and even heard the hitch in Lee's breathe when everyone looked at them. Tenten struggled with her next words, "is... is he here?"

The next thing she noticed was how both Hinata and Naruto simultaneously glanced back over the rail.

Lee was first to move forward. Walking between Naruto, the elders, Shikamaru, and the Hyugas. He reached for the railing right next to Hinata with his hands.

Tenten studied as his face changed from being neutral to a look almost of pain. Tenten didn't want to move. Based off of Lee's reaction she knew she did not want to see what Lee was looking at either. She knew, though, she couldn't deny also wanting to know at the same time she didn't. Her first two steps were hesitant but then became steady as she made her way to the railing as well.

Looking over into the small room, her eyes immediately went to the center. In the middle of the room below them, was a metal chair. Sitting on the chair sat a man. The man was in white pants and had no shoes on, allowing his feet to touch the bare cement floor. His arms were bound around him by the white long sleeved shirt he was in a straitjacket. His longer than normal brown hair hung tangled over the back of the chair. His face... over his face, a bandage was wrapped all around his eyes and up. Preventing him any chance of seeing anything. His hearing also must have been muffled due to the bandage. The only part of his skin seen was from his cheeks to his collarbone and his ankles on down. His torso was wrapped with what Tenten recognized to be chakra suppressing chains, anchoring him to the chair. Another set of chains guarded both ankles to the legs of the chair as well. Only briefly did Tenten's eyes tear away from the man to recognize the binding seals written from all four corners to the center of the floor where the chair sat. Any pride this human once had seemed to of been stripped of him and chained down. It was awful.

Beside her, Lee's grip on the railing tightens enough to cause a small indent. Opposed to Tenten's limp form, Lee's was tense all the way down to his toes.

"This is inhumane!" He cried out, tears rushing down his face. Naruto's face cringe in empathetic pain and the elders looked away. Shikamaru kept his gaze on the ground and Hiashi stared at the man, his face not betraying any emotion. Lee began to sob while still staring at the man. No one spoke. The first move came from Hinata. Gently Hinata placed her hand on Lee's. Looking at him with shared empathy and a few tears shading down her cheeks.

"I have an idea." Everyone turned took at Shikamaru when spoke except for Lee and Tenten.

Sooo... Tell me what you think? I'd love to hear you Constructive Criticism! I want my writing to keep improving, just let me know if I have any mistakes (especially the repetitive ones :p). Sorry I won't be updating for a LOOOOONNNNGGG time.

Thank You for taking the time to read all of this!