Hello! Long time no see! :) Sorry it's been a while. I have had this chapter started for a while and I was slightly lacking inspiration. But Alas! A new Chapter! I know there isn't much interactions between Neji and Tenten yet, but I'm getting there~ Slowly but surely :p

Enjoy!

As It Should Be

Mewmewmemint

Chapter Three

The members in the room gathered near the railing watching as the guards that escorted Shikamaru down below then conveyed the order to the guards posted in the room. Then the two guards approached the man seated. Slowly they unlocked the chains around his ankles and torso putting them aside.

Next, one of the guards pulled the man seated forwards allowing the other guard to untie the straight jacket. Once free of the straight jacket purple and red scars on his bare chest came into view. They were not as prominent as one would assume them to be after such a wound. The colors marred like cracks in his skin. Showing where the skin ripped as sharp objects previously pushed through his core. His chest, though still lean, was not as defined as a well-trained ninja's normally was. One of the guards then unraveled the wrap from around his head. His forehead lacking the cursed sealed associated with Neji.

As they stepped back everyone got a good look at the man. His face revealed he looked like Neji, but if possible, he was paler. His arms laid limp on his lap, and his eyes were closed. He was unconscious. Then all four guards in the room below each sat in a corner above a seal. After a few hand motions, the four simultaneously slammed their palms into the ground and released the seal. Everything was still for a moment. Then the man's eyes twitched.

All who were watching were on edge, whether they showed it or not.

Shikamaru walked forwards to and stopped a few paces away from the man.

"Tell me," Shikamaru's voice echoed through the silence, "are you Neji Hyuga?"

The man raised his head up, his hair shifted further out of his face, and slowly he opened his eyes. Though the room was dimly lit it took him a few blinks for his eyes to adjust. Tenten's breath got caught at the sight of his eyes. They were his eyes, Neji Hyuga's eyes. Tears unknowingly trailed down from the girl's bright brown eyes. It was him.

"My name is Neji Hyuga. I was born July 3rd, son of Hizashi Hyuga, nephew of Hiashi Hyuga, and cousin of Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga. I am a Jounin member of Team Gai. In the war, I was severely injured." He reported back to Shikamaru. His voice, though slightly hoarse, had the same steadiness as Neji.

"Good," Shikamaru said, satisfied with the man's response, "Now tell me how you survived your injury."

The only thing running through Tenten's mind was, Neji's alive.

...

The Fourth Great Shinobi War.

"You hold more… more than one... life in your hands…" Neji forced out his words. He had saved his comrades, his friends, he knew he wasn't going to last much longer, "and it seems… that my life too… may have been...one of them…"

Neji's was struggling to breathe. No matter his resistance his vision began to become blurry.

"Why would you do this for me? Even give your life…" Naruto choked out, his tears threatening to spill. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Naruto had sworn to keep everyone safe and yet…

"Because… you called me a genius…" Neji interrupted his thoughts. At that point, Neji's body began to feel lighter. He knew his seal was releasing as his eyesight disappeared. He understood now, there was never a fate that could solidify an outcome. He, like his father, had a will of his own. All at once he felt his body go limp as everything disappeared.

Further along, as the battle advanced, a small team of medics scoured the grounds for any surviving among the dead. In the team was a young sand ninja named Hiroshi.

The young boy looked from body to body for signs of chakra. Most lack any signs and other only showed the tiniest hint of chakra that quickly faded. It wasn't until he came to a small source of chakra disappearing did he stop.

Hiroshi recognized the man lying on the ground. He had seen him many times throughout the war, he was a strong ninja. Every time the man ended fighting near the medics, Hiroshi would stare at the man in admiration. Every move he had made was precise, his body was lean, and his presence on the battlefield encourage his comrades to not give up. It was sad seeing such a strong ninja laying in a pool of his blood.

"What is it Hiroshi, we don't have time." A slightly older sand ninja approach the younger. Her green eyes followed the younger boy's eyes. "Hiroshi he is dead. There is nothing we can do for him."

"But big sister," his words were halted at her stern stare back.

"We cannot save them all." She stiffly replied refusing to meet his green eyes again as she walked past him. Masa, unlike her younger brother, had seen more of what the world had in store for those pursuing the ninja lifestyle. In battles, there was no time for a medic to waste on those who barely had a fighting chance.

"I understand," the boy almost whispered looking down at the fallen ninja. The boy knew of the man's sacrifice, he had seen many comrades' let tears fall for the man and saw their hesitance move onwards to battle.

Noticing her brother's absences behind her, Masa turned to find him still standing over the man, his brown hair falling forwards as he stared down at the man.

"Hiroshi!" She called. But her voice missed the boy in his daze. She studied her brother's form for a minute. He was naïve. Barely old enough to even qualify to fight in this war. Yet, he was stubborn. Masa could do nothing but let out a huff in frustration. Heading back to her brother she spoke, "well, come on. If this guy has a chance, we best hurry him back to the tent before the others see."

Surprised, the boy looked at his sister as she slowly lifted the man by his arm.

"Are you going to help me or not? I can't carry him on my own!"

"Yes, big sister!" Hiroshi immediately responded, taking action.

"Sheesh, if Lady Chiyo was still around she would've scolded me for being so soft," Masa muttered to herself.

...

In the tent, the siblings were busy prepping the body. With the wooden shards removed they had to work fast. Though the body was already dead and the blood wasn't flowing, the less blood the man lost the better. He had already lost more blood than most were capable of handling. Much of his organs were destroyed as well.

Quickly, Masa expertly reconnected veins and arteries, then tissue and muscle. Hiroshi was in charge of preparing to revise his vitals. As soon as Masa was finished, they needed to restore circulation to the body as soon as possible. It would be pointless if they revived the man to a shredded body.

Hours had passed before the body's circulation was restored, his heart being pumped by a tool the sibling knew would be useful in this bloody war.

"We did it, big sister!" Cheered Hiroshi, almost out of breath.

"Hiroshi! This is no time to relax. We are nowhere near being done yet. He is still dead. The only thing we have done is create a soulless body." Masa sternly spoke to her brother. "This next part is what really matters. We have to be careful. If we don't do this correctly, this man won't be the only one dead."

"But Masa, we've done it before, I know we can do it." He grinned up at his sister.

"Don't be so naïve, "Masa said. Taking off her gloves, she then pulled her brown locks into a low ponytail trailing over her shoulder. "Before we had Lady Chiyo supervising us. If our chakra started becoming unbalanced she'd warn us about it. Now we don't have her. If we don't give an equal amount of chakra, one of us will die. You know the One's Own Life Reincarnation (Kishō Tensei) technique is dangerous. It was only originally intended to trade the user's life with the dead's. You must not forget what Lady Chiyo taught us."

"We 'must never underestimate the importance of a life,'" Hiroshi recited.

"Exactly," Masa smirked back at her brother's response. "Are you ready for this?"

...

"One's Own Life Reincarnation?" Shikamaru interrupted. "That technique was forbidden in Suna."

Staring down to Neji, Shikamaru waited for his response. After clearing his throat, he gave Shikamaru his response.

"The technique is forbidden. But before, when Lady Chiyo was conducting the research, Masa and Hiroshi's parents also partook in the research. They had been trying to develop a better technique that instead could be used in the medical field opposed to being used for puppeteering. The idea was to join two life forces together in order to strengthen the odds of survival." Neji explained, not breaking eye contact with Shikamaru, "the problem was finding compatible life forces were nearly impossible. They first attempted pairs up in healing dead fish, but because of a lack of compatibility most failed and ended up hospitalized for weeks recovering."

"I see," Shikamaru ponders, "and then they tested the siblings."

"Yes." Neji said, "They discovered the siblings playing outside the research lab. When they witnessed the pair perform some combination techniques when they got the idea about the siblings. Their parents had been hesitant but eventually agreed. And thus after years of training, the two had almost completely mastered it."

"But then Suna wanted to stop the research." Shikamaru had put things together.

"Yes, when word got out about the two children practicing the technique the citizens' panic knowing of the research's failed past attempts." Neji finished. "Fear for the children stopped any further advancements. Masa and Hiroshi spoke of how they were insistent on continuing but were discouraged by Lady Chiyo.

"I understand. And after they performed the technique on you, what happened?" Shikamaru encouraged him to continue.

"Soon after they had performed the technique and restored my life, the Infinite Tsukuyomi took effect and everyone fell asleep. When the Tsukuyomi was broken, I had not woken. The siblings could only leave me there as they returned to their duties to the war. Only when the war ended did they returned for me. I was taken back to their village. They continued to take care of me. While unconscious, Masa, and Hiroshi waited for any notice about missing ninja matching my description. None came and so all that was left for them was to wait for me to wake up."

The siblings returned to life in their small hometown just outside of Suna with the man. Three months had past and nothing had changed. The man had been set up in a bedroom with no signs of awakening. He had been breathing on his own but needed an IV and catheter. They had helped the body continue to function. They allowed him to receive nutrients and to rid of waste as needed.

...

"Big sister, do you think he is going to wake up?" asked Hiroshi. It has become one of his chores to keep the body clean. And like any other day, he sat by the bed with a wet washcloth cleaning the man's skin.

"It has been months. At this rate, I don't think he has much hope." Masa responded, bringing in a new change of blankets. "When he was down, there was a chance his brain received damage. Even IF there is a chance he wakes up, he could end up not being… all there."

The younger boy looks away from her, back to the unconscious man. He knew the chances too. After all, his sister wasn't the only one who had gone through medical training. But for this man's sake, he hoped fate was on his side.

"I know," he whispered, more to himself than to Masa. Masa hated seeing her brother's helplessness. But she couldn't let him get hurt. It would be worse for him if he truly believed the man would make it rather than if he thought of it realistically.

"Anyways," she said, finishing replacing the bedding. "I am going to the market now. We can't get much this time so we will have to make it last. We may have to get through this month on rice. Make sure when I get back we have enough wood for the fire. The days have been getting colder lately."

Masa left Hiroshi in their small cabin. Though it was small, it was just enough for the siblings. They had learned to make a living through the production of many herbal medicines. But they learned sometimes it wasn't enough either. The pair also took on many odd jobs from the villages. From mending clothing to chopping wood for the elderly to cleaning for the wealthy. Despite the occasional dispute over their land, the siblings lived happily.

Hiroshi had just finished stacking the wood when a sound was heard. At first, Hiroshi wasn't even sure if he had heard anything at all. But when the low groan cut the silence again Hiroshi rushed to the stranger's room. Laying on the bed, the man's finger curled and his face scrunched up, releasing another moan of pain. Hiroshi was immediately by the man's side.

"Hey! Hey, are you awake?" He called. At his voice, the man's face tensed again, a sign of responsiveness, "Can you open your eyes? Are you in pain? Hey, don't move!"

As the boy bombarded him incessantly with questions the man attempted to sit up. His arms ached as they tried to raise the man's torso into a sitting position. Before he was able to, a sharp pain surge throughout his whole body, causing the man to fall into the boy's arms reaching out to support.

"Hey, I said don't move. Your body hasn't moved in months. Big sister and I tried to keep your body in the best shape we could but there was only so much we could do."

Clutching his hands to his face, the man could only feel pain. His body wasn't moving the way he was wanting it to, a loud sound kept on echoing through his ears, and his eyes... He couldn't get them to open. No matter what he tried he couldn't make sense of the situation, where he was, who he was, and what he was doing. All he could focus on was his overloading senses and his racing heart. The boy soon realized this. After waking up from a coma, what your mind was once used to usually become weak. Like muscles that have not been exercised in a while. Instead of continuing with his questions, Hiroshi took a few minutes to study his heart beat.

Feeling the muscle beat under his palm felt strange. For the past months, the stranger's heart had a below average pace. Now it was rushing as if to prove its worth again. Hiroshi slowly moved his hand from the pulse on the man's back into slow movements trailing up and down. He needed to give the man time to adjust. Moments passed as the grown man groaned in agony. When the man finally became silent except for heavy breaths, Hiroshi stopped his soothing movements.

"My name is Hiroshi," he stated, still supporting the man, "I know you are probably very confused but… you are all right." The man's breathing seemed to relax in response to the boy's words. Knowing that the stranger was going through a lot, Hiroshi eased him back down into a laying position as the man dozed back off into a deep slumber.

Hiroshi sat beside the man on the bed. He watched over him. Listening to the man's breathing became steady. He wasn't sure how long he sat there listening but it wasn't until he heard the door close did he realize his sister had returned.

"Hiroshi! Guess what, old man Gorou gave us the best deal on some spiced meats! It's sure to hold us over for…" Masa's voice trailed off as she met her brother outside the stranger's room. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"He woke up" Hiroshi replied.

"What? Really?" Surprise laced through his sister's voice. Her green eyes met the same shade as his. She saw both worry and confusion etched into them. "Hiroshi, what happened?"

Leading them both back to the main room in front of the fireplace, Hiroshi filled his sister in on what he witnessed. They both sat on the floor staring at the flames for a while. Hiroshi took a particular interest in a branch slowly being burned from where it connected to the end of the branch. It did not have a chance to escape. Masa turned her eyes back to her brother then gave a sigh.

"Hiroshi," she whined, "what did I say? I told you to be prepared. There was a huge chance that man would end up like this. It's only to be expected with an injury like this. When a heart stops, oxygen is unable to reach the brain. His heart had stopped for a long time. He could have serious damage. You know this." Masa's gaze drilled at her brother but he didn't look away from the fire.

"I know… It's just," Hiroshi began then paused to reorganize his thoughts, "Didn't you see him? Didn't you see the way he was battling? It was amazing. He was powerful. And… and his eyes… the way they caught everything… I just don't understand!" He fiercely met his sister's eyes. "How could someone so strong be defeated like that? It doesn't make sense; I never saw anyone that strong before…" Hiroshi tried to hold back his tears. He felt so frustrated and helpless. This should have worked.

Masa grabbed her brother's head and brought it to her chest. Wrapping another comforting arm around him as he buried his face and cried. But Masa didn't say a word. She knew she could not say anything to help her brother. So instead she stayed silent and held her brother. They didn't have much, but the siblings were always there for each other. For a long time, it had only been them since their parents died. They quickly learned to depend on each other; they were all they had.

As Hiroshi's sobs settled down he pulled away from his sister and rubbed the reminiscence of his tears away. Masa was resting a hand on her brother's shoulder when she heard a soft thud under her brother's sniffles. Her head immediately went to the stranger's room, slowly followed by Hiroshi's. The siblings briefly look at one another before they both got up and cautiously walked to the door. At the door, they listened inside. Low moans and the sound of something on the wooden floor was heard. Masa grabbed the door and slowly pushed the door in.

Inside the room, tangled up in blankets, the man was sprawled on the ground. His arms were weakly propping himself up as he tried to pull himself forwards with his eyes held tightly shut. Hiroshi immediately rushed towards the man. Before Masa could stop her brother, he was already holding the man's side to maneuver him into a sitting position against the bed.

"Are you alright?" Hiroshi worriedly asked the man whose head rested far back on the bed. Though his moaning stopped, like before, he was still breathing fast. Masa made her way by her brother and crouched beside the two.

"Mister, you need to relax," Masa commanded to the hopeless man, noticing his IV cords becoming taut. "If you keep struggling like this, you will end up hurting yourself."

"Big sister, I don't think he can understand us. It was like this before…" Hiroshi's furrowed eyes met his sister's.

"We need to get him back on the bed." Masa went around to the man's other side and prepared herself to lift the man with her brother like before. This time, the man had been a lot lighter than the last times they had to carry him. What happened next had both siblings stop in mid-lift.

"Uuhhh… I…" the man began clumsily. He began squeezing his eyes even tighter. A minute passed where the siblings weren't sure if they actually heard him. They were both about to continue in their efforts when Hiroshi noticed the man's eyes slowly open. The man's eyes were more remarkable than Hiroshi could remember. He was struck with shock as the man began slowly blinking his eyes. "I… I can't… can't see…" At this, the man's eyes were open. Masa and Hiroshi stared into them for any contradictory signs.

As the man's head moved around, his irises did not contract at all. The man remained silent while the siblings regain their senses and put him back down again.

"Can you hear me?" Hiroshi tested. It was delayed, but a distinguishable nod came from the stranger. "My name is Hiroshi and my sister is here beside me. Her name is Masa. You are in Suna. I don't know if you remember this, but during the Great Shinobi War, you were badly injured. My sister and I saved you." And Hiroshi with Masa's assistance he relayed the story back to the man.

...

"After that day I had to go through a lot of physical therapy. It took about 3 years till was I able to walk on my own. It was 4 years later, 3 years ago that my eyesight began to come back. We were never positive as to why it took so long to recover my sight." The man named Neji continued. "At first I couldn't recall on my own what had happened during the war, but eventually, my memories came back to me."

"Why did you wait till now to return? You say you were fully functional 3 years ago. Why did you wait? What made you return now?" Shikamaru bluntly ask. Tenten blinked at the questions. Throughout Neji's story, though a little hard to believe, everything made sense to her. She had almost been completely willing to give into hope then. Her hope was halted with Shikamaru's questions. If he was really Neji why hadn't he returned as soon as he was capable? Why hadn't he at least informed the Suna siblings of who he was in order to notify Konoha? Why? Tenten's brown eyes met with Lee's dark ones as both came upon the realization.

Neji didn't respond as quickly as a few of the previous answers. It almost seemed as if he was re-organizing his thought.

"I owed them." Neji said, "At first, I was known as Kou to them. I wasn't sure if I could trust them in the beginning. As time passed I found there would have been no benefit for them to lie to me. They were honest people. As I started being able to move on my own, I decided to help them. Masa and Hiroshi, to begin with, were not well off."

"Then why did you return?" Shikamaru asked.

"The village had been attacked. It was almost destroyed and I could do nothing to really help. I still do not have the strength I used to have. My chakra… my Byakugan… I am unable to use either. The town didn't think we could survive. That was when Sasuke came." Neji responded.

Shikamaru took a sigh.

All became quiet. At the balcony, Naruto had an arm protectively around Hinata, the older Hyugas were intently listening, the elders were both lost in their thoughts about the story, and Lee was staring at Tenten. Along with Shikamaru, Lee and Tenten had noticed how Neji subtly avoided answering Shikamaru's last question. None of them knew what the avoidance meant.

"From what I can tell," Shikamaru broke the silence, "all of what you said has been the truth. This situation is troublesome… Neji Hyuga, though your story seems plausible, we cannot take the risk to let you simply return. But neither keeping you locked up here seems right. We have decided to allow your release under probationary supervision."

Shikamaru glances up at those above to survey the spectator's responses. Most gave a sigh of relief, Lee, Hinata, and Naruto, while others maintained their emotionless expressions. Though Tenten's face was a curious one. Shikamaru could not detect either relief or disdain, but concern. Shikamaru concluded his decision and looked back to the Hyuga man.

"You will be under Tenten's supervision until further notice." He finished and turned to leave the room.

Most of the people above were shocked at the strategist's decision. All eye turned towards Tenten. The elders were the first to look away with doubt but they left without a word. Next, the Hyugas turned to Naruto.

"I hope this was the right decision," Hiashi spoke before leaving with the older Hyuga after a nod came from Konoha's Hokage. Hinata and Naruto decided to leave the former teammates temporarily after a brief glance at the two.

Only Tenten and Lee were left to stare down at Neji being prepped for release. Lee spoke first.

"Tenten… I think he really is Neji…" His words were hesitant but firm. After no response, he turned to look at the girl next to him. Tears had still been slowly streaming down her face as her eyes were glued on the man down below. Lee could see the conflict written all over her face. He then looked back down just as the white-eyed man looking up at them for the first time. He first made eye contact with Lee then met the eyes of the brown haired girl. Neither teammates could breathe for a second. The familiar eyes stared at them until the guards came to guide him out.

"You two will need to follow me." A new guard spoke as he entered the balcony. Both ninjas turned to look at him after Neji exited the room below "we will be meeting Neji Hyuga on the main floor where Shikamaru will lay out the rules for you, Tenten, and the Hyuga."

Lee nodded towards the man and looked back to his companion. Tenten had quickly pulled herself together for the time being and returned Lee's look with a nod. The ninja then began their journey back wordlessly.

Yay! Thank you to all those who reviewed. They were encouraging. I made myself sit down to finish this chapter (It took me the whole day) and they helped me through it. You finally know how Neji survived! Sorry that there was a lot of flashback. But I felt it was important. I originally wasn't planning on creating any new/slightly-major characters but to make the theory on Neji's survival more plausible I figured it was better through these characters. Let me know what you think! Any guesses as to what's going to come next? :p

Until Next Time! :D