Neji hadn't pried his gaze from the ceiling of the sick bay since he had come to. He could only see out of one eye, and the gauze and bandages covering his forehead and empty right eye socket reminded him of why, though he didn't really need the reminder. The memory of a lightning jutsu shattering through the Rotation and scraping across his face was one that would stay with him for the rest of his days.
He couldn't even find it within himself to be angry about the loss of his Byakugan, try as he might. If he was being honest, he couldn't bring himself to feel much of anything anymore. The dread one would associate with knowing their imminent death was just on the horizon wasn't even encroaching upon him. He was warned of his limited use to the clan and the consequences of a failure today, and he just didn't care anymore. With the loss of the one thing that distinguished him amongst both the village and even his clan, he had officially been stripped of everything.
He simply felt empty.
"A truly pathetic sight to lay one's eyes upon."
Neji didn't even flinch at the familiar, gravelly drawl of the man who entered the room. Hinome Hyuga, his grandfather, had finally arrived to make good on his word, it seemed.
"You were given a task to complete, and you failed," Hinome stonily began. "Not only did you fail, but you dragged the clan's name through the mud with your tantrum while the Uchiha was helpless at your feet. Your opponent was at your mercy, and yet you gave him the opportunity to mount a counteroffensive rather than end him. The fact that you possess such prodigious talent while also possessing fundamental incompetence rivaling the jinchuriki's is almost comical."
Neji did not stir, nor did he respond. He didn't even look at Hinome with his remaining eye. Hell, the commotion in the rest of the stadium that could faintly be heard didn't even elicit a reaction from him.
"Dead to the world," Hinome scoffed. "At least maintain some pride in your demise, boy. Your father would roll in his grave if he saw what you've become."
Neji still did not move or reply, but his eye did land on Hinome at the slight. His expression went unchanged, however, remaining hauntingly blank in comparison to his grandfather's scornful frown.
"If this is how you wish to spend your last moments, so be it," he finally acquiesced, performing the seal to activate Neji's Caged Bird Seal.
Strangely enough, the excruciating pain Neji had been expecting did not come. There was only a dull irritation beneath his bandages, almost like a steady hum on his forehead, but nothing else. The abject confusion pouring off of Hinome's expression told Neji that he noticed, as well. He kept the seal activated for a solid minute and a half, but other than an itch that got progressively more cumbersome as the seconds passed, nothing happened.
Nothing happened at all.
There was a tense, highly awkward beat of silence where the ramifications of this really sank in for the both of them. Hinome stared at Neji, and Neji blankly returned his stare, neither saying a single word in light of this turn of events.
Only when Hinome's body twitched to advance on him did Neji finally move, shooting out of his cot like a blur and slamming a brutal series of Gentle Fist strikes into his grandfather's chest, lancing several bursts of chakra right through his heart and lungs. Hinome slammed against the wall with a wet cough, blood staining his pristine, porcelain robes as he helplessly slid to the ground. Neji stared down at him dispassionately at first, but the longer his gaze lingered on his grunting, sputtering grandfather, the first flickers of emotion finally entered his expression.
His face slowly twisted into an utterly contemptuous sneer. Nothing but the purest of hatred and resentment swam in his Byakugan. In his heart, however, there was something else percolating among the years of unfettered loathing: satisfaction. It was minute, but it was present, and that was more than enough for Neji to strike him once more in his throat, forcing yet another spewing of blood from Hinome before he finally succumbed.
Neji's glare remained on him, though. It didn't quite feel like enough, but he wasn't sure what else he could do beyond killing him-
He lightly trailed his fingers across the gauze and bandages over his right eye socket, and then he stared back at his dead grandfather. The decision was instantaneous; without a second thought, he dug his fingers into Hinome's right eye socket and plucked his Byakugan. Grabbing a roll of bandages, he wrapped a frankly overkill amount around the freshly harvested eye and stuffed it into his pocket. Neji spared him no further glance before exiting the room and walking with purpose toward the exit of the medical wing to leave the stadium.
Turning the corner, however, he encountered Kankuro helping Temari hobble through the halls with her arm over his shoulder. The duo froze when they saw him, and the intensity bubbling from his singular gaze rooted them in place. Neji idly wondered why they were so nervous as he briefly eyed them, but it was ultimately inconsequential, and he continued on his way without sparing them another glance. Making it through the hallways and out of the stadium, he was taken by surprise by the chaos outside. Activating his Byakugan, he saw that there was combat all across the village as Konoha was apparently under attack from Suna and what he suspected was Otogakure.
That, too, was inconsequential. He had a destination, so that was where he went. Any Suna-nin that tried to attack on the way were quickly dispatched, and the same went for any Oto-nin foolish enough to attack as well as any Konoha-nin he got the drop on. Everyone who impeded his path was cut down without remorse.
Eventually, he arrived at the Hyuga Clan Compound and leaped over the walls, utilizing the confusion of the invasion to excuse his actions to any frazzled Main House Hyuga defending the compound. He made his way through the compound and to the Branch House quarters, eventually stopping at the residence of a particular person. The front door slid open before he could even knock (read: bang), exposing a woman in her early thirties with long, brown hair framing the black bandana covering her forehead. The most striking feature of hers, though, was her prosthetic leg. This was Koga Hyuga, a former combat medic during the Third War who retired from active duty to become a medic for the clan after losing her leg in an Iwa ambush.
She stared at him for a long moment, Byakugan already flared to check for potential attackers, and he stared back at her in kind.
"Neji," she finally regarded him with an unreadable tone.
Neji simply reached into his pocket and retrieved the eye wrapped in bandages. "I require your assistance, Koga."
She once again stared at him in silence. Coming here was a gamble, as pretty much the entire clan treated him as a pariah, Main House or otherwise. However, he knew just how deeply the hatred and resentment of the Main House among the Branch House ran, and he was well aware that many in the Branch House supported his actions in principle, even if only quietly to not incur the wrath of their slavers.
After another lengthy moment of silence in which he could tell that she was checking to see if the coast was clear, Koga beckoned him inside her home. When he unraveled the bandages and showcased the pilfered Byakugan, her eyes widened, and she sent him a hard look.
"There is no coming back from this, Neji," Koga gravely informed.
Neji scoffed, his contemptuous sneer returning in full force. "I have no intentions of coming back."
She sighed in resignation, but she motioned for him to lay down on the futon they pulled out, nonetheless.
"You don't wish to know whose it is?" Neji inquired as he laid down.
"No," Koga succinctly answered, kneeling over him to prepare for the procedure. "Remove your bandages."
Orochimaru sped through the trees like an unbelievably livid bat out of hell. His wretched, lying bastard of a sensei was finally in the ground where he belonged, but the wrinkly vermin took Orochimaru's goddamn arms with him to the fucking Shinigami. The pain his arms were in was so excruciating that he didn't even stop to collect Kabuto after their retreat, he just wanted to get the hell out of there and plot how he'd cross the bounds of the afterlife to get his revenge on the decrepit fuck.
Trailing behind him were the Sound Four, who were doing the best they could to keep up and remain at his flank, but to say they were struggling was the understatement of the century. A furious Orochimaru was already a horrible sight because a gruesome death always followed, but he was also exceedingly less willing to tolerate anything less than perfection from his subordinates. That simply meant that if they lagged too much, he'd be liable to turn around and kill them on the spot.
There were also the events that kicked off the attack on Konoha frazzling them something fierce. They knew Lord Orochimaru had branded the Uchiha with a cursed seal, as that was his plan going into it. They were not, however, aware that he branded all three of that team with cursed seals, one of them being a seal that forced open its second stage and unleashed a wave of chakra that stilled nearly every heart in the arena. None of them were capable of outputting anything of that magnitude, intentionally or otherwise. Hell, Kimimaro wasn't even close to that level, nor was Jugo.
That chakra was so utterly dreadful that they'd remember it for the rest of their lives. It burned itself into their very souls, snatching hold of their essences and holding them over the void. Whatever emerged from that blonde had them at their mercy on an existential level, and if Lord Orochimaru's apparent plans came to fruition, they'd be forced to interact with it.
"Psst, guys," Kidomaru whispered to the other three, careful to remain out of Orochimaru's earshot. "Can we address the elephant in the room?"
"Shut the fuck up!" Sakon hissed. "It's not our place!"
"I think it very much is at this point!" Kidomaru hissed back. "We're getting replaced, dude! We just saw the backup save file he prepped with our own eyes!"
"He's not replacing us," Jirobo jumped in, his usually booming voice a careful whisper. "He's replacing Kimimaro. His condition is beyond saving."
"He needs three people to do it??" Kidomaru pressed. "That's a whole squad! What, are we gonna be the Sound Seven, now?"
The hushed groans coming from all around drew a huff from him. "Look, when he introduces his new lineup of mains and we're deemed low-tier and obsolete, I expect your apologies to be as loud as your disrespect."
"Oh my god, will you please touch some fucking grass?!" Tayuya whisper-shouted.
"I can hear you fuckwits perfectly, you know," Orochimaru hissed, shooting a nasty glare at his paling subordinates. "If I was going to replace you with anyone, it would be with Fu. She's stronger than the four of you combined and knows when to pipe down and leave well enough alone."
His glare zeroed in on Kidomaru, sending a polar vortex up his spine. "However, Kidomaru, if you're so insecure about your position, you're more than welcome to challenge Guren or Kabuto for a place at my side."
The message having been more than received, Kidomaru cleared his throat, adjusted the collar of his tunic, and fixed his hair all at once with his freakish, spider arms. "Tha-that won't be necessary, Lord Orochimaru."
"I didn't think so."
A groan wormed its way past Naruto's lips as consciousness returned to him. Peeling his eyes open, he expected the evil, white walls of a hospital room to smack his vision across the face like the petty bastard it was, but he was deeply surprised to find nothing but brown encompassing him. Rather than the hospital, he was in an unfamiliar bedroom on a mattress that was a little small for him.
"You're awake."
Naruto minutely perked up at the sound of the Kyubi in his mind. 'Hi to you, too, Kyubi.'
"We're running out of time."
Naruto didn't need more than a second to fully grasp what he meant by that, and he was right. They barely held it together when the Jubi tried to take control. They were right to be worried about its silence. It had clearly been biding its time until the perfect opportunity arose for it to strike.
'Yeah, I know. We need to find that temple ASAP.'
"So long as you know. I can't guarantee that we'll be so lucky next time around, and I will tear your body apart before I allow myself to be devoured."
Naruto audibly sighed. 'I won't blame you if you do.'
"Oh, thank goodness, you're okay!" he heard Sakura's voice from the doorway, but before he could even turn to see her, she had already closed the distance and glomped him.
Then, she broke the embrace and turned towards the doorway. "Hey, Sasuke! He's awake!"
"About damn time," Sasuke's voice shot back from down the hall. Footsteps quickly made their way toward the room before they halted, then a steady amble took their place with Sasuke coolly meandering into the room with his hands in his pockets and an uncaring expression on his face.
Ignoring Sakura shooting Sasuke a flat, unimpressed glare, Naruto finally spoke up. "Guys? Where are we? And what happened?"
"My house," Sasuke answered. "There was a surprise invasion, apparently. Suna and Oto attacked right after your match with Gaara."
"Oh…" Naruto muttered, looking down at the bed while silently taking all of that in. After a lengthy moment, he looked back up at his teammates. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, we ducked out as soon as the chaos started," Sasuke shrugged.
"You were unconscious, and we prioritized your safety over all else," Sakura added with concern.
Maybe it was the sudden affection he received moments after waking up that threw him off his game, maybe it was the frankness with which Sasuke dropped the bomb of an invasion, or maybe it was some combination of the two, but Naruto was having difficulty fathoming the outpouring of love and care he was receiving from his teammates, even though he logically shouldn't have been. He knew he could trust them unconditionally, and this only served to solidify that further.
"Thanks, guys," he said, a real smile finally blooming on his whiskered cheeks, one that was returned by Sakura and met with a nod from Sasuke.
Then, his smile was overtaken by a burst of confusion as something about his surroundings occurred to him. "Wait, this doesn't look like your room. I thought you said this was your house, Sasuke."
"How would you know what my room-" Sasuke began with a squint before cutting that thread and shaking his head. "Whatever. This is my old room… in my old house."
"…In the clan district?" Naruto asked, slowly absorbing the weight of that information.
"Yeah," Sasuke nodded. "No one would come looking all the way out here."
"When Gaara transformed into, well, that, he ran right through the village and flattened a path in his wake," Sakura joined in to add some clarity. "We kinda slipped away in the confusion, and Sasuke suggested we stash you here where no one would be or think to look."
Naruto nodded at that, sending a thankful glance to Sasuke that was met with another, albeit far slighter, nod. It was clear that choosing to go back to his childhood home, the heart of everything that happened that night, wasn't a decision he made haphazardly. Naruto truly did not know how to reckon with the idea that Sasuke put aside something so traumatic just for his safety.
"Sorry to rain on your parade, my cute little genin, but you're somewhat mistaken about that."
All three of their heads snapped toward the doorway to spot Kakashi leaning against the frame and shooting them an eye smile. "Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura balked, the first to find her words of the three of them. "What are you doing here?"
"You were mostly correct that no one would think to look here, but I'm not just anyone," Kakashi mused with a bit too much self-congratulatory amusement in his tone. "I'm your sensei. I have to know you three better than you all know yourselves, after all."
"You tracked us down with Pakkun, didn't you?" Sasuke deadpanned with a twitching brow.
"Anyway," Kakashi quickly cleared his throat, "I'm glad that you three are okay. I was a little worried when you were MIA yesterday once the enemy retreated. Anko was, too."
"Are we going to get in trouble for that?" Naruto asked, not exactly sure how he felt about missing an entire invasion of his village.
Kakashi's expression straightened into a serious one. "You took an injured comrade to safety and guarded over him with your lives. Many in your position would and have done the same. I'll make sure that you see no consequences for this, although there's no real reason you would. You're still only genin, after all, despite the prodigious improvement you three have displayed."
Naruto and Sakura audibly sighed in relief, Naruto limply falling onto the bed in a dramatic display. Even Sasuke let loose a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"At least the old man isn't going to throw the book at us for desertion," Naruto joked, looking towards his sensei to join him for a chuckle.
Kakashi did not do that. Instead, he stared at his team with an uncomfortable glint in his one visible eye. "That's part of what I came to tell you, actually. The Hokage is dead."
That struck each of them like an errant shuriken to the face. The eyes of Sasuke and Sakura were like platters holding a party's worth a shock-on-a-stick, whereas the shock in Naruto's widened gaze was joined by utter disbelief.
"He's… dead?" Naruto sounded out, unable to wrap his mind around it.
Kakashi solemnly nodded. "He was killed in battle by Orochimaru, and Orochimaru managed to escape. The funeral is tomorrow. All shinobi are expected to be present."
Another silence filled the room as Naruto slowly craned his gaze back to the bed, staring at the blankets over his lap far too blankly for his team's comfort.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," Kakashi somberly said, his voice gentle. "I know you were closer to him than most. I know what you're going through, and I'm always here if you ever need me."
He set his gaze on his other two pupils. "That goes for all of you. I'm always going to be here for you."
Naruto didn't stir, and Sasuke only sent him a sidelong glance. Sakura, as was typical, was going to have to be the one to break the tension.
"Well, I guess I'll have to head back home to grab my funeral wear at some point today," Sakura muttered, realizing how little that statement would do to assuage the sour mood once she said it.
Unfortunately, Kakashi kept his somber gaze on her. "….That's also part of what I came to talk to you about."
To a passing traveler, Konohagakure could have been mistaken for Amegakure due to the downpour pelting the village and the dreary atmosphere that accompanied it. It was a day of mourning all around, not just for the fallen Hokage, but for everyone whose lives were lost during the attack. The invading forces of Suna and Oto were repelled, but not without Konoha incurring grievous losses.
Many lives, ninja and civilian alike, were lost during the attack, including but not limited to Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, who were flattened in their home by a fleeing Ichibi. Sakura, haggard and despondent, stood in the rain alongside her team, clutching onto the arms of Sasuke and Naruto on either side of her like the lifelines they were. There were exceedingly complicated feelings swirling around her brain in a mess comparable to the treacherous eddies of Uzu, waters she simply did not have the energy to brave at this moment. Instead, she bundled closer into the safety of her family. It was the only one she needed.
Sasuke stewed to her left, dispassionately staring at the altar as one of the elders delivered a eulogy. He didn't want to think that he had grown numb to death because that would have been disrespectful to the memory of his parents. However, gazing at the picture of the Sandaime and then eyeing Naruto in his periphery, no one could blame him if Sasuke wasn't especially broken up about it.
To their right, though, was Naruto, who hadn't lifted his gaze from that same picture since they had arrived. Hiruzen Sarutobi was smiling, and while it wasn't exactly the same warm, grandfatherly smile he offered to the denizens of Konoha—the one they were all so familiar with—it was still a much-needed reminder to the shinobi populace of the reason they fought so hard. It reminded them of the home they would all give their lives to protect. It was proof of the Will of Fire burning brightly even in death.
And that's precisely why his stupid smile and his stupidly kind eyes were so fucking infuriating; they were fucking lies as far as Naruto was ever concerned. Maybe it was genuine for other people, but for him? All that gentle smile and kind disposition had ever been was insurance, as Naruto's continued loyalty to the village was the top priority. "Keeping hold of the destructive power of the Kyubi and maintaining the balance between the nations" was always the top priority.
That came straight out of the journal of Mito Uzumaki herself, something his clones stumbled on while sifting through some of the dustier corners of the Senju Compound. There were quite a few interesting tidbits about not just the Uzumaki Clan, but also the Uzumaki's purpose in Konoha, at least from her perspective: housing the Kyubi. See, Mito sealed it within herself in the olden days, and then another Uzumaki was plopped right into Konoha from their clan's homeland to take up the mantle once Mito was too old for the job. And now, it was Naruto's turn to be the designated Kyubi container, because that's all he ever fucking was, apparently.
So, the Kyubi being sealed into Naruto by the Yondaime wasn't an accident, and he came from a presumably long line of people just like him who were kept around to fill that role. The worst part? The Hokage was now fucking dead, so Naruto was kept in the dark about all of this for reasons he'll never actually get any goddamn answers to.
That's what pissed him off the most above all else. The old man had so much to answer for, and he just up and fucking died before Naruto could finally demand the truth from him, even if it was just a sliver of the reality of his life. He hid so much from him and contributed to his life being abysmal for a decade, and yet, he just gets to escape all of his sins.
It wasn't fucking fair. Every single white rose placed on the altar was just a compounding reminder of Hiruzen Sarutobi worming his way out of telling him the truth just like he always had. There was never an end to it, even in death.
"Sasuke," Naruto muttered, earning his teammate's attention. "Spar after this?"
Sasuke eyed him for a moment before nodding. They all really needed one.
Hiashi Hyuga had seen far better days. Locked in his study with four empty bottles of sake at his desk, he was trying his damndest to numb the despair to no avail. In the span of a month, he had lost his eldest daughter, his father, and his nephew. His father's body was found in the medical wing of the stadium with his Byakugan pilfered, and Neji was nowhere to be seen. His body was never recovered among the dead, both of Konoha and the invaders, so his status was still technically unknown, but Hiashi knew better. If Neji wasn't dead, he had used the confusion to escape the village, and Hiashi couldn't blame him for doing so.
It didn't take a genius to know why his father was in presumably Neji's room. Despite the pain, anger, and betrayal, Hiashi did not want to kill his nephew. Through it all, Hiashi still loved Neji, and he truly did not want to do away with the last living vestige of Hizashi. Unfortunately, he was mostly alone on that front as far as the elders were concerned. They wanted Neji eliminated for the threat his continued existence posed to the Main House. The longer Neji remained alive, the more likely it was that the Branch House would take notice.
Hiashi stalled as long as he could, but, ultimately, the best he could do was get them to compromise on waiting until after the final round of the chunin exams to make a final judgment. He guessed that his father had plans of his own, however…
His head slumped, landing on the table with a pathetic thud. It was impossible to say with absolute certainty who stole his father's Byakugan, but the nature of his wounds suggested a Gentle Fist attack, so it was obvious who had killed him, and that meant that the list of suspects for the eye caper was just as short. Despite Neji's status being currently unknown, he'd have no choice but to have him placed in the bingo book with a considerable bounty for his crimes against the Main House, and didn't that just feel like a stab right through the heart?
This was all Hiashi's fault, after all.
In the coming days, he'll need to play defense against the elders' inevitable demands of tightening the leash on the Branch House to ensure nothing like this ever happened again. He'll also need to keep a close eye on the Branch House, as he knew word of Neji's disappearance and the circumstances around it would spread. He wouldn't bother inquiring if he was in or near the compound that day, though. The least he could do for him after all this time was give him the head start he would need.
He also really needed to hug his remaining daughter, but he'd sleep off the despair for now.
Naruto and Sasuke did not know what it meant to take it easy on each other during spars, so, naturally, once they were away from the watchful eye of their sensei supervising the bout, Sakura was left to ensure that the two blockheads properly tended to the minor injuries they received and bop them on the noggin when either one pitched a fit.
It was such a fascinating sight for Hanabi. She had been hunting Team 7 down and watching them train for a few days now, and every single time, she was transfixed by what she saw. She initially just wanted to get a better look at the Uchiha who beat her sister's killer to a pulp, but she would've been lying if she said she wasn't at least curious about the girl who wore weighted clothing and could use water and fire, as well as the blonde who many in the clan instructed her to steer clear of in the past. She wasn't sure why until she felt the chakra he emanated during his match, but even then, it sparked more curiosity than outright fear.
Maybe it was because he was Uchiha's teammate? It was tough to say, but she watched them all closely regardless. She wasn't deterred when she was discovered by their jonin sensei, who simply patted her on the head and vanished before she could swat his filthy hand away. She wasn't deterred when a woman wearing a trench coat snuck up behind her and slapped her hand over her mouth to keep her from yelling, only to offer her a stick of dango. She watched Team 7's daily routine of pounding each other senseless into the evening with a level of skill she had assumed only prodigies possessed, and then she even followed a safe distance behind them when they left the training ground to eat at a ramen stand.
That particularly intrigued her; she had never had ramen before.
However, this day was a bit different. After they had finally finished their physical training and the toad that had at some point snuggled beside her hopped away, rather than leave the training ground as a unit like they always did, they stuck around on the grass and made idle chatter about, well, everything and nothing at all. She was perplexed; idle chatter wasn't something that she had ever made within the Hyuga Clan.
Well, that wasn't exactly true, but the conversations she used to have with her sister weren't idle (not to her, at least). She cherished them.
"It's rude to spy on people, y'know," a voice from behind startled her, and she spun around, activating her Byakugan on reflex to see Sasuke Uchiha himself crouching in front of her with an expression showing a current of curiosity flowing through a sea of impassivity. Nearby, his two teammates sat in a tree and watched over the scene with snickers.
Only then did the three teenagers still in the clearing vanish into puffs of smoke, revealing them to be clones. Not only had she been discovered, but she was duped, as well. How could a Hyuga be snuck up on and have their eyes deceived?? The shame…
"…Are you okay?" Sasuke questioned with a quirked eyebrow, and that was when Sakura decided to jump in.
"She's fine, Sasuke," she giggled. "She's just getting over the surprise. Give her a sec."
Sasuke nodded slowly, still sending Hanabi a curious look. Meanwhile, Naruto came down to join them in the revelry.
Once Hanabi finally collected herself, she huffed and put her Hyuga sternness back on. "How long have you known I was here?!"
"We've always known," Sasuke answered, shocking her once again. "You didn't do a great job at hiding yourself."
"You got a bit too close," Naruto added with a cheeky smile.
Hanabi opened her mouth to voice her indignation, but then she paused and considered something. "Wait, is one of you a sensor?"
"We all kind of are now," Sasuke shrugged.
"So, what did you need?" Sakura asked with a smile. "Did you just enjoy watching us train?"
"Oh, um…" Hanabi floundered, looking away and absently twiddling her fingers. It was very unbecoming of a Hyuga. "I, uh, didn't think I'd get this far."
"Who are you, anyway?" Naruto finally asked, his arms folded behind his head.
"I am Hanabi Hyuga, current heiress to the Hyuga Clan," she replied, but the way her voice died a bit when she said "current" did not go unnoticed.
'This is Hinata's sister,' was the shared thought of Team 7. Well, it was shared by Sasuke and Sakura at first, but Naruto caught up eventually.
"Shouldn't you have an escort or something?" Sasuke asked.
"I always give him the slip," Hanabi shrugged. "He's never found me before you all leave that ramen stand. He never mentions it to Father because, well, you know, so I keep doing it as much as I can."
"Keep doing it 'till he gets good," Naruto grinned in approval, and Hanabi couldn't fight her own smile.
"Well, you're more than welcome to come watch us train from now on," Sakura offered. "Preferably from a safer distance, though."
"You all are genin, right?" Hanabi asked, somewhat taking them off guard, but they nodded. "How did you get so strong?"
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "In the face of our sensei and any other jonin in the village, we hardly compare."
"…Neji," Hanabi spat his name with such venom that no one would blame her for being confused for a snake summoner. "He was a prodigy in my clan's taijutsu. He even stole Main House techniques and used them better than I've seen many in the Main House do. According to Father, he was a genius the likes of which haven't been seen within the clan for generations, and he was hailed by many to be the future of our clan."
Hanabi looked Sasuke directly in the eye, the beginnings of tears pricking her vision. "And you… you just defeated him outright. You even broke through the Palm Rotation. It's the Hyuga Clan's most impenetrable defense, and you broke it!"
Sasuke looked away, mildly uncomfortable with the tearful praise. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"I want to be just as strong as you three!" she continued, a fire emerging in her wobbly voice. "I want to be stronger than anyone in our clan has ever been. Father thinks I'm unaware, but I hear what's going on; Neji escaped the village, and I want to be able to hunt him down and bring him to justice!"
The wobble in her voice became a break, and some of that fire began to peter out as a tear trailed down her cheek. "I want to make my sister proud of me…"
Hanabi cursed herself for losing her composure in front of others. It had been the second time she had done so, but at least this instance wasn't in front of a stadium of thousands. Still, she didn't resist when Sakura appeared beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"She already is, Hanabi," Sakura assured her with a warm smile. "I couldn't imagine that she'd be any prouder of you right now."
"Really?" Hanabi sniffled.
"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered slamming his fist into his palm. "I can already see the fire in your eyes. You're gonna be the strongest ninja this village has ever seen, behind me, of course."
So wrapped up in the warmth she was beginning to feel well up inside of her, she missed Sasuke's glance up to the tree that Sakura and Naruto came down from. Sitting on a higher branch was Anko, who flashed him an "ok" sign and mouthed, "I got this," to him.
Then, Hanabi felt two fingers touch her forehead. Looking up, she saw Sasuke smirking at her.
"I think you'll be just fine," Sasuke asserted. "Train yourself to the bone, and you'll be stronger than any of us."
The tears that now streamed down her face weren't of sadness, and it took everything within her to not lunge at the three and hug them. She had to maintain some level of decorum, after all.
"Hey, we were headed to Ichiraku's after this," Naruto began, pointedly ignoring the glare he was receiving from Sasuke since Sasuke explicitly called dibs on choosing where to eat next. "Wanna get some ramen with us-"
"Yes, please!"
"No."
Homura sighed. "Jiraiya…"
"I'm not cut out for the job," Jiraiya insisted. "You know that."
"We don't have much choice," Koharu spoke up. "The damage the village suffered at the hands of the Ichibi was far more extensive than we feared. We're as vulnerable now as we've ever been since the Kyubi attack so long ago."
"We have no idea when the other nations will make a play against us, and talks with Suna have only gone as well as they have because they believe we captured and sealed away their biju," Homura added.
Jiraiya furrowed his brow. "It didn't return to the desert?"
"Apparently not," Homura answered. "We don't know where it could have gone. No one in the country or any surrounding lands has reported seeing it since that day. It's like it vanished."
Jiraiya hummed, his thoughts steadily darkening. 'They can't be active already, can they?'
"We're assembling an emergency executive committee from our best jonin until the village has regained its proper strength, but we need a Hokage, Jiraiya," Koharu stressed. "If not one of the Sannin to ease the populace and project strength to the rest of the world, then who?"
"There's another Sannin out there, y'know," Jiraiya replied. "She'd be better at it than me, too."
"Tsunade hasn't been in the village in a quarter of a century, Jiraiya," Homura rebutted. "Sure, she has the pedigree, but no one even knows where she is."
"I know where she is," Jiraiya shrugged. "Or, at least, I'd know where to look. If I bring her back, would that settle this whole thing?"
The two elders were silent for a moment, leaving the only sound on the rooftop they stood on to come from the breeze lightly scraping over the concrete.
"…We'd consider it," Homura carefully answered. "It's ultimately the Daimyo's decision, but he'd certainly be in favor of either one of you."
"Great, then I'll get a move on," Jiraiya grinned, placing a hand up to stop them when they were about to speak. "Don't worry about sending ANBU with me. I won't make a run for it, and they'll just get in the way. However, there is someone I'd like to tag along with me."
"Who?" Homura asked.
"Naruto Uzumaki," he answered.
"Absolutely not," Koharu immediately shot down the idea. "He cannot leave the village."
"Especially not after the end of his match with the Suna jinchuriki," Homura stressed. "We have no idea how the cursed seal and the Eight Trigrams Seal are interacting. Allowing him any freedom at this juncture would be too great of a risk. He needs to remain under close observation!"
"Which is exactly why he's best with me," Jiraiya argued, his expression growing deadly serious. "I'll be there to keep an eye on both of his seals, and I'm the most qualified to fix any issues I find."
His expression grew even darker. "I'm also the best equipped to protect him if my suspicions about the Ichibi are well-founded."
The elders had a silent conversation, drawing the rooftop into a far more tense lull. Appearing to come to an accord, they faced Jiraiya once more.
"Are you sure that you'll be able to pacify him should things go south?" Homura cautiously questioned.
Jiraiya's stony expression broke into a grin, and he hopped onto the guardrail, balancing on one foot while striking a pose. "As sure as I'm the Super Pervert Literary Genius behind Icha Icha!"
He received absolutely nothing but blank exasperation from the two elders in response, but his grin did not falter, nor did his immaculate pose over the unwashed masses who hadn't yet experienced his mastery with the pen.
"Just…" Koharu began, pinching her brow. "Take the goddamn boy and get out of here."
Not needing any other prompting, Jiraiya gallantly leaped off of the ledge with a victorious laugh. Homura and Koharu simply shook their heads and walked away, lamenting that this was truly the best they currently had to offer. However, upon reentering the building, they were met by Danzo waiting for them in the hallway.
"Step into my office," was all he said before turning and walking back down the hall.
"Hey, Naruto?" Sakura asked, earning his attention while the three walked through the village toward a restaurant of Sasuke's choosing. "What happened before your match that made you so upset?"
Naruto furrowed his brow in thought for a brief moment before it came back to him, and his face slightly darkened. "Oh, that."
His tone caught even Sasuke's eye, and a quirked eyebrow was sent in his direction from the Uchiha.
"Remember what I asked you in the stairway before your match, Sasuke?"
Sasuke slowly nodded, already understanding where this was going and why he seemed so piqued.
"Well, I found something," he continued, and Sasuke's eyes widened. "Or I guess my clones did. They were at the library doing some digging about the Uzumaki and Senju during the finals. They found something."
"What did they find?" Sakura asked, wondering herself if this was part of a thread that would lead him to his parents.
Naruto did not immediately reply. Instead, he gazed at the villagers around them going about their business, all of them attempting to regain some level of normalcy after an attack so horrible. They were all under the watchful eye of the visible shinobi among them as well as the ANBU hidden in the shadows, and it was these ANBU that Naruto was painfully cognizant of. He had grown used to their presence as a child when he could idly sense them hanging around without really knowing why or what was happening, and that became useful when he would pull pranks; if he could misdirect the ANBU, he could get at least an eight-second head start when he needed one, and a lot could happen in eight seconds.
The point was that he knew what ANBU felt like, even when they were little more than phantoms to his senses. Now, though, it felt like ANBU were around him all of the time and far closer than they ever had been before. It was obvious that he was being watched whenever he wasn't at the training grounds with Kakashi or Anko. He wasn't sure if the same was true for Sasuke and Sakura, though.
"…I'll tell you more about it when we're alone," Naruto carefully answered. "It doesn't feel like there's a ton of privacy recently."
Fortunately, both Sasuke and Sakura got the message loud and clear, and they nodded in agreement. It looked like the situation was similar for them, as well, although he didn't know if it was to the same degree.
When they turned off of the crowded street to use one of the less occupied side streets as a shortcut, a big puff of smoke right in front of them startled them off their feet with three distinct yelps.
"It is I, the Great and Powerful Hermit of Mt. Myoboku, the Gallant Jiraiya!" Jiraiya dramatically introduced himself while striking a kabuki pose atop a man-sized toad.
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto barely had enough time to regain their bearings and get back to their feet before Jiraiya was right there between them, snatching Naruto into a conspiratorial headlock.
"Hey, Short Stuff, guess what!" Jiraiya said with a grin at his somewhat frightened captive.
"…No," Naruto muttered, attempting to shrink away, but Jiraiya pulled him right back in.
"You're right!" Jiraiya proudly declared. "We're going on a mission!"
"What?!" Naruto balked, and Sasuke and Sakura were just as floored.
"I'm gonna hunt down my old teammate, and I'm taking you along for the ride," Jiraiya said before either one could say a word in protest, and good thing, too, as the mention of his teammate stilled them both.
"Your… teammate?" Naruto said, his gaze steady and critical.
"Not that one," Jiraiya denied with a stern expression, and then it quickly bounced right back to a smile. "My other one, Tsunade!"
"Tsunade?" Naruto asked, his brain working in overdrive. "As in the granddaughter of the Shodai, Tsunade?"
"That's the one," Jiraiya nodded. "You in?"
Naruto was incredulous at this massive stroke of luck. This was not only an opportunity to get away from the village for a while, but it was also a chance to potentially meet a relative of Mito Uzumaki, and as such, a possible relative of himself. Maybe she even knew where the Uzumaki temple was…
"…Yeah, sure," Naruto finally agreed. "But only if my team comes with us."
Jiraiya just looked back at them and shrugged. "Alright. I already got the ok from Kakashi, so I'll just swing by him again and let him know I'm stealing his whole team for a little while."
He finally put Naruto down. "In the meantime, you guys get ready. We'll be out of the village for a little while, so pack for at least a month."
Then, he hopped back on the toad and vanished, leaving them alone in the alley once again. Silence fell over them as they all processed what had just occurred… to varying degrees of success.
It was Sakura who finally spoke up to exemplify this. "What the fuck just happened?!"
"Huh, they really ate shit, didn't they?" Kisame chuckled as he and Itachi stood atop the walls of Konoha, overlooking the wreckage left by the invasion. "If the Ichibi did all this, I can't imagine what kind of damage the Kyubi must've done. You were there for that, Itachi; does this compare?"
"No," Itachi simply replied. "Nothing does."
"Don't get all sentimental on me now, partner," Kisame joked. "Your verbosity is truly unmatched sometimes."
Itachi grunted, gazing at the destruction with his Sharingan blazing. "Let's go."
Naruto's bag was nearly full as he prepared for a month's journey to who knows where in search of Tsunade. He didn't particularly care where the trip would end up taking them, in all honesty. Getting out of Konoha and away from the watchful eyes of his minders for any length of time was worth whatever destination Jiraiya had in mind. He was thankful that they never entered his home (at least that he was aware of), but he still knew they were around with their eyes glued to his apartment. He didn't even know who ordered it; it wasn't like there was a Hokage to ramp up the surveillance on him.
Scanning over the last of the essentials, his eyes landed on the small journal on his nightstand, the very thing that had been the source of his newest angst. He hadn't had a moment to sit down and read through the whole thing since his clones found the info about bringing Uzumaki over to be the jinchuriki, and a lot of that was by choice. He couldn't even lie to himself and say that he wasn't afraid of what else he might find in there.
Thankfully, a knock at his window got his attention, and he stashed the journal in his pack before looking to see Anko grinning at him from behind the glass.
"Anko-sensei?" he asked, unlocking and opening the window for her. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, brat," Anko greeted, climbing into the room. "Heard you were going on a mission with Jiraiya."
Naruto blinked in surprise. "That happened like twenty minutes ago. How do you already know about it?"
"I have my ways," Anko chuckled darkly. "Wouldn't be a great tracker if I couldn't make myself invisible to your senses, now would I?"
"That's…" Naruto floundered, realizing just how ridiculously overkill of a skill that was for tracking. Anko knew it, too, if her laughter was anything to go by. "Why is it that I have an easier time spotting ANBU than spotting you?"
"Because I'm just that damn awesome," Anko declared with a flip of her hair.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but did you just come by to say hi?" Naruto asked, figuring he'd get to the heart of it already.
It took some time, but he grew to really like Anko over the month they spent training. She was fun and could empathize with him on more than one front, and even the smallest hint of genuine empathy was enough to get someone in his good graces. If she just came to hang out, he wouldn't have minded whatsoever.
Unfortunately, the way her face straightened into a serious one told him that this wasn't the case. "I'm not supposed to tell you about this, but…"
"But?" Naruto prompted.
Anko sighed, and he could see a brief flicker of worry in her expression before it was ruthlessly squashed. "If you're going out of the village on a wild goose chase for who knows how long, you deserve to know just in case. Orochimaru isn't the only S-rank criminal you need to worry about."
Naruto blinked. That was a bombshell he wasn't expecting. "Alright… who else should I be concerned with?"
"According to Jiraiya, here's a group out there called Akatsuki," Anko explained, and Naruto gave her his full attention. "It's comprised of entirely S-rank missing-nin from across the continent. Think of it like a whole group of Orochimarus."
"What do they want with me?" Naruto asked.
"Not you per se, but what's inside of you."
"My heart?"
"No, doofus," she said with a bonk to his head. "The Kyubi!"
"I know, I know," Naruto laughed. "I'm just messing with you."
Anko wasn't amused, though. "This is serious, Naruto."
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "It's just… it's a lot to take in, y'know? I've already been marked by some pale weirdo, and it's making my life infinitely more stressful than it already was thanks to being the guy carrying the entire village's trauma inside of him. What's another stressful thing to throw onto the pile, I guess?"
It was Anko's turn to sigh again. "Yeah, I get it. You've got more than enough on your plate as it is. You don't need this at all."
She reached over and ruffled his hair. "Still, if you're going to be out of the village where we can't protect you, you ought to be aware."
He didn't even fight the gesture, just glad that there was someone else out there that he knew cared about him. "Thanks, sensei."
"No prob, brat," she replied, giving him her best winning smile. "Now, go find that blonde milf."
Naruto paused, taking a moment to think that over. "Wouldn't she technically be a gilf at this point?"
Anko blinked, and then she, too, really thought about it. "Y'know, you might be on to something, kid."
Neji trudged through the endless forests of the Land of Fire, slowly readjusting to the fullness of his eye socket under his bandages. It would be some time before it healed enough for him to use without the covering, but that was fine. He was just as deadly with half of his vision, and he could see through the bandage when he activated the implanted Byakugan if ever necessary.
Attached to him was a whole host of supplies he lifted from a bandit camp he encountered. He cleared out the camp and liquified the organs of the man in charge, a missing-nin from Konoha leading a bunch of disgraced samurai and opportunistic lowlifes. After collecting all of the food, water, maps, and weapons he needed, Neji took the missing-nin's headband as a trophy, along with his sword. Even if he would never actually use it, it was a symbol of his newfound freedom from the shackles of fate. He was no longer bound to the destiny of the Branch House of the Hyuga Clan. That was no longer his burden to bear.
He'd have to thank Sasuke Uchiha at some point for inadvertently destroying his seal, and then kill him for destroying one of his eyes.
Until that day came, however, he would never have to think about Konoha again… at least until they sent hunters after him. That was bound to happen unless they believed him to be dead, which was possible, but he wouldn't bet the house on it. It would pay to remain cautious in his new life as a missing-nin and a free man.
"You're a long way from home, Hyuga."
Immediately flaring his Byakugan, Neji spun around and entered a stance, ready to jump right into the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms if needed. The man in question wore a strange, orange mask in the shape of a spiral with a singular eyehole and a black cloak with red clouds speckled over it.
"Come no closer," he growled at the unknown interloper.
"I am not your enemy," the man said, raising his hands in surrender. "I, too, was abandoned by my clan and my village."
It was at this moment that Neji fully took the man in, the crimson glow emanating from the mask's eyehole and the chakra pouring to his eyes that Neji could see pointing to one conclusion…
"You're an Uchiha," Neji said, narrowing his glare. "You're not Itachi Uchiha, however."
"Very astute," he chuckled. "No, I'm not Itachi. I'm but a ghost of Konoha's past transgressions."
"And what is it that you want with me?" Neji pressed.
"I'm here to make you an offer."
"Not interested."
"You haven't even heard what I was going to propose."
"I can reason that you're going to ask me to join forces with you given our shared history with Konoha. That cloak is no doubt a uniform of some sort."
The masked man chuckled. "Very astute, indeed. You are correct; these are the robes of Akatsuki, a mercenary organization comprised of exceptional missing-nin. As for the offer, I'd like to extend you a conditional invitation to be among their ranks."
"Pass," Neji quickly declined once again. "I don't need whatever protection you think you can provide me. I'm more than capable on my own."
"Really?" the masked man asked in an infuriatingly skeptical tone. "Because I seem to recall that you couldn't even defeat Sasuke Uchiha."
Neji glared daggers at him, rearing to strike him down where he stood if he continued to tread recklessly.
"Nor could you defeat your uncle."
Neji was a blur, closing the distance in the blink of an eye and launching a deadly strike directly at the man's heart. However, his hand phased right through him as if he wasn't even there, throwing Neji for a loop. Then, the man stepped forward, walking straight through Neji entirely like a ghost, which threw him even further for a loop. Shaking it off, though, he pivoted and struck once more at the man's back, but the man actively retaliated this time by snatching his wrist, squeezing it harder than anything Neji had ever experienced before he was yanked off of his feet.
Before Neji was even aware of what was happening, he was airborne, horizontally slamming back-first into a massive tree trunk with a loud thwack. The man was right in front of him in a split-second, however, clamping down on his throat and slamming him upright against the tree. He tried striking at him, but only then did he realize that his right wrist was broken just from the man's single squeeze, and the man snatched his left wrist into his grasp right as the realization hit.
"Are you reconsidering now?" the masked man asked, his tone frighteningly unbothered. "I don't think you've quite considered how unprepared you are for life as a rogue ninja, Neji Hyuga. Sure, you can kill a few bandits and a pissant rogue here or there, but what happens when Konoha sends someone competent after you, and you become the pissant rogue? What happens if they send a Kakashi Hatake or, Heaven forbid, your now former sensei? How do you expect to survive against someone of that caliber, Neji?"
Neji simply gritted his teeth. For one, he never told the man his name, so the fact that he knew it as well as information about his final days in the village meant that Neji had already been under someone's watchful eye without even knowing it. Just as well, he had no idea how this man's abilities worked. Was it the strange chakra flowing through half of his body? Did it have something to do with the activity in his Sharingan? A combination of both?
And third, the worst of them all, was the fact that he was right. He didn't measure up to the strongest jonin in Konoha. Hell, he didn't measure up to the average jonin in Konoha. He couldn't even beat a fellow genin in Sasuke Uchiha, and they would no doubt send people far more competent than Sasuke to eliminate him. This man had disabled him in moments without breaking a sweat even discounting his mysterious jutsu. Was this the level a missing-nin needed to be at in order to stay alive?
With a damaged wrist and far more damaged ego, Neji sighed in defeat, and the masked man dropped him.
"I see you understand now," the man said, his smirk evident just through his tone. "If you wish to maintain your newfound freedom, you'll need to be far above where you are right now. You're good—very good for a genin—but you're no match for the people whose sole profession is hunting down people like you. You can train, but you'll only reach so far training by yourself. You'll need assistance, and I can provide you with that."
"What did you have in mind?" Neji hazarded.
The man hummed in approval. "For starters, I know exactly how to speed up your recovery to get that new eye of yours functioning right away. I can even help you out with a skin graft for your forehead. And that's before we even get started with training. By the time we're through, you'll be strong enough to defend yourself from even a Kage."
Neji eyed him with an abundance of caution. These were lofty promises to make, and Neji would ordinarily dismiss them, but after being tossed around like a child's plaything and getting a better look at the unfathomable puzzle that was this man's chakra, Neji wasn't so certain. The last few times he gazed at a presence this vast and unbeatable were the Sandaime during the preliminaries, Gaara, and Naruto Uzumaki in the Forest of Death. If he could get Neji to a point where he's even approaching the Sandaime in power…
"Just who are you?" Neji finally asked him.
"For now, you can call me Tobi," the man chuckled before the air in front of him rippled, and a hole in reality literally tore itself open before them. "Now, please, step into my office."
Didn't get to 60K, but I did get to about 50K before the end of the month, so I'll take it. I'll treat myself to a milkshake or something before I hibernate.
Thanks for reading.