"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite nephew," the gray-haired man said as he saw Neji enter his home.

"I'm your only nephew, Uncle Higachi," Neji said with a small smile as he took his blue sandals off.

Higachi Hyuga. Neji's uncle from his mother's side, was a very old-looking man despite only being in his late 50s. His long hair that almost all Hyuga males possessed had already completely turned gray. His face was covered in wrinkles, and sported a small scar on his left cheek.

Long ago, the man had once been a Konoha shinobi, but after an accident during his Chunin exams that led to the death of his female teammate, he'd retired and had been serving the main house of the Hyuga clan ever since.

"So, what do I owe the pleasure of having the famous Hyuga prodigy in my humble abode? Came to hear some of my stories from when I was a ninja? You used to love those when you were younger," The man said with a nostalgic smile.

Neji shook his head as he sat under his legs next to the table where his uncle was seated, "Sorry but no. I thought since you're always telling me how much of a history buff you are, you would be the best person to answer something I've been wondering for a while," Neji said.

"Well then, what do you want to know?" Higachi asked before taking a sip of his tea.

"I want to know the history of the material the compound's buildings are made of. Like how the Byakugan can't see through them? I've noticed a few others like them are spread throughout the village. What's the history behind them?" His uncle hummed as he put his tea down.

"I see… It's a long story, so buckle up because this will take a while. Would you like some tea?"

"Uhm… Do you have any sweet tea? Or sweet red bean soup?" Neji asked.

"What? For a branch house member, you sure have some exotic tastes, you know?" Higachi said with an annoyed expression.

"Alright, alright. Just some water then," Neji said as he waved in front of his face.

"Here," Hagichi said, handing Neji a glass of water, "Thanks."

"Alright, our tale begins all the way back in the Warring States Period. Even back then, we had already developed a special material that could block the Byakugan's ability to see through solid objects. Obviously, the way to make said material had to be kept a secret, so only the current head of the Hyuga clan is allowed to know how to make it," Hagichi stopped to take a sip of his tea before continuing.

"Fast forward a few decades, word spread that the Uchiha and Senju clans had formed an alliance. Many in the Hyuga clan feared being conquered or losing power and influence, especially detested the idea of doing so to the Uchiha—our biggest rivals at the time—so it was decided that the clan should join the Hidden Leaf."

Ah yes, the tried and true strategy. If you can't beat 'em, join them.

"When the clan formally asked to join, we were informed that there was a law in place that dictated that any clan that wished to join Konoha had to disclose how their respective Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques worked to the Hokage and his advisors. This information would then be stored in a secret room in the Hokage tower. Of course, the clan head at the time refused disclosing any techniques of the Gentle Fist, but after a lot of negotiations and back and forth, he caved in and gave up all the secret techniques as well as everything about the Byakugan, with the promise that they would remain underlock forever and could never be looked at by anyone except the Hokage.

There was one exception: The formula to the material that could block the Byakugan. The clan head managed to negotiate that it would remain a secret, with the condition that they would build two buildings for the other clans to store secrets, as well as a few rooms in the Hokage tower. Oh, and the Hokage residence, which is also entirely built with the stuff" Higachi finished explaining.

"So that's why I can't see inside some buildings of the other clans like the Nara and Yamanaka…" Neji thought to himself.

"What about the Konoha Shinobi Library? I can see through those walls just fine."

A cheeky smile spread through Higachi's face, "So that's what this is about, huh?" He said, "The library was built during the reign of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. He built it to help shinobi without a clan or sensei to develop their skills. There is an underground section of the library that is reserved for Jonin only. It was built with the stuff that blocks our Byakugan, so you can't see it or detect it." Higachi explained.

Neji nodded, "Very interesting. How do you know all this stuff Uncle?" he asked, curiosity dripping from his voice.

"Well, history is one of the sections in the Hyuga Library we Branch members are not prohibited from entering, so after I stopped being a ninja, I would spend my free time there reading everything I could get my hands on. Like I told you, I've always liked history. You should read about it too. A Hyuga that doesn't know the history of his own clan is a disgrace!" Higachi screamed in a joking tone while slamming his hand on the table.

Neji smiled at his uncle, "I don't know if I will have time, but I'll try.

"You young kids have no respect for history. Now that I've answered your question, how about you repay me with a few matches of Shogi," Higachi said as he pulled out a board and a box of pieces from under the table.

"Alright, seems like a fair trade," Neji replied.

Higachi looked into Neji's eyes, surprising the boy from the sudden change from affectionate to hardened and cold, "Before we start, I'll give you a warning son. I don't know if your visual prowess is at the level where you can read inside a scroll or book—which is a feat very few Hyuga are capable of—but be aware that using the Byakugan to read any scroll in a section of the Shinobi Library that is above your rank is strictly forbidden, and can lead to being sentenced to execution."

Neji swallowed, the air around him and Higachi felt so thick one could cut it with a kunai.

"I know how you are. You've never cared much about the rules. So if your mind is already set on doing it, promise me this. Do not. Get. Caught."

Neji didn't reply, instead, he nodded slowly.

"Good!" Higachi said with a happy tone, his serious attitude vanishing in a second.

"Oh by the way, before we start, tell me. Why are your hair and eyebrows white?"

"Wha-," Neji stuttered, the question completely throwing him off, "Oh yeah… Uhm… I just wanted to break tradition. I think when I graduate I'll cut it too. I have a certain style in mind."

Higachi nodded, "Breaking tradition, huh? Good, I approve."

The young Hyuga looked at his table where an empty red scroll lay open, as well as a brush and a small jar of ink.

Taking a sip of his sweet red bean soup, Neji lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling as he got ready.

Activating his Byakugan, he willed it to move across the streets of Konoha—which by now was second nature to him thanks to how much he'd trained his eyes. Being now capable of seeing up to 7 kilometers away.

Neji thanked the Gods above that the Hyuga compound was only 4 kilometers away from the Konoha Shinobi Library as he looked at the large building, a pair of Chunins he didn't know guarding the double doors. If the building had been any further, he would be unable to do what he was about to do next.

Taking a deep breath, he devoted all his concentration to his eyes as he made them show him what was inside the building. Once there, he kept going past the door with 'Academy Student Section' written on top of it and down the hall.

The white-eyed boy marveled—like he'd done many times in the past, at the power of the Byakugan. It was like he was standing right before the door with 'Genin Section' written on top, instead of in the comfort of his room.

He was filled with awe at the room he was now seeing. Dozens upon dozens of scrolls, all perfectly organized in square-shaped bookcases, on top of each shelf a word was written, conveying what kind of information they contained. Neji looked at the three bookcases that possessed the most scrolls. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu written on top of each of the 3.

Uninterested, he moved on to the others. History, biology, strategy, bukijutsu, kenjutsu, etc.

Finally, he saw it. Fuinjutsu.

Neji exhaled from his nose in amusement. Compared to the other categories, the fuinjutsu section only contained a measly 3 scrolls.

Neji felt sweat form in the back of his neck as he slowly looked closer to the first scroll.

This was the hardest step, not only would he have to partially use his x-ray vision to see through all pages except the first, then go one by one, but since the scroll was closed, what was written inside would be even harder to read.

After a few very intense seconds, all the years of precise training the Byakugan paid off.

Neji smiled as he achieved a feat that required a level of precision that most Hyuga were not capable of accomplishing until they were in their late 30s.

He was pretty sure the reason for that was because specifically training your Byakugan to read inside a closed scroll was not usually done by the average Hyuga.

Forming the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu without stopping to look inside the scroll, another Neji appeared beside him.

Without uttering a word, the clone sat down on the desk and grabbed the brush, dipped it in some ink, and wrote the title of the first scroll, 'Fuinjutsu For Beginners'.

"Alright, this takes a lot of concentration, so I'm going to go very slowly, probably gonna take all day to copy all three scrolls. Can't be helped."

The clone already knew. Just maintaining that level of precision with the Byakugan was incredibly hard, but doing so and writing at the same time would just be impossible, so the simplest way to avoid the issue was making a shadow clone do the writing while he read the scroll out loud.

Neji woke up the next day still slightly annoyed.

Apparently, fuinjutsu was not the overpowered skill he'd imagined it was.

In fact, the Hyuga's Caged Bird Seal was not even fuinjutsu.

It was a Juinjutsu, a type of jutsu used to bring someone under the control of the user by applying a seal to someone's body, which to Neji sounded like fuinjutsu but apparently wasn't.

But first, what was fuinjutsu?

Contrary to what some believed, Neji now knew it was a very simple concept. Fuinjutsu is a type of jutsu that seals or unseals objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object, usually a scroll, or a living being in very rare cases.

Interestingly, a physical object stored inside a seal was placed in a pocket dimension where time did not move, so a corpse stored inside a seal would never decay, or food would never go bad.

That was it. That was what fuinjutsu was. It was literally in the name, after all, fuinjutsu could be translated to Sealing Techniques.

Neji's thought process was interrupted as a realization came to him. If a living person could be sealed like a corpse could, wouldn't that mean that you could be sealed and released 100 years later and not have aged a day?

He would need to test that someday.

Getting back on track, fuinjutsu being just sealing techniques meant that there was no such thing as gravity seals or other outlandish stuff of the short Neji remembered reading back in his old life in many fanfictions.

That's not to say fuinjutsu was not powerful. In very specific cases, like if you ran into a Tailed Beast, someone who possessed a very strong regeneration ability, or someone immortal, it was very useful. It was just that the chances of that happening were so low that most shinobi saw it as a waste of time to train and develop their fuinjutsu skills once they knew how to store their weapons and supplies in a scroll.

And they were somewhat correct in doing so. Training your taijutsu to be able to dodge a kunai that would have killed you, or ninjutsu to more easily kill an enemy was more useful than being extremely knowledgeable in fuinjutsu.

That was why there weren't a lot of fuinjutsu experts running around.

Not because it was all that hard to learn compared to other ninja skills like an elemental release, but because it was only useful in very specific situations, not to mention its high entry barrier. For example, to use seals correctly the user needed to have excellent handwriting–which was why Neji had been practicing calligraphy for three years now—as well as excellent chakra control.

Nothing on the level necessary for medical ninjutsu, but still higher than average.

In the end, to most shinobi, fuinjutsu offered very little return on investment.

Time was limited, and not everyone could learn as fast as a genius like Kakashi or Minato.

But Neji was not the average shinobi. If he ever wanted to get rid of the seal on his forehead, he would need to become a fuinjutsu and juinjutsu master.

"By any means necessary…" Neji said to himself in a whisper.

The Hyuga boy looked at his table as he exhaled slowly, calming himself.

He now had three scrolls in his possession that would get him in deep trouble if they were ever found, either by a Hyuga or a ninja of the village.

Not to mention the pair of Sharingan inside a scroll hidden under his mattress.

Neji still could not believe he'd managed to get away with that.

He smiled. Guess it was time to cross something from his to-do list that he'd written a very long time ago.

Neji Hyuga looked head, a feeling of nervousness growing inside him.

The area was surrounded by a metallic fence that towered over him.

As Neji stared at the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, A.K.A, the Forest of Death, the forest stared back at him. It truly was one of the most imposing sights in the entire village.

Contrary to popular belief, it was actually legal for any Konoha citizen to enter the training ground whenever they pleased, and unlike other training grounds spread across the Hidden Leaf Village, a team or Jonin couldn't reserve the area due to how large it was.

One might wonder then, if entering the area was wholly, why the huge metal fence? Simple, not to keep people out, but to keep the many beasts that roamed the 10 km radius forest inside.

Still, even if it was legal, there was a very explicit clause that any person—be it shinobi or not—who set foot inside the training ground agreed.

That Konoha was not responsible for anything that were to happen inside, like losing a limb or dying.

Neji crouched and jumped as high as he could, doing a flip once he reached the top of the fence so as to not be cut by barbed wire.

He landed gracefully on the other side with a smile.

He was inside.

The young Hyuga let out a scream of joy as he jumped from tree branch to branch as fast as he could, feeling the wind in his ears and face. It was moments like these that made him happy he'd reincarnated in this world.

After 45 minutes, Neji calculated he'd travel 5 kilometers and stopped. He dropped to the ground and used his Byakugan to analyze the area around him for any dangerous beast. Satisfied when he saw nor detected anything nearby.

"For it to be undetectable by a Byakugan it will need to be around 800 meters deep... Even then, if a Hyuga were to focus their eyes underground and knew approximately where it was, they could still see it..." Neji resigned himself. This was the best he could.

Still, if Orochimaru had gotten away with having multiple larger bases for years with entrances visible from the outside, Neji was pretty certain he could get away with a medium-sized room with no visible entrance.

"To create a hole that deep I'll have to use around 2 months of stored chakra for the Byakugo Seal along with almond my entire reserves." Neji thought to himself.

While the Byakugo Seal hadn't manifested in his chest yet, Neji was still able to feel and somewhat use a bit of the chakra he'd collected in it over 5 years.

Doing the necessary hand signs, Neji slammed his palms on the ground and screamed, "Earth Style: Moving Earth Core Jutsu!"

A hole of 40 square meters with him in the center quickly started descending, the speed being so high it made Neji slightly dizzy.

The white-eyed boy felt like he was about to puke before the ground suddenly stopped moving. Neji let out a wheeze, feeling so tired he was unable to even get up.

Reaching into his ninja pouch, Neji grabbed the food pill his mother had gifted him for his tenth birthday and popped it in his mouth, instantly feeling his chakra reserves being restored to 100%

"Woah... I feel like new, incredible..." Neji said while flexing his hand. As incredible and useful as this was, food pills were simply too expensive unless used in an A or S-ranked mission, not to mention how they were incredibly addicting and how after 24 hours of consuming one, you would 'crash' and be in incredible pain for an entire day.

"I'm really going to regret this tomorrow. Can't be helped, this is a special situation."

Now with his energy and reserves refilled, Neji rose and looked up. It was quite an impressive sight. A black void with a small square of light at the end of the tunnel.

Activating his Byakugan to look in the darkness, Neji once again placed his hands on the ground and used his Earth Release to manipulate the earth on the walls to grow bookshelves all across the 4 walls of the big room to place scrolls and anything he wanted to store here.

Once finished, Neji took out the 3 fuinjutsu scrolls he'd copied yesterday from the library and put them on one side of the room, then he walked to the other side and opened the last scroll. He injected some of his chakra into the sealing formula, releasing what was sealed inside.

The pair of Sharingan eyes floated in the green liquid. Neji swallowed as he placed them on the shelf attached to the wall.

"In retrospect, this was such a stupid idea," Neji said out loud. He'd realized long ago how truly useless the eyes were to him. Even if the Mangekyo Sharingan was more powerful than the Byakugan, Neji still possessed his pride as a member of the Hyuga clan, so he would never replace his Byakugan with a Sharingan.

Especially when using said Sharingan to its maximum capacity would lead to going blind.

Well, the eyes were not totally useless. While he would never permanently replace his Byakugan, Neji was still curious about what would happen if he implanted the eyes on him. Would his body be able to handle the strain the eyes put a non-Uchida under better than the average shinobi? Would he awaken a brand new doujutsu like Toneri did when being implanted with a Byakugan from the Hyuga clan? Would his body react no different than Kakashi's?

As much as Neji wanted to know, it was impossible for him at the moment to test his theories. Not only did he knew nothing about transplanting eyes and medical ninjutsu, his eyes suddenly changing from his usual color to black or the Sharingan would land him straight into Torture and Interrogation.

So he would let it be for the foreseeable future.

Feeling satisfied, Neji ran up the wall using chakra. Once outside, he used his Earth Release to close the hole, leaving the now 3-meter-tall room concealed under 800 meters of earth and dirt.

Neji let out a tired breath, this time he'd used 3 months of accumulated chakra from the still-unfinished Byakugo Seal to close the hole, leaving him with only 1/4 of his chakra to make his way home without major issues.

"I wish to recommend Neji Hyuga to take the exam at the end of the Academic year with the rest of the graduates. Since he joined the Academy his scores in every subject have always been perfect and he has already mastered the Clone Jusu and Transformation Jutsu." Neji's head sensei said to the Hokage and his 3 advisors, all 4 sitting behind a wide desk.

"I do not know if it is a good idea to let him graduate earlier than his classmates." The Hokage said, his hands clasped at the mouth level.

"Nonsense, he is a genius is he not?" The advisor with half his face covered in bandages asked.

"Frankly Lord Danzo, we haven't had someone exceed in all subjects like this since Minato Namikaze. Not to mention his chakra control may even exceed that of Lady Tsunade when she became a Genin."

The four elders glanced at one another in silence, "You all know my stand on letting people so young graduate early. It is too much pressure. It is why Itachi ended the way he did..." The Hokage said.

"Itachi Uchiha ended the way he did because he was given too many responsibilities as an ANBU Black Ops Captain. With the new laws that mistake won't happen again," Danzo shot back.

The Hokage took a drag from his pipe and exhaled a plume of smoke.

"Very well then."

Neji stared at the calendar, still half asleep. He smiled as he noticed how in two months he would be taking the exam to become a Genin.

Which meant that maybe it was time for a hairstyle change.

The streets of Konoha were silent, most civilians still sleeping in their homes and apartments. Neji stopped before a shop with a green sign, 'Yamanaka Memory Picture Shop' written on it.

The Yamanaka clan had always interested Neji. Aside from their fascinating mind techniques, the Yamanaka clan was also well known for being the most entrepreneur of them all in Konoha. Owning multiple shops, the most well-known one being the Yamanaka Flowers shop.

A bell sounded as Neji stepped through the door. A woman in her twenties stepped from behind the curtains that blocked the back of the shop from being seen.

One could easily tell she was part of the Yamanaka clan thanks to her light blonde hair and blue eyes, "Good morning, what can I do for you?" she said in a sweet voice.

"Good morning. I was looking to get a picture from four angles made, without color." Neji replied.

"Alright, that'll be 300 ryo please,"

Neji pulled out the money and handed it to the woman, "Thank you very much. Come with me." Neji followed the Yamanaka behind the curtain to a room with a wide table with everything an artist could need, a chair, and a couch.

"Is this your first time?" The woman asked with a smile, to which Neji replied by nodding.

"That's alright, please lay down on the sofa and close your eyes," Neji did as told, "Now... Take deep breaths and try to clear your mind..." The Yamanaka said in a soothing tone.

After a few seconds, Neji felt a hand touch his head, "I want you to visualize the image you want turned into a picture as hard as you can. "

Neji thought hard, the man he wanted this lady to draw becoming clear in his head.

After a long minute, the woman removed her hand from his head, "That's enough. I'll start drawing the image you had in your mind now. It will only take 40 minutes, you can stay there if you want." The almost eleven-year-old Hyuga nodded, deciding to rest here while she drew.

Neji was woken up from his nap by a nudge, "Finished. Here you go," opening his eyes and getting up from the comfortable couch, Neji grabbed the four drawings, analyzing them.

The quality was incredible, like someone had pulled the memories from his head and printed them—which wasn't entirely wrong. The four drawings depicted a man from four sides, front, back, left, and right.

"This is perfect, thank you very much," Neji said, bowing slightly.

Now to take these to a hairstylist and get the same hairstyle as the man depicted in the drawings.

"Alright, we're finished. It's a pretty odd style so I've never done it before, still, I think it looks pretty good." The barber said, clearly satisfied with a job well done.

Neji stared at himself in the mirror. His white hair that before reached to his waist had been cut and made way shorter. It was now divided down the middle of his head, a particular and atypical 'zigzag' style on the top of his head, with two separate partings on either side of his face. He wore two red, tube-like hair ornaments that Neji had been surprised to discover the hairdresser even had, one on the front right and the other on the back left, securing two locks of his white hair.

He now basically had the exact same hairstyle Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan had once used.

Or uses, as the man was still alive.

Neji really liked how he looked now. He wondered why he hadn't done this sooner.

The boy knew it was risky to have the same hairstyle as one of Orochimaru's top men, but he reasoned that two people having similar hairstyles wouldn't really cause him much trouble.

No one had ever seemed to bring up how Naruto and one of the paths of Pain had the exact same hair after all.

Neji got another good look at himself and smiled. He did not care how dangerous it was. He looked badass and no one was taking it away from him.

The Hyuga boy thanked the hairdresser profusely and paid him, leaving him a small tip.

The barber looked in wonder as the hair lying on the ground of his barbershop slowly changed color, going from a pure white to a dark brown, almost black. Unaware that the reason for this was due to the hair running out of chakra after being cut from the source.

Neji entered the shinobi weapon shop, feeling happier than he could ever remember being in a very long time.

"Neji! How did it go!?" The girl behind the counter and the only person Neji would currently call a true friend asked.

Instead of replying, he walked up to the counter and with a smile on his face, pulled out his brand new navy blue hitai-ate.

"Woooah..." Tenten said in awe as she grabbed the forehead protector from Neji's hand.

After a few minutes of inspecting it, Neji coughed to signal he was still here, "Oh, sorry. It's just I've never seen one so up close before," Tenten said while scratching the back of her head.

"So what jutsu did you show them to pass?" Neji shrugged at Tenten's question, "A shadow clone and an Earth-style Wall for good measure."

"Well congratulations, you should go tell your mom. I'm sure she'll be really proud."

"I will, but I want to buy some stuff before going home," Tenten beamed at this, "Sure! What can I get for you?"

Neji took a look around the shop. It was fairly big and filled with all kinds of weapons and other things a ninja might need, "I'm buying a brand new set of kunai and shuriken, ten empty normal-size scrolls—white, red, and black if possible, 50 meters of white bandages, and three pairs of black shinobi sandals. The blue ones I have are starting to get small. Lastly, I would like to change the cloth of my forehead protector to white and for it to be one of those headband-style ones that are elastic. The ones that you don't have to tie around your head, you know the ones?"

Tenten nodded as she wrote everything down on a sheet of paper, "Yeah I know the ones. My dad told me they've become very popular recently in Amegakure. White is a pretty rare color outside of Kumo, so it might be a bit more expensive than a black one. Those are the most popular."

Neji nodded, "It's no problem, I've been saving money for a long time."

"Alright, here you go!" Tenten said as she placed the last item—a white elastic headband, on the counter. Neji grabbed it and put it on, covering the Caged Bird Seal with it.

"That looks great on you. Did you get it to match your hair and eyes? I've noticed you're quite girly when it comes to those things," Tenten said with a cheeky smile.

Neji blushed slightly at the comment, "Just because I want to look good doesn't make me girly," he said quickly.

"Okay, okay..." Tenten said as she put her hands up.

Neji sighed as he put everything in his backpack, this girl could get under his skin so easily...

"So, how much?" "That I'll be 7500 ryo." The Hyuga boy put the money on the counter. With this, he was pretty much penniless now.

He hoped those D-Rank missions paid well enough.

"Oh, before you leave. Here. My gift for graduating." Tenten said with a smile as she handed him a kunai.

Taking a closer look, the kunai didn't have the average metallic look they usually did, but a glossy finish instead, "A special kunai?" Neji asked.

The girl behind the counter nodded, "Yup! It's made of a special metal that can be imbued with the user's chakra nature. Sadly for you, Earth nature chakra only makes weapons heavier so it's not very useful. Maybe you could try learning Lightning or Wind."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. I've been thinking of learning Wind Release, but between training Taijutsu, Gentle Fist techniques, and trying to improve my Earth Release jutsus, I don't have a lot of free time," Neji said as he put the kunai on the kunai pouch attached to his right leg.

"I'll be going now. I probably won't be able to visit for the next few weeks. Sorry about that," Neji said as he opened the door of the shop.

"Don't worry about me, you go and enjoy the Genin life, Mister Hyuga prodigy," Tenten said with a smile as she waved at Neji.

"Will do," Neji replied with his own, smaller smile, before leaving the shop.

"I'm home."

Her mother sprinted to greet him, "How did it go!?" she asked.

Smiling, the very soon-to-be eleven-year-old pointed at his forehead with his thumb.

Himeko stared at the white forehead protector for a few seconds before dashing forward and hugging him, "I am so proud of you sweetie," Neji smiled, hugging his mother back.

"Come upstairs, I have a gift for you," Neji followed his mother to her room, shocked to see what was lying on her bed.

"I saw this the other day while shopping and couldn't resist buying it. It reminded me so much of the jacket your father used to wear when he was a Genin. That was also when we first met," Himeko said with a nostalgic glimmer in her eyes.

Neji stared at the odd light beige jacket-shirt fusion in astonishment. It was the same exact one Neji had worn during part one of the manga.

And his father had worn something similar during his Genin days? Was this also the reason why the original Neji wore it?

"Can I try it out?" Neji asked, "Sure sweetie, it's for you after all," Himeko said, happy her son seemed to like the gift.

The young Hyuga stared at himself in the full-length mirror laid against the wall.

Since he was already wearing the same black shorts the original Neji had worn, aside from a few differences like his hair, the lack of bandages on his right leg and arm, and the white hitai-ate, he looked exactly like Neji Hyuga did before the time skip. Just a bit younger.

Which made sense, he was Neji Hyuga! It was that wearing these clothes truly reminded him who he was.

A person who had died when he was only around 19, in just 8 years, if nothing changed.

Neji swallowed. It would not happen this time. He swore.

"I like it very much Mom, thank you," Neji said as he kept looking at himself.

"Damn. I look awesome," Neji kept looking at himself in the mirror, causing him to remember something. Had the original Neji worn blue sandals or black ones? Hadn't he also worn a smaller headband with a belt-like thingy framing his face? He never used anything like that in this life.

"I'm so glad! I bought you ten so you can wear them every day," Himeko said with a very happy tone while putting her hands together.

Neji looked at his mother with a deadpan expression, "Ten? Bit much, no? What would she've done if I didn't like them?"

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't judge, considering he owned 10 black shorts that all looked identical to the ones Neji had worn during his Genin days.

That he wore every day.

Neji looked down with a sad smile—a bouquet of white flowers in his hands.

"Hello Dad," he said, squatting down to gently place the flowers down on the grave.

"Sorry I haven't been visiting a lot lately, I've been very busy y'know," Neji put his hand on his forehead protector, "I finally became a Genin. And look, Mom bought me this shirt that she said is similar to the one you used to wear when you two first met." Neji said.

"Actually, she went kind of overboard and bought ten. It's alright though, I really like it," Neji stared at the sky in silence for a few minutes.

"I know I've said it a bunch of times already, but I'm sorry I couldn't do anything that night to save you. I... I just froze up, I was so scared…"

Neji put his hand on the tombstone, "I promise I'll never let it happen again. To mom or anyone I care about. I'm pretty strong for a genin, but I'll become even stronger, just look at me."

"As of today, you all have become full-fledged ninjas of Konohagakure. Please remember to act as such and that any bad act you do will reflect on the village. We'll be forming three-man teams led by a Jonin instructor. I will now proceed to list them. "

Neji looked out the window with a bored expression. He didn't know anyone in this class and didn't care to fix it. Most of them would fail their exam and go back to the academy, and the rest would become inconsequential Genin and Chunin.

"Lastly, Team 12. Hyuga Neji," the mentioned boy perked up, "Dontaro. Akane Shimura. Your Jonin instructor is Raido Namiashi," Neji moved his head to continue looking out of the window. "Shimura? Isn't that Danzo's last name? Is it a clan?" he thought. The name of his new sensei sounded vaguely familiar too.

"Your Jonin instructor will come pick you up in the afternoon here. Until then, you're all dismissed." The sensei of this class said before leaving.

"Oh man, can't believe we got stuck with a baby Hyuga for our third member. Probably thinks he's hot shit for graduating earlier," a male voice said. Neji turned to his right to look at two thirteen-year-olds, one male and one female.

"Don't be rude, Dontaro. I'm Akane Shimura, pleasure meeting you," the girl with brown hair said, offering her hand for a handshake.

"Neji Hyuga," the boy said while shaking the girl's hand.

"This guy here is Dontaro, don't pay him any attention. I really like your hair by the way, never seen a Hyuga with white hair before, especially with such a cool style."

Neji stared at Akane with a blank expression, not knowing how to respond to her compliment, "Uhm… Thank you. Your old sensei said that we're free until the afternoon. I want to get something to eat before meeting our Jonin instructor." Neji said before getting up and walking away.

"Hmmm… I'm feeling Ichiraku today…" He thought to himself.

Dontaro smiled as he saw his new female teammate get brushed off, her cheeks becoming red from embarrassment, "Told ya, egomaniacs, all of 'em."

"Oh shut your mouth."

"My name is Raido Namiashi and as you know, I'll be your Jonin instructor for the foreseeable future. How about you each present yourselves? Just the usual, your name, what you like, what you don't like, and a dream you have. Youngest first," the man with a weal-like scar on his face that ran across the bridge of his nose and down across the left side of his face said.

"This again? How tiresome," "My name is Hyuga Neji. I like training, learning new stuff, music, and my mom's cooking. I don't like Kumogakure for personal reasons, and my dream for the future is... to become as strong and renowned as the legendary Sannin."

Neji glared at his male teammate as he heard him murmur something to Akane about being a 'momma's boy' before he got punched in the shoulder by her.

Raido hummed in amusement, "Pretty lofty dream, but who knows? You three will find pretty soon that in this line of work, nothing is impossible," Raido said before looking at the female member of the team.

"Well, my name's Akane Shimura. I like my parents and to spend time with my friends. I don't like wasting food and my elder brother when he's mean to me. One day I wish to become a respected Jonin, that's my dream," Akane said.

"Alright, and lastly…"

"The name's Dontaro. I like playing with my dog Gonta and visiting the hot springs. I dislike egoistic people and idiots who believe they are superior to others just because of their lineage. My dream is to become a Chunin and marry a cute girl one day."

"Talk about subtle..." Neji thought.

"Guess that about wraps up introductions. Starting tomorrow, our schedule will be as follows: Monday we'll do a mission or two, Tuesday training, and Wednesday you can do whatever you want—train or rest or something else, I don't care. Thursdays we start the cycle again. Sundays are a rest day too." Raido said before getting up from the railing he was sitting on.

"But sensei, but you only said your name. Shouldn't you present yourself too?" Akane asked.

Raido sighed, "As I said, my name is Raido Namiashi. I like practicing Kenjutsu and dislike traitors and rookies who don't follow orders. My dream for the future is personal."

"Hey wait a second. I thought new Academy graduates were supposed to do the bell test to see if they are ready to become Genins or if they're sent back to the Academy." Neji said.

He'd been giddy to participate in the bell test and fight his new sensei all week...

Raido's eyebrows shot up, surprised at the question, "Oh, that. It is up to the Jonin instructor to decide what type of test he wants to do or if he even wants to do one. The bell test is just one of many, if every Jonin did it, all rookie Genin would know about it. And no, if you fail you don't return to the Academy, that's something some Jonins like telling their students before their test to scare them. If your Jonin instructor fails you, you join the Genin Corps, where you can carry out D-rank missions with other Genins under the supervision of a Chunin. After a few months, you can join a team lacking one or two members due to a promotion to Chunin or added to a newly formed team lacking a member." Raido finished explaining.

"So does that mean we already passed?" Akane asked.

Raido shook his head, "No. I'll see how you behave and perform in missions this month and decide if you pass or not at the end of it. I have to go now. Remember, same place 9 AM."