As voted on by the $10 tier of my Patreon, here's your side story of the week.
I've never liked the Neji confrontation, but it's not because I don't have justifications or an understanding of what happened.
There's just so much context that can't be told through Sakura's perspective. This is a thirteen year old boy with a sadistic bone to him, with a teammate acting like a buffoon. And he's "frustrated" about it.
Anyway, this isn't perfect but I tried.
This is probably the longest side-story by far, but some of it is rehashing so it makes sense.
Frustrated is a simple word, it's often used in place of stronger words that people simply don't understand. He's not frustrated that Tenten won't stop antagonizing their fourth teammate, he's enraged. He's not frustrated that he managed to mess up signaling Sakura to come upstairs with them, and she got hurt because of it, he's infuriated. He's not frustrated to see four captures on day two of the mission after they just had a conversation about how much of a pain in the ass it would be to keep them captive or bring them to Konoha, he's enthralled in his own frothing rage.
He just got done saying they weren't a threat, they could leave them for later, there was no reason not to break a few legs and leave them there in the dirt for pick-up after they were done with what needed to be done. Worse, he knows for a fact that Tenten could have killed these people without feeling too bad about it. They have gunshot wounds, which heavily implies she didn't know they were students when they entered combat, and this could have so easily been resolved with just a slightly deadlier aim.
Tenten had mercy when she didn't need to, and his own words have come back to bite him. He'd said to spare these foolish criminals to appease Tenten and Lee, because agreeing with Sakura that bloodlust and massacre was a great idea would set the recently jumpy Tenten off.
That damn demon sword, Tenten had touched it for a minute at max and it's got her acting less like his teammate and more like a hallway of broken glass he has to neatly step through lest she crunch.
Outwardly he's frowning, but it's so much more than that. The Hyuuga do not show weakness in their emotions, they show dominance, but he wants nothing more than to scream at her. She knows better, she's being an idiot because she doesn't want to tell Sakura it's okay to just kill everyone. Why? Because of the sword at her waist that she's clearly handling just fine!
Tenten can't use her brain and is an idiot, Sakura's an idiot, Lee's an idiot, and he's clearly doing a poor job reining in his menagerie of morons because he has to explain simple concepts like rations to a seasoned genin with over a year under her belt!
"Tenten, you understand we still have weeks on this mission, correct?" He grits his teeth. He looks down at the dirty fools with gagged mouths and contemplates torturing them. Just a few touches here or there and he could have them screaming. He could make them beg, and they'd surely spill any information they have. Problem is, they have nothing, they're too inexperienced to know what info to give and if they ask about something it'll suddenly become important, guaranteeing they'll lie because they know they're going to die anyway.
"Yes." Tenten answers him instantly, he doesn't look at her, he doesn't care. She can do an awkward shuffle and pretend to be his teammate while wearing her skin, that's not his problem. That stupid sword, it's not even intimidating, he can see its chakra, it's not even evil chakra! It's normal chakra twisted by intention, most likely it functions by feeding off hopes and dreams and churning it into something greater.
That greater thing is horrific violence and disturbing urges, but they're ninja, that's not weird! "And we do not have the supplies to take care of four extra people," Neji asserts, "you are aware of that."
"But you said not to kill them…" He can hear a waver in her voice, pitiful, pathetic, a shallow answer and justification for not using her brain when he knows she knows better. It's not an assumption, he's worked with her for a year, she's suddenly hesitant to do what's correct because she had one bad moment with family. He's had a million bad moments with family, he'd kill them all if he could. Should he become meek and fearful of death for the thought?
He'd relish their agonized screams. Someone who he trusted to have his back is showing off weakness, and not in that cute and charming way she normally tries to because she thinks he likes weak girls. He doesn't, but informing her of that feels like it'd only egg her affections on. He's not frustrated, he's murderous. Screw Gai for forcing Sakura along on this mission, screw Tenten for being so weak all the sudden, screw Sakura for not realizing she's the problem, and screw Lee for being Lee - no other reason, he's been pretty okay recently - he wants so much to do literally anything else.
But now he has to deal with these asshats, and he has to do it with the gentlest of frowns because he's a Hyuuga, and Hyuuga do not show emotion like that. "I said they weren't a threat, there was no harm in letting them regroup and capturing them later when they would be less of a burden. Now they know where we are." Despite his best efforts he can't keep the hiss out of his breath, the desire to kill, and stab, and rip, and rend, and tear, and do literally anything but be gentle. His knuckles hurt from clenching them too hard, and his lip hurts from biting it to hold some of his rage inwards.
"They probably already did know where we are." Tenten explains, and she's right.
But she can't be right, right now. He needs her to be wrong, because what he wants to scold her about isn't something he can say right now. He needs a proxy, and he creates one.
He forms his most practiced hand sign, and brings forth his birthright. It stings a little, using it while this angry. "Probably is not a guarantee." He can see every vein, every weak point, every weakness given form in everyone all around. Seeing exactly how to make his dumb teammate stop being dumb right this instant gives him intrusive thoughts the likes of which Sakura likely deals with all the time, but unlike Tenten, he has self control. Ninjas have intrusive thoughts all the time, they're trained to massacre, holding Sakura's sword shouldn't have been a shock to Tenten, it should have been a wake-up call, but here they are.
"Wait, Neji!" Tenten moves towards him, and he glares at her. He turns to lock eyes with his teammate, to make her see reason. She's trying to stop him from dispatching enemies now? This wasn't going to be a big thing, but she can't even see death anymore? Is that why they aren't dead? Did she miss vitals on purpose hoping they might be students?
Just how far gone is she just because she handed one special weapon? Weapons are the very thing she exists for. Her passion is weapons, her faith is in weapons, her dreams are about holding powerful swords and slashing through enemies with omens from eons past. It turns out she can't handle a low grade demon sword. Pathetic. So much for greatness, she'll shrivel up and die a welp at this rate.
He strikes out within an instant, and ends a ridiculous life that shouldn't have even gotten to him. Who cares if they should be captured at the end of the mission? They die now, and he hopes they rip out the throats of every single one of them left out and about well before this is over. He walks down the line, carelessly eliminating the problem from the room. He can yell at her when they're home, but fearing death right now will get her killed, he can't yell at her if she's dead!
He watches as Tenten flinches, he watches as she tears up and covers her mouth in fear.
He kills a third with a flick of his wrist, and hears Tenten gasp in pain. This is ridiculous, what did Sakura do to his teammate?
He can't wait any longer. "What are you-" He opens his mouth to start berating her early, screw the mission, he'll take them home if he has to. He can't be the only person here with convictions, they'll die, being team leader sometimes means failing for the team. He'll sneak back with Gai and finish the mission later so the village doesn't suffer for the choice, the enemy will still be here tomorrow.
That's before Sakura moves in. He falls into a combat stance, already ready to disable her and continue his conversation. Trash doesn't matter to him, she's just here because Gai's an asshole. That's before Sakura doesn't go for him at all, her sword goes through the third corpse.
"Can't you tell how much you're hurting her?" Her convictions are strong, but he watches Sakura tremble, he watches her check herself. She knows she's losing it, knows this isn't smart, and yet, she continues. "You're hurting a teammate intentionally to make a point, you're disgusting, the Leaf doesn't need ninja like you in charge." A flick of her wrist later and her blade pulls itself from the chair, ripping apart the victim beneath her. It's much more brutalized and destroyed than his fingers could ever do. She does to that corpse what he dreams of doing to Hinata, and that's saying something disturbing, because even he has to double take sometimes when he wakes up. Hinata has gotten more than a few apologies without knowing why, and here she is just playing out his fantasies casually on a random guy she doesn't know. "So I'm stopping you."
He can see the power course through that weapon. He's wrong, it might be evil, that's absolutely living malice. Its chakra forms a visible skull to him, encapsulating both the sword and Sakura in a layer of darkness that spreads outwards and threatens to devour all. Her eyes glow brighter, her teeth look sharper, her features appear more crazed and haunted. It sucks in the life that was so recently lost, happy for the meal, and it graciously offers out its conceptual hatred to fuel Sakura's own. It doesn't overtake her though, he can see it well, whereas Tenten would likely be completely overcome, Sakura's own feelings meet it halfway. It's like she's holding hands with a possessing demon. She welcomes it, and their feelings meld in a visible layer of dark chakra that encapsulates her perfectly.
She steps towards him with a sword practically flaming, blood scorching the air around it like it's elemental chakra.
"Tenten was right about you, I'll put you in your place and let the Hokage decide what to do about this." Outwardly he has no feelings, he's satisfied to finally have a little understanding of what had his teammate so messed up. He can take that down and show Tenten there's nothing to fear, it's the person that matters, and he's staring at trash with a powerup. Maybe he'll have to smack her around too, kick some sense into his teammate and ask Gai to put her on a mission hold for a bit, but it'll work. He's excited, truly excited.
Sakura palms the hilt of her blade with her second hand, and in an instant she's practically teleported across the room. He spins on his heel, using the extra momentum to match her speed, slamming his palm forward to meet it and disrupt its chakra. With one movement he can prove that weapon meaningless, and knock the bloodlust right out of those red eyes. Sakura's given into a pure desire to kill him, and he can't help but feel jealous that she can wear her desires so openly. On the other hand, how dare she direct those desires towards him, she doesn't know what's going on, she's an outsider getting involved in what's not her business!
His palm doesn't hit the sword.
His palm hits Lee. The boy is in front of him in an instant, lightning speed being used to get in between them before something happens. Did he use a gate? He looks different, how did he move that fast?
He couldn't have, but then how did he know to move and get here? A look outwards shows Gai is already halfway through intercepting them, and moving back into hiding. That has a thousand implications and they all swirl around him.
Lee was told to move, and yet despite his speed, Gai didn't trust him to stop it enough to stay still.
Gai thought this was worth doubting Lee over.
Looking over Lee's shoulder, Neji can see the carnage that was caused just from her sword bouncing off of Lee. The floor is destroyed, he can feel the stain of boiling blood dripping off his cheek, and the girl is on her knees, clutching her sword stabbed into the floor while clearly writhing in pain.
The Byakugan is used to collect data and his genius is used to interpret it. There's so much information around, and he can see it all with a mastery almost unheard of in his clan. The damage to the floor, the angle Lee blocked her attack while carelessly getting in the way of his attack like it didn't matter, the movements he had to do to get here tore tendons and pulled his muscles from their place. The Lee standing in front of him is not unharmed, he'll likely be worse off for weeks because blocking this attack was so important he ripped joints out of socket by force just to move a little bit faster.
It's all clear, that sword would have gone right through his hand and cut him in half.
The power he was using to deal with trash was just nowhere near enough to save his life.
He'd be dead. It's a perfect yet gruesome picture for his divination.
She's not weak.
Which means she's not here to learn how to fight. He'd figured, sending a melee fighter to learn from Team Gai, it was obvious why she was here, but…
"Ah." He mumbles to himself, disabling his Byakugan now that it's clear they're no longer allowed to fight or Gai will get involved. He looks around himself, looking at the blood splattered everywhere with his real eyes, and taking a moment to feel himself. Lee's not stronger than him, if Lee blocked it, he could have blocked it at full power with full intent.
But he underestimated a killing blow, and Lee gave it his all.
He'll respect that for now.
"Perhaps I went a bit far." He'll promise not to report it to keep the peace for now, but he's absolutely reporting it… To the Hokage at least. He needs to know she has a demon sword that's messing with her head this badly, if nothing else. The Chunin in charge of missions can be left in the dark, they're annoying and don't know their place anyway.
