"Sshh, shut up you idiot or you're going to wake her up." I hear my brother's voice as I start to wake up. I notice I'm in a bed, but it's not mine. I peak my eyes open, adjusting to the bright room. I look around and see that I'm in the hospital. I glance to my right and see a window, and to my left I see another bed with my brother in it
"Nii-san." I say quietly, my throat hurting. I cough a few times, and someone hands me a glass a water. I look up from the hand and see it's Lee. I sit up and accept the drink, feeling every muscle in my body screaming at me for the action. "What happened?"
"I will fill you in." Lee tells me, "Everyone came back from the mission with various injuries. You had multiple minor fractures in your arms and legs, likely from our fight with Kimimaru, as I had the same wounds. Choji ate two special Akimichi food tablets, and dangerously depleted his chakra stores. However, had he eaten the third pill, it could have been fatal. Shino aided greatly in the defeat of Jirobo of the Sound, before moving on to catch up to you and Neji. He remained with the wounded Neji, who you already know got pierced once with an arrow, and a minor cut on his leg that is already healed. Shikamaru broke only a finger as he was aided by Temari of the Sand village, and has been waiting for you and Choji to wake up. Kiba suffered the greatest injuries of the group, along with Akamaru. They were close to being in critical, but they are safely recovering right now, though it will take time for their wounds to heal. They were aided by Kankuro of the Sand. You and Naruto came back unconscious, though Naruto woke up yesterday. You have been out for two days now due to extreme chakra use and fatigue, which makes sense as you were in the most fights and used multiple advanced techniques multiple times in one day, which is truly remarkable." Lee complimented after giving me a full update.
"So everyone made it back ok then? You said Kiba was a close call, but he's ok, and everyone else is too... Thank god." I sigh out in relief. I changed their fates. No one almost died today. I made another difference, along with seeing Sasuke. I hope he listens to my words.
"Everyone made it back... But Sasuke still got away." He tells me sadly. "The mission was a failure."
"Perhaps." I say quietly and sadly, but didn't elaborate. I listen to Lee tell us about the fight with Kimimaru after I left, and how he reconciled with Gaara.
"You're awake." I hear from the door. I glance over and smile at Shikamaru as he walks over to me. "Thank god, you slept for forever, troublesome woman."
"Had to catch up on my beauty sleep." I joke tiredly.
"Not that you needed any." I hear from the door behind him, and look over and see it was Kankuro, who came in with his siblings. "Glad to see you awake, you're the last one. Then again, you were at nearly every fight. I just got the bad luck to not be at one of yours." He jests with a bit of flirtation, and I awkwardly chuckle. I notice Neji glaring at him.
"Better luck next time." I say politely, then turn to his siblings, "Thank you all for your help. I'm glad we were on the same side this time."
"I agree. You were impressive in your fight, same as the exams." Gaara says quietly and I'm surprised he did. His siblings look surprised as well.
"Thank you. Maybe someday we can spar, or else just fight side by side some time." I offer up with a smile. I really do wonder how I would do against him. I turn to Temari next, "I also want to spar with you, as a fellow fan wielder. Could be fun. Or massively destructive, either way, sounds like a good time." I joke.
"Bring it on anytime, Hyuga." She smirks at me. The siblings stay a little longer before it's time for them to go home.
Guy Sensei returns from his mission he was on and checks in on all of us. "What's this? I leave and one of you is injured in the hospital, I come back and you switch places? Team bonding without me, huh?!"
"Well, we are twins, had to do everything together, ya know? And Lee here was our trend setter." I joke, and we all laugh.
Kakashi and Tsunade make a trip each to visit us as well, those visits were a little less fun. Tsunade got down to business about me having to write a report about the mission. Kakashi just gave me a look that says he somehow knows I'm lying about Sasuke. It's getting harder to hide the truth while still changing people's fates.
As I sit there and consider if I should tell someone my full truth, my mind first goes to Neji. But as I look at him, resting peacefully in the bed next to me, I'm too scared about how he will react. I've been lying to him our entire lives, I don't want to risk losing my best friend and brother over it. No, I won't tell him ever, but maybe there is someone else I can tell, someone who I won't mind if they look at me differently. I'll eventually need help to prevent certain events, because clearly I'm not strong enough alone to prevent everything.
Naruto eventually comes and visits me, and that was an interesting talk to have.
"I gave him the scroll, ya know. Before the fight. I told him you needed him to read it. He looked at it like it was a gift. I could see it, in his eyes, that was the only moment he showed regret. I think... I think if you had gone, and not me, he would have come back." Naruto tells me sadly. "He never talked about anything personal, ever, but he sometimes mentioned you while on missions, and it was always something positive. He was so mad at himself both times he missed your fights during the exams. When we started our team together, he would always go to the same training site, every week, at the same time. When I asked him one day, he would say he was waiting for someone important."
"Naruto... He went every week?" I ask, feeling bad. I went months without having time to go because of missions or training. "I was so busy back then... maybe if I had made more time..."
"Nah, he was never mad. He never lost hope. When he and I fought at the Valley, he said that his eyes would only activate by killing his closest friend. But he didn't kill me. So for that, I'm glad you didn't go, because I think you are his closest friend, and that's why he didn't kill me. You connect with him much more than I ever could." He says sadly.
I nudge his shoulder gently, mindful of both our injuries, "Yet you were the one he faced in that Valley. You mean a great dealt to Sasuke, you're like a brother, a kindred spirit. I'm sure he got stronger from that fight, just as you did. Besides, I truly believe he'll be back one day. He might need me to throw a knife at him, but he'll be back to annoying us here in no time." I say confidently with a smile, and he matches it in return.
"You're so good at making the others feel better." Neji says after Naruto leaves, "But Sasuke was your oldest and best friend. You must be hurting the worst not having gotten there in time."
I debate, then turn and give him a look. I pass a bunch of things to him, things that only he could read in me. He understood not to say it out loud, that we might be being watched, so we spoke in hand signals.
'You weren't too late, were you?' I see him ask me.
'No, I wasn't. I made it to him in time, and I let him go.' I reply in code, a mournful expression on my face as I feel the sadness creeping in.
'Why?' he asks me desperately with his eyes.
I sigh, 'I placed my trust in my friend. He has his own mission, and I won't stand in his way. I merely helped point him in a better direction.'
"And now you're sad. You had to let him go." Neji says quietly, and I reach up and notice I have a tear running down my face. He gets gingerly out of bed, and makes his way over to mine slowly. He gets into my bed as I shuffle to the side, and he places his arms around me as I cried gently into his chest, keeping my sobs quiet.
Yes, I lost my friend today. No amount of story knowledge that he will come back will outweigh the knowledge that he is lost and angry and with Orochimaru. And to know he used to wait for me, every week, always hoping I was there. I've been ignorant of his feelings as well. I don't know how to feel about that one just yet, so I shelve it for when he's back home and an adult.
Neji and I fall asleep like that, together in the bed, arms wrapped around one another, safe and secure in our twins arms.
~ time skip, 3 months ~
Naruto is leaving today with Jiraiya. He will be gone for two and half years, getting some training in with the Sannin while researching the Akatsuki. He made his way around the village, saying goodbye to his friends. When he visited me and Neji, I gave him a happy send off, and wished him well.
Neji started training with Sensei to use fire release jutsu's, while I began to master my Flying Thunder God technique, which I renamed to Flying Death God, since it's similar, but different that the Lord Second's technique, plus because I use the Shinigami marker. Mine is much more limited because I am not a traditional sensory ninja, but when in combination with the Byakugan, it is quite efficient and useful.
Since I am a Chuunin now, I technically am no longer a member of Team Guy. However, we still often team up on missions. Over the last three months, I have gone on missions with an assortment of other genin, often acting as the team leader. A memorable one was when I lead a mission with Neji and Naruto to defeat cursed soldiers. For me, it was a strange encounter with another soul. Saki, the lord of the land, died while we were there, but his soul remained. His soul immediately somehow saw what I was, a resurrection. He watched how close I was to my twin, and begged me to help save and guide his own sister, who was focused on revenge. Kakashi was also on this mission, and we got to bond a little bit.
Another interesting mission was with my regular teammates, but Guy couldn't join so I lead that mission, and Naruto joined us. Lee became obsessed over some spicy curry dish, and there was a crazy swordsman dude burying people alive. He was a lightning user, which I was very strong against, so it wasn't much of a challenge for me, just mentally exhausting.
Neji and I spent a lot of time when available on our combined Air-Wall technique, which we renamed Twin Air Vacuum technique. As he is learning fire release moves easily, we started to add it into the attack along with my wind, but that will take a while to master.
~ time skip, 2-3 months ~
Neji and Lee went to take the next Chuunin Exams, along with an extra teammate who needed a team. It was held in the Land of Stone, so they along with Sensei went to that land without me. I wasn't allowed to join them, instead handling solo missions or leading easy ones with any remaining genin. When they returned a month later, I was so thankful they were alright. They had both made it to Chuunin this exam, so did Shino and Kiba. The others went, but didn't make it to the finals. They will try again another time.
I began to train to use water release techniques, since that turned out to be my second nature. It wasn't as natural feeling as wind, but it was very useful to have. I even got impulsive and bought the scythe weapon I saw years ago with Sasuke in the weapons store. While I was getting it, I saw the same lightning sword from that day. I bought it as well. I got it for Sasuke, and I'll try to find a way to get it to him.
I had taken to spending my down time doing some research. I have a couple of years to find out more, but I want to research everything I can about the reanimation jutsu. I need to have plans and counterplans ready for the war. I know I can't prevent it, since it's really already in effect with the Akatsuki.