Neji lay in the infirmary with two medics tending to him. They looked up for a moment when Taryn stepped into the room and went to lean against the bed next to Neji, but they didn’t order her to leave. She had permission to walk around Konoha freely and as long as she didn’t break any rules, they saw no reason to not let her stay here. She was, after all, part Hyuga.
Neji however did look at her suspiciously. “What do you want?” he growled.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” Taryn asked, a slight smirk on her lips. Neji turned his head away, an angry look in his eyes. “I was concerned about you,” Taryn said in a friendlier tone, “wounded pride cuts deep.”
“Why?” Neji asked. “Because most people don’t like being wrong I suppose,” Taryn answered confused.
“No,” Neji growled, “why would you care about my pride?”
Taryn shrugged. “Why indeed? I suppose because we are family.” She smirked. “Even though you keep denying it.”
“You…” Neji scoffed, “what do you know? You were never branded with the caged bird. You… with the blood of Suna in your veins… you know nothing about it!”
“Maybe so,” Taryn said, “but you know nothing about me either.”
The door opened and lord Hiashi Hyuga stepped inside. He looked surprised when he noticed Taryn, but she only gave him a blank expression. He turned to Neji instead. “I need to speak with you privately.” The medics bowed and made their leave. Taryn slowly pushed herself away from the bed and cast Neji a last glance before walking to the door. “Taryn,” the voice of Hiashi stopped her, “you can stay.”
Confused, Taryn turned and nodded at him.
Neji worked himself in a sitting position. “What is it sir?”
“I want to tell you the truth about that day.” He sighed as Neji frowned. “That day…” he said, “I fully intended to die.”
“What?! What are you saying?!” Neji yelled, “that day, my father was murdered to act as your double!”
“I understand how you came to that conclusion,” Hiashi calmly said, “but that is not how it happened.”
“Why tell me this now?” Neji asked.
Hiashi looked down. “Because now… I feel like you might finally believe me.” Neji narrowed his eyes as Hiashi told the story. “It was the elder of the clan who suggested to use the Branch House. Your father had already consented to it. I told him that Cloud was after Byakugan, which would be sealed at your father’s death. I told them Cloud would never settle for it. The elders waved it away and claimed that Cloud had only demanded my corpse. They would swap me for my brother, thus honoring their claim. I tried to stop him. I told him he had a son to take care of. I asked him why he would do this for the Main House. He told me that I didn’t understand. He said he still hated the Main House. That he made his choice because of that. Not to protect the Main House, but to protect his brother. He told me to take care of you and to tell you he had died of his own free will, in order to protect you, his brother, the clan and the entire village. He chose to die to gain freedom. He chose to defy his destiny by choosing his own. And that is the truth.”
Taryn stood silently against the wall as the story ended, a frown on her face. Of course she had heard of the event, but she had never given it much thought since her mother’s family already resented her.
“You can’t expect me to believe that!” Neji growled, “it sounds exactly like something the Main House would come up with! Especially after all this time!”
“I knew you would think so,” Hiashi said, “that’s why I waited this long.” Neji snorted. Hiashi closed his eyes. “I wanted to relay my brother’s final words to you. Not as the head of the Main House, but as your father’s brother.” Both Neji and Taryn gasped as Hiashi fell to his knees and bowed deeply to Neji. “Please believe me.”
For a moment Neji was too shocked to speak. Tears ran down his face as he finally did. “Please,” he said, “raise your head.”
He stood up and walked to the window next to Taryn. “There are so many birds in the sky today,” he whispered, “flying free.”
“Yeah,” Taryn whispered. Freedom must be nice indeed. Neji turned to her. “Aren’t your siblings up next?” he asked. Taryn nodded. “You should go watch them then.” Taryn nodded again and walked towards the door. “Hey,” Neji’s voice stopped her. She looked over her shoulder. “I guess I did learn after all,” Neji said.
Taryn walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
From their boot, the Kazekage and the Hokage watched the arena. “The crowd is astir,” the Kazekage noted.
“Indeed, it was a rousing battle,” Sarutobi agreed.
“I believe the excitement is more in anticipation of the next match,” the Kazekage shifted his eyes to Sarutobi, “has he arrived yet?”
Sarutobi sighed. One of his Jounin had just informed him that Sasuke was not here. The match should be forfeit before the crowd would grow impatient.
“What are we going to do?” Kankuro asked, “this really messes up the plan.”
Baki looked concerned. ‘Man, I hope Gaara didn’t kill the boy.’ Their plans depended on this next match.
The Kazekage looked at Sarutobi. “Lord Hokage, I ask you to wait with forfeiting.”
The Konoha Jounin next to the Hokage uttered his protests. “We can not do that. The boy is late. A shinobi who is not punctual is not made out to be a Chuunin.”
The Kazekage turned to him. “Ah, but you see… a lot of rulers and lords have come solely to observe this match. This boy is the last of the Uchiha clan, you should allow him to fight Gaara.”
Sarutobi sighed. He’d rather forfeit the match, but… there was that threat... “Very well,” he said, “we’ll postpone the match and wait for Sasuke.”
“Everyone,” the proctor announced, “there has been a change in the program. One of the contestant for the next match has not arrived yet. The match will be postponed an we will proceed with the next scheduled match.”
There was a lot of mumbling throughout the crowd. The contestants looked at one another too. Shikamaru made a protesting comment when he realized his fight was moved up.
“Well then,” the proctor announced, “the next fight will be between Kankuro and Aburame Shino. Please come down.”
Up the balcony, Kankuro and Temari exchanged concerned looks. This could jeopardize their plan. “I withdraw!” Kankuro called.
Taryn frowned. Kankuro who withdrew? Something was not right. So, it was as she had feared after all?
“Feh,” Temari snorted as she took out her fan. She jumped down the battlefield for her own match.
“At least you seem willing to fight,” the proctor commented. He looked up at Shikamaru who wasn’t planning on moving any time soon.
‘I should just withdraw too,’ the boy thought. Before he could say anything he was pushed over the edge by Naruto.
“Go get her, Shikamaru!” the boy cheered. Shikamaru groaned as he picked himself up from the ground.
Temari was already charging at him.
“Sheesh,” Shikamaru muttered, “this chick really wants to fight.”
Temari raised her fan to hit him with it. The audience gasped, but as the smoke cleared, they saw Shikamaru standing on two kunai daggers he had embedded into the wall.
‘Smart move,’ Taryn appreciated. Temari was going to have a hard time handling him. She smirked. Her sister was a good fighter, but incredibly overconfident.
Down on the battlefield Shikamaru sighed. “I don’t really care if I become Chuunin or not, but I can’t stand the idea of losing to a girl, so I guess I’m in.”
Temari scoffed and launched her windattack at him, but he was gone before it could hit. ‘He’s fast,’ Temari thought approving.
Taryn stared down at the field. The boy didn’t seem eager to fight. She watched as he continued dodging Temari’s windattacks while Temari kept away from any shadow that might be on the field. There was an extend on how far Shikamaru could stretch his shadow and Temari carefully calculated its reach. They were both very intelligent. This could get interesting. But Shikamaru was a real strategist and he could think ten steps ahead.
A look of concentration washed over Temari’s face as she analyzed and anticipated his attacks. She was a good strategist herself. But in the end, Shikamaru was able to immobilize her by using a hole in the ground that had been slammed there in the first battle.
Temari glared at him as he forced her to walk up to him, but to her surprise he sighed. “That’s it,” he said, “I’m done.” When she looked at him confused he shrugged. “I had 200 more moves planned, but truth to be told, in ten seconds I’ll be out of chakra. So I give up.”
The audience gasped, but Taryn smirked.
The proctor shrugged. “The winner is Temari.”
As Temari jumped back up to join her brothers, the crowd grew impatient. They wanted to see the next match. The match between Gaara and Sasuke.
Taryn was anxious too. She was starting to get worried. He had said he would be here. He had left her a note. She activated Byakugan and scanned the area.
“It’s almost time,” Kankuro said to Gaara, “is he really going to come?”
“He’ll come,” Gaara said, “I’m sure of it.”
Taryn sighed relieved as she saw a familiar chakra. Almost immediately a whirlwind of leaves appeared in the center of the arena. When the wind died out, Kakashi and Sasuke stood there, back to back.
Kakashi smiled. “Sorry we’re late.”
“See,” Gaara said in a monstrous voice, “he came.”
Temari and Kankuro glanced at him a little nervous.
“So,” Kakashi said, “can we still participate or did Sasuke get disqualified?”
The proctor sighed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. The match was postponed.” He looked up at the balcony. “Gaara, come down.”
Shikamaru turned to Naruto who had jumped down after the match. “Let’s go back upstairs,” he said, “and let’s just take the stairs this time, okay?”
“Are you still angry that I shoved you?” Naruto asked.
Temari and Kankuro stared at their brother tensed. Gaara’s expression was bloodthirsty and he trembled with excitement.
‘Damn,’ Temari thought, ‘I haven’t seen Gaara this bad in a while.’
“H-Hey…Gaara,” Kankuro said nervously, “d-don’t forget about the pl…”
Temari clasped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t talk to him right now. He’ll kill you.” They watched as Gaara headed for the staircase.
Taryn eyed him warily and walked out to meet him halfway.
“Hey! Come in hurry up!” Naruto yelled at Shikamaru.
The other boy sighed. “No good ever comes from rushing you know.” Suddenly Naruto stopped and looked at the hallway above. “What is it?” Shikamaru asked. He followed Naruto’s gaze.
Gaara came walking down the tunnel. Two grass ninja were casually leaning against the wall. “Halt,” one of them said as Gaara had reached them. “Listen,” he continued, “low-level tournaments like this are ideal for gambling. There are a number of lords who have come just for that reason.”
His comrade smirked. “And so,” he said, “this match… we wan you to lose it.”
Gaara’s eyes flashed and he grinned evilly as sand hurdled out of his gourd. Blood splashed against the wall and the two grass ninja slid to the floor, dead. Without even so much as flinching, Gaara continued down the hall.
Both Naruto and Shikamaru shuddered in terror. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but a hand covered it before he had the chance.
Both boys jumped when they saw Taryn in between them. She was staring after Gaara with a sad expression. When he had rounded the corner she ran after him without even looking at the two trembling Genin. Their legs gave out and they slumped to the ground.
“That could have been us,” Shikamaru gasped, “I’ve never met anyone who killed so automatically.”
Naruto trembled slightly. That girl. She had stepped in again. The way she looked at her little brother…
“Now then,” the proctor stated, “let’s start this match.”
Taryn sighed as she joined the audience again. She hadn’t been able to catch up with Gaara and even if she had, she wasn’t sure what she would have done. It was Shokaku gleaming behind Gaara’s eyes.
She walked past Gai and Lee. The boy was wrapped in bandages and on crutches, but at least he could move around again. She passed Kakashi, who was counting the number of ANBU in the audience. When he noticed her he cast her a smile. She nodded at him, but turned her attention to the arena, a concerned expression on her face. She didn’t like where this was going at all.
Sand crept out of the gourd and Gaara clutched his head. “Please don’t be angry,” he said, “I… gave you bad tasting blood before. I’m sorry… but don’t worry… this time I’m sure it will be really tasty.” He chuckled darkly.
Taryn’s hand trembled on the railing. “Please no,” she whispered.
Kankuro too looked concerned. “The ‘conversation’ has started already,” he said, ”that’s not good.”
“I know,” Temari whispered and she dared a glance at her older sister. Taryn seemed ready to jump down. That couldn’t happen. It would mess up everything.
Down in the arena, Gaara seemed to have settled down. He glared at Sasuke emotionless. “Come,” he said.
Sasuke threw a handful of shuriken in his direction which the sandshield stopped. Sasuke growled and charged at Gaara, but the sand blocked every attack. Gaara himself didn’t move an inch. But Sasuke was fast and somehow he managed to get behind Gaara and punch him. Gaara fell to his knees, a small crack in his sand armor, and glared at Sasuke.
Sasuke scoffed. “Is that your sand armor?” He motioned for Gaara to get up. “Come,” he taunted. Gaara didn’t move and kept glaring. “Fine,” Sasuke said, “then I’ll just come to you.”
He was faster than before and managed to land several hits on Gaara. Sasuke was still speeding up. He was at the same speed now as Lee without his weights. More cracks appeared in Gaara’s sand armor and he wouldn’t be able to contain it much longer, it took a lot of chakra to keep it up.
Taryn tensed when Gaara formed a series of seals she knew all too well. A huge sphere of sand surrounded Gaara, keeping him safely inside. “Oh no,” Taryn whispered.
Kakashi, who stood close enough to hear her, gave a curious look.
Sasuke slammed against the sphere, but couldn’t penetrate it. When he withdrew his hand, blood dripped down.
“Master Kakashi!” Naruto ran up to them with Shikamaru not far behind. “Please sensei, you have to stop this match! If they keep going Sasuke will die!”
“Don’t worry,” Kakashi assured him, “there was a reason we were so late to get here.” He turned to the field and watched Sasuke jump on the wall, forming some handseals. Lightning formed around his hand.
“You taught him chidori,” Taryn hissed through her teeth. She glared at Kakashi.
“Yes. I did,” Kakashi stated calmly. He sighed at the anger in her eyes. Was she jealous?
Taryn turned her back on him and gazed at Sasuke who flashed towards Gaara’s sphere. Behind Gai, Sakura gasped. “What is that move? And that incredible noise?”
“It’s a unique move,” Gai answered, “created by Konoha’s top jutsu master, copy ninja Kakashi. It’s a move reserved for assassination. The secret is in the speed of the thrust and the immense chakra and it results in an unique sound that resembles the crying of a thousand birds. And before today, I knew of only two people that could perform it. It’s called chidori.”
Everyone gasped as Sasuke slammed his fist right through Gaara’s defense. “He did it,” Sakura cheered.
“This is not good,” Taryn muttered.
Gai glared at her. “Your brother not as good as you thought?”
Taryn didn’t even turn around. “You don’t understand,” she said as she kept her eyes on Gaara’s sand.
Not a second later there was a high piercing scream across the field. “AAAHHH! I’m Bleeding!”
Kankuro gasped.
“Don’t tell me,” Temari said, “Gaara’s been wounded?”
Another scream sounded. Sasuke gasped when he was unable to pull back his arm. He pulled vividly. When he retreated there was a claw wrapped around his arm. He was tossed back and the claw retreated.
“What is that?!” Gai gasped.
“Did he completely transform?” Kankuro asked.
“I don’t know,” Temari answered nervously, “It looks like he’s injured. Nothing like that has ever happened before.” ‘What’s going on inside?’ She stared at the sphere.
Even Sasuke stared at it uncertain.
Suddenly the sand dissolved and Gaara stood there clutching a bleeding wound on his arm. He was panting heavily.
Then out of nowhere, feathers started falling from the sky. Taryn stared at them confused while Kakashi and Gai looked around suspiciously. The audience grew sleepy.
“Genjutsu,” Taryn whispered and made a handseal. “Kai release.”
Behind her Kakashi and Gai did the same. As did Sakura. For the rest unfortunately it was too late. They had already fallen asleep.
Up on the balcony with the Hokage, all of hell broke loose. The Kazekage stood up and released a tube which formed a barrier around the platform. Out of nowhere, Orochimaru’s subordinates emerged. The Kazekage grabbed the Hokage and held a kunai at his throat. ANBU ran around the place, trying to capture the criminals.
Down in the arena, Kankuro, Temari and Baki landed beside Gaara. The proctor stepped in front of Sasuke and glared at them.
Baki looked aside. “Gaara, the plan…,” he hissed, but Gaara was still clutching his head.
“Hey,” Temari said concerned.
“What’s wrong?” Kankuro asked.
Gaara whimpered.
“Idiot,” Baki muttered, “I can’t believe he would jeopardize the mission like that.”
“He’s suffering a reaction,” Temari said, “he can’t do it anymore!”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Kankuro asked, “go ahead without him?”
Sasuke gasped.
Baki gritted his teeth. “I’m calling it off,” he said, “you two take Gaara and withdraw.”
“What about you?” Temari asked.
“Just go,” Baki said.
The two siblings grabbed Gaara and jumped over the wall.
Taryn jumped down from the balcony, ignoring Kakashi’s screams, and ran towards Baki.
“And the host of this party would be Orochimaru?” the proctor asked.
Baki smirked. “Who knows?”
“What’s going on?” Sasuke demanded.
“The exam is over,” the proctor said, “you should go after Gaara and the others. Now!” Sasuke disappeared confused.
“I never imagined Sand would betray us,” Sarutobi said, “are you inciting war? Let’s avoid violence and negotiate, lord Kazekage.”
The Kazekage chuckled. “Has old age made you slow? Master Sarutobi?”
The Hokage gasped. “You? Orochimaru…”