Okay, this will be a little weird. For the real Neji, his name will be normal. But the AU will be underlined for your understanding. Enjoy the confusion!! XD
---
ANBU members were scattered everywhere, just as Shino and Shikamaru had stated.
Both Neji and Hinata stood in waiting, their Byakugan already activated. Once they got a signal from Shikamaru, they would start fighting.
All of them.
Even as they stood in waiting, Sakura, Choji, Lee, everyone was waiting.
Neji knew as well as everyone else that when they struck, they had to strike hard and fast, but not to claim any lives in the process.
His leg shook in anticipation only for a gentle hand to be placed on it.
"Easy Neji," Hinata whispered, "It's just about time. Keep your focus."
Neji nodded, turning to look out in the bushes.
Suddenly, several shadow hands grabbed onto two ANBU members, pulling them into the bushes without making a sound.
Neji and Hinata made no hesitance in jumping out; taking down several members before they even had time to react and moving on to others, knocking them out by the back of their heads and moving in the dark.
For those not being attacked by the Hyuga, they were being put to a temporary sleep from Shino's "stink" bugs.
Shikamaru's shadows moved about in the dark, dragging the members into the dark and knocking them out there.
It didn't take them long to knock the members out and tie them up.
Neji sighed and glanced around. "It looks like that was all of them. Shall we wait for the others?"
"That would be wise," Shino said, "After all, we can't risk one of them waking up."
Neji smirked, glancing at Shikamaru as he walked out of the darkness. "It shouldn't take them long, newcomer Neji," Shikamaru said, shrugging with a sly smile. "After all, we are the best at what we do."
~
Ino "danced" around in the ANBU body she placed herself in, taking down surprised members before they can react.
Tenten continued to set free gas bombs, and once they exploded, they ANBU members fell down like domino pieces.
Kiba watched her back, doing double K.O.s with Akamaru as they pounced from one member to another.
Sai, with a swipe of his paintbrush, sent ink lions and tigers to pounce on members.
With a grunt, Tenten set several kunai flying, landing in a circle and surrounding four ANBU before exploding.
With soft groans, they all fell face down. An ink snake came flying at them, tying them up together tightly.
Ino took out the last few members and returned to her body not long after.
Before the member could realize what happened, Kiba chopped the back of his neck, causing him to groan and pass out.
Sai helped Ino up to her glee and she said, "Thank you, Sai-Kun." He said nothing and simply had an Ink gorilla gather the members before tying them up as well.
Tenten wiped her forehead a little and said, "We need to do this more often. I love feeling a rush."
Kiba snorted. "Unless it has to do with running."
Tenten rolled her eyes and said, "I think Neji and the others are done over there. Knowing Naruto and them, they're probably making a big mess over there. Should we help or stay back?"
"It might be best if we stay back," Sai said, looking at Ino in slight confusion as she gushed over him.
Kiba chuckled and said, "I'm sure Naruto and Lee are having the time of their lives."
Tenten rolled their eyes. "They had better stay focused and keep their voices down. This was supposed to be kind of covert."
Ino giggled, clinging to Sai's arm as she said, "They're going to make soo much noise." Sai smiled awkwardly, not completely sure if it was safe or not to push away a girl with a partial headache.
~
"SHANNARO!!!"
Sakura's punches rained fury on the unsuspecting ANBU members, catching them off guard and sending them flying.
As a few looked to see where she was, Lee swung from an upper branching, landing on the three and sending them straight to sleep. "Sakura-Chan, your punches are lovely as ever!!"
Naruto gave her a thumb up before knocking out seven with his clones. "Well done, Sakura-Chan!!"
She growled, giving them death glares as they shrunk. "Be quiet, keep it down; can't you two understand?!"
Choji held back a laugh as he suddenly rolled like a ball, tossing several into the air for Lee and Sakura to slam down hard enough to knock them out.
Naruto set free at least ten more clones to take out the rest of the members; a blur of orange, blonde, and black going everywhere.
By the time he was finished, trees had fallen over, and the ground was in disarray.
Sakura sighed and placed a hand on her hip. "Honestly, we could've been a little neater."
Naruto grinned. "Hey, the Day Dreamer wanted us to make a big bang, and we did. Hopefully it doesn't send off the wrong message."
"Whatever the case, we did what we had to, and hopefully our comrades will be meeting with us soon!" Lee grinned widely.
Sakura deadpanned. "Lee, we have to take the members back to the others."
Lee's grin faded a little as a drop of sweat trickled down his face.
Choji, who already had eight members over his shoulders, said, "Can we hurry please? These guys will eventually become heavy, ya know."
~
Sai swopped down with at least five large ink hawks. Once the ink disappeared, the passed out members fell next to their comrades.
Tenten sighed and said, "That was almost too easy. I'm starting to believe maybe Tsunade might've really seen this coming."
Shikamaru said, "It really doesn't surprise me if she did. But what's done is done. Is everyone accounted for?"
Kiba, Shino, and Hinata nodded a little, while Ino and Choji gave small grins.
Lee and Naruto said, "Here!!"
Sakura shook her head. "You guys really didn't have to say that out loud."
Neji shook his head, watching them with an amused smile. Whether he was in his own home or where he was now, Neji found himself surrounded by friends.
By family.
Tenten noticed how happy Neji looked and almost smiled.
However, she knew the clock was ticking. The ANBU members wouldn't stay asleep forever.
Tenten said, "If we're going to go, then now's the time."
Neji nodded and looked at Lee, who said, "Let's go, my blossoming comrades!!"
Naruto said, "Yush!!" Before anyone could stop them, Lee and Naruto took off. Tenten and
Sakura deadpanned. "Follow us in about five minutes," Sakura said, taking off shortly after.
Tenten shook her head and followed suit.
Neji almost chuckled as he took off into the trees, catching up to Lee.
Naruto lagged behind to let Neji and Tenten take the lead, and Neji jumped out of the trees, running ahead of Tenten.
'Almost there,' Neji thought excitedly, 'almost there! We can figure this out!'
"Hold it!" A familiar voice rang out, causing them to skid to a stop.
Two figures stood before them, seemingly in a stance.
However, one of the figures relaxed a little.
Neji activated his Byakugan and said, "Reveal yourselves- Wait... Unbelievable..."
"That voice... I should've known."
Tenten blinked in surprise at the two voices that sounded the same, but obviously belonged to completely two different people.
Very different people.
---
Remember, AU Neji is UNDERLINED. Just so you remember. XDD
---
The two figures stepped into the light, revealing themselves to be Menma and Neji.
Naruto's jaw almost dropped all the while Sakura had tensed up. "M-Menma!!"
"The one and only," he replied, stepping forward.
Neji looked at himself, really looked at himself, and almost chuckled.
Tenten took a few steps forward, unable to close her mouth.
Both of them were in front of her. Neji, her Neji, was a mere twenty feet from her.
Without giving it a second thought, she tackled him, laughing as tears came to her eyes.
This caught both Hyuga off guard, but Neji didn't waste time in wrapping his arms around her tightly, burying his face in her hair as they clumsily stood up awkwardly.
Tenten cried softly, happily, as she wrapped her arms around him. "Neji, you idiot. Welcome back."
Neji rubbed the back of her head, shushing her softly. "It's alright Tenten. I'm here, I'm so sorry. It's okay now."
Neji watched them, feeling a little envious and sad deep down.
He figured that Tenten would never hug him in that way.
Menma suddenly placed his hand on Neji's shoulder, causing him to turn around.
Menma smiled softly as he said, "Hey, Neji. Glad to see you're still breathing."
Neji smiled a little in response and said, "Nice to see you again, Menma."
"You know," Menma said, dropping his hand, "Everyone is worried about you over there."
His eyes widened some. Really?"
Menma nodded. "And I daresay that Tenten is worrying most of all. And I wouldn't think it's because of the Neji standing before you."
Neji turned towards the two who were still embracing each other. He cracked a smile. "Is that so?"
Menma smiled softly. "It is so."
Neji smiled wider than before, trying not to hope for the best but being unable to help himself.
'She misses me... Kami is working wonders up there.'
As Neji and Tenten broke from their embrace, Menma walked to Naruto and said, "It looks like our paths have crossed once again, only under better circumstances."
Naruto nodded, watching him warily.
Menma chuckled softly. "No need to worry, brat, I won't get into a fight with you this time. My wants are the same as yours."
Naruto scoffed and said, "Oh yes, I'm sure they are."
Sakura, feeling irritated, opened her mouth to say something, but Lee cried out and tackled both his teammates without warning. "Oh Neji, how we've missed you so!!"
Neji forced a smile. "Thank you Lee," he said tightly, "now if you could, please let us go. I was about to.. Oh nevermind."
Tenten laughed and hugged both her teammates tightly. After a moment, she let them go and wiped her eyes. "I'm so glad you made it over safely, Neji. How did you both cross over?"
Neji smiled a bit. "We found something out about that tree. As it turns out, there's a pulse coming from it. Why, I don't know."
"But what we do know is that someone is behind it being there." Menma added in. "There's a chakra wall keeping us from just randomly crossing over. I don't know what it was placed there for or why we pass out every time we pass, but we can't linger on that."
Neji said, "So you both just came over without a switch? All it took was getting close?"
Neji nodded. "As crazy as it sounds, yes."
Sakura said, "That can't be anymore crazy than two Nejis standing before me."
Neji nodded and said, "Hn. Speaking of which."
Neji walked over to his look alike and seconds later, punched him hard. Neji stumbled back, staring at him in shock.
Neji glared at him as he said, "That's for hurting one Tenten and kissing the other."
Neji stared at him for a moment before smirking. "I deserved that. However, I'd look behind you if I were you."
Neji turned around in slight confusion only to get slapped across the face.
Tenten huffed, watching as Neji rubbed his cheek. "That's what you get for kissing the other me and ignoring all my attempts to get you to go out with me."
Neji whistled. "Damn, what a mouthful." Tenten partially glared at him. "I should smack you too, but I won't."
Neji shut his mouth, but he couldn't keep from smiling.
Menma sighed and shook his head. "Moving on... Naruto, what were you all planning?"
Naruto said, "We were going to investigate the area. Don't ask why, we just had a hunch that something wasn't right. We tried to come here sooner, but Lady Tsunade kind of made that a difficult task in itself. Where is everyone else?"
"Doing the same as what your comrades are doing; waiting for the right time to appear." Menma said, looking behind his back. "Let us wait for your comrades to show up, and then I suggest we head back to the tree. This is best discussed together."
Sakura and Naruto nodded, all the while Lee had started comparing the two Nejis, to their irritation.
Tenten giggled and did all she could not to join in. They were, of course, very different.
~
Hinata tapped her foot in irritation, becoming impatient. "It's been long enough. I say we should cross."
"No," Choji said, "Trust that they'll return, hopefully with help."
Hinata turned to glare at him but her glare softened when she noticed Tenten looking down, eyes filled with worry and uneasiness.
Hinata placed her hand on Tenten's shoulder and said, "Don't worry too much Tenten, I'm sure they'll be alright."
Tenten looked at her and smiled softly. "Of course. I won't worry myself silly."
"That's right, Tenten," Lee said happily, "they'll be back before you know it!"
"And hopefully with the Neji we know and care about," Sakura added in with a giggle.
Tenten sighed softly. "Yeah, hopefully."
The other shinobi nodded in agreement.
A sudden shifting in the trees ahead of them caused everyone to go deathly quiet. The rustling got louder, and soon, the sound of hands clapping roughly filled the air.
"Neji.. Neji's fighting someone?" Ino whispered, paling some.
Hinata activated her Byakugan to spot the noise, only to gasp.
"Neji... Both of them; they're fighting!!"
"What?!" Choji shouted, stepping forward. "I knew that they didn't care for each other all that well, but this is absurd!"
"Neji!!" Shikamaru hollered out, "We need their help, not their fists!!"
Tenten sweatdropped as the clapping got louder and closer. "N-neji!! Please, stop fighting!!"
But no one responded. Soon, Neji, whichever Neji it may have been, shouted in what sounded like extreme pain.
"Neji!!" Tenten didn't hesitate to run towards the chakra barrier.
"Tenten!!" Hinata shouted, running to reach her. "Stop it; you don't know-!!"
She didn't get enough time to finish, as the moment Tenten slammed into the barrier, her body dispersed into particles, and then nothing; the barrier crackling in lightning.
"TENTEN!!" Lee screamed out, tears building in his eyes.
Unfortunately, Tenten didn't hear his scream, nor see the tears in his eyes.
She was somewhere else.
Somewhere where nothing existed.
Her sight blurred as a terrible pain pulsated in her body. "N-Neji... Somebody.. Help..."
She had collapsed on a hard surface, her body twitching slightly. "Neji... Please.."
"Do not worry, Tenten. Your pain will end soon."
A smile appeared on Tenten's pained face, not realizing the cruel smile appearing on an imposter's face as he approached her.
~
Oh shit, Tenten OPEN YOUR EYES!!
No? Okay *Evil Grin*
Until the next Update!
~ Nimo #IFanonNotCanon
P.S.: If you all still got confused with which Neji is which, then ya need help. XD