Genius Hyuga Twins

Chapter 14: Neji's Fate

A month passed relatively quickly. Neji and I both practiced our moves relentlessly, advancing the range of our sight and the efficiency of our technique. My game plan is to use my wind style to defeat the bugs, so I've been practicing with the fans in the forest, rapidly killing any bugs I see and focusing on precision with my wind. I ran into Kiba one day while practicing, and picked his brain a bit over Aburame clan members and how they fight. He agreed with me, they are creepy but formidable foes, and he helped point out some weaknesses. Since the bugs feed off the owners chakra, the host ninja only have a limited amount of stamina. As much as I don't want to draw out a fight with Shirotsu, it's not a bad plan to have a longer fight because I will win in stamina over a bug user.

Guy helped set up some good training for us, and stopped in when he could, but we could see his focus was on Lee. Neji and I went to see him often in the hospital. Lee's really depressed, but I urged him to keep a strong outlook, and to not give up just yet. He got some crutches by the end of the month, and has been able to move around slightly on his own, which has made him feel better. He got busted multiple times for training though, so he has to be watched like a hawk.

I checked in with Asuma a couple of times too for some pointers on techniques. He was fascinated about my fans since he saw me use them briefly in the preliminaries, and I gave him a private demonstration on what I can do with them so far. He had a few good idea's to add in, and also an extra one he thought of for my bow. I mentioned since the stadium will be larger, I might be able to use the bow during the match, and he worked with me to create a scatter shot type of attack in case my opponents make clones. He couldn't train me much since he was punishing his own team for not making it, or in Shikamaru's case for not trying harder even though he did make it.

I ran into Sasuke once the day after he was admitted to the hospital. He was just about to escape from his room when I had entered, and I made fun of him for it. I'm still not sure if Kabuto tried to kill him again, but I like to think he didn't, at least not that day. I gave Sasuke a quick rundown of all his potential opponents, minus my twin of course. He gave the same arrogant line that Neji had, saying he was 'sorry' for how he was about to destroy my brother. I just laughed lightly at him, whatever helps motivate him to train. I was surprised by how much he was talking when I visited, I figured he would be his usually broody self, but he genuinely wanted to know about the other contestants, even mine. He said he was sorry for missing my fight against Kabuto, that he would have liked to see me go all out on someone. He promised to see my fights during the finals, but I knew he would miss them.

Neji and I had a little bit of free time here and there, since our team wasn't going on any missions anymore with Lee injured and with us training. We reached out to Guy, wanted to broaden our horizons a bit, and he introduced us, in 'Guy fashion', to Kurenai. She spent a couple of days going over genjutsu basics with us since neither of us use it particularly often. Our Byakugan can counter and see through basic level genjutsu, and even some moderately advanced, but it wouldn't work against a strong Sharingan or an auditory based genjutsu. We practiced how to identify and release ourselves from different types with her, though visual was her strength. It was good for us to learn, and since her team is also not going on missions because of Hinata's injuries, she had the free time. Shino is training with his father, so she really just had Kiba to train. He also gave some good pointer about using scent to get out of a genjutsu, which while natural for him, is something Neji and I would have to train to enhance.

I started to take night time strolls or night training sessions once it got closer to the exam. I knew that Hayate would die soon, the same night as Dosu, I just didn't know where or when, but had a feeling it had to do with the full moon. I still hadn't remembered who killed him in the story. I've seen Gaara around the village, he sticks out pretty easily, and he seems to have a nice hatred/obsession growing for me as well. I smile at him every time I see him though, because he's just so adorable. When it was two nights before the third test, I was out training near Gaara's hotel at night. It was dual purpose, I got some training in that improved my new special wind attack, and I also got to watch Dosu die. Nothing personal against him, I just needed the cue.