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The next morning, Aya and Riku found themselves in a secluded glade on the edge of the city's old forest... an overgrown and forgotten area that Neji had chosen for its isolation.
Aya stood barefoot in the grass, her arms raised and trembling slightly as she tried to mold chakra into the soles of her feet. Beside her, Riku fumbled with hand signs, brow furrowed in frustration.
"This is ridiculous," Riku muttered. "It's like trying to hold water in your hands and shape it."
Neji knelt beside him, placing a guiding hand over his fingers.
"Don't force it. Chakra responds best when you direct it... like a river, not when you try to dam it."
He demonstrated again, the pale blue of his chakra threading visibly between his fingers, forming a flickering ball before dispersing gently.
Aya tried again, this time her concentration more focused. Her feet trembled as the chakra settled, then steadied.
"I did it!" she gasped, managing to stay upright as the flow stabilized but she fell into the water the next second.
"Good but don't be saddened by the failure," Neji said, nodding. He had selected his subordinates after careful consideration of their talents using the Shingan. "You've got a natural aptitude. Chakra control is about understanding your body and energy. Most civilians never awaken to it without years of training."
Riku looked at his hands and then at Aya. "So… we're not just informants anymore, are we?"
"No," Neji replied. "You're becoming part of something dangerous."
--
In the days that followed, Neji taught them foundational techniques... not full jutsu, which were beyond their grasp without years of training... but the basics of stealth, movement, observation, and chakra flow. He helped them unlock their chakra pathways slowly, cautiously, guiding them the way a Jonin might guide green Genin who are oblivious to the new stuff.
Aya proved swift, agile, and perceptive... picking up on terrain, enemy movement, and body language with almost instinctive skill.
Riku, by contrast, was stubborn and analytical. He struggled with physical agility but excelled at memory, codebreaking, and understanding complex systems... perfect for infiltration and sabotage.
One afternoon, while they rested beneath the twisted roots of a great cedar, Neji shared part of his story... not the full truth of being Neji Hyuga reborn, but fragments from the world he knew.
"There was once a village," he said, voice low, "that tried to create peace through unity. Clans that were enemies became allies. But peace built on a knife's edge cannot last forever."
"Are we trying to build peace?" Aya asked.
Neji looked at her thoughtfully. "Maybe not. Or maybe we're just trying to survive long enough to change the path set before us."
Their test came sooner than expected.
A rumor had spread that a warehouse at the edge of the eastern docks had begun moving stock late at night...crates labeled as dried goods, but sealed with wax marked by the red ring.
Neji gave them their assignment:
"Observe the deliveries. Don't interfere. Just record how many crates, what insignias are present, and whether shinobi are guarding the route. If you're caught... run."
That night, Aya and Riku slipped through the alleys like ghosts. Aya took to the rooftops, watching the shadows from above. Riku waited near the supply gate, noting movements and memorizing every face.
At one point, a voice nearly startled them both... a low grunt from a guard stepping out for a smoke. Aya froze on the rooftop as he looked up, squinting suspiciously.
Before he could see her, a pebble bounced in the alley below. The guard turned. Riku had tossed it just in time.
When they returned with their report, Neji reviewed it silently, then finally gave a rare smile.
"You're ready for more," he said. "You've both shown courage, intelligence, discretion and avoided the opponent after realising you can't defeat him."
--
One night, Neji took them to a quiet hill overlooking the city. The stars burned bright overhead, and the sound of wind carried distant music from a celebration below.
"You both need to know what's really happening," he said.
He explained the red ring scrolls: ledgers encrypted and passed between intermediaries in the gambling house, each containing coded lists of purchases... massive orders of explosive tags, shuriken, forged weapons.
"The Hidden Flames is a front," he said. "A shell for something bigger. Someone is building an arsenal."
Aya's brow furrowed. "But who?"
"I believe it's the Uchiha."
Riku's jaw dropped. "The police clan? From Konoha?"
"They are not what they used to be. After years of resentment and being sidelined… it looks like they are preparing for a coup."
Aya shivered. "What about Mugen Company?"
Neji nodded. "They're unknowingly... or perhaps knowingly now... supplying the arms. They think they're making a fortune. They don't realize they're fueling a fire that could burn the entire Leaf Village down."
--
That night, when Aya and Riku had gone to rest, Neji stood alone on the rooftop. His thoughts were troubled.
He remembered Itachi. Remembered the massacre. Remembered the rage and sorrow and confusion.
Could he really let the Uchiha fall again?
He was no Hokage. No council member. Not even a recognized ninja of this timeline. Just a 6-year-old boy, not even stronger than a chunin.
His fists clenched, he had always liked uchiha, at least from screen, it was tobirama's alienation that made them revolt.
"If possible and it doesn't interfere my plans, I don't want them to die," he whispered to the wind. "But how do I save a forest from burning if I am only a spark?"
And yet, within him, a fire stirred. As the city slept beneath him, Neji made his decision.
He would do his part.
--
A/N: It is not rare to find a civilian who is good at chakra control.