Chapter 13: Who Has It?
As everyone was laughing and talking, Tenten suddenly waved toward the training ground entrance.
"Neji! Over here!"
Neji Hyuga walked over slowly in his training uniform, with Hinata Hyuga following beside him.
"Hinata!" Kiba yelled, waving.
Hinata, her head down, walked over quickly. She almost tripped when she heard her name.
She stood next to Naruto, her face red, wringing her fingers anxiously. "G-Good morning, everyone..."
"Hinata!" Naruto grinned. "You look great today!"
Hinata's face whooshed bright red all the way to the tips of her ears. Steam looked like it was about to pour from the top of her head.
She was too flustered to speak and could only nod frantically.
"Naruto, you idiot..." Sasuke "Hn'd" coldly, his gaze sweeping between Hinata and Naruto.
Neji glanced at Tenten indifferently, then his gaze landed on Hinata's red ears. "Watch where you're walking. If you trip again, you'll disgrace the Hyuga name."
Hinata's body tensed. She lowered her head even further and whispered, "Y-Yes, Neji-niisan..."
"Hinata, don't listen to him. This guy's just a heartless bully." Ino walked over, naturally linking her arm with Hinata's, and shot a glare at Neji.
"And you, Neji. What kind of way is that to talk?"
"Who are you? This is a Hyuga family matter. It's not for an outsider to interfere with."
Seeing Neji's attitude, Ino flared up. "I'm Ino Yamanaka, and I'm Hinata's classmate now! Even if it is a Hyuga matter, I'm not going to stand by and watch you talk to her like that!"
"Classmate? Just a bunch of strangers thrown together. 'Classmate' is the most useless thing in the world."
"You...!" Ino's cheeks flushed with anger. Just as she was about to retort, Hinata gently tugged on her sleeve.
Hinata shook her head, whispering, "Ino... please... don't fight. Neji-niisan doesn't mean any harm..."
"You call that 'no harm'?" Ino got even angrier seeing Hinata's distressed look. "He's the one who went too far!"
Kiba, standing nearby, couldn't help but chime in. "Yeah, seriously, Neji! Hinata already gets nervous easily. Will it kill you to say one less mean thing? Besides, we're all in the same squad now. You can't just keep throwing the 'Hyuga family' name around, can you?"
Akamaru barked in agreement, baring his teeth at Neji.
"And who are you?" Neji asked again.
"Me? You don't even know who I am?"
Neji's expression darkened. Just as he was about to speak, Tenten quickly squeezed between them, forcing a smile. "Alright, alright, it's a misunderstanding! Neji is just very blunt; he doesn't mean to be harsh. Ino, don't be angry, either. Training is about to start. Let's not give the teachers a bad show!"
Lee nodded along, even patting Neji on the shoulder. "Neji-kun! Youth is about getting along with your comrades! See? Everyone is just looking out for Hinata-kun. We must understand one another!"
Shikamaru watched this all unfold from the side, silently making a note: Neji doesn't have his memories.
In his mind, the Neji after the Chunin Exams had changed. He'd become much easier to be around.
That Neji, while still carrying the pride of the Hyuga, had a much softer gaze.
He no longer had "destiny" on the tip of his tongue, and he wouldn't treat Hinata with that strict, almost cruel, demeanor.
Shikamaru even remembered, after the Chunin Exams, he'd accidentally stumbled upon Neji in a training ground, teaching Hinata the basic forms of the Gentle Fist. There was no impatient yelling, only occasional pointers. When Hinata messed up a move and fell, he'd even offered a hand to help her up.
But the Neji in front of him was clearly still stuck in the "bound by fate" phase. He still held the rift between the main and branch families against Hinata and was instinctively wary of kindness from strangers.
He glanced at Neji, who was still silently clashing with Ino, and let out a soft sigh. "What a drag. I thought this would be a little easier, but this whole situation is even more of a mess than I imagined."
Chouji looked at Shikamaru, confused. "Shikamaru, what are you muttering about? Do you also think Neji is being too mean?"
"Something like that," Shikamaru answered vaguely, his mind calculating just how many people here had memories of the future.
Naruto, seeing the stalemate, scratched his head. He walked over to Hinata and grinned. "Don't worry, Hinata! If Neji gives you a hard time again, I'll stick up for you!"
At his words, Hinata's face whooshed red again, all the way to her ears. "Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun..." she stammered.
Sasuke, watching from the side, grew annoyed. He "Hn'd" coldly, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and turned to leave. "Boring."
"Hey? Sasuke, where are you going?" Naruto called out.
Sasuke didn't turn back, just left a single sentence hanging in the air. "Finding somewhere quiet, so I don't get annoyed by certain idiots."
Naruto instantly bristled. "Hey! Who are you calling an idiot!"
He was about to chase after him but was pulled back by Tenten. "Naruto, don't! The teachers will be here any minute. If you run off, you'll definitely be punished!"
The scene devolved into chaos again. Only Shino squatted a short distance away, quietly observing the bugs on his sleeve, as if the argument had nothing to do with him.
"Hey, hey, look over there," Kiba suddenly said, pointing to the edge of the training ground.
Sakura Haruno was standing alone under the shade of a tree, her pink hair striking in the morning light.
She was biting her lip, her gaze fixed on Sasuke's retreating figure with a complex expression.
The strange thing was, Sakura, who was usually so enthusiastic about Sasuke, was keeping her distance.
"Great. Add one more to the list," Shikamaru looked up at the sky, feeling completely drained. "This is getting more and more complicated."
Shikamaru stared at the sky, almost too tired to even sigh.
He thought he was at least getting a handle on the situation, but now Sakura was acting weird, too.
According to her old personality, if Sasuke took three steps, she'd follow for two. Forget Sasuke walking away—even if he was just standing still, she'd find an excuse to run over and offer him water or a towel. Why was she like this now, hiding in the shade, only daring to watch from afar, with an indecision in her eyes he couldn't quite read?
"How come Sakura isn't going over there?" Chouji noticed too, mumbling around a piece of jerky. "Doesn't she usually follow Sasuke everywhere?"
"Who knows." Shikamaru pulled his gaze back. "Maybe she had a sudden change of heart. Or maybe..."
He paused, not saying his real suspicion: Or maybe she has her memories, too. There was no proof, and saying it out loud would just be more troublesome.
As for Chouji... he'd confirmed it yesterday. Chouji was back, too. And so was Ino.
It was just that the two of them seemed to have decided "less trouble is better" and had a silent agreement not to pierce that veil, to just pretend they were still the "present" versions of themselves.
"Maybe she just thinks following Sasuke all the time is too obvious," Shikamaru said, going along with Chouji's line of thought, deliberately steering the conversation to something trivial. "After all, we're all in the same squad now. It'd be weird to just stare at one person all the time."
Chouji nodded, as if he sort of understood, and took another big bite of jerky. "That's true. But... if Sakura isn't following Sasuke, it just feels like something's missing."
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