Chapter 12: 12. Conversations at The Hospital

Inside a particular hospital room, located on the top floor, a young teenager was gazing outside the window. It was still midday outside, and the sun was shining dazzlingly. He gazed outside, to the nearby high trees, and many different kinds of birds coming and going, roaming freely outside.

Rock Lee and Tenten surprisingly already left somewhere a little while ago. During their conversation, he found both of them behaving somewhat weirdly, and as if there was a lot on their minds as well. But by the end of it, both of them seemed to reach some kind of conclusion already.

He should be also leaving this Hospital soon, the nurses were giving him some final medical tests. As he gazed melancholically at those flying birds, he imagined himself being so free one day as well. He also thought about many different plans, that are crucial for his success, and his life in the future. But just then, he heard a few unfamiliar voices coming, from the outside, toward his room.

"Kakashi-sensei, are we finally there? Is it this Neji guy's room!?", A blonde-haired Naruto Uzumaki exclaimed exuberantly and a little impatiently all of a sudden. Beside him was Sasuke, who clenched his fists a little, and Sakura too who looked curious. Kakashi told Naruto to shut up a little and then he looked as Might Guy fiercely kicked off the door of Neji's room and vigorously stormed in.

However, in the next moment, they were even more shocked. A previously fierce-looking Might Guy suddenly broke in and started comically crying beside Neji's bed while yelling his student's name.

Even Neji had to forget about his strange and unexpected other visitors for a while, as he sweat-dropped a little from the sight in front, and then he stood up a little to lift the crying Guy up while saying annoyedly, "Alright, Guy-sensei, you previously said yourself that it isn't nothing serious..."

However, suddenly, everyone in the room, had their mouths open wide too, from the shock, together with their previously comically opened eyes. It turned out, that while Neji was lifting Might Guy up, he suddenly got sucker punched so hard, that he flew to the nearby wall, which now formed many cracks on it, from the impact, nearly breaking apart. Even Kakashi was flabbergasted.

"You little bastard, when and how did you learn the Eight Inner Gates technique? And why didn't you inform me, your sensei, do you know how dangerous it is to use!?", Might Guy suddenly stopped crying comically and then turned serious, changing his previous demeanor in an instant.

Neji slowly stood up from the cracks in the wall, fixing his hurt jaw with his Gente Fist style a little. He was quite skilled in acupuncture, and chiropractics, in this life. He could quite easily dodge Guy's upcoming punch, thanks to his advanced precognition ability, but there was no point in doing that. He knew Guy did that out of concern for him, and that he should let him vent out a little after all.

"Calm down, Guy-sensei. I learned it a long time ago from our spars together. Did you forget the analytical powers of my eyes?", Neji casually explained while pointing at his white eyes, now standing in front of the group of visitors, "And, as for why I didn't tell you, I simply wasn't feeling like it, to be honest!",

And he wasn't lying, he really hated informing others of his abilities, even his closest people. Not to mention that he wouldn't use that at all, if not for the situation being dangerous and calling for it.

"But, as you see, I could use it to the Fourth Gate perfectly with minimal side effects already, so you shouldn't be worried.", Neji finished his explanation casually, apparently not giving it much care.

He felt like he was right in this matter. He didn't eavesdrop when Guy was teaching Lee or anything of that sort. He simply created his own way, of opening the Inner Gates and getting the same results as Guy and Lee, from his dojutsu and creativity alone. That didn't break any of the Ninja boundaries.

He was looking Might Guy straight in the eyes, while Guy was also seriously looking at him the same way. The situation turned quite tense in the room. Team Seven of Konoha started even sweating and gulping a little in apprehension, and even Kakashi turned a little serious at a time.

However, all of sudden, they were surprised all once again, when Might Guy started laughing, "Of course Neji, you're much smarter than me, of course, you could integrate it with your Gentle Fist!",

"And of course, you know your limits pretty well! Judging by how you knew exactly to which Gate you could push in your battle against those two samurai. I was just a little hurt you didn't tell me!",

But just as Neji wanted to open his mouth and explain, Might Guy surprisingly stopped him and added, "I know, I know, that is probably how your personality is. No need to worry, I get it all!",

"I just hope that you won't do anything in the future secretly against the team or the Konoha!",

"Of course, Sensei!", Looking at the serious and understanding Guy, Neji felt a little touched all of sudden. He suddenly had even more respect for his sensei. He already regarded him as his closest.

Looking at Neji's unexpected warm expression, Guy suddenly felt a rock falling off his chest, 'It seems that he didn't wander too far in extremism, I was right! He's truly my Might Guy's disciple!'

"Haha, that's good, Neji. Here I have someone to introduce to you. This is my good old friend and biggest rival, Kakashi, and these are his disciples, you introduce yourself!", Might Guy smiled and finally returned to his old usual self. Team Seven also sighed in relief and started introducing themselves. Kakashi and Sakura were curious about Neji, while Naruto and Sasuke both introduced themselves in a little disrespectful way. Both informed him that they would be soon surpassing him.

"White-Eyes, I heard about you from Kakashi-sensei. Remember this, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, the man who will soon surpass all of you and become the next Hokage!", Naruto confidently exclaimed while stepping forward and giving some kind of a challenging posture towards Neji.

"Neji Hyuga... My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I will be waiting for you at the Chunin Exams. You're a worthy opponent, but I won't lose to anyone, especially you!", Sasuke stated slowly and seriously, in not so kind of a friendly way, he especially exaggerated the words "Hyuga" and "Uchiha", seemingly also paying attention to their clans' history of competition. He was very jealous of Neji's strength, he knew more than simple-minded Naruto what kind of feat Neji accomplished just a while ago.

He decided that he would train to failure next, until the Chunin Exams, and defeat Neji there. He was even feeling envious and angry. Not to mention, for a long time, he heard of Neji as a genius even bigger than him, from the younger generation, and even possibly on the level of his hated elder brother Itachi. So, if he can't defeat even Neji Hyuga, then how will he deal with Itachi in the future? He must defeat him and resolve this inner demon as soon as possible. His gaze turned dark.

Kakashi and Sakura turned to look at him in worry, while Might Guy and Neji looked at him curiously. Neji especially was feeling extremely weird now that he met characters from the manga of his previous life, in this real life. Everything felt more real and complete than it was portrayed in that fantasy. So, he remained silent to both Naruto's and Sasuke's introductions, while thinking about something else after simply and dismissively replying to them, "Neji Hyuga, nice to meet you all!"

Seeing this, Sasuke was even more agitated. Previously his team completed an A-level mission inside the Land of Waves, and he even felt a little proud of himself at that time, but that all went down the drain once he heard from Kakashi everything about Neji's mission, which could be even classified as an S level. Not to mention, he and Naruto, in that state barely defeated one Elite Level Jonin, while Neji defeated two of them together. So, he had the right to be dismissive towards him.

"You believe it or not, it is none of my business. See you later at the Chunin Exams", Sasuke furrowed his brows, weirdly humphed, and suddenly went outside, feeling very agitated and shaken.

"Sasuke!", Seeing him in that state, both Naruto and Sakura forgot about Neji and went to follow him outside. Sakura didn't have many thoughts about Neji, at this time, as Sasuke was everything currently on her mind. While Naruto already felt like he said what he needed to say to Neji today.

Kakashi suddenly mentally face-palmed a little after seeing their behavior. But, he felt like his purpose has been achieved, Sasuke and Naruto should at least work pretty hard now and not take these upcoming Chunin Exams lightly after they successfully accomplished that dangerous mission.

"Neji, I apologize for their behavior today! Wish you a good recovery, and good luck at the upcoming Chunin Exams!", Kakashi suddenly apologized to Neji and said goodbye to him and Guy.

They both nodded knowingly, and he suddenly sprinted outside the room to catch up to his students. However, he also then started thinking about many things after seeing Neji himself.

He would console Sasuke a little, about how Neji was one year older than him, so as to not let him wander too far into a dangerous state of mind. He knew exactly what kind of person Sasuke was.

In fact, Neji's feats even shook him a little bit. Not only his sensei Might Guy, but now he felt like even the man's young student Neji might surpass him if he already didn't. He was really stagnating too hard in his shinobi journey currently. He once again remembered what kind of genius his father once was, "Was I really right?", Kakashi for the first time today wondered, was he right to abandon his father's way of fighting, his weapon? He also suddenly touched his covered left eye, "Obito..."

In fact, he couldn't truly admit it to himself yet, but maybe this left eye, also held him back too much. After, all the amount of chakra it consumes daily was monstrous, and he first stagnated right at the time he took it. Previously, he was always considered the biggest genius in Konoha's history.

***

And after the visitors left, Might Guy and Neji remained in the room alone, talking about many different things like the Eight Inner Gates, their previous mission, upcoming Chunin Exams, etc. It was also soon time for the Neji to be discharged from the hospital, and they planned to train right away. Then, all of a sudden, both Neji and Might Guy stood from their positions in a respectful way.

A very old man suddenly knocked and came inside the room, and many Konoha ANBU guards following him remained outside. He wore a distinctive and majestic red Hokage hat with a white, full-length kimono that is tied using a white sash. He also smoked a pipe as he casually strode in. He was a tan-skinned old man with a small goatee, and he had wrinkles and liver spots of old age.

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"Lord Hokage!", Both Neji and Might Guy suddenly exclaimed respectfully as the old man walked in.

"Hoho, is this the young Neji Hyuga? Are you feeling better? You really surprised us all!", Hiruzen nodded toward Guy and kindly looked toward Neji, and asked, "Yes, Lord Hokage, it was nothing serious!", Neji quickly, politely replied. But inwardly, he tried to find the reason for this strange visit.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was no doubt about it, a very interesting character in Neji's mind. He shielded the people, that are close to him, a great deal, as seen with Orochimaru and Danzo. He loved the Konoha enormously as well, but he also had a very dark side to him, or else he wouldn't allow Danzo to commit all those atrocities of the past, or delegate him all that power in the first place.

Was it because he was simply weak to Danzo's requests? Or he needed a scapegoat to keep his saint-like image in the hearts of the villagers, and soft power, but Neji still didn't fully know yet.

Then the matter of how he was treating Naruto, giving him so little money that he would depend on others' pity to eat ramen, or how he was drinking expired milk. With a father and mother like those two, that simply shouldn't have been the case.

Where did his inheritance go? His sad and pitiful childhood was probably all set up by Hiruzen, so he could be his only light in the dark and easily manipulate him in that way.

As for Iwagakure's revenge because of Minato, it was comical, if Konoha couldn't defend their Jinchuriki, and had to resort to hiding his identity like that, then they simply shouldn't call themselves a Hidden Village anymore. It clearly was a rubbish explanation in Neji's opinion.

It's just that Hiruzen's plan was utterly stupid from Neji's point of view. Had Naruto not been an Ashura's Buddha-like soul reincarnation, Neji felt like Naruto would be the one to destroy the Konoha, and let them feel the pain, instead of Nagato, in that case.

In Neji's mind, the only differences between Hiruzen and Danzo were the means for accomplishing different objectives, not the objectives themselves.

Danzo also didn't have any affection, as seen by how he tried to even assassinate his old friend Hiruzen, whereas Hiruzen held a great deal of affection for him.

"That's good to hear. And yes, we finally found out who those mercenaries were!", Hiruzen took a smoke from his pipe and casually spoke, "They were some rebels from the Land of Iron it seems!"

"We mainly found some clues from their unique body tattoos, they are from the Land of Iron. Then, the Land of Iron ambassador cleared it all. I'm sorry, but this is all I can tell you. They requested for the rest to be confidential.", Due to their diplomatic ties and an official request from the Land of Iron, Konoha also agreed not to use the information extracted from their souls or publicize their identities. It seems they were important clan members from that country, it was some infighting.

Neji and Guy nodded. Neji also already somewhat guessed the story. For that strong of guy to not be present in the story in the original world. Maybe Mifune dealt with him personally and sealed it.

As for why the original Team Guy didn't participate in that fight, in the original? It was probably because of the butterfly effect brought by the current Neji. After all, in that world, Neji was much weaker than he was now. So, Might Guy probably had less confidence to fight there without his students being hurt as well. Therefore he probably tactically left those guys to go without a fight.

"Well, let's forget about that. In fact, I came to inform you two that your mission's status has been increased from the B-level to the S-level. So, you could go and pick the appropriate paycheck later!"

'So, there are no other rewards like gifting me with some sealed S-class jutsu? It seems that this world is really different from those fanfictions of my previous life. Or I'm simply not valuable enough for him? After all, what value could I bring to Hiruzen and his faction when those main branch members control my life and death with basically a single thought?', Neji quickly analyzed.

'Then I'll just have to steal that thing myself in the future, no problem!', Neji thought all of a sudden.

"And congratulations Neji! Combing your Gentle Fist style alongside the Eight Inner Gates... It simply wasn't heard of before. You must have really exceptional chakra control to accomplish that!", Hiruzen suddenly started praising Neji. It seems, he also wasn't called a Ninja Professor for nothing.

'Konoha is really a factory for building talents today in the world. Predecessors, you were truly right!', Hiruzen suddenly thought emotionally, 'And then there are Sasuke, Naruto, and others...'

What Neji thought about just now, about stealing jutsu from his office, never crossed Hiruzen's mind. He started thinking about Sakumo, Minato, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and other geniuses Konoha all created in the past. Konoha was weaker in recent years, but that would soon change!

***

And just as Neji and Might Guy talked with the Hokage inside the Konoha building, in another part of the village, another kind of Hokage, but from the shadows, finally got the rest of the report he wanted from his subordinates. His name was Danzo Shimura and he was the leader of the Root!

Root carried out missions that Danzo believed would benefit Konoha, or in many cases, directly himself, because Danzo firmly believed that the stronger and more powerful he was himself, the better it would be for the entire Konohagakure in the end. It wasn't always like that, at the beginning, he was just a slightly more cowardly man who wanted the best for Konoha. However, the decades in power, led him to truly get consumed by "darkness", becoming more selfish and equating his own personal power with Konoha's best interest. In the end, he also had a megalomanic dream of unifying the whole Ninja World under Konoha's, his own, rule so there would be no more threats to Konoha present and no more ninja wars in the world after that.

Because of its core views as "the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth", some of these missions for Konoha were also less than respectable, such as eliminating individuals that were considered potential threats simply for expressing their detestation for Konoha, despite not actually having done anything against the village.

The organization's top priority was its secrecy, and most of its missions were carried out in the dark - autonomous of Konoha's authority. Root was officially disbanded after the Uchiha Clan Downfall due to Danzo spearheading the tragedy but remained active as an underground organization without care. This shows exactly how lenient and helpless Hiruzen was against his old friend Danzo.

The Root was an extremely strict and secretive group, and as such, each member of the organization had a cursed seal imprinted on the back of their tongues by Danzo which, when activated, would paralyze their entire body if they tried to speak anything about Danzo or the organization, rendering them unable to speak or move.

Danzo had also trained its members to lose their emotions by growing up as brothers from a young age, only to later be made to kill each other. This was done to kill any sense of sentiment or emotional attachment.

Danzo himself appeared as a frail, old man, who would normally walk with a cane. He had black, shaggy hair, and his right eye was bandaged, secretly concealing a Sharingan underneath. Danzo has had an x-shaped scar on his chin ever since his youth. He wore a white shirt, with a black or dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. The robe concealed his strange right arm which was bandaged and covered with three large golden braces.

'Neji Hyuga is much stronger than I previously thought. He is currently the Hyuga clan's strongest weapon in a way. But he himself, is no threat to me, as he's just a poor bird trapped in a cage.',

'Hiashi, and the Hyuga clan controlling him, are the much more important threats to me. I will finally deal with them, once and for all, as soon as this with Orochimaru is all over and I take over as the next Hokage!', Danzo played with his cane and thought seriously and a little expectantly.

As soon as Team Guy returned from their mission outside, Danzo's subordinates immediately found something weird and started investigating it, now finally giving Danzo the full report of the mission, 'Still, if that is all true, then he is a big genius just below the level of Shisui and Itachi bastards!',

'Pity, he is useless, unless I would've taken him under my wing. His sensei is also quite dangerous!',

'I didn't expect him to be a full late-Kage level already. It's good he's not suitable to be the Hokage.',

'But either way, I don't mind creating another "White Fang" out of him next!', Danzo thought about many things, and the potential rivals for the Hokage position after Orochimaru kills Hiruzen during the Chunin Exams next, 'It's good that none of them are interested, not even Jiraiya nor Tsunade!',

Obviously, Danzo already made an agreement to not let his Root intervene in Orochimaru's plan.