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Team Guy was out on a mission, escorting an important diplomat to a village only 3 day's walk away. A simple enough mission, however the diplomat turned out to have a personal grudge against the Hyuga clan.
The man had been smart, he had run ahead, and hidden, forcing the group to fan out to search for him. Neji found him, but before he could summon the others, found himself in a fight. No one had informed them that the diplomat was a shinobi, which seemed like an extreme oversight all things considered. He did not want to hurt the diplomat–the idea of causing a war… it was something to be avoided. Neji could only dodge, and attack chakra points without physically hurting the man. With any luck, Guy-sensei and the others would arrive shortly, and subdue the diplomat. As Neji and Guy-sensei had learned with drunk Lee, that one night, it was not easy to subdue someone without using any sort of damaging force.
Neji dodged another attack, and another- where were the others? His Byakugan was activated, but the only chakra signals he could see were those of his opponent. Had there been other shinobi, lying in wait, outside of his range? Neji narrowed his eyes. If he could not rely on backup, he would have to use more force than desired, to subdue his enemy. The longer the fight went on, the higher the likelihood the diplomat would be injured by his own foolishness. Neji needed to end this, now.
He moved forward, intending to simply knock the man unconscious, as gently as possible, only to stop in place. The diplomat was laughing, harder and harder, doubling over in mirth, as Neji stood, mildly confused. Neji took a step back, then a second one, dropping into a defensive stance, as the man’s body began to warp and shift, his skin rippling and stretching outwards to accommodate shifting bones and muscle.
It was a grotesque scene, as the man morphed into some sort of beast on all fours. There were still no others in the area, so Neji accepted his fate, fighting this monster. Only, as he made eye contact with it, his heart stuttered. A primal sort of fear filled him, some deep part of his mind protesting at the thing’s existence, and at Neji’s presence near it. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide, heart rabbiting in his chest, feeling akin to a prey animal.
Neji shook his head, falling back into his stance, palm outwards. He was a shinobi, he has fought opponents stronger than him and come out on top. But when the beast lowered its head, staring at Neji head on, its maw opening revealing rows of sharp, drool-covered teeth, he found himself faltering again. It made a low rumbling sound that vibrated in Neji’s chest, and every part of Neji began screaming at him to run, despite the fact that the thing was hardly a worthy opponent.
It prowled back and forth, not coming any closer, only observing Neji. It was unsettling, the way it moved… predatory, is the only word that came to mind. Neji knew he would be at a disadvantage to attack first, as beyond the fact that the creature had chakra, he knew little else about it. Attacking with such a lack of knowledge would not be wise, and so Neji kept his position, watching the creature as it watched him back.
Minutes pass, then an hour, two, three. He had to deactivate his Byakugan eventually, as the drain on his chakra became too great to keep it up. The creature still did not attack, and Neji still had no signs from his teammates or sensei. Something must have gone seriously wrong, but Neji could not very well leave the object of their mission alone, even in its current state. He could only stand there, in a ready position. Eventually, someone would come, Neji knew that.
The sun settled lower and lower in the sky, and Neji could feel the strain of fatigue as it pulled on his limbs. The creature still paced, relentless in its movements, but Neji was feeling the pain of having kept his Byakugan activated for so long earlier, his eyes strained and heavy. He would not falter, though. He could not, as Neji refused to risk the mission, as pointless as it seemed now.
The beast's energy seemed endless, though, and as darkness filled the forest around them, Neji had to activate his Byakugan again to keep track of it. His eyes throbbed, and he could see his blind spot expanding, as his chakra reserves began to deplete yet again, dropping lower and lower as the moon replaced the sun in the sky. Neji fought back a yawn, loosening his limbs for a second to stretch, before getting back into position. He was stiff, and tired, and the creature seemed incapable of moving into range of his technique, but Neji did not want to approach it before it played its hand.
His eyes hurt so much, and his vision, even with the Byakugan activated, began to grow fuzzy, as an intense pain burst through his temples, and yet Neji kept himself on alert. If he lost track of the creature now, he could very well be attacked without knowing how to defend himself.
Neji’s breaths shortened to puffs, as his chakra drained through his eyes, and eventually, Neji had to stop his Byakugan, his vision dropping to near zero as the pure darkness of the forest surrounding him pushed in, along with the aftereffects of using the jutsu for so long, blurred vision, pulsing in his head, and strained, stinging eyes. Neji attempted to listen for the creature, but it moved silently, if it moved at all.
Neji suddenly felt afraid, as he tried to search the darkness for any sign of the creature. He took a step back, and another, until his back hit a tree. He couldn’t see- he couldn’t see at all. Neji scaled the tree, scrambling up the rough bark, and hiding amongst the leaves. He had failed, lost track of the diplomat, and now hid like a coward- like a rabbit fleeing the wolf, into its den.
“Neji?!” He heard a faint voice call, sounding remarkably like Guy-sensei. Neji hesitated, though, to respond. “Neji!?” The voice said again, but it sounded like Lee. Again and again the voice called his name, in a mockery of many of the shinobi and members of the village. He supposed he should be grateful the diplomat had not met his uncle, as he did not know, in his current state, if he could have resisted such a call, or if his body would have moved on instinct.
He did not respond to a single call, and eventually they tapered off into more silence. Neji only heard his own heart, as it pounded in his chest, as he fought through both the physical and chakra exhaustion he faced.
“Neji?” A much softer voice this time, close to his ear, and Neji turned to face it, only to come face to face with a maw of teeth. Neji would never admit to it, but he shouted in surprise, flipping off the tree branch he had been resting on, and landing on the forest floor. He could barely hear the beast moving, as he blindly rushed through the trees and bushes. It kept saying his voice, and though Neji moved as quickly as he could, he never seemed to gain any distance. He did not feel like a shinobi in that moment, all he could think was to run, to get away from the creature and its teeth and its hulking mass that pursued him far quicker than it should.
But Neji was exhausted, and there came a point where he was too fatigued to move onwards. He forced his aching limbs up another tree, keeping himself as silent as possible as he collapsed onto a high branch. The creature went silent too, and Neji could only shut his useless eyes and hope that it did not find him again.
“Neji! we have found you!” Lee’s voice called, but Neji shook his head, curling into a small tight ball against the trunk of the tree. “Kakashi-Sensei lent us Pakkun when we could not locate you after many hours of searching!”
It’s not real, Neji told himself, hands gripping his hair.
“Neji- Oh what are you?” Lee- said, and Neji heard the growling of the beast again, far too close for comfort but then- fighting. Neji blinked, wishing more than anything he could activate his Byakugan and see if Lee was truly there, or if it was another trick.
“Neji?” A voice sounded close to him, and Neji scrambled back, or attempted to. He could hardly move, but it was Lee, looking down at him in concern.
“Lee?” Neji responded, his tone short, “Where have you all been?” He added, hoping it would distract Lee from the fact he could not get up.
Unfortunately, clueless as Lee might be, he picked up on the fact that Neji had exhausted himself, and lifted Neji onto his back. Neji did not have the strength to protest, but he did have the words.
“What- Lee! Stop this at once, let me down.” Neji ordered, but Lee descended down the tree, to where Pakkun, Tenten, and Guy-sensei were waiting, along with the diplomat- now a bare lump on the ground, bruised all over.
“I am happy to have you back, Neji!” Guy-sensei exclaimed, holding a lantern of some sort. “The diplomat was secretly a shinobi with a grudge against your clan, but Lee turned his attitude right back to agreeable, with his loving fists!”
“Thank you, Rock Lee.” Neji said quietly, cringing as he heard Lee gasp, which quickly turned into wailing sobs that had both Neji and Pakkun covering their ears.
Neji would not forget this mission any time soon, but at least in the moment, he was safe and reunited with his team again.