Chapter 50.4- Gamer of the Desert

XXXXXX- HYUGA NEJI

He had never been so thoroughly outclassed in his life. He and Sasuke had thrown everything they had, all their jutsu, their taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu prowess were displayed to the limit but it only ever succeeded in making the woman across from them chuckle and ramp up her own power to match. Now, they had given it all they had and were on their last legs. He knew the only thing keeping the Uchiha standing was the pride he held. The indomitable pride that would never allow him all to his knees and give up. Foolish pride. Neji resisted the urge to smirk. He was much the same, after all.

Too blinded by his pride to give up, Sasuke weaved a set of five seals much slower than Neji had ever seen him top it. The fireball he sent flying after the woman was about to the size of a beach ball instead of the cottage sized balls Neji knew he was capable of when he got into the groove. She merely leaned to the side to allow the jutsu pass her by, and then faster than Neji could perceive, she appeared in front of his teammate. She tapped him on the forehead with a single finger and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Your turn, Hyuga” were the last words he heard before succumbing to unconsciuosness.

He woke up in a tent. A familiar tent. It was the same one that the medical nin had set up all those weeks ago for treating the wounded, across from him was a bed that contained his teammate. Sasuke was still unconscious, more or less dead to the wall. Neji tried to stand up, only to find that his body was essentially paralysed with pain. Every part of him was exhausted. A medical nin entered the tent and rushed to the side. The glass of water she offered did little to quench his thirst, even if it was heavenly in its refreshing properties. It look him three glasses to stop feeling like his throat was screaming at him with its soreness.

“Wh-what happened?” He cursed himself for the stutter. What was that?

“Captain Fu found you and your partner unconscious before he engaged the Jusagakure head shinobi. He killed her, of course. And now here you are. We’ve taken the village, and are moving even further in land.” She replied, with her glowing hands placed on his chest.

“Can I speak to him?” He asked. He needed to know what was going on. He needed to find out why they were moving further inland. Surely that couldn’t mean what he thought it did. If it did, it was against orders, and also completely insane.

“Sure you can. He said I should let him know the second one of the two of you wakes up” She replied while standing up, done with her diagnostics. “I’ll go get him now” She said as she walked out of the tent.

Further inland had to be a mistaker from her part. Maybe she hadn’t understood the marching orders that she’d be given. Neji was certain of it. They were to take Grass and return home. Those were the orders he and Sasuke had been given. They were Danzo’s students. If anyone would be getting fake orders, it wouldn’t be them.

“Captain” He said in recognition as the blond haired man walked in. He made a token attempt at a bow. The man was still his superior officer, after all. And given that he’d killed that woman while both Neji and Sasuke had put in their best efforts and failed to land so much as a scratch against her.

“Hyuga Neji. You failed the mission assigned to you.” He said.

“Kusagakure’s head jounin was much more powerful than we were led to suggest” he replied, indirectly suggesting that it had been the fault of the man across from him. After all, where else had they gotten their intelligence from.

“I agree. She was only a few steps below the level of a Kage of one of the Great Five. I dare say she’d have killed me if my own partner had not been on hand to help.” He said with a chuckle. Neji’s face didn’t crack at the terrible attempt to create some sense of camaraderie.

“The Nurse said something about moving further inland.” He commented, trying not to sound accusing.

“Yes. After taking Kusa, we received new orders.”

“New orders that directly contradict the old orders?”

“Precisely. That is the way of things. Some personnel were reshuffled across the army. We had some new assignees and some old assignees were returned to the village. I am now in complete control of this Battalion, and our orders are to take the Land of Rain or die trying. We will secure another avenue into Sunagakure.” He said, and Neji was confused out of his mind.

“Didn’t we already have a way into Suna. The land of Rivers?” He asked.

“After the Kazekage’s assault on Iwa, the Land of Rivers solemnised a treaty with the Land of Wind. Shinobi of Sunagakure now operate with impunity across the land of Rivers. Our agents already report that multiple outposts have been built across the nation. Attempting to attack Suna through that avenue would be costly and stupid. We’d first have to dislodge the village’s existing presence in the Land and then replace it with our own before pushing into the Land of Wind proper. We’d be bled dry of both men and resources if we tried that. We’d get outselves stuck in a protracted conflict with Suna in another nation, and give Mist or Cloud a target for their rapid militarisations.” He said. Some thought had clearly been put into it. Neji couldn’t see why they needed to go to war with Suna in the first place, but that was not his place to comment on. What he could comment on was the chosen tactic.

“But attacking through the land of Rain means we’d have to contend with Hanzo the Salamander. Last I checked, we don’t have three Kage level ninja to hold him off this time.” He posed.

“Hanzo the Salamander is dead. Godaime-sama is certain of it. We only have the shinobi of Ame to contend with. Prepare yourself, Hyuga Neji,. Amegakure will be ours by the end of the month.”

A/N; In other news….