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"WHAT?!"
Naruto's eyes shot open in horror.
He's coming too?! Neji?!
Absolutely not. No way. Over his dead body.
Neji Hyuga that Neji was a nightmare in training gear. Traveling with him meant getting pummeled daily, over and over. A one-sided beatdown. Polite torture in a jumpsuit.
And the worst part? He'd heal you afterward so you couldn't even fake an injury to escape. (~Unohana style)
With that trademark calm expression, he'd say:
"Naruto, your physique is excellent. You've got a ton of chakra and incredible stamina. It would be such a waste if you didn't help me test some of my new techniques. Come on don't hold back."
Naruto once believed having an upperclassman help him train would be the key to surpassing Sasuke and winning Sakura's heart.
He had dreams, man. Ambitions.
Instead?
Instead, he unlocked trauma.
Turns out, Neji wasn't just training him.
Kiba. Shikamaru. Choji. Sakura. Lee. Tenten. Hinata. Ino. Shino. Even Sasuke.
Everyone.
They were all getting worked by the same relentless demon drill sergeant.
Naruto fought, bled, and trained harder than ever, and yet somehow, everyone's strength kept rising evenly, like some cruel cosmic joke.
If he got a bit stronger, they all got stronger.
No gaps. No progress. Just… a never-ending race on a treadmill powered by pain.
He had cried. Real tears.
He tried everything: fake injuries, fake colds, even deliberately falling into ditches.
Neji would show up with a warm smile and a glowing palm.
"Oh no, you're hurt? Don't worry I've been working on some medical ninjutsu. Let me help you recover… and then we'll resume training."
No escape.
And now, Jiraiya wanted him to travel with that guy?
No way.
Naruto made up his mind.
He threw down his massive travel pack and sprinted in the opposite direction.
Jiraiya blinked in confusion.
"…Wait, is this Hyuga kid really that scary?"
Before the thought finished forming—
FWUMP!
Neji appeared in a blur.
"Eight Trigrams: Acupuncture Palm."
THUD.
Naruto collapsed to his knees paralyzed mid-run.
Only his mouth still moved as he cried out dramatically, "Nooo! Somebody save me!"
Jiraiya sweat-dropped.
'Okay, that's… kinda impressive.'
He'd trained Naruto himself, and yet this kid just casually shut him down.
No wonder Hiashi was confident in pushing for Neji's involvement in the mission to find Tsunade.
Especially if he could help restore Neji's Byakugan…
Neji calmly dragged the whining boy back by the ankle. With his remaining mobility, Naruto squirmed and sobbed, "I don't wanna go! Let me die instead!"
The crowd was staring now.
Neji, ever unbothered, jabbed a pressure point on Naruto's neck. The boy froze mid-wail, mouth open, eyes darting around like a panicked frog.
"Apologies, Lord Jiraiya," Neji said politely. "Naruto's always been… resistant. I may have pushed him a little too hard during Academy days."
Jiraiya blinked.
'Wow. He's polite. Too polite. I don't trust this level of politeness…'
He scratched his head awkwardly. "Uh, you can tone it down with the 'lord' stuff. Kinda makes me uncomfortable."
Neji nodded. "Understood, Lord Jiraiya."
Jiraiya sighed.
This kid's a handful.
Still, he was curious.
"You're the one who trained most of them in the Academy, right? No wonder they all picked things up so fast…"
"Yes," Neji said. "Though after graduation, it seems they slacked off. Growth's plateaued a bit."
Oof.
Jiraiya wasn't sure how to respond to that.
He looked down at Naruto, now frozen and bug-eyed, trying to scream with his soul.
"…That technique," Jiraiya said, pointing. "Doesn't look like standard Hyuga jutsu."
"Oh, that?" Neji replied. "I combined Gentle Fist pressure points with sealing techniques to lock down motor functions. It's been significantly refined since then."
Jiraiya whistled.
The kid's a prodigy.
Combining medical and sealing arts into combat taijutsu? That was next-level.
Still, they had a journey to begin.
Jiraiya glanced at Naruto. The poor kid was rolling his eyes like a possessed puppet, pleading with every twitch of his eyelids.
"Uh… Neji. Maybe ease up? This isn't gonna work if he spends the whole trip trying to escape."
Neji considered it. "How did you convince him to come, originally?"
Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck. "I told him I'd teach him a powerful new jutsu. And that if he refused… I'd take Sasuke instead."
Naruto's eyes widened in panic.
No. NO.
Neji smiled, understanding instantly.
He hoisted Naruto up by the collar, unlocked his paralysis with a smooth jab, and let him drop into a crouch.
"Alright then, Naruto."
"We'll take Sasuke instead. Hey, Jiraiya will there be hot springs on this trip?"
Jiraiya blinked. "Of course. Gotta, uh… research."
Neji nodded. "Perfect."
He turned to Naruto, eyes glinting.
"So. You coming?"
Naruto glared at him, fists clenched, teeth grinding.
"I'M COMING! I'll definitely come! Don't even think about leaving me behind!"
Neji turned back to Jiraiya with a faint smirk.
"All set, Lord Jiraiya."
Jiraiya stared at the two of them Naruto shaking with rage, Neji calmly triumphant.
"…Huh."
So that's how you handle Naruto.
Now I get it.
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