Time to Chase

'He obviously must know that I can sense his gaze on me then why is he behaving like this? Does he swing the other way? In the canon, he dies without any love interest so I don't know what his preference is.' Yami thought and before he could come to any other conclusion, he felt Neji's gaze on him again from the bed on the other side of the room.

Yami looked at him directly and asked "What is the matter with you?"

Neji looked up at Yami's face and said "Your body...it is making me uncomfortable."

Yami frowned as he heard that and said "Be specific with your words Neji."

"With my Byakugan I can normally see a person's chakra flowing along his/her pathways but for you it looks like your entire body is chakra and at times it pulsates from being too brighter to disappearing as if you aren't there at all." Neji said.

'Pulsating? Is it because my body composition has changed now? And what does he mean by disappearing ?' questions started popping up in Yami's mind as he heard that.

"Can you activate your byakugan and look at it once? I want to see why does the pattern change." Yami said as he stood up from his bed. Neji hesitated a little but eventually agreed. He himself didn't know why it was happening and planned to keep it under wraps until he reached back to his clan and ask his uncle or grandfather.

Neji sat up straight on his bed and activated his Byagugan. He looked at Yami and said "Right now your entire body appears to have chakra flowing through it instead of just your pathways."

"Is it pulsating and how bright does it appear?" Yami asked to which Neji massaged his chin and said "Hmm...It isn't pulsating right now and speaking about brightness then it is slightly more than an average Jonin. The only person who could match you in the brightness level is Naruto. Maybe even the Kazekage Gaara because he is a jinchuriki too."

"Alright, now I will try to intentionally circulate chakra throughout my body. Tell me if you notice any change." Yami said and closed his eyes. He started pushing out chakra from his chakra core and began sending it to the tips of his body and even his skin.

"Now it's pulsating with something a little brighter." Neji said as he stood up with his byakugan activated.

Yami started pushing more and more chakra into his body. 4 seconds later Yami whose eyes were closed this entire time heard Neji's voice "Um..now this is getting brighter than I expected. Can you increase the intensity ?" Neji asked and Yami nodded his head and said "Just hold on for a few more seconds, I am increasing the amount of chakra gradually."

For the next 8-10 seconds, the chakra being circulated inside Yami's body increased severalfold. Neji clenched his teeth and continued using his Byakugan. A tiny droplet of blood appeared under his eyesocket resting on his bottom eyelash about to fall on his cheeks. Neji was about to say something to Yami but then Yami said "I am going all out now."

Before Neji could deactivate his Byakugan, Yami was using his chakra core to its fullest extent.

AArghhhh

Neji screamed as he covered both his eyes with his hands and crouched on the floor. Hearing the scream, Yami immediately stopped and opened his eyes. He saw Neji sitting on the floor and blood that was dripping from his eyes which was now falling on the floor.

The room's door slammed open the very next second with Kakashi Sakura and Sasuke barging inside.

"What the matter?" Kakashi asked as he looked at Yami and then his eyes fell on the bleeding Neji.

"Oh my god" Sakura said shocked seeing the scene in front of her as she rushed toward Neji to inspect his eyes. Sasuke walked close to Yami and started looking at his body to see if Yami had any wounds.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Sasuke asked as he couldn't find anything on Yami's body to which Yami only shook his head indicating that he was unhurt.

"What happened? It's not like the two of you to fight? Did you have an argument?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura who was now healing Neji's eyes said "His eyes look a little burnt as if they have been exposed to very strong impulses. They will heal but he will need some time to rest."

Kakashi nodded in understanding and looked back at Yami for an answer to his question.

"Neji and I were testing something with me increasing the circulation of the chakra in my body and Neji was seeing the difference in intensity and flow with his Byakugan. Seems like we pushed the experiment far enough."

"Yes it was far enough but luckily Neji didn't sever the nerves of his Byakugan or else he would never be able to use his dojutsu again." Kakashi reprimanded. He looked at Sakura and said "Take him to the hospital for treatment. I have just received the location of the nearest Akatsuki base from my ninja hounds. Sasuke wake Naruto and the others up. I will go and inform Guy and Lee who are training since early morning. Meet me at the hospital in 20 mins."

Sasuke nodded and then looked at Yami and said "See you at the hospital. Do you need some rest as well?"

Yami chuckled and said "I am already craving for a fight...and you are trying to keep me away from one?"

Sasuke didn't bother replying and left the room with the others while Yami also started making preparations to leave the village.

15 mins later Yami reached the hospital and saw Sakura and Karin looming over Neji's bed looking at his eyes which were now covered in white patches. Temari, Gaara, and Lady Chiyo were standing beside Kankuro's bed talking to him.

"Lady Chiyo...I am perfectly healthy now. I can fight Kankuro...leaving me here wouldn't do any good." Kankuro was trying to convince the elder to let him come with them.

"In the condition you are in, you won't last a minute against Sasori." Lady Chiyo said.

"Lady Chiyo is right Kankuro...don't worry we will handle the Akatsuki base. The leaf shinobis are going with us as well."Temari said.

"You can't keep me down that easily Temari. If you guys don't take me with you then I will have to follow you after you leave." kankuro didn't want to accept that he was so inferior to Sasori in terms of puppet mastery.

Kankuro was about to protest more but he heard a voice spread in the operation room "Sakura, give a paralyzing poison to Kankuro here. The last thing we want is an injured shinobi on our back"

Everyone quickly looked in the direction of the voice which obviously came from Yami. "That was too harsh of you kid but maybe that is the only way." Lady Chiyo said. Sakura also got up to walk toward Kankuro but he hurriedly stopped her "No...No need Sakura...I will stay here and give Neji company. You guys should go and grab those Akatsuki bastards."

Karin narrowed her eyes and looked at Yami "You burned Neji's eyes in the morning and now you want to paralyze Kankuro...who side are you on?" she chuckled as she finished the sentence.

Before Yami could give a fitting reply to her question, the rest of the leaf shinobis entered the big room.

Guy and Lee went to see Neji while the others stood beside Yami. Kakashi had a map in his hand which had some markings in red. He passed the map to Gaara and said "This is where my ninja hounds traced the scent of the Akatsuki members. They couldn't enter the hideout as it was blocked by seals.

"Kakashi sensei then we should leave the village soon. What if they heal their injuries and leave the land of Wind? They might target some other tailed beasts. We have to catch them before that." Naruto said with determination burning in his eyes.

"The injuries this monster has given them won't heal that fast. I am sure that they can't be at their peak state for at least a week or two." Lady Chiyo said staring daggers at Yami.

Yami just rolled his eyes and said "If it weren't for you letting them escape then their corpses would be buried somewhere here."

Gaara and Kakashi locked eyes as they understood that this wasn't a debate that could be solved amicably and it could very soon lead to a full-blown fight so better nip it in the bud.

Since Lady Chiyo was an elder, Gaara couldn't just reprimand her so Kakashi decide to make Yami step back. "Yami...the lives of the hidden sand shinobis are also a priority so sacrificing them for the Akatsuki members wouldn't have been a good choice."

Yami chuckled and said "Are we talking about the same village who betrayed their S-ranked shinobi Pakura as a peace settlement and then stuffed a monster into a kid? Seeing the past record I thought killing those Akatsuki members would have been a priority."By the end of the sentence, Yami's chuckle had turned into a look of scorn and a tone of pure hatred.

Everyone including the Sand Shinobis was shocked to hear what Yami just said but not a single one of them said anything. The entire room went silent.

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