It had been four months since the war with Madara and Obito. Four months since they and the bijuu were defeated. Four months since almost everyone had given up, then been united thanks to Naruto. Four months since everyone fought for peace in the ninja world. Four months since they won.

It had also been four months since Hyuuga Neji was assumed dead after having been impaled by stakes, protecting his niece and Uzumaki. Four months since he was brought back from the brink of death, because somehow he had still been breathing.

It had only been four months and Neji was already given a high standard task. He had recovered miraculously because Tsunade-sama, Sakura and a girl named Karin had healed him on the battlefield.

He had even seen the destruction of the bijuu with his own eyes.
All because of one person's keen eye and ability to see what others couldn't.

One person whom he was now heading out to as part of his new task. A task that meant he had to stay in Konoha for at least six more months, something Tsunade had ordered until he was back to his original strength.

At first, Neji had declined, because he did not want to be bound to the city walls and did not want to deal with the man around whom this task revolved. He'd rather be doing missions.

However, it was this very man to whom he owed his life and so Neji thought he owed it to him to at least try.

Neji turned left in the highly guarded building that was used to secure only the most dangerous criminals.

Neji was heading for one of the worst and also probably the most famous prisoner in the entire dungeon.

He walked down the spiral staircase and listened to his own footsteps echoing throughout the old stone undergrounds.

It was quite dark and cold, but Neji knew it was only fit for the criminal that was down here.

After all, they needed to cool him down and take away most of his eyesight to make sure he would be no threat anymore.

Neji finally met his destination and stood in front of the prison bars, looking inside.

"Uchiha."

His voice echoed even more then his footsteps had, but the Uchiha remained unmoving.

He was lying on a stone bench, his back towards the bars, the only movement he made was the up and down movement of his chest as he was breathing.

Neji stared at pitch black hair, a still very much muscled back clad under a torn white shirt, and a dark blue torn up pair of pants.

The Uchiha was bare footed, shackle on one ankle. Neji knew there were two more on both his wrists, all three of them put into the rocks that surrounded him.

It prevented him from leaving, but not from moving. Yet the Uchiha had been rumoured to never move an inch when anyone was around.

Neji could not understand how this stoic, stubborn man that was right now barely looking alive, had decided to check up on him, a claimed dead man, and tell people that he was still alive and able to be saved.

Neji did not get it, because really, what would the Uchiha gain from passing such information? He had not meant to fight Neji, nor had he meant to use him as a pawn or a partner in crime.

He had just somehow decided he would inform people that Neji was alive.

Neji owed him his life. And so, he took on the task to take care of the prisoner until a final decision was made about the other boy's life.

The council, Hokage and the villagers were all involved in deciding Uchiha Sasuke's fate. Most wanted his head chopped off as soon as possible. Others just wanted him locked up for life.

But there were still those who were once close to him, that might think otherwise.

Of course there was Naruto who, even after having almost being killed by the sharingan user on more than one occasion, wanted Sasuke's punishment to be less… permanent.

Naruto seemed so down whenever he spoke of Sasuke, like he knew what the other was going through.

In a way Naruto did, they had both grown up without love. However, Neji had heard of the so called curse of the Uchiha's, the curse of hatred.

If he had heard it right, the Uchiha had loved harder than any of them and therefore had lost more than any of them could comprehend. The pain that came with having a loved one taken away.

It had driven him mad.

Naruto understood that. And so did Neji.

Others were not so understanding. Neji knew for example that the Nara boy got the situation very well. But unlike Naruto, he did not want someone as unstable as Sasuke to hurt any of his friends again.

Then there was Sakura. Without a doubt she still cared for her friend, but she feared a repeat. Not just for her friends, but for herself as well.

Neji did not really know her, but he had seen the hurt in her eyes whenever someone spoke of Sasuke when he was gone for all those years.

Most of the others could not even begin to understand why Sasuke had done what he had done. Neji's own team members, who were real forgiving people, did not even want Sasuke wandering around town anymore.

Neji, who had barely even met the Uchiha, still felt like he knew the situation better than most of the other ninja's.

And Naruto knew that too. Which was why he had pretty much begged Neji to take on the task of taking care of Sasuke.

Because he would not judge and he would not be angry. He would do what he had to do and leave it at that.

Naruto had said he would've done it himself, but Tsunade-sama forbade him. Neji later heard the Hokage thought that the both of them were simply going to bring out too many emotions of each other.

It would do neither of them any good.

Neji in the meantime put a tray of food through the bars, careful not to set off any of the explosion tags that were all over the place.

"You should eat." He told the Uchiha, but got no response. Neji took one last look at Sasuke, then left the dungeon.

This was going to be a boring task.

-.-.-