Chapter One: Phantom Assault

In a room dimly lit by candle light Lord Hyuuga sat and meditated on the going of the day, there was a knock at the door.

"You may enter," Lord Hyuuga spoke in a calm quiet tone. A messenger of the Hyuuga clan walked in then kneeled in, front of Lord Hyuuga to pay respects.

"Speak."

"My lord a member of the cadet branch wishes to speak with you. He clams to have been attacked while training." Lord Hyuuga held up a hand to signal him to stop.

"I have no business policing this village. Send him…" He was it interrupted the sound of the large chamber doors opening. It was Neji.

"I must speak with you ." Neji said with little breath. The messenger rose to contain Neji, but Lord Hyuuga stopped him.

"Return to your post." The messenger did as he was told and left. Neji then managed to shuffle a few steps forward before falling to one knee before Lord Hyuuga.

Lord Hyuuga's eyes scanned the dimly lit room, finally falling upon Neji. The young ninja seemed fine. There was not a single scratch on him. No burses, cuts or even dirt on his clothes. The only thing of any concern was the small trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth. Neji sat there with his head down. Lord Hyuuga spoke. "Neji you come before me and tell me that you have been attacked by an enemy shinobi!" Lord Hyuuga's voice was sharp "Tell me what has happened." Neji mumbled something under his breath with his head down. Lord Hyuuga would not tolerate this act of disrespect; no member of the cadet branch would ever speak to him without looking at him face to face. "Neji!" he bellowed "I will not be disrespected! Look at me when you speak to me!" Neji slowly raised his head. Neji's eyes meet his lords. But something was wrong.

The single defining feature of any Hyuuga main or cadet were their eyes. The Hyuuga's have no pupils, nor an iris. The Hyuuga's have a single phase to there eye. Their eyes are all a pale white. This was not the case. Neji's eyes were pich black. The dark circles were his once proud eyes were told of the pain of defeat.

Lord Hyuuga was astounded. What could disrupt the sheer power of the byakugan? Then realizing the severity of the attack spoke again, this time in a calm tone "What happened?"

After a few short breaths Neji managed to speak "The shinobi who attacked me not only knew and exploited every weakness of the juken and my byakugan! He also fought with my exact style and he even had the power of the byakugan."

This shook Lord Hyuuga but he gave a grim smile and said "Neji you of all people should know that that is impossible." Lord Hyuuga was of courses referring to the curse mark placed on Neji's head and all other cadets. This mark insured the protection of the highly prized bloodline trait, the hyuuga family's byakugan.

Neji shook his head. "I know what I saw." Lord Hyuuga was once more caught off guard by Neji's tongue. Lord Hyuuga face flooded with rage. Lord Hyuuga clinched his eyes shut. When he reopened them the area around his eyes became swollen with veins. Neji knew all to well what this meant and feared it. Lord Hyuuga activated his byakugan. Lord Hyuuga looked down upon Neji with hate in his powerful eyes.

"Neji! If this nonsense is all you have to tell me then leave my sight!"

Neji's voice now became frantic and began to raise his voice. "This ninja fought with knowledge and mastery of the byakugan that surpassed my own and rivaled that of any other member. He some how knew ever flaw every weakness to every tactic I employed. He fought using the juken in ways that I never will!" Lord Hyuuga was stunned that a cadet would completely defy his wishes. Lord Hyuuga stared into Neji's eerie black eyes remembering his brother who did anything he could to defy the main branch. How he endured punishment after punishment, and in the end died to let him live. This was his brother's son, rather his nephew. He paused for a moment. Finally Lord Hyuuga made up his mind he was not lying "Report to the hospital. I will meet you there, and then we can discuss the details of the attack." Neji nodded and slowly gained his footing, then limped out of Lord Hyuuga's chamber.

In the hospital Neji lay motionless on his bed, surrounded by four medical ninja all perplexed by Neji's seemingly unharmed condition. The door to plain white room opened as Lord Hyuuga walked in only to be intercepted by a medical ninja in the room. The ninja guided Lord Hyuuga to outside the room.

"There seems to be nothing seriously wrong with the boy. The only thing abnormal is an uneven chakra flux within his body, but this could be for any number of reasons stress, lack of sleep, or even allergies. We will keep him under observation."

"Thank you, but I think we can take it from here."

"We, my lord?" From the shadows a second man appeared next to Lord Hyuuga. The ninja was obviously a Hyuuga. He whore a white coat that stopped just short of his feet. He also had long black hair and of course the defining pale white eyes.

"This is Hoyta… let's just say he's a family doctor. Now please call off all treatment for the moment Hoyta and I will take it form here."

"As you wish." The ninja walked back into the room and in a few moments walked back out with the other four medical ninja.

"We will be back for a follow up in a few hours. Please allow Neji some rest between now and then." As soon as the other ninja rounded the corner Lord Hyuuga and Hoyta quickly walked into Neji's room and shut the door. Neji opened his eye and gazed around the room. His eyes landed on Hoyta.

Neji scowled. "Who is that?"

"Neji!" Lord Hyuuga shouted, obviously showing no sympathy to the injured. "You will show your respects! This is Hoyta, a special trained medical ninja from the main branch of our family."

"Trained in what?" Neji said barely above a whisper, making no attempt to hide his dislike of the new guest. Lord Hyuuga scowled, but despite Neji's disrespect he explained situation.

"Most medical ninja focus on wounds of a person's physical body, such as broken limbs or a concussion. Hoyta does not deal with such trivial afflictions. Hoyta deals with mending and healing damage done to a ninja's chakra system. Our ancestors soon realized that after they perfected the juken, normal medical techniques would not work." Hoyta stepped up and interrupted Lord Hyuuga. Lord Hyuuga glared, but Hoyta ignored him.

"Therefore using the only first aid techniques available one could not heal a ninja's injured chakra system. So any damage done to a ninja's system was permanent. In the case that damage must be undone to a ninja's chakra network, an elite group of the Hyuuga's main branch was tasked to develop techniques to heal such damage. After many years the Hyuuga medical squad was formed."

Lord Hyuuga now spoke. "So Neji if a user of our technique did attack you Hoyta will be able to treat your wounds." Neji glared at the ninja beside Lord Hyuuga, and then took a deep breath.

"Do what you must." Neji muttered. At that Lord Hyuuga nodded and Hoyta went to work. Hoyta stepped up close to Neji's bed and preformed a few quick hand signs, slowly closed his eyes, and then reopened them. Hoyta activated his byakugan and began looking at Neji's body. As Hoyta slowly skimmed over Neji Lord Hyuuga spoke clearly and calmly.

"Neji, what happened?"