AFTER DARK | naruto

57 | with war on the horizon, i do what i can for you

Well, your sudden suicide caught him off guard. 'Madara' let go of you the moment your neck met his Kunai. He let out a scoff of both annoyance and disappointment as your body fell to the floor. It seemed for a moment there the curse of being forgotten had really affected his mind, which was the reason for him simply leaving you there to bleed out.

Maybe that curse was a blessing in this specific moment, where he left your dead body there when in a different scenario, he would use his Kamui. (Not that you knew it even teleported people to different dimensions, buts that what he would've done)

But at the same time, in that split moment of being forgotten, Neji and Lee forgot why they were even following along with Naruto. They didn't care for Sasuke to such an extent that they would simply come along just because they could. There was a lingering memory of New Years night, but it lacked many details.

Lee didn't remember the day you first met, a day that had meant a lot more to him than you could understand. Maybe that was the reason behind the strange and new sense of longing he felt. He had been thinking about you a lot ever since you left, and suddenly you were gone from his mind.

Gaara and his siblings didn't remember why Gaara had shed a tear, or as to why Temari and Kankuro were reprimanding him in the first place, or why the Raikage had been approaching him so angrily. Because even the Raikage didn't remember why he had been so angry at him, which was because he had seen Gaara save you from that rubble and let you run off.

Though, the Raikage quickly filled blanks in his mind and settled for Sasuke being the route of all his problems.

Sasuke had forgotten that Shisui had ever been with him, fighting against the Raikage, and as well as the Mizukage.

Even half of the Leaf village forgot an important part of their history in that moment. The first and second hokage a fuzzy memory despite all they had done for the village. For a few minutes in time, their memories had run blank—foggy, at that. It was a few seconds, shared collectively by an entire village. A strange sense of longing. A strange sense of longing because they knew that there was something they were forgetting. Something important to leave such a blank spot in their mind, yet they couldn't remember.

The strange feeling only left them a moment later when you had sat up with a gasp, using your hands to lift you up and become aware of your surroundings once more.

Neji had been squinting up at the sky as Sakura had been going on about something and her feelings toward Naruto. Which Neji had figured was fake, but he couldn't care less about that. He looked toward Lee, who seemed to believe the confession even less.

"Did you feel that, Lee?" He asked calmly, not wanting to draw any attention away from the situation at hand. Though, those two were already standing off to the side, he deemed it an appropriate distance to ask the question in mind.

Lee looked toward his teammate, nodding his head. "Yes. For a second, I nearly forgot why I was here at all... It felt I had only been assigned the position instead of following for [Firstname]."

Neji agreed with that sentiment. "I felt I wasn't supposed to be here at all. It's strange we both felt a similar feeling at the same time." He uttered, eyes narrowing slightly as he thought of it. "We shouldn't be wasting any more time just standing here. "If we're to gain the Raikage's forgiveness, we need to find [Firstname] first. Reviving the 8 tail Jinchuuriki is the only way to possibly mend the relation between the Leaf and Cloud... The tension between our Villages has already been palpable before-hand, but this could lead to a war between countries."