To never lose anyone again

Neji Hyuga's words made Sasuke instinctively release his grip on the other boy's collar and stumble back a few steps in a daze.

"Do you understand now, Sasuke Uchiha? We've both experienced loss. I understand you. I said you were luckier than me because, back then, I didn't even have the possibility of revenge." Neji had revealed the secret buried deepest in his heart, and now Sasuke felt the weight of it as though it were his own.

"I, I didn't kno... huh? Back then?"

Just as guilt and remorse threatened to overwhelm Sasuke's expression, he caught a crucial phrase in Neji's words.

"Yes. Back before I met Naruto Uzumaki." Neji wound the bandages back around his forehead, covering the Caged Bird Seal, and looked into Sasuke's eyes as he spoke softly. "After our first fight at school... or rather, after he beat me one-sidedly, he came to apologize to me at the hospital. That idiot. Who beats someone that badly, then turns around and chats with them like they're friends...? Anyway, he asked me why I hated Hinata and the Main Family so much. Then he learned about this Caged Bird Seal. Do you know what he said to me?"

"What?"

"'And here I thought it was something serious. It's just a really complicated Sealing Jutsu.'" Neji repeated Naruto's words from the hospital exactly, remembering that warm, confident smile. "'I can't fully understand how this Sealing Jutsu works yet. But that's fine. As long as I get strong enough, I'll find a way to break it!'"

Sasuke could picture Naruto's face perfectly. Before his eyes appeared that blond boy's smug, conceited, yet undeniably impressive expression.

"What I saw as 'fate' was nothing more than a jutsu that could eventually be broken to someone a year younger than me." Neji