Behind the Scenes

Chapter 1: The Mission

"Alright I have a C-rank mission for you…" started the Fifth Hokage.

"Shouldn't we wait for Tenten-chan?" interjected Lee. The three males of Team Gai were in Hokage's office. It was early morning; the sun had just risen under an hour ago. (This is a month before Naruto left for his trip with Jiraiya so they are still 13 year old Genin.)

"No. Tenten-san will not be joining you. In fact you are not to inform her of this mission at all…" Tsunade tried again, but was cut off again.

"She will notice when we aren't here tomorrow or the day after that. She's not stupid. She'll be able to put two and two together. I'm not sure if you're aware, but Sakura has nothing on Tenten when she gets mad." said Neji.

"Your mission…" Tsunade said in an annoyed tone, "is to infiltrate a group in Konoha known as the Konoha Underground. Apparently it's where people bet on fights. There have been a few reports of it before, but we recently rescued a boy from some thugs who mentioned something about it. We were able to get a location on where it is from him but he wouldn't say anything more. You are to go in, figure out what is going on, who is in charge, and report all your findings back to me. It will take you at least two weeks to acquire all the information I need. This is pure reconnaissance. Do not use force unless you think it is required. Any questions?"

"Why is Tenten to be excluded, but your letting Lee and Gai-sensei on a simple reconnaissance mission? They're not exactly the best choices for blending in." asked Neji.

"Lee! Gai! For this mission you must abandon your (insert shudder) spandex. That's and Order!" Tsunade shouted.

"Nooooooo! SPANDEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Lee and Gai together as they fell to their knees.

Completely ignoring them, Tsunade continued, "As for why Tenten is too not be informed of this, the less that know about it, the better. I need her on stand by for other missions. The information you'll need and what you need to find out is in this file. NOW GO!" shouted Tsunade as she threw a file at Neji, who caught it with ease, and Shizune ushered them out murmuring 'Gomen'.

"We are to go the Midori Bar tonight and go down the stairwell in the back. There's supposed to be an underground room. That's where the fighting takes place. We are acting as gamblers, new to the Underground." said Neji as he read the file and walked out of the Hokage's office with the two crying Green Beasts.

"I have training with Tenten, I'll meet you at the Hyuuga Manor at 8:00pm." said Neji as he walked away.

"Hey Neji! You're late, do you have a mission?" asked Tenten as she saw Neji approaching.

"Hn. No. Let's just start training." said Neji as he dropped into his fighting stance.

Tenten stared at him for a moment with a confused and a somewhat suspicious look on her face. Neji thought she was going to accuse him of lying or ask another question, but then ten kunai were heading his way and Tenten 'poofed' and was replaced by a log. The spar began.

They sparred all day with only a break for lunch. Finally, an hour after the sun set, Tenten stopped throwing her weapons and appeared ten yards in front of Neji, signaling him to stop.

"Come on Neji that's enough for today. I have something I have to do tonight anyway." said Tenten as she snapped her fingers, making all her discarded weapons return to her scrolls.

"Hn. Fine, Hiashi-sama needs me for something tonight anyway." Neji lied as he dropped out of his stance and started to pack up his own weapons. He looked up from picking up his last weapon to see Tenten giving him the same look she had been giving him before, but then she just shrugged and walked off.

"See you tomorrow Neji!" called Tenten over her shoulder.

And with that Neji walked to the Hyuuga manor to get ready for his mission, only to find Gai and Lee there already there waiting, wearing normal clothing OVER their (**shudder**) spandex.

Neji and Gai did the Henge no Jutsu (cuz lets be honest, a Hyuuga & one of the 2 Green Beasts of Konoha are kind of hard to miss when alone, never mind together) and the three made there way to the bar.

It was really easy to get in. They walked to the back of the bar, went behind the curtain of doorway, Neji gave the guard some money and they were in. It was a giant room with another bar on one side, a few tables around the room, and a huge fighting cage in the center of the room. The cage itself looked about 25ft by 25ft by 10ft square. There were two doors on opposite sides of the cage where people could get in and out. There was also a section on the third side of the cage that looked like a caged hallway that led to the wall. Neji took a quick look with his Byakugan as they walked in and realized that the wall was actually a mechanical door that opened to let in what looked like wild animals.

Against one wall, near the largest table, were children and teenagers lined up. Some of the younger one's were crying or huddled together. Most were around some figure dressed in black clothing, a mask covering their face. They seemed to be comforting the children.

They walked over to the largest table, where people were placing their bets. Apparently there were human vs. human fights as well as human vs. animal fights. The major fight seemed to be Dark Panda vs. some animal. There were at least 25 other fights though, but surprisingly most of them were Dark Panda vs. someone or something.

Some guy came over to the group and introduced himself as Tasuke.

"I see you're new here. Let me show you the ropes. The only rules here are: pay up, don't beat or threaten the children, and of course, don't talk about this to anyone outside of the organization unless you're sure they can be trusted. The kids against the wall are the one's who come here to fight. They fight, we place bets, they get 23 percent of the profit if they win and Zannen-sama gets the other 22 percent. You win you get 55 percent. That's pretty much it." Tasuke said as he showed them how to place their bets. Then he left them to do as they wished.

Everyone seemed to be betting Dark Panda, so team Gai did the same for one of the lesser fights and took a seat at a table in the corner of the room.

"Let's just watch tonight, see how things work here." whispered Gai to Neji and Lee. They just nodded. Then a voice came over the loud speaker.

"Alright luck gamblers; it's time for tonight's fights to start! This is where you place your last minute bets." When the betting table was cleared, he continued, "Alright! Our first fight is everybody's favorite Dark Panda vs. Kai (shell)!"

Two figures stepped in to cage. One was one of the older kids that they had seen against the wall. She looked about 13. The other was the masked figure that had been comforting the younger children. Neji could see (without his Byakugan) that the two were girls, both in black sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt (like Kakashi's shirt). Kai's shirt was a dark blue but Dark Panda's was white. They both wore masks, similar to those of ANBU but these only covered their noses and eyes, leaving there mouths and jaws exposed. Dark Panda's mask was one of a panda and Kai's mask looked like one side of a scallop fanning down over her face.

"Alright girls you know the rules. No weapons or jutsu's. You keep fighting until one forfeits or if we stop the match. KO counts as a forfeit. Other than that, try not to kill each other. Remember your both here to make money, not to murder. START!" said the announcer.

The two girls circled for a minute, then pounced. Kick block, Punch duck. They fought with pure Taijutsu. I looked like Sakura and Ino's spar in the preliminaries of the Chuunin exams. Kai landed a punch to Panda's stomach, causing her to lean over, but as Kai went to kick and finish her off, Panda twisted, grabbed Kai's leg and flung her back into the wall of the cage. The drunken men around the cage were cheering, trying to provoke the girls.

Panda was over Kai in a second, holding her down, read to punch her light out. "Forfeit." she ordered. Kai complied and Panda released her. Some of the men booed but when Panda turned their way they immediately shut up.

"Alight Kai you lost. Panda, stay in there for your next match!" said the announcer.

Panda fought another ten matches with ten other kids, and won them all. There were other matches but they weren't as interesting to the audience.

"Time for the next part if our rounds! Bring out the animals!" shouted the announcer. His speech was a little slurred but not enough so that you couldn't tell what he was saying.

The door against the wall opened and a giant black cat, about four feet tall on all fours, walked into the cage. It looked like a panther.

"Now the main, and final match! Dark Panda vs. Neko!" said the announcer and the audience cheered.

Panda stepped into the cage and took her stance, she was panting slightly from her previous matches, but she seemed to have remarkable stamina. Neko immediately tried to jump on Panda, but Panda jumped to the left just in time. They did that for a minute. Neko trying to pounce, and Panda teasing the cat by just barely staying out of her reach. Then Neko tried to follow Panda when she dodged another of her attacks. Panda reached by jumping up on the wall of the cage and climbing to the top. The crowed roared with laughter.

Panda swung there a little bit, letting her legs hang. She looked like a monkey. Neko tried to jump and grab her legs, but again Panda teased her and kept her legs just out of reach from the large cat. Neko roared in annoyance. Then the cat did something no one had expected. It ran straight towards the side of the cage, turned and jumped onto the side of the cage, then sprung upward towards Panda. She managed to hit Panda with one of her claws, ripping her left pant leg and slicing her skin like it was butter. She dropped from the top of the cage, but she landed on her feet, wincing in the process.

By now the drunks around the cage were roaring with laughter and shouting. Neji had to restrain himself from kaiten'n their asses for being so inhumane. Gai and Lee were clearly upset with this display as well, but kept their cover.

"What's wrong Panda? Get outsmarted by that little kitty?" yelled one of the men on the table in front of them with laughter. His words were a little slurred.

Panda slowly turned there way and Neji, Lee, and Gai were shocked. Panda was giving off the biggest death aura that they had ever felt. It put the Uchiha and Hyuuga death aura's combined to shame. And it was pointed at that 'poor' drunken man who had spoken out.

Apparently the guys were sober enough to feel the aura because the guy who had called out to her immediately shut up along with everyone else on that side of the room. The guy stood up quickly, knocking over his chair, bowed in apology to Panda and ran over to the wall where the other children were huddled together. He gave three of the children something, bowed to them as well and then went to the farthest possible corner from the kids and the cage.

Panda's aura of death died down and she turned back to Neko, who looked like she was keeping her weight off her left front paw. It looks like she hurt it in the fall when she had hurt Panda.

Panda herself wasn't looking to good. Her leg was bleeding profoundly and she was breathing heavily. But she didn't show any signs of backing down. She got in her fighting stance along with Neko. They charged, and the just before they hit each other head on, panda jumped and landed harshly on Neko's back.

Neko growled in pain as she hit the floor hard. She tried to stand up but Panda sent a harsh punch to the back of her head and knocked her out. The drunks roared as Panda jumped off the unconscious cats back.

Two guys ran into the cage, one to Panda and the other to the cat. Panda waved off the man tending to her and started to wrap her own leg with the wrappings he had given her. When she was done she walked over to the cat and leaned over it. She seemed to be talking to the man tending to the animals wounds.

"So how'd you enjoy the fights?"

Neji, Lee, and Gai all turned from watching what was going on inside the cage to see Tasuke standing next to them. Surprisingly he didn't appear drunk.

"It was very interesting. Though there were a few things I still don't understand…" Gai started.

Tasuke nodded. "What do you want to know? I have been ordered to answer all your questions and give you any information you want."

"Ordered? By whom?" asked Neji curiously. "Have we been caught?"

"The head-honcho herself. Seems Panda took a noticing to you. She likes to show all new comers who are serious about this what it's really all about. Why she trusts you so quickly without even talking to you, I have no idea. Maybe it's because you're the first gamblers to ever come in here and not get drunk, but hey what ever. Point is, anything you want to know just ask Me." explained Tasuke. He didn't seem to be annoyed by doing this, but he didn't seem to enthusiastic either.

"What happened with the guy?" asked Lee suddenly.

Tasuke laughed, "You mean Hin (yes his name is poverty)? He's a regular here and should know by now to keep his mouth shut. He's the one who found out the hard way that the only way to get Panda to NOT kick your sorry ass is if you give money to the non-fighting children." he said pointing towards the wall where the little kids had been standing. They were all gone now along with all the other fighters. "You might want to keep that in mind in case you ever get on her bad side. Word around is that Panda is actually a ninja. I'd certainly believe it by the way she fights. She's kicks guys asses who were 10 times her size without breaking a sweat."

"I see…" said Gai with a frown.

"You said non-fighting children? Why do kids come here if they're not going to fight?" asked Lee with genuine curiosity.

Tasuke just looked at the three of them like they were stupid. "You really don't know anything about this operation do you? They come here for the money. They're poor and this is the best way. The come here and beg for money and will sometimes help out around the bar for a few coins." Tasuke explain like he was saying 'the sky is blue'.

Neji and Lee just nodded showing they understood.

"Arigato, Tasuke-san. We'll let you know if we need any more help or information." Gai said as the three of them left the bar.

Since it was 2am they decided to wait and report to the Hokage in the morning. They each went their separate ways home, and went to bed.