Hello everyone. This is my first fanfic so I really hope that you all like it. . I got my friend halfdemon-kai to type it up for me, so if there are any spelling errors, then you can blame her for it. . Lol. Please enjoy!

Fate's Calling

Teamwork: Males vs. Females

Hinata walked quietly through the forest. It was a clear crisp morning. Hinata loved the morning, especially days like this. She loved it. Yet, many of the other females on her team weren't thrilled at all. Both the teams had been forced to stay out in the forest all night. This was due to the fact that neither the girls' team nor the guys' team had managed to steal each others flag yet. Hinata and her friends were excited and thrilled at the idea of this fun challenge, but the many other girls that had to take the challenge complained, and complained… and complained. It was clear to Hinata that the idea of sleeping outside and the bugs didn't thrill them.

Hinata quickly forced her chakra to her eyes and called upon her byakugan when hearing a sound off to the side. She quickly dismissed her talented eyes however when Tenten, one of her most trusted friends, the weapons mistress stepped out to greet her.

"Hey there Hinata," Tenten said cheerfully while trotting up to her, "did you sleep well?"

Hinata nodded and smiled at her friend.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," she said quietly but happily.

Tenten nodded in approval at her friend's positive attitude.

"Well I'm glad you slept well," Tenten mumbled and her shoulders slumped, "I was kept up all night by those girly crybabies!" Tenten finished with a slight scowl on her face and she crossed her arms.

Hinata gave her friend a sympathetic smile and pat on the back. Tenten returned the smile and looked around she spoke a moment later.

"Well I guess we shouldn't stand out in the open like this," she laughed.

Hinata nodded at her friend's thinking and started off, Tenten right behind. Then after a few minutes of stealth, they settled into a large tree comfortably. Tenten was the first to speak.

"See anything?" she asked Hinata, for Hinata had her 'all-seeing' eyes activated for extra safety.

"Nothing that I can see," she murmured while continuing to look around.

Tenten started to rise, but Hinata halted her with a sudden word.

"Wait," Hinata said to the weapons mistress and Tenten quickly settles back down beside her friend.

"What is it?" Tenten asked hastily, eager for action.

Hinata squinted harder at the weird sight in the distance. Noticing Hinata's perplexed facial expression, Tenten asked the question again while poking her friend slightly.

"Hinata, what do you see?" she asked excitedly.

This time she got a reply.

"I-I'm not sure," the blue haired girl answered, but realizing this wasn't a satisfactory answer, she continued, "There's a lot going on there," she said while turning to meet her friend's gaze, "I-I think I just saw a llama… Naruto is there too," she said and smiled slightly.

Tenten smirked when seeing Hinata's small smile, she quickly hid it though because she didn't want her friend to feel uncomfortable. She continued her train of thought until it came to the weird part of Hinata's words.

"… A llama?" Tenten asked her friend with an incredulous expression.

Tenten stood up and glanced off into the distance while speaking.

"So I guess we should check it out," she said with a final tone that told Hinata that she was going to see what the commotion was about, and possibly settle it.

Hinata rose to her feet and was about to take off in that direction, but Tenten halted her by resting a hand on the shy girl's shoulder.

"Don't forget Hinata," Tenten started, "Naruto is on the other team, so if you get the chance… rip off his flag," she said while patting the blue cloth of her own flag that was at her waist.

Hinata nodded to her friend and lowered her gaze. Of course that was the whole point of the game, steal your opponent's flag. That makes them captured and basically useless to the team. The fewer challengers, the easier it is to steal the team flag of the opposite team. The teams were evenly matched though, and neither team had had their flag stolen yet.

Though truthfully Hinata was nervous. Sakura had informed her no too long ago that many on the other team were searching for the shy byakugan user. Hinata was the warning bell for the females' team. Without Hinata's eyes, there was no one to warn her teammates if someone was close to the flag. Likewise, Neji was the alarm system for the males' team, and certainly none of Hinata's team wanted to venture near him, except perhaps Tenten. Hinata had no doubt that he wouldn't attack Tenten. They had been teammates for years now and Tenten was really the only person Neji tolerated, even respected.

Hinata quickly picked up her pace for she realized she was falling behind the weapon mistress. After a few uneventful moments of running swiftly and quietly, the pair of females slowed their pace as they neared the appointed spot.

With great stealth, they crawled into the bushes and watched the scenario before them. They both jumped slightly when someone, a female, cried out.

"Earth style, llama pursuit jutsu!"

And before they could comprehend what had just happened, a big fluffy llama ran across their line of vision. They both watched wide eyes and shocked as the llama chased Naruto up a tree.

"Hey you stupid llama!" Naruto yelled while shaking his fist, "stop trying to eat my flag!"

When the llama finally gave up on trying to climb Naruto's tree, it slowly waded over to a bush – Tenten and Hinata's bush – and started munching. Hinata giggled quietly and shifted slightly so the llama wouldn't chew her hair, even going so far as to pat the beast's nose. She turned to Tenten and noticed the dark expression on her face.

"Um, T-Tenten, what's wro…?" but she was cut off by Tenten's words.

"I HATE llamas!" she cried and she pulled out a shuriken and chucked the weapon an inch about the terrified animal's head.

"Scram!" she cried, angry and annoyed and the horrified llama leaped away, back in the direction it came.

Tenten turned back to her.

"Well that was annoying," Tenten said turning to Hinata.

Hinata smiled, but her expression quickly faded when she noticed the silhouette of a person behind her friend, and she cried out loud.

"Tenten look out!" Hinata yelled (well tried to yell, for her voice was rather soft) and she dug her feet into the ground and sprung up out of the bush to protect her vulnerable friend's back.

To her credit, her body interrupted her attacker and she quickly moved into action to block the half-hearted kick at her opponents face and gasped as she looked upon the face of Sasuke Uchiha. Their eyes met for a moment but he quickly went back to the task at hand as he reached for her flag, her life in the game. Because of simple panic, she forced her chakra into a steady flow to her feet and used Sasuke to push off. Sasuke landed and sprung lightning fast at her but his attempt was in vain because suddenly a barrage of shuriken and kunai were sent flying at him. He had to retreat a couple of steps.

Hinata landed safely, with her flag still at her his. She glanced gratefully at Tenten who in return, gave her a thankful nod. Sasuke, realizing it would be hard pressed against a short range melee fighter, and a long ranged weapon master, called out…

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke said lazily, "Why don't you come down from that tree of yours and make yourself useful instead of hiding?" Sasuke inquired as he put his hands into his pockets and waited.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke and glared.

"Well maybe I don't wanna help you!" Naruto said while sticking an accusing finger in Sasuke's direction.

"Besides you would just get in my way, like always," Naruto said in exasperation as he waved his arms around.

"Well I suggest you get over it you idiot, or you can just say goodbye to that ramen Iruka sensei promised to buy the winning team," Sasuke said as he absentmindedly kicked the leaves on the ground.

Naruto's eye twitched at Sasuke's words. He would do anything for ramen.

"Alright, alright," Naruto yelled as he turned around from his back-to-Sasuke position, "but don't think this changes anything!"

Through the whole argument, Hinata and Tenten watched and listened incredulously. The two of them could have just walked away and the two guys wouldn't have even noticed. Well, Naruto wouldn't have noticed…

Happy to have some backup now, Sasuke came on confidently and strong. Using his fast movement, Sasuke leaped over Hinata and ran straight at Tenten. But the weapon mistress yanked on a string from the previous confrontation and sent a shuriken at Sasuke. He quickly deflected it though, with his own weapon and continued on, moving swiftly. Gritting her teeth, Tenten pulled out a senbon and held it at the ready. He moved closer and Tenten pretended to drop the senbon accidentally at her feet. Bending down quickly, she fumbled with the senbon at her feet and glanced up suddenly with wide eyes as Sasuke crashed headlong into her. Quickly he snapped out his arm and yanked Tenten's flag from her waist. He smirked in triumph as he quickly leaped away, but as he did so, his eyes narrowed as Tenten's body transformed into a shuriken and hurled it self at him. He was hard pressed at the moment. He was so busy trying to dodge the counter-attacking shuriken that he couldn't tell where the weapons mistress was. Obviously the shuriken was being controlled by the skilled ninja.

"Naruto, you idiot, come out and fight!" Sasuke shouted as the crazed shuriken nearly missed his foot.

On cue, another shuriken crashed through the forest and intersected the first one. Naruto then landed a few steps away from Sasuke.

"'Bout time," Sasuke mumbled as he watched the flag in his hand turn into a scrap of paper. He slowly opened it and his eye twitched when he read it.

It read:

Haha – signed Tenten

Beside him, Naruto burst out laughing.

"She almost cut your head off!" Naruto laughed loudly while holding his stomach.

"If you don't shut up Naruto, I'm going to cut YOUR head off," Sasuke threatened while glancing around to locate the females.

But Naruto saw it was an empty threat and kept his laughing going.

"You just got your butt kicked by a girl!"

"Naruto," Sasuke cut him off suddenly, "where is Hinata?" he said this while turning threateningly to Naruto.

Naruto stopped his laughing suddenly and put his fist under his chin to think.

"You lost her?!" Sasuke shouted and he took a threatening step toward the blond.

"Well I would have got her if you hadn't been so lame in your battle with Tenten. I had to run all the way back to save you!" Naruto said in his squeaky voice as he pointed at the now still shuriken – Tenten's shuriken – lying on the ground.

Sasuke was about to retort but an annoyed and frustrated voice of Tenten suddenly cut him off.

"Hey you two," Tenten said from somewhere in the trees, "why don't you both stop your argument and work together, because we are going to show you what real teamwork looks like!" Tenten yelled with confidence.

A moment later Hinata, with her byakugan activated ran headlong at the two with super fast movements. Naruto took a couple steps back at seeing the swift and agile female ninja.

Sasuke was also surprised. It had been some time since he had seen a ninja move so fast. Hinata had become a lot stronger he realized, and perhaps a bit less nervous.

"Naruto!" he called quickly before Hinata was upon him, "Go after Tenten!" and before Naruto could retort, Sasuke flung himself at Hinata, eager to see how much strong the blue haired ninja had become.

Sasuke watched from the corner of his eye as Naruto disappeared into the forest and he secretly thanked him for not arguing this time. He knocked away a palm heel strike that Hinata sent at him and returned the strike with a deceptive low kick. But Hinata leaped over the kick in an instant and landed a safe distance away.

"You have gotten stronger I've noticed," the Uchiha said seriously before coming in hard.

He went into a flurry of motion, kicking and punching at the same time. But Hinata ducked or leaped over the kicks and met his punches with blocks. Each continued to make random grabs at the other flag when the opportunity presented itself but neither managed a firm hold.

Tenten watched the duel from her safe spot in the tree nearby. She was seriously shocked by the progress her friend had made in her fighting skills. She could keep up with Sasuke's movements! Tenten watched in awe at the sheer speed of their fight. Pulling out a kunai, she watched and thought. She didn't know if Hinata would need help, but she quickly held her kunai at the ready if the opportunity was to present itself. The brunette realized her chance when she saw Hinata trip slightly due to the uneven ground behind her and the weapon mistress wasted no time in flinging her kunai to Hinata's aid.

Sasuke went in for the final grab for the female ninja's flag but scowled and dove to the side when a kunai was flung from the trees. Hinata quickly stood up.

"Good aim she has," Sasuke said with a smirk as she glanced at the ground where the kunai was sticking out, right where he had been standing seconds ago.

At his words, Hinata just smiled and nodded.

End of Chapter 1

Well that's that chapter. . I really apologize for any mistakes halfdemon-kai made in typing this. Lol. Corrections will be made, but I'm not sure when. Lol. Hope you enjoyed my first chapter. . Please R&R and I hope that halfdemon-kai will update the second chapter soon.