Chapter ONE!

Kakashi-sensei had said that they were going to be let off early today because of the sudden thunderstorm that occurred. The team was dismissed as Naruto walked home alone while the rest of his team ran. He felt neglected by his teammates still, Sakura always wanted to follow Sasuke, and Sasuke always wanted to stay as far away as possible from his teammates, it was weird.

There was an intersection between his house and the forest, where Naruto often trained in isolation from everyone else. He brushed away his soaked hair, looking at his apartment, and the forest. The forest called for him to train within its trees, and Naruto obliged.

"Damn it, a little bit of rain doesn't scare me!" He said, invigorated by his own words, tightening his forehead protector. "A little water doesn't scare me!" But in fact, it was a lot of water. It was pouring.

He nodded, placing his kunai in his mouth, biting down as he ran toward the forest. It was raining and his jacket was soaked, so he unzipped it and carried it with him as he ran into the forest. The leaves semi-protected him from the rain, and he took off his under-shirt believing he was alone.

"Alright, now... KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" And four clones appeared; his chakra split four-ways evenly amongst them. They smiled at each other, thunder sounding in the background.

"You four know the drill, no kunai, no jutsu's. We use our fists, alright?" The real Naruto said, cracking his knuckles. Each of them smiled, as they all began fighting each other, all of them against him. One of them dived at him, and he easily tossed him aside but the other two landed a punch on his chest, sending him falling back into a tree. Naruto quickly pushed his chakra to his feet and began walking up the tree onto the strongest branch he could find, kicking off that and began running away. It was the thrill of the hunt, Naruto loved, and what made him love it even more was the fact that he was the prey, that he needed to be concise in his actions.

He landed on the floor, looking around him.

"To become Hokage, you must be able to think of quick strategies in different types of environments or weather," Naruto thought to himself, his ears keen hoping to hear the slightest sound. He kept spinning around, thinking of an idea. He could maybe set a trap, an explosive seal somewhere or maybe ambush. He would strain his mind, but a slight rustling sound caught his attention.

"To find me so early," Naruto said, raising his fists in a defensive stance. The rustling grew closer, and closer, and his ambition growing and growing until a figure appeared out of a bush. He didn't think to see who it was, diving at it with his fist cocked back ready to punch it.

When he came visible to seeing who it was, it wasn't his clone, no; it was none other then the girl on Thick-brows team, Tenten! Naruto tried to stop himself, but the slippery grass made him pick up speed and soon enough he ran into her making a loud sound for the clones to track where he was.

"Ow, my head..." Naruto said, opening his eyes to find himself on top of Tenten. "Oh, sorry," he said quickly, pushing himself up, and then helped her get up too.

The Clones dropped by, but Naruto canceled the jutsu making them disappear and the chakra he shared with them returned to him. Tenten wiped her brow, and smirked.

"You're that Naruto-kid, right?"

"Yeah, Uzumaki Naruto," he said nervously. He was quite embarrassed that he just ran into her thinking she was an enemy.

"I'm Tenten, if I didn't tell you so already... And what are you doing in the forest, without a shirt? Don't you know you're going to catch a cold?"

Naruto had completely forgotten about this, looking down at his chest and then looking up giving off a embarrassed smile.

"My training got cut short because of the excessive rain, so, I decided to train!" He said confidently, and it made Tenten giggle. "W-what, Why are you laughing? I'm serious!"

"It's not that, not a lot of kids like you go out of their way to finish their training. It just amazes me that some people still exist that like to push themselves to the limit."

Naruto gave off a wide grin, he wasn't sure if he was being complimented or not, but he was pretty sure it was a compliment.

"Hey-hey, what are -YOU- doing in the forest, in the rain?" He gave off a suspicious look at Tenten, pointing at her.

"Same as you, training, you see, at the Chuunin exams I was defeated miserably by that Temari. I couldn't land one of my shurikens or kunai's on her, so, I am trying to make it that the strongest of wind, water, or snow cannot divert my aim or stop it from hitting my target."

Naruto recalled Tenten sparring Temari at the Chuunin exams, and how her fan just blew away her spiked utensils away. He acknowledged the fact that she trained hard, and respected her as a shinobi.

"I don't think the rain's going to stop anytime soon, though." Tenten said, "So let's get out of here." She linked her arm with his as they started out of the forest. Naruto blushed at his sudden action, but walked alongside with it coolly as if he didn't notice.

And Tenten couldn't get out of Naruto's head, he was sure that he had to go meet her somewhere again. He had too, or else she will haunt him to death. Maybe it was just a recent crush? Who knew, for sure Naruto didn't. But you never know, there is always something new ... Tomorrow!

A/N - This progressed the story-line between Tenten and Naruto very little. More to come next chapter!