Author: aFigureOfSpeech

Title: Conflicting Chaos – Chapter 2

Word Count: 2,756

Pairing: NejixSakuraxKiba

Rating: T (for mild swearing, some suggestive situations, minor alcohol)

Summary: When Naruto manages to get Neji mad at him, Sakura helps Naruto, but in the process she hurts Neji's pride. Now he's out for revenge, but it may not turn out how he expected. Especially when Tsunade has plans of her own and Kiba's not going down without a fight. NejiSakuKiba

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. I'm only a little bitter about it.


Chapter 2: When Tsunade Gets Involved

Tsunade sighed as she watched her pink-haired apprentice leave after reporting in at the end of her shift. 'I can't believe that girl is still single,' she thought. When she was 17, she'd lost track of how many boys she'd dated. She could have gotten any guy she wanted. Sakura could, too, if she wanted. Hell, the girl was gorgeous. She turned heads wherever she went, and it's not like there was a shortage of guys who would be very willing to go out with her. But she just wasn't interested. Tsunade sighed again. That was part of the problem. Sakura didn't want a boyfriend. Ever since that damn Uchiha brat let, she hadn't seemed to care about anyone else like that. Tsunade knew that Sakura had gotten over the boy, but after such a traumatic first love she just didn't want to be hurt like that again, to have her heart broken again. Not that the Hokage blamed her, but she was so cautious she didn't give anyone a try.

Tsunade began to fiddle with the papers on her desk. 'The other problem is Naruto,' she thought. That boy was excessively over-protective of Sakura. If any other guy so mach as looked at her in a way he didn't like, he'd be at their throats. Of course, plenty of those guys were bastards anyways, so it may have been a good thing at times, but Sakura would never get a boyfriend if none of the good guys were even given a chance. She looked down at her desk and sighed again, this time for a different reason. 'I hate paperwork. I'd much rather be getting Sakura-chan a boyfriend…' Tsunade froze. 'Yes, a boyfriend,' she thought. 'If Sakura won't get herself one, I'll just have to help her find one.'

A slow grin was spreading across the Hokage's face. She rummaged through her papers, looking for a blank piece. Finding one she got to work. She quickly wrote down all the ninja around Sakura's age. When she finished, she began to cross out the unlikely candidates. Uzumaki Naruto – no, he was too close to Sakura. What had started as Sakura hating his guts and Naruto crushing on her had turned into a brother-sister relationship. Besides, if she was as well-informed as she thought she was, Naruto was currently interested in Hyuuga Hinata. 'Hmmm…' she thought, 'I might have to look into that later.' Next was Nara Shikamaru – nope, he was already taken, by Yamanaka Ino, if she remembered correctly. Akimichi Choji – not likely. Aburame Shino – same. Rock Lee – oh, gods no, she couldn't do that to poor Sakura. That particular boy may have been head-over-heals for her, and Sakura may have grown somewhat fond of him, but she had never liked him the way he liked her. Plus, if he was as much like his Master Gai as he seemed, well…Tsunade wasn't that evil.

Hmmm…that left Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Neji. Inuzuka was the most likely of the two, although…it could be fun to mess with the Hyuuga. She would have to check in on both of them to see what they thought of Konoha's top medic-nin (under herself, of course). Then again, maybe she would just talk to one of Neji's teammates. It would be hard to approach him on a subject like that and get the desired results. That Tenten girl might do it. Still, it would be easier just to start with Kiba.

Sending a summons out to the Inuzuka, the Godaime sat back and waited.

……………………

She didn't have to wait long. Kiba soon came, but with him was an unexpected (and uninvited) guest. "What are you doing here, Naruto?" she said. "I specifically asked for Inuzuka here, not you!"

"But Tsunade-baachan, I want to tell you about something!" Naruto told her. He promptly had an unfortunate incident involving his face and one of Tsunade's fists.

"Owww!" Naruto complained. "What was that for?!"

"It's Tsunade-sama to you, idiot." She turned to Kiba. "What do you know about Haruno Sakura?"

When she said this, both boys looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

"What?!" Tsunade demanded. "What's so funny?!"

Unfortunately, neither of them was able to answer her. They were to busy clutching their stomachs from laughing. Naruto almost fell over.

"Well," began Kiba, when he was finally able to talk, "I know she just recently left a certain Hyuuga speechless."

"That's what I wanted to tell you about," Naruto added. They glanced at each other and both went back into fits of laughter.

"What!?" she practically yelled. "You mean Hyuuga Neji? The Hyuuga Neji!? How did she do that?!" This was unexpected, to say the least...but definitely worth some investigation.

"Well," started Naruto (still chuckling to himself), "Neji was pissed at me because I had just said I liked Hinata-chan and wanted to ask her out."

'I was right. He does like Hinata.' thought Tsunade.

"He had just knocked Naruto into a wall when we found them," added Kiba.

"We?" asked Tsunade.

"Sakura and me." Kiba told her.

"And what were you doing with Sakura-chan?" Tsunade asked him, interested. Maybe there was something there.

"We had run into each other and started talking. Anyway, Akamaru smelled Neji's angry charka, and went to investigate. We followed him, and when Sakura saw what was going on, she went and stood between him and Naruto, and told Neji to stop."

"Well," said Tsunade.

"Uh-huh," said Naruto. "Neji actually stopped, too! Then, when she asked why Neji was so angry, and I told I had said I wanted to ask out Hinata-chan, he said that it wasn't any of her business, one way or the other. That sure pissed Sakura-chan off quick!" Naruto shuddered at the thought of the angry Sakura.

"She told him that it was her business," Kiba continued for him, "since Naruto is like a brother to her and Hinata-chan is one of her best friends. She told him that Naruto would never intentionally hurt Hinata-chan. Then she told him off, and that he may be her cousin, but that didn't mean he had the right to keep her from being happy, 'no matter how good his intensions were.'" Tsunade though she heard some admiration in his voice.

Naruto gleefully added his favorite part, "After that, he opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. He actually didn't know what to say! Sakura-chan is so awesome!" He punched the air. Naruto definitely had some admiration in his voice.

Tsunade sat back in her chair. "Wow," she said. "I knew that Sakura was tough, but I never knew that she could do that. I mean, this is Hyuuga Neji we're talking about. No one says stuff like that to him without getting severely hurt." A sudden thought occurred to her. "He didn't hurt her or anything, did he?"

"No, he just stalked off," said Kiba.

"Good, because I would have hurt him if he had." Tsunade smiled. This was perfect. She might not even need to talk to Tenten. "Alright, boys, you can leave. And thank you, you've both helped me make a very important decision."

They looked at each other in confusion. "We have?" asked Kiba.

"How?" asked Naruto.

"Don't worry," Tsunade told them with a grin, "you'll find out soon enough."

……………………

The fifth Hokage looked at her list again after Kiba and Naruto had left. Yes, she would work on both Kiba and Neji. It was apparent that Sakura had left quite the impression on Kiba. Hell, anyone would have after seeing her tell off Neji. Even Neji would have to admit that took some guts. She snickered. Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

Now, she would have to figure out how to get the three of them together. 'I could send them on a mission' she thought. 'Yes, a nice long mission together. If they have to spend time with each other, one of them will no doubt fall for her. The problem would be getting Sakura to fall for one of them.' Well, she would deal with that, if such a thing happened. Which she doubted. She knew from experience that you tend to learn to like, or at least get along with, the people you were stuck with. Just look at Sakura. She didn't hate Naruto's guts anymore, after being stuck with him for years. Besides, her plans were too perfect not to work.

'Hmmm…I can't leave Sakura-chan alone with those two, though,' she thought. 'Not that she can't take of herself or anything, but she'll need some feminine support for any emotional crisis that may come along.' Tsunade searched her mind for possible candidates for the position. 'Hinata will work. Not only is she Neji's cousin, but she's also Kiba's teammate. She'll know how to handle both of them.' The Godaime was then struck with another brilliant thought. 'And if I send Naruto with them, I could kill two birds with one stone. Although it might complicate things a little, what with Neji and Naruto being their over-protective selves. Ah well, they'll work it out.' She paused. She'd better send someone who was not going to be psychologically distressed at one point or another. Tenten would probably work. She was friends with Sakura and Hinata, not to mention Neji's teammate.

Tsunade, with a self-satisfied smile, leaned back into her chair. Now all she needed to do was choose which mission to send the six of them (or seven, if you wanted to include Akamaru) on. Her only regret was not being there to see her plans unfold. Maybe she would inform Tenten of her scheme, so the girl would know and be able to give her blow-by-blow details of all her hard work. A small voice told her that it wasn't really any of her business whether Sakura was single or not, but Tsunade was having much too much fun playing matchmaker to listen to that particular very, very, very small voice. Yes, this was much better than paperwork! Her apprentice was going to be happy whether she wanted to be or not!

……………………

Neji was annoyed. Some little person had dared to interrupt him while he was plotting, just to tell him that the Hokage wanted to talk with him. Didn't they know he was busy?! He growled, sufficiently scaring them off. With a slight smile, he went back to plotting his revenge against She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned. Now, if he just…wait…the Hokage wanted to talk with him!? "Damn!" he muttered as he raced to her office. He was still annoyed at being interrupted, but when the Hokage wanted to talk with you, you didn't tell her no.

……………………

The cosmoses were against him. Neji had reached Tsunade's office, only to find that Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, and Tenten were already there. Not only that, but the Hokage had actually told him, while smiling, that the six of them were going on a mission together. The six of them! It was a conspiracy, he just knew it, and Tsunade was at the center of it. She was honestly putting him with Sakura, the source of his problems! He would be stuck with her, and…

Neji paused in his mental rantings. Wait. He would be stuck with her, which meant that she would be stuck with him. This could work in his favor. It would be the perfect opportunity to finish and enact his master plan. And if he didn't go, Naruto would be alone (well, not alone, but he might as well be for all they'd try to stop him from whatever he would get up to) with Hinata. He was not about to let that happen. He would just have to deal with being within sight of them all.

……………………

Sakura regarded at her sensei suspiciously. She had learned over the years that Tsunade only smiled like that when she was enormously pleased with herself. What she was so pleased about, Sakura wasn't sure, but it usually involved her successfully sticking her nose into someone else's personal affairs. She was definitely up to something.

Her worst fears were confirmed when her teacher gave her that smile, the smile she smiled when she knew that you knew she was up to something, and she wanted to convince you otherwise. What exactly she was up to was hard to say, but it meant trouble for someone. Sakura had a bad feeling that that someone was in this room.

……………………

Kiba couldn't believe it. The Hokage had put Neji, Naruto, and Sakura on the same team, on the same mission. Neji was probably still pissed at Naruto for being "overly interested" in Hinata, and Sakura for stopping him from beating Naruto to a bloody pulp. Neji probably wasn't to too happy with him, either, for witnessing Sakura's verbal victory over him. Tsunade should know that. He had told her what had happened himself! Was she crazy?!

Then again, he would be on a mission with his old teammate, Hinata, again. They hadn't done that in a while. And he would get to spend some time with Sakura. He had been wanting to get to know her more, and had regretted not doing so before this. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

……………………

Naruto was excited. Tsunade had put him on a mission with Sakura and Hinata. Maybe he would finally get a chance to ask her out (after they got back from the mission, of course.) The only problem was Neji. He was coming, too, and probably wouldn't like it if he did that. Well, Neji would just have to deal with it. Naruto liked Hinata too much to let a little thing like Hyuuga Neji stop him.

……………………

Hinata was so excited. She was going to be on a mission with Naruto! And with Sakura, Kiba, Tenten, and Neji, too! This mission could be a lot of fun, with her friends. It had been a while since she had been on a mission with them, especially Kiba.

……………………

Tenten wasn't sure what exactly to think. She had a sneaking suspicion that Tsunade was up to something, what with that smile on her face. She looked far too happy with herself for someone telling her ninja, especially her favorite apprentice, that they were going on a potentially dangerous mission. Something more was going on than Tsunade was saying.

……………………

Tsunade smiled at the shinobi in front of her. They all just looked so thrilled. Well, maybe "thrilled" wasn't exactly accurate. Naruto and Hinata seemed okay, while Kiba appeared a bit nervous. Tenten was throwing her wary glances, Sakura was looking at her suspiciously (Tsunade gave her that smile, the especially sweet and innocent what-would-I-possibly-be-up-to? smile), and Neji…well, Neji just looked like he wanted to kill something (although Tsunade couldn't possibly imagine what), which, as she watched, turned to a slight grin.

That couldn't be good. She had better get him out of her office fast. Neji never went from a I-want-to-kill-something look to a smile. Hell, he never went from anything to a smile. He didn't smile, period. The only time he might was when he was either imagining or experiencing some sort of victory, which generally involved something somewhat unpleasant (for the other person, that is). 'Time to wrap things up,' she thought.

"Well, you all got that?" she said. "You'll be going on a reconnaissance mission. Your objective is to investigate the disturbances near the border. There has been suspicious activities going on, and I want you all to find out what. A warning to you all: we suspect it might be rouge ninja from Sound, preparing an attack. Remember, though, your objective is not to defeat them then and there." She gave Neji and Naruto an especially stern look as she said this. "Get an idea of what's actually going on, and possibly how many and how much of a threat it is. Then, return here so that we can prepare properly."

Tsunade looked around at all of them. "This is a direct order: do not fight unless absolutely necessary. If things look bad and they find you before completing the mission, pull back. I don't want to lose any of you, not now. Understand?" They all nodded, although Neji and Naruto looked a bit sullen. "Alright then. Neji, you are in charge. Tenten, you are second in command. Now, dismissed."

As they filed out, Tsunade called out one last thing, "Oh, Tenten, could you stay after for a moment?"


AN: Heh heh heh… This is going to be so much fun! Tsunade is getting involved, and she won't be satisfied until Sakura is no longer single (heh heh, oh the wonderful evilness of it all. Poor Sakura. She doesn't stand a chance.) Any guesses as to who it will be? Well, read on and just maybe you'll find out. (Hint-hint: I'm a sucker for love triangles.)