Chapter 3: Tenten, the Konoha ninja

Late after supper, Naruto and Takashi went into their tent for a night's rest. They were going to head out early tomorrow to find a trail to lead to the Water Country.

Sakura was heading inside also and asked Tenten, "Are you going to come in Keoko?"

"Umm…I'll just head in later." Sakura smiled at Tenten and went inside.

Tenten walked toward the campfire they all made together. She shouldn't have been surprised to see Neji there, but she was still slightly shocked. His hair was pulled out of the ponytail, so his hair trailed down to his back. She was glad to see he wasn't facing her. As Tenten was enjoying the sight of Neji, she crept quietly towards him before she stepped on a small branch.

-SNAP-

Neji whirled around to find Tenten in a funny position raising her left foot high above her shoulder. He raised one eyebrow before he turned back towards the fire.

"May I sit with you?"

"Hn." Neji simply said that word, but Tenten somehow knew it was a yes. She gracefully sat to the left of Neji. Her hands were in her lap and she stared at them intently as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"I saw you guys come from the Fire country, so do you know what this is?" Tenten pulled out a head protector with the Konoha symbol on it.

Neji's eyes widened slightly but simply replied, "That's the Konoha symbol." He plucked the head protector from her hand and traced his hand over the symbol. "I knew someone who disappeared and had a head protector like this." 'What am I saying? Anyone has a head protector.' Tenten didn't know this before she was entranced with the story.

"Who was this person?" Her brown eyes opened to its fullest.

Neji watched the crackling fire. The hues of orange and yellow mixed into a raging blaze. "Her name was Tenten. And she was my teammate."

Tenten was lost in thought as Neji spoke, "Hyuuga-san, could you tell me more?" Neji paused and looked at her hands. Tenten followed his eyes to find her hands on his thigh. Struck with pure embarrassment, Tenten began to turn red and looked away. "Sorry for my rudeness, I shall go now…" Tenten stood up, but Neji grabbed her wrist.

"Someone is watching." A kunai flew towards Neji but missed him by an inch. The kunai hit a tree, on the weapon was a piece of paper fluttering to the ground. "Byakugan!" Neji searched the woods to find no more form of charka anywhere. Tenten picked up the note. Neji saw it and pulled Tenten away. It was an exploding note! A bomb erupted from the note and the two flew towards ground. Tenten opened her eyes to see Neji on top of her. There was an awkward moment as the two stared into each other's eyes. But Neji felt something. Tenten was about to get up also but Neji put his hand on her shoulder.

"Stay down!" The explosion soon subsided, but then millions of kunai and shuriken flew from each direction. Neji formed a few hand signs and yelled, "Hakkensho Kaiten!" (A/N: Eight Trigram palms Heavenly Spin) Neji spun around creating a dome of charka that protected him and Tenten. Tenten watched in amazement as he was protecting her. As he finished the attack all the weapons lay around them. The whole campfire was blown out by the force and flames still enveloped the branches of neighboring trees.

Sakura raced out of the tents followed by Naruto and Takashi. "What happened?!"

Takashi saw Neji on top of Tenten's fragile body, and without a second thought, pulled Neji up and punched him. He went over to Tenten who looked mortified, "Keoko, are you ok?"

Tenten pushed Takashi away in disgust. "Takashi! How could you be so cruel?" Tenten crawled over to Neji, "You ok?" She touched Neji's headband which fell off. Tenten gasped at the familiar mark on his forehead, but covered it with her hand. Neji lay unconscious on the ground, his head rested on Tenten's lap. He had used too much charka so he lying quietly. Takashi walked away from the campsite quickly, but Naruto called out to him, "Oi! Takashi! Where are ya going?"

Takashi didn't look back, "I'm just going out for a walk." He ran deeper into the forest.

Sakura wondered, 'How does he run that fast? A normal person can't walk that fast unless they're…no. No way, he wasn't a ninja…was he?' She kept pondering at the thought but she shrugged it off and went to Neji's aid. She placed her hands on Neji's stomach and green charka pulsed from her hands into his body. "Keoko, watch over Neji as Naruto and I check the seen." Naruto and trailed after Sakura as they observed the scene of what happened. "Naruto look at these!"

Naruto placed his head on Sakura's shoulder and saw what she was holding. "Aren't those interesting looking shuriken Sakura?" Then it hit him. "Sakura, I know only one group who uses those shuriken and that's…the Akatsuki."

Takashi was running harder than ever. He kept looking back, they were gone. Now where was he? He felt a shadow above him, but his reflexes were too slow. In less than a split-second a deep cut appeared on his arm. Takashi grunted gripping his arm. Blood had started to grow and spread all over his clothes. He smirked at the darkness. "You could've thought of a better way to tell me where you were."

A shadow came out behind a tree his evil grin only showed, "Well where's the fun in that?"

Takashi smiled but quickly frowned, "I told you to kill Neji Hyuuga! Not my fiancé!"

"Chill! I knew Neji was going to protect her anyways. Besides it was enjoyable."

"Well don't make everything a game now…or else I'm going to have to kill you."

The shadow grinned, "You couldn't even if you tried Takashi. I'm stronger than you, and I always will be." Through the moonlight a black cloak with red clouds shown but the face was still hidden. "Besides don't act so arrogant, you not really from the Water Country so stop bragging about it."

"Just because I'm a ninja doesn't mean I won't be a powerful person soon. I will be the ruler of the water country soon…with some of your help." Takashi stared at his wound. It had stopped bleeding but it stung, still he continued, "Is it really worth it to take Keoko as my wife? She's beautiful and all but she seems somewhat helpless."

The shadow chuckled, "Oh no she's not. Do you know who she really is?"

"Who is she?" Takashi always that Keoko was well Keoko.

"Her name is Tenten. And she was from the same country as Sakura, Naruto and Neji…Konoha. She is really a ninja whose forte is in weapons fighting…though she hasn't realized she can do that yet."

"I see…this gets more and more interesting…I hope your plan works…Deidara."

The blonde haired boy came out of the shadows. His bangs covered his right eye, and the blonde ponytail, was held high up and flowing in the wind. The teal-light blue eye was glinting with mystery. "Don't worry…it will."

A/N: And there it is! Chapter 3 is finished! Thank you for your patience! OOO! Deidara! I wonder what he has to do with the story! Please read and review! Arigato!

-Gray-0sno0-bunny