Chapter 9: She Has to Go but Doesn't Want to
"Tsunade, is my training to be a med Nin complete yet, it's been almost 3 years!" Tenten said.
"I guess it has, well I learn new ways of healing everyday so training to your fullest potential is not yet over but my apprenticing with you almost is."' Tsunade said.
"Almost?" Tenten asked. "What else is there left to learn?"
"It's a traveling mission; it's a class S mission, only for ANBU and top level Jounin. And you."
"What!" Tenten yelled.
"I'm sending you on this mission to test you ability to heal people in the heat of battle. Shizune can supply you with the proper tools for this. You have until sundown to leave the city."
"I can just up and leave Konoha. I have plans."
"I don't care, it's a mission and you're a Jounin, you have to take this mission."
"Fine," She really didn't want to. She had just done so much for Neji. He was falling apart at the seams, so to speak.
Hyuuga Home She went to the Hyuuga Home and appeared at the gates. "State your name and purpose."
"Tenten Hoshi, Neji's fiancée; I'm here to see him." Tenten spoke clearly.
"Very well," In most cases she would say Hyuuga Neji's fiancée but seeing as everyone there was named Hyuuga it would be quite pointless. The gates opened and slammed loudly as she walked to the Sleeping Quarter Building (for lack of better terms). She could tell you exactly where Neji slept, in what room, on what floor, in what wing and everything but seeing as he was in the Male Dorms and females were not allowed in there during certain hours of the day she sat in the living room.
Then after quite a seemingly long while, a girl emerged from the Girl's Wing of the dorms. She would have not cared the least about any girl who came but she realized it was her friend, Hyuuga Hinata.
"Hey Hinata,"
"Hey there Tenten, can I help you with something?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah, I need to talk with Neji but you can't go in there can you?"
"No but we could just summon him." Tenten was eager to find out how Hinata did this.
Hinata went to a window and opened it. Hinata gently grabbed a bird from outside. Hinata took a sheet of paper and wrote 'Neji: Tenten' on it and let the bird free in the house, through a hole in the top of the door the bird went in.
"That's smart, who thought of the idea to have bird summon people."
"My mother did, she had a problem summoning male member of our family for meetings while my dad was away on missions. So she trained all the birds within our land to retrieve people by writing their names on paper. Most people just wait, but I use my mother's idea."
"What happened to her Hinata?"
"She died giving birth to my sister. My sister was the last one to be with my mom before she died. I would think that father would make her the cause of mom's death and hate her not love her for being the cause. But dad always saw things different. I'm glad he doesn't hate her. I just wish that I could remember her more."
"I feel so bad for you." Tenten said.
"Everyone does," Neji said coming with a bird on his arm. "My aunt was exactly like Hinata, kind, caring, and gentle. She was the perfect person, like Hinata. She didn't have anything against me; she was against mistreating the branch house. She cared about everyone and everything. She led the Hyuugas and she was extremely strong and brave. That's why most say he hates Hinata, because she's so like his wife."
"I'm really sorry Hinata."
"It's alright, what's done is done." Hinata walked outside with the same attitude as before, it didn't phase her much.
"She doesn't look sad."
"She's always sad. So you needed me?"
"Yeah, I have to go at sundown."
"Huh?"
"Tsunade has an S-rank mission for me."
"Just you?"
"Yeah, it's the last part of my training as an apprentice."
"Oh," Neji understood.
"I really don't want to leave but I have to. Then I can easily pass my kunoichi exam in a few weeks." Neji had almost forgotten about that. It was what she had been looking for and working towards her whole life. He was surprised that he had forgotten something that important to his fiancée.
Flashback
"Neji, what do you train towards?" That was a question that their sensei, Gai had asked him so many times it had started to annoy him. But she wasn't doing it to bother him; quite the contrary. She was doing it to learn about him. He decided to give him new teammate a chance with sharing personal thoughts with her.
"I train towards being the best of my clan. My clan is the very best anywhere. They are unbeatable, so being the best among the best would make me the top. I train to being the best even if I can't lead the best because I was born into the wrong end of the Hyuuga." She was smiling and happy about his response. She had not expected him to answer. She was just curious. "What do you train towards?"
"I want to be a great kunoichi. I train towards becoming a female who can be with the best of the men, top them. I have to give my all, train my hardest so that when the test comes I can make it." He liked her style. She sought to be the best, and he liked when he saw this in people even if he knew that fate would decide if she could or not. He hoped fate was with her and not against her.
"What is a kunoichi's purpose exactly?" She laughed; he just looked at her harshly.
"A kunoichi is a female ninja, one usually trained in deception and as Jounin ranked she is on a two person team with her husband and can carry out S-rank Missions with him. It's every girl's dream to make it but only a handful make it. It's held every year; you can only take it 4 times, on your 16th birthday, when you have a child, and after your husband reaches Jounin rank and when you do."
"Seems like a low chance to become one."
"That's why I train so much; I have to make it the first time. That would be a great feet to accomplish, wouldn't it." He nodded, knowing how hard it was and her chances if she could he would be quite impressed but she had 4 years and with her skills she would struggle too much to make it her first maybe her second, but when you're pregnant? Who makes these rules?
Flashback Over
"Neji?" Tenten waved his hand in front of his face.
"Yeah?"
"You were deep in thought and I was talking."
"Sorry," He apologized.
"It's okay, just what were you thinking about?" She asked.
"When you told me what a kunoichi was," He answered.
"I remembered that, 3 years ago." She was only 15 now but he was pretty sure that she would pass unlike he was 3 years ago. "So do you think that you've made it to the top?" She asked.
"No, there are a lot of elders that I have not surpassed yet, and I beginning to believe that it will take my entire lifetime to surpass them."
"Of course,"
"Huh?"
"What is the worth of a goal if you can easily accomplish it?" She was right, he wanted it so bad.
"True, wasn't there an ancient proverb about that?"
"Yeah, there was a man and all he wanted was the apple from the top of a tree, then one day the wind blew and the tree came down and hit him on the head. He then realized he didn't want the apple, he just wanted something, seemingly impossible to reach for and hopefully one day achieve."
"I guess it's the same with me, I would have no reason to train once I became the best, and there would be no more challenge." Tenten nodded. "What about you, why would you want to pass this early, what would you have to look forward to then?"
"A lot Neji, being a kunoichi is a starting for a whole life to live. Passing the test means I'm the top of the females in my age group, and then I have to beat all of them, then all the things I have to accomplish as a wife and mother. Passing the test is just a small step toward my dream."
"Ah, and what is your dream?"
"I want to be the best kunoichi as well as being a great wife and mother."
"I'm sure you will accomplish these things Tenten."
"I'm glad you think so. With your determination, I'm sure you'll be the best one day too."
He hadn't realized it but it was already 3. He only had 3 hours to spend with her before he left. "Why don't you go home and get packed, you only have three hours." She looked at the antique clock on the Hyuuga wall and jumped up.
"Okay but meet me at the café in 20 minutes." He nodded and she ran off.
He had gone to the Hyuuga Banking Center on the grounds and took some money out. He rarely took money out of his account seeing as there were a lot of people who would try to steal it. He kept little to none on him if he didn't have to. He would take some out to treat Tenten to lunch or dinner on days after a good day's training and now when they went on a date. Sometimes he would forget to get money and she'd pay because that's how Tenten was.
Neji still had time to spare so he went to pick up Tenten. It was a very informal café. They had gone there many times before after training. Tenten liked this place as did Neji because of its quietness and great food choices.
He knocked on the door. She didn't answer. "Neji, just come in!" She yelled from the other room.
Tenten was struggling to hold all of her suitcases; this showed a smirk for Neji. She was holding one underneath each of her arms, and one she had used rope to tie to her back and two on each hand.
"That's not the most practical way to pack, what's in all these." Tenten sighed and opened one of the suitcases. It was packed full of kunai, shuriken, and any other weapons she might need. The second was medical needles, jutsu books, containers of prescriptions, bandages, wraps for arms and chakra vessels. The third was her clothes, the fourth was food packets, and the fifth was full of hospital summoning scrolls. "You know that you can't fight and hold these." She sighed and nodded. "You're going to have to pack lighter."
After a minute she laid out four scrolls she grabbed from her pouch across the floor. She then laid out all of weapons in a circle around the scrolls, she then ran two circles around them, and stopped, jumping in the center of the four scrolls laid in a square within the circle tossing all the weapons into the scrolls.
Then she using a compacting jutsu to shrink down all of her medical supplies into half their normal size so they could fit in one half of her book bag, two sets of clothes in her book bag, she left the food packets and memorized a transportation jutsu to send the patients with but also grabbed 10 or so summoning scrolls so in emergency she could send them if she was low on chakra. Now she only had one book bag to carry.
"Easier?" he asked smiling as the girl came to his side.
"Yes, I'm just worried about all these people."
"What people?"
"I guess I forgot to explain. The sand village is in civil war now. They are fighting over who will become hokage since the child is gone. The child seems so familiar to me but Tsunade refuses to tell me anything more about the child."
"It's understandable, but why do you have to go."
"It's a maniacal place now, two thirds of the population is already dead. I'm going with Gaara, Tamari, and Kankuro but they aren't going in because half of the city wants to kill them the other want to make Gaara the Hokage. It's crazy."
"It seems so."
"The only reason I'm going is to save many lives and stop the war. That's my mission. It's a suicide mission, that's why it's S-rank. Only if I stop the war and conflict and save all the dying people's lives can I return."
"So it might take a while?" She sighed with contentment.
"I don't want to go but I have to, no choice. Or I don't get points for being her apprentice or any of the work I've done with her over the last 2 years."
"Well then you need to go but before you do, I'm going to make sure you have a good meal."
"Yeah who knows when I'll get to eat, and if I do what it will be."
"Trust me; they have very good food there."
"I don't remember us having a mission with Gai-sensei to the sand village." Neji sighed.
"We didn't."
"Oh, that's where I was when I got hit by a sand coffin."
"Exactly,"
"Oh, so that's what was going on. I don't remember it, but it's to be expected, right?" Neji nodded and we went to eat.
"Don't you find it strange that Tsunade's apprentice would be send and not her? This is a huge deal; this is a war that may decide the outcome of one of our allied nations. If not decided correctly they could join up with Sound." Tenten gulped, she was the one they'd hold responsible. "Tenten relax, I'm sure that you can handle it."
"Tsunade did say it was a suicide mission, so I don't think I'm going to make it out." Something was bothering her for sure, she was being very jumpy.
"Don't worry, this may be your first solo mission and it is S-rank but don't worry. You'll do fine. Here." He handed Tenten a scroll. He smacked her hand as she was about to open it. "It's a summoning scroll if you feel you can't handle it alone, it will summon me. According to your paper is says nothing about calling for help. Even Tsunade needs help from time to time so if you need help, just open it, but only if. You need to do this on your own, got it."
"I know I'm surprised you'd even suggest this." Neji's eye brow rose.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
"Well, I use to think that you didn't care about me. You always seemed to be very harsh and quite distant, and impersonal to me. At least that's how I felt." She would have expected him to make a comment but then he surprised her.
He kissed her and hugged her. Now was the time for him to say something. "I always did care about you. I don't think you can read me very well if you didn't know that. Tenten I've never anything to anyone where I purposely hurt them. Except to Hinata during the Chuunin exams but I am plagued with that mistake everyday. I had nothing against you that was just my personality. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I do care about you. That's why I would always stop you if you went too far, I really don't care for myself, but you seem to care for me like I care for you." She was blushing and smiled happily. "I love you Tenten." He said kissing her on the lips and she kissed back.
"A lot of the time you worry me with how you endanger yourself, just to better yourself. If you die, then I will save you then kill you, trust me I know how." Neji didn't want to keep her to that but, he knew that leaving her was not an option.
After they ate, Neji paid and they arrived at the gate. Neji leaned against the gate and had his arm around Tenten's waste. The first time he did that, she had freaked out and it still was quite surprising to have personal contact between the two.
"Tenten, you're early. And you brought Neji along, that's good. I thought I was going to have to summon him, now I don't have to, good." Tsunade said out of breath running here.
"You needed me?" Neji asked.
"Yeah, I want you to protect Tenten."
"Why?" Both Tenten and Tsunade looked at him.
"What do you mean why; she's your fiancée Neji, come on think!" Tsunade yelled.
"I thought she was supposed to do this alone."
"She is, but then realized that she has no clue what's going on, that you don't know how to heal, she can't save lives and protect herself at the same time and that you can't send lower level Jounin on S-rank missions alone. I would have got fired if I endangered her like that."
"Understandable, also. The point of this is just mostly to make sure she can save many lives in war times. Usually we don't do this stage until later but since we have this war, I decided to do this now. I also didn't want to kill Tenten. I'm sorry about this Tenten."
"It's fine. I'm just glad I don't have to go alone." Tenten said taking a relaxing deep breath.
"I have to go get my things." Neji said walking off. He appeared in moments with a book bag tossed over one shoulder.
"You two ready?" Neji nodded then looked at Tenten who nodded as well. "Good, he is the rest of the details about the mission, Neji." She handed Neji a scroll.
"Tenten's the leader on this mission, correct?" Neji asked.
"Yes." He nodded.
"I'm fine with that." He crossed his arms and presided to walk beside Tenten who was walking.
"And Neji, watch her back!" Tsunade warned.
"Why?" He answered.
"Because last time you let her go and she was in a coma for 3 months." He nodded and continued to walk. He slipped his hand once again around her waist.
"I am going to protect you with my life." He said to her.
"You can't even protect you from yourself." She answered.
"But that doesn't mean I can't protect you. I care more for you than I care about myself." She blushed and kissed him on the cheek.
"Just don't die."
"Fine," He agreed.
The Reasons Why… She Has to Go but Doesn't Want to
1. Tsunade said to.
2. it's a mission so she has to go.
3. Its S-rank.
4. Her Alone.
5. Finish her training as an apprentice.
6. Makes it easy to pass kunoichi exam.
7. She has to save many lives.
8. it's a suicide mission.
9. She has to stop a war.
10. She has to leave Neji, (or so she thought.)
