Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything copyrighted.
Naruto winced as the last kunai was pulled out, this one having been a little too close for comfort to a very sensitive location. As Tenten finished wrapping him up, he looked at her and was entranced by the sight. He could remember very well the sight that had frozen him and caused his current condition. The dress on her frame had hugged her curves well, and Naruto wasn't able to understand how on earth the Hyuuga boy had not been affected like he had been. Not to mention that once the dress had split and showed off her long athletic legs, it had been a sight that would probably have caused his perverted sensei, Kakashi, to get a nosebleed. Not that Naruto was a pervert, but he could definitely appreciate the beauty that she held. It was even more so apparent right now, since the 'rampage' that the girl had gone on, had caused her hair to loosen from the buns and was now streaming around her face, framing it very nicely. It looked good on her, but Naruto could see that it was impractical in battle. Her brown chocolate eyes still held a slightly worried look in them, and Naruto felt a warmth in his chest at that thought, she had been worried about him after all.
When she finished wrapping up the boy, she stood up and gave a hand to the injured boy, who now resembled a mummy more than a ninja. It was a sight that was hard to ignore, and even harder not to find funny. So it was perfectly understandable when Tenten started giggling at the now confused boy, which brought back the attention of the rest of the men in the area. They had all been keeping their distance from the girl after seeing just how much damage she could do. Even Lee was over with the other boys, his attempts to help Naruto had ended up hurting the boy even more, and so Tenten had ordered him away from her patient. When the boys saw the way Naruto looked, there were a mix of reactions. Kiba outright laughed his ass off, to include rolling around on the ground and pounding the dirt with his fists. Neji had a small smirk form on his lips, and his lips were twitching in the corners. He was obviously struggling not to smile or laugh at the situation. Gai and Lee both shouting about Naruto's flames and youth while hugging each other. Luckily for everyone's sanity, no one noticed the two green clad men because of the ridiculous sight that Naruto made with him being wrapped up like a mummy while scratching his head. Shrugging his shoulders, the boy pulled out a mirror from one of his scrolls, and took a look at himself. His own laughter erupted shortly thereafter. After several minutes, they had all calmed down, and the previously heavy tension in the air had completely evaporated.
"Alright, well then, now that we know your youth in still shining brightly, myself and Lee must return to the passionate bout of sparring we were having before your unfortunate endangerment, my bright student." Gai said while grinning, his teeth gleaming in the sunlight. Then he grabbed Lee by the shoulder and walked on to more fighting and hugging. Neji looked on as they left, then back at Tenten. Sensing that he wasn't quite out of the dog house as of yet, he decided to follow the green clad men so that he could avoid getting a pointy object poked in areas that he would rather keep safe. This left Tenten, Naruto, and Kiba standing in the clearing. They all looked on as the others left, looked at each other, and shrugged.
"So, what are you guys doing here anyways? This isn't where you normally train, Naruto." Tenten asked, looking at the mummified boy.
"Haha, yeah, well, actually, I haven't seen you guys in a while, so I decided to find you. That's when I dragged Kiba here into the search." Naruto said while pointing out his silent friend. Tenten looked over to the boy and saw that he was subconsciously holding his groin to try and keep it safe from her. She paused at that, wondering if she had really seemed that vicious. Shrugging it off she moved her gaze back away from the canine boy to his blonde companion.
"Aww, did you miss me, little Naruto?" She asked, teasing the boy for his height. He almost always got annoyed by that, and she liked to see him squirm a little.
"Very funny, and yeah actually. I did miss you." The boy said plainly. Tenten felt a stir in her chest at his words, and shrugged it off; he was like her little brother after all.
"So, how did you find us anyways? I don't remember telling you that we were moving over to this training area while Neji had his guarding duties."
"Ah, that's why you moved closer to the Hyuuga residence? I figured it had something to do with him being lazy or something like that." Naruto responded, while gesturing over to the pale eyed boy who was sitting on a rock while watching the other two men traded blows with one another.
Tenten snickered at that, the boy could be lazy at times, but that was mostly because he was just dreadfully serious about everything, so when he wasn't training or on a mission, he would rather not be there with the team. That was a bit of a problem, since it hindered the teamwork a little bit, but no so much, since Lee had started a rivalry with the boy, and Tenten had harbored a small crush on the boy for a while now. They were all bonded in one way or another to each other, and that caused their teamwork to build up slowly at first, but at an increasing speed once Neji decided to invest more time in the team.
"Yeah, well, since Neji is a branch member of the Hyuuga, he has to be on guard duty one week a month. It's not so bad really, we get a week off missions, and it only really requires him to be near the residence during that time period." Tenten explained; she knew that Naruto had already known about Neji's branch status from earlier conversations, so she didn't bother explaining that. Unfortunately, Kiba had not been privy to this conversation, and said something to the brown haired girl for the first time.
"So, uh, what do you mean by branch member? He's in the clan, right?"
"Yeah, but the Hyuuga split their clan into two houses. One main and one branch to support and protect the main house. They even go so far as to brand the branch members." Tenten said while looking at the boy. She saw that Kiba was quickly getting angered at the thought, and was wondering what the boy would say about it.
"That…That's just wrong! They dare call us beasts, since we use animals in combat. Yet they treat their own family like animals!" The enraged boy shouted, his family had long been a clan that was respected by most of the village, but had been scorned plenty of times by the 'Noble' Hyuuga. This bit of information was nothing new to the elder Inuzuka, but Kiba had not been privy to this, and was now thoroughly pissed at the stuck up pricks. It was with this in mind that Kiba said his goodbyes to Naruto and Tenten and went home to blow off some steam.
Neither of the other two were expecting this to happen, and Tenten felt bad because what she had said obviously had been the trigger to the boy's anger. She looked down for a bit until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry about Kiba; he'll be fine once he pounds something with his fists for a while. He's very sensitive about his clan, and doesn't take insults to their ways very well. Apparently the Hyuuga have been the snide asses they usually are, and thought themselves better than the Inuzuka simply because they are more feral. So it's not your fault that he's angry, the Hyuuga caused it." Naruto said, trying to comfort the girl.
She looked back up at him, and smiled for his sake. He was trying to be nice, and it was his friend after all. If Naruto said it was ok, then it must be ok. She decided that the next time she ran into the Inuzuka boy, she should made it up to him somehow. She looked back over at her team, and seeing Neji made her blood boil a little, so she knew that it would be better if she didn't go over and train with them anymore right now. She considered training with Naruto, since he was here, but he was a little too beaten up right now to engage in any sparring. Well, she supposed that she probably owed the blonde boy something as well, since she had used him as a pincushion, and she knew exactly how to repay that debt.
"Say, Naruto, you hungry?"
"Tenten, when in the entire time you've known me, have I not been hungry?" The boy asked, while putting his hands behind his head.
"Well, I'd rather not be here right now, and I kind of owe you for embedding you with Kunai, so how about an early lunch? My treat." She offered, hoping he'd accept. Of course, she needn't have worried, and knew this as soon as his eyes widened at the thought of free food. Tenten suddenly worried about seeing her paycheck disappear into a ramen bowl and so decided to head him off at the pass. "But I get to decide where we are going."
Naruto's enthusiasm dropped a little bit, she would probably pick somewhere other than Ichiraku's ramen stand, and that meant no ramen. He felt his stomach growl however, so he decided that any food was better than no food. He nodded to the girl and felt his spirit lift when she smiled brightly at him.
"Great. Hey Gai-sensei, we're going to get something to eat, I'll be back after we finish!" She shouted to the man, who simply waved them on, figuring it was best if she had time to cool off some more. He knew that Naruto would be able to get her mind off things; he was very good at that after all.
In the end, Tenten had decided on a small sushi shop that was nearby and after she noticed that Naruto didn't want to go into the store for some reason, she decided to pick up a few to go boxes and go have a picnic of sorts. When she came out a few minutes later, she noticed that Naruto had gone to the other side of the street, and was trying to blend into the woods a bit, so as to not attract attention from any of the villagers. She idly wondered about that, and decided to talk to him about it later. She gestured to the boy, and they started walking once again. This time Naruto leading the way, since he knew a place that he wanted to show her.
They arrived in a clearing in the woods, one complete with a stream, a waterfall, and a small pond. It was beautiful to behold, and Tenten froze in the spot. She hadn't known about any locations like this around Konoha, and wondered how Naruto had known the location. It was an especially romantic spot, and Tenten mapped out the spot in her mind for later use.
"Wow, Naruto, this place is great. How did you find it?"
"Oh, I use this spot for training some times. The waterfall is great for chakra control training ya know." The boy mumbled out while dragging the girl over to sit by the pond.
The two of them laid out the boxes of sushi and opened them up to see all that she had bought. Naruto was surprised when he saw the amount of sushi there, he wasn't a huge fan of it, but could appreciate the taste that the food provided. Tenten on the other hand, liked sushi almost as much as Naruto liked ramen, so she had bought quite a bit. She had bought several different types of sushi, including different varieties of rolls, and had even thrown in a few pieces of sashimi just to mix it up. She licked her lips as they sat down on the grass by the pond, both dipping their feet into the clear water.
It was a very relaxing environment, and Tenten imagined that if she had gone on a date, this is how it might have gone. She looked over at the blonde boy beside her and watched at how he seemed to awkwardly picking at the sushi, like he was not a conneisur of the food. She found it quite amusing and continued to watch the boy. His blonde hair was shining brightly in the sunlight that seemed to have broken through some of the branches of a tree to the east. Ironically, it seemed like he was one of the only thing illuminated and she caught her breath as it looked like he a holy aura emanating from the boy. She snapped out of it when he started choking on a piece of sushi that he had plopped whole into his mouth, and she was back to seeing him as the same old Naruto that she had been training with for a while now.
"You know," Naruto interrupted her thoughts suddenly, "I don't know what is wrong with Neji, but you look great in that dress."
Tenten looked shocked, and then her self-doubt kicked in. "Ah, you're just saying that to be nice Naruto, it's ok. I know that I'm more of a plain, tomboy type anyways. Girly stuff doesn't look good on me." She said, looking down at her reflection in the water.
"What? Are you serious? You can't really think that, can you?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide, and his jaw open.
"Well, it's true, I mean just look at how Neji reacted to the sight. He didn't even notice that I was trying to dress up for him."
"You know. I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now." Naruto began, wondering if this really was a smart thing to do, "Why do you like Neji so much? He doesn't seem to like you in the same way after all."
"Huh? Oh…well, he's handsome, and he's strong. He's also really smart, and…uh…I guess that's about it, really."
"Doesn't seem like enough to me, do you guys have a lot in common at least?" Naruto asked, hoping for his friend's happiness.
"No, not really. He's way to proper for me, I suppose. I've never been really elegant you know."
"Why do you keep saying things like that? Tenten, you're very elegant, and beautiful. Sometimes when I see you going through a dance with your sword, or flowing through a taijutsu kata, you look like an angel to me." The boy admitted, blushing a little bit.
His blush was echoed on Tenten's face, and she turned her head so that he wouldn't see the effect his words were having on her. That boy always said things that made her blush. He just didn't see any reason to hold back compliments.
"Yeah, well, you're the only one that sees me like that." She admitted.
"Well then, everyone else is missing out on quite a sight. Any guy that had the privilege of dating you would be the luckiest guy around if you ask me. After all, you're intelligent, beautiful, and unlike all the other girls around here, you don't need to be saved all the time. What wouldn't a man like about that?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto…" Tenten began, her eyes watering. He truly was a great guy she decided, and hid her tears by pulling the boy into a hug. She let her tears run out onto his shirt, and the boy could only look a little confused as he rubbed her back.
After a few minutes later, she rubbed her eyes dry on Naruto's shoulder, and leaned back into her seat on the grass. She had gotten emotional again, and she hated that fact about her. She didn't understand why her heart would always start beating so hard when he complimented her like that. Naruto was just a little brother to her, right? But even as she thought this, her heart denied it, and she realized that maybe, just maybe, Naruto was becoming something more to her than a friend. His constant compliments, unwavering support of her, and his kind demeanor had worn down her defenses. She looked at the boy that she had always treated as a younger brother, since she didn't have one of her own, and started wondering what it would be like to date Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto had been completely ignorant of the internal debate inside of Tenten's head, since he had been having one of his own. Even as he was saying all those things to Tenten to comfort her, he had realized that he had meant everything. He did think she was beautiful. He did think that any man would be lucky to date her, and had even been envious at that thought of someone dating her, though he hadn't said that part out loud. He didn't want to ruin their friendship just because his hidden feelings for the girl were starting to become more obvious as time went on. He knew better than to think that she would consider dating him, since he wasn't handsome, intelligent or 'cool' like all the other boys who had girls attached to them were. Ironically, if he had voiced those thoughts, Tenten would likely have pounded him in the head and called him a hypocrite. He could only continue to support her like he always had, and enjoyed doing. His happiness would be achieved when she was happy, and that was all that mattered.
There was a heavy tension in the air after they both had finished their thoughts on the other, and it was silent until Naruto's stomach decided to protest the fact that there was still food in front of them, yet not being eaten. Both of them looked at his stomach when the sound erupted, then locked eyes with each other. Laughter ensued and the tension evaporated like it had never been there. They each grabbed a piece of sushi and started eating again, the whole time stealing glances at each other. Though both were thinking along the same lines, neither said anything. Comfortable with the situation, both enjoyed the meal, and wondered about the future.
A/N: Yay, more and more reviews. I'm happy that I'm getting so many nowadays, if was a little bit depressing at first when I only got one or two per chapter if I was lucky. To address a few reviews, I don't think there is any good mix of under powering or overpowering Naruto, since everyone sees him differently. I do know about Itachi and Orochimaru being so powerful at such a young age, and I don't really doubt that Naruto could achieve those same results really. It's just that the stories are little more fun if he has to struggle a bit. Naruto's character has always had the appeal of the underdog, though I think it was a bit ridiculous when he came back from training with a sannin and not being a lot more powerful. Another reviewer asked if this was truly a NaruTen, because of her apparent crush on Neji. As you can see, patience is a virtue; I was using the last chapter to bridge into this one. In fact, one reviewer, Narutomaniac, seemed to have read my mind, since his review was almost an outline for this chapter. I don't think that Tenten would notice Naruto right away, since he was younger than her, he would appeal more to her as the younger brother type. It took Neji being an ass for her to get over him and see what was right under her nose. However, don't think that the two of them are going to get together right away or something like that, true love takes a while to build ya know. Though some could say that I've had plenty of time to do that what with how many chapters I have already. I also had one review that pointed out a few flaws, and no, I don't really think of it as a flame, so don't worry about that. I admit that I probably did make Naruto's vocabulary too large for an eight year old, which was an oversight. The characters being OOC? Debatable, I think. Gai and Lee are in character I believe, and Tenten's character was hardly fleshed out in the series, so I'm kind of working with a blank sheet mostly. Naruto's character? Oh yeah, I'll definitely give you that one, but this Naruto had something happen to him to cause the change, so I claim writer's privilege on him. As for the rest of the people, I think that I portrayed them pretty well. As for the amount of detail, yeah, you're right about that, I would no doubt put more detail into it if I put more time into it, but I usually take a little over an hour to write a chapter (don't know if that's a short time or a long time, but yeah) and that point I don't want to write much more. One reviewer also mentioned his dislike of Kiba, and that they wouldn't get along well. I can only point out that canon Naruto and Kiba were somewhat friends in the story, along with Shikamaru and Chouji. They all escaped together from the academy. I simply took their friendship and built upon it. Umm, ok, this is a very long A/N, much longer than I anticipated writing, and so I'm going to end it here. Hope you all liked the chapter, and I'll try to write more to make up for the longer update times, but it will more likely be two chapters posted than a longer chapter. We'll see.