A/N: Hi guys! Happy Easter! So here's a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 25 Move Out

Hinata was backstage with Kurenai, waiting for the judges to call her name.

"Remember, Hinata," Kurenai said, placing her hands on Hinata's shoulders. "Don't think about the people. It's just you and the piano. Like in the music room. Relax. Play like you always do and you'll be fine." Hinata nodded. Kurenai smiled. "That's my girl."

"Entry no. 5, Hyuuga Hinata, playing Capriccio in B minor, Op. 76, No. 2 by Johannes Brahms." The audience applauded as a welcoming gesture.

"You're up," Kurenai said, tapping Hinata's cheek and gently shoving her forward. Hinata took a deep breath and walked to the stage. Her eyes adjusted to the lights focused on her now, but it was too bright to see the people sitting there. She faced front and bowed. She made her way to the elegant black piano in the middle and sat. She poised to play but her fingers were shaking. She never really got over her nerves even when she already joined and won a lot of competitions. She took a deep breath again.

"It's just you and the piano. Like in the music room."

'In the music room,' Hinata thought with a smile. But it was not just her and the piano. She was remembering another incident in the music room. A memory she decided to keep.

"For me, whatever piece you choose, all you have to do is to learn it and deliver it with your own feelings."

Hinata smiled and relaxed. She began the first measure, then flowed to the next, then the next, until she no longer felt any anxiety. She was playing like she always did and enjoying it. For a quiet girl, she felt like she was talking to everybody in the audience with this piece and she wanted to tell them a lot of things about her music.

At the last note, the audience was silent, dumbstruck. Then, applause roared throughout the auditorium, some people even offered her a standing ovation. Hinata stood up and bowed once again. She was shaking again, but this time, it was due to excitement.

"Do you understand?" Kakashi repeated for the umpteenth time.

"How many times do we have to say yes?" Naruto whined.

"I have to make sure you don't end up hurting yourselves too much like you did last time. Besides, they're trained much longer. Gai's been their private instructor since they were young, so expect them to be at a level higher."

Naruto crossed his arms behind his head and pouted. "What a way to boost us," he muttered.

Sasuke didn't say anything but his annoyance at being called 'weaker' than others can be seen on his face. He never liked being compared, especially when he's on the 'loser' side.

Just then, Gai, Lee and Neji went inside the Combat Gym, which was much like a dojo except that it also housed some weapons used for short- and middle-range combat. Gai immediately went to Kakashi.

"Today, you will feel the springtime of my students full force, Kakashi," he began. "Prepare to lose face in this battle of youth."

Kakashi sighed. "If it's youth, my students are younger by one year, you know."

"Age does not signify the essence of youth, my friend. Clearly, your ideals are stained." Kakashi sweatdropped. "Lee, you go first." Lee dramatically went in the middle of the Gym, put one hand behind him and one hand in front of him, palm up, provoking Sasuke and Naruto to come at him.

"Naruto, you go," Kakashi said. Naruto went in the middle of the room as well, looking absolutely bored and eager to finish this thing.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at Lee. "Hey, hey, do you always wear clothes like that?" He pointed at the green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers.

"No," Lee said. "I have to wear my school uniform and gym clothes, too."

"Fine. Do you wear those clothes casually?"

"Yes. This represents spring and sunset. A very refreshing image for someone like me." With this, Naruto burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You totally look like an idiot, y'know," Naruto managed to say between his bouts of laughter. "I mean, do you even look at yourself in front of a mirror?"

"Of course, and I find these clothes stylish and comfortable," Lee said, already getting impatient. "If you don't believe me, I will make you regret those words by the end of this fight."

Naruto scoffed. "Let's see you try, thick brows."

Just as he said it, Lee charged at him in a green blur and Naruto was inwardly taken aback at how fast he was. In just a blink of an eye, Lee's foot was inches from his face and Naruto could only step back to avoid it. But Lee recovered quickly, took two steps toward him and brought his other leg to his temple. Naruto lost balance in an attempt to dodge the next attack and fell flat on his back with a loud thud.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked sincerely. But Naruto took this as an insult and let his frustration fuel him to tumble backwards and prepare for his counterattack.

An hour later, both Naruto and Lee were panting, with little energy left to continue. Gai told them to break it off and they reluctantly followed. Lee had more hits on Naruto but Naruto's hits had a much greater force and that slowed Lee down. Both of them sat down on one side of the Gym.

"Your turn," Kakashi muttered to Sasuke. Sasuke walked to the middle and Neji followed suit. Neji looked at him with silent confidence and this irked Sasuke. He remembered the race and Sasuke figured Neji was probably thinking this was a good excuse for revenge.

'Yeah, like that'll happen,' Sasuke smugly thought.

Both of them were in fighting stance once they got to the middle of the room, but nobody moved for a few minutes, gauging each other. The Hyuugas and the Uchihas, being the two most prominent and talented (in their respective fields) families in Konoha, had always been in some unspoken rivalry. They weren't looking for bloody fistfights, but if opportunities like the race and this one comes up, they would definitely give their all against one another.

Sasuke, being the more impatient of the two, decided to break the standstill and attacked. He swerved from side to side, aiming to find his blind spot because it has always been known that the Hyuugas have high visual acuity leaving a narrow blind spot. However, the Hyuugas know this, too and so devised ways to counter this weakness. Once Sasuke found an opening, he immediately went for a kick but Neji held his ankle at arm's length.

'Not good,' Sasuke thought. Neji was particularly good at short-range combat. He needed to get away. Quick. Sasuke tried to pry his foot out of Neji's grasp but before he could go a safe distance, Neji's palm connected with his abdomen. In pain, Sasuke stumbled backward. He looked up to see Neji's eyes glint in victory.

This time, it was Neji's turn to attack, taking advantage of the fact that Sasuke was momentarily an easy target because of the pain. Neji ran straight to him. Sasuke saw this and immediately went out of the way, pivoted on his right foot to go behind Neji and kneed him on his side. Although Neji was able to dodge the direct attack, he still got grazed in the ribs. Neji stepped back five steps away from Sasuke and Sasuke stayed put.

"Not bad, Uchiha," Neji said, going back to his stance. "But not good enough, either."

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm just warming up, Hyuuga."

"Congratulations!" Sakura and Tenten ran toward Hinata and engulfed her in a bear hug. The poor girl almost fainted from suffocation.

"Thank you," Hinata managed to say when they let go of her.

"I knew you'd bag another win," Tenten said, leaning on Hinata's dresser. They were in one of the contestants' waiting rooms. "With you, practicing like crazy all the time."

"Here," Sakura said, handing her phone to Hinata. "The pig wants to congratulate you, too." Ino was still somewhere in Italy doing who-knows-what. Hinata took it.

"Ino," Hinata muttered on the receiver. "Yes, thank you. It's okay, I understand. Yes, have a safe trip back. Bye."

"She's been there for three days now," Tenten noted. "Isn't that a bit too long for a fashion show?"

"Don't ask me," Sakura said. "She's with Shikamaru, though, so it should okay."

"Figures." Tenten giggled and the two girls gave her questioning looks. "She's probably trying to buy time to be with him, getting him away from his newly formed fan club."

"Enough about her, let's talk about the star of the day," Sakura said, trying to cut her best friend some slack. She turned to the dark-haired beauty in her long-sleeved, lavender dress. "Hinata, is it me or is something different with your playing this time? It's nothing bad. It's actually really good, even better than usual."

With this, Hinata blushed, "W-well, I g-got pointers from someone."

Tenten didn't miss this and started bugging her to tell her who it was.

After another hour, Kakashi broke Neji and Sasuke up before they seriously injure one another beyond repair. But they only stopped when Gai went between them and gave a long speech about how the essence of youth should be cultivated in a healthy manner, blah, blah, blah… Yeah, they didn't want to hear it, too, so they sat beside Naruto and Lee, who didn't seem to notice because they were in the middle of a debate about something now.

"And I'm telling you, not a chance," Naruto yelled, even though he's just inches from Lee.

"Why not?" Lee asked, his voice rising now, too. "Does she have a boyfriend?"

"No, but Sakura still won't like you that way."

Sasuke usually ignores Naruto's antics the best he could but when he heard Sakura's name, he couldn't resist eavesdropping, trying his best to pretend he's not.

"And I'm asking you, why not?" Lee insisted.

"Because," Naruto contemplated. "Because you're basically strangers. She should be wary of you."

"Is that it?" Lee said with a sigh. "Then I'll make sure we get acquainted very well in the days to come."

"What? You can't –" Before he could finish, Kakashi's hand was over his mouth.

"What's with all the noise?" he said lazily. "Let's get your wounds treated and have a snack. It's Gai's treat." Of course, hearing the magic word, Naruto forgot everything else and stood up to follow Gai and Neji, who were on their way to the exit. Kakashi turned back to the two still slumped on the floor. "You coming or not?" Then, he went away.

They stood up. Lee went ahead while Sasuke dusted himself off before going. Just as they got out of the Gym, Sasuke saw the guy from the race again, pushing his motorcycle out of the parking lot. He observed him as he got on and revved the engine.

"He's something, isn't he?" a voice beside Sasuke said. Sasuke turned to see it was Lee. Turning their attention back, they both noticed how he deliberately didn't put on a helmet and sped up in what Sasuke estimated to be around 100 km/hr. "He completely disregards his safety."

"Do you know him?" Sasuke asked as he started walking again.

"Yes," Lee answered as he followed. "He's a new student in my class. His name is Sai." Lee waited for any reaction from Sasuke, but none seemed forthcoming, so he continued. "He didn't seem much. He's quiet and mostly kept to himself. Tenten thinks he's dangerous, though."

"Dangerous?" Sasuke muttered. "How?"

"I don't really know. He doesn't seem like the type who gets into meaningless fights but Tenten firmly decided she would never have anything to do with him. She can't explain her aversion either. She said it was more like intuition." They've caught up with the group now, who were waiting for them at the school entrance. "I don't think much of it. Tenten's always been the superstitious one, relying on intuition most of the time."

"Alright, where do you kids want to go?" Gai asked, much too enthusiastically.

"Ichiraku!" Naruto offered. Everybody else didn't mind so they decided to go there.

All the while, Sasuke was still musing. The only thing he knew about the girl called Tenten was that she's one of Sakura's friends. But he agreed with her. He remembered that day during the race. That guy, Sai, was someone to be wary of. This, too, must be intuition, but he surely wasn't the superstitious type.

Sai reached his destination in less than twenty-five minutes considering it was past Konoha's boundaries. He entered the dark tunnel leading to the entrance, parked his bike on the side and proceeded to stand near the scanner beside the door. The machine did a full scan and asked for his code. He recited it and a few seconds later, the doors opened to let him in.

"You're late," a boy, probably around his age, said. "The old guy's been taking it out on us the whole morning." Sai ignored him and continued to the elevator. The boy with white, shoulder-length hair and sharp teeth followed him inside. Sai pushed the button that takes them 10 feet underground. "What took you so long anyway? Normally you're the first one here during summons."

Sai turned to him and smiled his fake one. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now. So unless you want me to turn you back into a puddle, I advise you to shut up." In that instant, the elevator doors opened and Sai got out.

"Tsk," the white-haired guy said. "As if you can do that. Be thankful I don't have my sword with me or I'll slice your body in half." He, too, got out of the lift.

At the end of the corridor was a pair of steel doors. They both entered it and inside were only a few people. Most were teenagers with some middle-aged men and one old guy with a cane and an eye patch. When the old guy saw Sai, his eyes narrowed. "Nice of you to join us."

Sai knew he will be reprimanded later but for now, he just bowed to the old man.

"Let's begin, then," the old man said, nodding at the red-haired girl. Instantly, the screens hummed to life, at first with their eerie blue screen but then, images of different locations filled it.

"Intelligence has reported several insurgent activities in Sector 35, near one of our headquarters," the red-haired girl briefed everyone in the room. "It's still unclear whether they were targeting the headquarters or they were randomly trying to catch somebody's attention." A picture of men in what looked like guerrilla outfits, all ragged and torn showed up on screen. "We believe they are led by a man known only as 'Missile.'" A file report was now shown on the screen. "Missile has also been tagged as the leader of a previous attack in Sector 54 last year. Several of his people were apprehended and terminated on site. There was no indication that they have knowledge of us but there is still the possibility that it was a counterattack." Now the images of Sector 35, as indicated at the lower left of the screen, were shown. "Casualties from the explosion were estimated to be 132 people all living in a small town nearby. The others are recuperating in a makeshift clinic in the town square."

Sai flinched only very slightly as images of children were shown on screen, screaming for their mothers and crying in pain. Unwanted memories were flooding his mind and it took a lot to push them back.

"At around twenty-two hundred hours, another attack is expected. Sources say this will be in the same sector," the red-haired girl finished and the screen changed into one of a map labelled Sector 35, with little dots labelled as squadrons.

The old man spoke again. "It seems that the insurgents are challenging us and they did a lot of damage trying to provoke us if, indeed, they know about the incident two years ago. Tonight, we will terminate every last one of them. On the screen are your designated positions. Squadrons one, two and three will surround the headquarters, in case they are targeting that. Squadrons four and five will move out at twenty hundred hours at the borders of the sector and plant Seeds at strategic locations." Seeds referred to carefully formulated bombs that detonate from a remote center, to ensure the safety of the planter. Used in conjunction with others of the same kind, detonation will result in a massive explosion concentrated on the blast seat (target point). To ensure maximal efficiency, it also releases a poisonous fume after the initial blast and an acid mist to dissolve the bodies. It came with a limiting barrier to prevent the fumes from spreading far from the blast seat and the fumes were expected to lose its potency in an hour after detonation. Sector 35 was one of larger sectors so the insurgents were expected to be preparing for their attack at around that time, hence, they should be within the sector. "Raise your concerns now, if you have any." But of course, none had any. "Move out."

Everybody went out of the room to go to their respective stations to gear up, except a large guy with spiky dark orange hair. Sai caught his eyes and cocked his head to say, "Get going."

The guy trudged toward the exit. But as he passed Sai he said, "There's a town of innocent civilians in the middle of Sector 35." His eyes, a similar color with his hair, silently implored Sai.

"We have our orders," Sai said, turning away from him. He heard the guy walk away with heavy feet and a heavy heart. Sai shared those same sentiments but he learned to keep them at bay all these years. After all, in a mission, nobody should feel that. Nobody would be able to feel anything at all, even if they wanted to. Orders were given and they were here to make sure they were heeded effectively. Clear and absolute.

A/N: Tada! What did you think of this chapter? Please sound off in your REVIEWS! Please make sure you do. Thanks, guys.