When the sun started to rise the next morning, Tenten got up from her spot on the ground and walked over to Kugi's tent to wake him up. She slapped her hand against the side of the tent a few times, but when she heard no response, she started to open up the entrance. Once the tent was opened up, she saw Kugi sprawled out and snoring, similar to how he was positioned at her house. Tenten let out a light chuckle and tried to rustle him awake. Kugi groaned a bit and rolled around a few times, but he did not wake up from his sleep.

After Tenten tried two more times to shake him awake, she glared at him and spoke out loud.

"If you don't wake up, I'm getting water from the stream and pouring it on your head."

Immediately, Kugi's eyes snapped open and he sat up while rubbing his eyes.

"Okay, okay. I'm up. Please don't pour water on my head."

Tenten smiled at Kugi and walked over to Mie's tent. The young kunoichi was much easier to wake up than Kugi was. Tenten only had to slap her hand against the side of the tent a few times before Mie opened up the tent and revealed herself. She was also rubbing her eyes as she spoke, following a yawn.

"Good morning, Sensei."

Tenten smiled at her student. "And good morning to you too, Mie."

As Mie started to crawl out of her tent, Tenten gave her more instructions.

"Since I kept watch all night, I need to take a quick rest before we can take off. You and Kugi are in charge of waking up the rest of the group and packing up camp."

Mie nodded at Tenten and looked around.

"Have you woken up Kugi yet?" Mie asked.

Tenten looked over to Kugi's tent in confusion and she quickly realized that Kugi went back to sleep. Tenten glared at his tent and looked back at Mie.

"Mie, would you mind fetching some water from the nearby stream?"

Before Mie had a chance to respond, Kugi quickly came out from his tent with a frantic look on his face.

"I'm up, I'm up. I really am this time."

Tenten smiled at Kugi then at Mie.

"Wake me up in an hour," Tenten said to Mie. "But if anything happens, wake me up sooner."

"I will, Sensei," Mie said with a nod.

Tenten smiled at her once again before she grabbed a sleeping bag from her bag and set herself up to rest at the edge of the camp.

Xxx

"Sensai, wake up. It's been an hour."

"Maybe we should pour water on HER head."

"No, Kugi! We can't do that!"

"Why not? She's not awake yet."

"That's because I just attempted to wake her up. She tried forever to wake you up."

While Tenten appeared to still be sleeping, she had woken up when Mie first spoke to her and she heard the entire conversation Mie and Kugi were having. After a few minutes of the two teammates bickering, Tenten groaned and opened her eyes. Once her body was completely alert, she mumbled to herself.

"'Run a Genin squad,' they said. 'You'll have so much fun,' they said."

Mie became flustered at Tenten's words and apologized to Tenten.

"I'm sorry, Sensei."

Tenten chuckled and stood up.

"It's fine. Just remember, both of you, a true shinobi never really falls asleep," she said, giving Mie and Kugi a creepy glance in the process.

The two genin shuddered in fright as Tenten walked towards the middle of the campsite. Jin quickly approached her when she was away from Mie and Kugi.

"Is that really true, Sensei? Do real shinobi never sleep?" Jin asked in awe.

"No, it's not," Tenten said with a smile. "Everyone has to sleep."

She leaned forward to whisper in Jin's ear. "But that can just be our little secret."

Jin looked at where Kugi and Mie were standing and then looked up at Tenten with a smirk. Tenten met his eyes and smirked back at him before she walked back to the center of the campsite to pack up the last items. Once she was finished, she looked back at her team and spoke.

"Alright, guys, the next time we stop we'll be in the Hidden Waterfall Village."

Tenten's students smiled at her before the team members and their escortee started to walk away from the campsite.

xxx

When the mission team reached the gates of the Hidden Waterfall, they were immediately greeted by shinobi guarding the entrance.

"It is very nice to see you, Wanatake. I hope your trip to the Leaf was successful."

Wanatake smiled at the guard. "It was, in fact."

Tenten gave Wanatake and the guard strange looks, perplexed at the wording of the guard's statement. Successful with what?

Tenten was broken from her thoughts when the other guard addressed her.

"Thank you very much for escorting Wanatake here safely. Please, let us treat you to a meal and a room for the night before you all head back to the Leaf."

Tenten smiled at the guard. "A meal would be just fine, thank you."

"Oh, but we insist, the guard replied persistently. From previous experience, a complimentary meal was common after an escort mission, but not a room to spend the night in. The payment for the mission was already paid to the Hokage, so why would they offer services for free and lose out on that business?

Tenten stared at the two guards for a moment before she replied.

"Well, okay. Thank you very much for your generous offer."

"It is our pleasure. Please, come meet our leader."

Tenten nodded her head and everyone followed the guard to the residence of the Leader of the Waterfall.

xxx

"Ah, welcome, our guests from the Leaf," a man said, presumably the leader of the village. He was sitting on an elegant chair at the end of the room the shinobi were led into. The man was middle-aged with a full brunette beard and was slightly on the more portly side, though also having some defined muscles. The man was obviously a shinobi back during the Great War.

Tenten smiled at the man and gave him a small bow. "No need to welcome us. We are simply doing our job."

"On the contrary, my young kunoichi," the leader replied. "In the past, the Waterfall has had hostile relations with the other villages. We wish to prove that it is no longer our intent to be malicious to others. We would like for all the villages to live together in peace."

"But we're already aware of that," Tenten rebutted with confusion. "The Leaf's representative of the Shinobi Union asked you to join, which you did. We are aware of your allegiance to the Union."

The leader replied calmly. "Yes, but the actions of signing a piece of paper and saying a pledge only goes so far. We would like to prove through our actions that the Waterfall is living in a new and kinder era."

Tente stared at the man, thinking hard. She eventually sighed and spoke.

"Well, thank you very much for your offer. We will gladly accept your quarters."

"Wonderful!" the leader shouted with a short chuckle. "Please, follow this guard and he will take you to your rooms."

"Thank you," Tenten said with a bow, her students also bowing with her.

The team followed the guard through hallways near the back of the building. The guard stopped in the middle of a hallway with sliding doors on each side and turned to look at the Leaf shinobi.

"Here will be your rooms for the night. You each get your own room. You can choose from the four on either side of me. Please, make yourselves at home."

The man smiled at the group then walked back to the previous room they were all in. Once Tenten was sure that the guard was out of range to hear her, she looked at her students and whispered.

"I have a really bad feeling about these people. I don't think we're safe to stay the night. Make sure you don't unpack. Keep your bags with you. At night, lie on the futon, but don't go to sleep. I'm going to get you all and we're going to get out of here. Do you guys understand?"

The three students had looks of concern in their eyes, but they still nodded their confirmation to their sensei.

"Good," Tenten said. "I'm going to check this place out for a bit. You three should stay in the foyer near the front door. If anything strange happens, I want you guys to go out the door and stand outside where the villagers can see you. I'll be back before dinner."

Tenten turned her head behind her, gesturing for her students to head in that direction. Kugi and Jin brushed past her and headed in that direction but stopped when they noticed that Mie was not following them. They turned to look at her but stood in the same place and looked up at Tenten.

"Can I come with you, Sensei?" Mie asked Tenten quietly. Tenten's face softened as she answered.

"Mie, exploring this building won't be safe. I need you to stay with Kugi and Jin."

"But Sensei," Mie replied, her voice getting louder. "If exploring isn't safe, you need a medic with you in case you get hurt. You would notice an ambush and protect me and I'll treat you if you need it and protect you."

Mie looked at Tenten with stern eyes and Tenten eventually sighed and nodded.

"Okay," she said quietly before turning to the two boys. "You two head to the foyer. Stay on your guard."

Jin and Kugi nodded and headed in the direction of the foyer once again. Tenten turned back around and nodded at Mie before she started to explore the building.

The two searched the building thoroughly but were only able to find what seemed to be bedrooms. While Tenten was doing a glance over one of the rooms, she heard Mie call out to her.

"Sensei, you should look at this."

Tenten walked back out into the hallway and approached where Mie was standing. The door in front of her was metal-hinged, as opposed to all the other sliding doors along the rest of the hall. Tenten glanced around to see if anyone was close by and when she discovered that no one was around, she reached out to open the door. She struggled to turn the knob and realized that the door was locked. Tenten glanced around once more before looking at Mie.

"Keep watch for me."

Mie nodded and Tenten pulled a hairpin out of her hair and worked on picking the lock. After a few minutes, Tenten was able to open the door and enter the room. Mie entered the room after Tenten and quietly shut the door behind her. Once the door was shut they were both able to view the room entirely. There was a large desk at the center of the room with paperwork scattered on it. What the most impressive part of the room was the bookshelves. The entire office was lined with bookshelves from the floor all the way to the ceiling, about ten feet high. Tenten walked closer to the bookshelves to get a better look at them as she spoke to Mie.

"Lock the door and keep an eye on it. Let me know if someone tries to unlock it."

"Yes ma'am," Mie quickly said.

Tenten began to look at the books to try to figure out how they were categorized. Once she figured it out, she began to search for a specific section. As she searched, Mie spoke to her quietly.

"Sensei, why don't you think this place is safe?"

Tenten grabbed a ladder leaning against the shelves and climbed it to get a look at the higher shelves. As she searched, she spoke to Mie with her back to her.

"When I was your age, the Waterfall was not a peaceful village. I think that they are pretending to be peaceful so they can gain access to secret information."

"What kind of secret information?" Mie asked quizzically.

Tenten took a moment to think of a response.

"You know how certain families know certain jutsus that no one else knows? Like how your family can control blood flow in a body."

Mie nodded and hummed a response.

"That's called a Kekkei Genkai. The jutsu is a part of your DNA and that's why only members of your family can use it. But a lot of people like to do illegal experimentation to try to take the DNA from the jutsu's user and put it in another person's body. Usually, these people target extremely rare and powerful Kekkei Genkai."

"Like Kugi's Byakugan," Mie said.

Tenten paused for a moment before responding with a quiet "yeah."

Mie spoke again. "So the man we escorted, do you think he made up the story about his Hyuga lover and was actually trying to get secrets out of Kugi?"

"Yes," Tenten responded, still searching the bookshelves. "And maybe even something worse like killing him and taking his eyes right from his sockets."

Mie let out a gasp and the room was silent. After a short moment, Mie spoke again.

"Sensei, you know that Jin and I will do anything we can to prevent that. I would sooner give up my life than having someone kill my teammate and take his own unique power from him."

For the first time since Tenten started searching the room, she turned around to look at Mie and smiled at her.

"He's a really lucky kid to have a teammate like you."

As Mie smiled back at Tenten, Tenten continued to speak.

"But if anyone is after you, Jin or Kugi, they have to go through me first."

Mie let out a small laugh.

"I just need to know what they're planning to do with the Byakugan," Tenten said as she stopped in front of one section of the bookshelves. "And this is where I might find that out."

Tenten smiled and pulled out a book and started to skim through it. When she got to a certain page, her eyes went wide and she read the page intently. When she was about to turn to the next page, the door handle rattled.

"Sensei," Mie said in a worried tone. "Someone's coming"