(Still 4 months ago)
Mie held a hand to her chin as she thought about a plan of attack.
"Okay, I think we should work together and get her distracted-"
"Aghhhhhh!"
Before Mie had a chance to finish her idea, Jin took off charging towards Tenten at full force. Mie held out a hand, trying to stop Jin but she was unable to grab him in time. When Jin got close to Tenten, he jumped up and stuck his leg out, attempting to land a kick on Tenten. Instead of landing the kick, Tenten grabbed onto Jin's leg while he was still in the air, swung him around, and tossed him across the forest. She made sure not to be too rough with the boy so he simply skidded across the grass. He looked up at Tenten with heavy breathing and frightened eyes.
"She a Jonin, you idiot," Kugi said, breaking the silence after a few moments. "There's no way you can land a kick in her. You're not strong enough."
"Oh yeah," Jin said standing up placing his hands on his hips. "Why don't you try then."
"Gladly," Kugi said before taking off towards Tenten. He took two kunai out of his bag, activated his Byakugan, and charged at Tenten. He then activated his 64 palms and began to bombard Tenten with many attacks. Typically the 64 palms used an open, gentle fist, but Kugi was able to modify it and make it his own with the use of his kunai.
Kugi circled around Tenten quickly, slashing away at her. Unfortunately, Kugi could not make any attacks at Tenten. She blocked every single hit, almost predicting where it would land. When Kugi finally got to 64 palms, he increased his strength and speed in an attempt to land a hit. When Kugi had his arms stretched out, nearly inches from Tenten's hair, he smiled at his success. Then, all too soon, Tenten grabbed his arm to block his attack and went for a counterattack of her own. Kugi noticed that she also has a kunai in her hand but he never recalled her ever taking one out of her bag.
Kugi and Tenten's hand-to-hand combat lasted for at least an hour. The Genin was able to keep up the entire time, but it was obvious that Kugi was nearing his last leg of strength. Deciding to end the ongoing charade, Tenten quickly made five shadow clones and charged at Kugi in all directions. Kugi smirked as she approached him.
"A surrounded attack will never work against my Byakugan," Kugi spoke in a sly manner.
He placed one foot back behind him and prepared himself for the upcoming attack. The shadow clone directly in front of Kugi was the one that attacked first. He was quickly able to slash at it and watch it disappear with a puff of smoke. He then pivoted and started to attack the remaining clones around him. Once all five were defeated, he searched around for the real Tenten. Before he had a chance to spot her, she caught Kugi in a headlock and has her kunai pointed at the back of his neck. The field was silent as Kugi froze with his eyes wide. After a short time, Mie leaned over and whispered to Jin.
"How could she have pinned Kugi like that? No one can get around his Byakugan."
"I don't know," Jin said with a timid shake of his head.
Tenten smirked down at Kugi as he watched her with wide eyes.
"Whoops, found your blind spot."
Kugi took a moment to think through his situation. Tenten didn't have a tight hold on him, so he could easily break free, but he wouldn't be able to get an advantage of being this close to her again. Choosing the best solution, Kugi quickly turned around and got himself out of Tenten's grasp with a jump. As he was in midair, he took a quick slash at Tenten, hoping to hit something. Before he had a chance to see if his hit was successful, he placed a foot on the ground and took another quick jump backward, distancing himself from Tenten. Once he was far enough away, he looked up to notice that Tenten had a small cut on her cheek.
Kugi turned around to acknowledge his teammates but before he could speak, Mie rushed past him, towards Tenten. Tenten noticed the girl running at her with top speed and Tenten placed herself in a defensive position.
"Now I get to see what you're made of," Tenten said quietly to herself.
Once Mie got close enough to Tenten, she jumped up to get eye level with her. Mie pulled one fist back and brought it around to try to hit Tenten. Tenten easily saw the attack coming and blocked it, but she was unaware of what Mie's other hand was doing. Instead of attacking with her other hand, Mie simply reached out and touched the cut on Tenten's face. Tenten tried to grab ahold of her, but Mie was too quick. Once she had Tenten's blood on her hand, Mie sprinted back to where she previously stood. Jin stared at her with a confused face.
"Mie, what are you doing?"
Mie looked over to Jin. "Be quiet and just watch."
Kugi and Jin watched as Mie slammed her hands together in a praying fashion. She closed her eyes and took a moment to concentrate before she opened her eyes and shouted.
"Blood Control Jutsu!"
Tenten also watched the girl, confused by her actions. Mie started to slowly move her hands apart and began to move them around in the space in front of her. Tenten noticed that she was losing control of her body and she quickly realized what was happening. Mie was controlling the flow of blood in her body. Jin started at Mie in shock.
"How in the world is she doing that?" he asked Kugi.
"This is Mie's family's secret Jutsu. Once she has someone else's blood on her hand, she can control the flow of that person's blood within their body. It's very helpful in the medical field with surgeries and other procedures, but it is also very helpful on the battlefield as well."
Jin looked up at Tenten and saw that she was struggling to regain control of her body. Her hand was shaking as it reached up towards her hair. Mie stared at Tenten with a concentrated look on her face and continued to move her own hands, guiding Tenten's movements. Soon enough, Tenten's hand reached up to her hair and grabbed ahold of the hair tie holding one of Tenten's hair buns up. Tenten took out her own hair tie and half of her hair cascaded down her shoulder. Mie smiled as she began to work on the other bun.
"Yes, you can do this Mie!" Jin shouted from behind her. Kugi stood still and spoke to Jin.
"This is a powerful Jutsu, yes, but because it is so strong, it uses up an extreme amount of chakra. My guess is that Mie won't be able to hold the Jutsu much longer."
Immediately after Kugi spoke, Mie dropped her arms to her side and she struggled to catch her breath. Seeing Mie's guard down, Tenten ran towards Mie to make an attack. Before Tenten could reach her, Kugi appeared and grabbed ahold of Mie before he took off back to the other side of the training field. Kugi carefully set her down on the ground and both Kugi and Jin stood in front of her.
"I've had about enough of this. How hard is it to take a girl's hair tie out?" Jin said, his frustration clearly evident.
"Mie was able to take one of her buns out, so it's not impossible for us to do it. We just need to keep hitting her with all that we have," Kugi responded to Jin.
Jin gritted his teeth. "Gladly," he said before taking off towards Tenten.
Tenten readied herself for Jin's attack. He got to her a lot quicker than when he first attacked her and there was a rage in his eyes. He began to throw erratic punched at Tenten and she managed to block each one. As his punches progressed, Tenten noticed that she felt significant pain in her arms. She jumped back a few feet in order to examine herself. She didn't have any cuts on her arms, so she wasn't poisoned. When she looked up at Jin, she noticed something peculiar.
Surrounding Jin's hands were a red glow. Jin was manifesting his chakra into a physical form and using it to increase the intensity of his attacks. Kakashi wasn't kidding when she said Jin has uncontrollable chakra.
Tenten continued to block all of Jin's attacks after he ran back up to her. After much time passed, Tenten could no longer raise her hands up quick enough to block Jin's attacks. Making a split-second decision, Tenten reached around and grabbed a kunai from her pouch. Before she could use it against Jin, he landed a hit on her shoulder, sending Tenten flying across the field. The pain she felt in her shoulder was excruciating. Her shoulder was was most likely dislocated.
Jin ran towards her again as Tenten heard Mie call out.
"Jin, calm down a little."
Tenten didn't have time to ponder Mie's call and she put her own shoulder back into place before she continued to spar. This time, she chose to take more of a dodge defense, pivoting quickly to move out of the way of Jin's strikes. The more the fight went on, the angrier Jin got and the more intense the chakra around his hands became. Tenten heard Mie call out another time.
"Jin!"
Jin ignored Mie's shout and continued to throw punches at Tenten. Tenten's energy began to drain quickly as she was unable to dodge every attack, taking many hits to her body. She took small steps back as Jin attacked her, trying to get some distance away from Jin and gain enough time to think of a strategy. Suddenly, Tenten found herself backed up against a tree on the edge of the field. Jin pulled his hand back, aiming a punch at Tenten's face. unable to think of any solutions, Tenten squeezed her eyes shut and prepared herself for the attack.
"JIN, STOP!" Mie called out once again.
Tenten never felt the hit after that. She slowly opened her eyes to see Jin standing in front of her, his arm still pulled back, prepped to attack. There was still a cloud of chakra surrounding his hands, but it was much less intense than it had been previously. He looked into Tenten's eyes with fear.
"The task is to let her hair down, not kill her," Mie shouted across the field.
Jin stood motionless as she stared up at Tenten with wide eyes. Tenten took this opportunity and dashed away from the boy. There were only two other times in her life she felt as weak and powerless as she did just then: when a drunken Lee tried to attack her while she was pregnant and when she saw Neji's lifeless body for the first time.
As Tenten crouched on the other side of the field, catching her breath, Mie and Kugi ran towards Jin. When Mie got close enough to Jin, she placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a worried glance.
"Are you okay, Jin?"
Jin trembled before replying. "Yeah, I think I'm fine. Is our sensei okay?"
"I think she'll manage," Kugi said, glancing in Tenten's direction.
"This is exactly why I didn't want to be a shinobi," Jin said, slamming his hands down on his legs. "I just can't control myself. I just attack anyone in sight, friend or foe. I can't do this anymore."
"Listen,' Kugi said, slapping Mie's hands away from Jin. "You have unimaginable strength. That's why you were placed on a Genin team with a teacher to help you control that strength. If you stay on this team, I know that both Mie and I would benefit from you and be thankful for you. But if you want to quit, fine, go ahead and quit. Just don't get in my way if you do."
Jin looked up at Kugi and stared into his pale eyes. Soon after, he closed his eyes and a smile spread across his face.
"Y'know, for a kid five years younger than me, you have quite the wisdom."
"You're a kid too," Kugi mumbled.
Jin ignored Kugi's comment and looked over to Mie. "Okay, there is no way any of us can beat her one on one. If we're going to do this, we need to work together."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you two all along!" Mie said as she glared at her teammates. Kugi and Jin looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact.
Mie sighed. "Better late than never, I guess. Okay, I have a plan..."
XXX
Tenten was crouched on the other side of the training field taking deep breaths and keeping a careful eye on her students. They were currently huddled close to each other, most likely coming up with a team plan to get Tenten's hair completely out of her buns.
"It's about time," Tenten said to herself with a smile.
Tenten continued to watch the Genin until they all turned to look at her. Tenten stood up and readied herself for an attack. Soon after, Jin and Kugi started running towards her. The two boys got to her quickly and started to attack her, each wielding their own kunai. They managed to block many of the attacks, but she has to admit that the boys were fast and she was using a lot of focus to keep up with them.
Kugi got behind Tenten at one point and tried to reach for her hair. Knowing that the attack was coming ahead of time, Tenten held up both her hands behind her head to block. With Tenten's front side being wider open, Jin ran up to Tenten and slid on the ground, going between her legs. As he did, he took a quick slash at the inside of her leg, causing a cut to begin bleeding. Tenten tried to get a hold of Jin after he cut her but he was too fast and he ran off to where Mie was standing.
Once Jin got to Mie, he held up his kunai to her and she slid her hand across it, getting some of Tenten's blood on her hand. Jin ran back to Tenten as Kugi continued to attack her while this was happening and Tenten began to panic, knowing that she would soon lose control of her body.
Mie activated her Jutsu and instead of going straight for her hair, the two boys made quick work of stripping Tenten of all her weapons. They unclipped her pouch from her pants and found all her scrolls before tossing them across the field. Soon after, Mie lost control of her Jutsu, her chakra level still low from when she previously used her Jutsu. At that point, Tenten quickly got out of Jin and Kugi's range.
The boys did not hesitate as they approached her again. Jin came at Tenten from the front while Kugi veered off to the side. Tenten was unable to see where Kugi was going because her attention was spent blocking Jin's attack. While she was a well-trained ninja and she spent most of her time training in hand-to-hand combat, she had to admit that she felt uncomfortable and exposed without her weapons readily available. As Jin continued to attack her, she heard a noise behind her.
So that was their plan. Jin was a distraction from Kugi's attack. It was a pretty elementary strategy, but Tenten was happy that they were working together, nonetheless.
Timing out her defense, Tenten waited for Kugi to get close enough to her so she could block both him and Jin. She quickly succeeded in her plan, but she noticed that Mie was no longer standing at the field's edge. Tenten realized all too late where exactly Mie was. Tenten turned her head slightly to see Mie in the air, reaching out towards Tenten's head. Jin wasn't the distraction for Kugi, Kugi was the distraction for Mie.
Mie stretched her arm out as far as she could and reached out to Tenten's hair. She was millimeters away from grasping Tenten's follicles when the timer at the middle of the field started to go off. Mie successfully managed to let down Tenten's hair regardless and half of her hair tumbled down her head and joined the rest of her brunette locks.
The field was quiet except for the panting of all four members of the team. After everyone took a moment to stare at one another, Jin was the one to break the silence.
"So that's it, we're going back to the academy."
"No, that's not fair," Mie interjected. "We completed our goal mear seconds after the timer went off. That still has to count for something, right?"
Mie looked up to Tenten with pleading eyes. Tenten eyed each of her students individually before she took a deep breath.
"Jin Kusami, Mie Fukukima, and Kugi Hyuga."
The three Genin looked down with disappointed looks, readying themselves for the news they were about to hear.
"Congratulations. You three are now members of Team Tenten."
There was a delayed reaction as the children processed Tenten's words. Not soon after, three faces looked up from the ground, large smiles etched on their faces. The three Genin let out a cheer. Mie halted her celebration and looked up at Tenten.
"I'm happy we passed and all, but why? We didn't complete our task on time."
"Your task wasn't to take out my hair in less than four hours," Tenten said. This earned confused looks from all three of her students.
"What is the number rule of being a shinobi?" Tenten asked.
"To do all you can to complete your mission," Kugi replied.
Tenten nodded. "Exactly. And tell me, how are you supposed to do that if your teammates are dropping like flies around you?"
"Wait," Mie said, her eyes narrowed in thought. "So was our true task to work together as a team?"
"Precisely," Tenten said with a smile. "As Lord Kakashi always used to say, 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum.' You guys passed when the three of you came up with a plan and worked together."
"Sweet!" Jin shouted as jumped up in celebration.
Tenten smiled at her students. "You all worked very hard today. How about we go out for some grub to commemorate our new team. On me."
Jin and Mie gave Tenten excited nods as they turned and followed Tenten away from the training field. After a few steps, Tenten heard Kugi call out.
"Wait!"
Tenten, Jin, and Mie stopped and turned around to look at Kugi. He slowly walked up to Tenten before he spoke again.
"How did you know about the Byakugan's secret?"
Tenten sighed and grabbed onto Kugi, turning him away from her. She poked her finger at a point in his neck and looked over to Jin and Mie.
"Kugi's Byakugan has a blind spot right here. From this point forward, it is the job of you two to protect it. As long as you two are Kugi's teammates, you guys should never let anything get into his blind spot. Understand?"
Jin and Mie nodded at Tenten with wide eyes. Kugi turned back around, smacking Tenten's arm away in the process.
"Why would you tell them that?" Kugi said, his rage and irritation evident.
"Because they're your teammates," Tenten yelled at Kugi, getting closer to him. "You may think you're strong for being able to hide the fact that your Byakugan has a weakness, but you can't hide it forever. Hiding a weakness is not true strength. True strength is accepting that you have weaknesses and confiding in your teammates about those weaknesses. You could be attacked with a kunai right this second and you would never notice it, but your teammates will do all they can to help protect you and you will do the same for them in return."
Kugi looked into Tenten's eyes, his own eyes softening. The two stared at each other for a moment before Kugi gave Tenten a small bow.
"I apologize for my temper. I now understand why you told Mie and Jin. And please believe me when I say I will give my all to protect my teammates, including you, Sensei."
Tenten gave Kugi a wide smile and ruffled his hair. "That means a lot, kiddo. And enough with the bowing. We're not in the Hyuga Compound right now, so you have my permission to be casual."
Kugi returned Tenten's smile and spoke again. "I do have one question before we leave?"
"And what's that?" Tenten asked with curiosity.
"How did you know about the Byakugan's blind spot? No one outside of the Hyuga Clan is allowed to know."
"That's funny," Tenten said with a chuckle. "'Cause I can name two other people that know about it."
"Who?" Kugi asked in shock.
"My sensei Maito Gai and my teammate Rock Lee."
Kugi continued to look at Tenten, unconvinced by her answer.
Tenten gave Kugi a small smirk. "My other teammate was from the Hyuga Clan. For the longest time, we all thought that his Byakugan was invincible. But then, he went on a mission with a group of Genin boys and they all ended up splitting up and my teammate had to fight one-on-one with someone. His enemy was able to discover on his own about the blind spot. My teammate neared death that day. Soon after that, he told us team about the blind spot because he'd rather have trust in his teammates and live another day than uphold his Hyuga pride and die to try to protect his family's secret."
Kugi's eyes grew wide and he looked up at Tenten with an excited face.
"Your teammate was in the Hyuga Clan? Who was he? I have to go home and find him and train from him."
Tenten's shoulders slumped at Kugi's question. She waited until some time passed before she answered Kugi.
"My teammate was Neji Hyuga."
A little later than I had hoped on the update. Maybe I'll get the next one out in a decent time. Next chapter we're gonna pick up where we left off on chapter 2! Please Review! I really appreciate hearing all your feedback!