Kagen no Tsuki
Naruto
By TKHM
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi. But this fanfiction is my work and no one can cut/edit this work, although I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Oh, Tohya Satsuki is my original character.
Chapter two - Encounter
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"Now, all three of you, try the new jutsu! All right! Go! This is the springtime of youth!" Gai yelled out in his over-dramatic way.
"Yes sir! Ooooooh!"
"Yes, sensei."
"...........hmm."
Following her sensei's instructions, Tenten stood in front of a giant piece of log. She looked at her teammates, and noted that they were doing the same. When she was ready, she focused her chakra onto her legs and ran towards it as quickly as she could.
'First, kick the log into the air as hard as I can.' Tenten mentally said to herself as crouched down as low as possible in front of the log. With a cry, she used her right leg to launch the log with all her might. The log did not travel too high, to Tenten's annoyance, but high enough for her to attempt the second part of the new jutsu.
'Second, follow the log into the air and stay underneath its shadow.' Tenten continued as she leapt up to meet the log to do her Leaf Shadow Dance. However, She put too much force into her jump and ended up being on top of the airborne log instead of staying underneath it. But Tenten did not give up hope yet, as she prepared herself for the next step of the jutsu.
'Third, secure myself onto the log, spin with the it and drive it into the ground.' Tenten grabbed the log with both her arms, and formed threads of chakra from her fingers. Then she used the threads to wrap herself together with the log. When she was done, she began spinning with the log while bringing it down at the same time. She had this feeling that she was not spinning fast enough, but it was as fast as she could manage.
'Finally, disengage from the log right before impact...' Tenten cut off the chakra threads wrapped around her quickly, and jumped to the side, away from the log.
When the log fell onto the ground, Tenten immediately knew that her attempt at the new jutsu was a complete failure. There was no dust cloud, no crater, and the only damage the log suffered was a scratch she had made accidentally when she withdrew herself from it. Tenten sighed, and took a look at her teammates' progress. She could not help but feel a little relieved that she was not the only one failing to make this Omote Renge move work.
'Neji would probably be the first one to learn this technique. He is a genius afterall.' Tenten thought to herself as she watched her other teammates. 'Okay, I will just try again.'
Hours later, Tenten stared at the giant log with hatred. None of the three students had mastered the move yet, and they were frustrated and exhausted. Gai's constant reminder of the 'springtime of youth' was starting to get on Tenten's nerves, even though it seemed to make Rock Lee even more eager to master the move. Neji just kept trying without responding to the speeches.
'So this jutsu is difficult even for Neji too.' Tenten thought to herself as she tried her luck with the jutsu again. 'Why is this move so hard to master? It looks doable when sensei performed it. And what does 'letting youth free your mind' mean? That part of his instruction still confuses me.'
Tenten was so submerged in her own thoughts that she forgot she was in the middle of attempting the Omoto Renge. She snapped out of her daze and cut off her chakra strings just as both she and the log crashed into the ground. It must have looked really silly, because she still had her arms around the log even after impact. Tenten released her grip on the log, and fell bonelessly onto the ground.
'That hurts!' Tenten whimpered as she lay on her back in pain.
"You are not supposed to hold onto the log." A voice stated bluntly. Tenten turned her head to her left, and saw Neji looking at her. "Can you continue?"
'This is Neji's strange way to show that he cares.' Tenten thought to herself as she replied. "Yeah I can keep going. I am just a little tired." Neji nodded once, and turned back to his training. After picking herself off the ground, Tenten did the same.
A dozen or so attempts later, Tenten was breathing heavily and was about to collapse onto the ground from exhaustion. She walked towards Neji and noted that Neji was not faring much better. She called out to him right when he was about to try the move again.
"Neji, wait." Tenten called to Neji, who stopped and turned around. "This is not working at all, maybe we should ask sensei..." She was interrupted suddenly by Lee's loud shout of joy. Both she and Neji turned towards their third teammate.
"Yes! I've finally mastered it. Whoohoo!" Rock lee started to dance in front of his log, which was cleanly splitted in half and embedded into the ground.
'This move is so much more destructive than my Soushouryu.' Tenten gasped.
"Calm down, Lee! Don't celebrate too much!"
Gai-sensei then explained to Lee that the Omoto Renge was a forbidden technique, because of the strain placed on the user's muscles. Tenten listened to the speech for a while, before stealing a glance at Neji. The Hyuga boy's face was a mixture of disappointment, frustration, and disbelief. In Neji's mind, Lee was always inferior to him. It would take quite a while for him to accept the fact that Lee has mastered a technique sooner than he did.
"Well, now that the Omote Renge is mastered, let's call it a day." Gai said cheerfully while giving his students a thumbs up. Then he turned to Lee. "Good job Lee! I'll treat you to lunch!"
"Okay!" Lee replied, still excited from his success. Then the two ninjas started to walk away in glee from Neji and Tenten.
'What? Wait a minute, Neji and I have not learned anything yet!' Tenten thought. She could not believe her eyes. Gai-sensei seemed to be content that Lee was the only one that had learned Omote Renge. She had always known that her teacher favored Lee, but this was too much.
"Wait! Gai-sensei!" Tenten called out, and Gai turned around. "Can't you continue teaching us the Renge?"
Gai looked thoughtful for a moment, before answering. "I don't think this move is right for you two. I'll think about something else tomorrow, but I think your Soushouryu should be able to do fine in the coming Chuunin Exam. " Then he started to walk away again.
That was not the answer Tenten wanted to hear. This Omote Renge was the strongest jutsu Gai-sensei had ever taught! She turned back to Neji, as if to ask for his help, but Neji did not seem to be interested enough to convince his teacher to change his mind.
Tenten sighed, and gave up on the idea of ever learning the Omote Renge.
---------------
Her training of the day finished, Tenten wandered around in the woods in the outskirts of the Konoha Village, not bothering to see where she was going. Her mind was too occupied by Lee's success at mastering the Omote Renge. That was quite a surprise, and she was sure that it was a harsh blow to Neji's pride. However, while she felt sorry for Neji, Neji's wounded pride was not the only thing bothering her.
In Tenten's mind, her team was always one of the most competent amoung the Konoha Genin teams. First of all, there was Neji, someone that Tenten firmly believed to be the best Genin in Konoha. Equipped with the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan and Jyuuken, the genius was heads above the other Genins. Then there was Lee, who was the most hard working ninja she had ever known. Lee could not perform a single ninjutsu or genjutsu, yet he was excellent when it came to taijutsu. Lee had improved a lot since she had first seen him, thanks to Gai-sensei's unwavering support for his favorite student. She, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of her two team members. She was nowhere near as fast as Lee when it came to movement, but she had no trouble keeping up with Neji when they were training. However, while both Neji and Lee were close range fighters, she was a long range weapon specialist. Using the wide range of weapons provided inside her scrolls, she worked best outside melee range, eliminating her opponents from far away. Neji was always the best ninja in their group of three, with Lee and herself lagging behind, although they were decent fighters in their own rights.
It did not take long for Tenten to realize that she was not keeping up with her other teammates. Neji was untouchable as always, and Lee, when he had his weights off, could move at such speed that her eyes had trouble following his movements. Not wanting to be the burden of her teammates, Tenten trained harder, throwing weapon after weapon at her targets with deadly accuracy until her arms were too sore to do anything.
Yet it was not enough. Tenten could easily imagine what would happen if she had an one on one fight against either one of her teammates. Neji would neutralize her weapon attacks with his new self-taught Kaiten. Even though his Kaiten had not been perfected, and her bigger attacks might be able to hit him, she doubted that Neji would let her pull out a scroll before ending the match with a single chakra enhanced palm strike. Against Lee, her match would be more balanced if Lee had his weights on. It would be a game of cat and mouse, with Lee trying to get through the barrage of weapons and close the distance between them. If Gai-sensei let Lee take off his weights, however, she would be sent flying by Lee's speed attacks before she knew what had happened.
And now Lee had Omote Renge along with his already impressive taijutsu skills, the gap between him and herself had widened even further. She was being left behind, and she could not do anything about it. She tried to convince herself to feel happy for her teammates, rather than letting her negative emotions erode her confidence. She tried to devote herself to become Neji's training partner, helping her teammate to advance even further. She tried to ignore the obvious favoritism of Gai-sensei towards Lee. But it was not working.
The only thing that kept her going was the fact that Neji, Lee and Gai-sensei all recognized her as a competent team member, even though she could see that Neji was also secretly impressed with Lee's improvement. Neji still considered the bowlhead ninja to be a fool, but he had toned down his insults towards Lee in the past few months.
There were many sleepless nights when Tenten questioned her own reason for becoming a ninja. Trying to become a legendary kunoichi like Tsunade-sama? That goal seemed farther and farther away as days passed. It was becoming an impossible dream, a cruel reminder of her own naivete when she had first become a Genin. She would act cheerful the next day, and Gai-sensei and Lee would simply not notice her swollen eyes. Neji suspected something, but even he could not understand why his training partner was sad, when she was always working so hard to make him improve. 'It was sweet of him to act nicer to me ever since.' Tenten thought while allowing a small smile to escape her lips. The change in Neji's attitude towards her was imperceptible to most people, but Tenten was an observant person.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, Tenten did not notice pile of rocks in front of her legs before she tripped. She cried out in surprise and instinctively shifted her weight to the side to realign herself. And thanks to her training, she quickly did a midair flip to get back onto her feet. Her pink chinese blouse was not so lucky, however, somehow it had gotten caught on a stray branch, and the flip had made a large tear on the cloth across her back. Feeling frustrated at how her day had just gone from bad to worse, Tenten picked up the rocks from the pile one by one and started throwing them at the tree responsible for the destruction of her favorite outfit.
There was something underneath the third rock she picked up.
It was a small scroll covered with red symbols. Tenten picked it up curiously, and almost dropped it in surprise when she realized that the red symbols were made of blood. The symbols were obviously there as either a seal or a code, but it was still strange, because with the exception of summoning, Tenten had not seen anyone using blood for seals and techniques.
Tenten blinked, before trying to open the scroll. There she was surprised again when a bright flash of red light blinded her momentarily. Frightened by the fact that she might have accidentally triggered unknown and dangerous seals, Tenten dropped the scroll onto the ground and ran home as fast as she could.
Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day.
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'Come.'
Tenten's eyes snapped open when she heard a raspy female voice calling out to her. She turned to her clock on her bedside, it read 2:30am. Was that from her dream, or did she really hear that?
'Help me.' Okay, that was definitely not from her dream.
"Who's there?" Tenten slipped out from her bed, and went to her closet to arm herself with a kunai. She looked around her, but could not tell where the voice was coming from. Her hands started to shake as she realized that she was at the mercy of the intruder at this moment.
'Come.' The voice repeated itself, before continuing in a pleading tone. 'Please, go to where you left my scroll.'
'That stupid scroll! I knew it! It was the stupid scroll! Why did I have to open it?' Tenten mentally screamed at herself for her thoughtless action. 'Better do what she says. I don't want to know will happen if I do otherwise.' Tenten then changed into her battle outfit and armed herself with her vast collection of weapon scrolls, before walking out of her house.
'Full moon...It's pretty....' Tenten found herself being mesmerized by the moon for a second, before heading for the forest.
---------------
Tenten picked up the scroll which she dropped earlier.
'Okay, now what?' Tenten thought to herself. The voice had not appeared since she left her house. Was she hearing voices because of too much stress?
'Thank you.' The raspy voice called directly behind Tenten, causing Tenten to shudder involuntarily. Forcing herself to fight down the creeps, she tried to turn around to face the owner of the voice like a proper ninja.
She could not move her body.
'What's going on here? Why can't I move?' Tenten panicked, while searching for the answer in her mind. She then remembered something that she had learned in the academy, a body binding jutsu which could immobilized the opponent. However it was one thing to hear about a jutsu from the academy, but another when it was used on her. The feeling of not being able to control her own body was very unpleasant. She felt so powerless.
The unpleasant feeling was quickly overwhelmed by fear when Tenten felt herself being grabbed by someone from behind. Thoughts of being murdered brutally entered her mind, before a sharp pain indicated that the ambusher had bitten into her neck. Soon after she felt her blood, her life being slowly sucked away from her body.
"Noooooooooo!" Tenten screamed at the top of her lungs, before a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Her tears were flowing freely from her eyes at this point, but she no longer cared for the violation of the shinobi rule. 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' Tenten screamed in her mind before losing consciousness.
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'I don't want to die.'
......
......
Tenten opened her eyes, and was momentarily blinded by the sunlight.
"Ah, you are finally awake. You've slept through the entire night."
Tenten looked up, and saw an older girl sitting next to her under a tree. Tenten looked confused for a moment, pulled herself up into a sitting position, and realized that someone had put a blanket, no, a cloak over her when she was unconscious.
"I put that on you so you wouldn't catch a cold sleeping on the ground like that." The girl explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for someone to be found unconscious in the middle of the forest. It was at that moment that Tenten noticed that something was amiss, even though her mind was still not completely awake yet.
'Wait a minute, her voice....' Tenten thought to herself, noticing that the stranger's voice was very similar to the voice who led her into the forest last night.
Tenten quickly climbed to her feet and leapt back from the other girl while reaching for a kunai inside her weapon pouch.
"There's no need to be alarmed. I'm not going to harm you." The girl said while remaining in her sitting position, not surprised one bit by Tenten's reaction.
Tenten calmed down a bit, and relaxed her stance slightly. She took a good look at the other girl, but could not recognize her. The other girl was wearing a long sleeve, turtleneck blouse on her upper body. She was also wearing a miniskirt, which in turn had a pair of tight protective shorts underneath it. And instead of the usual long pants of the other ninjas, she had a pair of stockings covering her legs. Everything was in black.
'Is she a ninja? She doesn't really dress like one, and I've never seen anyone with lightblue hair and red eyes like that in this village. Maybe...' Tenten thought to herself, before turning to the girl. "You're not from this village, are you? What are you doing in here?" Tenten really tried to sound brave in front of a potential foe, but she could barely keep her voice steady, still shaken by the fact that she was knocked out by the person in front of her so easily, even though this girl seems to be only a couple years older.
"I'm not a spy. I'm from this village." The girl replied. "I am Satsuki, an Anbu member."
'Is she telling the truth?' Tenten questioned in her mind, noticing the absence of a tattoo normally found on Anbu soldiers. However, she was using the Konoha head protector to tie her hair into a ponytail. "I am Tenten, a Genin." Tenten answered.
The girl nodded, then looked up, and an unreadable expression crossed her face. "How's Hokage-sama?"
Tenten was a little surprised by the sudden question. "The Hokage? He's doing fine." 'What kind of question is that?' Tenten added in her mind.
The girl who called herself Satsuki had a relieved look on her face. "So he's safe......" Then she looked at Tenten again and asked: "What happened to Orochimaru?"
"Who's Orochimaru?" Tenten wondered out loud. She had never heard of that name before. Satsuki's eyes widened at her reply.
"You don't know Orochimaru? He's one of the three legendary senins, and he abandoned the village after the Third Hokage had found him experi......" Satsuki caught herself before blurting out classified information known only to the Hokage and the Anbu. "It happened not too long ago."
"I haven't heard of him." Tenten replied, a little troubled that Satsuki was hinting that the information was common knowledge. As far as she knew, none of her Genin friends knew anything about Orochimaru either. "Maybe you should ask my Jounin sensei, he should know." Tenten suggested.
Satsuki looked confused for a moment, before her eyes started to widen as realization sank in. "How....how old is the Fourth right now?" Then she continued muttering quietly to herself. "How much time has passed?"
"The Fourth? He died protecting this village from the demon fox twelve years ago." It was Tenten's turn to look confused. Noticing Satsuki's blank look, she changed her expression to one of suspicion. "Everyone in Konoha knows that."
Satsuki did not notice Tenten's tone though, her mind was overwhelmed by the news that the Fourth Hokage had died. Fate had made a cruel joke out of her. What was the point of her soul binding technique succeeding when the the man she loved was dead? Feeling something warm inside her throat, Satsuki coughed, and blood spilt out from her mouth onto the ground.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Tenten rushed to the older girl's side, momentarily forgetting that the other girl might be an enemy. She was by Satsuki side when she remembered how suspicious the older girl was. Tenten paused, blinked, before sighing and letting the other girl lean against her for support. Satsuki seemed to have noticed her inner battle in her awkward pause, and for the first time since Tenten met her, she smiled.
"Do you want me to go get the medics?" Tenten asked. Satsuki shooked her head.
"I have a.....condition on my body..." Satsuki began. "The medics wouldn't be able to help me." She paused, looked at Tenten, before continuing. "I had to do what I did to save myself."
Tenten blinked, and ran her fingers on her neck wound. She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her. "But why me? How could you call me out from my house like that?"
"It'd be fatal for the other person if it was anybody else, the scroll was meant to keep the blood donor alive." Satsuki explained, paused, before continuing: "I will have to keep getting blood from you to stay alive."
Tenten almost pushed Satsuki away onto the ground at that moment, only the fact that the older girl was quite ill stopped her. "No way! There's no way you're doing that to me again. I don't even know if you are an enemy or not!" She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her.
"You won't help me?" Satsuki asked in a somewhat pitiful voice. Seeing Tenten's distrust, she continued: "I swear by the heavens that I am a ninja in Konoha and I will not do any harm to this village."
'Should I help her? She said she would die if I don't let her. But I don't want to experience that again, it felt like I was dying! She looked so sick though. wait a minute, I don't even know her, what if she's a spy! But isn't it inhumane to leave her to die like this, whether she's an enemy or not? Is she telling the truth, or is she just trying to kill me? She would have killed me ten times over already if she wanted, maybe she just enjoys sucking blood out of people. Ugh, I should have never opened the stupid scroll in the first place!' Tenten thought to herself in confusion, unable to decide whether to help the older girl in front of her or not.
"I can make a deal with you." Satsuki offered. "If you let me drink your blood every once in a while to sustain my body, I will teach you my techniques."
That caught Tenten's attention. She was trying to catch up to her other teammates, and she might be able to do it if she could learn some new powerful moves. She tried to think through the situation logically, but her mind was filled with images of Lee doing Omote Renge and Neji doing Kaiten.
"Okay." Tenten replied. She had a feeling that she should have thought about this offer more carefully, but she really wanted to get stronger.
"Thank you." Satsuki let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, isn't this the time when you meet with your team?" Satsuki asked, remembering the daily routines of the village.
"I am going to be late!" Tenten exclaimed. 'What am I going to do with her?'
"You can just leave me here, I should be well enough to move around soon." Satsuki said. "You can meet me here at eight every night so I can teach you my techniques."
"Okay, I have to go now." Tenten gently laid Satsuki onto the ground, before hurrying away.
"Tenten." Satsuki called, and Tenten turned around. "Don't tell anyone about me." Tenten nodded and ran off. 'Why doesn't she want me to mention her to others? Is it safe to keep this a secret? She has made a vow of not harming this village though....'
Satsuki waited until she could no longer feel Tenten's presence, and slowly climbed to her feet. She wiped the blood off her mouth with her fingers, and stared at the blood stain.
'To think that I lost control of my blood like that, my body is definitely weakened.' She thought to herself. 'I'm sorry for dragging you into my troubles, Tenten, but I can't die yet.'
"Orochimaru." She said the name in a dangerous voice. He was the one responsible for her loss. "I'll definitely kill you."
She might have lost the Fourth Hokage forever, but she still had to get her revenge before leaving this world. But first, she had to move before the Anbu squard found her. With the Fourth Hokage dead, she no longer had the courage to face the Konoha villagers. Also, she had to find out how much time had passed since her incomplete death and the whereabouts of Orochimaru. Satsuki picked her cloak off the ground, and vanished.
---------------
"Tenten! You're late!" Gai called out with a good nature laugh when Tenten finally appeared. "Don't slack off now, the Chuunin exam is coming up soon!" Then he grinned and a sparkle could be seen on his teeth.
"Sorry, sensei, I overslept." Tenten replied.
"What happened to your pink blouse?" Gai asked, noticing Tenten was wearing a black version of her favorite outfit.
"I ripped it accidentally."
"Oh."
"Sensei, do you know someone named...." Satsuki thought for a moment, then decided against telling her teacher about Satsuki. "...hmm...nevermind. Let's begin."
"Let's start the training." Gai said as he pointed at the dozen baskets filled with eggs behind him. "I'll start throwing eggs at you, and you can use any means to keep the eggs from hitting you, but you have to stay within this open field." Gai explained, then he held out his fist and yelled. "Goooo!!!"
'I don't like the sound of this training at all.' Tenten thought to herself as she barely dodged an egg flying towards her like a arrow.
The three students had different methods of dealing with the incoming projectiles.
For Rock Lee, this exercise was all about speed and reflex. He was leaping and back-flipping all over the place, avoiding the eggs in a continuous aerobic dance. For the eggs that he could not avoid, he would simply kick them away. While some of the eggs got on his feet, they technically did not hit him, and Lee was able to keep the rest of his body clean from the eggs.
For Neji, this exercise was a waste of time in front of his Jyuuken skills. Unlike Lee, Neji stayed in one place, and blew the eggs away one by one with his Jyuuken when they got a little too close. Because he was able to see every projectile with his Byakugan, he did not miss a single strike. Also, to prove that his defense was flawless, his entire body was clean, including his striking hands, because the chakra emitted from his palms was able to blow the splattered eggs away.
Finally for Tenten, the eggs were moving practice targets. Having a dozen weapons in her hands, she leapt back as far away as she could from her teacher so she would have more time to react. Throwing weapons after weapons, she attempted to intercept the projectiles with her own. Tenten was successful in dealing with the eggs in the beginning, but soon after she began to have trouble because she had to resupply the weapons from her scrolls. The eggs were not waiting for her when she reached into her pouch, and she was forced to duck out of the way when an egg sailed pass her head. Evading the latest barrage of projectiles after getting the scroll, she leapt up, spinned the opened scroll around her, and prepared to summon more weapons to continue her defense.
"You've taken too much time, Tenten!" Gai's voice called out.
Splat.
Surprised that an egg had hit the side of her head, Tenten lost her concentration and fell onto the ground with the scroll. To make matters even worse, when she tried to pull herself off the ground, she found her limps tied in a tangled mess with the scroll.
"Tenten, that's quite a mess you've got there!" Gai laughed as he crouched next to his student to help her out of her predicament. Something caught his eye as he started to untie her arms from the scroll.
"That's mean, Gai-sensei! My hair is a mess!" Tenten complained. Looking over to her other teammates, she gave out a sigh when she saw that they both did infinitely better than her. This exercise was another evidence of her inferiority compared to Neji and Lee.
"What's that on the back of your hand?" Gai took Tenten's right hand and started examining it. "A seal?"
Tenten took a look at the back of her right hand, and saw a red symbol. The symbol was a small crescent moon inside a kite-shaped border. One name appeared in her mind while she stared at the tattoo looking symbol. 'Satsuki.'
She had to ask the older girl about this symbol tonight.
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Chapter two - End
Author's Notes:
This story is going to focus on Team Gai, with Tenten as the main character.
Also, I know that Tenten's move Soushouryu only appears in the anime, but her appearance in the manga is so pitiful that I choose to keep that move. (This move does not appear in the Naruto Character Data Book.)
My OC looks like this: geocities.123/yurikatkhm and replace 123 with com.
Translation:
Omote Renge - Outer Lotus (I don't quite agree with Initial Lotus or Secondary Lotus. It's more like Outer/Inner for Omote/Ura.)
Soushouryu - Twin Rising Dragon
Naruto
By TKHM
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi. But this fanfiction is my work and no one can cut/edit this work, although I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Oh, Tohya Satsuki is my original character.
Chapter two - Encounter
---------------
"Now, all three of you, try the new jutsu! All right! Go! This is the springtime of youth!" Gai yelled out in his over-dramatic way.
"Yes sir! Ooooooh!"
"Yes, sensei."
"...........hmm."
Following her sensei's instructions, Tenten stood in front of a giant piece of log. She looked at her teammates, and noted that they were doing the same. When she was ready, she focused her chakra onto her legs and ran towards it as quickly as she could.
'First, kick the log into the air as hard as I can.' Tenten mentally said to herself as crouched down as low as possible in front of the log. With a cry, she used her right leg to launch the log with all her might. The log did not travel too high, to Tenten's annoyance, but high enough for her to attempt the second part of the new jutsu.
'Second, follow the log into the air and stay underneath its shadow.' Tenten continued as she leapt up to meet the log to do her Leaf Shadow Dance. However, She put too much force into her jump and ended up being on top of the airborne log instead of staying underneath it. But Tenten did not give up hope yet, as she prepared herself for the next step of the jutsu.
'Third, secure myself onto the log, spin with the it and drive it into the ground.' Tenten grabbed the log with both her arms, and formed threads of chakra from her fingers. Then she used the threads to wrap herself together with the log. When she was done, she began spinning with the log while bringing it down at the same time. She had this feeling that she was not spinning fast enough, but it was as fast as she could manage.
'Finally, disengage from the log right before impact...' Tenten cut off the chakra threads wrapped around her quickly, and jumped to the side, away from the log.
When the log fell onto the ground, Tenten immediately knew that her attempt at the new jutsu was a complete failure. There was no dust cloud, no crater, and the only damage the log suffered was a scratch she had made accidentally when she withdrew herself from it. Tenten sighed, and took a look at her teammates' progress. She could not help but feel a little relieved that she was not the only one failing to make this Omote Renge move work.
'Neji would probably be the first one to learn this technique. He is a genius afterall.' Tenten thought to herself as she watched her other teammates. 'Okay, I will just try again.'
Hours later, Tenten stared at the giant log with hatred. None of the three students had mastered the move yet, and they were frustrated and exhausted. Gai's constant reminder of the 'springtime of youth' was starting to get on Tenten's nerves, even though it seemed to make Rock Lee even more eager to master the move. Neji just kept trying without responding to the speeches.
'So this jutsu is difficult even for Neji too.' Tenten thought to herself as she tried her luck with the jutsu again. 'Why is this move so hard to master? It looks doable when sensei performed it. And what does 'letting youth free your mind' mean? That part of his instruction still confuses me.'
Tenten was so submerged in her own thoughts that she forgot she was in the middle of attempting the Omoto Renge. She snapped out of her daze and cut off her chakra strings just as both she and the log crashed into the ground. It must have looked really silly, because she still had her arms around the log even after impact. Tenten released her grip on the log, and fell bonelessly onto the ground.
'That hurts!' Tenten whimpered as she lay on her back in pain.
"You are not supposed to hold onto the log." A voice stated bluntly. Tenten turned her head to her left, and saw Neji looking at her. "Can you continue?"
'This is Neji's strange way to show that he cares.' Tenten thought to herself as she replied. "Yeah I can keep going. I am just a little tired." Neji nodded once, and turned back to his training. After picking herself off the ground, Tenten did the same.
A dozen or so attempts later, Tenten was breathing heavily and was about to collapse onto the ground from exhaustion. She walked towards Neji and noted that Neji was not faring much better. She called out to him right when he was about to try the move again.
"Neji, wait." Tenten called to Neji, who stopped and turned around. "This is not working at all, maybe we should ask sensei..." She was interrupted suddenly by Lee's loud shout of joy. Both she and Neji turned towards their third teammate.
"Yes! I've finally mastered it. Whoohoo!" Rock lee started to dance in front of his log, which was cleanly splitted in half and embedded into the ground.
'This move is so much more destructive than my Soushouryu.' Tenten gasped.
"Calm down, Lee! Don't celebrate too much!"
Gai-sensei then explained to Lee that the Omoto Renge was a forbidden technique, because of the strain placed on the user's muscles. Tenten listened to the speech for a while, before stealing a glance at Neji. The Hyuga boy's face was a mixture of disappointment, frustration, and disbelief. In Neji's mind, Lee was always inferior to him. It would take quite a while for him to accept the fact that Lee has mastered a technique sooner than he did.
"Well, now that the Omote Renge is mastered, let's call it a day." Gai said cheerfully while giving his students a thumbs up. Then he turned to Lee. "Good job Lee! I'll treat you to lunch!"
"Okay!" Lee replied, still excited from his success. Then the two ninjas started to walk away in glee from Neji and Tenten.
'What? Wait a minute, Neji and I have not learned anything yet!' Tenten thought. She could not believe her eyes. Gai-sensei seemed to be content that Lee was the only one that had learned Omote Renge. She had always known that her teacher favored Lee, but this was too much.
"Wait! Gai-sensei!" Tenten called out, and Gai turned around. "Can't you continue teaching us the Renge?"
Gai looked thoughtful for a moment, before answering. "I don't think this move is right for you two. I'll think about something else tomorrow, but I think your Soushouryu should be able to do fine in the coming Chuunin Exam. " Then he started to walk away again.
That was not the answer Tenten wanted to hear. This Omote Renge was the strongest jutsu Gai-sensei had ever taught! She turned back to Neji, as if to ask for his help, but Neji did not seem to be interested enough to convince his teacher to change his mind.
Tenten sighed, and gave up on the idea of ever learning the Omote Renge.
---------------
Her training of the day finished, Tenten wandered around in the woods in the outskirts of the Konoha Village, not bothering to see where she was going. Her mind was too occupied by Lee's success at mastering the Omote Renge. That was quite a surprise, and she was sure that it was a harsh blow to Neji's pride. However, while she felt sorry for Neji, Neji's wounded pride was not the only thing bothering her.
In Tenten's mind, her team was always one of the most competent amoung the Konoha Genin teams. First of all, there was Neji, someone that Tenten firmly believed to be the best Genin in Konoha. Equipped with the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan and Jyuuken, the genius was heads above the other Genins. Then there was Lee, who was the most hard working ninja she had ever known. Lee could not perform a single ninjutsu or genjutsu, yet he was excellent when it came to taijutsu. Lee had improved a lot since she had first seen him, thanks to Gai-sensei's unwavering support for his favorite student. She, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of her two team members. She was nowhere near as fast as Lee when it came to movement, but she had no trouble keeping up with Neji when they were training. However, while both Neji and Lee were close range fighters, she was a long range weapon specialist. Using the wide range of weapons provided inside her scrolls, she worked best outside melee range, eliminating her opponents from far away. Neji was always the best ninja in their group of three, with Lee and herself lagging behind, although they were decent fighters in their own rights.
It did not take long for Tenten to realize that she was not keeping up with her other teammates. Neji was untouchable as always, and Lee, when he had his weights off, could move at such speed that her eyes had trouble following his movements. Not wanting to be the burden of her teammates, Tenten trained harder, throwing weapon after weapon at her targets with deadly accuracy until her arms were too sore to do anything.
Yet it was not enough. Tenten could easily imagine what would happen if she had an one on one fight against either one of her teammates. Neji would neutralize her weapon attacks with his new self-taught Kaiten. Even though his Kaiten had not been perfected, and her bigger attacks might be able to hit him, she doubted that Neji would let her pull out a scroll before ending the match with a single chakra enhanced palm strike. Against Lee, her match would be more balanced if Lee had his weights on. It would be a game of cat and mouse, with Lee trying to get through the barrage of weapons and close the distance between them. If Gai-sensei let Lee take off his weights, however, she would be sent flying by Lee's speed attacks before she knew what had happened.
And now Lee had Omote Renge along with his already impressive taijutsu skills, the gap between him and herself had widened even further. She was being left behind, and she could not do anything about it. She tried to convince herself to feel happy for her teammates, rather than letting her negative emotions erode her confidence. She tried to devote herself to become Neji's training partner, helping her teammate to advance even further. She tried to ignore the obvious favoritism of Gai-sensei towards Lee. But it was not working.
The only thing that kept her going was the fact that Neji, Lee and Gai-sensei all recognized her as a competent team member, even though she could see that Neji was also secretly impressed with Lee's improvement. Neji still considered the bowlhead ninja to be a fool, but he had toned down his insults towards Lee in the past few months.
There were many sleepless nights when Tenten questioned her own reason for becoming a ninja. Trying to become a legendary kunoichi like Tsunade-sama? That goal seemed farther and farther away as days passed. It was becoming an impossible dream, a cruel reminder of her own naivete when she had first become a Genin. She would act cheerful the next day, and Gai-sensei and Lee would simply not notice her swollen eyes. Neji suspected something, but even he could not understand why his training partner was sad, when she was always working so hard to make him improve. 'It was sweet of him to act nicer to me ever since.' Tenten thought while allowing a small smile to escape her lips. The change in Neji's attitude towards her was imperceptible to most people, but Tenten was an observant person.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, Tenten did not notice pile of rocks in front of her legs before she tripped. She cried out in surprise and instinctively shifted her weight to the side to realign herself. And thanks to her training, she quickly did a midair flip to get back onto her feet. Her pink chinese blouse was not so lucky, however, somehow it had gotten caught on a stray branch, and the flip had made a large tear on the cloth across her back. Feeling frustrated at how her day had just gone from bad to worse, Tenten picked up the rocks from the pile one by one and started throwing them at the tree responsible for the destruction of her favorite outfit.
There was something underneath the third rock she picked up.
It was a small scroll covered with red symbols. Tenten picked it up curiously, and almost dropped it in surprise when she realized that the red symbols were made of blood. The symbols were obviously there as either a seal or a code, but it was still strange, because with the exception of summoning, Tenten had not seen anyone using blood for seals and techniques.
Tenten blinked, before trying to open the scroll. There she was surprised again when a bright flash of red light blinded her momentarily. Frightened by the fact that she might have accidentally triggered unknown and dangerous seals, Tenten dropped the scroll onto the ground and ran home as fast as she could.
Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day.
---------------
'Come.'
Tenten's eyes snapped open when she heard a raspy female voice calling out to her. She turned to her clock on her bedside, it read 2:30am. Was that from her dream, or did she really hear that?
'Help me.' Okay, that was definitely not from her dream.
"Who's there?" Tenten slipped out from her bed, and went to her closet to arm herself with a kunai. She looked around her, but could not tell where the voice was coming from. Her hands started to shake as she realized that she was at the mercy of the intruder at this moment.
'Come.' The voice repeated itself, before continuing in a pleading tone. 'Please, go to where you left my scroll.'
'That stupid scroll! I knew it! It was the stupid scroll! Why did I have to open it?' Tenten mentally screamed at herself for her thoughtless action. 'Better do what she says. I don't want to know will happen if I do otherwise.' Tenten then changed into her battle outfit and armed herself with her vast collection of weapon scrolls, before walking out of her house.
'Full moon...It's pretty....' Tenten found herself being mesmerized by the moon for a second, before heading for the forest.
---------------
Tenten picked up the scroll which she dropped earlier.
'Okay, now what?' Tenten thought to herself. The voice had not appeared since she left her house. Was she hearing voices because of too much stress?
'Thank you.' The raspy voice called directly behind Tenten, causing Tenten to shudder involuntarily. Forcing herself to fight down the creeps, she tried to turn around to face the owner of the voice like a proper ninja.
She could not move her body.
'What's going on here? Why can't I move?' Tenten panicked, while searching for the answer in her mind. She then remembered something that she had learned in the academy, a body binding jutsu which could immobilized the opponent. However it was one thing to hear about a jutsu from the academy, but another when it was used on her. The feeling of not being able to control her own body was very unpleasant. She felt so powerless.
The unpleasant feeling was quickly overwhelmed by fear when Tenten felt herself being grabbed by someone from behind. Thoughts of being murdered brutally entered her mind, before a sharp pain indicated that the ambusher had bitten into her neck. Soon after she felt her blood, her life being slowly sucked away from her body.
"Noooooooooo!" Tenten screamed at the top of her lungs, before a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Her tears were flowing freely from her eyes at this point, but she no longer cared for the violation of the shinobi rule. 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' Tenten screamed in her mind before losing consciousness.
---------------
'I don't want to die.'
......
......
Tenten opened her eyes, and was momentarily blinded by the sunlight.
"Ah, you are finally awake. You've slept through the entire night."
Tenten looked up, and saw an older girl sitting next to her under a tree. Tenten looked confused for a moment, pulled herself up into a sitting position, and realized that someone had put a blanket, no, a cloak over her when she was unconscious.
"I put that on you so you wouldn't catch a cold sleeping on the ground like that." The girl explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for someone to be found unconscious in the middle of the forest. It was at that moment that Tenten noticed that something was amiss, even though her mind was still not completely awake yet.
'Wait a minute, her voice....' Tenten thought to herself, noticing that the stranger's voice was very similar to the voice who led her into the forest last night.
Tenten quickly climbed to her feet and leapt back from the other girl while reaching for a kunai inside her weapon pouch.
"There's no need to be alarmed. I'm not going to harm you." The girl said while remaining in her sitting position, not surprised one bit by Tenten's reaction.
Tenten calmed down a bit, and relaxed her stance slightly. She took a good look at the other girl, but could not recognize her. The other girl was wearing a long sleeve, turtleneck blouse on her upper body. She was also wearing a miniskirt, which in turn had a pair of tight protective shorts underneath it. And instead of the usual long pants of the other ninjas, she had a pair of stockings covering her legs. Everything was in black.
'Is she a ninja? She doesn't really dress like one, and I've never seen anyone with lightblue hair and red eyes like that in this village. Maybe...' Tenten thought to herself, before turning to the girl. "You're not from this village, are you? What are you doing in here?" Tenten really tried to sound brave in front of a potential foe, but she could barely keep her voice steady, still shaken by the fact that she was knocked out by the person in front of her so easily, even though this girl seems to be only a couple years older.
"I'm not a spy. I'm from this village." The girl replied. "I am Satsuki, an Anbu member."
'Is she telling the truth?' Tenten questioned in her mind, noticing the absence of a tattoo normally found on Anbu soldiers. However, she was using the Konoha head protector to tie her hair into a ponytail. "I am Tenten, a Genin." Tenten answered.
The girl nodded, then looked up, and an unreadable expression crossed her face. "How's Hokage-sama?"
Tenten was a little surprised by the sudden question. "The Hokage? He's doing fine." 'What kind of question is that?' Tenten added in her mind.
The girl who called herself Satsuki had a relieved look on her face. "So he's safe......" Then she looked at Tenten again and asked: "What happened to Orochimaru?"
"Who's Orochimaru?" Tenten wondered out loud. She had never heard of that name before. Satsuki's eyes widened at her reply.
"You don't know Orochimaru? He's one of the three legendary senins, and he abandoned the village after the Third Hokage had found him experi......" Satsuki caught herself before blurting out classified information known only to the Hokage and the Anbu. "It happened not too long ago."
"I haven't heard of him." Tenten replied, a little troubled that Satsuki was hinting that the information was common knowledge. As far as she knew, none of her Genin friends knew anything about Orochimaru either. "Maybe you should ask my Jounin sensei, he should know." Tenten suggested.
Satsuki looked confused for a moment, before her eyes started to widen as realization sank in. "How....how old is the Fourth right now?" Then she continued muttering quietly to herself. "How much time has passed?"
"The Fourth? He died protecting this village from the demon fox twelve years ago." It was Tenten's turn to look confused. Noticing Satsuki's blank look, she changed her expression to one of suspicion. "Everyone in Konoha knows that."
Satsuki did not notice Tenten's tone though, her mind was overwhelmed by the news that the Fourth Hokage had died. Fate had made a cruel joke out of her. What was the point of her soul binding technique succeeding when the the man she loved was dead? Feeling something warm inside her throat, Satsuki coughed, and blood spilt out from her mouth onto the ground.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Tenten rushed to the older girl's side, momentarily forgetting that the other girl might be an enemy. She was by Satsuki side when she remembered how suspicious the older girl was. Tenten paused, blinked, before sighing and letting the other girl lean against her for support. Satsuki seemed to have noticed her inner battle in her awkward pause, and for the first time since Tenten met her, she smiled.
"Do you want me to go get the medics?" Tenten asked. Satsuki shooked her head.
"I have a.....condition on my body..." Satsuki began. "The medics wouldn't be able to help me." She paused, looked at Tenten, before continuing. "I had to do what I did to save myself."
Tenten blinked, and ran her fingers on her neck wound. She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her. "But why me? How could you call me out from my house like that?"
"It'd be fatal for the other person if it was anybody else, the scroll was meant to keep the blood donor alive." Satsuki explained, paused, before continuing: "I will have to keep getting blood from you to stay alive."
Tenten almost pushed Satsuki away onto the ground at that moment, only the fact that the older girl was quite ill stopped her. "No way! There's no way you're doing that to me again. I don't even know if you are an enemy or not!" She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her.
"You won't help me?" Satsuki asked in a somewhat pitiful voice. Seeing Tenten's distrust, she continued: "I swear by the heavens that I am a ninja in Konoha and I will not do any harm to this village."
'Should I help her? She said she would die if I don't let her. But I don't want to experience that again, it felt like I was dying! She looked so sick though. wait a minute, I don't even know her, what if she's a spy! But isn't it inhumane to leave her to die like this, whether she's an enemy or not? Is she telling the truth, or is she just trying to kill me? She would have killed me ten times over already if she wanted, maybe she just enjoys sucking blood out of people. Ugh, I should have never opened the stupid scroll in the first place!' Tenten thought to herself in confusion, unable to decide whether to help the older girl in front of her or not.
"I can make a deal with you." Satsuki offered. "If you let me drink your blood every once in a while to sustain my body, I will teach you my techniques."
That caught Tenten's attention. She was trying to catch up to her other teammates, and she might be able to do it if she could learn some new powerful moves. She tried to think through the situation logically, but her mind was filled with images of Lee doing Omote Renge and Neji doing Kaiten.
"Okay." Tenten replied. She had a feeling that she should have thought about this offer more carefully, but she really wanted to get stronger.
"Thank you." Satsuki let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, isn't this the time when you meet with your team?" Satsuki asked, remembering the daily routines of the village.
"I am going to be late!" Tenten exclaimed. 'What am I going to do with her?'
"You can just leave me here, I should be well enough to move around soon." Satsuki said. "You can meet me here at eight every night so I can teach you my techniques."
"Okay, I have to go now." Tenten gently laid Satsuki onto the ground, before hurrying away.
"Tenten." Satsuki called, and Tenten turned around. "Don't tell anyone about me." Tenten nodded and ran off. 'Why doesn't she want me to mention her to others? Is it safe to keep this a secret? She has made a vow of not harming this village though....'
Satsuki waited until she could no longer feel Tenten's presence, and slowly climbed to her feet. She wiped the blood off her mouth with her fingers, and stared at the blood stain.
'To think that I lost control of my blood like that, my body is definitely weakened.' She thought to herself. 'I'm sorry for dragging you into my troubles, Tenten, but I can't die yet.'
"Orochimaru." She said the name in a dangerous voice. He was the one responsible for her loss. "I'll definitely kill you."
She might have lost the Fourth Hokage forever, but she still had to get her revenge before leaving this world. But first, she had to move before the Anbu squard found her. With the Fourth Hokage dead, she no longer had the courage to face the Konoha villagers. Also, she had to find out how much time had passed since her incomplete death and the whereabouts of Orochimaru. Satsuki picked her cloak off the ground, and vanished.
---------------
"Tenten! You're late!" Gai called out with a good nature laugh when Tenten finally appeared. "Don't slack off now, the Chuunin exam is coming up soon!" Then he grinned and a sparkle could be seen on his teeth.
"Sorry, sensei, I overslept." Tenten replied.
"What happened to your pink blouse?" Gai asked, noticing Tenten was wearing a black version of her favorite outfit.
"I ripped it accidentally."
"Oh."
"Sensei, do you know someone named...." Satsuki thought for a moment, then decided against telling her teacher about Satsuki. "...hmm...nevermind. Let's begin."
"Let's start the training." Gai said as he pointed at the dozen baskets filled with eggs behind him. "I'll start throwing eggs at you, and you can use any means to keep the eggs from hitting you, but you have to stay within this open field." Gai explained, then he held out his fist and yelled. "Goooo!!!"
'I don't like the sound of this training at all.' Tenten thought to herself as she barely dodged an egg flying towards her like a arrow.
The three students had different methods of dealing with the incoming projectiles.
For Rock Lee, this exercise was all about speed and reflex. He was leaping and back-flipping all over the place, avoiding the eggs in a continuous aerobic dance. For the eggs that he could not avoid, he would simply kick them away. While some of the eggs got on his feet, they technically did not hit him, and Lee was able to keep the rest of his body clean from the eggs.
For Neji, this exercise was a waste of time in front of his Jyuuken skills. Unlike Lee, Neji stayed in one place, and blew the eggs away one by one with his Jyuuken when they got a little too close. Because he was able to see every projectile with his Byakugan, he did not miss a single strike. Also, to prove that his defense was flawless, his entire body was clean, including his striking hands, because the chakra emitted from his palms was able to blow the splattered eggs away.
Finally for Tenten, the eggs were moving practice targets. Having a dozen weapons in her hands, she leapt back as far away as she could from her teacher so she would have more time to react. Throwing weapons after weapons, she attempted to intercept the projectiles with her own. Tenten was successful in dealing with the eggs in the beginning, but soon after she began to have trouble because she had to resupply the weapons from her scrolls. The eggs were not waiting for her when she reached into her pouch, and she was forced to duck out of the way when an egg sailed pass her head. Evading the latest barrage of projectiles after getting the scroll, she leapt up, spinned the opened scroll around her, and prepared to summon more weapons to continue her defense.
"You've taken too much time, Tenten!" Gai's voice called out.
Splat.
Surprised that an egg had hit the side of her head, Tenten lost her concentration and fell onto the ground with the scroll. To make matters even worse, when she tried to pull herself off the ground, she found her limps tied in a tangled mess with the scroll.
"Tenten, that's quite a mess you've got there!" Gai laughed as he crouched next to his student to help her out of her predicament. Something caught his eye as he started to untie her arms from the scroll.
"That's mean, Gai-sensei! My hair is a mess!" Tenten complained. Looking over to her other teammates, she gave out a sigh when she saw that they both did infinitely better than her. This exercise was another evidence of her inferiority compared to Neji and Lee.
"What's that on the back of your hand?" Gai took Tenten's right hand and started examining it. "A seal?"
Tenten took a look at the back of her right hand, and saw a red symbol. The symbol was a small crescent moon inside a kite-shaped border. One name appeared in her mind while she stared at the tattoo looking symbol. 'Satsuki.'
She had to ask the older girl about this symbol tonight.
---------------
Chapter two - End
Author's Notes:
This story is going to focus on Team Gai, with Tenten as the main character.
Also, I know that Tenten's move Soushouryu only appears in the anime, but her appearance in the manga is so pitiful that I choose to keep that move. (This move does not appear in the Naruto Character Data Book.)
My OC looks like this: geocities.123/yurikatkhm and replace 123 with com.
Translation:
Omote Renge - Outer Lotus (I don't quite agree with Initial Lotus or Secondary Lotus. It's more like Outer/Inner for Omote/Ura.)
Soushouryu - Twin Rising Dragon