2 – Kunai

They say the most important day in a ninja's life is the day he graduates from the academy. For me, it was one of the worst. I knew I was going to pass the exam. I had practiced for three straight weeks with Neji and Lee. Neji thought the exam was stupid but then he had surpassed all of the other students years ago. Lee was another story.

He tried, I saw how hard he did, to be able to do the simplest genjutsu but it was just not within his reach. So there were Neji and I with our forehead protectors and Lee was still smiling despite the fact that they've failed him and said he won't ever pass.

"Wow, you guys look great with those on," Lee smiled. "You're going to make great ninjas."

It was supposed to make us feel good. But ever word just drove the pain in deeper. I knew my father was there, ready to celebrate, but I couldn't be happy knowing that Lee wasn't.

Neji's face showed little emotion but I wasn't surprised. Since his father died, Neji's face had turned to stone. He never talked about it but Lee and I knew it's eating him up inside. And now that we weren't in the academy together, I'm afraid of what would happen to him.

Graduating sucked, there's no question about it. It didn't matter that dad made a set of special kunai just for the occasion or that he was taking me out to my favorite restaurant. I would have given anything to walk back into that school as student. But that's not the way things worked and before I knew it, my father was pulling me away and out to dinner.

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night. Sometime around two, I got up and got dressed, taking the new kunai with me. Maybe I could put them to good use and kill a tree or something.

But my feet were taking me someplace other then the training ground. Before I knew it, I was in front of the small house that Lee lived in. Was I surprised that there was a light on in his bedroom? Not a bit. I know it's why I came. With friends like Lee and Neji, you learn pretty quickly that boys are very good at bottling things up inside.

I picked up a few stones and threw them at the lit window. There was movement and a very tired Lee poked his head out the window. I waved my hands to get his attention and motioned him to join me. He seemed to hesitate so I made good use of the kunai and hurled them at him to make sure he understood I was serious.

Ten minutes later, we were standing in front of the Hyuuga complex, eyeing each other wearily. It was bad enough that there were at least five dozen rooms but the large wall that surrounded it made it impossible to see inside. Getting Lee was easy, getting Neji was damn near impossible.

"Should we ring the doorbell?" Lee asked.

"At 2am in the morning?" I replied, shaking my head. "I wish I knew which room was his. I could probably hit it with a kunai from here."

Lee looked thoughtful and then jumped up with an idea. He kneeled down and told me to stand on his shoulders. I did just that and Lee lifted me up, steadying himself as I grab the wall to balance us.

"When did you get so strong?" I asked, looking down at him.

"I've been training," he whispered back.

I turned my attention back to the Hyuuga house only to come face to face with a familiar white-eyed face. I let out a shriek and pushed away, causing Lee to fall backwards under me. Neji grabbed my arm before I could hit the ground but Lee landed hard.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked as he lowered me to the ground.

"Looking for you!" I cried. "Why are you up so late?"

His eyebrow arched a bit. "Training, what else?"

I sighed. That was another problem lately. Neji was a genius but he was always training himself to the point of exhaustion. Still standing on the wall, he looked over my shoulder at Lee before turning back to me.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want us to figure out a way to stay together," I said.

There was silence. I heard Lee shuffling his feet on the ground. "But Tenten… I failed the exam…"

"I know that," I shot back. "But it doesn't mean we have to accept it."

"It's been decided," Neji said. "There's nothing we can do."

"Well not with an attitude like that," I cried.

"You don't understand," Neji replied. "The academy decided and that's all there is to it. You can't change things like that because you want to. Our fate is to continue and become ninjas, Lee's is not."

I know my face cringed at the words, probably more then Lee's. In fact, I knew it hurt me more. Neji had always been the quiet one but I felt like we were losing him as each day passed. More and more, he pushed us away and avoided us to train. But he had never been this mean, not to us.

I stepped back and took Lee's hand, not looking at his face but keeping my eyes locked angrily at Neji.

"I don't know what your problem is," I spat, "but that's the last straw. Come on, Lee."

I dragged him away quickly, not wanting to hear the protests that he was planning. Lee didn't have a lot of self esteem and I couldn't believe that Neji would say something like that, knowing how it would affect him.

Finally Lee came to a stop and pulled his hand out of mine. I stopped to tell him to keep moving but when I got a look at him, everything just died on my lips. I expected to see him crying, he was most emotional out of all of us. But instead he was infuriated.

"Lee?" I asked tentatively. I wasn't sure how he would react, I'd never seen Lee this mad before.

He looked at me and his features slowly slid back into the normal Lee I recognized. "I've been training," he repeated, "with a jounin."

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded. "Let's go talk to him," Lee replied. "If anyone can help, he can."

Finding a jounin in the middle of the night is not an easy task. If they're not at the Jounin headquarters in the tower they can be anywhere from on a mission to one of the bars in the red light district. So it was just our luck that our choices dwindled down to that last option.

The infamous Akai quarter of Konoha was not something you find in the tour guide. But with the number of ninja in the area, there needed to be someplace to release all the stresses of their job. The bars, the brothels, and gambling halls were teeming with people, even this late at night. And it was obvious that two twelve year olds probably should not be walking in the area alone.

There were a few sneers in the beginning, a few leers as we got deeper and finally the cheers of what sounded like a competition. Lee peeked into the window and nodded at me.

"That's him," Lee said. "I knew he'd be here."

I looked into the window at the group of jounin there. Two men were throwing darts, blindfolded, at a small circle drawn with chalk on the wall. One had white hair that almost reached the ceiling while the other had an upturned bowl of black hair.

"The old guy?" I asked and Lee shook his head.

"No, the other."

I examined the darker man and frowned. "He's blindfolded! How are we supposed to get his attention?"

"Hey! You two!"

Lee and I jumped, surprised to see the massive form of the bouncer standing over us.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" he demanded.

Lee replied first, without a trace of fear in his voice. "I need to see Gai-sensei."

"Oh do you now?" he asked, shooting a glance over at me.

"Immediately," Lee stressed. But the bouncer didn't appear ready to budge at all until a small smile appeared on his face.

"All right, you can go ahead," he said. "I'll just entertain your girlfriend while you're gone."

I didn't even realize what happened. I saw the bouncer's hand move towards me. I reached for the kunai at my hip. And then suddenly the bouncer was on the ground, crying out in agony while Lee stood a few feet behind him.

"It's impolite to touch a lady without asking first," Lee said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The bouncer was standing up again, holding his wrist in his other hand. The words coming out of his mouth were ugly. I looked up at the window and saw most of the jounin were there, watching. I went to help Lee, but one of them grabbed my shoulder.

It was Gai. "Just watch," he smiled, a glint of light reflecting off his teeth.

The bouncer lurched forward, aiming a punch that was powered completely by his weight. It looked like it was about to make contact but in a blink of the eye, Lee was moving, jumping into the air. The kick smashed down on the bouncer uninjured hand causing the elbow to bend the wrong way. Lee's other leg moved as he turned and connected with his cheek. The bouncer's head snapped quickly to one side. Lee had landed before the bouncer even registered the hit on his face. Lee clenched his fist and drove his arm hard into the man's ribs, adding to his momentum and sending him into the wall.

The bouncer slumped to the ground. There was a hushed awe from the assembled jounin. Lee looked up and saw the audience he had.

"Gai-sensei," he said, a bit of fear dotting his face.

"Lee," Gai replied. "That was impressive. Just like I told you, ne, Iruka-sensei?" He turned to the lone chuunin in the group. Iruka-sensei was suddenly visible from behind the taller jounin. He looked at Gai with a sigh and shook his head.

"Come inside, Lee," Gai said. "We need to discuss things."

I wanted to go too but Gai sent the old guy out to escort me home. In the light though, he didn't look old at all. He must have been about the same age as Gai. He strolled next to me, holding an orange book that I had never seen before. I swore I saw a blush from beneath the mask.

By the time I got home, the sun was beginning to peak over the mountains. The jounin waved good bye and disappeared in a puff of smoke without word. I frowned as I went inside. I wanted to ask him why Iruka-sensei was with them. Why Gai had had wanted everyone to see Lee fighting? What did they have to discuss?

I wanted to believe that Lee had been right, that Gai-sensei could help out. But Neji words still echoed in my mind no matter how much I tried to ignore them. In the end, I settled for making breakfast rather then debate things further.

There was a loud thump on the door and I jumped, ready to take on any intruder that dared attack our home before realizing that the long night was effecting my common sense. My father walked out of his bedroom, a deep yawn forcing his eyes shut.

"You're up early," he smiled. "Excited about meeting your sensei?"

He opened the front door before I answer. When he turned around, he had two scrolls in his hand, obviously the source of the noise. One was the morning paper, the other he handed to me.

I unrolled it quickly and read through the message. My father put the finished breakfast in front of me.

"What does it say?" he asked.

I shrugged. "To meet my new sensei at the observation post in the middle of town." I frowned. "Aren't we supposed to get assigned at the academy?"

My father shrugged. "Maybe your new sensei had something to do this morning."

I nodded and started to eat my breakfast slowly. My mind was a bit fuzzy from the lack of sleep so things pulled together slower then usual. Suddenly a few very important fact clicked in my mind.

I jumped up from the table. "I have to go!" I cried, leaving my breakfast half eaten.

"But you still have twenty…"

I didn't hear the rest of what he said. I was running as fast as I could. The observation tower loomed into view and didn't bother with the stairs, instead ricocheting off the building to reach it.

Even early, I was the last one there. Neji was sitting down, arms crossed and face impassive as he stared at his new sensei. Next to Gai was Lee, just as I had left him a few hours ago. Only this time, he was wearing a Konoha forehead protector.

Before I could say a word, Gai-sensei told us to take a seat. I sat next in between Lee and Neji, feeling the tension that was forming between them.

"I'd like to hear your goals," Gai-sensei said. "From today, you are genin," he smiled, nodding at Lee.

"I don't want to answer," Neji said suddenly.

"I would like to be a strong ninja, like the legendary female ninja Tsunade-sama," I said, ignoring Neji's remarks. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was sulking because Lee and I had proved him wrong. But a quick glance at him told me that there was no emotion in his brooding.

"SENSEI!" Lee yelled and I jumped in surprise. "I want to prove that you can become a great ninja without being able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu! That is everything to me!!"

And I knew right away that there would be no doubt that he would reach his goal.

Author's notes : Thanks for the helpful critiques from last time. I made changes to the first chapter to include fixes for mistakes and additions from suggestions. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter.