Ahhh... it's been far too long since my last update, but it took me sooo loong to finish this chapter, just because I propose the demon storyline in this one. I've been struggling to do research on the entire story that Kishimoto-sensei based Naruto off of, and as a result I probably ruined the entire thing for myself... but don't worry! I know exactly how this fic is going to end, and I won't be ruining anything for you guys.

I'm celebrating the release of my fifth chapter with a great big THANK YOU to those of you who are reading it! Don't worry, I promise it will pick up. I also promise I will never abandon this project. Mind you, it will definately take me a while because this is a mother of a fic, but I plan on finishing it regardless. Thanks for everyone's reviews and encouragement, and to the C2s that I discovered myself a part of this morning! I love hearing where you guys think the story is going to go, because you just give me more ideas of what I could possibly add in. I hope you don't mind hearing a lot about the rest of Konoha, because they aren't going away. Quite the contrary, actually! I hope you all like where it's going!

Keep in mind this chapter was rushed at the end just because I wanted to keep going. I'll fix it someday.

Warriors

It was dark and cold outside when Tenten was ordered to go on a mission to the Hidden Mist. Her hair dampened with the rain that couldn't decide whether or not to fall, she nodded obediently to Tsunade as the Godaime sighed and shuffled through her papers to look for other chuunin that weren't preoccupied.

She had been promoted half a year before, when she had been on a D-rank mission. Team Gai had wandered slightly off course while they had been traveling and were ambushed by a group of missing-nin, thus shooting the classification up to A. There was no way to know what they had been doing, where they had come from or where they had gone, but when Gai and Lee ended up severely injured it was up to Neji to divert the enemy while Tenten performed some emergency first-aid, and the two of them struggled to distract the ninja and managed to get away. Neji ran back to the village while Tenten protected them from the lurking ninjas and provided a good distraction until Neji got back two days later with Kurenai, Anko and what remained of Team 8 in tow. While the jounin and genin went to find the lurking missing nin, Neji took over watching Gai and Lee as Tenten followed the reinforcements. Although the missing nin weren't captured, they were scared off, and several medical-nin showed up in the scene shortly after, and all of them returned to Konoha together. Gai and Lee were concious and apologizing before they even arrived, and when they did Tsunade stood in the doorway waiting for them with a relieved look on her face.

Neither of them believed her right away when she told them they had been deemed worthy of chuunin status from their display of expertise in an emergency. It had taken Tenten until the award ceremony to realize what it all meant as she looked to her side to discover the faint traces of a smile on Neji's face. Her own vanished as she stared at him, realizing with dismay that he hadn't forgotten.

Of course he wouldn't forget, she scolded herself mentally as she turned back to face Tsunade as she gave her speech of rebirth to Konoha. When she approached them to give them their official titles, Tsunade shook her hand and told Tenten she was eager to have her assistance, and Tenten thanked her politely. When she turned to Neji, all she said was "good luck".

Lee had been better about expressing his distaste about his becoming a chuunin as he pouted and crossed his arms in Neji's direction. "This doesn't mean you're any stronger than me!" he cried. Neji's facial expression hadn't changed at all since the ceremony. "You better not save Naruto before I do!"

Naruto... Tenten felt as if she was losing her team to Naruto. She couldn't shake her head and pretend she didn't care about the blonde's safe return - his disappearance affected everyone. She had seen it happen and she didn't understand because she didn't know him the way everyone else had. Instead, she watched as Lee declared his loyalty to bringing him home and as Neji's training became more reserved and more violent. She wanted to be a chuunin with them by her side. It wouldn't be the same with anyone else.

And when Neji left to join up with the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya, Lee saw him off with some tears and a nice-guy pose to end all nice-guy poses while Gai handed him a scroll for extra training and gave him the hug he had never dared to before. Neji smiled the best he could for them while still looking awkward and he turned to Tenten.

"Good luck, Neji." Was all she found herself able to say.

"Thank you," was the last thing he said to her before he left.

While Gai and Lee beside her cried into each other's arms, Tenten simply watched him go as she felt one-fourth of her fall away to serve some other purpose. They weren't 'Team Gai' anymore.

It didn't hurt as much when Lee left a few months later. He wasn't a chuunin yet, so he wasn't going to look for Naruto. Instead, he had been stationed in the Hidden Sand after requesting too many missions there. She wasn't surprised when he cried a lot when he left, but the second he escaped the doors of the village, she noticed an extra bounce to his step. While he left them behind, he was finding himself a new world to explore. Tenten just watched while feeling slightly jealous, wondering whether or not they would be more happy where they were while accomplishing a goal than they would be at home where they were a part of something.

From that point on, Gai had insisted on participating in every operation Tenten ever operated in until this one, when Tsunade deliberately sent him away on a pointless errand to a village nearby. Tenten wasn't sure if she was supposed to be thankful or not, so she said nothing.

"Hinata?" Tsunade spoke up, glancing across the room to where her apprentice was standing next to the door.

"Ahh... yes, Tsunade-sama?" The Hyuuga girl answered obediently.

"I would like you to go on this mission with Tenten. It would be a good chance to show us what you've learned. I'll send Shizune with you so she can judge your progress."

"Oh... yes, Tsunade-sama... Thank you..." Hinata bowed. Tenten spared her a glance over her shoulder. She had never been told exactly why the girl had insisted to be trained by Tsunade, but she had a hunch it may have had something to do with Naruto as well.

"And..." Tsunade sighed as she continued flipping through her books with her chin resting on her hand. "I think you should take Shino with you as well. Tenten, you'll be leading the mission."

"Yes, Godaime-sama," Tenten answered obediently.

"Please, Tenten. Call me Tsunade," the Hokage said, giving her an exasperated look.

"If you wish, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade sighed. "Good enough, I suppose. I expect you to be gone by the afternoon - it shouldn't take you too long to get to Mist country. A second party will be right behind you. I just need to organize it for this evening. You may leave now - you too, Hinata. Rest up."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," the girls said together, bowing in unison before turning to leave.

As they turned to leave, Tenten hesitated to wait for the other girl as they exited into the hallway. "How have you been, Hinata-chan?" Tenten asked, making timid conversation as they walked down the hallway side-by-side.

"Ahhh..." Hinata sighed, sparing a brief glance to Tenten's face in order to look polite. She had spent a year under the tutelage of the most powerful woman in the village, and still Hinata couldn't look her in the eye. "I've been... good..."

"That's good," Tenten said confidently. "You aren't working yourself too hard, are you?"

Hinata nodded slowly. "It doesn't matter. I'm learning to save people."

Tenten smiled inwardly. At least the girl was somewhat confident in her skills. The chuunin could see that they might be able to make a good team. "Go get packed and ready, Hinata-chan. I'll find Shizune, and you can go track down Shino. Tell them to meet us at the gates in 30 minutes, okay?"

"Yes," Hinata said firmly, throwing another gaze to Tenten's face momentarily before turning down another hallway to what Tenten was forced to believe led to Aburame Shino. Shrugging it off, she continued on her way while wondering how the Hyuuga clan felt about their heir choosing to become a medical-ninja, and their prodigy child leaving the village to search for a friend. Tenten half expected the girl to end up joining the search for Naruto as well.

She's still training, Tenten made a mental note as she strolled alone down an empty hallway. It's not fair to her to make assumptions.

Tenten's travel preparations took very little time after locating and informing Shizune. Just as with everything else, they had actually been given pointers on what to pack for missions back in the ninja academy. Tenten took purely the necessities and, deciding that two medical-ninjas would be perfectly responsible, she didn't even need to pack her safety kit.

She changed into a more suitable outfit, her chuunin vest hugging comfortably on her shoulders. She shifted it, remembering how cumbersome it had originally seemed. Now it held anything she needed.

Her hair up in traditional buns and her pockets and pouches bulging with weapons and scrolls, Tenten deemed herself prepared and went to meet her party.

Had she been a more superstitious person, she might have said it was an omen to be leaving on a mysterious mission on a day like this. The sky was gray and the air was wet from a rain that had just ceased. People hung inside their houses as much as they could, leaving the usually bustling streets of Konoha unnervingly quiet.

The mission was irritatingly vague. Tsunade had sent a small group of ninja to the Village of Mist in order to reinforce friendly relations after the accident with the Sand and Sound. Things had been going well until communications suddenly ceased. After the incident that Team 7 had been involved in while they were there, Tsunade decided it was an urgent matter in spite of the fact it had only been a day, and sent Tenten and the others to investigate. It was suspicious, and gave all the implication that Tenten should have been far more concerned than she actually was. However, the weapon-expert had discovered she was becoming less concerned with her missions. She over-estimated them in the beginning, and found herself increasingly disappointed every single time. So she stopped expecting anything, concluding that the unexpected would be unexpected, and to expect something was just going to lead her to be caught off-guard more by the unexpected if she hadn't actually expected anything at all.

However, she wasn't surprised to discover the entire journey to be unreasonably silent.

Shino and Hinata had been team members and still kept in touch, but they discovered quickly that they had relied heavily on Kiba to make conversation between them, and after they shortly caught up with one another, the two of them stopped speaking and the journey ebbed into what would become a permanant silence. Shizune was only familiar with Hinata, and Tenten could tell that they didn't have much more than an aquainted relationship. Tsunade had the girl running around a lot, after all. Tenten was actually surprised she had been present to join the mission.

It was a long and boring journey. It took them several disturbingly quiet days to reach Mist country, and another day to find themselves at the Great Naruto Bridge.

"The Great... Naruto... Bridge..." Hinata repeated airily.

"...Naruto...?" Shino mumbled behind his jacket collar.

"Uh-huh," Shizune sighed. "The one and only."

Tenten never knew the boy well, so she chose to retain her snappy comments. "This bridge will take us straight to the Hidden Mist Village," she stated instead, uncertain on what else she should say to get her team moving.

They nodded, still staring at the name at the gate of the bridge before following after her as she led their way through the morning fog.

Although she hadn't acknowledged it to the rest of her party, seeing as she assumed it was obvious - they hadn't yet encountered any human life. Yet at the same time, they had not yet discovered any signs of struggle. Walking ahead of the group, Tenten stopped to consider their options. Obviously, they had no choice but to continue into the village, but they would have to be extremely cautious. Tenten was sure there were supposed to be several guards posted on the bridge.

She then turned to announce the decision to her group "I think we should-"

Caught completely by surprise, Tenten could do nothing but open her arms and catch Shizune as the girl flew into her, and the two of them fell back and rolled several more feet. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, and the chuunin hesitated for a long moment to recover while Shizune shook off the stun of whatever it had been that threw her. "Are you alright?" Tenten asked, as soon as she was able to find her voice.

"Yes." Shizune answered quickly, averting her eyes as if embarassed to having been saved by an underclassman. "But... what in the world was that?"

The two of them gazed up simultaneously to gaze far across the bridge to where Hinata had adopted an offensive stance, her Byakugan activated - but a confused expression on her face. Shino stood several meters away with his hands in his pockets, but Tenten had faith that the man hadn't let his guard down. Tenten met his hidden gaze as he looked to them with concern. She nodded, and he turned his eyes back to the crisis at hand.

Closer to Hinata than any other of the team, there stood a monster. It looked as if it may have been made with water except it misted in smoky white, it's form almost transparent. A person was visible inside of the creature, floating still in the center. Around him, the water seemed to take the shape of a tall, white dog, standing at least nine feet tall and with five long streams of water whipping around restlessly in the shape of tails, each non-coporeal appendage coloured in a different way, creating a modest rainbow around him.

"Bijuu..." Shizune hissed with disbelief.

"What?" The demon slurred, it's voice blowing towards them like an echo as it adressed Hinata. "What's wrong, girl? Can't you see me with those eyes?" Cackling, the demon slid onto his front legs and pounced forward. Even through it's own body, Tenten could see it's claws alone solidify into ice.

"Hinata!" Tenten heard herself cry.

Blind, Hinata leapt back as best as she could our of instinct, assisted by Shino who ran and grabbed her by the waist to pull her further away. The demon splattered on the ground as it landed onto nothing, leaving the person who had been inside to fall limply to the ground. They all watched in surprise as the water itself grabbed the person's arm, raised him into the air only to form the canine around the man once again.

"How did it come up on us so quickly?" Shizune asked, her voice shaking.

Tenten had no idea what she was dealing with. "Can you stand?" She asked the older woman.

"Yes..." Shizune answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Good." Tenten said, rising to her feet and helping the girl up. "But that isn't good enough. Can you run?"

Shizune turned to Tenten. "...Yes."

"Alright." Taking the chance, the chuunin ran towards the demon, and it turned to face her.

"Ahhh, someone's eager to die, hmmm?" The bijuu churred. Somehow, it's face was well defined, the dim light of the cloudy sky defining the contours of its eyes, nose and mouth. "It's been a very, veeerrryyy long time since I've been able to taste blood..." It ran into a low chuckle as it stretched and flexed it's large, transparent paws. "I'm enjoying every single minute of this."

It was a man who hung inside the body of the demon - a boy, really. His arms were stretched to be the demon's arms, his head down and his eyes closed. However, there was something about the way his body didn't sag that told Tenten that the man certainly was not unconcious. He simply seemed to have been taken over by the beast... and judging by the attitude - he was taken completely. He trembled slightly, as if the pressure of the monster was causing him pain.

"Are you so dishonourable that you come upon us without warning?" Tenten dared as she glared at the demon. She would have liked to say she was ready. She would have liked to say she was fine... but she spoke for the sake of drowning out the sound of her pounding heart.

"Are you saying ninja have honour?" The creature seemed to chuckle, "don't make me laugh. You have no idea what you're up against, little girl."

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "No, I don't. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try." Her fingers itched with an instinctive need to cling to the weapons that lay several inches from her grasp. Simple practice would bring them into her hands in less than half a second, and flying through the air in about the same amount of time.

"You're brave," it churred, arching it's back and spreading its tails. "But you'll need more than that to defeat the god of illusion."

The beasts' blue tail whipped around, causing Tenten to jump into action, sending several kunai flying in the monster's direction. Almost second-naturedly, the bijuu hopped to the side, and a roar filled their ears.

"What is that?" Shizune asked, having departed to the other end of the bridge.

It was a noise Tenten would instinctively brushed off as the wind between the trees if she hadn't known better. It was too loud, and there were no trees. It was water - it had to be water... and it was coming in their direction. Tenten worked overtime, pulling out scroll after scroll and throwing handfuls of kunai at a time at the beast who flipped and slid around the attacks. "RUN AWAY!" She shouted to them. "Get off the bridge!"

It was then that Shizune caught on to the same fact that Tenten had and looked about frantically. The bridge was gigantic and they had come quite far, not to mention the fog hid from them exactly how far they had to go. Instead, Hinata looked on as Shizune hit a series of hand-gestures while Shino ran ahead to assist Tenten in her struggle. A thin rope of chakra emerged from the base of Shizune's ribs, appearing visible. She handed it to Hinata who ran to catch up to Shino as Shizune moved to the side of the bridge, pressing her hands against the metallic support beams and sticking there.

As Shino summoned his bugs to pervade into the demon's water-like shield, Hinata slapped a hand supportively against his back, thus tying the rope of chakra to him before she ran to reach Tenten.

"Did you think such pitiful chakra could save you?" The demon observed, lunging forward and slapping Hinata backwards. The force sent her flying wide-eyed through the air, breath escaped from her lungs. She fell hard against the bridge and rolled even further until she found herself hanging from the end of the bridge, one hand hanging to the edge and burning with chakra.

"Hinata!" Shino shouted for his teammate, spinning and abandoning his mission in order to rescue her.

"Too slow!" The demon shouted, the roar around them becoming deafening as the tsunami suddenly hit, catching Tenten with a gasp. She struggled to keep her eyes open and on the demon, but the roar failed to cease as she struggled to gain control of her own dizzying spin. People had died from tsunami far smaller than this one as her lungs burned with desperate need for air. She fought against the urge to breathe as long as possible, being forced to close her eyes and could fight it no longer. She opened her mouth for air and swallowed nothing but water. Panicking, she flailed uselessly as her conciousness quickly faded.