Sangai no jutsu
Neji sat on the grass as TenTen rested her head on his lap. It had been another day of training.
TenTen looked lazily up at her fiancé. She smiled gently and placed a hand upon his cheek, which he grasped.
Just then Neji looked up from his gazing at the surrounding forest. "We have company."
Just as he said that, Teji came through the trees. "There you guys are…oh," he paused as he saw the display of affection,blushing in embarrassment, "Oops, sorry for interrupting, I'll just…tell you later, yeah." He turned to leave.
"What is it, Teji?" Neji asked as he stroked TenTen's cheek.
"Oh, um, Hokage-sama just informed me that she wanted to speak with us, but it can wait I'm sure," Teji responded, his back still turned.
"It must be important," TenTen stated as she stood up, Neji in pursuit.
"Let's go then. We wouldn't want to keep her waiting," Neji added as they began to walk behind Teji.
As they walked, TenTen felt Neji intertwine their fingers. She smiled softly at him.
At the Hokage's office, they stood in front of Tsunade as she gathered her papers together.
"You wanted to see us, Tsunade-sama," TenTen said to her idol.
Tsunade glanced up. "Yes, I did. I know you just got back from your last mission, but I need some of my top ninjas, and you qualify for that post," she started.
TenTen blushed at the compliment from the person she admired so.
"What is the assignment, Hokage-sama?" an excited Lee asked. His teeth shined with their normal, freeky glimmer.
"I'm needing you to go to the Earth Country. There are suspicions that the Tsuchikage may be in contact with Orochimaru. Reasons are unknown.I need you to spy, seek information, anything you can to gather the data. We have one man who is in close relation with the Tsuchikage I especially want you to speak with," Tsunade showed them a paper with a man's profile on it. "His name is Juchi Fehn, he transferred from Konoha to the Earth Country when we were still in alliance with them and they needed the help in their war against Ame. Seek him out. Is your mission clear?" She placed a hand on her chin with her elbows placed on her desk.
"Hai," the four replied in unison.
"Good, then head out," Tsunade said, and thus another mission was started.
Hino slurped a bowl of ramen at the Ichiraku.
"Yum! This is the best taking ramen I've had in awhile," he stated as he held his bowl up for more. "Another miso!" Then quietly added, "Please."
Ayame served him more and the ramen owner smiled. "You're the only person, besides Naruto, who eats this much," he commented.
"Add to the fact you look like him too," Ayame added, "Is that just a coincidence or…"
Kiba running up cutting her off to them.
Hino glanced at him through his eating. "Yea?"
"Meeting with Hokage-sama," Kiba announced out of breath. Akamaru barked excitedly at his side.
"Yosh! Finally, some real action," Hino hurried to finish the rest of his soup noodles and ran to the Hokage building, Kiba in pursuit.
"Oi! What about the bill?" the ramen owner yelled. He sighed. "He is just like that Naruto, so idiotic," He turned to start stirring more ramen.
"Aaachooo," the mentioned-blonde sneezed loudly. He sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his jacket. "Sensei, when are we going to get there?" He complained.
"It's going to be awhile, Naruto," Kakashi answered, his gaze not leaving his beloved book.
"Ahh," Naruto whined. "But it's so boring."
"Yes, that may be, but just imagine all the fighting we may receive in return," the Jounin implied.
Naruto's face went into an all out grin and he ran ahead. "In that case, let's get going," he shouted. "Come on sensei, Seiko, action awaits us!"
Seiko just stood there, his hands in his pockets, a grumpy look on his face with irritation written all over it.
Kakashi kept walking. "Naruto, get back here," He called out then sighed. "I swear, does this boy ever run out of energy?"
He took a glance at Seiko. "Come on, let's go," Kakashi said then mumbled, "I'm getting too old for this babysitting." Then they ran after the hyperactive ninja.
Shikamaru yawned as his group leaped from tree to tree, inching nearer to the Grass Country. He glanced behind him. Ino was talking away with Shiniko freely. Shiniko didn't seem to mind either. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Who was this guy? Why did him and his friends just appear out of nowhere? Why….ugh, all this thinking was hurting Shikamaru's head. "Mendo kuse," he muttered his infamous line. He just couldn't wait for this mission to be over and done with.
Chouji crunched on a bag of chips. "Shikamaru, when are we going to get there?" he questioned through munches.
The lazy Jounin sighed. "We should be there soon, Chouji," he answered his friend.
"Yosh," Chouji responded.
At least this mission wouldn't be too difficult. All they had to do was converse with the Kage of Tsunade's plans, which she had put in a scroll. A scroll that the team was forbidden to open under any circumstances, and to not let anyone get their hands on it. What was that woman planning that could be that important? Shikamaru scratched his head. It was too troublesome to think about, he'd just have to find out later.
Tsunade took a large drink of her sake and then eyed the next contenders. She stared sternly and started with, "Okay, we're going to start this with a little story, for background information, alright?"
They nodded their heads and Hino asked loudly, "It isn't going to be sappy is it?"
Kiba snickered.
Tsunade shook her head. "Just listen," she demanded and began, "You all know Yamato, correct?"
Hino shook his head but the others gave a nod.
"He was that ANBU guy who was Naruto and them's leader on the mission to retrieve Sasuke 'cause Kakashi was unable, right?" Kiba spoke.
"Correct," Tsunade stated, "Well, you see, it all started when Orochimaru was still a respected ninja within Konoha, though hard that may to believe. He carried out experimental gene therapy on sixty of thevillage's children. Orochimaru desired to gain my grandfather's, the first Hokage's, powers to control for his own. Gaining tissue from the Shodai Hokage, he infused the genes on the children. Orochimaru, though, soon left and never saw the fruit of his work. All but one of the children died, and that child was Yamato," she explained thoroughly, telling the story to the tee.
Hino squinted his eyes in confusion. "And this has to do with our mission because...?"
The Godaime looked at him. "If you'd let me finish, we'd get to that," she said irritably, "It has been rumored that their was another child he infected, not known to the rest of the Konoha village. This is where our problem arises, we do not know where he may be. His age should be in his mid-thirties. And this is the only profile we could find of him as a boy. His name is Eira Uggi," She set down a picture of a boy with brown hair and sparkling blue eyes and gazed down upon it, "The parents had reported his disappearance years ago, but a body was never found. We figured it was incinerated, but now we figure otherwise." She looked up at the teens. "I'm sure you understand the importance in this mission, and I have utmost trust in your success. But still, this task is a tricky one, are you willing to accept?" Tsunade asked, expecting hesitation. She blinked in susprise as she glanced at Hino.
His hands were clenched at his side and his cerulean eyes gleamed. His hand formed into a fist and he struck it into the air. "Of course I accept," he announced, "This is a once in a lifetime deal. So it'll be tough, no sweat, nothing's too tough when you put your mind to it, right guys?" He turned to his temporary teammates who were staring at him blankly.
Silence arose in the air.
And the timid Hinata was first to break it. "H-He's right."
Kiba grinned. "Well then, it's settled. If Hinata thinks we'll manage, then we for surely will," he stated with pride, and Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Let's get started then," Shino said as he walked over to Tsunade's desk and grabbed the profile. "Mind if we take this?"
Tsunade smiled. "Go ahead. Now, off with you all, then. No improvement comes with wasting time," she dismissed the team.
After they left, the blonde muttered to herself, "How'd I end up with such great subordinates. They're all a great bunch of kids," she stood up and gathered her papers, finished for the day.
Sakura and Sasuke walked along their own path. The kunoichi slowly trailed the stoic Uchiha. All had been quiet since they had started four hours back. She sighed to herself. Maybe it would have been better for her to go with Naruto and Kakashi, at least they held decent conversation.
'This is Sasuke,' she reminded herself, 'What else can you expect?'
He was usually never this quite, but maybe that was because he had always had Naruto to bicker with senselessly. The pink-haired girl blinked. This was the first time she would spend this much time alone with Sasuke. There was no Kakashi, and no Naruto either. Just her and him. Him and her. Sakura shook her head. 'I'm just putting my hopes up again. Nothing's going to change between Sasuke and I just because we're going to spend some time together. Who am I fooling?' As much as she told herself so, she couldn't help but dream she could change her and Sasuke's relationship together for the better, where at least he could talk to her casually like he did with Kakashi and Naruto. Maybe he would finally be able to consider her a friend. Maybe...just maybe. Ugh, Sakura hated 'maybes.' They were never definite, never a for sure.
"Sakura."
The stern voice brought her out of her musings and she blushed, noticing that she had been so zoned out, she hadn't noticed Sasuke talking to her. He had stopped in mid-step and was staring at her, a few mere feet away.
'Great, you really screwed it up for us now, good going,' Her Inner self complained.
"Y-Yes, Sasuke-kun?" was all she could sputter.
Sasuke looked at her irritably, annoyance etched in his face. "I asked if you needed to rest, you're trailing behind," he stated.
Sakura shook her head furiously. "No, I'm fine, Sasuke-kun," she said and walked up so she was standing next to him.
Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets as they continued their journey once more.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke as she stepped in tempo with his pace. He was staring ahead.
The medic sighed smiled. 'This is actually pretty nice, just walking with Sasuke like this. It's better than nothing,' she thought, 'And add to that, he hasn't called me annoying once yet.' And to Sakura, that meant the world.
Sorry this may seem rushed! Microsoft Word decided to die on me, and I had to upload the document half-finished and finish it while editing, so sorry if there are a few typos. Hopefully this is a little longer than my previous chapters, which I noticed are rather short. I just felt I needed to get this out, and I apologize if it doesn't seem well thought out, I'm kind of just going with the flow. The twists and turns should be starting soon though, so hopefully that's good news. And I was reminded by AndreahTreole that I was neglecting NejiTen so that explains the beginning! Sorry if it isn't that great, NejiTen is one of my fav couplings, but is still new for me to write myself. So this author's note is mostly an apology on this chapter. I hope to update sooner than last time, because I was crammed with tests last month, and still am because finals are coming up, but I'm trying to balance my time!
sasuke fanatic1
