Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own the plot.

I apologize for the late update…life always gets in the way…

Just A Mission-ch6d

"I was never a big believer in romance…I mean things change, people change. There's always going to be someone better than him. After all, you'll discover more and more flaws within that person as you become closer to him. The next question is then, whether you can stand that person or not, and vice versa. It's hard to maintain friendship as it is, it's going to be harder to keep a romance relationship. I mean…it's just…I…

"I don't want to get hurt."

Hyuuga Neji will die by Tenten's hands.

Then at that very moment, Isamu would release Tenten from his jutsu so that she could feel the warmth of her dead team-mate's blood running down her hands. The best case scenario would be her taking her own life due to the guilt she felt.

Watching as Tenten made her move, Isamu could almost taste his sweet victory.

Another name to be added on his "already killed" list.

Things were going so smooth that he wondered how the hell a village like Konoha remained to be 'a force to be reckoned with'.

Not only did he manage to finish his mission earlier than he had once thought, he was able to get a chance to take care of both the Hyuuga Prodigy along with his bitch, who happened to be the infamous Weapon Expert of Konoha.

It has been said ever since the pair had became Jounins, they had never failed a mission.

What a shame it would be that it would no longer be the case for them after tonight.

It should be a time for celebration. He would get that once he left this area. By the time the backup came, he would already be miles away.

It was the perfect plan. What could possibly go wrong?

Yet, he found the ends of his hair standing.

Years of experience was telling him that something was wrong, that he should get out of the area immediately…

The wind had died.

Before he had even finished the thought, a rocket of air blasted in his direction from his left, forcing him to dodge.

What the fuck?

Tap…Tap…Tap…

In front of him, a woman stood on top of one of the poles on the other side of the lake where the ropes of the suspension bridge were attached to. Under the moonlight, he had a clear view of who she was. Her blond hair was loosely tied up at the back into a loose ponytail, a few strands of hair dangled down to her shoulders. She was currently wearing a white tank-top along with a pair of blue Nike sweat pants. Her signature large metal fan was furled up and rested causally on her right shoulder, with her forearm rested onto the stem to prevent it from falling. Several common shinobi pouches were tied onto her right thigh and her waist.

The tapping sound came from her feet, where her shoe was pattering the pole she was standing on.

She did not look pleased.

It was as if she was woken and was dragged immediately out of her bed so quickly that she didn't even get enough time to change out of her sleeping attire before heading out.

His analysis was proven when he heard what she said next.

"I see that you had been taking good care of our Tenten."

He couldn't help but to eye the destruction left behind by her attack. There was a chasm that was a meter wide in diameter. From his left he could still hear the sound of deep rumbling created by trees that were slowly toppling over even when the jutsu had dissipated.

It was a slight miscalculation on his part, Isamu knew. It would be just too much of a hope to wish the Konoha people to not show up right after when he had created a loud explosion when he had taken care of the Hyuuga's team-mate earlier.

But it doesn't matter; they were already too late to save the Hyuuga. No one would have the power to get to…

He was jarred out of his thoughts as he found himself being punched in the stomach. The force of it forced him to fly upward. Not having the time to fix his orientation, he was forced to twist his body in the air, trying to defend himself. Instead of landing onto his feet as he'd thought, he was injured at several areas of his body, resulting in him not being able to block the final kick to his stomach which sent him face-first into the ground.

Temari smirked as she'd jumped down from the pole, "welcome back Lee."

Isamu looked up.

Indeed, the person who stood before him was Rock Lee. Although his green tight jumpsuit was dirtied anddrenched in blood from places to places, he looked like he wasn't injured at all.

A woman walked out from the deterred forest. She had short pink hair which could barely touch her shoulders. She looked at Isamu for a moment before an angry gleam flashed in her eyes, promising pain. However, when Isamu thought she was going to rush at him, she snorted and headed toward the bridge.

Crazy psychotic bitch…

Isamu didn't stop her, finding that there was no need. If she was going to help Tenten in any way, it would take a lot of her charka and time. Even if Hyuuga Neji was, unfortunately he might add, still alive from the knife wound at the throat, it would be even better since it would take her even longer to heal Neji as well. Right now, Isamu didn't need to worry about that pink hair woman; as she would be occupied. Instead, he should focus on the two people here and find a chance to get away before more people arrive.

"Che…" A sluggish male voice said with a sigh. "Team-mates killing each other are just too troublesome."

Sakura, who heard this, resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He wasn't the only one who had been woken up in the middle of the night. She walked up to the Hyuuga Prodigy and the Weapon Expert.

It was obvious that Isamu did something to them to cause them to fight against one another. After all, not only they were the best of friends, Tenten's eyes were still closed like she was sleepwalking. Sakura, being the medic-nin, practically had read through everyone's health profile. Tenten never have sleepwalking problems and Sakura doubted it would start this night. Tenten was probably being controlled by Isamu.

The kunai had almost hit its mark, nicking Neji's jugular vein. A steady stream of blood had already made its way onto the collar of Neji's robe, turning it crimson. However, thank god that Shikamaru had used his Shadow Copy Technique to bind Tenten's action before she was able to get the knife any deeper.

"Remove the kunai from Neji." Sakura ordered. "Then move Tenten back."

However, before Shikamaru could get Tenten's kunai away from Neji. The Hyuuga prodigy side-stepped, ignoring the fact that he had just forcefully yanked his neck away from the knife.

"Neji, what the hell…" Sakura started but was cut off by Neji's urgent tone.

"Treat Tenten." The man commanded. Large amount of blood was flowing out of his wound, forming a blood river that was to be absorbed by the white robe he was wearing. Yet, he simply covered it with his hand like he'd gotten stung by a mosquito.

The thud sound of the metal kunai hitting the hard surface of the bridge was heard as Shikamaru got Tenten to let go of the bloody weapon.

Sakura gave a defeated sigh before turning toward Tenten, thinking that how Neji and Tenten not know each other are in love with one another was a mystery. Fine…bleed to death for all she cared (from his look, Sakura knew that his wound was not fatal so if he didn't gave a damn, why should she?). However, that train of thought died when she took a closer look at Tenten.

Sakura cursed, she had not anticipated that the Weapon Expert would suffer such severe injuries. Her attention, once she had arrived at the scene, had solely been focusing on Neji's neck.

The medic-nin carefully scooped her up. However, even then it didn't prevent the small snap sound she heard from her body. Immediately, she carried Tenten off the bridge and placed her to the side. She had been afraid that if she moved Tenten any further, gravity would take its toll on her, forcing any weak fragile bones to snap. This place would have to make-do, Sakura concluded.

Several medic-nin landed next to her. Without hesitation they set out to work.

KABOOM!

"Don't wave your goddamn fan this way Temari!" A loud a male voice shouted followed by several angry dog barks.

"Move out of the way Dog-Breath." The said-female retorted as more explosion was heard and large dust clouds could be seen.

Sakura gave a mental sigh. This wasn't a good place to heal anybody. They were too close to the battle field. However, this was the only choice she had before Tenten was fixed up to the point where temporary transportation would not kill her. She noted how tense Tenten's muscles were as the Weapon Export still struggled to move. If the patient's body was not cooperating than healing jutsus were virtually useless.

Tenten needed to stop moving, so that her body can relax. That way she would not tear the fragile muscles and bones that had just been repaired.

Sakura was greatly skilled in the healing the physical side…for something like the psychological side…Sakura was lost in her thought as she decided what action needed to be taken. She needed someone like the Yamanaka family, someone who could infiltrate Tenten's mind, by pass all the defence mechanism in a person's mind as well as kicking Isamu out of the poor girl. However, they could be anywhere; everyone was dispersed throughout the village to cover more ground. It would be extremely time consuming to…

"Goddamn." Ino's voice boomed above her, beside her stood Chouji and some Jounin guy that Sakura had never seen before. "The party had started without me?"

Isamu was to be killed by him, Hyuuga Neji.

Neji would've said something along that line; that it was all pre-determined to end up that way.

It had been assuring to know that the world, which seemed to be chaotic, actually worked in a logical way. A simple cause-and-effect really…

Back then, he would've not stood at the sideline. He would not have allowed a medic-nin to look at his wound at his neck and watched while his comrades and friends fought with the enemy. No, he would've joined, despite his injuries. He would've pushed all his comrades away so that he could fight one-on-one with Isamu…

A life for a life…

It was his right, after all.

For Isamu had taken something important from him, Neji would do the same thing back to him. Neji, who had been on the road of revenge, knew that he could only find comfort when that the blood of his enemy dripped between his fingers, that the person's heart had been ripped out of the man's body and squashed right before him.

But Tenten is not dead, a part of his brain screamed.

And Neji was no longer a strong believer in fate.

If Tenten is to die…then no matter what Tsunade-sama say, it could not stop him from hunting the man down and killing him as brutally as possible.

But she wasn't dead.

In any other way, Neji would've found the situation strangely humorous. A self-proclaimed avenger exclaiming that he was not going to kill his enemy…

Not yet at least.

No…he had priorities.

His priority now was Tenten.

Therefore, once his wound was healed, he moved toward the said woman and sat next to her. Listening absentmindedly at the commands Sakura as giving to Ino, Neji pulled Tenten's left hand toward him and held it; finding comfort that Tenten's hand was no longer as cold as before.

Isamu was his concern, yes. However, he also believed that his comrade had the ability to bring Isamu down. They were the ones fighting along side with him since his early genin days. Their skills were not something to be ignored even by the S-class criminals. They, as Neji had learned from Naruto, were people that he could trust and depend.

Besides, from the promising painful sounds that Isamu were making, Neji knew that they had not let him down.

It was to be expected.

After all, Neji wasn't the only one that cared about Tenten.

His friends would not let Isamu escape. Neji was sure that they would make Isamu's life as miserable and painful as possible while they were at it before they hand him over to the 'authorities'.

Neji's resolve strengthened even more as his hold on her hand tightened.

His place right now was to be beside Tenten.

This story is coming to a close…only an epilogue left to do then it would all be finished BAHAHAHA

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