Chapter 8 Covetousness and Nobility


Sakura was beginning to understand exactly now why Gai was being persistent that they brought along other things to do during this mission. Now with the starting of the second week, bar being occasionally asked by the crew for assistance, the shinobi had no other hassles. Not even one single suspicious incident, just occasionally running into some crazed fans of Michi. The second location shooting had just finished, so they had packed up, and began heading to the next destination. At the rate they were going, chances are they would not make it there until another two odd days.

The convoy consisted of two main parts, the cast and crew were in the first several carriages, while an additional three more that were much larger in size were towing all of the equipment. Even with two horses pulling each of the carriages along, the walking pace made them seem immobile to the shinobi. Slow, and also easy to target. Sakura had positioned herself on the roof of the starting carriage with all the equipment, sitting cross legged in the centre, while reading one of her medical books. Every odd hour she would shift with Tenten, who was on the ground of that carriage, keeping an eye out, although she had found interest in balancing a kunai as she walked along with the convoy.

Further up the front was the other two members of the team. Gai was walking several meters in front of the first carriage, while Lee had taken to Sakura's methods, and was positioned on the rooftop of the first carriage. Peering over her book for a moment, she sighed at what the miniature Gai was doing. Lee just couldn't sit still during his resting time, oh no, he had to relax his muscles with a perspiring heavy one thousand push ups. Or more so, that is how Lee had put it when she dared to ask.

She deduced that Lee once again was similar to her blond teammate...they both were impossibly restless.

Returning interest to her book, she flicked over the page. She soon looked up again when she felt a landing before her. Placing her finger between the pages as a bookmarker, she semi closed her book, "Yes Lee-san?"

"Sakura-san, there is something I have shamefully been curious about since our previous mission."

Momentarily stunned by his words, she gestured with her book, "Go on..."

"What was Pakkun-kun's impression of my performance?"

Gaping in surprise for a couple of seconds, she recovered with a chuckle and patted the ground, gesturing for him to sit, "Don't be silly, there's nothing shameful about that Lee-san."

Doing as instructed, he sat in front of the kunoichi, who was now placing a small red ribbon in her book, and then placing it in her weapon pouch, "It just feels very disorientating that I can find out my results as I undertake this examination, and even when I please. I am quite uncertain as to what I am permitted to ask. I cannot brush off the bizarre sensation that I am cheating, which as you know, I cannot accept."

"As I explained to you before, I am allowed to help you any way I can. My role is to ensure you are aware of chuunin qualities, so it is expected for you to question me when uncertain. This is not cheating at all-...."

Pausing to think of how to put it, she then continued, "-You should see it as training. You are learning how to do something, however, if you make a mistake, your instructor is there to assist you in any way they can."

"That makes flawless sense, I understand now, I will no longer hesitate in the future."

"Now to answer your question-."

Sakura didn't know why she deliberately paused as if to add suspense, but seeing Lee tense up in eagerness brought a grin, "He thought you handled yourself very well."

"I-Is that so?!"

"Truly. He kind of went on about 'respecting other comrades abilities' for most of the time, but overall he didn't see any glaring fault. Pakkun was a bit concerned with your rash decision to charge in alone, but given the situation, he said that is a minor point, and it did save Hachiro-san."

Despite Sakura insisting it was negligible, Lee looked down in concentration, "I understand. Instead of Hisashi being who he was, he may have been a trained shinobi, or even had accomplices with him. I may have recklessly put myself into a situation where I was endangering myself and possibly my comrades who would need to assist me."

Surprised by his thoughts, she slowly nodded, "That is true, but as I said, it was a quick decision that needed to be made, and if you hadn't, only the worse could of happened to those kids." Lee looked up when he saw Sakura pull out her notepad and jot down a point.

Snickering at his obvious questioning gaze, Sakura gladly read out what she was writing down, "Is aware of not only the consequences of his own actions to himself, but how his actions will affect others."

Lee's jaw went wide, "I demonstrated a commendable quality?!"

"Hehe, Hai."

Lee turned his going teary eyed face to the side, as he held out his fist at the blazing sun above, 'GAI-SENSEI! I AM LIVING UP TO YOUR DAZZLING EXPECTATIONS!'

He could have sworn he head a 'NICE WORK, LEE!' shout from the front of the convoy.

Sakura just shook her head, while resting her pad on her lap, "Was there anything else you wished to know about, Lee-san?"

Recovering literally in the instant he snapped his head, Lee nodded, "Has there been anything worth noting about my performance as of yet with our current mission?"

Sakura's shaking head made his shoulders slump, "Unfortunately no, other than showing you cooperate with your teammates with taking rotations, which is really expected given what you have demonstrated previously."

"Hai..."

"Don't be too concerned though, remember as I told you again, even if nothing happens, it is how you execute the mission which is what I, and your comrades are interested in. Say for example..."

Looking up as if her forehead had the answer, she then returned focus when she had an example, "Since our mission is so far proving to be dull, you might decide to not bother doing your task of keeping watch. While it pains me to use it as an example, but like when Gai-sensei abruptly attacks you when we have returned to Konoha from previous missions. Your guard was down, and you were relaxed. You probably were thinking nothing was going to happen, but Gai-sensei exploited that opening on you twice."

'Putting it that way, I am too relaxed as well...then again, I'm not super paranoid...we were at Konoha's front gates for crying out loud!'

Deciding to end this pointless argument happening in her head, she pointed to the front of the convoy, which Lee looked over his head to just see Gai, "More relevant to now, Gai-sensei is completely at attention to keeping watch of the front. Tenten-san is also doing the same, however she is also playing with a kunai."

"Shouldn't you be assessing Lee instead of me?" Tenten stated from below, with her voice holding at tinge of annoyance.

'Honestly, does she love the sound of her own voice or something?'

Laughing, Sakura turned to their right to see the weapon master's brown eyes, "I never said you weren't doing your task right, Tenten-san."

"Of course, I know that." She chirped back with a chuckle, while inwardly, 'Then why did you have the need to state I was playing with a kunai? eh? two can play this game you know.'

Returning attention to their conversion, Sakura continued, "So despite this turning into an apparently easy task, you still are remaining focused. This is demonstrating to me your efficiency to carry out tasks, however cumbersome they may be."

Lee was awestruck by her explanation, as he furiously nodded and started jotting down notes in his own notepad, "Yosh, that makes crystal clear sense Sakura-san."

Feeling her sweat drop at the action, Sakura looked up at the sun to determine the time, "Is there anything else you wish to ask me Lee-san?"

"No. Thank you for your patience Sakura-san."

"That is more than alright Lee-san. Are you ready to swap Tenten-san?"

"Sure thing Sakura-san!" Tenten gladly replied a little too happy to be legitimate, as Tenten and Sakura switched. Sighing, Tenten sat down and tried to balance her kunai on her pinkie, soon succeeding with minimal effort.

"So what is new Lee?"

"Nothing really of great interest Tenten. I best get back to my relaxing exercises." Lee still had another half an hour before he was swapping with Gai, so that should easily fit in a few hundred sit ups. Tenten's eye that seemed to have been twitching often during this mission happened again as she saw Lee jump back to his front carriage.

Disposing of her kunai, Tenten sighed, "Whatever then." She muttered, with traces of disappointment lingering within it.

Sooner than she had expected, her ears heard the delightful sound of feminine humming from her side on the ground, 'Heh, that was even quicker from when she started doing that last time...'

"Shouldn't you 'be devoting all of your attention to watching?' You will be the one responsible if anything happens to this convoy."

The humming instantly stopped, as brown met emerald with a stare off. Finally, Sakura smirked, 'Oh I see how it is then.'

Tenten had to laugh when Sakura broke eye contact and resumed her tune, deliberately louder than before. Calming down from her chuckled hums, Sakura looked back to Tenten, "Really, I was not insulting you, nor was intending to say you were doing wrong."

"Yeah, sure you weren't."

Lee didn't listen to the kunoichi's little exchange of laughter, instead he was counting into the double digits, 'Yosh, a couple of hundred more, then two superb hours of intent watching of the convoy.'

Following their routine throughout the entire journey, they finally made it to the destination. The area was a great wide field, that was littered with large rocks and occasional trees. in the distance, they could see a great city below, since they had journeyed up a nearby hill. It was in the middle of the day, however despite that, the thick grey clouds above were blocking out the sun. The director had defined this scene as yet another great battle, as the scene before this one was, and the scene before that.

None of the shinobi knew the plot at all to this film, but it was clear it was a martial arts movie. It seemed strange though, since from what they were able to understand with the frantic rush from their clients, it appeared this scene actually was the start of the film. Lee could only be baffled as to why they would shoot the scenes in random order. Putting that question aside, he watched as the crew were setting up the scene once again. This was yet another thing that astonished him, it would take so long to set up the scene, then so little time to actually shoot it.

He concluded that being an actor or working in the film industry would be way too complicated for him. Checking up on the other members of his team, he saw Sakura and Tenten sitting on top of one of the carriages, having a conversation while eating some food. Gai was by his side, sitting crossed legged, and with his arms folded.

His face held little emotion to it, with his eyes closed as if in deep thought, "Highly unusual for Tenten to be socializing so much with someone, don't you think, Lee?"

The question from his sensei made Lee look back at the pair, and then narrow his eyes, "Now that you mention it Gai-sensei, indeed. Tenten and Sakura-san appear to be getting along quite well. I however do not understand how this is concerning, if anything, shouldn't this be considered a good thing?"

"Not necessarily."

Facing Gai as the jounin stood, Lee showed his confusion, "How so?"

"You and Neji should know Tenten's personality better than anyone Lee. Look deeper into it and tell me what your strong bond sees by this action."

Doing what his sensei said, Lee mumbled his musing, "Tenten usually can at times be quite indifferent, and deeply despises those that openly show weakness, or have a strong dependence on others. Tenten's goal, if not her nindo, is to become as great of a kunoichi as hokage-sama..."

Suddenly Lee snapped his head to see the pair still cheerfully talking, but his face showed no such joy, but rather disbelief, "She couldn't be!"

"Precisely Lee. Sakura is hokage-sama's apprentice. Sakura has been given something Tenten most likely would have deeply desired and fought for with all her willpower. Unfortunately, as much as it pains me to speak ill of my own ex student, Tenten is most likely very jealous of Sakura's current status. Since she can be very straight forward about things, it wouldn't surprise me if she has told Sakura that already."

"Tenten...envious of Sakura-san?"

"Yes. Tenten is not much of the social type of person as you and I know. She never was in the beginning when we formed our team either, however through our great and inspiring diligence, we see a side of her nobody ever witnesses. So for her to be so open with someone like Sakura, means she really wishes to get to know her better. Tenten probably is curious to see what it is that Tsunade-sama saw in her to choose her of all other skilled people out there. Once Tenten is satisfied, she most likely will then..."

Lee continued to stare at the kunoichi, who were laughing about something, as Gai finally finished his sentence in very much the opposite of the cherry mood they appeared to be in, "...Challenge Sakura to an all out duel to prove her worth to herself, and possibly hokage-sama and Sakura."


As Gai and Sakura were watching over their clients, Lee decided to practice his nun-chuck stance. Since his training equipment was back in Konoha, he was simply using a sturdy looking tree as a dummy.

While doing so, his mind drifted, 'Tenten envious of Sakura-san?'

He still couldn't put his head around it. Gai made perfect sense, and knowing his teammate very well, could see how it was believable. He just thought Tenten was above such things.

In the middle of his next hit against the tree, a sudden kunai digging a few inches above his head into its timber made him stop to look over his shoulder. The source was just who he assumed it was, since Tenten always seemed to have that habit of doing such a reckless greeting.

Tenten giving him the impression that she was very bored, "For an A ranked mission, I honestly expected more. Not that this is a bad thing though."

Losing interest in his training, Lee fully turned, "I must confess that I feel the same, however we are approaching the location Gai-sensei said where extreme caution should be taken after this. We must be sure we are prepared for the worse."

Tenten snickered, "Yeah probably."

The conversation seemed to have died down soon afterwards, surfacing the odd and heavy tension in the atmosphere that had been lurking in the shadows of their discussion.

Lee's soon formed a scowl when he decided to tackle head on the cause of this sensation, "Tenten. What is it that you are contemplating?"

"Eh, what are you talking about Lee?"

"Someone like you should be above a disgraceful act such as jealousy. Not that I am any greater, however, you are usually show much greater levels of maturity compared to Neji and myself."

Tenten's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Did you just admit you are immature?"

"Do not change the matter of discussion."

The weapon master sighed while slumping her shoulders, "I do not have a grudge against her as I am sure you are thinking, I am simply interested in getting to know her, that is all."

"If your lifelong dream is to become an outstanding kunoichi, then you should be focussing intently on your training. Having a grudge for someone's status is not the correct method to reach that goal. If anything, it is hindering your progress."

Tenten now was the one to hold as scowl back, "Firstly this mission has been going on for over a week, not several years. Secondly, stop making the entire situation something it is not, my goal has little to do with this. Also, since when did you suddenly become the 'all great and wise one?'"

Rolling up her sleeves a little, Tenten looked at two small black kanji characters written under her wrists that read 'seal'.

Flexing her fingers several times as if in exercise, she then shot a plotting smirk at Lee, "But I will take your advice gladly on the training part." Suddenly she formed a seal, as he hands 'poofed' out a set of Tonfa, that she span around in a blur at the handles and then brought both of them to suddenly stop, covering her forearms as she fell into a stance.

Lee grinned while falling into his own, "Yosh, what an excellent suggestion to vent your frustration."

Tenten this time clicked her tongue in annoyance, "I am not frustrated about anything Lee!"

Lee couldn't respond as Tenten made the first move, attempting to bash Lee straight into the face with her timber polished tonfa. Lee slid to the ground to avoid it, as Tenten then began twirling the missed weapon as a propeller to stop Lee from rising.

Like she intended him to do next, Lee countered, "Konoha Senpuu!"

Jumping over the shockwave like kick, Tenten then span her other tonfa around so the shaft was pointing out like a dagger. Upon her return to ground level, she aimed to stab the spandex wearers back with the extended out weapon. Using his hands, Lee slid to the side, as the wood dug a good few inches into the grass, sending small pieces of dirt flying as she quickly pulled it out to return it to protecting her forearm.

She made it in time as Lee clashed his nun-chucks against it. This lead to furious exchange back and forth between the two timber made weapons, until Tenten broke the frantic pattern. Upon the next blocked bash, Tenten violently whipped her right weapon around the nun-chuck, colliding with its chain with enough power to snatch it straight out of Lee's hand.

The spandex wearers eyes widened as Tenten formed a smirk as the nun-chucks began to spin mid air, and then he was momentarily blinded by smoke from a 'poof'. He reacted just in time when with her now free hand, Tenten grabbed the end of the nun-chuck, and turned Lee's own weapon against him.

Forcing himself to evade the combination of a tonfa in one hand, and a nun-chuck in the other, Lee was amazed with his teammates ability to coordinate the two very dissimilar weapons with different styles in union. Despite Tenten's amazing chain of combos between the two weapons, Lee's far greater natural speed was making her attempts to land a hit meaningless.

She couldn't hit him, however she was protecting herself well enough that Lee was taking a risk in getting hit by either weapon depending on how he attempted to break her guard. If he released his weights he would have the upper hand without any issues, however, unless Tenten started to get serious by using ranged attacks, he would not either.

'I have to disarm her, or else this current pattern will not end anytime soon.' Lee deduced, as his sharp eyes saw the nun-chucks coming from the side to bash into his face.

Acting, Lee grabbed the onto the wooden end firmly, but gasped when his ribs were jabbed harshly, forcing him to take several steps back. The source being Tenten's extended out tonfa, which she then span back into defensive position. Rubbing the sore area on his ribs, Lee then returned to his stance with no signs of pain present across his face.

His teammate chuckled, as she tossed back his weapon which he caught, "This is starting to get interesting Lee."

Lee responded with a grin, "As expected Tenten, you are not holding back, you must be feeling great refreshment from your annoyance already."

"What is with you?! I said there is nothing to vent!"

'Poofing' back out into existence her other tonfa, Tenten began spinning both of them around her as if to get herself pumped, "Enough with the rubbish already Lee, stop talking about something that isn't your business."

"So you are envious!"

Tenten responded with an attempted stab from her tonfa, as they locked into another exchange of hits again.

Breaking out early, Lee then quickly got several meters distance between them, as he then shot around her in a never ending run. Kicking up thick dust from his speed, Tenten waited by spinning around her tonfa as if in preparation, as her eyes tried to locate him in the arguably smoke thick dust.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Spinning around, she brought both her forehands up to shield herself, as the wood of her tonfa groaned out its protest to colliding with a solid foot. The force of Lee's attack made her slide back, disappearing into the dust. When the dust settled, Tenten was still in the position she blocked Lee's kick, as she grinned, "Nice Lee...but you should look down."

Doing as instructed, he went wide eyed to see a rough steel chain lying around his feet, and as he looked up, he saw the chain leading to Tenten, who then gave it a tug, instantly ensnaring to steel around Lee's feet. Losing his balance, he hit the ground hard with the back of his head first. 'She has seen me do this tactic before, so she prepared a counter attack for it, I was reckless.'

While staring up at the gray sky, he saw his teammate come up into his view from several meters above, twirling around her left tonfa to pierce into him again. Not liking where this was going, Lee quickly sat up and tried to unbind himself from the chain that was tight enough that it was nearly digging into his skin. Letting out a loud grunt, Lee successfully broke the small chain and rolled to the side in time to avoid yet another attempted impaling. Pushing himself to his feet, Lee took opportunity as Tenten was recovering, "Konoha Senpuu."

Whipping around her other tonfa with only moments to spare, Tenten just felt the wood of her weapon touch her forehead from the pushback, as she once again was sent stumbling several feet back, leaving her other weapon still embedded into the ground. Lee patiently waited for her to rebalance, and lower her arm to then stylishly spin the weapon around, and hold it as if it was a blade to her side.

Her very satisfied grin said it all, "Nice again Lee."

"Very commendable reaction times to block my strike in that manner Tenten." He complimented back, while effortlessly pulling out the tonfa and tossing it back to her, which she elegantly caught by the handle, blocking her face from vision.

"...Ok, I am a little jealous."

Smiling, Lee put away his nun-chucks, "Admittance is the first step-"

"Shut it Lee." she snicked, 'poofing' away her weapons, and then brushing off dust on her sleeves.

"I do mean it though when I say I am only interested in getting to know her, she is quite an interesting person."

"What do you mean?"

Walking now so they were only a couple of feet away, Tenten explained, "Sometimes she can be near admirably strong, then other times she can be as fragile as glass. Have you noticed that too?"

"Sakura-san unfortunately has been through a lot emotionally. You are aware of the reasons as to why as well. So you should show sympathy given her situation, Tenten."

"You make it sound like I am heartless, at least give me better credit than that. I understand that very well, however I find it a little concerning that even mentioning either teammates can put her in such a state."

Lee's eyes made his surprise clear, "So you have noticed that as well."

Nodding, Tenten's eyes drifted to the sky, "I wonder why is that, mentioning Sasuke makes sense, but the other loud mouthed one..."

"We should respect her privacy Tenten, if Sakura-san wishes to say anything, we can look into this further. Otherwise we should show a great example as comrades and give her support if needed."

Smirking at the clouds, Tenten sighed, "Trust you to come up with a noble suggestion. I was thinking just to ask her what the hell is her problem."

Looking back at the spandex wearer, Lee gave a solid thumb up with a sparkling teeth, "You are being too upfront on the matter I'm afraid. I am just following the flawless advice of what Gai-sensei told us about the importance of comrades."

"You think I didn't know that?!"

Tenten snorted, before shaking her head, "...So be it then."

"I trust you also will resist the urge to challenge Sakura-san to a spar?"

Tenten's 'how did you?!' face did not startle Lee, as she complied, "No, I will not for the time being. However-"

"Get back to fighting already you two!"

Both teens snapped their heads to a voice they recognised, to then see true to their thoughts it was the director. Somehow, their little spar had attracted attention of both the director, and a cameraman bundled with a thirty five milometer camera pointing right at them.

"You were recording our spar?!"

"Such technique, and at such an outstanding pace! It would cost so much money and require so much trickery with special effects to reproduce that level of fighting! It is determined!" Both blinked at the director who was blurting out random nonsense.

The director then pointed his scrunched up script in Lee's direction, "You! The one with the impossibly thick eyebrows!"

Stunned, Lee pointed to himself with the traditional 'who me?' look. "Yes, you! come with me this instant!"

Looking to his teammate as if he didn't know what to do, Tenten shrugged, "Just do what he says, his constant yelling is giving me a headache."


'Where did they both get to?' Sakura pondered, as she walked to a tree and waited for the jounin to return. It was time for herself and Gai to swap rotations with Lee and Tenten, yet they haven't been able to find them now for over two hours.

Gai quickly came into her view, "No luck locating them either?"

"No."

Gai scratched his shiny hair, "I don't understand, Lee told me he was going to train for a while with his nunchaku technique in a spot not far, but he isn't there. Then there is Tenten..."

Sakura could see the jounin was growing worried, and nibbled her lower lip when she didn't know what to say to comfort him. Even though there was this situation, it didn't seem to be causing any concern for the people around.

"Hoi Tom! Have you stripped the latex off that head form yet? The director wants to get the stunt double ready for filming already!"

"I need another minute!"

Sakura saw a crew man running with a strange plastic piece in his hand, and then he handed it to another man, "It still is not dry yet!"

"No choice, we will have to go with it!"

Sakura cautiously looked to make sure Gai was fine, and then let her curiosity get the better of her and trailed after the pair, 'What is going on?'

Following them to the back of one of the carriages, Sakura noticed the great amount of people that had flocked into this area, buzzing around furiously at work.

"Be sure his face has those few freckles Michi-san has too!"

"I need another makeup artist over here!"

"His nails need more filing!"

"What do you mean you can't get rid of his eyebrows?!"

"His teeth...are way too white! Cinematography is not going to like this."

Sakura's eyebrow perked in bafflement, 'What on earth?'

"Hold still! We will have this on in no time."

"OW! Be careful with my beautiful hair!"

Sakura gaped at that voice, 'Lee-san!?'

Now walking into the crowd of crewmen, she pushed her way through, soon seeing the familiar brown hair of Tenten.

Tenten had both her hands cupping her face, as she was shaking her head in great detest. Coming up to the weapons master, Sakura put a hand on her shoulder, "Tenten-san? where have you been? Gai-sensei and I were starting to get worried."

Sliding her hands down her face, Tenten revealed her flat expression to Sakura, "You should not have come here."

"Huh? What do you mean? Where is L-..."

Sakura then followed Tenten's pointing finger to someone sitting in a chair, and she completely froze. Her mouth hung wide, and her jade eyes were to the point of bulging, "Lee...san...oh my god."

"What is going on around here?" Gai called out, making Tenten gasp and tug Sakura into position as Tenten stood beside her. It was like she was desperately trying to hide something behind them from the jounin.

"If he sees him, we are in big trouble!"

Soon spotting the kunoichi, Gai pushed his way to them, "Tenten?! Where have you been? Where is Lee?!"

"Err-he is not here Gai-sensei-right, Sakura-san!?"

"U-Umm-Yeah! We don't-"

"Our most humble apologies Gai-sensei! I would have sent Tenten to get you, but I dishonourably was frightened by what these guys were desiring to do, and needed her morale support to stay strong!"

While Gai became surprised and looked around frantically upon suddenly hearing his student, Tenten, and even Sakura, groaned.

"This is not good." Tenten mumbled, as both kunoichi broke apart to reluctantly let Gai see.

Gai's entire body twitched, as his head robotically looked down and gasped at the abomination sitting in the black directors chair. When he made eye contact, time itself froze for the spandex wearing jounin. The person he was staring at was wearing a red kimono, and had a near glossy bald head. He initially mistook it for Michi, but he recognised those thick black eyebrows anywhere, "...L-L-Le..."

Seeing that bald head sparkle arguably brighter than his teeth pushed him over the edge, as he reeled his tear pouring head back possibly from the flow, and let out his blood thirsty filled roar, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF KAMI-SAMA HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BEAUTIFUL AND INNOCENT STUDENT?!"

It was amazing that even though the furiously crying Gai was screaming out for an explanation, not one member of the cast even noticed he was there. The three shinobi however were hearing it at its full glass shattering volume level.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!"

Reaching out in great hesitance, Gai lightly touched the tip of Lee's bare head, and feeling its smooth texture made him see red, "Lee, I shall avenge you! These heartless souls will feel my scorching rage for stripping you of your immaculate hair!"

Tenten suddenly got in front of Gai, trying to bar the furious sensei off from reaching for the completely composed director, "Gai-sensei! We will fail the mission if you kill the director. Remember what you told us about the client's life being top priorit-"

"This is beyond our duties and honour Tenten, THIS IS ABOUT LEE BEING ROBBED OF HIS SPUNK!"

Sakura just covered her going sore ears from Gai's still screech like shouts, "Would someone just explain to us what is going on already?!"

Lee pointed up his index finger as if to say he would answer, "It is quite simple Sakura-san, the film crew have acknowledged my hard work, and wish for me to play as a stunt double for Michi-dono."

"B-But Lee-san...you don't look anything like him! He easily is a good head taller than you." Sakura explained, even sticking her hand up for exaggeration.

The silent director rubbed his chin while snickering, "So you picked up what my producer said to me as well. You both are simpletons then."

Sakura only narrowed her brows, but decided not to speak out what her mind was itching to say back, 'Forgive me for not learning all about the film industry you jerk!'

The director continued, "Using state of the art cinematography techniques, we will make the boy appear taller than what he actually is!"

Sakura knew little about these 'techniques' but even she knew quite clearly what this crazed director was suggesting, "You are going to place the camera...at an odd angle?!"

"Well I will be, someone with more brains than my producer!"

'That is just...stupid.'

Sakura's musings yet again were not voiced, as Gai was starting to push through his weapon master blockade with a vein snapping fist rearing in the air.

"But my humble student could bypass that if he could use henge..but he unfortunately...-"

"Precisely again Gai-san!-" the director chirped, still not seeming to acknowledge that Gai was only inches away from introducing his face to that trembling fist.

Trying to see if she could do anything to end this insanity, Sakura put her hand up, "Wait, why Lee-san? You and your crew could save loads of time and effort if you just asked one of us who can use henge."

"I tried this already." Tenten mumbled, but the director gave a familiar answer which Tenten received before.

"I am sorry, but the auditions for this role are closed! better luck with the next movie young lady."

"H-Huh...audition?...

" 'What audition?!' Concluding the director was just highly stressed about the film to be thinking clearly, Sakura just moved on...before she was going to lose it with this man's stubborn stupidity.

Sakura knew she was going to regret this, since she could see Gai was literally getting torn apart from each and every word being said, but she dragged it on, "Fine, Lee-san is the one for the role then. So to get around him not being able to use henge..."

The director then gave a teeth revealing smile, "We don't need the ability to use chakra to turn him into Leto himself. I have over a dozen of the best makeup artists in the entire studio here with me After a few tiresome hours, we have him as close as can be ."

'Does he even know that someone skilled with henge can transform into near a PERFECT replica of both a living being or an object?!' Sakura inwardly scolded, but only showed her thoughts with her right eye twitching.

"You even went so far as to take away his dignity- "

"IT'S JUST A BALD CAP!" Tenten screamed over Gai, unable to handle hearing or holding the jounin back any longer. She then quickly gasped several times for air, as if screaming so loud took up so much energy.

"It is just a bald cap." She repeated at lower volume level, while the director took his cue, "Exactly! What you are looking at is one of the best bald caps my crew have designed yet."

As if he was cherishing it, he rubbed Lee's bald head, making Lee wince as the cap stretched, revealing a loose strand of his black hair underneath.

Gai suddenly froze in his struggles to get past Tenten, "Lee...still has his hair?"

"Yes, he does. They were considering shaving it off, however, I insisted they find another way."

Gai suddenly burst into tears as he placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder, "WHAT DEVOTION AND CARE YOU SHOW TO YOUR TEAMMATE TENTEN!"

Sweat dropping at just how genuine that gratitude filled praise was, Tenten mused out her true reasoning, 'I knew that if these guys made Lee bald you would have murdered everyone here...you lunatic.'

Moving on, the director then put his hand on his chin, as he looked down at Lee in deep thought, "But despite my crews efforts, those damn eyebrows just won't conceal themselves. We may have to resort to thinning them with a plucke-Huh?"

Feeling hot steam radiating against his face, the director turned to gape. Literally at near nose touching distance, were two great wide pupil lacking white eyes, that were arguably glowing. They belonged to a turning red and vein pulsating Gai, "If you so much as touch a single piece of Lee's perfect eyebrows...I will never forgive you!"

Slamming his mouth shut tight, the director gave a very forced wide smile, "On-second-thought, we-could-just-edit-them-out-frame-by-frame-in-the-editing-stage." He blurted out in a near instant, fearing if he wasn't quick enough, he was not going to live to see this movie on the big screen.

'This kid's father is freaking crazy!' The director inwardly cried, unaware of the fact that Gai actually was not Lee's father.


" 'Why do you wish to acquire the stone of the great red dragon? Depending on your answer...I may be forced to kill you!' "

Tenten groaned into her hand at what was going on behind her, "Lee, you are a stunt double. There is no reason, nor benefit at all for you to learn the DIALOGUE!"

Gai, who was holding the script open in front of the seated Lee, was begging to differ, "Now remember Lee, you must show you are up most serious when saying you will kill the man. You must demonstrate to the camera your dark murderous intent!"

Jotting down notes in a professional like way, Lee nodded, "May I have an example, Gai-sensei?"

"Absolutely! Tenten, would you care to demonstrate."

Forming a frown, the weapon master turned to shoot a firm and harsh glare at the jounin, which in a comical way made both Gai and Lee jump, "W-What raw infuriation!"

"You would make a great actress Tenten."

'No. I actually DO want to kill you.' She inwardly announced, turning back to hear Sakura who was next to her sigh.

"Is it always like this?"

"No...it usually is much worse than this."

"Are you serious?!"

"You have no idea...you ever had moments where you simply wanted to kill your teammates?"

Tenten's half hearted joke seemed to have made the kunoichi look elsewhere, "Well, maybe."

Tenten rose an eyebrow at the sudden change, "You mean to say Naruto always was on his best behaviour?" Tenten had to turn her head this time when Sakura's shoulders slumped lower, and her face now gave the impression she was lost in deep thought.

'She is so strange...'

"It doesn't matter." Tenten voiced over the awkward silence, although Sakura didn't appear to show acknowledgement to the statement.

"No Lee, place more emotion in those eyes when you glare, I will not be satisfied unless you make my very soul stir in terror."

"Hai! I will practice three hundred murderous intent filled glares!"

Tenten would have reacted with her typical face palming action, were it not for the situation she was in with the still non responsive kunoichi.

A loud whistle travelled through the air, "Oi, stunt double, you are up!"

Lee's eyes shot wide as he stood off his chair with a firm fist raised, "Yosh! I will execute my part in the film with all of my burning will!"

"You make me proud to be your sensei Lee! Come Tenten, Sakura, let's give Lee our fond support!" Tenten just rolled her eyes, and turned to follow Gai and Lee, however she stopped on the first step when Sakura still hadn't reacted.

Going concerned, Tenten lightly touched the kunoichi's shoulder, which made her suddenly spring to life and snap her head to meet her gaze, "E-Eh?!"

"Are you alright?" Tenten asked, while Sakura recovered from her surprise and gave a forced grin.

"Of course, let's hurry, before Gai-sensei shouts another line full of nonsense again." Without saying further, Sakura then left Tenten standing there.

Finally walking to catch up, Tenten's mouth formed a firm line, 'She is a very bad liar.'


Lee was finding himself yet again speechless with just how complicated this whole 'movie' business was. The director essentially was telling him step by step what it is he wanted him to do down to the smallest of steps. Who would have thought doing a stylish jump over a tremendous explosion, to land behind an enemy, and then kick them into the flames of said explosion could have required so much preparation.

This was something performed within a mere second in a real shinobi battle, however, this entire stunt somehow carried over to what was now the second day. Finally granted freedom to walk away from the set, Lee let out a great sigh, "Who could have imagined such an ordinary task could be so exhilarating."

His sensei was singing a different tune. Not willing to hear Gai have another long 'youth' filled praise, Tenten just over talked him as if he wasn't there, "Somehow, I really am starting to feel our entire purpose here is unnecessary."

Lee usually would have responded with 'you are showing lack of discipline', but after his arguably antagonising session, he couldn't voice words that he knew would come out half hearted. Looking around, Lee began to wonder why amongst the heads of dozens of people, he couldn't locate one person with pink hair, "Where is Sakura-san?"

Forming a neutral expression, Tenten casually pointed to behind her with her thumb at one of the carriages. Sakura was sitting on the edge of the roof, staring off at nothing in particular with a dull expression.

"She doesn't look the greatest."

"Eh...I really don't know what is up with her, all I did was say a joke involving her teammates, and next thing you know she went into that dismal state. That was two days ago too."

"You have to acknowledge her situation. One teammate abandoned her team despite her admirable attempt to stop him, and the other has left to be given tutorage by Jiraiya-sama for two years." Both teens turned to their now serious sensei.

"Lee told me that already Gai-sensei, and that is fair enough, but I don't see how that gives her an excuse to be like that."

"Then Lee obviously did not put it in undebatable words for you. How would you yourself be Tenten, if Neji deserted us, and Lee swore to you with the nice guy pose he would bring him back...and then he disappeared to train with no signs of returning for two years."

Tenten at first went wide eyed at the question, but after several moments, she huffed and arrogantly titled her head to the side, "I wouldn't allow myself to be put in such a pathetic state she is allowing herself to be in."

"Tenten." Lee scolded, while Gai inwardly sighed.

'Tenten, you have to accept not everybody is as mentally strong as you are.'

The brunette however did not relent, "I firstly would have given Lee a firm mouthful, and kindly corrected for him that we together would bring back Neji. I would never put myself in a position where I have to be solely dependent on another person for something so great."

Lee was about to rebut, but Gai put a hand on his shoulder as if to hold him back, "That is something you would do, however, you are as narrow sighted as Neji once was if that is what you really see happening from Sakura."

Lee had to look up in disbelief that Gai had just said that so seriously and in a flat lined voice. Tenten herself was startled by Gai's near unheard of harsh words, "I-I am not narrow sighted. I can see she truly is working extremely hard to change tha-"

"Then why are you so blindly criticising her? If anything, you should be showing her respect. "

"She is just lucky Tsunade-sama chose he-"

"You couldn't be more wrong."

Gai interrupting her mid-sentence threw her off, while Lee was looking up at Gai in interest to what he meant, "Luck has nothing to do with it Tenten. If you really wish to know the truth, Sakura actually begged-no...she demanded hokage-sama to teach her."

Tenten gaped in shock when Gai corrected himself, while Lee was in a similar state, "How could you know that, Gai-sensei?"

"I entered for a mission soon after I witnessed Sakura leaving the tower with a determined filled expression. When I asked hokage-sama to satisfy my shameful curiosity, she explained to me the new arrangement. While Sakura never worded it in such a direct way, Hokage-sama insisted she was given the impression it was such."

Once Gai had concluded his retelling, neither of the teens said anything. Looking to the still stunned brunette, Gai narrowed his firm gaze, "In a way Tenten, between the way you are acting and the way Sakura is...Sakura is demonstrating to me that she will always be stronger than you will ever be."

Clenching her jaw at those hurtful words, Tenten muttered 'whatever' and marched away. Now alone with Lee, Gai released a painful sigh, "It pains me so much to scold my precious, and irreplaceable students, in such a cold way like my eternal rival would. But that needed to be said."

"Hey stunt double, we need you again."

A voice called out in the distance, as Lee focussed on his retreating teammate, "Will Tenten be ok?"

Turning both of them around, Gai walked with Lee back to the set, "Not to fear Lee, I am sure she knows what to do now."


Sakura could be mistaken as a statue by an observer, since she barely was moving at all in sitting cross legged form. Her head simply just hung, as her dull eyes continued to look at nothing in particular. When her nose picked up the soothing scent of hot chocolate, she looked up in surprise to see her minds guess was a reality.

The white cup was being held by a gloved feminine hand, "Here." it's owner said simply. Looking up further, she recognised it to be Tenten. Catching up from the surprise, Sakura accepted the drink and muttered 'thank you'.

Sitting down before the rosette, Tenten took a sip of her own hot drink she had too, "I didn't know what drink you liked, so forgive me if I got it wrong."

Taking a mouthful and releasing a satisfied sigh, Sakura grinned, "Who wouldn't love hot chocolate?"

"Hehe, so I see I chose right then."

Taking another drink, Tenten enjoyed the serene atmosphere, knowing she possibly was going to be the source for ruining it in a moments time. When she decided it was time, Tenten spoke neutrally before having another drink, "Can I ask you something?"

Seeing Sakura's questioning gaze, Tenten took it as a 'yes?', "What made you demand Tsunade-sama to take you as your apprentice?" Sakura choked on her drink as she stared wide eyed at the weapon master, who now as looking at her expectantly.

Sakura's lack of response did not shift Tenten's resolve at all, since the talking of the crewmen nearby were enough to filter out what otherwise would have dead silence.

Finally reacting, Sakura took a sip of her drink, "I never demanded Tsunade-sama.-"

"But you really wanted her to take you on." Tenten cut in, causing Sakura to fall back into her state of shock. Recomposing herself, Sakura slowly nodded to Tenten's claim.

Grinning, Tenten gestured for Sakura to go on, "So tell me why?"

"W-Well, what can I say, I really wanted to get stronger, and Tsunade-sama was and is still the hokage."

"Yes, a standard answer I would expect from anybody wishing to be taught by the best. However, that is an answer I would say if I was in your shoes."

Sakura was taken aback by Tenten's determined filled eyes, "I am not interested to know the reason I would want to learn from Tsunade-sama...I want to know yours."

The heavy silence made Sakura's head stare down into her steaming hot chocolate cup, "Why do you want to know so badly?"

Letting out a 'Hmmph' Tenten turned her grin wearing head, "Were you not listening to what I said to you when the mission started?"

Recollecting their conversation, Sakura voiced out her musing, "You idolize Tsunade-sama, and would greatly desire to learn under her...you hate me, don't you?" That question sounded very plain and heavy on Sakura's shoulders when she finished.

Tenten gave a warm chuckle to ease the rosettes growing nervousness, "Really, what is it with everyone making it sound like I am heartless. I only have really gotten to know you this short time, but I consider you a friend and dependable comrade already. I am however a bit jealous, but Tsunade-sama never offered anybody the opportunity...you made her offer it to you."

"I didn't make her do anythi-"

"Sure you didn't."

Giving in, Sakura sighed while taking a sip of her drink, welcoming the hot liquid to ease this awkward discussion, "I can't win with you at all, can I?" Deciding to comply since Tenten said nothing in response, Sakura bit her lower lip in hesitation.

Not being able to think of anything else to say, Sakura gave in and said what her mind was saying over and over, "I was useless."

Tenten's eyes flickered with interest, but she patiently waited for Sakura to recover from that sudden wash over of pain, "All I did was cry when Sasuke-kun left, and I went to Naruto and begged him to bring Sasuke-kun back. I couldn't do anything else, I became completely dependent on Naruto. Then I saw the state he was in after the mission failed..."

Tenten didn't react when she could see Sakura's trembling hand starting to crush the small plastic cup.

Feeling her eye go glassy, Sakura quickly whipped away the tear before it fell, "-Sorry-"

"Don't worry, let it out if it makes you feel better."

Weakly chuckling, Sakura rubbed her other eye, "After that...I realised what I did was completely wrong. I should not have done that to Naruto, s-so I tried myself to go and bring Sasuke-kun back. B-But when I tried to...Naruto came and stated flatly he was coming with me."

Rubbing her now runny eyes again, Sakura sniffled, "-Sorry-"

"So what happened next?" Tenten over spoke, with an encouraging smile that calmed Sakura down.

"We were assigned an S ranked mission to search for Sasuke-kun with Jiraiya-sama. The mission didn't succeed, and once again I found myself not able to help Naruto at all. Naruto however protected me...time and time again."

Sakura had stop when her crying intensified after that, and Tenten decided to conclude it for her, "So because of that, Naruto once again was hospitalized, and that is when you wanted to change this trend before it was too late. You then went to Tsunade-sama, and demanded her to teach you. Now you can insert the generic answer you first gave me as a conclusion, because this is your sole reason alone to want to be taught by the best...and nobody else's."

Sakura sobbed, and just nodded her trembling head as she continued to cry, 'Gai-sensei...you really were right, jeez. I never thought I would say that.'

"That is why you said to me in that definite way you would bring back Sasuke together with Naruto." Sakura sniffled, and rose her head to show her confusion, which Tenten gave a comforting smile. Not knowing what to do, Sakura just nodded, "H-Hai..."

Sakura was thrown into further confusion when Tenten offered her open hand, "Well to me you are making such a reality already. You knew that you were being over dependant, and saw it was wrong...as it damn well is. Your determination has led you to what you are today, a chuunin, and on top of that, apprentice of the Godaime. That loud mouthed twerp better acknowledge you for your efforts...or he will be having me and Lee to contend to."

Gasping, Sakura felt another tear run down her cheek at Tenten's soft smile, but quickly shook her head clear and rubbed her eye again.

Finally, she accepted Tenten's opened hand, "Thank you, Tenten-san"

"You are welcome...and just Tenten is fine."

"O-Oh...Sakura is fine then too." After a firm shake, Tenten broke the handshake, and took a mouthful of her tea.

"Now, I somehow suspect that this is not the exact cause for you to be in this state, but it is somehow relevant."

Sakura's sharp intake of breath made the weapon master continue unshaken, "I won't pester into your privacy any more. However, if you ever want to talk about it, or just want to take your mind off the matter, either Lee or myself are more than happy to help."

"T-Thank you." Sakura was beginning to find herself saying that a lot.

She yet again was at a loss though when Tenten's smile morphed to a serious expression, "When you are more clear minded...I wish to fight you."

"H-Huh?!"

Seeing those brown orbs practically full of determination yet again, Sakura eventually was able to comprehend, "I see now..."

"I do not care how long it takes, but when you are ready, you know where to find me."

Closing her eyes for a moment, Sakura reopened them to match those brown irises with her own determined filled jade orbs, "You have my word."

"Hehe, good, we understand each other."

"Sakura-san, Tenten!" Both kunoichi turned their heads to see Lee standing below looking up at them.

His face showed a mixture of curiosity and concern when he could see the faint marks of tears on Sakura's face, "Is everything alright?"

He was taken aback when Sakura gave a genuine smile to assure him, "Of course Lee-san! Tenten and I were just talking about stuff."

Looking at her empty cup, Sakura gestured, "Would you like me to go grab us another drink Tenten?"

"That would be great thanks Sakura." Lee could only gape as Sakura jumped down and ran off to fetch two more drinks.

Tenten only snickered at her teammate as she came down to ground level, "What did you do?"

Tenten responded with a sigh, "Really Lee...How many times do I have to tell everybody the same thing?"


AN: I felt it was important to spend these chapters more so developing Tenten's character than actual progression.

There is so little we know about her, it makes her having a big role as I intend for her to have an issue.

So I kindly just built on the little bits Kishi has said about her, and developed her in the way I picture her to be.

Blunt, at times indifferent and arrogant like Neji, strong personality, and a bit of a tomboy.

Having Sakura develop in regards to my other story was simply a bonus to the whole situation :P

I will try and update more often, but feedback would be greatly appreciated.