YAY!! New arc!! So, basically, there's going to be one mission, followed by the Chunnin exams (we're on year two of the three year time skip), and something else, which I don't know yet. Enjoy!
Many thanks to my reviewers! (and hopefully, there'll be more next time)-
Aireonna tenjichan gs rocks whitephoenix13 SmallButPowerful
Chapter 16
The Chunnin exams were roughly two months away and the only thing on Tenten's mind was training. So, it came as quite a surprise when the Hokage called Team Gai- all four of its members- to assemble in her office.
Tenten had just been ready to leave her house and meet Neji at their usual training ground when a knock came at her door. Wondering who it could be, she had cautiously opened the door and came face to face with the person she was just heading out to see.
"What are you doing here?" her first reaction was that she was late and Neji was here to scold her for it.
"We've been assigned a mission", the reply was swift.
"Oh", Tenten was at a loss for words. She followed Neji out the door and they walked together in silence- a comfortable silence, relaxed and somewhat refreshing. Tenten realized, as they walked, that she'd spent too much time worrying about improving herself and training. Maybe a mission would do her some good. It was probably about time they get out of the village for a while anyways.
Neji didn't seem to agree. "This is taking time away from your training", he announced.
Tenten was surprised to hear him say that. She knew Neji was always bent on following rules and having a sense of duty. She'd expected him to be willing to go on missions for the good of Konoha. So where was this reluctance coming from?
"We're shinobi", she reminded him gently, "we're supposed to go on missions".
"I know", he replied dully, "but the Chunnin exams are coming up and you need more training".
Tenten swallowed his words slowly, thinking carefully about the underlying meaning. Since when had he cared so much about how strong she was? She took it as an insult, as if he was implying that she wasn't strong enough, that she was slowing him down.
"A mission could be an opportunity to learn something new", she countered, hoping her defense would hold up against his. Neji wasn't someone who was easy to argue with. Most of the time, whoever dared to speak against him eventually lost the argument to his undeniable logic. And even if it wasn't really logical, he made it sound like it was.
"I hope so", he didn't say anything else and Tenten fell silent until they reached the doors of Tsunade's office. Neji reached forward to knock and Tenten automatically took a step behind him, standing so that he covered half her body. It was plainly out of habit that she stood behind Neji, and she never gave it a second thought.
"Come in", the fifth Hokage's voice rang through the silence and Neji opened the door, revealing a room with four people. The Hokage, of course, sat behind her desk, hands folded under her chin. Shizune stood beside her, a small stack of folders clutched in her arms. In front of them stood Gai and Lee, as ready and eager as ever, dressed in their outrageous green jumpsuits.
Neji greeted them politely and Tenten mumbled something similar.
"We've received a request from the Mist Village", Tsunade explained, getting straight to the point, "There have been reported assassinations. Shizune?"
"Right", Shizune nodded and pulled out one of the folders she was holding, handing it to the Hokage.
"So, it says here that the killings have been random, but that's hardly believable. There are some suspicions and rumors going around that say nothing is as "random" as it seems. This is where you four come in", Tsunade paused and looked up, mostly at Gai, as if silently assigning him the leader of the squad.
"The mission has two parts", she continued after a moment, "First, you are to go undercover as citizens and do some "research". You will act as travelers who happen to pass by the area and stumble upon these rumors. Ask around and see what you can find out. The point is to see what or who the assassins are targeting".
Gai nodded and Lee bobbed his head as well.
"Good. Then, you must track down the assassin and dispose of him."
"Why can't we just get to that part?" Lee spoke up, eager for action.
"Because you must extract information from whomever you capture. The goal isn't just to dispose of the current assassin, because that would give us very little information. I'm almost positive this guy is just one small part of a larger organization", Tsunade replied.
"Very well, we'll be on our way, Hokage-sama", Gai bowed.
"Alright", Tsunade nodded and a small smile flitted onto her face. No matter how long she'd been at this job, and no matter how long she would be doing this in the future, she knew she would never get tired of sending off a squad for a mission. There was just something about the way the Shinobi of Konoha took their job so seriously that made her immensely proud.
It was sort of like sending kids off to their first day of school. Her smile grew as she watched the four shinobi leave the room. Beside her, Shizune smiled quietly to herself. She knew what was going through her Sensei's mind and she had to admit she felt the same way.
When the four members of Team-Gai met once again at the gates of Konoha, they were dressed in Shinobi attire. Gai had decided that although they were supposed to be disguised as civilians, they still had to get to the Mist Village first.
"Until we're within a hundred meter radius", he explained, "we're going to stay shinobi. There could still be dangers in the forest".
The rest of the squad didn't complain. They followed the example set by their sensei and started off into the woods, leaping effortlessly from tree to tree. The traveling was done in silence, as there wasn't too much to talk about. Lee tried to challenge Neji to a few menial competitions, but was politely declined.
Tenten just watched her teammates bicker, silently chuckling to herself. Some things never changed.
They arrived at the edge of the Mist Village a little before sundown and Gai stopped suddenly, raising a hand to stop all movement from his squad.
"We're here", he announced quietly.
They split up into the four corners of the clearing they were standing in and quickly changed into the civilian clothes they'd brought. Lee was upset about changing out of his jumpsuit, but Gai had quickly fixed the problem by giving him a new set of clothes that probably looked worse than the jumpsuit. But, it pleased Lee, and that was all that mattered.
Neji didn't bother to change too much. He simply slipped off the Konoha forehead protector and hid his weapons in his pack.
Tenten had it much worse. Under Tsunade's orders, she was forced to wear possibly the most feminine outfit she'd ever laid eyes on. Tenten thought it was absolutely hideous, but Gai and Lee had enthusiastically cheered her on.
And now, as she emerged from behind the trees in her civilian clothes, forehead protector dangling from one hand, Tenten wished someone would just stick a couple of exploding tags on her and get it over with. Both Lee and Gai gave her a flashy thumbs up.
Neji remained in the background, smirking slightly when he caught the expression on her face. It was one of pure hatred and anger.
"I know it was Tsunade-sama's idea to make me more girly, but who was the idiot that bought this outfit?!" she yelled into the silence.
"It doesn't look that bad", Neji replied dryly.
Tenten glared at him and raised a hand to her back pocket, ready to draw out a weapon. But, she'd forgotten that civilian attire required that they hid all weapons. Well, that just completely took away all sense of safety. She was not used to having no weapons for defense.
"We need to go", Gai urged them, hoping to break up the little quarrel. It worked. Tenten huffed angrily as she gathered all her shinobi items and stuff them into her pack, then tossed it over her shoulder.
They walked down the path leading to the entrance of the Mist Village and paused at a dock. Several wooden boats were sitting in the water, tied to little posts on the dock with thick pieces of rope. An old man sat in one of the boats and looked up at them, waving a hand carelessly.
"Hello there!" Gai called out cheerfully, "is this the Village of the Mist?"
"Yep. Just across the river here", the old man replied.
"May we have passage to this village, then?" Lee asked with impeccable manners.
"Of course, of course. It'll cost you, though", the old man studied the four travelers in front of him, trying to guess where they were from. From the way they stood, they didn't seem too intelligent or useful. Although, that girl in the back would probably sell for a hefty price at a brothel.
"How's this?" Gai pulled out several coins and showed it to the old man, giving him a bright smile as well. He had remembered to ask Tsunade for some foreign money so that there was no way anyone could tell they were from Konoha.
"Ay, looks like you're from some far away place, doesn't it?" the old man couldn't recognize the coins placed in his hands, but he weighed them expertly and saw that they had value in them. Or, at least some potential for value.
"Yes, quite far", Gai agreed vaguely.
"Well, c'mon, get in, get in", the old man nodded to them, "why don't you sit right here by me, girlie?" he motioned to Tenten and patted the seat beside him. But, Neji had somehow managed to insert himself in the space between them and he gently nudged Tenten so that she was forced to move to one side and sit at the edge of the boat, between the wooden edge and himself.
The old man caught this subtle movement and narrowed his eyes jealously. Must be an overprotective boyfriend, huh, he thought to himself. Tenten glanced around innocently, unaware of what had just happened. Distracted by the uncomfortable clothes she was wearing, she hadn't even heard the comment the old man had made to her.
When all five members were seated in the boat, the old man picked up his paddle and began moving toward the village. Night was falling fast and a thick fog settled over the waters. An uncomfortable silence fell over the group and Gai began babbling, "So, any good sightseeing places around here?" He tried to sound unintelligent, even adding a slight accent to his speech.
"Not much during this time of year", came the reply, "But it's better like that. Ain't been too safe recently".
"What do you mean?" Gai asked, his interest perking up, although he was careful to hide it.
"Well, there's been killin's, ye know? People dying randomly", the old man explained, "It's spirits, I tell ya, spirits".
"That's interesting", Gai played along, "those spirits must be angry at something".
"Oh, you believe in them too, don't ya?" the old man smiled a crooked smile and Tenten shuddered. Unconsciously, Neji edged closer, forming a human shield on one side of her.
"What do you know about these spirits?" Lee asked.
"Spirits? Well, not much, of course. But I say they're angry. They've been killing people at night, and there's never any clues left behind. So I say they must be spirits. No one else can do the job that well. And they're punishing people too, they only get at those moneybags", the old man looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Rich people?" Neji confirmed.
"Yep. Probably because they're robbing the poor people. They're corrupted, those big businessmen".
"Hn", Neji fell silent and Gai looked at him, a worried look on his face. It seemed as if Neji had thought of something, but this was no time to be asking him.
The boat reached the other side of the shore and the old man pulled them up to the dock, then nodded as the four travelers got out. They thanked him and left quickly.
"Well, that girlie woulda gotten me quite some money", he mused. Without another word, the old man turned around and began rowing back to the other side.
By the time Team-Gai reached the center of the village, it was nighttime. The sky had turned black and the fog was thicker, leaving a trail of coldness all around. They were able to book two rooms in a small inn, although the rooms were rather far apart.
As Tenten trudged towards the room she would have to be using alone, she heard rushed whispers behind her, like an argument. She turned to see Lee trying to convince Neji of something, but it didn't look like it was working.
They must have been pretty preoccupied with what they were arguing about, because neither noticed that Tenten had fully turned around and was freely eavesdropping.
"She can handle herself!" Neji's voice was full of confidence.
"But we must always protect out teammates", Lee's voice sounded reasonable.
"She's a kunoichi- she'll be fine".
"If you will not help, I will do it!" Lee looked like he was about to take a step towards Tenten, but Neji reached out an arm and blocked him.
"Fine, I'll do it", he replied through gritted teeth. Tenten started at them, absolutely confused about what the hell was going on.
"You need a change of clothes and a roommate", Neji said in a louder voice, not bothering to even look at Tenten. So, apparently, he was aware that she was listening.
"What are you guys talking about?" Tenten demanded.
"You won't be safe in this town dressed like that and our rooms are too far apart", Neji explained. He turned away from Lee and began walking Tenten towards her room, almost dragging her along the hallway.
"What does that mean?" Tenten demanded again, shaking out of his grasp.
"The old man on the boat was getting ideas from the way you were dressed. And, Gai-sensei and Lee think that you can't take care of yourself", he sounded exasperated and Tenten decided not to push it any further.
"Oh, ok", she mumbled.
They reached the opposite end of the hall and went down two flights of stairs, causing Tenten to realize that her room really was pretty far. If anything dangerous happened, no one would get to her in time.
"First things first", Neji instructed. He left Tenten's things in a pile on the floor of the room, then tossed his own bags down.
"What are you doing?" Tenten asked, confused.
"I'm staying here", he replied as if it were he most obvious thing in the world, "But first we have to get you more decent clothes".
"Oh", Tenten was still a little confused, so she just let Neji drag her around without question. They went out into the streets and found a clothes shop. Almost immediately after she entered the doors, Tenten became bored. Clothes had never interested her, although she figured they probably should, since she was a girl and all.
Neji seemed pretty lost too. It wasn't like he was good at shopping.
"So, uh, more decent clothes?" Tenten repeated awkwardly.
"Uh, yeah", Neji agreed weakly.
"Well, I want something simple, easy to move in", Tenten decided that was a good place to start.
They roamed aimlessly through the store and in the end, decided that they would just go back to the inn and use Tenten's old clothes. Without the weapons and scrolls, they looked decent and normal enough.
"That was a waste of time", Tenten muttered as they headed back to the inn. She was still stuck in her annoying clothes, but was glad she'd be rid of them soon.
"Shhh!" Neji hissed, quickly pulling her aside. He paused at a stand that sold dangos of every different flavor and looked as if he was trying to decide, but Tenten could tell he was actually concentrating very hard on listening to something… or someone.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tenten saw two men standing near the dango cart as well, discussing something in hushed tones. She picked at her pocket and pulled out some money, pretending to be counting it as if she was going to buy a dango. Neji followed her example and stared at the coins in her hand while he listened.
"So, what would you kids like?" the vendor interrupted and Neji almost growled in frustration. He'd been so close to gathering valuable information.
"Just this one, please", Tenten sighed and handed the man some money, then stuffed the food in her mouth.
"Let's go", Neji frowned and hurried his teammate back, eager to share what he'd just heard.
Gai and Lee had settled comfortably into their room and unpacked a few essential items. They were now sitting on opposite edges of the bed- one bed- trying to figure out where they were going to sleep.
"I can just take the couch", Lee insisted.
"No, no. As my pupil, you must deserve the very best", Gai replied.
"But Gai-sensei, you are the squad leader", Lee countered.
Their little argument was broken when Neji threw open the door and hurried in, followed by Tenten.
"The old man on the boat was right about the assassinations", he blurted out in a hushed tone.
"They are really caused by the spirits?" Lee asked, shocked.
"No!' Neji shot him an incredulous look, "I meant about the rich people. Members of the wealthier class are the ones being targeted. And, according to a source, it's only the ones who have some sort of power over a company or something".
"Is that what you were listening to?" Tenten asked.
"Yes. I was going to hear the names of some of the companies if that vendor hadn't interrupted", Neji sighed.
"That's a good lead, Neji", Gai sounded satisfied, "We'll use that clue to our advantage tomorrow. We'll visit the richer parts of town and see what we can gather".
"Ok", Neji nodded.
"As for now, let us just have a good night's rest", Gai continued. Neji nodded and left the room, with Tenten towing behind him. As the door closed, they could hear the argument between Gai and Lee spring up again.
"I bet neither of them will end up using the bed", Tenten laughed lightly.
Neji didn't seem to hear her. He continued walking at a brisk step, lost in his own thoughts.
"What are you thinking about?" Tenten asked after a bit of silence.
"The mission".
"Oh", she didn't feel like she should bother him anymore, so Tenten shut her mouth. Along the way, she wondered vaguely how the sleeping arrangements were to be made. She chided herself for thinking of such silly things while they were on a mission, but she couldn't help it. After all, she was still a girl, and Neji was a guy. There were things that were unavoidable.
Besides, if Gai-sensei and Lee couldn't even figure out what to do about one bed, what was she going to do? Neji, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to this small detail. He walked quietly into their room and began pulling out his clothes. Tenten watched him from the bed, hoping that he'd eventually bring up the subject so they could figure out what to do. She felt extremely awkward that she was making such a big deal out of this, but she couldn't help it. It bothered her.
When more silence passed by, Neji looked up to see why his teammate wasn't saying anything. He saw her sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring tentatively at him.
"What?" he asked.
"I-" Tenten didn't know where to start. She just kind of looked at Neji, hoping he would get the clue. He didn't. Geez, boys were so dense!
"What's wrong?" Well, at least he could tell something wasn't right.
"There's only one bed", Tenten managed to mumble.
Neji looked at her funny, then smirked slightly when he understood what she was hinting at. "I'm taking the couch", he made it sound so obvious.
Tenten gaped at him, unable to grasp how he could handle something in such a simple manner. It really didn't seem to bother him at all. He stood up and moved swiftly into the adjoining bathroom, announcing that he was going to shower. Tenten made no reply. In all honesty, she was a bit too stunned to say anything.
She stayed rooted to her spot, slowly mulling things over as she heard the water turn on in the restroom. She realized that she must have sat still for quite a while, thinking things over, because the next thing she knew, the sound of the water had disappeared and the door opened. Neji stepped out in the same nonchalant manner he always had and motioned vaguely to the restroom, signaling that Tenten was now free to use it. She nodded in reply, gathered the clothes she would change into, and stepped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
It was midnight- possibly past midnight, and Tenten couldn't sleep. Something was bugging her and she couldn't figure it out. She felt like something was missing, as if she'd forgotten to do something important. But she just couldn't figure it out.
Her tossing and turning in the bed eventually woke Neji, who had always been a light sleeper. He shifted slightly on the tiny couch and asked quietly, "what's wrong?"
"I don't know", Tenten murmured in reply.
"Sleep", it was a command, but not as harsh as his normal commands were.
"I'm trying". She sighed.
"Try harder", he seemed to enjoy provoking her, so she ignored him, squeezing her eyes shut in hopes of finding sleep.
Eventually, she succeeded.
So, I know it would have been nice to see Hinata on this mission, but I'm saving her for something else.