A/N- Wow…thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter- (takes deep breath) Kyiri Makrono, Kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, tiffanylicis, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Kyleai, Aua two tearz (Anon…thanks for the advice), Iloveinuyasha44, Loku of the Long Reviews, RetardoO, Link Fangirl01, Windsoftiti, ForeheadKat, MyNameIsKelsie13,Seguha, Liandrin, Puppy444219, MaoAyanamipl, Uchiha Aimee, Gripped, Scienceboy and Lyzz2nwn.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 3

It had taken Sakura a few moments before she had been able to calm everyone down enough to reason with them-such had been the uproar after her blunt statement.

"What do you mean we can't turn back?" Ino had asked angrily. "Ino-Pig I never said you couldn't turn back," said Sakura. She took a deep breath and plopped down onto the floor. "I just said that you couldn't turn back until you figure out what you were missing."

Ino sashayed over to where Sakura was sitting. "Well what if we weren't missing anything billboard brow?" asked the Yamanaka. Sakura looked up at her best friend-turned rival-turned sort of friend sort of rival and said, "Well obviously you are or else you wouldn't be like this. Ino I didn't botch the potion that badly."

"S..Sakura…" said Hinata quietly. "W…What are w..we going to d..do about our families?"

"Well…" said Sakura thoughtfully. "To tell the truth I don't know."

Everyone immediately fell over anime style. Except Naruto and Sasuke. "I don't have to worry about family," said Sasuke somewhat bitterly. "Neither do I…" Naruto left the sentence hanging.

"Well then how about this. First of all…" Sakura went over to the cupboard and, climbing the shelves, retrieved a fistful of pens and a pad of paper. "Here. Everyone…" she looked over towards Naruto and Sasuke carefully. "Who has family at home, write a letter to your family and tell them that you'll be staying at my house for the next couple days. We do this all the time so it shouldn't be that much of a bother."

Everyone took time to do this and Sakura sent all the letters off via messengers-as in she picked someone standing outside and in her cutest, little kid voice, asked them to take the letters to their respective owners. When she got back inside, she moved on to the next order of business…aliases.

"Some of our names…like Uchiha, Hyuuga…they're too recognizable. What we all need is to make up a name that we can use if an adult asks us for our name," said Sakura in a contemplative voice as she reviewed the options in her head.

"Whatever. I'm getting out of here." Sakura shot her head up as Sasuke made his way to the door. "Wait Sasuke, you can't just leave…"

Suddenly an idea dawned on the medic ninja. "No. Wait. We all leave…to think about what, possibly our thing could be. Some will be much easier than others. Tonight we'll meet back up here. Well, if you're still a child, meet back up here. If you're not, go home. But this will give us time to think at the very least."

With that being said, Sakura herself got to her feet and walked through the hall and out the front door, leading by example.

Slowly the rookie nine and Team Gai dispersed into Konoha. Everyone was, for the most part alone, but there was some paring off. TenTen, Neji and Lee had decided to stick together and search for their answers together while Hinata, Kiba and Shino had splintered into three different parts but none were alone. Naruto was with Hinata, Kiba had gone with Choji and Shikamaru while Ino had set out with finding Sakura in mind; Sasuke had gone alone.

TenTen, Neji and Lee started out heading to the training grounds they usually met at-somewhere that only they went to…when Gai taught them, it was usually elsewhere-not even he knew of this place. But it was on the way there, while people were staring at the three of them, that TenTen remembered. "Neji, Lee!" she hissed at her teammates.

"Take off your forehead protectors," she said quietly, taking hers off.

Her teammates looked at her as though she had suggested they strip down and do the hokey pokey. "What did you say TenTen?" asked Lee, his bushy eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I said take off your forehead protector…even though it's around your waist…"

"Why TenTen?" asked Neji coolly. "I know I'm not…I'll keep my forehead covered thanks." TenTen flinched. She knew he was referring to the Hyuuga seal. "Because you two…we're not even supposed to be Genin yet. To everyone we're passing we look like 6 year olds…we need to act the part and six year olds don't have forehead protectors! If showing your curse seal is so wounding to your pride then here."

TenTen reached up to her head and unwound both her ribbons from her buns causing them to loosen and fall, showing that her hair reached about halfway down her back. Tying them together to form one long ribbon, she handed them over to Neji who turned around, removed his protector and wound the ribbon around his forehead, effectively covering the mark he sought to hide.

"There." He turned around…and it looked different from the Neji that TenTen knew.

Somehow, without his forehead protector he was less a ninja and more the innocent kid. The makeshift bandages gave his face a less imposing look and more of a friendly look. It made his eyes seem larger even more innocent.

He wouldn't like it if she said that but TenTen found herself blushing as she thought 'Neji looks…really cute…' "What's wrong with you?" his cold voice reminded her that even if he looked less imposing, he was still…Neji. A teammate. End of story.

"Well I, Rock Lee will now divulge what it is that I lost in childhood! I, even though I was in the early springtime of youth, did not train faithfully. If I had maybe I could've been a better ninja. As such, I shall now train!"

TenTen started when he mentioned training and then smiled. Her teammate was not being truthful and she knew it. Or maybe…he just didn't realize yet what it was he was missing.

"Well Lee I think you can do it," said TenTen suddenly. "I mean, even though you don't have anything chakra-wise, you still know all the skills and don't kid yourself…you're an excellent ninja."

Lee turned to her and looked at her with innocent wonder. "You think so TenTen?" he asked, a strange light coming to his eyes. "Yeah! Of course you can Lee!" she smiled at him, eyes flickering to Neji for a brief moment. He refused to take the bait, leaving it to TenTen.

"TenTen thank you for the encouragement!" He said happily. Suddenly his face dropped and a popping noise was heard.

And before them stood a full-grown Lee, towering over them all his green glory. "What? I have turned back to normal! Figuring out that needing more training was what I was missing worked! Now I shall help my teammates figure out what they are missing."

"No Lee…" said Neji hastily. "That's fine. We can figure it out by ourselves…I actually think we're supposed to!" said TenTen. "Just don't tell Gai-Sensei or anyone about this okay?" Lee responded, "Very well then…I am off to train!" he was gone.

"I don't understand what just happened," Neji said, bewildered.

TenTen, however, smiled. "He got it wrong, what he was missing. He thought he was missing the fact that he hadn't trained as a child, but do you remember what Gai-Sensei told us when we had been hard on Lee? About how, in his childhood, people made fun of him because of his lack of chakra abilities? Well I thought about that when he mentioned the training, put two and two together and realized that what he was missing wasn't the training itself but rather the encouragement. All he needed was one of us" here she shot a Look at Neji "To encourage him. That would make up for what he had been missing."

"What are you looking at me like that for?" asked the child-like Hyuuga, puzzled. "Because I wanted your help. But you wouldn't give it." Neji smiled slightly. "You were doing a fine job TenTen."

TenTen rolled her eyes and said, "Its getting warm, let's go into this store." She grabbed Neji's arm and pulled him into the department store.

A/N-There you go…I wasn't sure about this chapter…but I do know that Lee was teased as a child… But anyways Read and Review.