Chapter eighteen.

I'm sorry if this chapter isn't up to the standard of the others I have written – I've been feeling lousy this week and had had a killer cold, so my brain isn't functioning quite as I'd like at the moment!

Naruto does not belong to me!

An hour had passed since his arrival at the outer wall to Konoha, but being the strategist that he was, Deidara had made sure to take care over his plans to enter the highly secure village. He knew that protective dome that surrounded the place would instantly detect him as soon as he broke through or entered over the top of the wall anywhere apart from the main gates, so he had made preparations that would give him the best chance of getting in without being caught within a few minutes.

The squeak of a small nocturnal mammal made him jump as he knelt down the place the last of his bombs. He was unnaturally jumpy for his usual laid-back self tonight, but that was probably because he was about to undertake one of the most dangerous missions of his life, ironically, entirely by choice for once.

Midnight had passed now, and the cloud cover that had starved the light earlier had disappeared to leave a clear, star-speckled sky and an almost full moon. Not ideal conditions for a stealth mission. The rain would have been better; it would have covered his tracks at least.

Deidara took a step back and smirked at his handiwork. It had taken him a long time, but he was finally ready to enter the Hidden Leaf Village. He lifted his hands and formed a hand-sign, sensing the resulting resonation of all of the bombs he had planted. The small spider-like sculpture before him crawled fluidly forward and about six feet up the concrete wall, as did about twenty others strategically placed at equal distances from each other around the rest of the wall's circumference.

The criminal had spent the last hour slowly working his way around the perimeter, avoiding the routine patrols in order to place this network of explosives. It had required all of his patience, but he was sure it would allow him to enter, not undetected, but they would cover him. When the bombs went off simultaneously all around the wall, they would all punch holes just large enough for a man to enter the village. They would also realise a burst of chakra at the same time, thus creating at least twenty possible points at which an intruder could have got in, therefore spreading out the search teams and making Deidara's life one hell of a lot easier.

From there the plan was simple; lie low and keep to the alleys and back streets until he could get out of the main part of the village and could find his way to the prison area. After that, he would just have to locate Tenten's cell, wherever that may be, and break her out before getting out of the village, knocking out any pursuers with force if he had to.

However, at this moment, his first and foremost goal was just to enter successfully. Deidara took a couple of steps backward, away from the blast that was soon to follow. Once he was a safe distance away, he made one more hand-seal and his eyes became sharp with concentration.

"KATSU!"

The explosion rumbled through the ground as the flash of brilliant orange through to hot white billowed out from the blast's epicentre.

He lifted an arm quickly to shield his eyes from the heat and light that subsequently followed, the shock-waves from the detonation making the ground shake and the blastoff air making his hair blow crazily around his face.

That was it. It was now or never. Looking once left and right to check that the patrols weren't already on their way, Deidara took off through the gap in the feet thick concrete left by the explosion and into the village. He carefully leapt over the rubble and dust before looking up to find out where he was in relation to the prison.

Ducking behind the back of the nearest building, he managed to get into the shadows just in time before a pair of masked shinobi materialised next to the gaping hole in the wall through which he had entered. Black-ops, he supposed. These Konoha shinobi were nothing if not efficient – it had barely been one minute and they were already on his tail. The one with the hawk-like mask turned to his comrade.

"That makes sixteen points of entry now, and I expect this isn't the last." He said.

"Whoever entered looks like a skilled enemy – they evidently knew of the barrier and set up these multiple diversions to trick us. We don't even know if more than one person has got in, thanks to the chakra signals the explosions gave off….wait, what's that?"

Deidara mentally cursed. Dammit, he had forgotten to disguise his chakra! He quickly suppressed his chakra signals, and began to inch away. He was never one to run away from a fight, but attacking two black-ops here would certainly raise the alarm, to precisely where he was, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself just yet.

With a flash of inspiration, the criminal picked up a small lump of rubble, and when the pair of black-ops' heads were turned, threw it as hard as his could down the opposite alley before shrinking back into the darkness.

"Probably just a stupid cat. Come one, you're getting paranoid – let's go." Said the hawk-masked black-op and turned with his partner before disappearing once more.

Deidara let out a sigh of relief and stood away from the wall of the building he had been pressed up against, looked one way and the other, and headed off through the snaking maze of back-streets. He knew the prison from here was at the opposite side of the village, where the buildings became sparser and the hilly regions began. It was time to begin the search for Tenten.

As the kunoichi opened her blood-shot eyes, even the dull, lifeless half-light of her cell was enough to fill her head with instant pain. Tenten groaned audibly and sat up, covering her eyes with her palms as she did so before opening them once more as they adjusted to her surroundings. With one of her cold hands on her forehead to calm the pain, she looked around, her brows creasing in confusion as she tried to work out where she was. Judging by what she could see, this place was a prison cell.

She was sitting on a thin bed that looked like it had been designed to fold out of the adjacent wall, judging by the cords and hinges connected it to it. The aforementioned wall and ceiling were both a dull grey and the room had no light or windows. The mattes on the bed was thin and of poor quality; lumpy and uncomfortable, with a plain thin white sheet covering it. The whole cell was about three metres square.

Tenten stood up slowly, her eyes roaming around the room once more. There was nothing else in the room apart from one cupboard and two doors. The first, slightly larger and secure looking one had a rectangular hole cut out of the top with a series of thick steel bars that ran from bottom to top, through which the only light on the room was filtering. There was also a flap of metal at the door's foot through which Tenten guessed food was pushed into the cell. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge.

She then crossed steadily to the second, smaller door, and found that she could open this one. It led into another room that was barely big enough for the sink and toilet that occupied it, and there was one bare-bulb for a light.

Tenten went back into the main part of the cell and sat back down on the bed, trying to work out how she had got here. All she could remember was intense agony, white and blinding, and then nothing at all. She guessed she must have passed out during the interrogation.

She suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness in the silence of her cell, alone with her thoughts. It was impossible to escape her fate now. No one in this place would have the slightest bit of sympathy for an Akatsuki member, and from what she had heard, her own execution was quickly approaching.

Tenten lay back down on her hard mattress, folding her legs before her as she curled into a protective ball. She was well and truly alone. The Akatsuki would leave her hear, it was not in their wishes to retrieve a member who was foolish enough to get caught in the first place, let alone considering the tight security of the leaf Village. As Neji had told her so many times; destiny was unavoidable.

She looked down at her arm as she ran her fingers over the vivid scar left from her encounter at Orochimaru's lair. It had healed quickly thanks to the medical treatment it had received, but as she vacantly wondered how long it would take to heal completely, she noticed something else. A couple of inches or so above the scar, she could see a small red dot on her skin. It looked like a tiny scab, but around it the veins were accentuated, the blue standing out against her pale skin.

She sat up so she could see it better in the dim light, and clenched her teeth in frustration. It was the sign of a chakra suppressant injection, but not an ordinary one. The ring of veins told her that this particular chemical was likely to keep her from using any chakra whatsoever for at least a week. She remembered this fact from the many hours she used to spend reading through different poisons and chemicals you could use for coating a blade. Tenten had never really embraced the idea of poisoning her weapons; in her eyes, that seemed a little too much like cheating.

Anyhow, the fact that she was unable to utilize chakra for the next week just served to heighten her sense of hopelessness. There was no way for her to even contemplate escaping now.

Suddenly, Tenten looked up as the sound of footsteps cut through the silence of her cell. She could make out two pairs of feet, and her heart-rate quickened as they came to a halt outside the barred door to her cell.

"Akatsuki…you have a visitor."

After at least half and hour of creeping through back alleys and derelict streets, Deidara was getting frustrated. He seemed to be as far away from his goal as ever, and the amount of masked black-op squads passing by too close to comfort was increasing by the minute.

The blonde shinobi paused, hidden in a particularly dark and dirty alley way, and crossed his arms as he thought. The best plan from here would be to create a couple of clay clones and send them out on different routes to draw away his pursuers, making sure that they had the same chakra signature as he. Then again, that would use up vital chakra that he was likely to need later on for rescuing Tenten.

However, if he didn't, his chances of even reaching Tenten were becoming increasingly slim, so it would be better to use the chakra now so that he could at least get to her before he worried about getting out. Besides, he was sure that the kunoichi would be more than willing to put up a fight, and Deidara knew better than anyone that she was definitely able to cope with a few guards, given her level of abilities and chakra control.

Deidara nodded to himself in a way that seemed to affirm his decision, and long down at each of his palms, the skin stretching and bulging as the mouths inside chewed slowly. After a minute, they simultaneously spat out identical miniature figures of Deidara that the aforementioned shinobi carefully set down upon the dusty ground before making a hand-seal.

The pair of tiny clones instantly became life-size and full colour in a cloud of smoke that soon dissipated into the night air. Immediately, they both started to run in the opposite direction to Deidara, splitting up at the next crossroads at which point Deidara could no longer see them. Of course, like his other pieces of art, they too would detonated if the need arose, which would draw convenient attention away from the real Deidara. With any luck, this should get the search parties off of his back for a while at least.

The blonde shinobi turned and headed up the street again, his long robes swishing behind him. Of course, the signature Akatsuki cloak was not exactly the most camouflaged of costumes, but this night was cold, despite the fact it was July, and he was glad of it.

Deidara looked out from behind the building he was currently hiding in the shadow of to check that the coast was clear. He detested having to sneak around like a petty thief like this, much preferring to swoop in all guns blazing customary to his style on he giant transport bird. However, unlike the time he captured the Kazekage, the Leaf Village had a much tighter security and its military force was definitely stronger than Sunagakure's had been that time, so he daren't risk it.

As Deidara looked this way and that for any sign of his pursuers, he suddenly noticed something unusual. A little way in front of him in a cluster of rusty bins, a white face was staring at him. Judging from its position, it could have been a large white cat. In the dark alley, it was difficult to make out exactly what it was until…

Thunk!

Deidara's head whipped around as a kunai embedded itself in an old mattress throw into a skip that had been hanging about an inch from his ear. He instinctively rolled to the side just in time to avoid a volley of shuriken thrown from in front of him. He looked up, teeth gritted.

Shit! The 'cat' had just been the mask of a Konoha Shinobi the whole time! He cursed himself before diving out of a barrage of weapons for the third time as his hands simultaneously both pulled out two lumps of clay.

Tenten looked up, her face painted with a mixture of suspicion and surprise. Who on earth would come to visit her – an Akatsuki member and a betrayer? She stood up and crossed so she was standing a few feet from the door.

"Who is it?" She called.

There came no reply except the sound of the clicking and metallic sliding of a sequence of locks that must be fastened to the other side of the maximum security door. Tenten took a step back as a resounding clang rang through the metal door at the sound of the heavy beam-like latch being lifted.

The door slowly swung open as a person walked quickly inside. He was turned away from her, conversing with the jailer as Tenten's eyes widened.

"You have ten minutes." The jailer informed the visitor before pulling the door shut with a reverberating clang once again.

Neji turned slowly to face Tenten, his pale face an impassive mask, those pale emotionless orbs eerily illuminated in the dully lit cell. He looked at her for a few moments, before stepping forward.

"Tenten…I'm so sorry what what's happened…forgive me."

Tenten stared at him, completely taken aback. Neji took a couple of steps forward until he was level with Tenten before he wrapped his arms gently around her and leant forward, pressing his lips to hers in a fervent kiss.