Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. If I did, we would see more of Tenten.

Chapter 12:

Secrets Revealed: Confrontation

Tonbo woke up with the sun shining brightly into her eyes. She squinted them open in annoyance while she sat herself up. The first thing she noticed was that her body ached all over. Every movement she made caused pain to shoot throughout her body.

Her soreness reminded her about her training with Team Gai. The only thing that could compare with the intensity of the training they put her through, was the intensity of the team's distinctive personalities. She couldn't remember anything after getting ready to fight with Rock Lee.

Then she realized that she was under the covers in her bed back at home. How she had gotten there was definitely a cause for concern. Questions would surely be raised if any of the members of Team Gai had found out about where she lived.

She would have to find out about that later, right now she needed a shower. All her sweat from the day before had dried on her skin and she felt oily and crusty. She grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom down the hall.

She left her clothes on the floor and hopped in. She still thought it was amusing that Sasuke never threw away Mikoto's shampoo.

Once the water got too cold for her to bear any longer, she got out and wrapped her towel around her bare body and went back to her room to brush her hair and change into clean clothing.

After searching through her closet once, she remembered that she had left her clothes in the laundry room. So she walk down the hall, past the kitchen and the living room and decided to change in the laundry room itself.

She hung up her towel to dry and then proceeded to walk to the kitchen. She might have felt good if her muscles weren't so sore. She hadn't had that much rest in quite a while and it was nice to get to sleep in.

She pasted through the living room before reaching the kitchen and opening the refrigerator door. She looked inside but her mind soon traveled elsewhere.

She thought back to her trip through the living room and couldn't help but feel that there was something there that wasn't supposed to be.

Her hand left the handle of the refrigerator door as she leaned over to look through the door frame separating the kitchen from the living room. She jumped as she was startled by a person sitting on her couch, quietly reading a book.

"K-kakashi, how long have you been here?!" she asked, bewildered.

Kakashi calmly looked up from his small orange book at her. "All morning," he said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"All morning?!" Tonbo repeated completely dumbfounded.

"Yes," Kakashi stated simply.

"But why?" Tonbo asked incredulously.

"The door was unlocked."

Tonbo's mouth dropped open. "That doesn't mean you can come in whenever you want! Why would you stay if I was sleeping? And even more so, didn't you hear me get in the shower?!"

"Of course," Kakashi's face was still expressionless.

"Why didn't you leave then?!"

Kakashi sat up straighter, finally ready to explain himself. "I actually came by at around six this morning to see if you were ready to train with Team Gai again, but when I got here you were still sleeping and your alarm clock was going off. I decided to let you sleep and I went and told Gai that you needed to rest a little longer."

Tonbo crossed her arms sending him a glare as he was still seated on her couch comfortably. He completely avoided answering her question.

"If it makes you feel better, I did knock before I came in," Kakashi was obviously hoping that would ease her wrath.

"Then why did you come back and stay here all morning?!" she yelled, trying to get to the bottom of things.

"After hearing about how your training went yesterday, I thought I would make you something to eat when you woke up. You know, your refrigerator has hardly anything in it, I'll take you out to lunch," he offered.

"So you also went through my refrigerator?!" Tonbo looked back over at her refrigerator and quickly reached over to close the door she had left open.

She reappeared in the doorway and let out a deep breath to regain her composure. "Okay, one more thing. How did I get back home?" she asked in a much calmer tone of voice.

"I carried you back here."

"So no one found out about where I live?"

"Yes, I made sure of that."

"Okay..." she was a little embarrassed that she had fallen asleep right before a battle. "...thank you."

Kakashi gave her a smile, "Come on, it's almost lunch time. Do you like ramen?"

She was having trouble with the idea of him taking care of her, but she still wouldn't have any money until she went on a mission.

She bit her lip lightly before replying somewhat reluctantly, "Yes."

"Alright, get your shoes and we'll go," Kakashi said, slightly cheerful.

Tonbo gave a sigh, "Fine."

Two Weeks Later

Tonbo was down, flat on her back again. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to concentrate on controlling her breathing. Then she lifted her head up to see Lee standing over her with his fist extended out in front of her face.

"Widen your stance!" she heard Gai call out to her.

Lee backed off so she could stand. She did exactly as Gai told her and moved her foot outwards.

Lee and Tonbo looked each other in the eyes, affirming their readiness before pushing off their forward feet to come at each other.

Using his superior speed, Lee led with his knee, aiming for her gut. Tonbo had only an instant to react by pulling both of her forearms in between them, crossing to block.

The force from his knee still pushed her upward. Taking advantage of the upward momentum, Tonbo slid her forearms over Lee's knee until her palms cupped his kneecap.

With her arms extended and her body in the air, she used her hands as a pivot to shift her momentum sideways as she threw both her legs at Lee's head.

Lee only needed one forearm to block her kick effectively. Instead of pushing her legs away from his head immediately, he used his forearm against her legs to guide himself as he followed through with his next move.

As Lee moved in closer, Tonbo only had time to widen her eyes before she was sent hurdling backwards in the dirt by Lee's punch from the opposite arm.

There wasn't even time to think about getting up before Lee was once again over the top of Tonbo. She held her breath momentarily when she went cross-eyed staring at Lee's fist only centimeters away from her nose.

She eased her tension to begin panting again as she gently pushed Lee's hand out of her face. Four seconds, she said to herself nonverbally.

"Do not be hasty! There is no need for you to get him on your first move! When you had placed your hands on Lee's knee, you should have pushed away to avoid leaving openings in your defense!" Gai instructed Tonbo from in front of the treeline.

Tonbo stood herself up with the same determination in her eyes as she had been demonstrating all day. She realized that this time Lee had been merciful and only punched her.

He had the perfect opportunity to kick her in the face again, but instead, he must have finally taken enough pity on her jaw.

"Right, sorry Gai!" she said as she again took a stance.

Tenten, who was in mid-jutsu, blew a silent fuse. She turned her eyes downcast and dropped her weapon-holding scrolls at her sides. She walked straight past Neji without giving him a second look.

Lee and Tonbo clashed once again, resulting in Tonbo immediately being forced on the defensive.

Tenten paced herself across the field.

Lee and Tonbo both drew back and separated. Tonbo landed down on one knee, whereas Lee seemed perfectly stable.

Tonbo took a few seconds just to breathe before forcing herself back on to her feet. She sank into a fighting stance.

Lee was about to go after her when Tenten intercepted and stood between the two. "Ten-?" Lee didn't get to finish.

Tenten was facing Tonbo when she spoke with monotone seriousness. "I've been very tolerant of you so far, and I believe I asked you nicely yesterday..."

Tonbo fell back out of her fighting stance with a questioning look.

"But if I need to repeat myself... don't you mean Gai-sensei?!" Tenten yelled.

Tonbo frowned. "I also told you yesterday, it isn't allowed to have more than three students per jounin sensei. I can't call him sensei because I'm not officially assigned to him!" she raised her voice.

Tenten narrowed her eyes, "Well you should at least show some amount of respect! Call him Mr. Gai, or even better, Mr. Maito!"

"I don't see why I have to! I'm not apart of this team, you guys don't even take me on missions with you!" Tonbo crossed her arms in protest.

"We were only gone twice." Tenten mimicked Tonbo's act of rebellion and crossed her arms as well. "And that brings me to another point, I bet you were taking it easy while we were gone, considering how you never showed any improvement after we got back."

"I wasn't taking it easy!" Tonbo defended. "I have to have a way of making money too you know. So since you guys left me both times, I asked the Hokage for missions of my own! But catching runaway cats and doing yard work for the elderly doesn't exactly help me with my taijutsu."

Tenten smirked, "Hm! Well maybe if you were better at fighting we could take you with us. If you came on a mission with us at your current ability we'd end up having to save you. You'd be in the way. Everyone has to start out with the small stuff before they can move on to the more dangerous missions."

"Uh, girls..." Lee began.

"Stay out of this!" they both yelled in unison.

Tonbo turned her head to the side. "Anything else?" she asked Tenten.

Tenten opened her mouth, drawing in a breath ready to speak, but was soon cut off. "Enough," Gai said fairly calmly.

"Fighting among comrades is not only un-youthful but detrimental, whether you are on the same team or not," he scolded them.

"Tenten, it is a small matter what Tonbo decides to call me and it is not for your concern. Tonbo may call me as she wishes and I agree that it would be improper for her to call me sensei under her current circumstances."

Tenten looked away as she restrained herself from arguing with him and yielded to his authority.

"I believe you should turn your attention to Neji," Gai pointed out.

Tenten turned to see Neji standing silently next to her, staring. "We were in the middle of a sparring match," he deadpanned.

Tenten huffed a sigh. Neji was holding out both of her weapon scrolls waiting for her to take them back. He had rolled them up for her.

"Thanks," she said curtly before taking them and stomping off in the direction of where they had been training.

Tenten couldn't believe that Gai-sensei really just took Tonbo's side and then had scolded her for trying to defend him. She couldn't remember a single time where Gai had acted like this before.

While she concentrated her energy in her hands as she gripped her scrolls as hard as she could without damaging them, her ears perked up when she heard Gai continue behind her.

"Tonbo, Tenten still does have an excellent point. The types of missions you took on do not take all day. As a passionate, young woman you must practice twice as hard on the days we are absent from Konoha!" Gai struck a pose, grabbing the air in front of him and making a fist as he grinned gleefully.

"Therefore," he continued, "instead of punishing you, run fifty laps around Konoha and prove your youthful spirit!"

Tonbo gave a momentary look of horror but soon composed herself and took off as she was told. "Right," she called over her shoulder. She had just started breathing normally again.

Tenten's faced softened. She wasn't exactly all that happy that Tonbo had gotten scolded and was now probably going through torture, but she wasn't quite so angry anymore.

When Tonbo finally finished her run, she immediately took to the tree next to her water bottle and slid her back down its trunk until she was seated. She took a few minutes to catch her breath before she grabbed her water bottle and down all of it.

Being fall, the sun was already starting to set behind the trees. Both Tenten and Neji had already packed up their belongings and were ready to go eat dinner.

"Miss Tonbo, would you like to just come to dinner tonight?" Lee asked, taking notice of her.

"No, I can keep going if you can Lee. Do you want to say?" Tonbo asked.

Without a doubt, Lee had about a hundred times more energy than Tonbo did. "Alright, I shall stay and train with you!" Lee exclaimed.

"Okay, well me and Neji are leaving," Tenten told them as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Very well then, I shall accompany the both of you! I leave things here to you, Lee!" Gai said.

"Of course Gai-sensei!" Lee stood in a stiff saluting position as the three left.

As soon as Tonbo recovered enough from her run, she began sparring again with Lee.

Even as the three were sitting together eating curry, Tenten was much quieter than usual. Gai, of course was doing the majority of the talking, not really taking much notice to the fact that he was mostly being ignored by both of his students.

During the two weeks since Tonbo started training with them, she and Lee had been staying behind to train well after dark. Tenten thought it was weird not having Lee around when the rest of the team ate.

They all used to eat together as a team almost every night. She didn't really mind that Lee was helping Tonbo, but it wasn't the same without him there with them.

The other thing on Tenten's mind was that none of her teammates seemed willing to discuss all the strangeness surrounding Tonbo. She knew something was off about her from the beginning, and she was sure that everyone else felt the same way. However, they all just went along with everything.

Tenten hadn't noticed Tonbo act all that much different from someone who's looking for a place to belong to. Although she doubted that Tonbo realized that.

Then again, Tenten didn't really know anything about Tonbo. She never talked much about herself and was always focused on her training. Tonbo was surprisingly distant considering the amount of time they all spent together every day.

She couldn't say that Tonbo seemed fake though. It was more like they weren't being told everything. Gai seemed to accept Tonbo pretty easily, but Tenten knew that had something to do with Kakashi being fairly close to her and Tsunade's request that he teach her taijutsu.

Neji just didn't seem to talk to the girl at all really. And though Lee had shown suspicions the first day Tonbo was introduced to them, he didn't show anything but smiles after that.

Tenten herself had chosen to keep quiet and try to be as nice as possible up until earlier today.

After they all finished eating, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Tenten walked home by herself. Her house was in the opposite direction from Neji's, and Gai's apartment was further in town than Tenten's place.

Lee usually walked her halfway home as his house was in the same general direction as hers from the curry restaurant, which they often ate at. The cool night air was refreshing, so she didn't mind walking alone. It gave her time to think without having to drown out Gai's ramblings and it was peaceful.

After almost two hours of sparring, Tonbo could no longer will herself to stand back up. She laid on the ground with her arms and legs spread out as she breathed hard.

Neither she nor Lee had spoken the entire time. They were both waiting for the other to say something first.

Lee sat down cross-legged next to her. " Miss Tonbo?" he finally broke the silence.

"What is it Lee?" she asked as she let out a long breath and then continued panting.

"I think... I agree with Tenten," he said, hoping he wouldn't upset her.

"So do I," she replied to Lee's surprise.

"Huh? If you agree with her why did you argue with her?"

"Because," she panted. "I hadn't given it much thought before she called me out on it, and I couldn't bring myself to admit to her that she was right."

"I do not believe I fully understand."

Tonbo put an arm over her eyes and smiled. "I actually like Tenten a lot. I had no idea I was getting on her nerves. She didn't mention the way I address Gai until yesterday, and even then, she asked me about it really nicely. After I explained to her my reasoning, she seemed to drop it. But I guess it was my mistake to assume that she was suddenly okay with it."

"I see," Lee understood. "You said you like Tenten. If that is true, why did you insist on arguing with her?"

"The reason I like Tenten is because she seems to have things figured out in terms of what she wants and what she values. She defends what's important to her. I'm not like that because I'm still not sure what I want and what I value. So when she faced me and called me out, I was just being stubborn."

Lee didn't say anything.

"I know it's stupid, but watching her defending what she believes to be right made me wish I could be like that to some extent. I've had a lot of time to think in my life but not a lot of time to grow up and experience things. Without that, I don't think I can really form my own opinions yet. But I want to figure all of these things out for myself," she told him.

Lee waited before speaking again. "It is good that you have the desire to find your own values, but you have to remember that if you ever want people to respect your values, you must respect their own."

Tonbo took her arm off of her face to look at him. "Thanks Lee..." she said slowly. "You're right."

Lee smiled, stood up and offered his hand to her. "It is late now. We should eat before it gets any later."

"Okay," she accepted his hand and he helped her to her feet.

About an hour after she had left the restaurant, Tenten heard a knock on her door. Both her parents were already in bed so she went to get the door herself.

When she opened it, to her surprise she saw Neji.

"Sorry, I know it's late," he told her.

"That's okay, come on in," she stood aside to let him through the doorway.

She sat him down at the dining room table and poured him and herself some tea.

"So, what did you come here for?" she asked as she sat down.

"I came to tell you something that you might want to hear."

Tenten gave him a questioning look, "And that would be?"

"After dinner I went back to the training grounds to see if Lee was still their and I overheard something," he began.

"Okay, continue."

He went on to explain the conversation he had heard between Tonbo and Lee in great detail.

When he finished Tenten didn't know what to say first. "You were eavesdropping?" she asked.

"No, I just wanted to talk to Lee but then decided I wouldn't interrupt them," Neji defended as he crossed his arms.

Tenten smirked at him but chose not to say anything more on the subject. "Did Tonbo really say all of that?" she asked.

Neji nodded, "I believe she would be too afraid to admit this to you, but I do believe that some part of her would want you to know. I also agree that you were right. However, you may have been a bit harsh."

"Yeah, you're right," she admitted. "I think I'll talk to her tomorrow after training. Maybe I've been nitpicking at her."

"Maybe?" Neji questioned.

"Hey, don't start with me," Tenten shot back.

Neji smirked.

Early the next morning, Tsunade sat in her office alone going through paperwork. She had sent Shizune on an errand and Sakura was currently out on a mission.

She was only half awake when she heard a knock on her door. She straightened herself up and blinked forcefully a few times. "Come in!" she called.

The door opened and a man stepped in closing the door behind him.

"5th Hokage, it seems you have been keeping things from me lately. Things concerning the release of the young Tonbo Uchiha," he said.

Tsunade remained quiet.

"I hope you understand what it is you have done. Do you really know who she is and why she was put away?" he asked.

Tsunade half ignored his question out of distrust. "Danzo."

A/N: Oh no! Danzo knows! You can looked forward to his conversation with Tsunade next chapter! I also decided to put in a little fighting scene, I hope it wasn't too hard to follow. Tell me what you think! :)