Chapter 16: Joint Training
"What did it say? What did it say?" Mifuyu nagged on as she watched the eagle flew off Griselda's arm.
"Oujo-sama is doing well. She is reinstated as a ninja in the village." Griselda smiled.
"That's great! Now let me guess, that still doesn't mean we can the fire border can we?" Yue stated with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.
"She's informed the Hokage of the village of our clan. Currently, only four people know. The Hokage and three other ninjas who were stationed in her care. All have been sworn to secrecy and have undergone cerain measures to secure the information in their minds.
"That's good to hear." Mifuyu stated.
"Do you have the identities of the three other ninjas?" Lucas inquired with purpose.
Griselda nodded. "If the need to eliminate them arises, I know where to find them."
"Good."
"There's one more thing." Griselda paused, giving each guardian an uneasy look. "She's joined some kind of tournament."
Tenten walked aimlessly around town browsing one shop after the other. She didn't realize how much she missed the busy market of Konoha. Floating on a rock with limited life forms really did allow her to appreciate boisterous crowded streets.
"Oi! Tenten!"
Tenten turned around to see Naruto running towards her direction waving his right hand. On his right was Sakura and on his left were Kakashi and Sasuke.
"Hey Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei…" Tenten paused unsure of how to address the Uchiha avenger. "And Uchiha…san." She added as an afterthought. This got her an arched eyebrow from the prodigy.
"Yo." Kakashi waved his hand and stopped reading his book for a moment to glance at Tenten.
Tenten looked at the little green book half incredulous, half amused. Some things really don't change.
"What are you doing out here?" Sakura asked cheerfully. The admiring side glances towards Sasuke further assured Tenten that not much really has changed.
"Just browsing stores. I guess I really missed the market." Tenten chuckled to herself.
"Why aren't you training?" Kakashi asked.
Tenten blinked. How on earth did Kakashi find out she listed herself up in the exams? "Oh. That. Well."
"You're joining the exams?" Naruto asked in excitement.
"I am." Tenten stated with confidence.
"So why aren't you training?" Naruto reiterated the question again. Tenten wanted to sigh. It wasn't because she didn't want to. It was just that it was boring training alone.
"I was just about to. But then, I got sidetracked by the market." Tenten lied.
"Why don't you train with us, then?" Naruto offered. "I'm sure it's fine."
"Oh no! I couldn't possibly." Deep down Tenten hoped they would insist.
"It's fine." Kakashi reassured. "It's better to train with others."
Tenten nodded. "If I'm not too much of a bother, then thank you for having me." Did he realize she had no one else to train with?
"Great! We're having a joint training session with Team Gai!" Naruto yelled in excitement as the team began to walk away.
Tenten froze. Why the hell didn't anyone say that earlier?
"Oi! We're here!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically.
"Oi! Kakashi my eternal rival! You're finally he-" Gai stopped speaking when his eyes landed on the girl with her hair in two buns. His mouth slowly fell and his eyes grew big.
Tenten smiled when her eyes caught sight of her old sensei's reaction.
"Nice to see you again, Gai-sensei."
"T-T-Tenten?! T-Tenten?! It's really you!" Gai yelled as he ran towards Tenten and gave her a bear hug.
Tenten felt the life slowly being drained out of her system.
"Oh! Sorry…" Gai said as he released his hold on her. He was crying a river. This made her eyes soften but she'd die before she'd allow herself to cry. At least there was one person in Team Gai that was genuinely happy she was back.
Neji continued to meditate as if he didn't hear anything. Lee, on the other hand went towards the other end of the clearing to fight with a tree.
Sai looked at Neji and Lee's reactions in confusion. It seemed he still had a lot to learn when it came to human relationships and emotions.
"Gai-sensei. You still have training to do." Tenten chuckled as she placed a hand on Gai's shoulder telling him to stop crying.
Gai suddenly stood up straight. All the tears in his eyes were gone in an instant as he gave her his trademark good guy pose. "Of course! One must never put off training!"
Tenten smiled at him. If she were her old self she probably would have sighed at her sensei's childish actions. But as much as she hated to admit it, she really missed that.
"Yosh! Sai, Lee, Neji! Assemble." Gai commanded.
Tenten took this chance to move away from the clearing to look for a tree to rest under. After all, this was a joint training for Team Kakashi and Team Gai and she was not a part of either.
"Tenten? Where are you going?" Gai asked in confusion.
"I'm going to rest under a tree."
"Rest?! Why are you slacking off so early in the training! Get back here!" Gai ordered.
"W-What?!" Tenten stuttered in disbelief. The words of her sensei made her heart skip a beat. For the second time since her return, someone made her feel like she belonged. Like she was home.
"Gai-sensei." Lee stated with uncertainty.
"This training session is for Team Kakashi and Team Gai. She doesn't belong to either." Neji stated plainly.
"Neji, how can you say such a thing?" Gai scolded.
"I'm sorry but I would have to agree, Gai-sensei." Lee added.
Gai looked at Lee with disbelief.
Sakura looked at Tenten pitifully before glaring at Neji and Lee. But before she could give them a piece of her mind, Naruto was one step ahead of her.
Marching towards Neji, Naruto pulled him by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell is your problem?!"
Neji slapped Naruto's hand away. "This is none of your business."
"Wasn't she you're teammate?! Why the hell are you treating her that way?!"
Neji ignored him and began to walk away.
Pissed, Naruto went to charge at Neji only to be stopped by vice grip on his shoulder.
"Naruto." Came Kakashi's reprimanding tone. "This is training. Don't pick fights."
Gai turned towards Lee and Neji to scold them once again but Tenten cut him off.
"Thank you Naruto, Gai-sensei. But it's okay. I've had enough training already and I'm sure I'm ready for the exams." Tenten said confidently with a smile, as if unaffected at all by the entire situation.
Nodding her thanks, Tenten began to take her leave.
"If they don't want you to join the training, then I will train with you."
Tenten looked at Gai-sensei in disbelief. Why was he being so nice to her when she just left like that without a word? Tenten could feel the edges of her eyes prick. Closing her eyes to fight back the tears, Tenten gave Gai a reassuring smile. "Thank you for the offer. But I know you need to work with Lee. I told you sensei. It's fine. I'm ready."
"Then how about I spar with you?"
Tenten turned towards the nonchalant voice, a hidden tone of confidence in it.
"Oh?" Tenten asked as she raised her eye brow. This would be interesting.
"Huh? Are you sure?" Naruto asked in disbelief as he eyed Tenten's challenger.
"Yup."
Tenten fought back a smirk. It's been a long time since she last had a spar. This would be fun.
"If it doesn't bother you too much, then I accept your offer, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi closed his book, kept it in one of the pockets of his Jounin vest, then smiled.
"You turn down my offer to train but you accept my rivals?" Gai stated in disbelief and hurt.
"W-Well, I'm afraid to fight you Gai-sensei! I figured I'd last longer in a spar against Kakashi-sensei than against you." Tenten wanted to slap herself after stating those words.
"Oh?" Kakashi said as he raised her eye brow at her.
Naruto and Sakura looked at her in surprised while Sasuke narrowed his eyes in contemplation. For some strange reason, she irked him to no end.
Gai suddenly regained his confidence back. "Of course! Of course! How could I not have thought of that?" Gai placed his hands on his hips as he laughed out loud.
Tenten give him a grin before heading towards Kakashi.
"So you think you can defeat me, ey?" Kakashi said as he crossed his arms.
"Hey, I never said that!" Tenten raised her hands up in defeat.
Kakashi simple smiled before taking out two small objects from his jacket pocket.
"Two bells?" Tenten asked with an arched eyebrow. "Let me guess. The objective is to steal the bells."
"Would you like to try it?" Kakashi challenged. The smile never left his face.
"Are the bells hidden?"
"No. It'll be tied to my waist."
Tenten scrunched her eyebrows as she eyed the copy nin weirdly. "Then wouldn't that be easy?"
Kakashi allowed himself to laugh.
"Then how about you try it?"
Tenten shrugged her shoulders. "You're the sensei."
Gai watched as Kakashi and Tenten headed to the middle of the clearing. Realizing all the other members of Team Kakashi and Team Gai were attentively scrutinizing the movements of both ninjas, Gai couldn't help but sigh. It looks like training would have to wait.
Tenten glanced at the remaining people in the training grounds much to her dismay. There were spectators. Only Neji and Sai wouldn't be joining the exams. She needed to be careful. She couldn't reveal too much. She shook her head. No. She shouldn't reveal anything at all.
Weapons and Taijutsu. Those were all she was allowing herself to use.
Tenten fought the excitement from surfacing. She was going against a former ANBU squad captain with only weapons and taijutsu? It was suicide. But just the thought of it ignited a fire inside her. She wanted to win.
Kakashi tied the bells securely around his hips. "Here. All you have to do is take these from me and you win."
"So it's not an object of whether I render you unconscious, or whether I can even land an attack on you, is that it?"
Kakashi nodded. "So, are you ready?"
Tenten allowed herself a small smirk. "Ready."