When ten-ten arrives at the gates the sun is cresting over the horizon- and she laments the fact this is probably the first time shes ever arrived before Lee for a mission.

Deciding she might be a tad over zealous for this particular mission, summons a sigh from deep with in her.

The hanjō.

Her fixation that has grown over the last few months doesn't seem that unwarranted.

In ten-ten's mind everyone should care about the probability of finding a legendary Uchiha blade as much as she does.

But she knows not everyone appreciates the finer nuances of weaponry like her.

She knows not everyone is aware that this is the only legendary blade from that specific clan.

A clan that literally helped found their village.

She knows not everyone appreciates the history held within a blade like that. The hopes and dreams of those who forged it-

But just because she knows, doesn't mean she gets it.

"I half expected to see a green leotard bouncing around here-"

The voice is smooth but sudden and makes her jump right out of her thoughts.

And when she whirls around to see a pale man with a face like porcelain hanging upside down from the tree beside her she nearly does jump out of her skin.

"Holy shit!" she curses, grasping her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

"I thought weapon experts were supposed to be cool and collected-" he says with a light laugh, long dark hair swaying lightly beneath him in the chilly morning breeze.

Before she can respond, or even fully process the man's monochrome pallet against the rising oranges of the sun, she hears it.

Lee.

Talking someone's ear off as usual.

When she snaps her head around , she sees it's a sighing Sasuke.

So this must be-

"Itachi, I presume," she gestures to him in disbelief and nods sarcastically "seems you have a nact for scaring people."

The man's playful smirk turns into something more akin to a pout.

But by the way his brow creases she knows she may have said the wrong thing.

She spares him another breif questioning glance as he begins to descend the tree trunk he'd been residing in, before turning to their newly arrived company.

"I see you two have met." Sasuke practically groans, hair sticking up as though Lee had dragged him out of bed.

Lee, who is quite literally bouncing with the pressure building inside him- from attempting to contain his excitement, doesn't seem to be able to hold it in any longer.

"Uchiha Itachi! It's a pleasure to finally meet you! You're abilities as a shinobi are unparalleled!"

One shiny bowl cut sways with gravity as the man bows deeply to the now upright Itachi.

The one still not wearing mission attire.

Who looks the least like a Shinobi at the current moment.

A light dusting of pink stains his features and he smiles awkwardly.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you too, Lee. I've actually heard a lot about your taijutsu skills- seems you're quite impressive yourself."

Lee snaps himself up right and ten-ten sighs internally at the sight of watery grateful eyes she's all too familiar with.

"I'll do my best to prove myself on our journey!"

Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs again.

"Hopefully we won't need much taijutsu or any sort of fighting skill for this one-" he begins-

But ten-ten is distracted when Itachi nudges her shoulder and leans in towards her.

"Seems not everyone is afraid of me-" he says smirking, and gesturing to the ever-bouncing Lee.

She ignores him and rolls her eyes.

"Actually there is a chance we may have to take the blade by force-"

Itachis expression shifts as he rights himself.

"Isn't it rumored to be held in a cave?"

"That's one of the leads, yes." She nods

"Unfortunately if we don't find it there it's probable it's fallen into the hands of a private seller-"

"Private seller?" Sasuke crows.

Lees expression grows more serious as he nods

.

"-Legendary weapons end up in the wrong hands more often than you think-"

"Lee and I have been fortunate enough to retrieve quite a few, most of the time it's a difficult task considering you're more than likely facing off with the legendary weapon itself."

"Will this pose any risk to our sharingan?" Itachi asks cautiously.

"We don't yet know the full nature of the sword, but I think it's more likely your sharingans will play in our favor since the weapon will probably be drawn to its original energy source"

"And thats if that's the energy source it even requires?" Itachi grumbles, folding his arms across his chest skeptically.

"It was designed for use by the Uchiha. Anyone else who tries to weild it will experience a substantial chakra drain."

"And this is all just assumption?" Sasuke asks, similar concern coating his face.

"I must have more to prove than I expected." Lee begins, shaking his head and smiling.

He hands Sasuke a small scroll with maroon ends.

"Do not underestimate the students of might Gai! We never enter a mission unprepared."

Sasuke unravels the scroll and his features visibly smooth as he reads on-

"Naruto didn't give you the mission breifing?"

Ten-ten asks to either brother. They both shake their heads.

"Sakura had a few files you gave her, last night-"

"Oh! Those are incredibly outdated! I've found so much evidence since then. We tracked it to a seller in Suna- during the first Shinobi war- and based off what we could dig up about him-"

She leans in to the scroll, now held by itachi, and points to a particularly lengthy section

"- we narrowed it down to about three cave systems. And if the hanjō isn't there, then we've narrowed down the list of buyers substantially-"

"Ah" itachi nods thoughtfully as he finishes reading and flicks dark eyes to meet her own. "Sorry I doubted you."

He brings a smile to his smooth face and she wonders how often it takes residence there considering the noticeable lack of laugh lines on the man's face- the stage taken by the bags under his tired eyes.

The face of someone who thinks too deeply.

"And I shall prove you should never doubt the prodigies of the noble blue beast!" Lee chimes in expectedly.


The light of the fire washes over them, bringing with it a pleasant heat that her stiff fingers desperately need.

Watching an Uchiha breathe light into the tee-pee of branches between them feels akin to the street preformances shes seen in missions to the mist.

Although, those people reek of alcohol and sea water- as opposed to how good Itachi smells afterwards when he takes a seat on the log beside her.

Something reminiscent of the woods surrounding them mixed with… amber?

Possibly.

She can't be sure.

"The Uchiha's control over the flames is utterly unparalleled to any other fire jutsu I've seen on the battlefield-" Lee says casually, Ten-ten likes these moments.

The ones when Lee, unaffected by their sensei, grows weary after a long day's journey.

A rare sight.

It's when he acts somewhat normal.

Though she's uncertain if normal is a trait anyone at this campsite possesses.

"I don't think it's anything inherently special to our clan-" Sasuke begins around a mouth full of food.

"It's likely because our clan set rigorous training standards regarding the signature fireball-justu were known for." Itachi offers his clarification and Sasuke nods in agreeance as he hurrys to swallow his food.

"-Yeah, exactly! It's more training standards than an inherited trait."

"We knew plenty of Uchiha who couldn't master it-" itachi lowers his face and his hair falls to block his eyes.

Ten-ten is still wondering why he's dressed so casually.

Black T-shirt, black cargo pants, jonin issue sandals.

She wonders if he usually wears his hair down like this too.

When the man goes to lift his head, as if sensing her prying eyes, she darts them back to her untouched bowl of soup.

She can't figure out why she keeps wanting to look at him.

Can't pinpoint the reason he just doesn't look like what she expected of the infamous Itachi Uchiha.

He even looks like a typical Uchiha.

Tall, pale, dark hair.

His sharingan are likely an intimidating sight.

She's heard he has the mangekyo-

But when he glances in her direction, as if he knew without looking that shed been staring, he doesn't let it show on his face.

However, his sudden interest in her feels more telling and she fights the blood attempting to rush to her cheeks in sheer embarrassment.

This is a high ranking ninja!

And if this mission is successful it may come with even more high paying missions.

Which she needs.

She can't be caught gawking and appear so inexperienced that she's intimidated by the Uchiha.

Which she thinks she might be.

How could such a normal looking guy do such haunting things.

"Ten-ten."

Her name sounds foreign coming from his lips.

"Hm?" She hums, shoving a spoon full of soup into her mouth and trying to look anywhere but at him.

"Would you mind helping me for a moment?"

Her eyes crawl slowly back to him over the fire and leaves.

She hears Lee and Sasuke continuing their discussion about fire style jutsu and realizes she is now alone in this conversation with Itachi.

Something that has yet to happen since their initial meeting.

All day there's been the buffer of Lee and Sasuke but now-

"Um…" she hesitates as she tries to swallow and ignore his dark eyes steadily waiting on her. "- yeah….yeah. Of course! I-" she fumbles through her words as he nods and rises to stand.

She sets her bowl aside and follows him.

For a moment walking into the dark forest with Itachi Uchiha seems like maybe not the best idea, but she knows Naruto trusts him. That Sasuke had once been questionable yet Sakura vouches for him adamantly.

It's fine.

But pushing past the daunting memories of all those childhood legends of the Uchiha massacre- is proving to be a heart racing endeavor.

With each step he takes in front of her the crunching leaves seem to get louder, only to her.

And then-

-hes picking up fire wood?

She breathes a sigh of relief and begins scouting for her own finds.

"So what do you think the hanjō's purpose is?"

"It's purpose?"

"I was told as a young boy that no records exist detailing it's true power-"

She sighs.

"Well, unfortunately we still don't know much more about it. With the lack of Uchiha around-" her eyes dart cautiously to the man who doesn't seem to hesitate in picking up another branch "-theres not too many options for testing it's true functionality. You two are the only ones capable-"

He nods slowly, facing away from her.

"So it will require a sharingan?" he turns to peer at her over his shoulder.

She nods as well, and this time it's him who sighs.

"That shouldn't be a problem- technically we have four right?" She asks with a nervous laugh, hugging a few branches to her chest in an attempt to anchor herself to something.

He turns and begins to walk slowly to her.

The crunching leaves actually getting louder this time as he nears.

Crunnch

Cruuunncchh

Crunnch

CRUNCH!

He stops a few feet from her, face obscured in shadows as he looks somewhere towards their feet.

It feels like he's about to say something.

As if something tangible is forming around him in the moonlight.

Intent.

But he sighs.

No words yet.

"Is everything okay?" she asks, a combination of fear and concern growing inside her gut.

He sighs again, fidgeting with the broken pieces of wood in his hands-

"You and I need to have a more private discussion before we reach the caves of Suna."

"This is pretty private." She says with a half smile, motioning to the trees. Trying to appear less nervous than she is.

"When we have more time-" he replies, finally meeting her gaze.

Dark, piercing, and loaded with the hint of something.


It's early morning when the sound of someone walking wakes her.

The sun is still hidden over the horizon and when she wills her eyes to open she sees him.

"Sasuke?" She croaks out, her throat dryer than expected.

He turns to peer at her and sighs as though it's an inconvenience.

Or at the very least, the last thing he wanted.

"I thought Lee has the morning shift-" she continues groggily, pushing to sit and rubbing her eyes.

When she blinks them into focus she can hear him coming back towards her and notices she's alone in her sleeping bag by the fire.

"Where's Itachi?" She asks, peering up at the displeased looking Sasuke now standing beside her.

"He… uh- well, has a habit of running off in the middle of the night. I was going to look for him."

"Lee is a pretty thorough night guard, he might know where he is-"

Sasuke nods and offers her a polite smile-

"Thanks I'll go check with him first-"

"Hold on!" She hurrys, pulling herself from her sleeping bag and beginning to shove her sandals on- "I'll come with you-"

"No, really, it's fine. He does this…. A lot. I'm sure everything is fine- you should rest."

She rolls her eyes.

"Sakura always says you can be overly considerate. Besides, no way I can sleep out here knowing I'm alone- I'm up now-"

"Well," he groans and nods, "if everyone's awake anyways we should probably clean up and head out-"

She pushes to stand and tilts her head thoughtfully.

"Want to help me pack up camp real quick?"

"Ah, so we don't have to waste time coming back here-" he agrees.

She begins rolling her sleeping bag up and proceeds to do the same for lees.

Watching in amusement as Sasuke does the same for his brother.

"You said he does this alot?" She asks curiously.

Sasuke hesitates before nodding in affirmation.

"He seems like quite the elusive guy-" continues, more thinking out loud than anything.

This summons an actual laugh from Sasuke.

One that she thinks she hasn't heard since the days when her team would try and help unmask Kakashi.

"Maybe if you're not his brother-" he replies, shaking his head and picking up their, now rinsed, meal utensils from the night prior.

She feels the Uchihas eyes on her when she's stuffing the last few miscellaneous items in her pack and looks up to meet them

"I don't think we've ever really talked before." He says with a smirk and pulls his own pack shut with a decisive zzzzzp!

She thinks about it while they both pull their back packs over their shoulders and give the camp site one last look over for forgotten items.

Nothing.

"Definitely not one on one."

"Huh." He hums in amusement, beginning to walk off in the direction of Lees probable location. "so Sakura says I'm overly considerate?" He asks quietly.

She scoffs, and nods falling in step beside him.

"But don't think I'll tell you everything she says-"

"Hah! I can only imagine-" he mutters shaking his head.

And ten-ten recalls a few very personal things that Ino told her; that woman can not be trusted with intimate secrets.

And those things would make anyone blush.

So she's thankful it's still dark out.

"-dont believe everything you hear about us." He begins, and her mind is drawn to Itachi. He offers her a polite smile "- rumors are a nasty thing."


Authors note:

hey guys! as always, thanks for reading!

just over the week dead line so my apoligies! i will try and drop an extra chapter around the holidays as a little gift to make up for my inconsistency!

this chapter we finally get to see ten-ten and a slightly more mature Lee!

sorry this chapter is a little slower and shorter than the others but i promise it picks up soon!

next week well be in Suna!