"Now come on Naruto."

"No."

"It must be obvious to you that the idea is a good one."

"Nope. Maybe it is good, but I'm definitely not going to be the bait."

Neji growled in annoyance and scoffed. Well, he didn't really seem to have changed. Except for the fact that he had lowered himself to planning tactics with us. Our goal was, similar to the second chunin exam, to take something from the opponent, namely a colored ribbon that one of the group wore around his hips. In this case, me. Only invisible.

Naruto stood next to us with his arms folded and refused. It had been the Hyjuga's idea to use the Uzumaki as a decoy for the others, in order to set a trap for them.

But the more he refused, the more it dawned on me that our potential opponents would smell a rat. Besides, if Kiba and Akamaru were facing us, then the Nin-Ken would quickly find out that there was something fishy about the whole thing.

I straightened up and patted the dust off my pants.

"It's not just the surprise attack that counts, after all. The others could theoretically attack us first, too. Besides, we have to see which opponent is the best match for us in terms of skills."

Neji seemed to ponder, while Naruto relaxed his dismissive attitude a bit and frowned. He too began to think.

"If we should meet Team 1, I will take Hinata," he began, but Naruto angrily cut him off. His eyes sparkled with fury, and I thought I saw a slight reddish glint in them.

"Absolutely not. Poor Hinata already has trauma from the fight anyway, we don't need a second one. Besides, I think you're underestimating her."

Neji sped around, his eyes twinkling, but still his voice unusually calm as he prepared to speak.

"Fine Naruto. You fight her, then."

I sighed. What had I gotten the team into again? None of this was doing us any good, all this thinking, we didn't even know what strategies the others had thought of for us, not to mention Team 1 had Shikamaru with his super intelligence.

"We can't ignore the other teams either. Listen I don't think it's good to think about how we're going to fight them individually, but as a team..."

The two paused and turned to me. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good...any suggestions?"

The air began to rush and at the last moment I drew an invisible shield over the team so that the approaching letter bombs exploded on them. Right through the clouds of smoke, Team 3 flew at us. I clenched my teeth and made myself invisible, while at the same time creating a shadow double of myself. He now stood ready to fight between Neji and Naruto, while I moved a little away from the fighting.

Who was the strongest in the team? Ino wasn't, even though she could take over the bodies of others. Tenten was very good in Taijutsu but also from a distance. Still...

Again, something hissed through the air. Just in time, I managed to dodge the incoming kunai. Attentively I focused on my surroundings. That Tenten chose me as her opponent was surprising, but not excluded.

A glance back at my team showed that they were already involved in a fierce battle with Shino and Ino. I couldn't help them here, unfortunately, as I had enough to do dodging the many approaching weapons flying in my direction.

Of course, she had found me, she seemed to have sensed my chakra. The invisibility had not helped me so much. But what was that?

I squinted my eyes. There was something wrong. The kunai and shuriken were flying in unusual paths, almost as if they were being directed by something. No doubt about it. They were hanging from chakra strings.

Tenten used a similar technique as Kankuro. Annoyed, I gritted my teeth as memories began to flood me again. This was simply inappropriate now. I should be focusing on the fight instead. But if she was as specialized in ranged combat as Kankuro was, then she would be better defeated up close. All I had to do was make her pause for a brief moment.

I grinned. Now all I had to do was distract her. Minimally before I suppressed the chakra, I created five visible shadow doubles, had them split up and go in the direction the weapons were coming from. The fact that I didn't have my bow with me wasn't much of an obstacle. Within a short time, I had been able to find a good branch.

I skillfully wrapped the string around the two ends and knotted them together in a makeshift way. A halfway pointed branch, with a small letter bomb attached, I then clamped. Images flashed before my eyes. A girl with two braids tied into knots, attacking the shadow clones with some kind of club. A green ribbon fluttered around her hips. Shortly after, I could see normally again. Apparently, she had just been able to hit the clones.

But in return, I now had this important information. I would have to be quick. Not only did the maneuver have to happen within seconds, but it was also insanely daring and a bit reckless. Nevertheless, I had to try it.

With concentration, I directed the Raiton chakra through my body. More and more I could control it now, felt how the air around me began to crackle softly. Then I shot the arrow and ran after it. Now I would see if all the training would pay off. It was almost funny to be as fast as that arrow, although I could actually outrun the projectile. Or was able to. But that wasn't part of the plan.

She hadn't been far away at all. Only quite well hidden in a treetop, from which, she had been able to overlook the action wonderfully. Tenten could not have chosen a better place. Very clever of her, I had to admit. As if in slow motion, the brown eyes widened when they saw the arrow.

And then there was a huge bang. The projectile exploded right next to her, nearly knocking her down. I lunged forward, pushed off the branch, and jumped toward Tenten. Caught the falling body out of the air, like Gaara. Only Tenten's falling speed was not as rapid. In flight, I detached the ribbon from her body and hastily put it in my pocket. For safety.

She didn't resist, rather seemed to be frozen with surprise when she caught sight of me. I had already dissolved my invisibility during my little rush. It consumed too much chakra. And if it should come to a fight between me and her again, it wouldn't help much if I made myself invisible.

Only when we landed on the next branch, the brown-haired woman tried vehemently to squirm out of my grip. Firmly I fixed her arms on both sides to the dark wood and sat on my feet.

"Listen. I don't want to hurt you. The fight is over, too. I took the ribbon from you."

Her eyes widened in surprise and traveled down her body to the hip where the ribbon had hung only moments before. Briefly her features darkened, but immediately the brown-haired woman nodded.

"All right, you can let me up now."

Suspiciously I eyed her. That she gave in so quickly was strange. Slowly I let go of her, but instantly regretted it. Faster than I could look, she had gotten up and swept my legs away and tied my hands in a flash. Sneaky. Not nice of her at all. But good, I had been inattentive too.

"I guess you forgot what Shikamaru said. Taking off the ribbon alone is the most important part, that's true. But do you really think a real opponent just surrenders like that? A bit stupid of you to just assume that. And now...I've got you."

Oh yeah?

My hands might be bandaged, but my legs weren't. She was standing right behind me. And she called me reckless? My feet hit the back of her knees and she slumped. I rolled my body around and precisely kicked her temple with my left foot.

The brown eyes widened in surprise before they closed, and her unconscious body slumped onto the thick branch. Relief. That was all I felt at that moment. It seemed to me that we had underestimated each other far too much. And that would be a lesson to me for the future. Never again would I underestimate an opponent. Because everyone was strong in their own way.

Annoyed, I stared at the shackles around my hands. How had she managed to do that in such a short time? Argh...and now I couldn't get these stupid ropes open. What kind of material was this?

"Tora."

"Neji."

So the Hyjuga had found me. His usually straight hair seemed slightly disheveled. Still, he didn't seem particularly exhausted. Thin veins trailed along the edge of his eyes, and I recognized the Byakugan. Scrutinizingly, his gaze roamed over my disheveled form, to Tenten, who almost appeared to be asleep.

"Passed out?"

I nodded, and he seemed satisfied. Although his gaze again drifted to his teammate. There was something gentle in it, which was an extreme rarity in someone like him. But I kept my mouth shut and did not ask.

Silently, the Hyjuga began to untie my bonds. Searchingly I looked around. Where was Naruto?

Neji caught the look and sighed softly.

"He couldn't help it and asked me to search the area for the other teams, and I sincerely hope he won't be discovered."

Silently, he eyed me.

"So, you've already taken the tape, too. Good thing. I'd be all for you sort of managing it. You're faster, smaller, and ..."

He broke off as Naruto jumped onto the branch beside us. I recoiled a little, since the Uzumaki had appeared in front of us so suddenly.

"I didn't find any ... sorry."

"But we found you guys," said a voice behind us. On our heels, we whirled around.

There in an adjacent tree were Team 1 and ... Team 4?"

All seemed a little out of breath, apparently, they had been fighting until recently ... but then that could only mean one thing. They had noticed Naruto and had followed him. Destroying a team together was still easier than doing it alone.

Damn...

And now?