"I did." Sasuke confirmed his doppelganger's words. "Meigui stole it."

***

Neji's brows creased in concern at Sasuke's silence. Although the younger man was usually silent, he would never pass up the opportunity to insult Naruto for anything and the others had been doing just that for a while now. "Sasuke, is something the matter?" He asked.

"Yeah, where's the Dragon Jewel? It ain't here." Kankuro added as he had emptied the contents of the bag Sasuke brought back and found no Long Juanzhou.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. Neji didn't fully understand the meaning of Sasuke's grunts like Naruto freakishly did but he somehow knew that this one meant that something was up and it was something big.

"We saw you go for the jewel, you must've had it." Sai affirmed that Sasuke did steal the ruby so Neji could not assume that he forwent it. His prideful nature would not allow him to anyway.

"I did." Sasuke confirmed Sai's words and Neji's thoughts. "Meigui stole it."

Neji's brow rose at that. Somebody stole from Sasuke?

It took a moment for his words to settle and when it did, it caused a big uproar. "What?!" Naruto, Kankuro, Temari and Shikamaru exclaimed, Naruto's voice being the loudest and Shikamaru's a surprised mutter. Gaara looked like he was expecting it while Shino and Sai's expressions were unreadable.

"Wait wait, let me get this straight. Someone. Stole. From. You? As in picked your pocket?" Kankuro asked in disbelief.

"You needn't rub it in my face but yes, I was pick pocketed." Sasuke admitted in annoyance that only deepened with Naruto's obnoxious laughter.

"I love this! I oughta meet that chic and give her a kiss for finally bursting your swell head! Ha ha ha!" Naruto said between bouts of laughter.

"It is alright." Neji cut in before a fight could start between Sasuke and Naruto again. "As long as you didn't leave your finger prints on the jewel, the ANBU would have nothing to hold on to." Silver moon eyes crossed with dark ones. "Oh no."

Sasuke's scowl was the affirmation Neji didn't need for his thoughts. He did leave fingerprints. "Hn." Said man grunted and snapped his head away from the leader's gaze like he always did whenever he was guilty.

“How careless could you get?!” Temari snapped angrily. She had wanted to scold him for his mishap with the bodyguard earlier and now this?! Neji’s calming hand on her shoulder was what kept her from tearing away at Sasuke’s flesh at the moment. It would not do to start a commotion right now.

“Temari is correct, Sasuke, that was very careless of you. It is bad enough that we have little to no information on Meigui’s identity to track her with, your fingerprints getting in the hands of the ANBU is dangerous for your identity as well.” Neji admonished the younger man. “The only thing we can do is to hope against all hope that Meigui doesn’t turn in the necklace to the cops before we can find her.”

Silver like eyes locked with Shikamaru’s despondent ones as Neji said the last part of his sentence. The other man sighed and muttered a sarcastic thanks to Sasuke for giving him extra work before reaching behind his seat for the bag pack that was strapped to it. He removed his laptop and began his search with the little details Sasuke provided about their mysterious vigilante.

“Other than that Meigui is a woman, what else did you find out about her during your brief exchange? Height, hair and eye colour would be nice.” The laziest member of the troupe mumbled in his usual lenient tone.

“She is around 160cm (5’4 feet) and with dark hair.” Sasuke provided. Meigui’s hood had come off at the last moment when he slammed her down on her back so he saw her hair. “Although I can’t tell if her hair is dark because of the dim lighting or it is natural.”

Shikamaru gave him a blanch look at the helpful information. Note the sarcasm. “I can’t work with this!” The man complained but Sasuke wasn’t done.

“She was wearing three earrings.”

“So? Anybody can wear three earrings if they wanted to.” Kankuro piqued.

“Hn. Her earrings were different, I think? They almost seemed tribal in a way.” Sasuke finished.

“Tribal?” Neji echoed.

“Yes. They are dropping earrings and the beads and threads used in making them are not something you would find anywhere.” Sasuke knew this because of his vast knowledge about most things. “Her third earring is a golden stud pierced next to her left temple.”

“Can you describe these earrings for me? I might be able to get something.” Sai spoke up with his small sketch pad in hand.

“More or less.” Sasuke’s memory was the best and his descriptive abilities were also good. It only took about thirty minutes for Sai to get an image down that resembled what Sasuke saw on Meigui’s ears. “This is how it looks like.” He announced. (Just like Tenten’s earrings in Boruto)

“Think you can get something out of this?” Neji asked Shikamaru.

“Yeah. It’ll take some time though.” The man answered.

“But we don’t have that time.” Sasuke protested.

“Wanna teach me how to do my job?” Shikamaru quipped.

“Hn.”

“It can’t be helped Sasuke.” Neji placated and Sasuke shrunk back in defeat. He wasn't afraid of the ANBU finding out his identity but that happening would endanger his team. He didn't want that despite how cold he seemed, and Neji knew this. “Shikamaru, please send me the details of the woman when you have found her. You all are dismissed.”

The Birds dispersed after that final note to their various homes and other locations.

• • •

Tenten heaved herself up and loudly groaned at the pain that shot down her spine at the movement. That bastard really didn't take it easy on her. She guessed that it was good that he didn’t undermine her by going easy and using half assed strength to fight her– he would have died if he did so– but still! Wasn’t there a courtesy rule to never harm a lady or something?

Questioning looks were sent her way on the bus when she struggled to climb in and slumped herself on a seat next to the door. She had changed out of her vigilante outfit and was now in her normal tribal clothes. A worried woman had asked her if there was anything overly wrong with her. Tenten appreciated the concern and closed her eyes in pretense sleep to avoid more questions.

She was still not comfortable with technology and definitely not comfortable with moving vehicles in general. They made her queasy and a little bit nauseous. Tenten alighted from the bus with a thankful sigh and made her way silently to her residence.

Maybe it was because of the nerves from her activities of the night but it felt as if her residence was farther from the bus stop than she was used to. Finally after what seemed like hours, the Curry of Life shop’s signboard made its way into her line of sight. The sign was a little bit visible under the lamppost.

The Curry of Life was a shop owned by an elderly woman named Sanshō and her grandchildren, Karashi and Ranmaru. The latter was not her real grandson but was adopted into the family when he was younger, or so Tenten heard. They made the best and spiciest curry that Tenten had ever eaten.

The Curry of Life building was two storeys high and split into four major compartments. The Curry shop itself was on the lower floor and behind it was Sanshō and her grandsons’ residence. Currently, only grandma Sanshō and Ranmaru lived in the flat because Karashi had gone off to college.

Tenten’s part of the building was directly above the curry shop and the flat behind her was currently unoccupied. Other than the Curry of Life’s big building, two small tenancy flats were in the compound behind the main building. They were occupied by Tenten’s coworkers, Lee and Kiba.

It had been a surprise finding out that her neighbours were also young agents in her security agency. The three of them bonded over that and became rather good friends.

The bodyguard leapt over the gate that separated the residence building from the shop and landed safely, albeit painfully, inside the compound. She didn’t open the gate with her key because it always made a loud groaning noise when opened/closed and Tenten didn’t want to wake anybody up or alert them of her presence.

She climbed the stairwell that led to the upper floor of the main Curry building and silently entered her apartment. After cleaning up and hiding her vigilante clothes properly (Lee and Kiba liked to hang around her house at times), Tenten lay on her mat with the Long Juanzhou in hand.

She had removed the gold strip that turned her jewel into a necklace during her clean up and had properly disposed it since she had no use for it. The dragon’s outline from the red jewel shone dimly on her face under her room’s low lighting. Tenten could still not believe it. She had one out of eight Dragon Jewels back!

The young woman got up with a groan and kept the jewel in a safe designated just for them. She would visit Luse tomorrow and bury it with her people. Tenten sighed. How did the Dragon Jewel even get exposed to the outside world in the first place? The gems were kept secret amongst the Meiguian people but they still...

Tenten switched off the candle that illuminated the room and pulled herself under her covers. She tried to sleep but her eyes would not close to her bidding. Regrettably, the girl pulled the covers away so that only her lower body from her hips downward was covered.

Her finger fiddled with the golden stud near her left temple as she tried to calm down and lull herself to sleep. She was wide awake though. Tenten sighed. It would be a long night.

• • •

A knock pierced the silence in the room followed by the sound of the door clicking open. Kiba sat up with a small hiss, as did Lee who was his roommate in the hospital room.

"Glad to see that you're awake boys." The man that arrived at their room greeted. His shock of silver hair that defied every gravitational law was not from old age or dyed, it was all natural. The man was rather handsome, too handsome to be a security agent. A distinctive feature about him was the beauty mark on the left side of his chin that accentuated his facial glory.

The hospitalised men rushed to their feet and gave a bow of respect and apology to their boss.

"Mah mah, enough with the formality." The man waved his hand dismissively but the men didn't relent.

"We apologise for our incapability, Kakashi-taichou!" Kiba called out. He found himself being very shamed that he blacked out and got his recording device stolen in addition to a concussion from hitting his head on the floor.

The man, now identified as Kakashi, gave a sigh and gave up on stopping the boys from being so formal. He was the boss of the security agency that Kiba and Lee worked at. The man was a retired military personnel who was forced to do so for psychological issues

(AN: I'm not sure how the military works or if they allow people to resign/retire early if they are not physically or mentally injured so I made Kakashi a bit mental just to be on the safe side. Also, his mask is inexistent in this fiction)

"We shall take responsibility for our actions!" Lee's body was bent forward in a perfect right angle. The man was strange enough to keep a bowl cut in the era of fashion the world was currently on and held things too personally for a security agent. It had both upsides and downsides, one of which was his self destruct mode any time he failed a mission.

Lee was positioned outside to watch over the activities going on there at Shojoji Tekushu's jewelry exhibition. Nothing was out of place and the event was going on smoothly– but that was until the power outage. The next thing he knew, his vision was going black with the lights in the building. The thudding sound of the other security and ANBU agents' limp bodies hitting the ground was the last thing he heard before finally fritzing out.

"It is okay to fail, raise your heads." Kakashi, ordered and they thankfully raised their heads. "Tenzō would be here to question you in a minute." He began to announce but the other's footsteps outside the door reached his extra perceptive ears before he was done. "Oh he's here."

Said man walked into the room with a small smile. "I have told you time over time to call me Yamato, Kakashi-senpai." He weakly admonished the older man who shrugged.

Tenzō or more preferably Yamato, was a head detective in the ANBU force. His features included dark brown hair with big black eyes that often scared people even though he was rather gentle. He was good at his work but the Birds were better at giving him a run for his money...he liked the challenge.

"Yamato-taichou!" Kiba and Lee greeted the head ANBU.

"Please have your seat." Yamato gestured to their beds and pulled out a chair for himself as the other men except Kakashi sat. "I would cut straight to the point. Please tell me the events of the exhibition night in your point of view." He instructed.

Kiba and Lee both told him about the exhibition night in detail. The only possible clue Yamato could get from their stories was the handsome dark haired man that approached Morena Tekushu in Kiba's tale. Even then they were at a stand still because there was nothing too peculiar about his features.

"Thank you boys." Yamato pocketed his sound recorder pen and notepad and stood up to leave. Kiba and Lee also stood to bow in respect at his departure but the former had a dizzy spell because of his concussion. He was made to lie down after he almost face planted on the floor again.

After they were done, Yamato and Kakashi left the young men to themselves and had a discussion. "You think that the Birds are behind this?" Kakashi asked his junior as they walked down the hallway of the general hospital. He had seen the other's notes.

In them, he noted that it was possible that the birds had something to do with this heist. It all made sense to Kakashi then, why Yamato came to question the boys by himself. Small incidents such as this was supposed to be handled by his subordinates so when Kakashi got the message that the ANBU head was coming in person, he had been surprised.

"Yes." Yamato affirmed. "It is just a premonition but I think so. The undercover ANBU agents testified to an ambush laid in the exhibition safe. By the time they reached there, the items were gone and a man with a gun trapped them there. The invited guests witnessed to a blond man in a clown get up keeping Shojoji Tekushu and his wife on gunpoint as masked waiters robbed them of their expensive things."

"Why would the Birds want to mug an exhibition though?" Kakashi asked skeptically. He also felt that the Birds were behind this but he could not just find reason enough for them to move on a low scale like this.

"That is where I draw a blank point. The pieces don't connect. It is as though the perpetrators are different sets of thieves who just happened to raid a place at the same time, but I know that the reverse is the case. They were able to sneak in weapons without triggering the alarm system, and hacked the security footage to confuse us." Yamato explained his suspicions.

"And that is why you are suspecting the Birds?" Kakashi mused with a lazy drawl.

"Yes, but I suppose any group of intelligent robbers would be able to do these things." Yamato deflated in slight defeat but he was not giving up on his hypothesis that the Birds were behind this heist. 

"I suppose time would tell." Kakashi hummed as both men left the hospital and went their separate ways.

• • •

The telltale sign of a customer entering the shop was announced by the jingle of the bell above the door. The coffee store/flower shop was empty because of the closed sign that hung on the doors but it didn't bother the man that just entered the shop.

His pale skin was accentuated by the darkness of his clothes, hair and eyes which only announced how truly handsome he was. A woman was cleaning a table unaware of his entrance because of the earphones in her ears.

She was easily one of the most beautiful women out there with her long blond hair, fair skin, pretty teal eyes and nice body and the man found himself appreciating just how beautiful she was all over again.

He stalked behind her, steps naturally quiet because of his (other) line of work, and tickled her sides. The woman did not take the fright so well for she grabbed his hand and spun around with speed that could rival a sparrow's and proceeded to twist it behind his back. Her actions stopped when she noticed who it was and she removed her earphones.

"Sai!" She thwacked his chest with the cloth she was using to clean the table. "You frightened me, idiot!"

"Hello beautiful." Sai grinned and leant forward the catch her lips. "How was your day?" He asked after breaking the kiss.

"Good. Yours?" She asked back. "I thought you'd be busy with work."

"It turned out simpler than expected." Sai dropped his bag pack on a chair and sat on the opposite.

"Wait here, let me reheat some leftovers." The woman left for a while and came back with steaming pastries and coffee. Yamanaka Ino was her name and she was Sai's girlfriend. While she was aware of his other occupation, she didn't know that he was one of the thieves with the biggest bounties on their heads.

Sai had not hidden the fact that he was a thief from her and she strangely loved him all the same provided that he did not hurt anybody with it physically (like murder) or emotionally (like stealing from the innocent). The Birds were not like that. They had justifiable reasons for stealing from the rich.

"Thanks Beautiful." Sai appreciated his girlfriend who hummed as she searched through his bag pack for something. She found what she was looking for and pulled out the drawing book from it.

Ino loved to see Sai's drawings because they were always so beautiful. He always had new ones after a heist. She flipped gracefully through the pages until she reached the last page, then her eyes widened in recognition. "This..." She started.

"Uh? You like the earrings?" Sai asked oblivious to her recognition.

"No...I mean yes but why did you draw this?" Ino asked.

"I'm searching for the owner of the earrings. Do you know her?" Sai, who was just getting the hang of Ino's expressions, asked. At the warning glare he received he raised his hands, cinnamon roll in one, in surrender. "I'm not stealing it from her, I promise. She just has some information that I need. Do you know her, beautiful?" He swore and asked again.

"Yes. She's a friend of mine from school. What information could she possibly possess? Tenten is as innocent as sheep." Ino pegged her boyfriend for answers which Sai naturally deflected.

"Don't bother about it, beautiful." He dismissed. Sai finished the last of his meal and thanked Ino for it. The both of them then cleaned up the shop and locked it. "Let me walk you home."

After Sai had ensured that Ino was home safe and sound, he reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed Shikamaru.

"Whaat?" The lazy man drawled from the other line. He must've been getting ready to sleep when Sai called. Oops.

"I have news about red riding hood." Sai answered briskly.

"Really?! Thank the Lord I don't have to work." Shikamaru's irritation was replaced with a sigh of relief that echoed loud through the phone. "I'm all ears."

"Her name is apparently Tenten and she attends Konoha University. That should be enough information to go by, am I right?"

"More than enough. Thank you." Shikamaru disconnected without as much as asking Sai for where he got his info from. That was Shikamaru for you. He was too lazy to be bothered about details. Sai pocketed his phone and continued his journey to his house.

On the other end of the line, the laziest member of the Tori used this new information for his search and hacked into Konoha University's database for a woman named Tenten. He found her half an hour later and with a relieved sigh, he sent his boss her details via email.

Goddammit Sasuke, putting him through all this jumbo for no reason, that guy ought to be tied down on a spot. Shikamaru only managed to shut down his system before he was out like a flame.

The screen of Neji's cellphone lit up with a message from Shikamaru. He picked up the device and clicked on the file that his subordinate sent to him. As usual Shikamaru was fast at finding information and that in itself was a dependable quality in the lazy man.

Luck really seemed to be on Sasuke's side because for some reason it seemed that Meigui had not turned in the Dragon Jewelry containing crucial details in apprehending a member of the admittedly most wanted group of thieves yet. Perhaps the woman has needs for the jewelry; it was the most expensive thing on earth after all and having just one by luck could change one's life for good.

Whatever the reason, Sasuke was still safe from the ANBU. Not that the ravens apprehension would harm the Tori in any way– they could only dream of torturing information out of any member – but it did no harm to be cautious and that was exactly what Neji was. Cautious.

The others often teased him for being a meticulous priss but that had been what saved them on many occasions. So even though for unknown reasons Meigui had not handed Sasuke over to the ANBU, Neji decided not to take the opportunity of getting the jewel and evidence back from the vigilante.

N.S

Click here to view file.

Neji was no stranger in deciphering Shikamaru's lazy text messages so he understood at once that this file contained details about the Red Riding Hood. He clicked on the file to see just who was behind that hood.

(Imagine she's wearing her earrings from Boruto)

Name: Xinyang Tenten.

Affilations: Konoha University, Cultural Arts department year 4. Part time student.

Occupation: Bodyguard at Hatake Security Agency.

Code name: Bara.

Home address: 27, Sarutobi district, Ashura Road, Konoha. (Curry of life shop house)

Family: none.

Next of kin: none.

Time schedule: click here to view file.

The man double tapped the attached picture and zoomed it to view Meigui's face up close. So this was the woman behind the hood.

Vague astonishment made its way into Neji's features as he took in just how young she looked like...through the passport anyway. This girl managed to steal from Sasuke? She was definitely very impressive. Now Neji was getting fascinated. He wanted to meet this girl, just to assess her skills.

"Cultural arts uh?"

Neji checked the attached schedule to see when it was best to meet the young lady. He was going to scout the lady from a distance before approaching her obviously, he could even maybe steal back the Long Juanzhou without having to meet her directly. It would be fun to jostle her with the news that her identity wasn't so hidden anymore though.

Maybe he should do that. Neji's silvery eyes disappeared under his eyelids in thought of how to plan his actions. He soon settled for his initial plan of watching Meigui from afar. That one was the safest of all.

'Xinyang Tenten...what an unusual name.'

***

Hey!

How's the book going so far? Can you see the end from the beginning? Are questions and theories forming in your head like how Tenten would react when she finds out that Neji was behind her people's murder?  Any mistake you spotted? Feel free to tell me about them in your reviews.

Please vote and share!

Neji and Tenten finally meet in the next chapter! I honestly have no idea how their romance would blossom but let's see, shall we?

Stay tuned for the next chapter of BTR. See you next Sunday!

-Star.