Chapter Three
Ino Yamanaka sighed and looked at Tenten in confusion and slight aggravation.
So did her teammates Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi.
Sai looked around the gates with alert eyes while Sakura Haurno crossed her arms in impatience, and Naruto Uzumaki stationed himself on top of the main gate with Lee.
Sakura finally became fed up and said irritantly, "Tenten, why was I brought out of the hospital, only to have waited here for over fifteen minutes and so far hear nothing?"
"Because," Tenten replied, "Neji is still trying to gather the rest of our comrades. Just be patient."
"Patient?!" Ino intervened, "You seriously expect us to be patient?! I'm sorry, but we don't wait around for the almighty Hyuga to get here!!"
Tenten grabbed Ino's arm and snapped, "You already know he's not that, Ino! Whatever beef you have with him, now isn't the time to reveal it!"
"Oh excuse me, I'd rather not see his highness at the moment; my team was about to head out on a mission!!" Ino cried out angrily, grabbing Tenten's shirt.
Sakura jumped in and said loudly, "Okay, that's enough! So what if Neji acts that way, Ino?! You'd know all about being all high and mighty, Ino Pig!!"
Just when Ino was about to go off on both kunoichi, Neji cleared his throat.
Everyone was silent.
Ino and Sakura looked very guilty, and Tenten was on the verge of exploding.
Behind him stood Hinata, Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru, Shino, and the Sand siblings.
Temari glanced at Tenten, but her usual smirk wasn't visible.
Neji said tightly, "As much as I would like to argue how I'm the opposite of high and mighty, we don't have time for that. We, in fact, have no time for anything aside from the situation currently taking place."
As Neji went further into what was going on, quite a few faces turned pale.
Tenten kept her eyes to the ground.
"What we can do now," he said calmly, "is protect the village with our lives. We must not let any of the villagers know, nor must we cause a panic. We will all split up into teams of two. I will be the one to check all the areas you all are in."
He stopped talking for a moment to take a deep breath. He then said quietly, "What we must do to stay alive is stay calm, stay ready, and trust your teammate. And that goes for ALL of you."
Tenten looked up at Neji, and sensed something about his voice.
It was fear.
Straight out fear.
~
Tenten sighed.
She understood that she had to work with whomever she was placed with, but who she was working with was too ironic.
Both Tenten and Temari were stationed together, and both were told to attack anyone not a leaf shinobi.
Temari thought the same thing, and they avoided talking for hours.
Finally, Temari sighed and broke the silence. "Do you hate me?" she asked softly.
Tenten said, "Shouldn't I be asking that?"
Temari laughed and said, "Does it have to do with the Chunin exams, because if so, it's been over two years since then."
Tenten turned to look at her and asked, "Then why do you act the way you do around me?"
Temari said, "Because you act the way you do around me. Look, can we stop this? I don't want to argue. If we can't be friends, then we can be comrades at least."
She then turned back to look around a little more. Tenten sighed and said, "Sure. I'm okay with that."
Temari turned and asked, "With what?"
"Being friends," Tenten replied.
Temari smiled slightly and said, "I'd like that".
~
As the hours passed, no sign was made that the rebels were near. Tenten and Temari even looked around their post, but no rebels were in sight. They both finally gave up and went back to their posts.
After another hour of seeing nothing, Temari said, "How about we spar?"
Tenten looked at Temari like she was crazy. But then she shrugged then said, "Sure. I won't go easy on you though."
Temari said, "Ooooh, gotten better have we?" They both giggled with wide smiles.
Both kunoichi then proceeded to walk to the empty ground nearby, talking and laughing the way there.
~
They fought hard.
Weapons were up against trees, wind was blowing all over the place, and a tree was even knocked down. Both gave it their all with slight intent to kill. Tenten was about to sprint and strike again when she heard her name.
"Tenten!!!"
She and Temari turned around to see Neji about forty feet from them, staring at them in shock. Tenten bit her lower lip, fearing that Neji was thinking the worst.
"Tenten, Temari, what did I say about getting along?" He said, his voice was tight with anger, "This isn't about you two. It's about the village!" Neji said. Tenten replied "N-Neji! This isn't what it looks like!"
"Oh is it, Tenten?" Neji said, quickly walking up to Tenten, "You're so damn stubborn all the time, and you frustrate me so damn much! You can't do a simple mission without doing SOMETHING extra!"
Every word hit Tenten like her own kunai. Before she could protest, Neji said, "Tenten, I don't want to hear it. Our job is to protect the village, and you two can't let a simple grudge go! Even you Temari! I thought you were smarter than this!"
Tenten finally spoke up in a desperate manner, "Neji if you would just listen dammit!"
But Neji held his hand up; eyebrows creased heavily. "Tenten, I thought you were smarter than this... I guess I was wrong. Get back to doing what you were supposed to do."
Neji then walked away from Temari and Tenten.
Temari began to go after him, but Tenten held her back. "Don't. Let him be."
Temari looked at Tenten and saw fury all in her eyes. But fury turned into fear when Tenten felt something below them move.
"Neji stop!!"
Neji turned around to yell, but he saw both of them running like maniacs towards him, yelling at the same time. He couldn't understand them and yelled, "Stop talking at the same time! I cannot hear what you two are saying!"
Temari took out her fan, about to swing, and Tenten held her hand out in front of Temari, sprinting second later right at Neji.
"Don't, you'll harm him!!" Tenten screeched, tackling him down just as Temari sent a blast of wind at the oncoming sand behind Neji. He was shocked at Tenten's actions, but then understood a moment later.
That still didn't stop the huge blush that spread across his face.
But Tenten only showed two emotions when she looked at him. Anger and fear.
They quickly got up and see the sand go under the ground.
Tenten realized immediately how the rebels were getting inside the village without detection.
"Underground! Of course! Why didn't I think of that! Temari, go tell Gaara to have his sand go underground and push these rebels out!"
Temari sprinted off in seconds. Tenten got out a scroll and released the weapons encased inside.
She ended up bringing out a long samurai sword and swung it a little, looking at Neji sadly moments later. "I guess you are right about me, Neji," she said softly, "Inform the others. All the rebels will be pushed out in this area. Go!"
Tenten pushed him a little so he'd run. Neji turned around and sprinted off. 'I shouldn't have snapped. Maybe I didn't notice the full picture.'
Tenten then yelled out to Neji, "By the way, we were just sparring! NOT trying to hurt each other!"
Neji could feel the guilt swelling inside of him, but pushed his emotions back to focus on the task at hand.
Temari ran and told Gaara, who wasted no time and sent his sand underground. All the shinobi were running where Tenten was.
She was on high alert, ready for any sudden move. Moments later, she heard slight rumbling from under her. Suddenly, dozens of rebels rose from the ground, using the sand as their advantage and aiming directly at Tenten.
But before any attack could reach her, Neji showed up and protected Tenten, along with Hinata and Lee who jumped from the trees. Moments later, Sakura and the rest of the young shinobi showed up, the will of fire blazing within all of them.
"Keep them in this area!" Sakura shouted, "Gaara will be here soon!"
~
Sand was clashing with weapons, bugs, and puppets.
Shinobi were tag-teaming with each other, along with helping their own teammates. Kakashi and Gai showed up with a few more shinobi after a moment to help knock out a dozen or two, and it was an all out battle.
The most brutal team out there was Team Gai, fighting with all their anger and might. Even Lee, who was usually upbeat, had been upset about earlier during training.
He could've done better.
Tenten thought the same.
Even Neji was disappointed in himself for not training hard enough, as well as hurting Tenten's feelings.
Why did he even care? He never cared so much before he went to Tenten's house. But he couldn't think about that as he fought hard.
Protecting the village, his comrades, Lee and Tenten; that was all that was going through his head.
~
The battle led on. Gaara finally showed up and took down a huge number of rebels. But they just seemed to keep coming.
Temari got super irritated and shouted, "Everyone hang on!!"
She got a lift from Sakura and Lee and ended up sending a very large blast that sliced through a lot of rebels. Shinobi were ducking this way and that.
Tenten dodged on, but ended up getting impaled by a small shard of metal.
She felt pain all over, and it wasn't long before Lee and Neji were by her side in seconds.
Temari yelled, "Gaara and I will end this now! Everyone stay clear!!"
Tenten got up quickly and said, "I'm fine. Hurt, but fine! Let's go!"
She started sprinting further into the forest, and the other kunoichi and Shinobi, ones she called friends, followed her closely.
She had almost forgotten that Tsunade put her and Neji in charge, and found it almost amazing that they were mimicking her every move. The further they got in the forest, the more rebels they saw.
Kakashi and Gai cleared the way, leaving no rebel alive.
Tenten could overhear the screams of rebels, and she knew that as always, the Sand Siblings were beasts.
The battle ended up in the same area team Gai fought the sand rebels days ago. One by one, shinobi had to retreat from the fight due to low chakra.
Heavy breathing and clashing of weapons was all that could be heard.
Tenten was losing grip of her weapons. She could feel the bloodloss taking effect over her. Out of the blue, about a dozen rebels jumped her.
Neji heard Tenten's scream as she was once again being covered by sand once more. He rushed only to find a kunai being thrown at her sand-covered waist by a rebel; the same area that had the metallic object inside her.
Neji knew that they were sadistically using her as a dummy, and he couldn't help but to shout one word; his voice in shock, pain, and fear.
"TENTEN!!!!"
~
NOTE(11/22/15): Some parts were edited. Picture has been put up, and it references the next chapter as well. Enjoy!
~Nimo #IFanonNotCanon
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top