The Chunin Exam - 8

"It's definitely clear now. That guy near the shrine just turned the corner..." Tenten reported in a low voice, and turned to see Neji beside her, still fiercely examining the inside of the nearby building with his Byakugan.

"We'll move in now."

She nodded and followed him along a tiled wall they had taken cover under. They were lithe shadows as they slipped through a dying garden, with gray sunlight filtering down through the thick clouds overhead.

Tenten found it perplexing how Neji simply slid open a door without an ounce of hesitation once they had gotten close enough, although it was all accredited to the fact that he could see through walls and most other solid objects. She was still amazed at how calm he could be at a time where she could barely handle the adrenalin coursing through her limbs.

The smell of burning, bitter incense hung in the air. Tenten, out of habit, drew a kunai as they rounded a corner and flanked down a deserted corridor. It felt almost too quiet as they paused near a wide open window, which she peaked out of, only to see shadows in an empty courtyard.

Neji eyed solid walls keenly, until finally he turned to her, motioning for her to be silent.

They passed down another atrociously long hallway and Tenten could already tell that it had occupants, judging by the recently waxed floor. She delighted in how her feet made no sound as they padded further into the interior of the palace.

'Not very decorative, are they?' She wondered, noting how only a few paintings adorned the walls. It was simple and creepy and she wanted to find the scroll and get out as fast as possible.

Neji, it seemed, was in no rush.

They stopped again before the turn of a corner. His voice was low, warning, "There are two ahead of us. The room they are stationed in front of has the scroll."

"You can see it? From over here?"

He gave her a look of incredulity before she shrugged, then asked, "Right. So can I have first dibs?"

Neji grinned, knowing exactly what she meant, "If you're quick enough."

There it was: another competitive challenge during a simple mission. She frowned, knowing he wouldn't deliberately endanger a plan, but still, she wanted to put him in his place.

Tenten was down the hallway in less than a second, too fast for them to even realize she was not a resident. The first one managed to draw a kunai in defense but he was no shinobi. It was a motion she had practiced hundreds of times before: knock the knife away, jab at the gut, blow to the head and he was down. She didn't even have to use her blade.

Tenten turned in time to see the second guard tumbling down unconscious after a vicious, unrestrained dose of Jyukken. Neji slid open the door again, not missing a beat. She couldn't help but smile, 'That was what? Five seconds?'

She followed him in and found that the incense had in fact been burning in that room next to a rack that contained a single, crimson colored scroll.

'Some useful tips for the future: follow your nose...it's surprisingly helpful.'

"Tenten," Neji's voice had snapped her out of her thoughts, "Let's go. We-"

There was a faint crackling over both of their radios, and the distant shout of, "Leaf Hurricane!" that grabbed their attention. Tenten gave her partner a pained look, knowing they were both thinking the same thing after what they had heard.

"The report said no shinobi encounters. You don't think-?"

"It didn't say we were the only shinobi searching for this scroll," Neji answered and her face darkened, "We have competitors."

"Let's go now." Tenten had enough of waiting and she darted out first with Neji close behind her. They retraced the path they had used to infiltrate the palace to find means of an escape.

They flew down the last corridor in less than a minute, meeting no resistance, although uproar could be heard from the eastern portion of the estate. Tenten watched their surroundings as they raced by; the door, garden and wall swirling past them as they moved, boundless energy supplied to her legs as she tagged beside Neji.

'Lee...Gai-sensei...what's going on?' Her thoughts were frantic as well. Thankfully, their quick escape had granted them a moment to recuperate, so they paused beside an out-of-commission fountain in front of the palace. Guards were scrambling around a ways off, too busy to even notice them.

"Here." Neji handed her the scroll, which she took with a shaking hand, and watched as he tried to establish communications with the missing half of their team. After a minute of tampering around with the device, the radio was still silent.

Tenten sighed, trying to cling to optimism, but it was difficult.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he stood, "We should keep moving. It's possible they've already retreated."

She nodded, taking a deep breath, and followed after him as they abandoned their hiding spot and raced out onto the scrub plain ahead.

The sky darkened and light seemed to shrink away nervously as the two ran in silence through the field, skipping over boulders from time to time. Tenten gave an inquisitive look at the scroll she had been trusted with. Her eyes widened in thought.

"Neji...Neji, I think I know what this is," Tenten paused, glancing over it again to be sure and he gave her an odd look.

His head snapped around however, after hearing another approaching them fast.

"Neji! Tenten!" Lee stopped in front of them and tried to regain his breath.

Tenten was alarmed, "Lee! Where's Gai-sensei?"

He shook his head, a grim expression on his face, "He told me to go ahead and rejoin you two. It seems that there are other shinobi who arrived shortly after we did looking for the same scroll. Gai-sensei is fighting one of the Rock ninja...I think they are jounin."

Neji's eyes widened, not expecting such high-level threats.

"Jounin? From Iwagakure?" Tenten found it astounding, "What could they possibly want this for?"

Lee's fists were clenched, "I do not know, but Gai-sensei is outnumbered! He may need our help!"

Tenten turned to Neji, at a loss. It was unthinkable for them to take on a single jounin without their mentor, but if there were more, and from the Hidden Rock village no less, the mission could become chaotic very quickly.

Lee shook silently, standing across from them. He, like Tenten, could think of no course of action that would lead them to success. The silence was long and Neji broke it.

"We're going back."

His teammates looked at him, shocked. Neji wore a defiant expression as he went on, "The outcome of this mission is likely to be a failure as it is. It's pointless to leave him behind," He smirked, "Unless you...have doubts?"

Their stunned expressions seemed to melt away into something close to awe. Neji rarely ever displayed such bravery and leadership, and they felt inspired by his proposition.

Tenten grinned, tucking the scroll away, "No way. I'm not leaving Gai-sensei behind."

"Me neither!" Lee hollered, fire burning in his eyes.

"It's settled then," Neji looked pleased with their decisions, "We should hurry."

They ran fully out in the open with Lee at the front. It seemed absurd for them to return to the estate with it already in turmoil, but they had little else to lose if they chose to take more risks. Tenten's gaze followed Neji as he moved like a breeze over the shrubbery, and she wondered what had suddenly made him decide to turn back.

Their return trip was cut short when Lee skidded to a startled halt, his teammates doing the same shortly after.

Ahead, some two dozen yards, was one of the Rock ninja garbed in dark clothing and a thick vest. He looked surprised to see them heading back in the direction of the tumult, but his expression soon turned to satisfaction to see they were only genin.

'Great...Lee was right. This guy really is a jounin...' Tenten grumbled mentally, trying to form some sort of strategy.

"Hand it over kids and I promise you can run home safe and sound," His voice was a low baritone, "It's a wonder you got involved at all."

'Involved in what? A theft?' Tenten's mind was running away with her again.

"We are not leaving until Gai-sensei comes with us!" Lee yowled, giving a shifty look to Neji beside him, who remained motionless. Tenten felt her hand close around a number of shuriken.

Just as the Rock ninja's eyes fell upon her, Tenten felt her heart jump into her mouth as her teammates charged together, 'Wait! What are they thinking?'

It was an impressive sight as for the first few seconds, the Rock ninja was too surprised to block, but as seconds ticked by, Lee was given a run for his money. Neji had already activated his Byakugan.

Tenten wasn't very inclined to just sit back and watch.

Whipping out two of her best scrolls and setting them down, she smirked as she cried out something of a warning to her teammates, "Soshouryu!"

She was in the air a moment later, hurling scythes, swords, kunai and other delightful instruments of pain. Lee ducked out of the way of the assault and Neji blocked out of pure reflex as he continued to jab at the jounin with spikes of Jyukken.

The Rock shinobi managed to evade most of the projectiles, although one or two knives protruded from the front of his vest. Their hearts sank as he formed seals and aimed a rock jutsu for Tenten, who was still helpless in the air.

Instinctively she raised her arms up in front of her as she fell, trying to lessen the blow, but the sheer force of the boulder knocked the wind out of her even before she had touched the ground. Tenten tumbled down, still fighting fit, trying to regain her breath, 'Ow...I think he cracked something...'

Lee, somewhere off to her right, had opened a gate and began to circle around the Rock ninja in preparation for an attack at a speed untraceable to the human eye. Neji was already beginning an assault of his own, "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!"

The Rock nin had some difficulty blocking while Neji attempted to seal off his tenketsu. Lee was still circling, waiting for Neji to end his attack.

'That's not going to finish him...gah! I need to do something!' Tenten riffled around for any scroll in her possession and her hand closed around one which she quickly inspected, 'Oh. But this is just the one we stole. Still, I thought it was...well, it could be a-'

Out of hurried curiosity, she opened it. What she saw made her shudder in excitement.

A summoning scroll.

'It's a weapon too! I can't believe my luck!' Her eyes scrambled around, looking for a place to sign it, 'Mission or no mission, I don't care, I'm not passing this up!'

Only one name had been signed in the space before hers and it looked very outdated, 'Hm, I wonder why this hasn't been in use?' Using the stolen time from Lee and Neji's distraction she hastily bit her thumb and signed her name hurriedly in blood, unable to suppress her grin.

As she stood and darted further away to put more distance between herself and the fracas, her eyes passed over a small, faded kanji near the top of the scroll, 'It looks old...but it's in good shape. It looks like a bow of some sort. Great! I can work with that!'

Tenten leapt up to the top of a rock outcrop, overhearing Lee trying to perform Primary Lotus. Without wasting a moment she summoned the weapon, and in a flash of smoke her excited grin turned into a frown of the utmost bafflement.

It was a golden yumi (long bow), tall enough so that it reminded her of her new zanbato, which she had lovingly nicknamed 'Cow-Killer.' The bow was among the most magnificent of bamboo yumi she had ever laid eyes on, with small, red seals lining it down the side

After the momentary euphoria of her success, the horror kicked in, 'Wait a minute! It's just the yumi...but no arrows!'

Anyone well-practiced in the art of Kyudo would first condition their bodies and relax, but Tenten was beside herself over not having thought of bringing arrows with her. Her brain was scrambling, and the sight of Lee getting knocked back a few dozen feet by an earth jutsu was not helping her relax.

'No arrows! No haya or otoya? I'm screwed! How I am supposed to use this?' Her eyes darted frantically up and down the beautiful yumi, 'Now I get why no one used this thing! It's completely-!' Tenten's breath hitched when her dark eyes noticed an odd kanji at the center of the bow which could be distinguished clearly, '...molded chakra...what the heck is that supposed to mean?'

She figured any shinobi could be discouraged by such a puzzling weapon, even the ones from Iwagakure, 'Pft...as if they'll figure out how to...'

Chakra.

She understood.

'Does this mean...use chakra as an arrow?'

Tenten figured that was her only option. Focusing chakra into her right hand, she laid it over the seal as she held the yumi steady with her left hand. Her excitement returned as she pulled back, and a blue shaft of light formed. Now that was progress.

She strung her chakra ya to the bow, her heart hammering so loud she was sure she could hear it, and pulled back, eyeing her teammates as they relentlessly attacked the jounin. Tenten's aim was on the spot; the trouble was that Lee and Neji were still in the way.

"Move!" She must've screamed it at the top of her lungs as she launched.

The three shinobi below her looked up, startled, only seeing a flash of blue soaring towards them. As expected, Lee did not have to be told twice as he raced out of the way, not certain what was going on. Neji, on the contrary, was a bit preoccupied as the Rock nin continued to fight, this time drawing a sword.

Halfway in its trajectory, in less than a second, the chakra arrow did something rather peculiar.

It lit on fire spontaneously and there was the briefest of panicked moments as it landed squarely, unaffected by wind or resistance at the jounin's feet, setting off and exploding like some sort of grenade. Neji deflected the blast at the last second with Kaiten. The Rock ninja was less lucky.

Further beyond the fresh crater lay their opponent, unconscious, and then sporting some nasty third-degree burns. 'All that from this thing?' Tenten eyed the yumi, smiling, 'I'll be sorry when I have to hand it over to Hokage-sama...'

Down the slope of the outcrop, Lee looked up at Tenten, whooping and hollering, "Tenten! That was amazing! I have never seen such destruction with a single shot!"

"Me neither..." She muttered, beginning to stow it away.

Neji, who recovered the fastest from Tenten's frightening attack, made certain their opponent was knocked out before calling over to them, "We should keep moving!"

Lee nodded, still excited from the battle.

Tenten didn't want to rush the care of her new favorite weapon, "You guys go ahead without me! I'll catch up in a minute."

They left a moment later and she continued to store away the yumi, regarding it with admiring eyes.