Tenten x Reader

Chapter 5 - The Hidden Sand

After their meeting with the Hokage, they all met up at the front gate of the village. Izumo and Kotetsu were there as usual on guard duty. 'See you later guys!' Guy yelled out to the pair as his genin similarly yelled apart from Y/N who looked nervous. The group then leapt away from the village to meet with the ANBU member. 'Hey, Ko? You see that Y/N kid, seemed kinda freaked out' Izumo said to his friend. 

'Yeah, he's probably scared of escorting someone or something.' Kotetsu laughed off not knowing the true magnitude of Y/N's situation.

'Ok gang, we're about 3/4 away from the rendezvous let's try to speed up and get to the Hidden Sand before dark.' Guy said acting as the noble leader he thought he was. 

'Gang?' Neji pointed out as it was a pretty strange way to refer to his squad. 

'I think it is a good way to encourage us like we're family' Lee said to Neji, defending Guy. Y/N said nothing during the ordeal but particularly thought about the idea of family between the 5. The word 'Family' really resonated with the young man as it felt like he was getting to know the others quite well.

However, the thought of Danzo, the memories of the lessons and hours of his life spent on bettering himself. He remembered the many words of Danzo like 'For the Leaf' which he also felt at home with. These conflicting ideas really confused his brain as he didn't know what was for the best. He didn't know if he wanted to be with his friends or with Danzo. He didn't even know who Danzo really was. Was he a friend? Or is he something much bigger? Someone more important than Y/N had thought.

'Hey Y/N?' Tenten said as she laid her hand on his shoulder. 'You look kinda out of it, you ok?' She said a little worried. Y/N smiled and told Tenten 

'Y-Yeah don't worry about me, let's just get the mission done' Tenten wasn't satisfied with Y/N's answer but chose not to pester Y/N. She was still very worried about him. He wasn't the same sweet yet timid boy she knew from the academy. He was now more, cold and serious with only friendly tendencies. She wanted to investigate his life further but wouldn't that be wrong?

A couple of hours later they were resting and around 1/4 of the journey was left they decided to rest for a little while. They unpacked their bags and got out any food or water they had with them to re-energise for the last bit of the journey. Neji and Lee argued about nothing important as usual, Guy was meditating and Y/N was silent eating his food as his mental conflict still rattled his mind. Tenten meanwhile stood atop a tall tree which emerged out of the canopy layer of the forest. She scouted the area for any sign of sand as she couldn't wait to arrive at the village so she could get some real rest.

Y/N looked up at the tree Tenten sat on. He slowly walked up the tree using his chakra to grapple onto the tree. This still amazed him as he always believed he couldn't use chakra at all since his days at the academy. It was Danzo who helped him accomplish this. Y/N was very grateful for Danzo's teachings but perhaps Danzo was using Y/N. 

'Can I help you?' Tenten laughed as Y/N sat down beside her. They sat down on the branch together as they looked across the vast forest that they had to travel through. 'We have to leave in a few minutes so you better come...' Y/N was cut off by Tenten. 

'It's beautiful. The sun setting, the trees dancing with the wind and the birds chirping like it's the best day ever!' Tenten exclaimed ignoring Y/N. 'You know Y/N sometimes, you have to take your time, enjoy the scenery and have some fun!' She continued as a smile grew on Y/N's face. 

'Thanks, Tenten, I'm just a little stressed lately.' Her smile really made you feel better and you relaxed a little. Tenten looked at Y/N still a little worried about him. 'After all of this, let's spend some more time together, you know? As a team, as friends.' Y/N took his time to take in her words as this really helped him calm down from his task ahead.

'Come on you two, let's get to the Hidden Sand and we'll wear our Leaf village pride on our shoulders' Guy yelled out to Y/N and Tenten. 

'Let's get to the Village within the hour Guy-sensei!' Lee exclaimed excitedly as usual. 

'But it's around 5:45, Lee.' Neji argued to the eager young man. 

'No, we'll do it. It's time to show our Youth!' Y/N shouted as Lee and Guy cheered on. 

'Someone got motivated.' Neji remarked sarcastically but Y/N ignored him and charged onwards toward the Hidden Sand.

Team 13 arrived at the Hidden Sand exhausted as they all sprinted the last couple of kilometres. 'That was a mistake.' Y/N exclaimed as he laid down on the coarse sand.

'Now, we will meet with the ANBU tomorrow at 8 am so for now I will get us some rooms for the night, so you 4 can explore the sand village.' Guy said as we all tiredly groaned. As Guy left they all immediately looked for food, particularly a great, big bowl of ramen. However, they didn't find ramen just yakitori. So the group of young shinobi trudged along to get a serving of hot yakitori.

After stuffing their faces with chicken the group separated to really get a feel for the Hidden Sand. Neji looked for the library as he wanted to know all about the Village and the history surrounding it. Lee was looking for weights, sweatbands and anything workout related. He was in wonderland viewing all of the variations of workout accessories and testing out each product thoroughly. Tenten was looking at the types of Ninja weapons, ready to splash out on every little blade or spike that the village had to offer.

Y/N however was plotting. Even though he didn't want to, he had to. He scouted the area around the Kazekage's estate to find the young Jinchuriki. He eventually spotted a giant courtyard of sand where giant sand sculptures stood. He also saw a group of kids about the same age as him playing in the sand. One much taller boy ran around mindlessly. The girl was much calmer trying to build a structure made of sand but failed mostly. However, the red-haired, youngest sibling was building the giant structures that covered the place. He looked calm yet anxious, peaceful yet dangerous. Some time passed until an adult man walked out and cleared the field of all the structures. He was the Kazekage. 

'Gaara. Why do you mess around, building silly structures? You should be training, trying to control it.' Y/N's interest peaked as the Kazekage mentioned an 'it'. 

Soon after the Kazekage spoke Gaara shyly told him. 'I am trying to control him..he liked the castles, it makes him calm and happy.' Gaara smiled as he tried to restart his sculpture. 

'GAARA, YOU ARE PATHETIC! The whole village relies on you. You are the powerhouse this village needs. Stop being useless.' The Kazekage shouted as he walked away.

Instead of crying the child was angry. He raised his fist and he created a giant hand with blue marks on the sides similar to the markings of the one-tailed beast, Shukaku. Y/N was shocked but he also knew it must have been him. Eventually, the sand hand faded away and Y/N left the courtyard. Y/N then said to himself 

'Tonight'