They returned to where Tenten first encountered the Sound Nin, and then headed in the direction of the tower. Neji stayed in the lead, with Tenten and Lee on either side of him. With his Byakugan activated he scanned the area, barely turning his head, searching the ground and trees all around for any signs of the Sound Nin. His eyes picked up several other teams, but the Sound seemed to elude him.
Neji's legs and lungs were burning slightly, but he felt he still had enough stamina to last for quite a while longer. Secretly he was grateful to his teacher for emphasizing the need for speed on his three students. In between missions Gai would call for all three of them to train together. But his idea of training usually included having them run long miles, sometimes all day long.
"Our specialty is taijutsu!" Gai had said during one of their first training sessions. "All three of you are young and in your springtime of youth!"
That particular day they had been running through the trees all morning long, and Gai showed no signs of easing up. "Now is the time to work on your speed! You must be faster, and more efficient than your enemy!" That was also the day that Lee had first put the weights on, and even with the added baggage he was able to follow closely behind their teacher.
"As my students I have faith in you..." Neji remembered clearly how his lungs and heart felt like they were going to explode, but he pushed himself, forcing his body to keep up with Lee. He ran by his rival with an even rate of speed, determined not to fall back. Just a little ways behind them was Tenten, who was showing a little more wear, breathing heavily. But any complaints she had she kept to herself, running along in quiet pain.
"That you three will turn out to be the fastest shinobi the Hidden Leaves has ever seen!"
From the distance Neji suddenly saw the familiar features of the Sound Nin that he had seen with the Rookie teams. "There they are!" Neji said. He turned to his right, jumping through the trees, his teammates following. "This way! I need to get closer. I can barely seen them, they are almost exactly 50 meters away." He closed in on them, his vision coming in clear. Yes, it's defiantly them. Neji stopped on one branch, and Lee and Tenten followed suit.
The Sound Nin were jumping through the trees, rather slow. It made sense, of course. With Zaku and Kin recovering from Tenten's blows and Dosu naturally slower, even a team that didn't have much speed would have been able to catch up.
"Should we attack them now?" Tenten asked.
"The fact that they use sound is a handicap to us." Lee said.
"Let's head them off." Neji said, and the other two nodded. They took off, easily surpassing the Sound Team, heading in the direction of the tower. They lengthened the distance between the Sound Nin, and ran towards them until they were directly in front.
"It's better if we get out of the trees and hide on the ground." Neji stated, and the other two agreed. He looked down, a bush catching his eyes. He frowned. In the bushes he could see three familiar crouching figures.
Narrowing his eyes he said: "Let's go." and silently jumped down from the trees and onto the ground, directly behind the bush.
"Why is it wherever I go, you three are somewhere near by?" Neji asked flatly as he crouched down, deactivating his Byakugan.
The three who had their backs to him jumped, obviously taken by surprise.
Slowly the blonde kunoichi and her companions turned their heads. "Neji sama!" Ino cried. Her face turned red, and all three spun around completely, nervous and sweating.
Behind Neji, Tenten and Lee landed in a crouching position.
"Oh wow, a senior team!" Shikamaru cried, feigning excitement.
"I bet you guys have your scroll and on your way to the tower." Chouji said loudly.
Ino laughed nervously. "So you won't be needing a scroll from us."
"Didn't I tell you dropouts before it would be an embarrassment to take anything from you?" Neji demanded.
"What are you guys doing here?" Lee asked.
"Have you got both scrolls?" Tenten asked, a tinge of jealousy in her voice. Team Asuma laughed nervously.
Neji snickered. "More likely they're waiting on a weaker team to pass through so they can steal their scroll off of them." All three of them stopped their nervous twitching and looked away, embarrassed. Neji glowered. Just as I thought.
"No, we don't have both scrolls." Shikamaru spoke nervously. His eyes were shifting in every direction.
Neji frowned. Over the years he had grown keen at reading body gestures and facial expressions, and was highly aware of them. Team Asuma's nervous twitching and shifting eyes annoyed him.
He sighed. Are these the kind of shinobi the Academy is letting get through these days?
"We were waiting for the next unlucky team to pass through and then..." Shikamaru threw a weak awkward punch in the air. "We'd attack."
"A fine plan indeed!" Lee exclaimed, excitedly. "As long as you have the fire of youth within you it is impossible to fail."
Tenten nodded. "We hope to see you at the tower." but her voice lacked the reassurance she was trying to convey.
"You're in our way." Neji said.
Team Asuma looked blankly at Team Gai. "Well, far be it from us to get in the way!" Ino said.
"We've got business to take care of." Neji continued.
"We'd hate to interrupt that." Chouji cried.
"Get lost."
"HAI!" all three of them happily exclaimed, and burst away with a speed that surprised Team Gai.
There was a moment of quiet. "That is the strangest team." Tenten finally noted.
Neji shrugged. "Cowards." he reactivated his Byakugan, looking up. He could see that the Sound Team was closer, and slowly approaching. "The Uchiha broke that kid's arms, so we won't have to worry about him using an jutsus." he narrowed his eyes. "But the girl and the other guy's jutsus are both sound based."
"We would have to use something to block our hearing." Lee stated.
Neji shook his head. "As a shinobi it's never a wise idea to completely block one of your senses, even if it's being used against you."
"That one they called Dosu... he has that speaker on his arm to amplify the sound." Lee said, thinking aloud.
"We'll have to stop him before he has a chance to use it." Neji smirked. "Easy enough. I'll take care of him." Neji activated his Byakugan. The sun was almost completey set, and the darkness was starting to settle. The last rays of the light was not strong enough to penetrate the trees, but just enough to cast a dim grayness throughout the forest. But even with the lack of light he could see that the Sound was almost upon them.
"And I will take care of the Zaku kid." Lee said.
Neji looked at Tenten. He knew that the Sound Nin was now close enough to see even without the Bloodline activated. He followed her line of vision to see that she was, indeed, watching their approach.
"Tenten..." The girl's face showed that she was lost in thought.
Neji closed his eyes. "Tell us where you stand." He could hear Lee suck in his breath. Neji remained quiet. In truth he had wanted to say more to her, to persuade her to be the person he was use to seeing.
"I..." Tenten's voice wavered.
But he had resigned not to. After all, no matter what he said, it all made little difference. Fate would decide the girl's course of action, no matter what words of encouragement he had to offer. They could do it without her, if needs be. He and Lee could take them, on their own.
Tenten...
But somehow, the victory wouldn't be the same...
"I'll get them out of the trees." Tenten said quietly. "And take the girl."
Neji opened his eyes, the smirk on his face. He looked over at Lee who was clenching his fist, shaking in excitement, the adrenaline obviously rushing to his brain.
Arigato, Tenten...
"Then lets do it."
Tenten leapt into the trees until she was at a greater height than the Sound Nin. She looked down at the approaching team. In her hand was a kunai with a tag tied to it.
For a moment there, she had thought about leaving. Staring at the Sound Nin's approach, and remembering her defeat, she had wanted to give up and to walk away. The moment was fleeting. She quickly decided not to, for Neji and Lee's sake. She couldn't do that to them. But still, the feeling of loss and uncertainty tugged at her heart.
She wasn't quite sure why his face had popped into her head at that moment. That look of surprise on his face, when she had asked where she fit into the scheme of things. It had disappointed her to see the look on her sensei's face, to realize that he was at a loss for words.
Tenten pulled her right arm over her left shoulder, counting the distance between her and the enemy team. She swung it around, releasing the kunai that flew straight into a tree that the Sound Nin were a few beats behind. The ninjas started, and realizing what it was, fell to the ground. The tag quickly dissolved, and a penetrating boom accompanied by a bright flash and smoke filled the forest.
As Tenten jumped down to the ground she could hear Gai's voice. The question that had followed, that had left her with a look of surprise.
"Are you telling me, Tenten... you really don't know?"
I had to throw Team Asuma in there, if only for a moment... because they seemed to pop up wherever Neji was.
Poor long suffering Neji... :p