Tenten & Neji ~Protection~

-Chapter 4- New Task

Tenten hasn't been herself lately. She felt emptiness in her heart. She had skipped training with her team, she was just laying in her bed staring at the wall for hours. Eventually her friends got concerned.

"Hey! Tenny! Open the door! We haven't seen you for a while!" Neji yelled as he knocked on the door. Tenten covered her face with her pillow ignoring Neji.

"Wait... She isn't responding... is Tenten okay?!" Neji thought. He kicked the door open and ran to Tenten's room and began knocking on the door louder. Tenten curled up in her bed. She covered her whole body with her blanket. Then Neji slammed the door open.

"Tenten?! Are you alright?! I can't see anything in here..." Neji flicked the light switch on. Illuminating the entire room. He had saw a large lump on the bed. Which was Tenten under the blanket.

"Baka... go away..." Tenten mumbled. Neji sighed. He then sat at the corner of the bed.

"Why aren't you coming to training? I haven't seen you for a week. Is something wrong?" Neji asked.

"Not your business, now can you get the hell out of my room?" Tenten asked. Neji sighed. He then pulled the blanket off of her, grabbed her shoulder and pulled her so she was facing him. Neji had stared at Tenten. Her eyes were pink and puffy. Her buns were a mess. She had baggy eyes.

"Tenten what happened?! Why have you been crying!? Did someone hurt you?!" Neji hugged Tenten. She then bawled on Neji's shoulder.

"I-I feel so lonely and useless! Why do people see me as useless?!" Tenten cried.

"And why do you listen to them?" Neji asked. Tenten stared at Neji.

"If you ignore them or stand up for yourself, they will leave you alone." Neji said. Tenten sighed.

"I know." Tenten looked away as she wiped her tears.

"Oi! Ten! Tsunade has a mission for us!" Ino yelled from outside. Tenten quickly fixed her buns and ran outside with Neji.

"Hey TennTEN?! YOU LOOK HORRIBLE! What happened?" Ino had her hands on Tenten's cheeks.

"A-Ah... its nothing..." Tenten moved Ino's hand. Ino stared at Tenten. She then sighed.

"Also your on the mission too Neji." Ino said. Neji looked surprised for a moment. He then nodded. The 3 headed to go see Tsunade.

"The... 6 of you will head out to the Land of Sand. There has been multiple reports of attacks." Tsunade said. The team she was sending out was Tenten, Neji, Ino, Sakura, Temari, and Shikamaru.

"Dismissed." Tsunade said. They all nodded and left.

(Time Skip bc it'll get interesting uwu)

"Thank goodness for no sandstorm. We had a insane wind storm on the way here." Temari sighed. They all traveled on the sand. Keeping an eye out.

"Are there any information of what the enemies are?" Neji asked.

"No. Nothing." Sakura said. Neji sighed. Tenten then felt a odd presence. Suddenly a chain had came right towards her. She quickly jumped up to dodge it. Everyone turned around and got into guard mode.

"Tch... Leaf ninjas..." a deep cracking voice was heard. It was a puppet user. Just one. Tenten held on her scrolls.

"Seems like I found you. What is that I hear? Bell chiming... Huh... time must be up... I'll prepare your dEaTh!" The puppet user Suddenly had 70 puppets surrounding the team.