A/N just gonna warn you all, this is a pretty damn long chapter.

***

Itachi had always just written Hidan off as an insane lunatic, albeit a powerful insane lunatic. He didn't really believe in the cult stuff, and he didn't believe in a god, especially not Jashin. Jashin seemed like such a stupid thing to believe in, at least in Itachi's perspective. But then again, maybe Hidan was just pretending so that he wouldn't have to tell anyone what jutsu he was using. Anyway, Itachi thought Hidan was an idiot for being a Jashinist. 

Until now. 

He had kept a close eye on all of Sasuke's classmates, although none of them knew. 

Naruto; the loud, boisterous troublemaker. When Sasuke was young, he hadn't wanted Sasuke to be close to Naruto because he was afraid that Sasuke would also become as annoying as Naruto. Even though now that he thought back to it, that was ridiculous. Nobody could be as annoying as the orange-clad ninja. 

Sakura; fangirl. That was literally her whole personality back then. She even stopped being friends with Ino because of Sasuke. Itachi had hoped that she would grow up and stop crushing on Sasuke eventually, and it had happened, but not in the way that Itachi had hoped. 

Ino; talented Yamanaka clan member, completely Sasuke-obsessed. Or any-cute-boy obsessed. She was wasting her talent as she spent all her time looking in a mirror. 

Chouji; very talented. He wished people were kinder to the little guy. He had great potential to become maybe more talented than his father, and it helped that him and Shikamaru got along great. 

Shikamaru; good guy. Very intelligent. No doubt would become a great shinobi. Itachi wished Sasuke had spent more time with Chouji and Shikamaru. Perhaps that would have prevented all of this mess. 

Hinata; shy, massive Naruto fangirl. Itachi couldn't see why she had a crush on Naruto, but it was plain and obvious. Her talent, too, was going to waste because she was too afraid to advance. 

Shino; didn't talk much. Spent most of his time with his bugs. He would've been a good friend to Sasuke, maybe a bit weird, but better than many. 

Kiba; loud, talented, fun to be around. Much like his dog. Not much to say. 

Lee; what a hard worker. Itachi admired to his work ethic. It takes a lot to become a ninja with no chakra and no talent. 

Neji; talented. Very talented. But stuck up. 

And finally, Tenten. She'd seemed like such a fun girl to be around. Optimistic. Cheerful. Patient. The opposite of cult material. And yet here she was, clad in Akatsuki clothing, double-bladed scythe resting on her shoulder, firm believer in the great Lord Jashin. 

Goddamn. Or, perhaps, Jashindamn would be better. 

Suddenly, Tenten's voice interrupted Itachi's thoughts. "I think we're close to Konoha. Where will we be entering?"

"We'll enter from the front. Jump the gate. We're going to the Hokage's office."

"Aren't you homesick?"

"...no. Akatsuki members reject their village. We have no home except our hideout."

"Oh."

Awkward silence again. 

Sure, Itachi thought, I may be the great ninja who sacrificed my entire clan, but I can't keep a conversation going at all. I'm pretty damn awkward. Although people probably think that it's part of the job description or just me not wanting to talk. 

Eventually they entered Konoha, heading towards the Hokage's office. Tenten kept her head down low, hat covering her identity. She felt very nervous. What if Kakashi saw her? Or worse, what if the two 'youthful' team members saw her? Oh dear Jashin please let them not be here or see me, she thought. 

The two of them landed on the office's roof.

"Hokage-sama!" Gai yelled at Tsunade, loud enough to be heard on the roof. "My student and I are ready for another mission! Please let us pair up with Kakashi! Let us display the power of youth!"

"Thank you, that's quite enough, Gai." Tsunade said. "Kakashi is on the search for Sakura, remember? He misses her quite a lot, and is worried, remember?"

Gai tried not to cry. "Tenten's gone too, you know."

"Right. Shouldn't you be finding her?"

Lee suddenly spoke, "We want to but we fear that she left because she doesn't want to know us! She doesn't want to train with us!"

Tsunade grabbed a drink. "Right, so it will take you a while to find her. You don't have anything to do right now and we don't need you either so you might as well search for her."

"Uh, okay Tsunade-sama! We'll leave right now!" they chorused, then raced out of the office. 

"Haha shit I hope they don't find us," Tenten said, in a normal voice. Itachi shot her a glance. "Yeah, don't worry, Itachi-sensei, the two youthful ones are halfway across the village by now. And Tsunade is already too drunk to notice someone on the roof and pay attention to it."

Itachi was still hiding so that no shinobi could see him. "I suggest that you hide. Before someone finds an Akatsuki member here."

"I miss my room... If I take off my Akatsuki clothes nobody'll notice, un. I just don't give a shit about it anymore, they don't know I'm Akatsuki, so I'll be fine. Nobody cared about Naruto. So why should they care about me, hm?" Tenten complained. 

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You really shouldn't... unless you're sure nobody would suspect a thing?"

"Yeah, I'm sure as fuck. Lemme go."

"...fine. I'll come collect you once the target heads towards the office, okay?"

"Yup." And Tenten left the Akatsuki clothes with Itachi and walked around the village. She ate a bit, then stopped by her house to check if everything was ok. It appeared to be fine. 

Suddenly Tenten was attacked by a hug. 

"TENTEN! YOU'RE BACK?!" Ino yelled. "HOW ARE YOU?!"

"I'm all good, un. What about you, Ino?" Tenten smiled. 

"I did some training and stuff, so I'm all good too! The flower shop is going great as well." Ino fell silent for a moment, then her face lit up. "Follow me!"

Ino led Tenten to Ino's room. "So, Tenten, have you found the love of your life yet?"

Tenten thought of Deidara, blushed and shook her head no. 

"Aw, but you blushed! I could swear you did have a crush though! What cute village boy is it? How cute is he?"

"...he's pretty fucking cute, I gotta say."

"So you do have a crush! I knew it!" Ino said animatedly. "Who is it? What's his name? Do you have a picture??"

"Of course I have a picture!" Tenten started smiling almost insanely. "He's so fucking adorable!"

"Show!" Ino begged. "Pleeeeeaaaaase?"

"...I can't." Tenten lowered her eyes to the ground. "Sorry, Ino."

Ino looked almost heartbroken. "Why? Is he ugly or something? I won't judge..."

"No, he is cute, don't worry about that. I just can't because... well I can't really explain but I just can't, ok?"

"Oh... Do I know them?"

Tenten kinda smiled awkwardly and grimly, "Yeah, don't worry, you know him for sure."

"Is he from our class? Is he from Konoha?"

"He's not from Konoha."

"I don't know many people outside of Konoha, though? Are you sure I know him?"

"Yeah you know him for sure, un." 

"UGHHHH JUST TELL ME ALREADY!"

"No. I want to, but I can't." Tenten kinda shrugged. 

"Ok," Ino said, "Then what about where Sakura is?"

"Haha, I don't know where the bitch is, she's somewhere though. I'll meet her in a week or so. She's totally fine, don't worry about her, un."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "Why won't you SAY anything??? What's so 'top secret' about training? You're being so vague, it's like you're not even the Tenten I know! And what's with the un you keep saying?! And about boys! You know I could give you tips on how to get him to date you, but you won't say who!"

Tenten rolled her eyes, "For Jashin's sake, don't worry about it. It's not that bad. I'm only here on a pitstop anyway since I was passing by on a mission."

Ino stopped for a second. "What was that?"

Suddenly scared of Ino finding out about Jashin-sama and missions and Akatsuki, Tenten said, "Shit, let's go find Hinata and eat at Ichiraku's! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ino dropped the subject for a second. "Sure, then you can fill Hinata in on the cute boy you like," she grinned. "I can ask more later."

"Great, let's get going!" Tenten smiled from relief. That had been way too close. 

Tenten and Ino visited the Hyuga compound and greeted Hinata. 

"Hey, what's up? Long time no see," Tenten embraced the Hyuga princess. 

"Oh my god, Tenten-chan, you're back!"

"Yeah! Ino and I were thinking of getting some ramen, wanna come with us to Naruto's favorite stand?"

"Let's go!"

On the way to Ichiraku's, Ino filled Hinata in on what had already happened. 

"Hinata! Guess what? Tenten has a crush! She says he's really cute and stuff but she won't show me a picture! And she and Sakura kinda split up I think? They're meeting later this week? I can't wait to meet Sakura again-"

"Wait, what?" Tenten interrupted Ino's stream of words. "What do you mean, you'll see Sakura again?"

Ino turned around and looked at Tenten funny. "Well of course, if I know where Sakura is, which you do, I'm gonna go meet her and see how she is. What were you expecting?"

"I'm NOT showing you where Sakura is." Tenten said, tone unintentionally angry. 

"What, why not?" Ino fumed, "See, Hinata, Tenten's been like this all day. She's vague and mysterious about where she was in the past couple weeks, she's refusing to tell me who her crush is even though she says I know her crush, and she's just in general being annoying. What's the point of a training journey if nothing has happened?"

Hinata kinda stumbled on her words, "A-ah, Ino-chan, I'm s-sure it's not that bad. M-maybe she just wants to show you the e-end result of her training, not the middle?"

Tenten looked at Hinata, "Yeah, exactly!" Tenten lied, "That's totally the reason I had for not telling her anything, un!"

Ino glared at Tenten, "That sounds really suspicious, you know?"

The girls sat down at Ichiraku's and ordered their ramen. Tenten took care not to show the palms of her hands as she ate, so that the two of them couldn't be freaked out by her 'upgrades'. Even though Deidara-sensei did give it to me, so I'm not really embarrassed, but they'll probably tell everyone I'm Akatsuki. I gotta play it safe. Oh Lord Jashin, please help me, Tenten thought. 

They had all nearly finished their ramen when all of a sudden a cute guy walked up.

"Heyya Tenten, we gotta get going!" He said. 

Ino gave Tenten a look. "Is that him? Cuz he is cute."

"No, that's not him, un. That's just my friend... uhh..." Tenten struggled for a name. 

"I'm Ichiro, I'm traveling with Tenten just for a little while." Itachi saved Tenten the name. 

"Hey wait," Ino said. "Your chakra kind of reminds me of someone...?"

Tenten looked alarmed. Surely Ino hadn't learned what Itachi's chakra was like, right? Hadn't he hid his chakra?

Ino continued, "Yeah, you remind me of Kiba or Sasuke? I guess since you two look alike, I can see why. Nice to meet you, Ichiro."

"Sorry to interrupt, but Tenten and I have got to go now, if you know what I'm saying Tenten."

"Yeah, yeah, bye bye Ino and Hinata. See you later, un!" Tenten said quickly, then the two of them shunshinned away. 

Ino was a bit unimpressed, "She can't even say goodbye properly."

Meanwhile, Itachi dropped the genjutsu that changed his appearance and handed Tenten her cloak and hat and scythe. 

"I hope you didn't tell them about anything sensitive."

"No, it got pretty hard since they wanted to know my crush but I managed to get away without too much suspicious."

Itachi wasn't going to admit it, but he was pretty curious about who Tenten's crush was. "Your crush better not be Akatsuki. Love isn't cut out for shinobi, especially not Akatsuki ones."

"...I know." Tenten answered after a long silence. 

Itachi fell silent again. The two of them just kept running. 

Itachi spoke up again, "The target is Shuncho, a Genin shinobi with very little motivation. He's on of the messengers between Suna and Konoha. I don't think he's carrying anything too important, but someone ordered his death. I understand that you're not meant to kill anyone immediately, in order to sacrifice them later?"

"Yeah... Please try not to interfere with Jashin-sama's activities. Let me try alone." Tenten's eyes glazed over for a second, and she just whispered, "Jashin-sama."

Itachi nodded. 

The rest of the mission continued smoothly. Shuncho was sacrificed quickly and efficiently, with only a couple hours. In the meanwhile, Itachi went and collected the payment. 

In the next couple days, Itachi merely polished Tenten's skills and taught her far better genjutsu.