Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Not so standard disclaimer: I know nothing . . . nothing!
She had never believed in love at first sight. She thought it laughable that two people could just catch a glimpse of each other from across the room and suddenly be in love. She was the type of person to crack jokes during the "sad part" of romantic movies; Sakura and Ino no longer brought her along for movie night because of this. So why was this happening now? In one day she was completely, devastatingly devoted and already torn apart from her one true love.
"You can drool on it all you like, but like I told you yesterday the price isn't going down." Tenten tore her eyes away from the display case to the shopkeeper.
"Come on I'm your best costumer, we can work something out." She ran a possessive hand over the glass casing itching to hold the steel chakra sword within. It was the perfect weapon for short and long distance combat and could adapt within a moment's notice. A hidden mechanism allowed the long double edged blade to detach from the hilt revealing a thin but perfectly indestructible chakra chain which gave the weapon a 30 meter range. As a regular sword the weight and length were perfectly balanced so as to move with the user and was well suited for smooth quick attacks. As a sword on chain the blades chain feed on the user's chakra causing the blades weight and density to increase and decrease accordingly allowing the user greater control and accuracy than most chained weapons. In either form the blade had been sharpened to the point that that you could cut straight through a man without breaking a sweat. There couldn't possibly be any another man or woman out there who could wield it better than her. It was her sword.
"Kid you maybe in here every day, but the number of kunais, daggers, sickles, and chains you bought in a year still wouldn't match the price of this sword. You're a shinobi why don't you try getting a mission so you can earn it."
"But all the good missions are taken. Even if I did all the D-rank missions left on the roster I'd still have less than half!" Tears glistened in her eyes. The shop owner looked indifferent.
"Not my problem kid. Hey, stop scaring my customers!" Tenten stopped glaring at the little genin who had wandered to close to the display. Sighing and with one last forlorn look she left the store.
Plan A, begging had failed. She began walking to the hokage tower. It looked like a couple of months or years of d-rank missions and ramen dinners. Maybe Tora was on the loose again. If she could catch the nasty hell cat quick enough maybe Madam Shijimi would give her an extra reward, of cash. The last thing she would want was that woman's other reward of homemade Onigiri. It was pathetic that her first time visiting the hospital as a real ninja was because of accidental food poisoning.
"What is it this time Tenten?" Shizune said before taking a bite out of the chocolate bar.
"It's the most beautiful sword ever crafted by man. It can alternate between a short and long ranged weapon and feeds off the users chakra—"
"How much is it this time Tenten?" Shizune said before the girl could get too worked up. The last thing she wanted to do was get stuck into an hour long rant about the usefulness of spears. It was no wonder Tadashi in weapons design had been pestering to have the chuunin gain early admission into the testing branch.
"35,000 ryo." Tenten said with a dismissive wave.
"You do realize that the average c class mission is a 1,000 Tenten chan. Too bad all we have left are d-class missions that go for 500 apiece. Do you have any money saved up?" Tenten looked away sheepishly playing with her fingers.
"750 ryo." Shizune repressed the urge to shake the girl. She settled for a stern expression and voice instead.
"You do realize that you should save up for more than just weapons." The girl gave her, her best puppy dog eyes. 'I'm such a sucker' Shizune thought as she shook her head.
"Let's see what we can get you."
"SHIZUNE," Tsunade's yell reverberated down the hallway.
"One minute Tenten." Shizune ran down the hall. Within a few minutes she returned with an anxious look on her face.
"Tenten, I think I may have a mission for you. Please come with me." Shizune started walking back again to Tsunade's office. 'A mission, a mission straight from the hokage?' The thought brought a bubble of excitement to the girl. The hokage, contrary to popular belief did not delegate all missions. Only those that warranted special attention got the hokages special touch. Unlike team seven, which seemed to be a magnet for important and powerful people, most genin only caught brief glimpses of their leader and most chuunin would count themselves lucky to get a passing by hello. Tenten had been luckier than most, having been in Tsunade's office already a handful of times. Still she had hardly spoken during those times, plus she had always been with her team, and frankly after blowing up that illegal weapons shop (and several smaller stores close to the facility) she thought that she would never be trusted with another mission from her idol again. Could it be, that she would be able to redeem herself to her idol and obtain her one true love with one glorious mission? Her heart was hammering in her chest as she finally stood across from the woman.
"Hmm, you wouldn't be the first person I would think of for this job." Tsunade started bluntly, and Tenten felt her heart sink. "This mission requires tact and respect for the surrounding environment and other challenges that take a keen and devious mind to grasp." Tsunade leaned forward looking the young woman straight in the eyes. "You are a well-rounded ninja Tenten, deadly, precise, straightforward and intelligent. This job requires deadly precision and awareness of your environment. You will be hunting the lowest of the low, but your job must leave no marks, except for the ones on your enemies. It requires patience and a critical eye as your enemy is fairly sneaky and well-versed in hiding in plain sight. Still there are other unique challenges to this mission."
"I will do whatever you ask of me Tsunade-sama."
"I am giving you an option Tenten, not a command. I thought it might be of interest to you as it is a well-paying mission."
"I am prepared for anything Tsunade –sama!" Tenten said as visions of her new sword danced in her head.
"If you say so," Tsunade said with a dark smile. "Then it is final, you will be the new anti-peeping guard at the Green Roots Hot Spring."
"Eh?" Tenten's mouth hung open as she stared vacantly at Tsunade.
"There has been a disturbing increase in voyeuristic perverts in the fire countries most prestigious hot spring."
"Eh?" Tenten was pretty sure she resembled a gold fish at this point.
"You will be given a regular commission of 10,000 ryo a week."
Something snapped in place in side of Tenten's head. "Yes, Tsunade sama!" Tenten said enthusiastically a big grin on her face.
"At least that is what you will earn as long as there are no damages to the property. Any damage, no matter how small, will come directly out of your paycheck. If you have any questions, you should look closely at the contract."
"There is no need Tsunade-sama. I will prepare immediately. I will not disappoint you."
"Good you start tomorrow at 8 am. " With that she was dismissed.
As the girl left the office Tsunade helped herself to a little bit of sake. "There's one born every minute?"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Day one
"Konohomaru," sniff, "do we have" sniff, "to be sneaking around so" sniff "early?" Udon complained. He wiped furiously at his runny nose, but his impetuous leader was not even looking at him.
"Quiet Udon, if we are ever going to master big brother Naruto's special technique we'll need to conduct a lot of research. Now keep on looking around, I heard that they might have hired someone to scout. Failure could mean our very lives." Konohamaru said pressing his hand to the outer walls of the hot springs and feeling for the small groove of stone to try to find the cap to the peephole as he sensed for any unknown chakra. After all peeping wasn't simply about finding a peephole. Kunoichi were a deadly breed, any signs of disturbance or tampering and he would be a goner. "Found it." He said grasping at a smooth piece of stone that at first seemed a part of the wall but carefully, with a small bit of chakra carefully loosened itself from the walled surface.
Usually it took a few good hours of scouting before he even found an available target, but already he could make out a dark head of short hair and a tan neck. 'Come on,' his mind urged, 'turn around or stand up.' He needed to know if this girl would be a good spring of inspiration. From this view he could barely even tell it was a woman. As if reading his mind the figure before him did both.
"GWWWWAUUUGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Konohamaru screamed as he fell to the ground his hands clutching his eyes and sobbing
Udon rushed over to Konohamaru and began to shake him. "What happened?" Sniff, "Are you okay?" Sniff, "hey answer me!" Konohamaru just whimpered in pain. It didn't look as if any projectiles had been launched into Konohamaru's retina, still his leader wouldn't be like this unless he was forced to suffer through some horrific attack. Cautiously Udon approached the hole. He could sense a faint genjutsu surrounding it. It was well hidden though. 'I should dispel it though,' he thought as he wiped his nose again. 'Maybe if I see what type it is we can figure out who laid this trap.' He would have to allow himself to enter the genjutsu to break it though, but he was certain despite whatever horror they could come up with he would retain enough sense to break it.
Pressing his eye to the peephole all hope became lost. "No," sniff "no, please no." A thousand bowl hair and thick eye browed men were playing provocatively in the hot spring, the steam the only thing preserving their dignity. All rational thought left him and so did consciousness as he passed out in horror. As such he didn't sense the figure which suddenly dropped down on the ground between him and his boss.
"Heh, I'm not really that great with genjutsu." Tenten said more to herself than the others. "I prefer fighting weapons in hand and feeling and hearing my enemies' bones break beneath me. Still, Gai always pushed us to learn those things that were hard for us. So while I'm nowhere near a master I did learn a handy trick. Who knew all those traumatizing experiences with Gai could be used as an effective weapon."
Konohamaru stopped his whimpering and looked at her, horror still etched on his face. "You." he whispered as if in pain.
"Yup, me. You're a little young to be a pervert. I guess it's a good thing I caught you so soon. It's easier to break bad habits from the beginning. After all, you really should be careful where you look. You might not like what you see."
"You," Konohamaru said with a snarl as he forced himself to his feet. "Just because no man will ever look at you doesn't mean you have to be such a bitch."
The killing intent that radiated out of the area sent a wave of boiling heat through the surrounding hot springs.
"What did you say?" A dark aura surrounded Tenten and she summoned her iron chain.
"You heard me, and I never take back a word. A true ninja stands by what he says no matter what, that is my nindo!"
"IDIOT!" Before Konohamaru even had a chance to blink her long chain was wrapped around his leg and he was air born. "It doesn't matter how serious you say it, you still sound like an idiot!"
Twenty minutes later
"Hey, did you hear that?" Izumo asked Kotestu as he looked up from the paperwork the ring man from the traveling circus was presenting him.
"Did it sound like some poor sap wrapped up in chains and suspended on the other side of the entrance with a seal on his mouth that says big mouthed idiot?" Kotetsu said as he languidly stamped the fortuneteller's passport.
"Yes," Izumo said, an eyebrow raised.
"Nope." Kotetsu said stamping the passport of the bearded lady.
"Oh."
Back at the hot springs Tenten congratulated herself on a job well done when she came across the owner staring at the wall with a serious expression.
"Shigi San, I have dispatched of one group of perverts today. I assure you they will not be returning."
"There is a hole in my wall." Shigi said severely pointing to the peeping hole.
"Eh, oh it seems the perpetrators had established the hole previously. They used a piece of stone and chakra to disguise the gap. However, I have booby-trapped it so that no one will want to even dare look through it."
"There is a hole in my wall! Do you know what such things say about a hot spring! It is an eyesore, already customers will begin to flee. Word will spread out and the status of my hot springs will fall, only middle class old men will bother coming. The whole reputation of my prestigious resort is ruined!" Shigi said in a fury as he pointed at the small hole in the wall as if it was some disturbing cancer.
"Eh?"
"300 ryo!"
"What?" Tenten said blankly unsure of where the number had come from.
"From your paycheck, how dare you allow this to happen!" Tenten could feel her blood begin to boil.
"I wasn't even here when that happened. You cannot expect me to honestly pay for something that happened before I even started!"
"Are you talking back to me!? You will pay what your negligence has caused or I will find a Kunoichi who is capable of doing her job." He growled pointing his finger in her face. It took all of Tenten's self-control not to bite it.
"Yes sir." Tenten said through clench teeth and her mind began to chant 'the mantra chakra sword, chakra sword, chakra sword'.
AN: I have written out the whole story so far, but I am waiting for a beta to look through. Anyone who is willing to give a third set of eyes through this story is appreciated. This story will be uploaded in three parts aptly named, beginning, middle, and end. There might also be an Omake, but heaven knows if that will actually work out.