Advance

Everything's so… different now.

The faces are the same and a few of the older buildings are still standing, but there have been so many changes… I still can't fathom how far we've come.

TenTen pulled away from her window and pulled the silk curtain closed. She slowly trudged back to her bed and took a seat upon the comforter. Her hand gently rubbed over her hip bone, and she gave a pitiful smile as the gentle pain that lingered in her side. 'It's kind of depressing… to realize how weak I've become. Especially when I can took back on how amazing I used to be.' She looked over to an orange bottle resting upon her dresser, but she refused to take the medication within it. She always had been stubborn, after all. Instead, she moved her attention past it… staring fondly at a photograph of herself and her young comrades: Lee's ever smiling face, Gai's rambunctious excitement, Neji's cool façade, and her own gentle blush.

Atop a jewelry box, resting catty-cornered to her picture frame was a small black clock. It was an odd contraption. The clock was blinking with red-lighted numerals. She wasn't quite sure how it worked, and she wasn't too fond of the numbers… but she understood what it said. The English numbers told her that it was 3:11 in the afternoon. Her nap had lasted longer than she intended.

She didn't know anything about the English language, although she knew that the schools were now requiring students to learn it along with their other studies. Thankfully, she was glad she had missed such a curricular. She didn't really feel it necessary to learn the language of a place she would never visit… although in these days, it seemed like many foreigners were coming to their parts.

It was just another reminder of how the times had changed.

She sighed deeply, pulling her gaze away from the clock, and looked onto a much nicer object. She loved her kotatsu. It was such a wonderful creation, and she loved to sit under it whenever the weather grew chilly. Although, she would have to move it into storage soon. 'Tomorrow's going to be the first day of spring. We'll have so much to do…'

The door knocked and a young lady entered. The brunette gave her a polite smile and drifted to the window. "Now, now, my lady, it's so dreary in here. Let's freshen this place up." TenTen frowned, but let the maid do as she pleased. It was too tiring to argue with her vivaciousness. The girl pulled back her curtain, illuminating the room with light. She flashed TenTen a quick smile, before announcing that lunch would be finished soon.

TenTen waved the girl off and chuckled softly. "Cripes, I'm not that old. I could have done it myself. Stupid kids… I wonder what they would think if they saw me jump out the window and walk up to the roof that way. Their hearts would probably explode." At this she sighed, and had to admit another one of the greatest changes. "I miss all of our training… our fights! It wasn't so long ago that we fought for this land by hand… rather than by gun." She snorted and made haste to exit the bed lest the maids thought she was idling.

She returned to her window and threw the glass pane open. She stared her village in the face, and had to smile. The village of Konoha really wasn't much of a village anymore… "Talk about a crowd." Numerous citizens were bustling through the streets, each going about their own way. "Kind of refreshing… but I still don't like it." Again, she always had been stubborn.

The Land of Fire had exceeded greatly since the old ninja wars. The invasion of Orochimaru's men was nothing more than a boring chapter in text books for most. But she still remembered… she had been there, and she had fought. 'Boy, didn't we fight a lot.' Telephone wires criss-crossed the streets which were now covered in pavement. Where there used to be street vendors were now newspaper carts and little, lemonade stands. The real economics took place in the new, gleaming buildings further down the road. Children were playing in the street, reeling out of the way when a horse cart came racing down the road. Dogs barked and children squealed and their lousy neighbor started hollering for them to shut up.

'I miss it when this place was settled all by itself. All these new business settlements and housing flats were too damn noisy.' But she didn't want to yell at the children, rather she would make faces at them and they would do the same in return. One boy stuck his fingers up his nose, and snapped his lower jaw at her. She pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue. 'I don't know if I'll ever grow up…' she laughed merrily.

"I guess there are a few good things…" She murmured softly to herself, thinking of the lovely Satsuma oranges that she could now get daily from the local grocer. Before, she would have to wait until good seasons just to get a few. Now she could have them all day long.

She pulled on her kimono and quickly tugged her hair into a simple, precise bun. 'That western cream rinse isn't that bad either…' She ran her hands a few more times over her soft hair. Stepping into her geta, she heard a young boy's voice screaming her name. He busted into her room and dived for a hug. She held the child close, smothering him with affection. "How was your nap, grandma?" She smiled. "It was alright, but you should go throw a few balloons at the neighbor again. He really is noisier than those kids outside." The child laughed.

"How was your game, Tenji? Did you win?" The boy smiled up at her, batting his long feminine lashes. "I got first place! Uzumaki got third so he got a white ribbon. Mine was blue!" Her smile widened and she patted Tenji upon his head. "Congratulations. Who got second?" The brown-haired child beamed up at her, and she gazed lovingly into his gorgeous, white eyes. "Kouta did. Kouta Inuzuka won second but he kind of cheated… Tsubaru-Chan helped him. And that's not fair, because dogs can run faster than we can!"

She nodded and agreed with him, thinking vaguely of a time back when she would have easily outrun the best dog nin. "Well, what about Shiromaru? How come he wasn't with Kouta?" She glanced at another picture on her dresser, one with Tenji and Kouta with the two nin dogs. She was especially fond of Shiromaru because he looked so much like Akamaru…

"…Yeah, and so he's still resting because that bee stinger was really sharp! Dr. Haruno was really nice though and let them have some medicine for free! She's so cool."

"Tenji, where's your mother at?" The child stopped bouncing for a moment to ponder the question. "I bet she's downstairs cooking with dad. Want me to go look?" TenTen nodded and the eager child hopped away. She gazed after him, watching his back retreat down the hall.

'He looks just like his grandfather did… and how hard it's been.' Her smile twisted into a faint grimace. 'How hard it's been… raising your mother on my own, and doing to best I could for her. Did I do my best?' Her hand clenched upon the intricate framework of her doorway, holding onto the wall for support. Her eyes vaguely glanced over the expensive wood… but it was also old. So old…

'I miss his dearly, I really do. When Kiba came back to tell me that he… that he wouldn't be coming back. I wanted to cry and sometimes I still do. It's been so hard, raising a child all by myself. And living with the Hyuugas all alone. It's been so difficult, Neji, I can't believe I've made it.'

She pulled away from the wall and turned back to face the window. Outside there was a new world that she didn't completely understand. The technological advances of Konohagakure were astounding! And yet… she felt as though she had been left behind. 'Have I been?'

'What about us? We were the ones who fought to uphold this home of ours… we fought bare-handed and we died proudly. But now, everything that we fought for is so different. I don't really know what's going on… I feel old and a bit out-dated. Oh, Neji… I wish you could have seen her. Our daughter was beautiful as a child. She has your eyes, and so does Tenji. They all have your eyes… Everyday your eyes are watching me. It was so hard, all those years ago. Living up to your eyes, but you were gone and I had so many expectations to fill. Your family's a stressful bunch… but they're getting there. Most of our elders are gone… and who would have guessed? We're the elders now! It's… kind of laughable.'

A single, wrinkled, blemished hand pressed gently upon the glass window. Her hollowed eyes scanned the street, taking notice of all the things… such little things that had created such a big impact. Little things that were the first steps of Konoha's advance to becoming technological.

"I'm old now… our youth of springtime is over, like Lee used to say. But tomorrow, springs starts again."

Tenji bounded back into her room, peering up at her with those familier, white eyes. "Mom says that it's lunch time. Come on, grandma!" The boy turned and fled back down the hall. She followed him, a small smile on her face.

'It's been so hard, dealing with everything… but I did my best and… not all of the changes were bad.'

I wrote this story while lying in bed and thinking about how many people write "modern" versions of Naruto. Like how the Naruto cast go to school and they go to McDonald's or whatever, and quite frankly I think they suck. Sorry, but I have -yet- to ever read one decent "modern" Naruto fanfic.

So oddly enough, I was thinking that rather than set them in modern time... what would they be like if they made it to modern time? Albeit, to be technically correct... none of them would make it to modern time. They'd all be our ancestors but that just ruins my plot theory.

So I know this story isn't politically correct, because I wasn't really aiming for that... I was more aiming for the thought of how they would feel about it. And yet, once again... all of my thoughts transcending into words become completely abstract. I at least hope that you could grasp onto TenTen's feelings.

And another oddity, this wasn't about Sakura!

I've never really had a fancy for TenTen, but when thinking of who I could use to interpret my thoughts... I just got the image of an elderly TenTen gazing into her grandson's white eyes and reminiscing of her lost beloved. But while writing this, I failed to touch more clearly on the NejixTenTen relationship. My bad.

Even so... I find this kind of depressing, but also sweet. It's always a bittersweet image to see an elderly person and realize that you know nothing that they do... and that they've experienced so much more than we could ever do. Especially veterans. People forget about the men and women who spent their lives for the future generations... and we only bother to pay thanks on July 4th and Veteran's Day.

So the next time you see someone older than you, give them a smile and say hello. Because they're just making their way... whatever way that they can. Just like we are.

(And this ends my Good Deed for the day.)