Auburn and Gold

Arc I, Childhood: To Pull


Synopsis: A Chunin kunoichi from Konoha dies from elemental chakra poisoning during the Fourth Shinobi World War, only to be given a opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to change everything. Time Travel, AU, Tenten-centric


**Warning: Spoilers for recent chapters of the manga!**


"So, how about we start off with something a bit different today?" Kushina cocks her head, looking at each of them momentarily before her gaze settles on Tenten. "We're going to have a little demonstration, given by Tenten here."

"Excuse me?" Tenten sits up in surprise. "I don't remember volunteering for that."

Kushina raises an eyebrow, looking every bit unconvinced by her act of cluelessness. "No more secrets, remember? Or was yesterday just an act?"

Tenten flushes under the hidden reprimand, biting her lip worriedly. She isn't so naive as to believe this is a mere exercise to unite her with her team - the resolute look in Kushina's eyes make it obvious that there is something else going on, something much more serious than a simple sharing of skills between teammates.

Takashi mistakes her hesitance for nerves, and tries to laugh reassuringly, clapping a hand on her back. "Oh c'mon, Tenten. It's not like we're going to hate you for holding out on us or anything."

"Of course not." Tenten forces herself to smile. Well, Hikari might, she thinks sardonically, glancing quickly at the Hyuuga girl's deceptively calm form. After the previous day's explosion, Tenten doesn't trust herself to read her female teammate accurately - she knows that this entire time she has been seeing a ghost of Neji and Hinata instead of Hikari herself, and it is a mistake that has been arising more and more recently.

Looking back at Kushina's expectant features again, she feels the gut-wrenching feeling come back to her throat, and now she is positive there is another reason Kushina is asking this of her.

"Alright," she manages to say steadily. "Anything you want to see first?"

"How about taijutsu - your personal style and influences?" Kushina chooses immediately, and the addition to the end of her sentence nearly makes Tenten wince. Spending a lifetime training with taijutsu specialists, specifically a Juuken prodigy and two Gouken practitioners, meant choosing styles that complemented those of her teammates. Both the Juuken and Gouken were derived from older styles that were meant to cancel each other, and so Tenten had chosen to learn a style that managed to balance the two extremes.

Before, her odd taijutsu styles were easily explained through her teammates, but she should've realized earlier that she has no such excuses here.

"I use two types of taijutsu," she begins, making Kushina blink in surprise. "One is adapted to be used in hand-to-hand combat, whereas the other revolves around the use of weaponry."

"Weaponry?" Takashi echoes in curiosity, and this time even Hikari leans in slightly. "Like katana or chokuto?"

"Kind of." Tenten pulls a scroll from her hip pouch, unraveling it as she smears a line of blood across the sealing scripts crammed across the paper. In a burst of smoke, she watches as the rain of metal and steel fall around her in a perfect circle.

"Impressive." Kushina lets out a low whistle, her eyes falling on a set of tegaki-shuko - a weapon not often used because of its notorious difficultly. The tiger claws are pristine and sharpened, and the leather worn yet well-oiled, and Kushina nods in approval.

Both Hikari and Takashi are looking at the array of weaponry with no little amount of fascination, Hikari in particular. Tenten watches as the Hyuuga girl reaches towards a naginata - a long staff topped with wide blades, a weapon that happens to be one of Tenten's favorites - and chuckles when Hikari hisses and yanks back her hand when the pole weapon shocks her.

"Weaponry is a large part in a lesser-known taijutsu style called Ryuukyuu kobujutsu. Since it's an old style that utilizes older weapons like sai and surujin, I've tried my best to incorporate modern weapons into the style as well." Tenten looks pointedly towards the tiger claws that caught Kushina's attention earlier. "Each of the weapons are marked with chakra seals that allow only certain people to use the weapons - in this case, me."

"A lot of your weapons vary in range," Kushina notes, her eyes darting over all the weapons as if trying to memorize them all. Tenten has to suppress a chuckle at the frown that begins to develop in her sensei's brow - she knows that things like tonfa and nunchaku and kama are seemingly common in Kushina's eyes, looking very much like everyday tools instead of shinobi weaponry.

There is a smug, eager part of her that can't wait to prove her sensei's assumptions wrong.

"Different enemies have different ranges," Tenten says simply. "A short-range specialist can be dealt with by using a kusari-gama, or a manriki-gusari. Long-range specialists can be incapacitated with chokuto or bo, and mid-range specialists are easily beaten with variable-range weapons like standard kunai or kama."

"And your other taijutsu style?" Kushina asks abruptly, impatience lacing her voice ever so slightly. Tenten manages to crack a small smile at the so very Naruto-like trait, but she chooses her next words very carefully.

"Look, I'm an orphan, okay?" she says frankly, and she inwardly grins when her blunt statement has the desired effect - Kushina's face softens by a fraction, and she continues. "The only taijutsu style I've been formally taught is the Konoha Gojuu-ryuu, but that's practically useless if you're going up against a Hyuuga or an Inuzuka. I taught myself something called Bokushingu, a taijutsu style that fell out of practice during the First War."

"But I'm curious." Tenten smiles wryly at the red-head, her voice dropping low. She knows what she's about to do is dangerous and stupid and immensely idiotic, but suspicion will only make her life harder and harder, especially with the war looming over all their heads. She has to dispel the suspicion and the distrust as quickly as she can.

"All these questions, this interest... all you want to know why it looks so similar to Juuken, right?" Tenten cocks her head to the side. "So what are you hiding? Why all the smoke and games... Kushina-sensei?"

Kushina stiffens slightly at the accusation, masked under a lighthearted tone and an innocent smile, and Tenten can't help but note the slight twitch of the Jounin's fingers, sensing the shock of chakra gathering at the woman's fingertips. The red-headed woman stares back at her resolutely, grey eyes narrowed.

"Sen... sei...!" comes Hikari's choking voice, and Tenten spares a look at her other two teammates. The tension is obvious, heavy in the air like a blanket, and Tenten realizes that her killing intent is lacing the air. She quickly cuts herself off, and with some measure of guilt waits as Hikari and Takashi take gasping gulps of air.

"Like you said, Tenten, I'm curious," Kushina replies quietly. "You know an awful lot for a mere orphan, especially one that pops up out of nowhere."

To this, Tenten has a prepared answer. "I'm a red-light child," she says simply. "I wasn't supposed to exist in the first place." It's enough of the truth to mask her lie, and when Kushina shows no sign of suspicion, Tenten exhales slowly.

"Bokushingu takes its movements from the attacking techniques and defensive tactics of different animals. Movements that are part of saru katas have a distinct similarity to the Juuken only because Bokushingu sarudo was developed alongside another style called Hakke-tenohira, the precursor to a lot of Hyuuga techniques, but in particular the -"

"Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou." This time, Hikari is the one to interrupt, and she looks at Tenten with a new wariness in her eyes. "One of the main attacks of the Juuken style."

"Exactly." Tenten turns to Kushina with a long, measured look. "Satisfied I'm not some kind of spy now?"

"I'll have to do some digging with the taijutsu specialists I know, but... yes." Kushina sighs, the chakra in her fingers dissapating slowly with a faint crackle. "I'm sorry, Tenten, but with the things going on..."

"I get it." Tenten offers her sensei an easy smile. "No harm, no foul, right?"

Kushina gives her a bright grin in return, and Tenten inwardly heaves a sigh of relief. Oh thank Izanami-no-Kami-sama.

"But that doesn't mean you're done sharing!" Kushina interrupts her thoughts with a sing-song voice, and Tenten groans.

"Seriously?" At the look on Kushina's face, Tenten can only grumble under her breath as she reaches down for a yari, preparing herself for a hard afternoon.


For all the jutsu and techniques in the world, true time travel was, and still is, out of mortal reach. Over the years Tenten has lived in her new life, none of the research she has done has proved fruitful - and the prospect of being the first true time jumper has her nerves working in overtime.

Tenten likes to think of herself as a smart girl, but intelligence is nothing in the face of what logically should be an impossibility. She doesn't know if she's playing the part of a person out of time, if she's in a parallel universe, if she doesn't exist in the future anymore, if her trip through time was supposed to happen - or any of numerous other possibilities, and her fears of changing too much or doing too little grow and grow day by day.

For that very reason, Tenten hadn't done much to change what seems to be routine in Konoha. Her close friendship with Tsume and Yoshino hasn't seem to have done anything to rock the boat, and her entrance into the ninja ranks fell unnoticed for the most part, expect for the attention garnered from being the second best kunoichi of the year. For all the opportunities Tenten has been given though her abrupt second chance at life, there aren't many things that have changed significantly, at least not to her eyes.

Despite her fears of meddling with time, that doesn't mean that she doesn't have plans - on the contrary, she has too many to count.

Her plans revolve mostly around saving the lives of her friends - former friends, she reminds herself - and ensuring that their lives are better than they were before. Plans like saving Uzumaki Kushina, uniting the Hyuuga under the twins Hiashi and Hizashi, preventing Hatake Sakumo's suicide, preventing the Akatsuki's formation, preventing the Uchiha massacre, killing the snake-bastard Orochimaru, killing the thrice-damned Kabuto, killing war-the mongering Danzou...

But above all, at the top of her list is the plan to kill those fucking Uchihas - Obito and Madara - and thus eliminating the roots of all their future problems. The execution part of it all worries her a little, but she figures she can work out the fine details later.

Right now, the only surefire requirement for success is Tenten herself - her knowledge, her strength, and her determination to prevent a terrible future from coming to pass.

And so when she 'shows' her skills to her team, despite the slack-jawed looks she gets from her teammates and the impressed smile of her sensei, she hides things like her proficiency with chakra strings, her secondary affinity for water ninjutsu, her secret interest in fuuinjutsu, and her terrifying ability for genjutsu. She needs all the advantages she can get, because she knows that if she succeeds with her plans there is the high chance that she will be killed in the process.

No, her death won't happen by Orochimaru, or Kabuto, or Danzou, or Obito, or even Madara. It will happen by her friends, her teammates, her sensei, her comrades - all because of the one single, most important part of her plans.

They don't know what she knows - that these people will mean the end of Konoha as the world knows it. They won't see a power-hungry traitor, a morally twisted spy, a dead-defiling war-monger, or an insane murderer hell-bent on revenge, the way she sees them.

All they will see is a beloved teammate, a cherished son, a respected elder, and a fun-loving friend - and instead, she will become the twisted traitor, the insane murderer, and she will be the one hunted in their stead. The idea of it frightens her beyond belief, because regardless of all her skills and her plans and her knowledge, she is really still only twelve years old and she is still afraid.

The thing is, it isn't the prospect of death that scares her - it is the hatred that she fears the most.


Silently tracking the elderly man, a figure drops down to the damp earth with a soft thump, bowing his head in a show of servitude. "R-005132, covering assignment P-002067."

"Report."

The darkly-clad shinobi kneeling at his feet bends forward to offer a red-bound scroll, and he takes it while hiding his surprise. Red is reserved for clan children, not nameless orphans. Interesting.

"Target G-007124, aged twelve years of age, residing at the Konoha Orphanage, is classified under rank A24," says the shinobi robotically. "Target shows high Chunnin-rank proficiency in taijutsu, weaponry handling, chakra control, stealth, and support. High Genin to low Chunin-rank proficiencies include speed, stamina, and combat strategy. Mid Genin-rank proficiencies consist of genjutsu, ninjutsu, evasion, and trap-making. Target has shown considerable affinity and interest in the usage of chakra strings and fuuinjutsu."

"Such potential," he says softly. "Dismissed."

The masked shinobi bows and disappears into the shadows of the forest, leaving the man to slowly make his way back to the village limits.

"It seems that our friend has been withholding some information from us," he says quietly, his voice only slightly louder than his soft footfalls on the damp, rain-soaked earth. "Perhaps it is time to pay Nono-san a visit."

His only reply is a rustle of cloth against the dense, wet foliage, and Shimura Danzou turns to continue his daily walk.


"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." ~ Sonmi-451, Cloud Atlas (2012)


A/N: So first off, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who's been supporting this story so far - whether you're one of those who reviewed/favorited/followed, or if you simply read the story, thank you!

So it's been a while since the last update, and I hope I do this new chapter some justice. I've been itching to get to the good stuff, where Tenten's plans start to collide with the timeline, when the war begins to play a bigger part, when the actual fighting begins! I'm trying not to rush, but gah I want to skip to those parts so badly.

I know a lot of you already have voted, but in case you haven't I have a poll running! It concerns the potential pairings (or lack thereof) in Auburn and Gold, so head over to my profile if you're shipping a specific Tenten pairing in mind!

Finally, check out the new chapter of The Color Wheel, featuring one Hyuuga Hikari!

Next update: mid to late December!


Notes:

1. The Juuken and the Gouken are translated into "Gentle Fist" and "Strong Fist" respectively, being exact opposites.

2. Ryoukuou Kobujutsu is a real style that is more commonly known as Okinawan kobudou. The story is that the weapons included in the style are derived from farming tools, as the earliest practitioners of this style were farmers and peasants prohibited from possessing traditional weaponry like swords. The majority of Tenten's weapons arsenal is utilized in this style.

3. Bokushingu is the Japanese translation of a Chinese style called Xingyiquan, a fighting style that has similarities to the Baguazhang - the real-world influence for the Juuken. It also uses weapons like the spear (yari), straight sword (chokuto), broadsword (tsurugi), staff (bo), halberd (naginata), needles (senbon), and sickle (kama).

4. Gojuu-ryuu is a variant of karate, translating into "Hard-soft style." It's a fairly general style, perfect for teaching young Academy brats.

4. The weapons listed in Tenten's arsenal are ones that she uses in the actual manga and anime. They include: katana (curved sword), chokuto (straight sword), tegaki-shuko (tiger claws), naginata (halberd), sai (tri-pronged daggers), surujin (weighted rope), tonfa (wooden bars), nunchaku (wood-chain), kama (sickle) , kusari-gama (sickle-chain), manriki-gusari (weighted chain), chokuto (straight sword), bo (staff), kunai (throwing knives), and yari (spear).

6. Others weapons Tenten uses that aren't mentioned in this chapter include senbon (throwing needles), shuriken (throwing stars), makibishi (caltrops), fuuma shuriken (windmill throwing star), tanto (short sword), tekko (brass knuckles), sansetsukon (three section staff), muchi (whip), chigiriki (flail), oyumi (crossbow), tambo (short staff), kaiken (dagger), konbo (club), bow (yumi), arrow (ya), odachi (long sword), nagamaki (long-handled sword), tsurugi (broad sword), and ninja wire.