A/N: Sorry if this chapter bores you guys since it's mostly conversations. Also new poll on my profile page, Tenten's summoning contract; monkeys or toads? If monkeys I'll give them a sage mode just like the toads, only with a few changes. I honestly can't decide between them.

If I go with monkeys I'd let them transform into weapons made out of chakra metal so she could channel fire or explosion release into them. Plus, it'd be interesting to see them transform back and forth between monkey and weapon in the middle of combat. Then there is the fact that it is something like a family heritage.

If toads, then Tenten could use Ma and Pa to enhance her fire release attacks along with any toad that can use oil. Also imagine what'd be like to combine explosion release and frog kata. Plus, I could see Tenten getting excited about signing the toad contract with all the ways toads can increase the power of fire jutsu.

Chapter 21

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Restaurant

Asuma and the other Jonin were still talking about their genin teams. "So, we are in agreement to hold a group sparing session between all of our teams in three months?" asked Kakashi before everyone nodded. "Good, so do you guys want to talk about something else while we wait for our orders?"

"Have you guys heard of all the disappearances?" asked Aoba.

"Disappearances?" asked Gai.

Asuma sighed "Yeah, they started with some guy in the defense division and after that about three other shinobi were abducted along with two civilians."

Aoba nodded before Kakashi spoke up "That is correct, but those are only the ones in Konoha, around the land of fire there have been a total of fifteen people have gone missing."

Asuma grunted "What's this village coming to? First we have the forbidden scroll stolen from right under our noses and immediately after that we have all these kidnappings. I hope dad will work to improve the security of the village."

Aoba raised an eyebrow "Dad? I haven't heard you call him that in over a decade; why the sudden change?"

Asuma looked at him "Recent events have made me decide that maybe I should give him a chance at redeeming himself." Aoba nodded in understanding while Kakashi and Gai were slightly curious as to why he needed a chance at redeeming himself in the first place.

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Tenten's Apartment

"Erm- Tenten we can't be together. I care about you, but I don't want anything to happen to you when the villagers find out," said a blushing Naruto.

Tenten grew irritated "As far as I know nobody ever laid their hands on you so what makes me so different? Besides you basically confessed your love to me or were those lies?"

"No, of course they weren't-" the blond was cut off by the brunette.

"Good, so what's the problem? I-I don't care what anyone else thinks, Naruto-kun," she said with a blush.

Naruto blushed at hearing her say 'Naruto-kun' "Tenten, just listen. The reason why nobody ever lays their hands on me is because the Hokage has a crystal ball that allows him to watch over me whenever he feels like it. The villagers don't take any chances because they don't know when he may be watching me."

Tenten looked around nervously "You don't think he's watching us now do you? I mean that's kind of creepy."

Naruto smiled "Don't worry about it. He lost it years ago, but he never made that known to the public."

"Don't… worry? Now I'm even more worried. What if a shady old man with weird fetishes found it and has been spying on you for all these years."

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Root Base

Danzo sneezed while he was watching a member of his ROOT, sporting a brown pony tail, torturing one of the captured spies. "Someone must be talking about me," thought the old war hawk as he watched the ROOT officer place a couple lightning seals on the shirtless spy, that had his feet soaked in a bucket of water while being suspended in the air by a rope tied around his wrists, before activating them. Danzo watched on as the room lit up brightly from the lightning and the screams of the spy were heard.

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Tenten's apartment

"Well, nobody said that anyone had to find out we're a couple. That is if we do become one," said the blushing girl.

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Asuma's apartment; a couple hours later

Asuma heard some knocking at his door and got up to see who it was. The bearded man opened the door to see an ANBU. The ANBU handed Asuma a scroll "Hokage-sama said you'd know what this is and why we're giving it to you," said the ANBU before he walked away.

Asuma opened the scroll to see that it was a storage scroll with a blood seal on it. The Jonin closed and locked his door before walking over to a table where he placed the scroll. "Dad said I'd know what this is, but I don't have a clue," thought the Jonin before he tried unsealing the scroll only to discover that it wasn't meant for him. Asuma was confused for a second before it dawned on him what this scroll was and why it was given to him.

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Next morning; Training ground 10

Asuma arrived at the training ground to see Shikamaru doing his routine exercises to increase his chakra capacity while Tenten and Naruto were going through their taijutsu katas on the training posts. Asuma took out his cigs and put one in his mouth before pulling out his lighter and flicking it open. The sound of the lighter caused all three of the genin to look over at their sensei before they made their way over to him. The bearded man looked surprised when Naruto and Tenten glanced at each other before blushing and avoiding eye-contact. Asuma stared at them with an open mouth while the lit cigarette fell out of his mouth and onto the ground.

Asuma's mind raced with several different scenarios of what might have happened between the blond and the girl that may or may not be his long lost niece "Calm down, Asuma. Just because they blushed and avoided eye contact doesn't mean anything happened between them, right? Besides they're smart kids it's not like they would do anything they'd regret," thought the Jonin with his eyes closed before his squad stood in front of him.

The three genin stared at their Jonin-sensei who instead of addressing them was deep in thought "Asuma-sensei, are you okay?" asked Tenten as she looked at him curiously.

Asuma opened his eyes before he smiled at them nervously. "Oh, nothing's wrong at all," said the Jonin as he stepped on his cigarette to put it out. "…I hope." Asuma grinned "Okay, to help with our team bonding how about we share with each other what we did on our day off." As soon as Asuma spoke those words Naruto's and Tenten's faces turned red. "Something definitely happened," thought Asuma as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"W-why do you want to know that?" asked Naruto with a small stutter.

Shikamaru sighed "I agree. We're with each other for seven days straight and after that we only get one day off. Can we keep anything private?" asked the Nara as he cracked his neck.

Asuma looked at the ponytail boy before smiling "Well it's important that we know as much about our squad as possible. If a member of our team was captured and replaced by an enemy shinobi then knowing each other's habits would increase the chances of us finding out that they aren't who they say they are. It'll also increase the trust between us." The Nara sighed and accepted the answer while Asuma turned to the blond while sporting a fake smile "Why don't you go first, Naruto?"

Naruto flinched "Well… I bought take out," said the blond while Asuma looked at him like he was waiting for him to continue "… and that's about it. I spent most of the day indoors." This caused a vein in Asuma's head to throb.

Asuma turned to Tenten "Okay, now what did you do on your day off Tenten?"

Tenten gulped "I-I spent most of the day indoors like Naruto-kun." Asuma and Shikamaru looked at her with suspicion before Asuma cleared his throat.

"I'm going to have a little 'talk' with Naruto after we're done today," thought the bearded Sarutobi before he spoke "Let's go to the mission h-" Asuma was cut off as a bird-masked ANBU jumped out of the trees and landed near his squad.

The ANBU was kneeling before them with hand on the ground and the other on his knee "Jonin: Sarutobi Asuma and Genin: Tenten your presences have been requested by Hokage-sama. Due to… events I will not be escorting you to the Hokage tower." Asuma nodded, knowing exactly what this, summon, meant while Tenten was confused for a moment before realization hit her when she saw her sensei's face.

"Hai, we will go there right away," said the Jonin before he turned to his other two genin "Well looks like you two have another free day since I think this will take a while. We'll have to do our D-rank mission some other time. So, you two can train or do whatever you want."

After Asuma, Tenten and the ANBU left; Shikamaru turned to Naruto "So are you and Tenten together now?" asked the Nara.

Naruto chuckled nervously "No, whatever gave you that idea."

Shikamaru sighed as he raised a finger "One: you two have been acting weird around each other. Two: you both started getting nervous when asked what you did yesterday. Three: both of you said you were indoors, but didn't specify where. And finally four: Tenten called you 'Naruto-kun'. All of this would make anybody suspicious," said the Nara now holding up four fingers.

Naruto's eyes widened "Please, don't tell anyone," said the blond with eyes that were desperately begging the Nara to keep the secret.

Shikamaru sighed "I was going to do that anyway it'd be too troublesome to spread gossip anyway."

"Thank you Shikamaru," said the blond with a sigh of relief before another thought crossed his mind "You don't think Asuma-sensei knows do you?"

Shikamaru let out another sigh "Of course he knows. Couldn't you tell when he only asked you and Tenten what you did yesterday and not me?" asked Shikamaru as his male teammate's eyes widened in realization.

"Damn it, how am I so bad at keeping this a secret. I've kept Danzo-sensei training me a secret for so many years so, why is this so hard?" thought Naruto as he hung his head.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow "I've never seen him act like this before."

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Hokage's office

Asuma and Tenten were standing in front of the Hokage. Hiruzen had a sad expression on his face as he gazed at the young girl. The Hokage waved his hand and the few ANBU hiding in the office left. After the leave of the ANBU, The three of them stayed silent for a couple minutes.

Tenten grew a little irritated with the tension in the air "Um- Hokage-sama was there something you needed us for?"

Hiruzen sighed "Tenten what I'm about to tell you will change your life forever and I'm going to leave it up to you whether or not this should be made public." Tenten nodded. "About 15 years ago my daughter, Sarutobi Mito, met a man named Gari and fell in love with him. They dated for about two years before Gari revealed that he was from Iwa's explosion corps." Hiruzen paused for a while.

Tenten started to understand where all that tension buildup from earlier came from "Could I be…"

"Once Gari revealed that he was from Iwa, we had him detained, since we were unsure whether or not he was a spy. Soon after that, it was discovered that Mito was pregnant with his child. My clan did not want it to get out to the public that one of our clan was pregnant with the child of an enemy shinobi so we kept it secret," Hiruzen said before another pause to let the information sink into the genin's mind.

"So, are you saying I'm your granddaughter?" asked the girl causing the Hokage to nod "Then why did I grow up alone!? All this time I thought I was alone with no family! Did you abandon me because of who my father was!?" roared Tenten. Hiruzen looked downwards in shame unable to look her in the eye. "That's it isn't it? You and my mother abandoned me because of something outside of my control!"

Asuma put a hand on the girl's shoulder "Tenten don't ever say that. Nee-chan loved you and while she was pregnant she'd often call you 'a gift from heaven'," said the bearded man as the bun haired girl looked up at him.

A single tear rolled down Hiruzen's eye "But you were right about me…" Hiruzen said causing Tenten to look over at the Hokage "No, I should say it was far worse than simply abandoning you. While Mito was pregnant I threatened to disown her, revoke her license as a Kunoichi and once I even went as far as saying I'd exile her from the village if she did not abort you."

Tenten now understood why Asuma-sensei, or was it Asuma-oji-san now, didn't like this man when she thought about how much her Kaa-chan went through just to bring her into this world. "Then what happened to my Kaa-chan after I was born?" asked with worry and anger in her voice.

Asuma sighed "Maybe I should be the one to answer that." Tenten looked at her sensei and signaled him to continue with a nod. "Now where to start… well after 'dear old dad' stepped down from his position as Hokage he took the position of clan head for the Sarutobi clan," said Asuma before he mentally added "but for him that was only to show that he could still hold true to some of the threats he made to Nee-chan if you were born."

When Asuma kept paused for too long Tenten spoke up "Sensei?" she asked.

Asuma continued speaking "After that Nee-chan couldn't stay within the walls of her clan anymore and even with Dad out of the Hokage chair he still had the power to revoke her shinobi license as a clan head. Then there was the fact that you being born didn't mean that dad and the rest of the clan would let you live and grow. So she sought haven with the most loyal friend she had, my sensei from back when I was a genin, Namikaze Kushina."

Tenten looked surprised "Namikaze? Wasn't that the family name of-," she started before Asuma cut her off.

"Yes she was the wife of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage."

"So, what happened after that?"

"Kushina formed a plan along with her husband that would keep you and her safe. The plan was for your Kaa-chan to put you in an orphanage for about half a year before the Namikazes adopt you into their family after their child was born. Nee-chan would visit you often and they'd play it off as her just being close to the Namikaze family. When you reached an age where you could understand they were going to tell you everything."

Tenten figured out on her own what happened next "… Then the Kyuubi attack happened. Didn't it?" she said in a sad voice.

Asuma nodded "Both the Yondaime and his wife gave their lives to stop the Kyuubi attack; they died as heroes. In the aftermath of the attack it was discovered that the orphanage you were sent to was destroyed. Your mother was heartbroken and fell into depression."

Tenten took on a saddened expression as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Is she still alive?"

Asuma shook his head in negative "I'm afraid not. She died shortly before your cousin, Konohamaru was born. After she thought you were dead she went on suicide mission after suicide mission until she eventually died."

Tenten formed a tightened fist "And my father? What happened to him is he still in the prison cells?"

"After dad retook the title of Hokage he chose to send all of the inmates in our prisons to Hoozuki Jou, including your father, since we couldn't afford to feed them at the time. I'm afraid that he too is no longer among the living, he hung himself."

Tenten was partially happy that she knew more about her parents, but she felt saddened that they both met such depressing ends "Wait, how did I survive?"

"Well if I were to take a stab in the dark… I'd say the Yondaime saved you with his Hirashin before he battled the Kyuubi."

The Hokage, who had remained silent for a while spoke up "Tenten… now that you know the full story, do you wish for it to be made public? I can understand if you can never forgive me for everything I've put your mother through. If you wish it, you can live in the clan compound while I live in the Hokage tower."

Tenten glared at him "Why did you fight so hard to make sure that I wasn't born?"

The old man avoided eye contact "There were several reasons for that. The first was to satisfy my clan; they feared that this would bring dishonor to the Sarutobi name. The second was for this not to get out to Iwa or the other nations; to them it may have looked like we abducted an enemy shinobi with a bloodline to steal his seed and restart their clan in our nation. Finally, I had a personal vendetta, back then, against Iwa for all the friends and family lost during the war."

Tenten was shocked "This is the man that everyone sees as the most forgiving of the Hokage? The one that Naruto-kun believes would never fault a child for actions outside of their control?" thought the brown haired girl before she spoke up "No, I don't wish to make this public… at least for now," she said before she thought "I don't want to destroy how Naruto-kun sees you." Hiruzen looked at the young girl and nodded "Can I be dismissed, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes," answered the Hokage before both Tenten and Asuma left the room. The Hokage sat back in his chair thinking back on everything he did after Mito revealed the plan that she and the Namikazes came up with. After that his family fell apart; his wife was dead, Mito threw herself into a frenzy of suicide missions and Asuma went to the fire temple. The only one that stayed with him was his eldest son, Awaji, but he too died shortly before his son, Konohamaru, was born.

When Hiruzen saw the mistreatment of Naruto he began to truly realize that it was wrong to fault a child for actions outside of their control. "I guess in some part of my mind I thought that by doing everything in my power to protect Naruto I could earn repentance," said the old Hokage out loud to no one in particular before he took out his pipe to put some tobacco in it.

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Training field 10

Asuma and Tenten arrived at the training field to discover that Naruto and Shikamaru were gone. "Looks like they left," said Asuma before he noticed Tenten staring off into space. "Well she did go through a lot today," thought the bearded man before he spoke "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Tenten snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the question "Huh sorry but what did you say?" the girl asked before Asuma smiled and asked the question again.

"I said is there anything you want to talk about? I know that you have a lot of things to sort through and maybe talking to your Oji-san would help."

Tenten smiled sadly "I was just thinking about the Namikaze child. He or she was going to be my little brother or sister. It's just sad that it didn't even get a chance at life."

Asuma smirked "If only she knew," thought the man before he placed his hand on his nieces head "Well we thought you were dead for all these years. So, who knows maybe he's out there too."

Tenten smiled, but she knew better than to get her hopes up "yeah."

Asuma removed his hand from the brunette's head to pull out a scroll from his flak jacket. "Inside this scroll are all of your father's belongings. I'm sure there are some scrolls on explosion release in here."

"Is it okay if I tell the rest of my team about my kekkei genkai now?"

Asuma closed his eyes "Well the Hokage did say it was your choice to make it public so go right ahead."

Tenten smiled "Hai."

"Well, since you are a member of the Sarutobi clan then it'd be fine if I teach you some of our clan's jutsu. That is if you want too."

"Hai, I'd definitely like that."

"Our clan has something that resembles a bloodline, but it's more like a trait rather than an actual kekkei genkai."

"What is it?"

"Well, you see our clan has the ability to learn almost any kind of jutsu at a fast rate. I think that this may be the reason you've advanced so fast in your training in fire manipulation," said Asuma as he finally handed the scroll to his niece.

Tenten took the scroll and began to unseal it "What really? How long does it take for other people to advance as far as I did so far?"

"It takes weeks and sometimes months just to get passed the first exercise," said the bearded man as he watched Tenten getting excited over all the scrolls that she unsealed before an idea formed in his head "So what happened between you and Naruto yesterday?"

Tenten answered the question without a second thought "We shared our first…" Asuma's eyes widened "… kiss," Tenten finished before she blushed when she realized what she just said.

"Thank kami, it was only a kiss," Asuma said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

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End

Next chapter will be a time skip.

Again, check out the poll on my profile page.