Chapter One: Broken Armor
Once, a boy and a girl were inseparable, even if the boy would never admit it. The boy's name was Neji Hyuga, and he was tall for his age, wearing his hair long. His eyes had no pupils, as all Hyuga do after they develop their Byakugan. The girl, meanwhile, had mousy-brown hair and wore it in two buns, so they looked like that of a panda.
At present, Tenten was practice her targets, as was her hobby. She was trying to get her kunai over the wall of the shooting range and into the targets beyond. Ordinarily, this would be a very difficult thing to do since the wall was solid. But with Neji's Byukagan, he could confirm whether she hit or not.
You might expect shooting targets you can't see over the wall with to be nigh impossible. But in those days, young ninjas were trained to be very good shots, and Tenten was good even for that. So it was merely challenging.
She'd memorize their locations and wanted to test the limits of her abilities.
Not that Neji would ever admit it. "Another bullseye. Tenten, are you certain this is a wise move?"
"Wise?" asked Tenten, spinning a knife. "How is it unwise? I'm just practicing with my kunai."
"We are rather near to the academy. It is possible that we could hit a window," said Neji, pointing to the huge brick building. One with many windows on this side, though there was cover in the trees.
"Oh come one, Neji. I never miss," said Tenten.
"Statistically speaking, you are wholly incorrect," said Neji. "You merely miss rarely. And it only takes one miss."
"It'll probably hit a wall anyway," said Tenten, taking aim with another shot. "The higher windows are the only ones that aren't kunai proof anyway."
"Yes, because they date back to the days of Hashirama when this place was built," said Neji. "So breaking one is likely to get you in terrible trouble." Hashirama was a legend in the Leaf, one who had lived a long time ago. Once he had been known as the God of the Shinobi, but that title had passed to Sarutobi.
There was some debate over which among the two was more powerful. However, most experts agreed on Hashirama. But Sarutobi had managed to live to a ripe old age in a career most people died young in. And he still was living, having ruled the Leaf Village for longer than all the other Hokage combined. Thus he was regarded, if not more powerful, than the more successful.
"Ugh, you are so unbelievably paranoid, Neji!" said Tenten, turning to look at him mid-throw. "Nothing is going to-"
And, as usually happens when you tempt fate, things go astray. In this case, Tenten's throw had been badly timed. It headed straight for the academy instead of over the wall. And instead of hitting the wall, it hit a window. And instead of hitting a lower window, it hit a higher one, which shattered.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of it, because there was a crash, then several other crashes, and a cat yowled. Tenten winced as the crashes continued and finally stopped.
"...You were saying?" asked Neji, somewhat triumphantly. While not a bad person, there were few things Neji enjoyed more than saying 'I told you so.' And while he was concerned for Tenten, he was equally pleased to have been proven right at her expense.
"Erm... well, there's no guarantee I hit anything important," said Tenten, wincing.
"You knocked over one of the old Samurai Armors," said Neji, smirking now. "The one Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen won by killing a Samurai champion in single combat." Of course, he'd look through the windows.
"Oh..." Tenten halted. "I think we'd better go take responsibility for this."
"You may feel free to do so," said Neji.
"Hang on, why aren't you coming with me?" asked Tenten.
"You were the one who ignored my warnings and did it over my objections," said Neji. "I see no reason I should be forced to pay the price for your lack of vision."
"But if you hadn't been lecturing, I might not have made a mistake, so it's your responsibility too!" said Tenten, now desperately not wanting to fess up without backup.
"Look at my forehead, Tenten," said Neji, moving a headband he always wore up to reveal a brand. "If you get in trouble, you'll get detention. If I get in trouble, I'll get detention; then my uncle will stimulate the pain receptions in my brain to torture me. And possibly kill me if he is in a particularly bad mood."
"You don't really think he'd do that, would he?" asked Tenten, who wasn't sure herself. She'd never had parents and been raised by a Blacksmith Panda. However, even she knew that Neji's family was not normal.
"He murdered my Father to cover for his own mistakes. I wouldn't put it past him," noted Neji.
"Your family is really screwed up," said Tenten, then she paused. "...Hmm."
"What?" asked Neji.
"Well, it occurred to me that we don't want you to get caught because of what you said," said Tenten thoughtfully. "And they might find out you were hanging out with me here if I fess up, so maybe we should stay silent." This idea appealed, especially now that she had a semi-reasonable justification.
Few things that ease a guilty conscience, like knowing that you'll be treated badly. It becomes a kind of revenge on your oppressors and a defiant rebellion against tyranny.
But, at that moment, Sakura Haruno raced through the group. Her long, pink hair was flying behind her, and she looked enraged. "Naruto! Where are you?!"
Tenten paused and smiled. "It's a perfect crime. Everyone will blame it on Naruto, and um... well, he does this kind of stuff all the time. It's his own fault everybody is assuming that..."
"Naruto, you are going to get it! We always pay for your screwups!" said the blonde Ino as she ran past.
And, at last, Tenten's guilty conscience finally got the better of her. "Oh, forget it!"
And she walked after a crowd of students with Neji. They went through the halls and came to a large flight of stairs leading up a floor. It then branched out into two separate staircases. The armor had been dead center, where the stairs diverged, and now it was scattered all over the steps.
Fortunately, it was not damaged at all. If it had been weak enough to be damaged on steps, Sarutobi Hiruzen would never have been able to seize it. It would have been obliterated almost instantly.
But of more concern was the fact that Several different students cornered naruto. And Sakura was the loudest in her accusations. "Naruto, do you know what you've done? You knocked over the samurai armor! This stuff is a valuable monument to a Leaf Village victory!"
"But I didn't!" said Naruto, who was short for his age with blonde hair. "I wasn't even out here. I can't throw kunai that well."
"Oh, come off it, Naruto, we all know you're the only one who could be so disrespectful," said Sakura.
This was not true.
Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru were all pranksters as well and had taught Naruto much of what he knew. They just had the good luck to be part of noble families. Only a fool would target someone with those kinds of connections. Naruto was an orphan like Tenten but never had the sense to keep quiet and work hard. He was always drawing attention to himself, and it got him the worst sort.
"But Sakura..." said Naruto.
"Look, just admit it to Iruka-sensei and take the blame, okay. He might just punish you with detention instead of expelling you," said Kiba quickly.
"Well, I..." Naruto shifted.
Tenten realized that Naruto would do just that. He had no self-esteem and was eager to please. Everyone was already convinced he'd done it, so he might just cave to pressure and admit. Soon enough, Iruka-sensei arrived.
"Alright, what just happened here?" asked Iruka, looking over the mess.
"Iruka, Naruto threw a kunai through a window and-" began Sakura.
At this point, Tenten had had enough. Sakura was the kind of person she could not stand, a teacher's pet. Tenten had to work like hell to get the best grades she could while living alone in an apartment she rented. Sakura had parents and wanted to be known as a good student. But she slacked off in her physical fitness, doing only the bare minimum. Anyway, most of her knowledge was academic.
Seeing her lecturing Naruto like she knew everything had gotten Tenten angry. Angry enough to admit she'd done it.
"Now hold on a second; he didn't do anything of the sort," said Tenten.
"Oh really?" said Iruka-sensei.
"Yes, I was practicing throwing kunai, and I got distracted and overshot my target. It ended up going through an open window," said Tenten.
"I see," said Iruka-sensei. "And you were practicing where?"
"Out there," said Tenten, pointing out.
"In the park," said Iruka-sensei.
This put Sakura in a bad position. She'd been playing teacher's pet so hard that she'd become the full accuser. And now that everybody had heard the Tenten had done it by accident, she looked bad. She looked to the dark-haired Sasuke, who seemed completely indifferent.
"Now, hold on a minute," said Sakura. "I'll bet Naruto did something and blackmailed them into fessing up for him. It'd be just like him."
Iruka did not answer and found the kunai. "Look at that kunai.
"...Sakura, based on the area the armor fell in, what projector do you think it came from?"
"Um... over that way, I guess," said Sakura.
"Right, and that'd be on the third floor," said Iruka-sensei. "Through a window pointing the direction Tenten pointed.
"Do you think Naruto is capable of making a throw like that?"
"Um... well..." Sakura halted. "He might have gotten lucky, I guess."
"Except when Naruto does pull pranks, he doesn't rely on luck, does he?" asked Iruka-sensei. "His actions are usually calculated, set up beforehand.
"And he's never blackmailed anyone."
"Um, well..." Sakura halted, and now she was the one being glared at accusingly.
"I'm inclined to believe you, Tenten," said Iruka-sensei. "You're lucky nobody got hurt. If someone had been standing in that hall, they could have gotten injured.
"Neji, where are you going?"
Neji halted ramrod straight where he was trying to hide behind a locker door. "I wished to check my locker."
"And where were you during this? I notice you came in with Tenten," said Iruka-sensei.
Neji halted. "...I attempted to convince her not to make the shot."
"And did you stop her?" asked Iruka-sensei.
Neji halted. "...No."
"Well then, I'd say both of you are equally responsible," said Iruka-sensei. "Follow me to detention."
"But Iruka-sensei, if my Uncle hears about this-" began Neji.
"I'll be sure to speak on your behalf," said Iruka-sensei. "However, rules are rules, and there is no point in having them if we don't obey them. Now for a start, you get to set the statue back up."
"Um, can I help?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, sure, just give me a hand here," said Tenten. And the three of them managed to the right the armor or some of it. "Um, Iruka-sensei, some of the armor has gone loose; I don't know how to fix this."
"Fine, that's enough. I'll get it fixed later," said Iruka. "Just put the pieces at the feet.
"Count yourself lucky this armor was designed to withstand firestorms and superhuman strikes. A ceremonial suit could have gotten damaged."
"I'll keep it in mind," said Tenten.
And they began to walk off.
"Um, are you guys going to be okay?" asked Naruto.
"We'll be fine," said Tenten. "It's window repair. We'll have to pay for the D-rank the fixes it."
Naruto nodded and put a hand to the suit.
"Naruto, if you want to go to detention that badly, just say so. Don't push over the statue," said Iruka-sensei.
"Right, sorry," said Naruto.
"Just go to detention and don't bother the rest of us. It's where you belong," said Sakura.
It was a parting shot designed to hurt feelings, but it was badly timed. Iruka-sensei looked over to her. "And that's one word too many from you, Ms. Haruno. So you can come too."
"What?! But sensei, I didn't do anything!" said Sakura.
"Belittling your fellow classmates for their misfortunate counts as something," said Iruka-sensei. "Team dynamics are important for a ninja."
"But I..." began Sakura.
"Just go with it, Sakura. It'll be fine," said Ino.
Sakura halted. "Right.
"See you, Sasuke."
Sasuke ignored her, and everyone else filed out.
"So, I guess we're alone together now, huh, Sasuke?" asked Ino. "What do you want to talk about?"
Sakura halted and turned back but got caught by Iruka-sensei. "Ms. Haruno, we're waiting."
And that was how they ended up doing a variety of very dull multiplication tables. Sakura chewed through many of them in anger. She wrote with her pencil, solving problems Tenten hadn't even known existed. They were several grades ahead of her.
"Ugh, this is the worst," said Sakura. "I've never had to do detention before now."
"Well yeah, you're usually trying to be a teacher's pet," said Naruto.
"Well, at least I get good grades," said Sakura. "You pull stupid pranks when you could be helping."
"Why were you so deadset on going to detention anyway?" asked Tenten, curious about it.
Naruto shrugged. "Eh, I don't have anyone waiting at home for me. None of the villagers like me, so it's nice if I can stay at school longer. Also, it gives me a chance to do makeup work to fix some of my grades.
"I kind of need it to pass." And he began writing things up. "Hey um, Sakura, any advice on this?"
"Let me see it," said Sakura, taking the paper. "No, no, you forgot to carry the three here. And the Yagura was a Jinchuuriki; he didn't have a kekkei genki. Look, I'll write down some reading lists, and you read these."
"Thanks," said Naruto.
"Have you considered doing the makeup work at your house?" asked Tenten.
"It's kind of a downer at my apartment," said Naruto.
"Ah, right," said Tenten.
Tenten, as a point of fact, also lived alone in an apartment. She spent as little time there as possible. She had entire to-do lists meant to keep her out of it because living alone was depressing. "I'm an orphan, too if it's any consolation. I had to put in a lot of work to get into this academy. And getting here was tough."
"Oh, really," said Naruto before looking to Neji. "So uh, Neji, right? You're Hinata's cousin."
"Yes," said Neji.
"You two must get on pretty well, huh," said Naruto.
"Not in the slightest," said Neji.
Which was the undestatement of the century.
Tenten considered things for a bit and wished Lee were here. Then she had a thought, remembering when she'd been in Naruto's class. "Hey, listen, Naruto, I actually do need a sparring partner now and then. I mean, Lee and Neji are good, but they're pretty much the best at taijutsu in the academy. If you want to try practicing together with us, I'm fine with us."
"Thank you for volunteering me for that duty, Tenten," said Neji.
"Oh come on, you put up with Lee, and he's way more eccentric," said Tenten.
"I hardly see how that warrants doubling the dose," said Neji.
"I um..." Naruto choked up a bit. "Thanks."
Tenten sighed. "Don't worry about it.
"I was the one who got you into this mess."
"What about me?" asked Sakura, annoyed.
"You got yourself into it, Sakura," said Tenten.
"Oh, come on, lay off her Tenten. It was kind of my fault. Everything kind of is," said Naruto with a laugh.
"Are you planning to fix that too?" asked Sakura.
"I'll get to it," said Naruto. "Eventually."
It was an odd meeting. But it was only the beginning.