Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any work related to the franchise. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
"The saddest part of life is when the person who gave you the best memories, becomes a memory." - Random Person
BOOM!
BANG!
CLACK!
The sound of various weapons and tools being shuffled reverberated throughout Tenten's small shop in Konoha. "I need to finally sell something", Tenten thought. The man standing on the other side of the counter had been looking for an exotic armour set to show off to his friends and family.
"The standard flak jacket will cost you 20000 ryō", Tenten stated simply while placing the protection purposed material onto the desk. "Noice", the man who drew a strong comparison to Michael Rosen replied. He smacked his lips while taking a mental note of the naked backplate. "It's store policy, we can't afford to mistake our ninjas for civilians now can we?" Tenten explained in an attempt to sound likeable. "Understandable, what else do you have?" the man questioned. Tenten pondered for a bit before grinning, "hmm let's see, I've got vintage shinobi battle armour. That'll cost you 30000 ryō, but something tells me that you're looking for something a little extra". The man nodded. Tenten licked her lips, "ooh, in that case, allow me to present to you plot armour, given its nickname due to its earth-like texture, as well as the inexplicable phenomena which occur around those who wear it". Tenten then brought out a cardboard box with the letters NTRRR written in bold print. "And how much will that cost me?", the man asked while Tenten wiped down the cubic container. "No less than 50000 ryō", Tenten replied. "Hmph, this better not be fake" the man mumbled to himself while counting his money.
"..."
"..."
"My friend, I don't sell bootleg products"
~ An hour later ~ 7:00pm ~
Tenten freshened up in the back to prepare for her date with John. It had been over a decade since Neji's death and she had found herself constantly drawing comparisons between her dates and the Hyuga prodigy. Putting on a peach coloured kimono with gold flower designs, the least important character in the Naruto universe closed up shop and headed for the five star restaurant that was now Ichiraku Ramen's.
The walk there was a slow and torturous one. Everyone had seemingly moved on with their lives. Naruto married Hinata and gave birth to two children, Sasuke (surprisingly) married Sakura and gave birth to Sarada. Everywhere she looked, happiness was laughing it's ass off while giving her the middle finger.
She arrived to her destination fifteen minutes early, the bright lights of the cuisine welcoming her as she opened the door. Families bustled and waiters were serving as Tenten sat down next to a window waiting for her date to show. Ino had been the one to hook her up with John. "Table 10", Tenten thought aloud while double checking the card on the pristine white table. "Hey, are you Tenten?", a voice immediately caught her attention. She glanced in his direction and the one word she could use to describe him was...
Bland.
Unbelievably bland.
There were no defining facial features on his person. "Yeah, are you John-kun?", she asked. The man confirmed that his name was indeed John as he sat down and made himself comfortable.
~ John's POV ~
She was intimidating.
It wouldn't take a shinobi to tell that she was scrutinizing his every move and when they made eye contact? It felt like her gaze pierced his and traveled out the back of his head. If he wasn't so nervous he would have found it kind of hot.
~ Tenten's POV ~
What kind of name was John anyways? She had never heard of something like that. It was weird. "Hello, welcome to Ichiraku Ramen's", a waitress kindly said. "What would you like to order?" she continued. "I would like a bowl of tsukemen along with a side of mochi and a glass of sparkling wine", Tenten who had gotten a chance to look at the menu before hand stated. "I'll have what she's having", John who was just happy to have the tension broken added. The waitress jotted down all that was said with practiced ease before leaving the two alone again.
~ 40 minutes later ~
"Hahahahaha", Tenten laughed in response to John's jokes. He was making great conversation while they scarfed down their delicious meals respectively. "Yeah, it was from that movie Screen Time", John told her.
"Have you heard of it?"
"No, I'm not familiar"
"Oh, that's too bad", John said.
The waitress returned with the bill and they split it 50/50, with Tenten silently thanking the man who she swindled for armour earlier.
They exited the building after a wholesome evening. Tenten decided to escort him home being the thoughtful kunoichi (sort of) that she was. By the time they reached his residence it was well after eight. They exchanged numbers as well. "Are you sure you don't want to stay?", John asked.
That look in his eyes.
He wanted sex.
Hmm, and quite frankly, she did too.
"No thanks", Tenten replied. "Bye John-kun", she added while walking away. "Bye Ten", John wished her farewell. He was a bit dejected but nevertheless content with her decision. Tenten on the other hand...
"Damn it!" she cursed inwardly. It was that feeling again. That emotional itch that prevented her from actually moving on. It had been well over a decade. SIXTEEN FUCKING YEARS and still, she couldn't get Neji out of her head. At this point, she would do anything to get rid of that nagging sensation.
Therapy?
She didn't want that, she had already gone through the grieving process.
Edo tensei?
Hmph, she would essentially be bringing back a zombie. She needed Neji. Alive.
Rinne tensei?
Yeah right, as if Sasuke is suicidal enough to do the deed.
Time travel?
How would she even accomplish something like that? It could be possible considering the wide array of jutsu in the world, but it's not really a viable option to be honest.
Tenten mulled over all these thoughts as she trekked home with the street lights illuminating the sidewalk.
~ The next day ~ 9:30am ~
Standing in the bathroom butt naked, water trickled down an athletic body honed by decades of rigorous training. Tenten, the owner of said body had spent the entire night devising a plan. A plan which would warp her to the fourth shinobi world war. "It should be simple, I get there and use the Amber Purifying Pot to seal the Ten-tails wood ninjutsu before it kills anyone, as a student of Gai-sensei's, I know I'm more than fast enough", Tenten thought.
~ Naruto's POV ~
What she was asking for was crazy.
Standing across from the Seventh Hokage's desk was his childhood friend clad in a blood-red blouse with white trimmings, baggy white pants which gripped her calves, dark brown fingerless gloves and matching sandals. Tenten also carried a duffel bag with a few dozen scrolls inside. However, the major difference was the absence of her hair buns. They were replaced with high-arcing pigtails which grazed each of her shoulders respectively.
The change of appearance was infinitesimally more inconsequential when compared to what she was asking of him.
"You want me to seal all of my chakra into a scroll, so you can use it for an experiment?"
"That's not what I mean!"
"What do you mean then?"
"As much as possible, not all of it"
Ahh, that made more sense. It still didn't explain the need for so much chakra. Kurama had informed him that she wasn't under any genjutsu so at least there's that.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yes!"
~ Tenten's POV ~
She hadn't told him the full truth. Telling him the truth meant one of two things. Either he would forbid her from making any attempt whatsoever at playing God with the timeline, or he would want to accompany her. The second one was an absolute no-no seeing as how there was a small chance of this completely incinerating her and anyone in the immediate vicinity. Konohagakure needed its leader.
Also, she had invented a few ninja tools in the past, so her sudden interest wasn't out of place. One such weapon was the handgun. Unfortunately, it was deemed a slow and inefficient trinket that would get in the way of missions.
"Alright, I trust you Tenten-chan"
Naruto weaved a handsign and summoned a single shadow clone. Tenten could feel the waves of power emanating from it's form. That was no ordinary shadow clone. "Thank you Lord Seventh", Tenten replied while bowing slightly. "Hey, there's no need to be so formal!", Naruto shouted back. He was still exactly the same at his core, it was remarkable. His smile could make the sun insecure. "Yeah yeah", Tenten chuckled as she gestured for the clone to follow her lead.
The speed at which they flickered from building to building could only be traced by high-level chunin (at minimum) or dojutsu wielders. They stopped upon reaching Ninja Tools Roll Roll Roll, the name of her store and one that she was slowly beginning to regret.
Tenten opened the door and closed it with Naruto's clone in tow. Footsteps echoed through the room as the duo headed down into the basement. "Damn", Tenten thought as Naruto made himself comfortable on one of the workbenches. "Umm, do you ever find yourself missing Neji-kun?", Tenten questioned. "Yeah, always!", Naruto said back. A few seconds passed. "Where's this coming from?", Naruto continued while adjusting his posture in such a way to let her know he had her full attention. The room got serious. "He didn't deserve to die the way that he did", Tenten stated. "I agree, but in the end, he died peacefully...that's what matters right?", Naruto replied.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Fire away"
"If you had the opportunity to save him, would you take it?"
"Without a doubt"
Good. That was what she wanted to hear. Tenten had spent the last couple minutes assembling a metal box with two circular slots at the apex. She then withdrew two scrolls from her duffel. "Hey, I don't want to come off as disrespectful or anything but is this it? The way you explained it to me earlier made it seem like you were creating some giant project.", Naruto spoke up. "Huh, I am creating a giant project. I've already drawn the schematics for this ten times over!"
Lies.
The clone rose an eyebrow. "On top of that, I'm unsure whether or not this would actually work. I need to be sure your chakra can serve as a form of a mechanical energy before I spend hours upon hours working on this."
More lies.
"I guess that makes sense?", Naruto hesitantly responded. "Alright, let's just finish this quickly and I'll bore you with the details later", Tenten abruptly retorted. She handed him the two scrolls while asking, "can you seal your yin chakra in the left scroll and your yang chakra in the right?".
It all existed on a scale. This was according to everything she had read concerning spacetime ninjutsu. Space-based jutsu required insane amounts of chakra to perform while time-based jutsu required even more. Minato's Flying Thunder God technique would be considered bottom of the barrel in terms of chakra usage while Kamui would be much higher. Even a taijutsu user like Might Gai was able to bend space due to the rapid speed at which his chakra increased against Madara. Theoretically, with a superior source of chakra such as the Nine-Tails, she should be able to tear open a hole in the spacetime continuum. Practically on the other hand, this could kill her. The only other option she had was Karasuki, and she had no idea how to get her hands on the ancient turtle.
Naruto wasted no time in sealing his chakra as instructed. Approximately twenty minutes passed before the exhausted shadow clone muttered, "kay Tenten, make sure you inform me on how this goes". "No problem", Tenten smirked mischievously before the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Let's see", Tenten remarked as she studied the marks on the scrolls tediously. She glanced over to the (recently used) brush and ink on the corner of her worktable and began to edit the symbols. Once the scroll was opened, it would immediately release the stored chakra in a dense stream only stopping via the wielders mental command.
She then measured the amount of chakra she would need to release at once. 75% was a good estimate. The yin chakra would take her to the past while the yang chakra was meant to bring her back to the future.
This was it.
She could stop this right here and now if she really wanted to. The chances of things going wrong were astronomically high.
"I've come this far"
She undid the seals on the yin scroll and stared with bated breath.
That was a mistake.
An unrealistically bright flash of light rendered her temporarily blind. She closed her eyes reflexively and bit back a scream from the pain in her eye sockets.
"Did it work?"
She felt her surroundings.