The Real Truth

Only 40 minutes later in Neji's bedroom, Tsunade looked about the way he felt.

"So you're telling me that several blocks to the West there's another Tenten sitting in her apartment that has absolutely no idea of any attack because she took a long, undisturbed walk in the woods after the training today."

"Yes, Ma'am," Neji retorted.

"And she looks just like this Tenten," Tsunade wanted to clarify.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Minus the wrinkles," Tenten added from her seat in bed. Tsunade nodded absentmindedly.

"Uhu. And you're telling me this Tenten has an explanation for it all?"

"Yes," this time Tenten spoke for herself. "Well, sort of. My memory is still not what it used to be-"

"Oh great, an explanation from an amnesiac," Tsunade uttered sarcastically.

"Yes, there's that but the memories that I have been able to recover make a lot more sense now," Tenten hinted meaningfully. Tsunade straightened up.

"They do?"

Tenten nodded.

"Time travel," she explained.

The other two weathered ninja stared at her blankly.

"Ok, that's it. This one is nuts. Any other explanations?" Tsunade looked around at Neji but he didn't know anything else either.

"I'm not nuts. I'm just from the future."

"Still nuts," Tsunade kept on going.

"No. It's a jutsu," Tenten tried to explain again.

"Ok, now I'm sure this one's a fake. There's no way our Tenten performed any kind of jutsu. She has the chakra control of a two-year old," Tsunade muttered, starting to walk in circles, pondering how this was the worst of all the tribulations she had come upon as Hokage.

Tenten sighed and then she snapped:

"Listen up, you two," she shouted. It was strange for a frail person hauled up in a bed to speak with such authority.

"I'm not nuts and I know I couldn't do it. I didn't. Sakura and Naruto did."

"They do have excellent chakra control," Neji commented.

"And Naruto has the whole beast thing that needs to be factored in," Tsunade agreed, finally starting to listen actively.

"Exactly," Tenten continued. "I don't remember everything about it yet but it has something to do with how our chakras are the same our entire life. Somehow we can connect to any former life circumstances we had through our life force," Tenten explained.

"Do you remember a name? Anything that will help me research this bizarre story?" Tsunade wondered.

"No. But are you guys really doubting my story?" Tenten asked, skeptically.

"How sure are you that this is a real Tenten?" Tsunade whispered to Neji, only too aware that she'd never thought she'd be asking quite such an absurd question.

"Very sure, Ma'am."

"I can hear you, you know?" Tenten exclaimed, peeved.

"It's just… I mean, time travel. Really?"

Tsunade was massaging her temples when Tenten elaborated:

"We have jutsus that teleport us and distort the feeling of time. We have jutsus that raise the dead. Sometimes. Anyway, what I'm saying is that with all the crazy stuff out there a time travel jutsu is really not that surprising."

Neji looked astonished as though he had no idea what she was talking about, Tsunade seemed to be coming around.

"There are a lot of jutsus that mess with space and time. So, why not both?"

Neji still looked like he wasn't so sure. And now Tenten realized, he probably wasn't. He may not have heard of some of these techniques yet. But she could tell from Tsunade's look that she had.

"Ok. Lets say we believe you. Why did Naruto and Sakura send you back in time?"

"That I'm not sure of."

"So, you're sure that you time-travelled but you don't know why?"

"Pretty much."

"Would it have anything to do with … the target we discussed earlier?"

"I'm afraid not in the way we discussed," Tenten said solemnly and Tsunade looked a lot more grave than she had before. Neji had apparently given up on understanding anything and just waited with a straight face for his next order.

"But I think it has something to do with the Hyūga mansion," Tenten reported. "I get the impression there was a reason for me turning up just outside of it."

Tsunade nodded. "Neji, why were you there that day?"

"My uncle had a special request for me. It was so important that he was willing to mend burned bridges for it. He wants me to deliver a scroll."

"What kinda scroll?" Tsunade needed to know.

"I'm sorry to say, Ma'am, that I had not been informed as to the nature of the scroll."

"Did you get a look at it?"

"Negative, Ma'am."

"Tenten, you got any idea what this scroll might be?"

"No, sorry."

"We gotta get eyes on it," Tsunade made clear. "How long do you stay … here, Tenten?" It was difficult to find the right vocabulary when you dealt with time travel.

"I donno."

"Then we better move fast," Tsunade announced. "Neji, grab your gear. You, Naruto, and Sakura are going to pay a little secret midnight visit to your uncle's office. I want to know about anything the Hyūgas are up to. If it's big enough to send someone to the past to get something done, it should be a big enough deal to be recognized as such."

Tenten was given a quick tour of Neji's apartment before he left her there alone to go break into his uncle's home.

ttt

Tenten roamed the place with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Now that it was a bit more quiet and there was not quite as much sensory information rushing at her, Tenten's head felt a little better. Bits and pieces from before her mission came back to her. Naruto and Sakura talking to her very seriously. Naruto patting her shoulder heartily in a gesture of goodbye. Now she also knew why she had seen herself searching her closet frantically. She had to be wearing this outfit. Because that was the outfit the day she wore when she was supposed to go. She even remembered cutting her hair to a specific length and tying her hair in a way she hadn't in years.

There was no sneak attack or torture jutsu. She looked a little older because she was a little older. She wasn't in her early twenties anymore. Instead she was a vital 30 year old with half a lifetime of experience, the emotional baggage that came along with it, and an impressive resume.

But the more she wandered through Neji's tiny apartment, the more other memories came back to her as well. She remembered sitting on that kitchen chair, sipping tea, marveling at the fact that Neji Hyūga had just as much as admitted to unprofessional behavior towards her. It was strange remembering something that you had just witnessed from the crack of a slightly ajar door. It was so confusing it almost fired up Tenten's headache again. It was the exact same event, experienced by the exact same person. Twice. From completely different angles. She was definitely going to need some kind of therapy if she ever made it back.

She couldn't remember anything significant happening after that day. Certainly nothing like meeting a time-travelled twin. Or Neji admitting anything… strange. But then again, her memory was not the most reliable currently.

After walking around the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, Tenten dropped onto the old couch in the den again. She remembered the texture of it. Suddenly she knew where all the lumps were and how you had to sit if you wanted to be comfortable. She also remembered sitting next to Neji here. Debriefing or doing other mundane things. Wondering about whether he ever still thought about his eighteenth birthday. Whether he cherished it in a weird secretive way. Or whether it was just a juvenile memory that he thought about every once in a while when he recalled stupid shit he'd done in his youth. Except that he didn't really do stupid shit. Just like he was never anything but serious. Certainly not playfully cocky. Or tender. Or in the habit of cursing.

But maybe it just took a timetrip for her to get to know her friend in a whole new way. Could it really be that he had hidden a part of himself from her until the day he died? And only revealed it via an accidental travel back in time?

Tenten didn't do this very often but now she had to. She leaned back against the couch's backrest and closed her eyes, tried to imagine the Neji she knew. She saw a pair of unsmiling, empty eyes. A level, deep voice that loved to recite mission stats, got together for herring soba and sesame dumplings with her at least once a month and apart from that was a pretty devoted Hyūga. And every once in a while when they weren't careful, - got too close with a casual touch, - there'd be a spark. A tension that sped up her arm and lodged in her chest that he never seemed to notice. That was the Neji she knew and …

Tenten didn't realize she had fallen asleep until someone was gently shaking her awake. Her eyes barely opened. But they were open enough to see Neji take off some of his gear and sit next to her.

""T go well?" Tenten murmured.

"Not really," he reported. "We searched the place for about three hours, then put everything back so he wouldn't know anyone had been there and just left again. We reported to Tsunade about an hour ago and the next thing to do is call Hiashi in the morning, schedule another meeting and hope he tells me where the damn thing is. Then go after it again."

Tenten felt more than saw that he was looking at her.

"Maybe by then you'll actually be of some use."

"I'm future-lagged," she complained. "Or time travel sick. Something. I donno."

"They didn't warn you this might happen back home?"

"Maybe. Don't remember."

"Being a time traveller kind of sucks, doesn't it?"

"You have no idea," Tenten agreed, sleepily.

"How about I get you back to bed? Maybe if you slept a little, you'd remember what we ought to be looking for exactly."

He squatted next to his couch and shifted her head onto his shoulder, her torso into his arm and then he scooped up her legs and carried her back to the bedroom.