The Actual Truth, Again

The next time Tenten woke up, she croaked with more virility. Hinata was there immediately this time, coaxing more words out of her. Can you hear me? Are you okay? But apart from 'ye' for 'yes' and silence for no, Tenten was not capable of sophisticated conversation. This happened a couple times until finally Tenten's lids did not feel so heavy anymore and she was able to pry them open. From then onwards, things went a little better.

She learned it had only been one week since she'd spoken for the first time, so she hadn't lost as much time as before. Tenten could speak a little more normally after she regained a lot of her bodily functions. She could swallow, open her eyes, even sit up in bed although her body felt like an old rusty machine. Everything in her body crunched as though her bones protested being moved. Her body obviously did not appreciate being thrust back and forth in the flow of time.

There were also a lot of memory problems. Apparently, the mind was not made for keeping two timelines straight. It took Tenten another week until she could consistently answer all questions pertaining to semantic memory correctly.

Naruto was Hokage. She was head of the Dangerous Weapons' Division. She lived alone in a townhouse. Her rank, her age, her career. It all took a while to come back to her fully.

Because Tenten was still bone-tired, she didn't receive many visitors. Naruto did visit regularly but that was more to check up on his wife than anything else. Also, the couple's two children sometimes roamed around under strict instructions to not cause any trouble and be quiet. Only when Tenten was really up to it, did Naruto come to take mission statements.

Hinata was in her usual place in the corner of her room, where she had set up a makeshift office while she kept an eye on Tenten's recovery. Naruto sat right next to Tenten's bed.

"You've already given Sakura some statements pertaining to the health of time travellers. I just need to confirm these for my own logs. You suffered from weak spells and fainting during the first 24 hours with a relapse halfway through the mission. Correct?"

"Yes, also a strong fever in the beginning and my memories have been behaving strangely the whole time. During the second weak spell I thought I was being sent back here but I didn't successfully return home until Tsunade performed the reversal of the jutsu. And even then, it took 45 minutes to an hour before I ...left. We thought it'd failed."

"How has your memory been behaving strangely?"

"When I arrived in the past I had rudimental semantic memory. I remembered general facts about the world. Then I remembered facts about me. But specifics like what I exactly do for a living didn't come until the end. But sometimes I would also forget things I'd already remembered. I think I was also confused because I was confronted with a lot of conflicting information. I remembered you being Hokage but somehow Tsunade was Hokage. Or I remembered my age but then was confronted with a world where everyone insisted I was younger. Also everyone seemed wrong because I remembered them slightly older. I think we don't notice the subtle changes of age over time but when it's a sudden change little things like a couple extra wrinkles really stand out."

"Sounds like you had a rough awakening."

"Very rough. I couldn't even remember what my mission was. I only had this feeling of urgency but no idea why I felt that way. It took a while to figure out my mission."

"So, I guess it didn't help at all that we prepped you extensively? Hinata gave you a list of the temporal rules we agreed upon before we left, right? Do you remember setting them up together?"

"Not really. I get snippets of us discussing event orders and emphasizing that we don't want to change history. I remember broad strokes like that the mission was supposed to ensure this future, not create a new one. I also get bits and pieces of me memorizing actions I was supposed to undertake in the past. But I didn't remember any of this when I was in the past. I only had vague feelings of what I should or shouldn't do that I couldn't explain well."

"Sounds like you had to make a lot of judgment calls."

"Yeah. Even now, I'm remembering more about my life here but somehow the memories from the time travel episode are hazy now. Which is strange because when I was at the Inuzuka mansion I didn't feel like I did when I'd been in the middle of the roadat the beginning of my journey. I remembered what happened right before but since then it's been difficult again. I get bits and pieces of what I did in the past. Do you know what I did when I went back there?"

"Yeah, we compiled an action plan from the documents in the safe and everyone's memories that you were supposed to stick to."

"Sorry. It's like stuff from a dream."

"Ok, so that tells us it's really difficult to prepare people for time travel."

Naruto was striking something through on his clipboard.

"Don't worry," he said. "This is going to be very important for any future endeavors. You still did extraordinarily well for the first time traveller ever. "

"Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"I'm not so sure I did."

"What do you mean?"

"I get this nagging feeling that I messed up. Seriously, messed up."

"How?"

"Like I said, I don't remember everything clearly from the mission but I encountered… Neji. And I think… I recall some really confusing snippets of us interacting."

Naruto swallowed.

"Interacting how?"

"I think I might've told him he dies."

"Ah."

Naruto looked astonishingly unsurprised. Tenten expected shock, disgust, perhaps disappointment.

"Maybe it's time we got Sakura here too. She's so much better at this than me," Naruto confessed and got up to find her, while Tenten was left behind. She gave Hinata a quizzical look but her friend just seemed incredibly torn.

When Naruto returned, he was alone and didn't look happy. Tenten was expecting some great revelation but all he said was:

"We're going to wait a few more days until you can walk and then we'll let you out of this hospital room and see whether interacting in your correct time brings back any more memories."

"Did you not hear what I said? I told someone their future and-"

"I know. But we need to focus on you getting a bit more stable right now. I understand you feel bad but it'll be fine. As you can see from me and Hinata both being here, Neji still died exactly when he was supposed to, so you didn't cause any problems."

After a heartbeat Naruto turned back towards her and added:

"Try not to worry."

Tenten would have laughed if she'd had the strength.

ttt

Tenten was regaining strength in her legs very quickly now and was soon walking down the hospital hallways clinging to Hinata's arm. She was also remembering more of her life. She remembered how she and Hinata had become best friends, how she'd taught Tenten to hit chakra points blind from memory alone. The two had practiced hours on end together. And it was still difficult for Tenten to perform on anyone that wasn't Hinata. Thinking back, that and her weakness spell were the reason why she was a less strong opponent against Hanabi. But Tenten also remembered how the knowledge had saved her on many a mission. And what a privilege it was for a Hyūga to make themselves so vulnerable to an outsider.

Walking down the hallways in the hospital, Tenten said a heartfelt "Thank you".

"For what?" Hinata wanted to know.

"For a lifetime of everything. I'm remembering more now."

"I'm so happy to hear that."

ttt

Tenten was ecstatic to take her first walk around Konoha. Earlier today she had moved back into her apartment. It seemed familiar in a distant way. At least she seemed to remember where everything was. She'd spent fifteen minutes staring at her wardrobe. It was still messy from where she'd been looking for some of her old clothes. Finally taking a shower again by herself instead of being washed by the nurses was also a great experience. Until being in the shower brought back more memories.

But now Tenten was out and about, visiting all her favorite spots in the city she loved. She visited the old training grounds of her youth. A lot of childhood and teenage memories overcame her there. She also remembered how she stopped attending this training ground when she was 23. She remembered the incident of spilling water down her shirt and then stomping off in utter embarrassment as the boys laughed. She'd never wanted to feel embarrassed again, so she'd removed herself from Neji's orbit. Interestingly enough, he'd done the same thing. Tenten recollected a lot of memories that were recent yet somehow occurred in the past. Those were probably memories from her time travel experiences. She couldn't quite heed Naruto's advice not to worry because the more she remembered the clearer it became to her that she had not been emotionally detached or simply following a mission.

It made her wonder whether she had really been the best person for the mission. Would they have chosen her had they not remembered her being the one who travelled back? Tenten felt reminded of Neji's drunken questions on determinism. But her head still hurt too much to delve into that.

Her next destination was one of Neji's favorite restaurants, where she would meet him and talk for hours. She missed having a friend like that. She also remembered that for a short while she'd had that friend again when she'd gone back in time. She ended up wandering all through Konoha, back to the Inuzuka home, which used to be Tsunade's home, all the way to Neji's little place, which was now for rent. She even went into the woods to the clearing where they'd celebrated Neji's eighteenth birthday and to the location of the secret training ground, where he'd been too distracted to be a ladder.

By the time she had arrived at Lee's, she had a pretty good grasp on what was the past, what was the present, and what belonged to the intimacy of her time travels. Or at least, she thought she did. Every now and then, a memory would pop up that she couldn't immediately file away but she was learning to live with the chaos inside her head.

Her godchild, Metal Lee, was apparently off training, so it was only Lee whom she encountered. Like always, after she was gone for weeks on end, he wrapped her in a huge bear hug. Tenten was moving without trouble now but her body still protested against the tight squeeze with aches and pains. They were well worth the euphoria that flooded her inside though. She kissed his cheek when he set her back on her feet.

"Come on in. I can make you dinner."

"I'm fine, Lee."

"Nonsense! Who wants to be strong of mind must be strong of body. So, you need to eat. You look a little … "

"I've been in the hospital for the past few weeks."

Lee stopped pulling her towards the kitchen.

"Why didn't anyone tell me? Is your concussion syndrome acting up again?"

"No, at least I don't think that's what caused it. I was just on a… really strange mission."

"Strange, huh?"

Lee's brow furrowed as he tried to gaze into her soul. He just might succeed. But he didn't torture her. Instead he let her off the hook, catapulted her into a chair and wouldn't let her get up until she'd eaten all the dishes he prepared.

"I haven't really heard you describe a mission as strange before. I guess this one really got to you?"

"You have no idea."

"You'll figure it out. You're really good at that."

"At what?"
"At going with life. I've never seen anyone as resilient as you. Everything crumbles around you and you just stay little old you, right on the edge of history without ever really participating very much."

Thinking about it, that wasn't a terrible description of what she did for a living. Lee didn't know exactly how on point he was, which made his remark all the more impressive.

"You've known me for a while now, haven't you, Lee?"

"You can say that again - Most of your life!"

"Am I the kind of person to do something stupid? Like, really, stupid."

Lee played with the remnants of his food while he gave that question some thought. That was the great thing about Lee. He was a goofball but he also took everything seriously.

"You're the kind of person who thinks that a little bit of stupidity is just part of the equation every now and again. Without a hint of stupidity, the world wouldn't run. Everyone would just stay in their own little bubble, hardly ever interacting."

That rang true.

"Thanks for reminding me, Lee."

"No problem. Got any other life questions stuck in that head of yours?"

"You don't want to know."

He laughed and detached a grain of rice from their finished bowls. Then he flicked it at her. It went right past her.

"Darnit. I'm just not as good a shot as you," Lee admitted freely.

Now it was Tenten's turn to laugh.

"I don't know what you're going through but, for the record, you're not a stupid person. In fact, if the strictest judge of all things stupid, Neji himself, were still alive, I think he'd be pretty proud of you."

"Or scared I could beat him."

"I'd pay to see that match."

"Me too, Lee."

Tenten didn't know how but Lee somehow knew she needed him to take her hand and squeeze it.

ttt

She'd promised she would check in with the others after she finished her first journey through her hometown, so that's where she headed after she left Lee's. She'd agreed to meet Sakura and Naruto at the Hokage estate. Hinata was there too, but that didn't seem strange. At first. But the more Tenten got comfortable - sitting down, telling them of how her memories seemed to be coming back and in the right order - the more fidgety her hosts grew.

"Guys, is there something you need to tell me?"

All three looked in different directions, clearly indicating that there was something.

"Ok, come on. Just tell me. It can't be stranger than time travel and I have it on good authority I'm pretty resilient. Just spit it out."

Tenten had leaned back in her chair but snapped back once she heard Naruto speak.

"Last year we managed to revive Neji."

He sure did spit it out alright.

"Revive..."

"Yes. I mean, we had to do some patchwork with his body, but there was enough of it preserved and we finally found a jutsu that worked. So we did and he's actually been… uhm… sort of part of your division."

"My…"

"Yeah."

Tenten needed to breathe. Right now.

"Well, there was no blueprint for after you got back. We all had our memories to go on from before and you didn't seem to know about this when you travelled back in time. So we didn't tell you."

"He's been back for a year?"

"Yup."

"And he works in my division?"

"Yeah."

"How can someone be part of my division without me knowing?"

"Well, he's sort of a secret part. Do you remember how you deliver the weapons to us and we promise to keep them safe and hidden from the world?"

"Yes."

"Well, we used to have a safe here in Konoha, but now we … kind of… let Neji guard them. He's the perfect gatekeeper. Nobody knows he's even alive, so nobody's looking for him. It's like a ghost is protecting our weapons. How cool is that?"

"Not the time, Naruto," Hinata admonished him.

"I thought she might be able to see the humor-"

"She's clearly in shock. Will you just stop talking?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Tenten swallowed hard, ignored the marital spat about her state of mind and asked:

"So, no one knows he's still alive?"

"Well, I'm Hokage, so I know. Sakura performed the jutsu, so she knows. Hinata's my wife. Oh, and Sasuke knows."

"Sasuke?!"

"Well, he is my husband," Sakura explained.

"So, lemme get this straight," Tenten began and from the look in her eye they could all tell she was not coping well. "The people who knew he was still alive before me included… Sasuke. The outlaw of times past. So, a former enemy of the state knew of Neji being alive before me. Me, who's a loyal warrior. Always loyal. Self-sacrificing me, who went back in freaking time to… and I didn't know…"

She seemed to lose all her energy and slumped back.

"We didn't want to upset time. You have to understand - You obviously didn't know when you went back. We thought we had to keep it that way."

"Yes, everyone is so scared of upsetting time. No one is scared of upsetting me!"

"Maybe we didn't handle this as well as we should've."

"I can't… breathe…" Tenten disclosed.

"Great. Now you're giving her a panic attack," Hinata complained.

"Me?"

"You're Hokage. If someone is hyperventilating it's your fault."

"Sakura's the one who said she was probably well enough to hear the truth now."

"Don't pin this on me. You're Hokage - you oversee everyone."

"How in the world should I have foreseen this?"

Tenten hit the floor.

"Great, now she might have a concussion too."