I'm back, and it's pretty early again. It's a long chapter, and it's not spellchecked or checked for typos, so sorry if there's anything a bit off. Tell me how you liked this chapter in the reviews please :)
The last year of the academy had come by quickly and Tenten didn't know whether to be happy or scared that it would all be over so soon.
All she had done this year was just laze around and study a couple of books. But Tenten was proud of some things. She had learned how to use many more weapons (courtesy of her dad) and she was introduced to something else that wasn't as "out there" like Kunai, shuriken, swords, or senbon: Wire. It was something that was subtle and something that she had not really considered a weapon before. Wire could be laced everywhere, capturing your enemy efficiently with other weapons such as kunai. Add a couple of explosion tags, and who knew of the endless possibilities and variations Tenten could make.
Seals was also something that Tenten had taken interest in. Weapons and sealings went together like nothing else did, and there was a world full of possibilities. But Tenten had no idea where to start. All she could do was make her basic seals and place things in them, but she definitely didn't know how to write more complicated ones.
So, Tenten had gone to the library and looked around for bigger seals. She had copied them over and over to make at least 30 of her own seals (for practice). Her hand hurt like crazy, but she had persisted, forcing herself to memorize the pattern.
But, doing something was one thing, and understanding it was another.
So, when she had tried to ink her own complicated seals that could hold a multiple array of items in a specific order without a base like the book had given her, it hadn't really ended well.
She ended up going to the library to get a book about sealing instead of how to seal.
Huh. Tenten thought as soon as she finished reading it. Sealing was a lot more complicated than she thought. It wasn't just something that you painted on paper for no reason. It was a language, a code, something that had a shape and a will. If one thing was wrong, you got the whole thing wrong, and that was not exciting for Tenten.
It wasn't as basic as it seemed either. If you wanted a bigger seal, you couldn't just write bigger kanji and expect it to work. You had to exert more chakra into the seal to hold the items in whatever pocket dimension, and thus, the bigger the seal, the more chakra you needed. The more complicated the seal, the more intricate the kanji became.
And she also learnt to never, ever, put something alive and breathing into a seal. That resulted in immediate death.
So, Tenten had started off small this time, and, grew big, instead of jumping to the more complicated seals. She now could paint her own seals, however big she needed (as long as she had enough chakra), and had been slowly starting to store all her weapons in one sealing scroll, that she now could pull out whatever weapon she wanted instead of pulling out everything all at once.
It also looked really cool in front of her classmates too, whenever she pulled something out of "thin air" when they sparred. Apparently learning how to seal was not something most of her classmates did in their free time.
By the time the end of the year had come around, the whole class was stressing over the Genin exam. Eito-Sensei had told them that their year was going to be a little bit "different" than usual. The usual final was just making a basic henge and an illusionary clone, but apparently some higher ups had taken a look at their class and decided that that was not the best way to go in testing the final year for their class.
Tenten had a suspicious feeling that Lee was somehow part of the reason why they made their decision.
"I'm just grateful they gave me a chance." Lee said when he heard. But Tenten could tell he didn't like the idea of getting pitied.
Then one day when Tenten had entered class and sat down in her seat, Eito-Sensei had burst the bubble about the final.
"We will be having a two-part exam for your final." Eito-Sensei said. The class groaned. They all had hated the two-part exam last year. There were a lot of low scores.
"The first part will be a mission. Everyone in this room will have to take a mission with a group of three like real genin do. You will be judged based on how you behave, how you communicate with your teammates, how you use your skills, and how you handle the situation. Then, for your second part, you will spar with a classmate.
"Are we clear?"
"YES!" The class said in unison.
Eito-sensei nodded. "Good. The first part of the final is today."
Tenten's jaw dropped, and so did the jaws of the rest of the class. Except for Neji of course.
But what?! He didn't even tell us?! Tenten screamed internally. She could have prepared and asked around for how genin missions were like or something! Anything would have been better than this!
Tenten looked at Eito-Sensei who had a gleam of amusement in his eye. Of course, he's silently laughing at us.
"What? Eito-Sensei! You can't do this to us!"
"Eito-Sensei!"
"NOOOOO!"
Eito-Sensei cleared his throat and the class fell silent. "Quiet. Today is your mission and that is final. Genin also sometimes have unexpected situations like this. And as expected, you have all your necessary supplies with you right now. If you don't, raise your hand."
More than half of the class hesitantly raised their hands.
Eito-Sensei just sighed exasperatedly. "Go get your supplies and come back by noon. If you're not here, the final will start without you, and you fail."
The whole class rushed out, and Tenten followed. She had everything with her, but she really had nothing else to do in the class. And it was 3 hours of free time! Tenten wasn't gonna give that away to sit in the classroom alone with Eito-Sensei.
It was noon, and almost everyone was in the class. Tenten had gotten some ramen at a place called Ichiraku's just in case she didn't get to eat while on the mission. Who knew how long it would take? Plus, it was always smart to go on duty with a full stomach, Tenten had read. Well, unless you threw up.
She hoped that wouldn't happen.
"Ok then. I'll be calling out your groups now." Eito-Sensei said, snapping everyone out of whatever mood they were in. "These groups are randomized, so don't complain if you're on a group you don't like. Genin groups have to deal with people they don't like too."
The class shuffled and looked at each other, but Tenten knew that was probably a lie. Groups were never "randomized". Ha! That was a joke. Everything was put together for a reason at the academy.
Eito-Sensei then started to list of the groups.
Tenten droned everything out until she heard her name.
"Tenten. Kenzou." Tenten made eye contact with her fellow classmate. "And Neji." Tenten lurched in her own seat when she heard the name.
Neji?
A flurry of emotions was sent through her.
Well… a part of her was happy that Neji was on her team. It meant that her team would definitely pass. But part of her was mad. It meant that she wouldn't be able to showcase her skills because Neji would do everything. And make her look bad compared to him.
And everything was a competition between her and Neji. What if they didn't "communicate" well and then she failed? That was a possibility. Everything was a possibility!
Tenten put her hand to her forehead. That meant she had to put aside whatever dislike she had for him and cooperate to pass.
That probably was going to be the hardest part of the mission, she thought now.
That was also probably why Eito-Sensei had put them in a group together. He knew that she and Neji had a little competition going on between them. Well, Lee had a bigger rivalry with Neji than Tenten did, but at least Lee respected Neji and was nice to him.
Tenten really wasn't.
He probably put us together to see if we would cooperate or not! That Eito-Sensei… Tenten sighed internally. Well, I'll show him.
Me and Neji can cooperate! We'll be the best team! Boy, Tenten thought she would never think those words.
She snapped out of it when her eyes met Neji's white ones. A silent agreement passed through them.
Well, she guessed she could put aside her complaints for the greater good.
When they had opened the envelope with their mission, Tenten had read it out loud so Kenzou and Neji could hear too.
"Go to Saturo at his shop. He needs help requiring the capture of a certain thing. Saturo will tell you more details." Tenten said, frowning. "And then here's the address. That's it."
Neji frowned. "What?"
Tenten shrugged. "Here, look at it yourself." Neji took the paper from her, and him and Kenzou both read through it.
"I guess we just go to Saturo then." Kenzou said.
They got to the address on the paper.
"Huh. I've passed through this street before." Kenzou said when they landed on the ground, sand skittering around them. The shop was near the edge of the forest in Konoha, a strange place for any merchandise.
It was a normal shop though, with a deep purple-brownish covering that had huge kanji that said 'Saturo's Crops'. What an odd name, she thought.
Neji didn't say anything and just pushed through the front doors. Tenten and Kenzou followed.
A bald man wearing a dark blue robe with a pale blue headband wrapped around his forehead turned around to them. He had an old wrinkly face with various laugh lines around his mouth and crinkles around his eyes. His dark eyes glittered when he saw them.
"Who do we have here?" he asked.
Tenten bowed. "We're students from the academy." She opened her mouth to explain the situation when Neji cut her off.
"We've been informed of a Saturo-san that needs our help seeking a certain thing." Neji said, straightening from his bow. "Do you happen to know where Saturo-san is?"
Dang. Tenten was impressed. Neji was usually silent as a rock and rude as hell, but apparently, he actually spoke and had good manners.
"You're looking at him boy!" The bald man said laughing. "And yes, I do need your help." Said Saturo, his face darkening.
"What happened Saturo-san?" Tenten asked, frowning.
"Well, it's really troubling." Saturo said. "But…
"I need you to find my cat."
Neji and Tenten went silent, and Kenzou choked in the back.
"What?" She said, incredulously.
"My poor cat, Bon-bon, has gone missing." Saturo said sighing. "She's been missing for the last two days. Who knows how she is right now out there, and how she's doing?" He sighed again. "She's a black cat, and has a small pink bow on her. Please find her."
Tenten swallowed her incredulity. "Right away Sir."
As soon as Neji, Tenten and Kenzou walked out of the store to go look for "Bon-bon", Tenten had immediately expressed her dissatisfaction.
"A cat. They want us to find a cat!" Tenten moaned.
Kenzou just sighed. "I can't believe this. I thought we would do something… cool." He glanced at Neji. "Right Neji?"
Neji let out a small sigh. "Well… This is not what I expected."
"No kidding!" Tenten whined. "How is this even supposed to 'display' our skill set?"
Kenzou shrugged. "Let's just go and find this cat. At least we can get recognized for fastest mission done ever."
Tenten smiled at that. "Right."
They looked everywhere for that stupid cat.
Everywhere.
Since this was more of a "find and locate" type of gig, they firstly relied more on Neji and his Byakugan to search everywhere in the range around the shop for any cat. The only cats they found didn't have a bow, were already owned by someone else, or weren't even black.
Then they had split up and looked through the whole small sector that the shop was in. And then the bigger sector.
Neji kept pushing and pushing on his Byakugan and how far it could see, straining his eyes greatly.
"It's fine." He muttered and looked at Tenten strangely when she had asked about it. Tenten scoffed internally. She wasn't a sadist to not ask about how he was doing. "Just find the cat."
But three hours later and they were still nowhere.
Then Kenzou came, carrying a cat in his hands.
But it wasn't a black cat. It was a white cat.
"Kenzou. That's not Bon-bon!" Tenten exclaimed. Kenzou rolled his eyes.
"I know it isn't. But look at what else I have." He brought out a tube of black paint from his back pocket, and Tenten looked at him in disbelief.
"We're not doing that."
"Doing what?" Kenzou asked innocently.
"That! That's practically cheating!" She spluttered. "And plus, that's a horrible idea! Saturo-san's not an idiot!"
"Relax! We'll show him the cat, get the mission signed as complete, and then come back and steal the cat and set it free again! No one will ever know if they come to check up on the cat, because the cat will never be there."
Tenten looked over at Neji, who said nothing.
"… Are you seriously considering this right now Neji?"
Neji's eyes narrowed. "What? No. What do you take me for?" He looked towards Kenzou and then scowled.
Kenzou visibly shrank. "But what if we never find the stupid cat?"
"We can't cheat the system!"
"What if we name this cat Bon-bon too? It'll technically be Bon-bon." Kenzou exclaimed.
"No." Neji deadpanned.
"We can't risk it!" Tenten cried.
"Come on guys, It's not just any paint! It's fabric pai—"
"ENOUGH!" Neji said.
Tenten and Kenzou quieted.
"Keep on looking for the cat. We're not painting the white cat black and naming it Bon-bon." Neji paused. "Tenten."
She looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Is there anywhere we haven't looked?"
"Well other than the chance Bon-bon might have been kidnapped, we've looked pretty much everywhere." Tenten said, before hesitating. "Wait. We haven't looked through the forest."
"Then that's where we're going next." Neji said. "Let's go."
When they got to the forest, Neji had used his Byakugan first thing.
"Three cats." Neji said when he had finished looking through the whole forest with his Byakugan.
Tenten nodded. "Let's split up."
They all ran off in separate directions, each taking responsibility for one of the cats. She darted through the branches as fast as she could, savoring the feeling of the wind on her face. It felt good, running through the trees. It made her feel free.
When Tenten got to the spot that Neji had told her about, she landed in the middle of the ground and looked up around for the cat. She spotted her immediately, a black fur ball with a bright pink bow curled up on one of the highest branches. Tenten wondered why it climbed up so high. "Bon-bon!" she exclaimed loudly.
She immediately darted up to the tree and took Bob-bon into her hands, and jumped back down onto the ground. "Aw, what are you doing so far into the forest, huh?" Tenten said, scratching the absolutely adorable black cat. Bon-bon meowed loudly. "You got stuck up in a tree and were too scared to come down, huh?" she cooed. The cat stopped purring in her hands.
"Bon-bon?" The cat meowed in fear and Tenten frowned, turning around to the object of fear. Tenten's eyes widened in shock.
An extremely large black striped orange cat that was easily a few 8 feet taller than her growled and opened its mouth, saliva dripping off of each large canine and into its dark mouth. Its teeth were extremely sharp. Too sharp.
Tiger.
So that's why the cat got scared into the tree.
The first thing Tenten tried to do when the Tiger lunged at her was run. Body Flicker. Body Flicker! BODY FLICKER! Her mind shouted at her. But there was literally no point. Tenten knew that she wouldn't be fast enough to escape it.
She would have been caught if it had not been for Neji who came out of nowhere and punched the tiger straight on the side of its face. The tiger landed a few feet away, and Tenten stared in horror at Neji's scratched and bloodied fist. She had never seen Neji get hurt. Ever.
Her eyes widened as Neji stood up and turned to look at her. His cold white eyes were even more menacing with the Byakugan activated. "Don't freeze." He stated, narrowing his eyes at her. He looked at the Tiger, who growled and got up, running back at them, and then Neji glanced at her again. "Get up and don't get in my way."
Tenten nodded, shakily, dazed as Neji darted towards the tiger. She got up, hastily, and looked around to see if Kenzou had arrived as well.
He was, and Tenten hurried over to him and handed him the cat. "Keep Bon-bon safe." Kenzou just nodded, eyes wide and frozen.
Tenten looked over at Neji, who was trying to keep his defense up against the tiger. It was expected, the tiger was huge. It was freaking 12 feet tall.
But still… she couldn't believe she freezed. Tenten had always felt that she was ready to face something like this, but now, when she was really faced with something, she had freezed. Freezed.
UGH! Tenten growled internally, darting in a second after Neji landed a blow under the tiger's jaw. The tiger stood up, no signs of visible damage. Neji just sighed and then slid into a different stance than before. The tiger lunged, and Neji's eyes flashed as he hit several different parts of the tiger. He moved so fast that Tenten couldn't even see him, but she stared anyway at how graceful he looked. The tiger slumped a little, resting on one paw, and Tenten's eyes widened. What did Neji do to stop it?!
Her thoughts were erased when the tiger slowly got up. She heard Neji curse, and she glanced at him before darting next to him.
"Earth Wall!" She cried placing her hands on the ground. The ground shook and a wall of earth shot up to block the tiger. Tenten glanced over at Neji, who looked at her skeptically. She ignored him and rose 3 more walls around the Tiger in vain. "Run!" She cried to Kenzou. Kenzou darted off and Tenten looked back to see the Tiger break through the walls a few seconds after. She hoped the tiger didn't notice one of them was missing.
Tenten than quickly unsealed a huge sheet of chicken wire. It pricked her hands, but she took it and placed it between some trees, using kunai to hold it in place.
"Neji! Over here!" She yelled.
Neji looked at her, and for a moment she thought he was going to ignore her, but he nodded slightly in her direction in understanding. Then he ran, the tiger charging after him. He slid underneath the chicken wire, still running. The tiger just roared and followed, not noticing the wire at all. When it finally did notice, it was too big and it was going too fast to stop in time. It charged right through it like it was a spiderweb, and then it stopped, howling in pain and clawing at its face.
Ok then, weapon, weapon, weapon. The tiger was distracted right now, so now she needed something that could pierce thick skin and she needed enough force. Big weapons needed a lot of force. So, she needed something sharp and light.
Tenten unsealed huge poisoned senbon from her sealing scroll. Senbon were made to put anything down, and even if they couldn't kill, she had tipped the senbon with poison before sealing it into her scroll anyway.
She waited as Neji rushed forward and right before he slammed the momentarily distracted tiger head down with his leg, Tenten fired the senbon. They sliced through the air and hit exactly where Tenten had watched Neji hit before when he had momentarily (paralyzed?) brought down the tiger. Neji must have hit some pressure and acupuncture spots then, and acupuncture was what senbon were literally made for. The tiger must have had some internal damage there from before from Neji's juken. Now, with the force of Neji's leg to bring the tiger down, the senbon would ensure that the tiger stayed down.
Neji then brought his leg down, completely crushing the tiger's head into the ground, cracking it and sending chunks of earth into the air. Dust filled the area, and Tenten coughed and covered her face.
The dust cleared and Neji stood. Tenten watched his long brown hair shift into place before she looked back at the fallen giant tiger. Senbon jutted from the tiger at several angles, and the tiger's face was slack and bloody, cuts covering it everywhere.
Tenten almost felt sorry for it. Almost. It had tried to kill her.
Neji turned and looked at her, his face still expressionless as it had been during the whole duration of the 5-minute fight. "Let's go." He said, darting off.
Tenten stayed in the spot in front of the giant tiger for a bit longer. She couldn't believe everything that had happened had only happened in the course of 5 minutes. But she guessed that that's how real life and death situations were. Quick. You had to react quick.
Tenten hadn't. She hadn't even figured out the tiger was even sneaking up on her originally. The pit in Tenten's stomach grew deeper as she slowly realized and recounted her mistakes in the fight. She sighed internally. She really wished she had something more "out there"… something that allowed her to attack head on like Neji, instead of lounging back and throwing weapons like senbon.
Neji. Tenten thought. He had reacted so calmly and used his reflexes to his ability so well. And his taijutsu was hands down amazing.
She now understood why Lee respected Neji so much.
Tenten was starting to respect him as well.
She then sighed and darted off through the trees, following the same path they had taken into the forest.
Tenten reached back to the edge of the forest near Saturo's shop to see Neji and Kenzou standing, waiting for her. Kenzou held Bon-bon in his arms and looked at Tenten nervously as she landed next to him. They stood there in silence before Kenzou spoke up. "So, are you guys ok?" They both nodded. "And the tiger?" Kenzou asked.
"The tiger's dead." Neji answered coolly, looking away.
Kenzou's eyes widened in awe. "Of course, you guys killed it." His eyes turned down. "Sorry that I didn't help."
Neji's face remained expressionless. "It's fine. You would have just gotten in our way." He said bluntly.
Kenzou quieted.
"That's not nice." Tenten said, more to herself than to Neji.
Neji ignored her.
They entered the shop and Bon-bon jumped out of Kenzou's arms and onto the counter, meowing lazily.
"You found my Bon-bon!" Saturo said, taking Bon-bon into his arms, his eyes crinkling. "Where was she?"
"Ah, we found her in the forest." Tenten said. "It was a pretty dangerous place to be." She admitted.
Saturo frowned and looked down at Bon-bon. "The forest? I told you to never go there." He said, scolding Bon-bon.
Tenten hesitated before speaking up. "Do you happen to know of any great tigers in the forest Saturo-san? We happened to have an encounter with one."
"Well... yes. There are a couple of great tigers, but they shouldn't be that aggressive." He said, smiling at them.
This time the smile felt a little creepy.
"Uh, well, we need you to sign this form in completion of the mission, Saturo-san." Kenzou said, holding the envelope out awkwardly.
"Alright." Saturo said, signing it with a pen and handing it off to Neji.
"We'll be leaving now Saturo-san. Thank you for the mission." Neji said all too formally.
"Wait." Saturo said, waving his hand and beckoning them to come closer.
"You know, this shop is a collector's shop." Saturo said, gesturing to the many items around him. "And since you three helped me find my cat Bon-bon, why don't you look around and choose something to take home?"
Tenten looked to Kenzou and Neji. "What? Really?"
"Of course! Anything for the kids who helped save Bon-bon." He said, laughing. "Take all the time you want."
They just stood there for a while before Kenzou shrugged and went on ahead to explore the shop. Neji begrudgingly followed him.
Tenten's eyes went straight through all the old boxes and the ancient items that were placed throughout the shop. She hadn't paid attention too much before because of her focus on what the mission was going to be, but there were some really weird things here.
Like a boar horn kazoo from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Was such an invention even possible?
There were old maps and books and a lot of knowledge on the walls, and Tenten might have picked one of the books if she hadn't noticed the weapon section in the back. Her eyes glittered with excitement.
What type of weapons were they? Where were they from?
She was interrupted from her thoughts when Kenzou had went up to the front and shown Saturo what he had wanted: A cube shaped block that was engraved 3 by 3 on each of its 6 sides. It shifted weirdly when you moved the blocks.
Neji had found what he wanted next: A book on taijutsu from over the world. Huh. So Neji was a reading type.
Tenten was the only one left, but she hadn't decided on anything at all. She ignored the looks from Kenzou and Neji as she looked through all the weapons.
She opened a dark green case to see an extremely beautiful arrow made of green crystal for the tip. But Tenten knew she would probably just keep an arrow like that for decoration and not for usage, so she put it to the side and moved on. Everything was really old and not for usage or either not even a weapon.
And then she saw it.
Her eyes then rested on top of a sheathed sword in a case with a strange design. Tenten took it into her hands, unsheathing it, revealing a long silver sword with a strange pattern on the side and a leather wrapped handle.
Huh. That looked plenty usable. It didn't even look that old. It actually looked pretty good.
Tenten grinned as she felt the leather and the sword. It felt great in her hands.
Like it was made for her. But that was probably an overstatement.
"Uh, Tenten? We gotta go." Kenzou called out from the front.
Tenten sheathed the sword and pulled the case off the rack, setting it in and closing it. She hefted it through the shop and onto the counter.
"Here Saturo-san!" Tenten exclaimed, smiling. "I want this!"
Saturo-san's eyes widened as he opened the case. "Oh wow. It's been a long time since I looked at this." He muttered. The old man looked up at her with a smile. "You know, I got this sword a long time ago. It's very old, and very special."
Tenten just looked at him. Old? It didn't look that old to her. "Well, it looks pretty good to me." She said, shrugging.
Saturo laughed. "Of course! This sword has always retained its beauty." He stopped smiling and ran his hands over the sheath of the sword. "I would be sad to see it go."
Of course. If the sword was that special, why would he give it to someone as random as her? Why would he give it away at all? It obviously meant something to him, and Tenten knew she shouldn't have tried to take advantage of the opportunity and take something so big and probably costly from him.
"I'm sorry Saturo-san." Tenten said gulping. "If you don't want to give away the sword, you can keep it." She said, taking off her hands from the counter.
"Did I ever say that?" Saturo said looking at her, amused. "You can keep the sword. I have to keep my word after all."
Tenten's smile grew exponentially. "R-really?!"
Saturo-san smiled. "I would never use it, and it would waste away in the shop. But you have a great future ahead of you as a weapon master. So, use it well." Saturo said.
Tenten grinned. "Okay Saturo-san. Thank you!"
Only after the she had walked out of the shop did she realize something: how did Saturo-san know she wanted to be a weapon master?
When they arrived back at the academy, Eito-Sensei had told them that only 2 teams that had finished before them, surprisingly. He then asked for a short briefing of the mission.
So, Tenten had told Eito-Sensei everything that had happened, about the forest, Bon-bon, and the great tiger.
Eito-Sensei's eyes just grew wider and wider.
"You fought a great tiger?" He asked when she finished talking. "How did you escape?"
"Uh… we killed it." Tenten finished lamely.
Eito-Sensei just looked at them. "Tell me where you encountered it."
Neji explained that one, and Tenten just nodded along.
Eito-Sensei sighed. "How annoying…" He muttered and rubbed his forehead. "A great tiger..." He looked back down at them and sighed again. "You guys can go home for now."
"Wait, did we pass?" Kenzou said timidly.
"Yes. You did pass. But we'll look into the tiger at the forest and see of how we can dispose of it." Eito-Sensei said. "Now go home."
Later, Eito-Sensei and a couple of other teachers had gone to the same forest to look for the great tiger. When they found it, it was dead, with poisoned senbon sticking out of it from all angles at various different pressure points, hit with deadly accuracy only a weapon master had. Its face was crushed as well, and it was bleeding internally from internal damage to the organs that could only be done by the renown gentle fist.
Neji and Tenten. Eito-Sensei had thought, smirking. They had cooperated. And they had cooperated well.
Thank you for reading! Leave reviews! And Tenten will deal more with the sword next chapter. I wrote this chapter the way I did because in canon Tenten respects and admiring Neji a lot, but in this fic, Tenten really hates on Neji a lot lol. So I wanted to give her a reason to start respecting and admiring Neji like she did in canon, instead of making her just admire Neji for no reason when he's a plain jerk. But still, I will always love Neji :)