I'm so sorry for being super late with this chapter. I was really busy so I didn't really have to time to write for a while.
When her classmates had found out about what happened with Tenten's team's mission, they had pestered her to no end.
"OH MY GOSH TENTEN. How the heck did you fight a great tiger!?"
"I can't believe that you went against that!"
"I bet Neji did all of the work."
"AH! NEJI! Tell me Tenten, how was he in action?! TELL ME!"
"Dang. Our mission was so boring compared to yours! I wish we got the tiger…"
For Tenten, it was exciting at first to get all the attention, but soon it just turned annoying. Neji, obviously, just had ignored everyone, and Kenzou however had just soaked up all the attention with no problem.
But when the second part of the final arrived, everyone stopped caring about the first exam and started stressing on the second. Most kids were afraid they would fail and not move on, and Tenten didn't blame them: it was pretty stressful. And this time, it wasn't even in an isolated room with no one watching—it was with everyone. Having 20 other pairs of eyeballs staring at you didn't help you with the exam at all.
Either way, Tenten had passed the second part of the exam with flying colors.
Eito-sensei had handed out the genin headbands to whoever passed right after all the spars were over.
When Tenten had received her headband, she had beamed with happiness. Eito-Sensei just smiled at her and patted her head as she stared at the leaf symbol on the silver plate with a smile that was threatening to split her face into two.
It was her headband.
Hers. And she had earned it.
The moment would probably forever be engraved into her memory.
The rest of the class, however, didn't meet the same fate. Only about half the class passed. The lowest passing percent in 50 years.
Some students cried, and Eito-Sensei tried to cheer them up, saying there was always next year. It didn't really help, but some people were convinced to try next year anyway.
Neji obviously passed. Tenten herself had passed. And Lee had passed too.
Lee had been so happy when he got his headband, that he had literally been jumping off the walls. Tenten just grinned and joined him. She really couldn't ruin his happiness after all.
But Tenten was so so very glad that Lee had passed with her. If Lee hadn't passed, it would have probably hurt her just as much as it hurt him. She really couldn't deal with losing another friend in class. First Choko and then Lee?
Never.
200 years later after Naruto had been sealed in that stupid sword, the sword was finally found in the middle of the great desert. Naruto had been positively ecstatic. He was even happier when he found out they were going to the Land of Wind. He couldn't believe his luck.
But then it had all went downhill when he found out that Gaara wasn't the Kazekage. In fact, Gaara didn't even exist yet.
They were wrong about being sent 200 years back in time. Severely wrong.
Naruto had gone into near depression for a long time, when he found out that they were in the time when Madara and Hashirama were alive. And the chances of either of the reincarnations of Indra and Asura meeting him was almost zero.
And meeting another shinobi? Hell, Shinobi were so scarce back in the day that civilians used to think they were myths. That was not good odds for him and Kurama. Not good odds at all.
So, Naruto had forced himself to get used to being handled by unknown people and being sold and traded through time for whatever their temporary owner had wished.
When shinobi had grew more common, Kurama had tried reaching out to a couple of the swordsmen that they had encountered. The first guy chickened out and gave it away, so when they finally arrived at a shinobi who looked like they knew what they were doing, Naruto had talked with him. The only fault that the shinobi had was that he was too greedy and curious, and when he realized one of the tailed beasts was trapped in the sword, he had tampered with the seal. Naruto hadn't tried to stop him, curious to see what would happen. Would they get out of the seal?
Apparently not.
That shinobi had died.
Naruto didn't even mean for him to die. But it had brought Naruto back into the world with more clarity than ever. And it got him more depressed than ever.
Honestly, sometimes he felt like if he didn't at least act like he was happy, than all his optimism would go down the drain.
It had helped him cope through his depression throughout the years. Kurama couldn't relate because he was so used to the situation of being "sealed.".
And when a collector got a hold of the sword and brought it to Konoha, the facade finally worked: Naruto had positively grinned with happiness. For the first time in forever he had hope again.
Finally, after being passed through various villages and lands, they had arrived with a collector who took them to Konoha. Konoha. His home. His village.
But it had turned into a frown when the collector had taken the sword and shut it in its sheath and a case and stuffed it in the back of his shop on the outskirts of Konoha. For over a hundred years.
So, Naruto had grown accustomed to his dark surroundings. And today, when the dark surroundings around him had filled with light once more, he hadn't even noticed. And he didn't really care.
That was something that had happened over the years as well. Realizing that anything that happened to him didn't matter. That he would always be stuck like this.
He instead covered his eyes with his hand and grumbled, turning over to his side.
"Kurama…" he whined. "Do something about the light. I'm trying to sleep here."
Kurama said nothing.
"Kurama!"
"Get up, you brat."
Naruto had ignored him and turned over, sleeping face down. "The light. And then we can play cards."
"BRAT!"
"Fine, fine, fine. Since you wanna play so badly-" But then Naruto froze when he heard a childish gasp through the seal.
He swiveled up toward the light, missing the face when the sheath had been shut on the sword once again. Naruto sighed, but then cringed when he felt the sword suddenly being picked up and then hefted onto a flat surface of some sort, rocking him in the process.
"Oy! Watch where you're going, you nimrod!" Naruto yelled out. More for the sake of yelling then anything else.
He quieted, getting up when he heard some words being spoken on the outside, from two different voices. Naruto couldn't quite make them out with both the sheath and the case placed on the sword, but he had good idea about what was happening. The sword was probably being sold off again.
"Kurama, what happen-" Naruto was cut off when the case opened and a voice filtered through. A voice of a familiar old geezer.
Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief.
"That guy's still alive? Is he even human?"
Kurama scowled. "That is not what I called you for, Naruto."
Naruto frowned, but then shushed Kurama. "Wait."
"You can keep the sword. I have to keep my word after all." The geezer continued.
"R-really?!" The other voice said.
Naruto frowned at the familiarity of the voice, a voice he hadn't heard in hundreds of years. "Wait, Kurama, is that—"
"I would never use it, and it would waste away in the shop." The old geezer Saturo said, cutting him off. "But you have a great future ahead of you as a weapon master. So, use it well."
Naruto's eyes widened. Weapon master.
"Okay Saturo-san. Thank you!"
Naruto slid back onto the ground.
Tenten.
Tenten had found the sword.
Naruto had known it was her immediately. He only had a couple of friends his age, mostly in the Konoha 12, so Tenten's voice was unmistakable.
And he knew he was right when everyone had addressed her as Tenten. And when Tenten had unsheathed the sword to show her father, he had seen her gray eyes and those two little buns resting upon her head. There was literally no way it wasn't Tenten.
And when he heard Neji's voice when they had went back to the academy from the old geezer's collector shop, he was even more shocked.
The time must have been before Neji's death. And with the way their voices sounded, he guessed that they were Genin, and if not, probably in their late years in the academy.
"God Kurama. Can you believe this?"
Kurama just shrugged. "You're getting way too excited Naruto."
Naruto ignored the statement. "After all these years, who would have thought we would have been found by someone we knew?"
Kurama just grinned. "Never."
Honestly, Tenten wasn't the worst option that he could have got for someone to find him. He could have got someone who didn't use weapons at all. And Tenten was a weapon master. That must have meant something, right?
Although, he couldn't say Tenten was the best option either. He didn't know Tenten's skill level as a genin, but when she was older she was far behind others, only occasionally taking missions when it was extremely necessary. To this day, he never knew why her interest had dwindled. But then again, Tenten had grew less serious about being a ninja over time, dedicating her time to her father's weapon shop, unlike someone like Sakura who had only grown more serious over time.
He had never really sparred with Tenten before either, and he had always found her slightly annoying too. He never hung out with her one-to-one like he had with Neji and Lee. Tenten was always someone who he ate meals with when he was out with Team Gai or the Konoha 12.
He was definitely not the best of friends with her.
Literally all he knew about her was that she was a weapon master, and that she was interested in sealing.
But he had literally also almost never seen her really in action before. And what was a weapon master? He had never heard of anyone else being a weapon master except for Tenten, and since he had never seen her in action, he didn't even know what that looked like either. Was a weapon master just someone who threw around weapons? Because when she had gone against Temari in the chunin exams, she had practically failed at that.
But then again, it was a horrible match up… Tenten couldn't have done anything.
"Ugh Kurama!" Naruto said, running his hands though his hair. "I can't believe this!"
"You already said that." Kurama said dryly.
"Not that, you furball! I mean, I can't believe I literally know nothing about Tenten! She was literally part of the Konoha 11!"
"That's on you, not me."
Naruto had just glared at Kurama.
But then he had heard the door open to whatever room Tenten had placed the sword in, and close, and Naruto and Kurama both went silent.
Tenten closed her bedroom door behind her. He room was simple enough, with a whole wall dedicated to shelves of books, a desk and a chair, and her bed. And there were posters of the legendary Tsunade-sama on the walls. Obviously.
Her eyes went right towards the black case sitting on her desk, her face brightening immediately. She didn't have time before, but now since the academy year was finally over, she had a weekend to test the sword out.
Really, Tenten didn't think the weekend was a good enough time for a "break" that the new genin needed. Really? Two days? The academy was seriously messed up.
Whatever. She had to settle for it.
She opened the black velvet box and ran her hands over the engraved ivory black sheath. Tenten took the sword in her hands and unsheathed it, opening her mouth in awe again, staring at the sword.
Saturo-san had said it was really old, but it didn't look old at all. Really, it looked like it had been made yesterday. The only trace of otherwise was the dust that had been caked on the case.
Well, I'll just bring the sword to the back with me. Tenten thought, sheathing the sword.
"NO! Please don't sheath the-" the little voice was cut off when Tenten had sheathed the sword completely.
Tenten blinked and looked around, surprised. Had she just heard something?
Thankfully, Tenten had opened the case and unsheathed the sword later on. This time they were in what Naruto thought was probably the backyard. He stared at the multiple targets strewn and hung across various locations through the trees, all with deep scars etched into the bullseyes.
He didn't say anything when Tenten started playing around with the sword, using different stances and flipping through books that she had brought down from her room's library.
Her hands would move through the air, and Naruto would just stare in silence as she slashed through nothing. It felt so good to be used again. After they had been shut in that black case for a 100 years, him and Kurama had forgotten what it felt like to be used as a sword. Of course, it was nothing compared to actually being out of the sword and doing jutsus and fighting for yourself. Nothing compared to it.
He longed to feel everything from the battlefield. The adrenaline, the feeling of the wind against his sun-kissed skin and hair, the feeling of the flow of chakra through his veins as he would start to pump up his rasengan. He even missed the pain.
He missed it so much that he would honestly start a war again to feel it. He would use someone else to feel it.
But using Tenten felt wrong. She was a friend. And out of everything he missed in the battlefield, he had to say he missed the people around him the most.
But this was a chance, he reckoned. A chance to meet everyone, and a chance to interact with the outside world. A chance to get out of the god forsaken sword. A chance to feel something again. And he could also help Tenten in the process. It would be like a deal.
A deal.
He stopped thinking about it as soon as Kurama's curiosity about what he was thinking started seeping into his thoughts, and he instead turned his attention back to the outside world again.
He would bring up his thoughts with Kurama later.
Now he had to look at Tenten. If she was the one who's hands were on the sword, that meant that Naruto and Kurama had to get to know her just as well. Tenten was now their only connection to the outside world, as the current owner of the sword.
But all Tenten was doing was practicing. Just blatantly doing the same thing over again, and then sitting down to mark through some pages of the books that she had gotten from her room's library, writing notes on different sections that she thought was useful.
Then she would get back up and practice again.
"Ugh." Naruto heard Tenten mutter. "This seems more like a weapon that could use a good teacher."
Of course. It wasn't like kunai or shuriken that just needed aim. A sword needed a stance, strength to wield it, and correct posture. You couldn't just read a couple of books on using a sword and expect it to work. A sword needed at least some experience.
But still, Tenten practiced anyway, only stopping when she got bored.
It was actually impressive, Naruto thought. She had picked up and used this sword for the first time, and already she had a good grasp of how to use it, in only one hour. Maybe that's what it meant to be a weapon master.
He was even more impressed when all the kunai that little Tenten threw hit the bullseye on every target every single time. Even he didn't have that good aim when he was younger (he thought he was a pretty awesome kid, not to brag). He only cared about looking cool as a kid and gaining attention (mostly bad attention) like the other kids did, so he had only gotten serious about his aim when he started training alongside Sasuke and Sakura as Genin.
But Tenten… it looked like she was used to hitting the bullseye every time from years, if the deep etches into the target had anything to say about it.
So, she was very serious about being a ninja when she was younger. What happened when she was older? Why did she not do as many missions as before?
Was it because… Neji died?
Naruto stayed quiet for a bit before speaking up. "Kurama."
"Yeah?"
"We need to help her."
Kurama snorted in his half-drowsy state.
"I'm serious."
"I never said you weren't. Just, how are we going to help her?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, and stood up. "We're in a different time-line right now-"
"Obviously." Kurama said, fully awake now.
Naruto just shot Kurama a look, and Kurama just shrugged and nodded for him to go on. "We're in a different timeline right now, Kurama." Naruto repeated again. "We can fix things." He said, looking up at Kurama.
"We can change this timeline. So many things happened that didn't have to happen in our life. We can change the outcome. We could save our comrades, erase whole wars..." Naruto said, muttering and jumbling all his thoughts together. "We could save us."
"And who's going to help us do that?"
Well, who else? "Tenten of course." Naruto said, looking up with a confident look on his face.
Kurama sighed. "Naruto."
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you aren't thinking of helping her... just to help yourself?"
To make yourself feel better?
Naruto stiffened.
Kurama's aura darkened. "Sealing isn't like that Naruto."
"You did that. You used me in the beginning! You helped me with your chakra, and I helped you in return!"
"I changed, Naruto."
"But you still did it in the beginning." Naruto pleaded.
Kurama sighed. "You're right. I did. But it was wrong. You didn't willingly help me in the beginning."
"But I was willing to help you!"
"At the cost of something you didn't know." Your sanity.
"Well, this is different. Tenten will be different. She'll be our partner. Another one with us."
"Just to suck her down into the same hole as you're in now?"
"We're helping her Kurama!"
"What if she doesn't want help?"
"Anyone would want help!"
"Just like you that Shinobi wanted help when he died tampering with the seal?"
Naruto's brow furrowed. "That was an accident! I didn't mean for it to happen... I just wanted to get out of this..." Naruto croaked. "He was the one who did it to himself, he tampered with the sword."
"You're confusing yourself Naruto. We influenced him to do it."
"Ha... " Naruto said rubbing his eyes. "So what? Now we just sit here, quiet for the rest of our lives?"
Kurama paused. Then he sighed.
"What about this... we only help Tenten when we're sure of her safety. No influencing. No... anything." The fox said, setting his head down over his arms. "Ok?"
Naruto just chuckled weakly. She already agreed to this when she chose the sword. We already agreed to this when we chose her. "When did you care so much Kurama?"
"I just don't want you to do something you'll regret Naruto. Especially to someone that you once knew." Kurama said solemnly.
Naruto just stared.
It was the first day as a genin after the final exam, and Tenten had no idea whether to be bursting with happiness that she would finally be able to perform as a genin, or be extremely nervous. Luckily, she was more of the former right now.
They were choosing teams today, and Tenten was totally ready for it. She was the first to be in class, and had proudly taken a seat at one of the farther back tables. And, she was way too excited for this.
Some of the other new genin had poured into the classroom slowly, all giving her friendly smiles and waves.
Lee had also finally taken his seat next to her, and grinned. Instead of having his signature red headband around his forehead, he had instead opted to wear his genin headband there instead. He was wearing a long dress-shirt that wrapped around, and baggy pants with sandals.
Little did Tenten know that soon, she would never be seeing him in attire like the one he wore that day ever again.
"Hey Tenten!" He said, grinning, his extremely gelled and shiny hair bobbing with his every movement.
"Hey Lee." Tenten said.
"Who do you think you're getting teamed up with?" Lee whispered.
Tenten shrugged. "I honestly don't care. I would just be happy to have a team."
"Me too! I never thought I would get this chance. But it would be preferable if I could get teamed up with people I know, like you, Tenten."
Tenten nodded and smiled. "Right." She looked around the classroom to see if there were any kids that she wouldn't mind being teamed up with.
Well, it wasn't like she had a chance either. The Academy placed teams based on who worked well together, and what types of teams they wanted, like a tracking team, or attacking team.
She knew that there were a bunch of popular match ups that the Academy favored too. There was always an Ino-Shika-Cho Team, which had a member from the three famous clans of Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi. Tenten had even heard that the next graduating class from the Academy would have an Ino-Shika-Cho group. Other clans were more well known for their own teams as well. Clans like the Hyuga were known for their tracking abilities because of their Byakugan. But then again, the Hyuga were also known for doing very well on attacking teams as well. So, someone like Neji could really go either way.
But honestly, it wouldn't make sense to put someone like Neji, the top of their class and the best in offense and defense, in a tracking team. They couldn't afford to put their best offense in a tracking team, especially when he was leagues ahead. And plus, Neji was a prodigy. Why he was even in her year and not way ahead was beyond her.
The thought had prodded her mind before, but she had ignored it.
"EVERYONE!" Tenten snapped out of her thoughts to look at Eito-Sensei.
He had the faintest smirk on his face as he looked at the class before him, and Tenten knew something was up. Or it was just Eito-Sensei being Eito-Sensei again, like he always was. Basically, him being weird.
"As you know, today is the day you'll be placed in your teams." Eito-Sensei smiled. "And I already have a list of the teams right here with me.
"I'll call out the different teams so listen up."
Eito-Sensei went on to list out a bunch of genin names that Tenten really had no affiliation with. Still, Tenten squirmed in her seat anxiously, waiting to hear her name.
"Team 11! Kenzou, Rin, & Taichi-" Tenten was almost surprised. She thought she had a high chance of being placed with Kenzou since they had worked together in part one of their genin exam. What else could their match up be now?
"Team 13! Lee, Tenten-"
"Yes!" Lee yelled and gave her a high five.
"And Neji!"
"YES!" Lee yelled even louder. 'Oh' was all Tenten thought.
"Your Sensei will be Might Gai!"
Tenten just stared.
What an unexpected turn of events.
Ok, honestly, it didn't surprise her as much as it should have. Neji was partnered with her in part one of the exam for a reason. And plus, Neji was the best in the class while Tenten was the best Kunoichi. So, they had paired the two highest in the class with the Dead last, who was Lee.
So now, she was sitting next to Neji and Lee, waiting for this "Might Guy" to show up. And that also meant that she had to listen to Lee try to interact with Neji in any way he could.
"I always knew that we would be on the same team for a reason Neji!" Lee said.
Neji just looked away.
"Now we aren't just eternal rivals anymore, Neji! We're eternal teammates!" Lee exclaimed, not at all deterred by Neji's state.
What Lee said had seemed to start having an effect on Neji. Neji turned, and then a look of distaste flickered over his features. Tenten was surprised at the sudden show of emotion. Somehow just thinking of being Lee's teammate for life must have stirred emotion in him.
"Shut up." Neji said, frowning.
Lee just grinned harder and looked to Tenten, beaming. Tenten really didn't understand him at all, or what was going through that thick head of his. Did he not take 'Shut up' as a deterrent?
She just shot an exasperated look at Neji and Lee.
Lee just continued grinning and looked at the both of them.
"Oh man you guys are in for a treat! We have Might Guy as our Sensei!" Lee said, bouncing with happiness.
"Might guy?" Tenten questioned, her brow frowning. "You know him?" She said, tapping her fingers against the desk in a particular pattern. Neji perked up in the corner of her eye at word of their new sensei.
"Obviously! He's the best jounin ever!" Lee said dramatically, placing his hands on his hips. "He's great at everything he does!"
"Oh so, you've only ever heard about him then." Tenten muttered.
"No, I've met him before. He's the one who taught me about the power of youth!" She heard a few kids from the other side of the room wince at Lee's level of sound.
"Shut up Lee!" A kid said.
"YOSH!"
"Lee! Quiet down!" Eito-Sensei yelled from across the room.
Lee suddenly hushed, but a grin still threatened to break across his face.
How did one have so much energy?
And then someone burst open the door to the classroom with a slam. "I AM HERE!" It was like a switch, as Lee immediately shot up to look at the new person in the room, grinning like crazy. Tenten and Neji both just followed his line of sight.
A tall man stood in front of the door, where smoke was coming out of the wall, dramatizing his entrance even more. His hair was styled in a black, extremely-shiny bowl cut. The leaf headband that should have been around his forehead underneath his hair was instead wrapped around his waist, on top of a green onesie with orange puffy leg wraps. The man wore a jounin vest to top it off.
The man's face was characterized by large black eyes, a strong nose, and two very bushy eyebrows. A grin was plastered over his face.
The jounin's face immediately located Lee among the crowd of students. "My student!" He proclaimed. Lee bounced with happiness at the recognition, racing to him immediately. "Sensei!"
Tenten just stared at the scene for a bit, taking to time to register what was happening. And then she realized what was a happening, and who that man was supposed to be.
That was Might guy? Their sensei? Tenten glanced at Neji, who had an unreadable expression on his face.
She looked back at Eito-sensei, who had the most annoyed look on his face as he stared at the huge dent in the wall where the jounin had slammed the door. Eito-Sensei scowled and got up. "Tenten, Lee, Neji. Your sensei, Might Guy, is here."
Neji got up first, as she moved towards her new sensei, and Tenten followed.
She glanced at the class behind her before she exited the classroom, along with the rest of her team.
"I'm Might Guy! But you can call me Sensei!" The man spoke, with just as much enthusiasm as Lee had on a daily basis.
"Right. I'm- " Tenten was cut off before she could introduce herself.
"Uh-uh-uh, not just yet my child!" Might Guy said. Tenten's eyebrows rose.
"Your introductions will come later! Now, follow me!"
Tenten just gaped as Might Guy then proceeded to jump out the window. Lee squealed and followed him.
She looked towards Neji, who had apparently also seemed to follow her thoughts. He looked at her, exasperated. She shrugged in response, and they both followed Lee out of the window.
They followed their sensei all the way to the top of one of the buildings in the village, with a nifty railing to look over the city. Tenten sat on one of the benches when she saw Lee do the same.
Lee rose his hand. "Can we do our introductions now?"
Guy sensei grinned. "Of course."
Neji just sighed. "I'm pretty sure you already know our names." When it wasn't apparent who he was talking to, he spoke up again. "Sensei."
"Of course, I do! But this is for me to know more about you all too."
Lee spoke up. "I'll go first then!"
Guy sensei nodded.
"I'm Rock Lee. My dream is to become the greatest ninja ever, without ever using genjutsu or ninjutsu!"
Neji snorted. Tenten glared at him in response.
She noticed that their sensei didn't seem to care though, as his eyes never left Lee's.
"So, a master of Taijutsu!" Lee grinned and nodded.
Tenten went next. "My name's Tenten. I want to be the world's best kunoichi, like the legendary Tsunade-sama! But instead of medicine, I want to be the world's greatest weapon master!" She said, grinning. She felt hyped up just talking about it.
"Oh-ho-ho! A weapon master, huh? That's a first!" Guy sensei said smiling.
"Now, Neji? What about you?"
Neji nodded. "My name's Neji Hyuga. I want to master the gentle fist, and learn all the secrets my clan has to offer." He hesitated when he said the last part. A strange emotion seeped into his voice. "I want to fight powerful people." His eyes looked up towards Guy. "I want to learn."
Guy sensei looked at him with a strange expression. A smile spread over his face. "That's good. Learning is what you're here for." He laughed, and then scanned the three genin.
"I already know you all will grow to be fine ninjas." Guy Sensei said. "But it takes work." He smiled again. That was something he did constantly, Tenten noted. "And the work starts tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Lee sounded disappointed. Tenten was also slightly disappointed at the wait, but she tried not to show it.
"Tomorrow morning." Guy sensei said, nodding his head. "Eat a full breakfast! But not too much, or you might throw up." He grinned. "Got it!?"
"Yes Sensei!" Tenten, Lee, and Neji said in unison.
"All right then! See you all tomorrow!" Then Guy sensei gave them one last look. "May the power of youth be with you!"
Tenten just looked at him quizzically. Wasn't that what Lee always said?
She hadn't gone home right away after their meeting with Guy sensei. Neji had gone straight home, not even saying bye, but she instead had stuck around with Lee to go get weapons for him. She had promised to help him with his aim before, so he needed shuriken for practice.
"What happened to your old shuriken?" Tenten asked, confused.
Lee cringed. "I kinda just used them up."
Tenten looked at him quizzically. "Used them up? What's that supposed to mean?"
"I used them up." He said again. "They're done for." And then he pulled one out from his pocket. Tenten's eyes widened just looking at the poor chunk of metal.
"Lee!" Tenten said, horrified. "What the heck happened!?"
Lee shrugged. "I was practicing aiming." He grinned foolishly. "And then this happened."
Tenten stared at him, and she couldn't help the deadpan expression that molded onto her face. "Right." She said sarcastically. Then she sighed. "You need to take better care of your weapons."
Lee nodded enthusiastically. "Ok, ok! I will, promise, promise. Let's just do stuff!"
Tenten grinned. "Fine, fine."
They ended up going to Tenten's own family shop for the shuriken. Tenten ordered her dad to put out the best of the shuriken for Lee. Toshi had smiled and had brought out the most appropriate shuriken for Lee. "The best of the best." Tosh had said, winking. "On the house."
"Wha-I can't do that!" Lee had exclaimed, astonished. He fumbled around in his pockets for money, pulling out a few coins. "Ah, is this enough?"
Toshi had just smiled. "Don't worry about it Lee. Consider this as a gift! You're my daughter's teammate and you've been her friend for such a long time." He glanced to Tenten. "Thank you for being her friend."
"Oh no! Tenten's the one who's done so much for me!" Lee said. "Really!"
Tenten just rolled her eyes, smiling. "Just take the shuriken Lee."
Lee glanced between Toshi and Tenten, and then he smiled up at Toshi bashfully. "Thank you, sir." His eyes then lit up. "I'll repay your kindness one day!"
Toshi just smiled. "Sure kiddo."
Naruto was still in the sword. And he was waiting. He had been waiting for who knows how many hours for Tenten to come home, and finally use the sword. He didn't have a problem with seeing outside the case anymore (ever since he started to put effort into his vision), but he did have a problem with being bored.
And the deal. Whenever Tenten came home, if she ever did, he was going to finally talk to Tenten about it. Well, not about the deal per se, but about how he was inside of it. Well not that either.
Ugh, just thinking about it made Naruto's head hurt.
"You mean you're gonna talk to her, right?" Kurama had said. "Like a normal person. About who we are, and what she's dealing with."
"And she helps us!" Naruto said cheerfully.
Kurama sighed. "No, no—that comes afterward. Naruto, it's her choice if she wants to involve herself with us."
Naruto looked up at Kurama. "You could have at least tried to be nice to me like this when I was a kid right?" He said sarcastically.
Kurama growled at him. "I was plenty nice, brat." He snapped. "For someone who was sucking on my chakra."
Naruto laughed. "Which you literally forced into me."
The fox snorted, and Naruto felt his consciousness retreat. The big furball was taking a nap. In the middle of a conversation!
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead." Naruto muttered. "I'll just wait here. Like usual."
It was a little while later he heard the door to the bedroom click open. His eyes lit up in recognition at Tenten, but frowned as someone new entered the room.
Shiny gelled hair, familiar, but not in the same haircut he was used to seeing it in, walked into his view.
His eyes widened at seeing Rock Lee.
"See! This is it Lee." Tenten exclaimed. "The sword that I got from Saturo's crops!" She took the sword into her hands, and showed it to Lee. "Too bad you didn't come on the mission with us. You would have had the chance to get something good from the shop as well." Tenten remarked.
Naruto's expression morphed into one of disbelief when Tenten unsheathed the sword, giving him a good look at Lee.
"Woah…" Lee said. "That's actually pretty cool for something you picked up from an antique shop, Tenten!"
Naruto just stared. It really was Lee. "Kurama. Can you believe it? It's Bushy Brows!" Kurama didn't respond, and Naruto sighed. Right. The fox was sleeping ( the fox could hear him in his sleep too though, so Kurama was probably just ignoring him).
Lee looked young. His shiny black hair wasn't in a bowl cut like he was used to seeing it, but was swiped to the side with gel. He wore a long tan dress-shirt that wrapped around his waist, with a long red cloth to keep it in place. Instead of the tight green onesie pants he was used to seeing, Lee wore baggy pants. Lee's signature genin headband wasn't around his waist anymore, but instead on his forehead, which surprised Naruto more than it should have.
This Lee must have been young genin Lee, from way before the chunin exams. Maybe from just around when they got assigned to Genin groups.
Naruto tilted his head in curiosity. Right… Sasuke had mentioned something about how the genin year before them had been tested rather strangely—because they had someone that was an exception in their class. Obviously, that exception was Rock Lee. They had made the genin test more on ability to be like a ninja, no matter what they relied on (ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu). Otherwise there was absolutely no way Lee could have passed to Genin level if he had taken the normal test on how to make illusions. Lee just wouldn't have been able to do it.
So, ironically, Lee had passed the harder test, the same test that resulted in their year having the lowest passing percent in 50 years.
Naruto chuckled. And Tenten had passed as well.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tenten sheathed the sword again. "Let me show you outside." He heard her say to Lee. "We can practice too."
Naruto watched as they went deeper into the forest behind Tenten's house. Multiple targets were scattered throughout the trees, and he watched Lee's expression change as Lee spotted them all.
"Woah, Tenten, are those yours?" Lee asked.
Tenten smirked. "Obviously. How else do you think I got so good at my aim?"
Lee tried hard to keep himself from squealing.
"Teach me!"
"Teach you?" Tenten echoed. "it just takes practice. Like this." She slipped out a shuriken from nowhere—was that a seal? —and threw it at a target in front of her. It cut through leaves, and onto the sloppily painted red bullseye with an ever-growing dent in its place. The shuriken drove through the wood, sticking in place.
Lee whooped. "Whoo! Tenten!" Naruto watched as Tenten laughed, somewhat embarrassed.
"You're going to be a future weapon master for sure!" Lee said grinning.
Tenten grinned back mischievously. "Taijutsu master!"
Both genin gave each other a high-five, laughing. Naruto just stared at the both of them.
How could they both be so carefree and happy?
With how the future was, and how it was all going to be, how could they still laugh? They were going to be ninja… they were acting like they weren't going to kill people one day. Like their teammate wouldn't die one day.
"You were the same before we were sealed." Kurama said, sensing his thoughts.
Naruto didn't say anything. The whole concept of being so carefree was so foreign to Naruto. It had been so long since he used to be like Tenten and Lee were.
Sure, he was carefree now, but not in the sense like how he used to be when he was younger. Now he was carefree because he was reckless. It didn't matter anymore—they were just going to continue be stuck in the sword. But before, he was carefree because he didn't know. He didn't know the future, and he had people who would stick with him through and through—no matter the future. He didn't need to know the future, because the future didn't matter. Not then.
Tenten and Lee reminded him of that.
A strange feeling spread through his chest. Naruto frowned. Tenten and Lee deserved to preserve that carefreeness. There was a chance they wouldn't be like this anymore, when they grew older. Naruto didn't want that for them.
He frowned immediately.
Then he smiled slightly, but in disbelief. "Ha..."
What am I? What am I feeling?
"I think you're finally feeling like yourself Naruto." Kurama responded.
Naruto said nothing for a bit, staring at both Tenten and Lee. "Sure." He said slowly.
Then he mulled the thought in his mind for a bit. "We need to help her." He said. "She doesn't deserve to face the future that's her."
Tenten would turn to her weapon shop. She would be a ninja, but there would always be some part of her missing.
And everyone else. Lee's dynamic with his sensei would forever be changed. Neji wouldn't be a part of their future anymore. Hinata would lose her brother, and her position as heiress. Team Asuma would lose their sensei. Kurenai sensei would be a single mother. Sasuke would kill his only family. Naruto himself would be condemned to a life in a sword.
So many people's fates were tied all together, in one fragile timeline.
"It's true, Naruto." Kurama said. "And this sword… it wills itself to be found. If the sword was found by Tenten, then there must have been a reason." He admitted.
Naruto felt a grin form over his features. "So, you admit it. This is it."
Kurama scowled. But Naruto could feel the contagious grin bubbling up in the foxes' throat.
"Let's do this one more time."
Lee had gone home pretty early, because he insisted on a good night's sleep for training the day after. Tenten agreed, but she herself had been up all night. She couldn't help it: she was just so excited for the first day of her being an official genin and actually training!
Toshi had congratulated her after Lee had left. "So, your first day of training is finally here!"
Tenten squealed. "Dad! Ah!" Then she had paraded around the house, grinning. "I'm finally a genin! Finally, a genin! A genin, a genin!" She cheered. Toshi laughed looking at her.
Her father patted her head. "If you're this happy, how're you going to go to sleep?"
Tenten shrugged him off. "It's fine, it's fine."
She ended up being up all night, but it didn't matter. She woke up just as energized as ever, and had marched downstairs, with everything in hand. She was wearing a coral qipao-style shirt with red-sleeve trimmings, and dark turquoise pants with sandals. Her genin headband was proudly wrapped around her forehead.
Toshi smiled as she walked down the stairs.
"Ready?"
"Yep!"
She had reached the training grounds in time, where Lee, Neji, and Might Guy were already there waiting for her.
"Being a ninja isn't all about being flashy." Might Guy said. "Although, it does help sometimes." He said, flashing them a smile. "But ninjutsu isn't all that there is. You need to build up your taijutsu prowess." Might guy glanced at all three of them as they were sitting underneath the tree. Tenten herself had sat under the shade first, since it was pretty hot outside, and Neji and Lee had followed.
"I'm pretty sure all of you are already familiar with that notion though…" he muttered, stroking his chin.
Tenten nodded. Lee couldn't use anything else but taijutsu, and Neji was a young prodigy of the gentle fist. Tenten herself was pretty ok at taijutsu.
Then Guy sensei grinned. "No worries! There's no limit to how much one can learn!" He said. "Why don't we do some light spars?"
Tenten nodded, and Lee grinned.
"YOSH!"
Tenten had also learnt that day that Lee got all of those "power of youth" and "Yosh" outbursts from none other that Guy sensei. That also meant that she had to listen to Guy sensei and Lee's outbursts of Youth every now and then throughout the whole day of training. Whenever that happened, she and Neji would just look at the both of them weirdly.
They had just finished sparring when Tenten had remarked how hot it was outside. Guy sensei had proceeded to pull out three green onesies, the same as what he himself was wearing.
"Uh…" Tenten said. "What are those?"
Guy sensei puffed his chest proudly. "These are the most ultimate pieces of clothing ever. They're thin and flexible and easy to breathe in. The best on a hot day!" He pressed them close to Tenten. "Try one. They're for my dear students after all!"
Lee had yelled in happiness and grabbed a onesie. "Thank you, sensei! I for sure will wear this tomorrow!" Tears streamed down his eyes. "I will never forget this gift." He said dramatically. "It will always be in my heart!"
"Neji? Tenten? What about you?" Guy questioned when neither of them said anything.
Tenten's eyebrow twitched, and Neji sweat dropped.
"I'm fine Sensei. I already have a lot of clothes so…" Tenten said plainly.
Neji nodded along. "I can't accept it."
Guy sensei scoffed. "Of course, you can accept it! These are for you all! My dear students!"
"Ah, ha-ha… sure." She said lamely. She took one of the onesies begrudgingly. Surely, they weren't as bad as they seemed?
She looked towards Neji and had to suppress her laughter as he also took one. The look of distaste on his face was totally worth it; Neji glared at her as she covered her mouth.
Gai grinned. "Now, you all up for some more training?"
Lee grinned. "Of course, Sensei!"
Tenten came home afternoon-ish, after having lunch with her team. Guy sensei talked about how since they were a team now, they were going to be beside each other for everything. That included, training, lunch, missions, a lot of things. And that meant teamwork was going to be crucial.
Tenten didn't know how to feel about teamwork with her teammates. Lee and her were going to be good teammates. But her and Neji… well it's not like their team work was bad. They had taken down that great tiger together. That must have meant something right?
But there were other issues with their team. Neji had quite a bit of pride, and she didn't know if he would work over it. When they had fought that great tiger, Tenten had thought that Neji would ignore her at the last second… but he didn't. But there had been a chance that he would have ignored her.
If they were going to be a team, there needed to be no chance like that, ever. They were going to have to trust each other completely, even in the midst of battle.
That meant that Neji needed to get off his high horse, and that Tenten and Lee needed to work more to reach a level where he would be willing to listen to them.
The next day they had training again. This time, Guy sensei had them do tree walking practice. The concept was similar to magnetics: their feet would stick to the tree, so they could walk up and down like how they would normally walk on the ground.
She had to focus on fixing chakra to the bottom of her feet, and use the chakra to climb the tree without her hands. But the tree walking just wasn't working for her.
Tenten had whined when she kept failing. "Guy sensei! It's not working!" She said. "I don't have good chakra control!"
Might Guy grinned. "Exactly! This exercise isn't for people with good chakra control! It's for people to get better at chakra control!"
Tenten glared at his direction. "Ugh."
It was annoying though. Whenever she put a bunch of chakra at the bottom of her soles, instead of sticking to the tree, she was just pushed away from the tree, which would break from the overuse of chakra. But, when she tried to stream less chakra to the soles of her feet, she just lost the magnetic effect completely, and fell of the tree.
Tenten groaned and fell onto the grass. "Ugh!"
Might guy appeared in her vision from above. He grinned at her. "You're either putting too much chakra or too little Tenten! Think about control. You've got to put just the right amount."
Tenten frowned, and glanced towards Neji, who was currently walking up the tree just fine.
Lee on the other hand, had frowned sadly when he couldn't do it. "Sensei if I fail this time too, I'll do 100 more pushups!"
He was still doing pushups.
Tenten put her head down to the ground again. "Fine. I'll do it again."
By the end of the day, she was able to stick on the tree for a few seconds before falling off. The progress wasn't enormous, but it was better than nothing.
They rested for a bit underneath the tree again, but Lee insisted on doing more pushups when he still wasn't able to do the tree walking sufficiently enough by the end of the day.
Tears streamed down Guy Sensei's eyes. "How moving! Lee! Your determination is, is so YOUTHFUL!" Lee responded with tears in his eyes as well, and Tenten just stared in disbelief. "I'm so moved. I'll do the pushups with you Lee!"
That left Neji and Tenten left to sit under the tree in silence.
"So…" Tenten said. "That was pretty weird right."
Neji just nodded his head.
"Uh, nice tree walking. You're really good at it."
"It's something I already learnt." Neji replied. Tenten's eyes widened.
"What?! Really?" She exclaimed. "How come you already learnt?"
Neji shrugged. "I'm part of the Hyuga household. My uncle, the head…" He shook his head. "I just thought I could go further if I learnt it."
Tenten nodded. So, it was out of personal interest.
She thought back to how she said he was a Hyuga and about his uncle. Since he was not just Hyuga, but the Hyuga prodigy, that meant Neji must have probably been someone really important in the family. Especially if the head was his uncle, and since his uncle seemed to have looked after him. Was he the heir?
"Wow. Well since you're so ahead, are you the heir?" Tenten said, looking towards Neji.
Neji's eyes widened slightly, as he looked towards Tenten bizarrely. She blinked at him, unmoving, and Neji then frowned, his eyes narrowing at her.
"What?"
"Your uncle's the head right? So, are you the next heir then?"
Neji really glared at her this time. "I'm from the branch family."
Tenten blinked again. "Oh. So, you are the heir?"
Neji glared at her again, but then he just sighed seeing how Tenten was still just as confused.
"I'm from the branch family. Not the main family like uncle. The branch family's duty is to serve the main family. The main family is the ones that produces the heirs."
Tenten blinked, processing the information. Then she frowned. "What? So, all you do is serve the main family? You can't do your own thing?"
Neji shook his head. "No. No matter what I do, how skilled I become, I'll always be in service to the Hyuga's main house."
Tenten scoffed. "Just because you're in the branch family? That's so stupid! You should be able to do whatever you want!"
Neji stood and gave Tenten the most frustrated look she had seen him wear. Annoyance was all over his features. Tenten didn't understand why.
She was on his side! She had just supported him!
Neji stared at her. "Fate is predetermined from birth, Tenten." He said coldly.
She gaped at him. "What?"
"Just how I can never escape serving the main house, Lee can never be a true ninja. He will never amount to anything."
Tenten blinked.
Where did Lee come from?
Her eyebrows creased in anger. "Wha-What?! You can't just say that about Lee! Lee can be whatever he wants!" Tenten yelled, frowning.
Neji just gave her a furious look, scowling. He turned his back to her, and stalked off. "I'm leaving. Tell Guy Sensei."
Tenten just watched his figure as he left. What was his problem?
So Naruto and Kurama have finally decided to actually talk to Tenten! That will happen next chapter for sure so, yay! Also forgive my horrible spelling ( I didn't spellcheck).
The next chapter will be out soon! Leave reviews! I read every single one of them, and they help me know which direction the story is going in! Also, gryphems informed me that I made an error in the chapter before this one, and that Team Guy's number is actually 9. So, thank you to them!