Ninja Skills
Ninja Skills
Chapter 2: Nerves Acting Up
-or-
In Which Tomorrow Meets Yesterday
Summary: Tenten gets a second chance to save her friends and village when she's sent back to the day of the Forest of Death in the Chunin Exams. Can she change her weak past into a strong future? Neji/Ten
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything Naruto related, so please refrain from suing for plagiarism and let's all just enjoy our day! Also the whole 'In which…' title idea was gotten from one of my favorite books of all time Howl's Moving Castle, and I don't own that either.
DYEH: I now proudly present to you chapter 2 of Ninja Skills; 'cause ninjas have skills.
It felt… awkward to say the least. It didn't hurt, it just felt to Tenten like she turned into something stretchy and she was being pulled by two ends of an empty hallway with no openings. Eventually, the further end won and she was dragged all the way to the end of the bleak hallway without feeling any pain or thinking to put up a struggle. She winced and shut her eyes, thinking she'd be smashed into the wall, though she never hit it. Puzzled, she hesitantly opened her eyes.
Above her was a clean, white ceiling with a light hanging down. Her eyes widened immediately as she pushed herself up. Grass green walls, plush sea foam carpet, white furniture, and weapons everywhere- this looked like the room she had before her apartment was destroyed! She wondered whether or not she was sent to the right time. She got out of her bed and glanced around the room for a clue to her age.
"Alright Tenten," she told herself. "What did you have in your room ten years ago?"
She glanced down. She looked younger and obviously had some growing to do. Then the wall of pictures above her desk caught her eye. She walked over to see herself, her parents, her family, her friends, and two pictures of her with Gai, Lee, and Neji. So, if there were only two, that could mean she was thirteen and just had the picture or that she was fourteen and had yet to take the new picture.
She huffed. Never in a million years did she think one of her problems in life would be to find out how old she was.
She was about to ransack her desk when she saw something very useful; a calendar. She forgot! Every year since, ever since she turned twelve, Tenten got a calendar to keep up with Gai's fickle training schedule. Oh, how she got annoyed. One day she'd have to get up at twelve midnight and train until ten that night and the next he'd decide to do at five until six. It helped her keep track to a degree. Looking at the date not crossed off, she smiled. Under the date, it read; Chunin Exams. Exams was underlined twice. What a sense of humor she had.
She ran off to her bathroom, took a shower, and got dressed. She was trying not to act weird and run around the house in tears of joy, but it was hard to refrain from when she saw her parents in the kitchen. She burst into tears and squeezed them both at once, cherishing the moment. Taking in their warmth and scent; it was so familiar. How could she have forgotten?
Her mother started crying to. "I knew she was afraid! The Chunin Exams are brutal! I plan on talking to the Hokage about this!" She looked down at Tenten. "If you don't want to go, I'll say your sick!"
Tenten laughed. "No, it's not that. I want to do it!"
Her dad barely suppressed a chuckle. "I told you she wanted to…"
"It's just… I love you both," she finally said.
"Tenten, we love you too!"
How long had she been waiting to hear that they loved her?
"Well," her mother said in defeat, "if you are going, you should head out now. And Tenten, good luck and be safe! I believe in you!"
"We believe in you," her father joined in, as they both kissed her head. She felt so happy, so alive to be where she was. But then it kicked in that she had a mission and shouldn't get distracted by this affection.
"Bye!" Tenten waved, and raced out of the apartment. First things first; before she plays death mission, she needed to find Naruto.
She raced outside and looked around; overjoyed to see the clean, beautiful village she remembered and missed. If only Tsunade could see this… oh, right, she can… well, if only the future Tsunade could see this. Tenten took off to his dingy apartment at the time, skimming from roof top to roof top. She realized she was going too fast for her age, but disregarded it since she was going too fast to point out.
When she reached his place (how she remembered where his first, crummy apartment was seemed beyond her), she knocked three times. No response. She knocked three more times. No response. She knocked yet again. "Naruto, it's me, Tenten! Open up!" No response. Agitated, she banged her fist on the door and it fell open, showing Naruto at the table sucking down ramen like there was no tomorrow.
Tenten glared at him. "Why didn't you answer?"
"And miss out on this?" he asked, jabbing a finger at his ramen bowl with noodles dripping from his mouth.
She sighed melodramatically. "Fine, whatever, I'll take that lame excuse. But can you please hurry up? We have fifteen minutes to meet up with our teams and get there!"
Naruto's eyes drooped. "But then how can I treasure the moments?" Tenten reached for a kunai, and Naruto shut his eyes. "I'll finish, I'll finish! But do you have to be so violent? And what about my door?!"
She suppressed her giggles after a few minutes and stood up straight, crossing her arms to hint that she was coming back to reality. "How do you plan to stop him?"
Naruto looked up. "Sphof foo?" he said with a full mouth, translating to, "Stop who?"
"Stop Orochimaru from cursing Sasuke?"
He put his empty bowl down and threw his chopsticks beside it. "I haven't thought about it. I thought it would be better to get to him before hand instead of when he shows up so Sasuke and Sakura don't wonder how I got so good so fast without them knowing."
Tenten laughed. "You've done that countless times though. Why would this be different?"
"Because," he said sternly. "It's too soon to get that strong that fast within a short amount of time without having a good excuse. Saying 'Oh, I felt like being a weak loser my entire life up until today' doesn't sound believable. Any suggestions?"
She looked down in concentration. "So, you want to get him before he gets in the forest or just before he gets to Sasuke?"
"Before he gets to Sasuke."
She nodded, and then her features brightened. "Wait! The second day, our group, we split up! That's when Lee never came, we went to find him, and we saw Sasuke with the curse in full effect! It must've happened before that!"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it's all coming back to me. I was eaten by a snake…"
"You were eaten by a snake?"
"Long story that I forgot the details… anyway, I came back and met up with Orochimaru harassing my group and Sasuke started acting weird and I felt a surge of chakra from the Kyuubi. Sasuke must've been marked when Orochimaru slapped that seal on me!"
"A seal…? You have a lot to tell me later, got it? But back to business, here's what I think we should do…"
"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry, gotta hurry!" Tenten was racing through the village once again after separating from Naruto. He met up with his team later that day, that lucky bastard. She, on the other hand, had three minutes to be there. Actually, she had two minutes, since Gai was a fanatic about reaching your destination early. She had to meet up with her team, talk about whatever it was they talk about, and be the first team to get there.
Now… if only she could recall where she was supposed to meet her team…
She huffed and decided to speed up. At the pace she was going, if someone saw her she deserved anything coming her way. She had gotten so much quicker on her feet during the years, she was shocked when she could reach that speed and not be in pain or feel strained at this age. Who knows; maybe she had always been able to go fast and she just never felt like trying.
Two minutes to be on time; one minute to be early.
She was starting to panic now. She leapt to a nearby roof to a fruit stand and just started jumping from roof top to roof top as her eyes were scanning every nook and cranny she could spot. Okay, what about process of elimination? They weren't at their training grounds, they weren't at any of their houses, they weren't at the academy, and they weren't in any restaurants…
One minute to be there on time; no chance in hell to be there early unless Naruto's necklace magically popped into Tenten's hands.
She stopped and slapped her hand to her head. Where could they be? This was just great. Maybe she'd find out next that she had forgotten her entire childhood! She looked up and saw the four faces of each Hokage. She laughed; Tsunade wasn't Hokage yet, so her face wasn't added on the end yet. It looked different but familiar without the female figure mixed in with the guys' heads.
Suddenly, everything hit her. She was supposed to meet everyone at the Hokage Monument! She sprinted like a mad woman over to the opposite side of the village with such a haste she thought her molecules would just break apart and she'd become a pile of mush on the street for the Genin to poke. She could make it! She could make it! She could make…
"Made it," she panted as she collapsed on the ground in front of the stone faces, not even bothering to see if her team was there. She learned that she could only run that fast for so long without feeling soreness and tired, rather than her earlier theory of having the same vigor.
"Tenten!" a recognizable voice shouted out. "Do you not realize that you are late? I thought that your flame of youth had burned out and that you would not show up!"
Tenten's brown eyes were large after determining who that voice belonged to. She clutched the ground and tried with all her might not to cry. She had missed that person so much it hurt. When he died she might have cried everyday for a year. They were so much alike and they were so close, it was one of the hardest deaths of her friends for her to go through.
She didn't look up, afraid to find that he wasn't there and she was tricking herself. "Lee?" she asked as she kept intense focus on the ground.
She heard feet scurry to her side as they kneeled down (Tenten couldn't help but notice the green jumpsuit). "Gai-sensei, I think there is something wrong with Tenten!"
Taking a deep breath, she slowly sat up and looked over and the figure next to her. She smiled widely and squeezed her friend. "Lee!"
Lee sniffed. "Gai-sensei, I have brought Tenten from her dark mood with my youthful spirit!"
"Ahaha! Great work, Lee! You'll get through this and pave your ninja way no problem if you keep this up!" a deep voice told Lee. Tenten sighed; Gai-sensei. She could practically hear his teeth shining and his thumb pushing through the air.
Lee sniffed again and he hopped to his feet. Tenten came up as well and faced her sensei with a look of determination. She was ready for anything now. Nothing could throw her off guard. Nothing.
Nothing except Hyuuga Neji, that is.
He stood next to Gai, giving her a glazed look. Then he abruptly asked in a monotone voice, "What?"
Tenten shook her head to get out of her daze. "Huh?"
Neji's eyes narrowed. "Why are you staring at me?"
Tenten blushed and looked away. "Sorry, Neji-kun, I didn't realize that I was staring at you," she apologized quickly.
Lee and Gai gasped in unison as Lee bounced up by her side. "Tenten! Did you just say Neji-kun?"
"Oh, I called him that?" she laughed anxiously. "It must be my nerves acting up!" Tenten tried to blow it off, but she was beating herself up mentally for doing two un-Tenten-like behaviors for this age (crying and the –kun thing). She would have to wait until she was alone to celebrate Neji's life.
Gai pounded a fist into his hand. "I see the female of our team grasps the severity of this year's Chunin Exams! Even though she is never worried, she is obviously stressing herself out for the glory of our team! We must prove that together, you all can make it through!"
"Yes sir!" Lee responded with a firm salute.
"Now, I'm going to let you all proceed from here to the Exams as a squad, because you will only have each other. Are you ready to prove yourselves and establish your nindo by taking the first step in fulfilling your goals?" Gai asked, standing upright.
"Yes sir!" Lee responded on que.
"I said, ARE YOU READY?!" Gai persisted.
"YES SIR!" Lee echoed his answer before but louder. Neji merely nodded and Tenten was still in knots over the fact she nearly blew her cover and could only sigh in response.
Tears bubbled up in the corner of Gai's eyes. "YOSH!" he screamed dramatically. With a puff of smoke, he was gone and the three Genin were left alone to travel to their destination.
Lee started jogging, punching fists into the air in front of him. "Follow, my friends! And witness how I will make Gai-sensei proud!"
Tenten chuckled to herself as Lee continued his speech and took a step forward to follow Lee when Neji's voice stopped her. "Hn."
She stopped and whipped around with a baffled look on her face. "What?"
He didn't answer and just walked ahead, leaving her to attach a meaning to his groan. How she missed translating his language… then she realized they were way ahead of her… her face got red with anger. "GUYS, WAIT UP!"
Tsunade held her stomach tightly, trying to stop the dark blood from gushing out and heal herself. She was so beaten up; she figured it would only be a matter of time until she died. But she couldn't; the people left in her village needed her. She was using the last of her energy to keep her genjutsu on. She'd rather die then show her true age to this murderer.
"Now," a cold voice slithered into her ear and made her entire body freeze uncomfortably, "where did the dobe and Weapon's Mistress go?"
Tsunade winced, but kept composure. "Why does it matter to you now?"
"Because, they're on my hit list and I can't skip people or I feel… unfulfilled. Besides, I have a score to settle with that failure."
"Naruto is not a failure!" Tsunade cried out. "He is one of the strongest people I know! I bet your looking for him because you're afraid he's somewhere debating whether or not to kill you first!"
"Lies!" Sasuke hissed.
Tsunade shook her head. "The only reason he hasn't murdered you yet is because of his love for your former self! He can't look at you without seeing the person he thought of as his brother!" Her eyes narrowed. "But one day he'll see you for the low killing bastard you are and he won't hold back and keep himself from assassinating you!"
"Lies!" Sasuke screamed and tossed a kunai at her neck. It plunged in, and slowly Tsunade's eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground. Sasuke was taking heavy breaths. "Lies," he repeated.
"Sasuke, we needed her," a colder voice whispered. "How will we find those two without her?"
Sasuke growled. "I'll find them. They can't have gotten to far… I think it's about time we raided the Village Hidden in the Sand anyways…"
DYEH: My goodness I'm violent! I wonder what super evil emo Sasuke of the future wants with Tenten and Naruto… oh wait, I do know! Hah! I guess to find out I have to post, huh?