"The Greatest Idea Ever"
By Quick-n-Popular
Disclaimer: "Naruto" and its characters are not mine.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I greatly appreciate the support this story has been receiving and hope you all like what comes next.
Chapter Two: Meeting Together and Packages
It had been a month since Tenten made the discoveries of a boy she hardly knew. She wasn't sure if and when she might see him again, though she hoped that he had finally become a ninja, at least.
At first, she thought of approaching Iruka-sensei about it but she never found the time and as time went on she forgot about it. Soon, the whole thing about Naruto had escaped her mind entirely.
Now, walking home after a team meeting, she spotted the Ichiraku Ramen Stand and it soon all came back to her. Her mind went into overdrive with the questions she left unsettled about the boy, the most pressing one being if he had ever became a Genin.
Her body moved mechanically to turn toward the direction of the Academy to seek out Iruka-sensei but was halted when Tenten's mind registered the time of day and the fact the teacher, most likely, had left the building.
Tenten sighed and pivoted back towards her previous destination. Her eyes lingered on the ramen stand and soon her stomach made its thoughts known to her, causing her cheeks to shade due to the rumble.
Sighing, she made her way under the cover and sat on a stool as the girl she had met before came to her asking for her order. Ordering the same as last time, Tenten sipped the green tea the stand provided, wondering if and when she might meet the blond enigma again.
"Hello, Naruto-kun! Been missing you. You've been away for awhile!" Came the cheery voice of the ramen stand girl.
Tenten turned to see a smiling Naruto wave back in greeting before sitting on his stool.
"Yeah! I've been on a mission and it took awhile."
The girl nodded and listened to his order request before going to the back to tell the chef of the new order.
Tenten watched from the corner of her eye as the blond's smile suddenly fell and his eyes looked at the counter in a thoughtful gaze. His fingers circling around one of the notches of the wooden counter repetitively.
The Bun-haired girl's eyes softened at the sight of the hitae-ate around the boy's forehead but soon they went back to look at the expression on his face. Something didn't feel right with the expression he was giving as it seemed to go against everything she noted about the, normally, exuberant boy. However, she quickly reminded herself that she probably didn't know all there was to know about the orange-clad ninja.
Tenten's thoughts were put on pause as she was being served her ramen and began eating it, slowly. Thinking carefully as to how to introduce herself and ask what was on his mind, as well as some of the other questions she had about him...with tact, of course.
She decided to take the opportunity as he was being served, by going by what she heard him say to the proprietor's helper.
"So...what kind of mission you were on?"
The face Naruto met her with was comical as he had two strands of noodles dangling from both sides of his mouth before slowly slurping them up as he looked at her with a questioning glance. His eyes ventured up a little, probably taking notice of her hitae-ate , before settling back to her.
"Oh, uh, well me and my team were sent to escort this guy Tazuna to his country and guard him while he built his bridge." He then paused, "But, as we were getting there we, uh, ran into a little trouble..."
Tenten raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"
Naruto put on a wide grin, "Well we ran into these two missing-nin from Kiri who were sent by this teme named Gato to kill the old drunk Tazuna. Me and my team totally whooped their asses and Kakashi-sensei knocked them out."
Tenten eyes widened. A Genin, who was fresh out of the academy, had met two missing nin and came out unscathed?
Swallowing a bit of her disbelief, she nodded for Naruto to continue.
Naruto went on to explain how he and his team convinced their sensei to continue with the mission and soon after awhile met yet another missing nin, whom Tenten, familiar with the Bingo Book, knew as the Demon of the Bloody Mist, Zabuza Momichii. The girl's mouth hung open in shock as the blond told her how the fight went and a plan of his had freed their sensei from the water prison the man had caught their sensei in. However, his excited story-telling turned into a somber one as he told Tenten how, afterwards, while his team rested at their client's house; he met a boy named Haku in the middle of the forest.
"I was totally wiped out from training and soon met Haku." Naruto looked at his half-empty bowl of ramen and sighed before slowly looking up. "At first I thought he was a girl, since he seemed even prettier than Sakura-chan." He gave a slight grimace, which Tenten chuckled lightly at.
"He said he was gathering herbs to help a wounded friend that was precious to him. He asked me if I had anyone precious in my life..." Naruto once again looked down at his bowl and closed his eyes. "After we talked, he left and I didn't see him until much later when I found out he was the fake hunter-nin that helped Zabuza escape." Naruto resumed eating for a bit, oblivious that Tenten was practically on the edge of her seat, waiting for him to continue.
"And? What happened next?" Tenten was positively spellbound.
Naruto finished his bowl, pushing it across the counter to Ayame before looking down at the counter as if trying to form the right words. He then began explaining how before he went to the bridge, he had helped Tazuna's grandson and daughter against two samurai thugs and then went to the bridge and assisted his team.
"Sasuke-teme was stuck pretty bad in Haku's Ice Mirrors. I tell ya, Haku was fierce with his needles and the mirrors he kept on popping out of. Even Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't help him and Haku knocked him out."
"He didn't kill your teammate?" Tenten was surprised such a powerful bloodline user associated with THEE Zabuza Momichii would be merciful.
Naruto shook his head, "Haku...was a good person." He said that quietly and stared into the back of the ramen stand before closing his eyes. "After I beat Haku, well, Kakashi-sensei was about to kill Zabuza but Haku jumped in front of him and got killed instead." Again, the boy became quiet after that and accepted his new bowl of ramen and began eating it.
Tenten took another cup of tea and slowly sipped it as she absorbed everything he had told her up to this point. His story was incredible but believable as it seemed to be a botched-up mission gone horribly wrong. She was a little irritated that he was leaving out details as to how certain fights went, such as the one with the first two missing nin that he encountered on his trip and his fight with this Haku person. However, she believed that maybe he was feeling guilty over something he did or perhaps it wasn't something he wished to talk about. Surprising, coming from the usually loud Genin.
Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she could tell by his body language and how reserved he was eating, as opposed to the way she saw him eat the first time; something was bothering him about the mission.
Her curiosity wanted to know what it was.
"So what happened after Haku died?" She said it low and attempted it to sound not so eager.
The boy slurped some noodles before answering her. "Well, that bastard Gato appeared with more of his goons and said he was done with Zabuza and Haku and ordered his men to kill all of us, them included. Zabuza took a kunai from sensei and charged at them, killing everyone of them before killing Gato himself." Naruto took the bowl off the counter and drank the remaining contents before making a satisfied sigh, then continued, "However, Zabuza was dying from his wounds and as a last request, asked for Haku to be put next to him...He said he hoped to go to where he was, but felt better to go to a place where he can keep on fighting. He died after that."
Naruto sighed, "After that we buried both him and Haku and then guarded Tazuna until the bridge was all built. Then, we came home." He then turned to look at her but she was mirroring his earlier glance and was staring off into the ramen stand's back room, deep in thought.
"Why do you want to know all this? And who are you?" He asked.
Tenten, startled, jerked her head back before sheepishly chuckling and brushing the back of her head as she turned to face him.
"Well, to answer your first question, ah, it's just I was curious, is all. Oh, I'm Tenten, by the way." She struck out her hand.
Naruto looked confused for a moment before he took her hand and shook it. "Naruto Uzumaki."
After their hands separated, Tenten smiled, "I gotta say, Naruto, that I'm a little jealous."
Naruto blinked, "Why?"
"You got a mission that had you facing missing nin and you got to meet one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!"
Naruto grinned as he scratched the back of his head, "Well, uh, heh, I guess it was all kinda exciting." He then stopped to think, "Seven Swordsmen of the Mist? Are you talking about Zabuza?"
Now it was Tenten's turn to blink. She thought his sensei would have explained their enemy's infamous background. Regardless, she gave, what she knew, to the younger boy who by then seemed a bit more impressed by the person he met.
"Did your team keep his sword by any chance?" The thought of seeing or possibly touching one of the legendary swords almost made her swoon.
Naruto shook his head, "We marked his grave with it back in Wave Country."
Tenten sighed in disappointment but thought maybe she could find someway to maybe to get her team to go there on an expedition of sorts...
Their talks soon changed to mediocre things such as their teams. It was humorous to compare their senseis' eccentricities against one another and then interesting to find different viewpoints when describing how it felt to be teamed with a "Rookie of the Year".
Tenten was finding some of her unsolved questions about the boy being answered by their talks. He seemed to be more than the brash, perverted, short-comer that she had mistaken him for when she had laid eyes on him in that classroom so long ago. However, he was a little...dense and a little too opinionated about his teammates, especially his rivalry with his teammate Sasuke. Though, the more she thought about it, he reminded her of Lee as he too was similar in his temperament and was constantly seeking out duals with Neji. However Lee didn't have an obvious crush on her, like Naruto did with his teammate, Sakura; or, at least, to Tenten's knowledge he didn't.
They talked for a good while until the sun began to set and Naruto announced he was going home.
"So, uh, it was good talkin with ya Tenten." He said, rubbing the back of his head and squinting, giving the impression of a devious vulpine with his whisker marks.
Tenten nodded, "Yeah. Say, if you're free sometime, let's spar a little. After all I want to see some of the moves you used on missing nin." She grinned, "You can usually find me in training ground 14 in the afternoons."
Naruto nodded, "Sure! That'll be great! See ya then!" He then turned and left.
Tenten watched him go until deciding to head home herself.
Tenten's home was an apartment above a weapons shop owned by her father, Shin. Since her mother had passed away when she was little it was just the two of them. Tenten helped out her father in most of her free time watching over the shop, which was one of the things that spurned her love for weaponry. The two got a long but at times it was a distant relationship since her father was in the forge in the back or making trips out of the village where she would be watched by her aunt on her mother's side and the store would be run by the two of them. Tenten still loved her father dearly, but, at times, she wished he was involved in her life a little more.
Walking in the store, hearing the jingle of the bell overhead, Tenten heard her father shout, "We're closing soon, be quick!"
Tenten scoffed, "Dad! It's just me!"
Shin poked his head out from the side of the doorway behind the counter and sighed, "Sorry, Ten-chan, I've been hounded by the ANBU for replacements for their kunai, recently. Do me a favor a flip the sign and lock the door, will ya?"
Tenten nodded and did as told just as her father came out grumbling and wiping his hands with a rag.
"So," He said, "What have you been up to, lately?"
Tenten shrugged as she leaned against the counter, "Nothing much. Gai-sensei set a harsh warm up routine and Lee challenged Neji again." She paused as her father went to the till and opened it up to retrieve the cash and do the end count for the day, "I, uh, spent some time with a boy I just met today. He had a really exciting mission he just came back from. His team met and defeated one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."
Shin, still counting up the ryo notes, didn't look up and just hummed, "Did he bring back a sword?"
Tenten shook her head, "No, they left it at his graveside."
"A shame." Her father replied.
Tenten nodded and then removed herself from the edge of the counter, "I'm going to take a shower and then get dinner started for us." She began ascending the stairs but stopped as her father called out to her.
"What's the boy's name?"
She came back down to the landing, "Naruto Uzumaki."
Her father's bald head jerked up, surprise on his face. "Uzumaki?"
Tenten nodded, confused, "Why?"
Shin left the counter and walked back into the back area and Tenten heard him grunt and then heard boxes being moved, followed by her father's mutters and cursings. Then there was silence followed by footsteps as her father returned carrying a long dusty blue box with a red circle and black spiral on the top, curiously looking like the symbols seen on the flak jackets worn by the ninja in the village.
Shin removed a white order sheet from the side of the box and blew some of the dust off of it.
"Is the boy related to a Kushina Uzumaki?"
Tenten shrugged, "I don't know. From what I hear he's an orphan and Gai-sensei says that there aren't any Uzumaki's in the village other than him."
Her father sighed, "Well, better give it to him, then. It's been in the back for too long and has been taking up space. Your late uncle received it when he was out buying katanas in Water Country. Says on the note that a man handed him the box and paid to have it delivered to her."
Tenten looked at the box, thinking of her uncle who had died during the Kyuubi attack and was the only ninja, until her, in the family.
She looked back at her father, "What's in it?"
Shin lifted the lid to reveal an elegant katana sheathed in lacquered black with the spirla symbol embedded on a metal plate just below the hilt. Taking the blade out and unsheathing it, Tenten was amazed to see seals drawn out on the flat of the blade.
'Wow...' She thought to herself. She placed the sword back in its sheath and put it back on the cushion and closed the box.
"If he wants to sell it, tell him I'll give him a good price for it." Her father said as went back to counting the ryo notes.
Tenten stared at the box, lost in thought.
To be continued...
A/N: Sorry to end it there and sorry for it being short but, I'm trying to flesh out this story and am going by it little by little. Please review in the meantime and I'll update as soon as I can.
Thanks for enjoying the story. Thus far.