Chapter 3
It’s impossible to observe a Hyuuga from close range without them noticing, so Tenten just stares directly at Neji’s face. She ignores the way his ears slowly turn red as she unashamedly studies his fine features.
Is he her Hyuuga? The dying man looked to be late teens, maybe early twenties. Not much like the scowling twelve-year-old on the other side of the classroom. Neji still has softly-rounded features, his puppy fat not yet smoothed away by time. The dying man had an aristocratic face, all sharp cheekbones and perfectly even bone structure. And there was the seal, the one that faded from his forehead as he died.
Tenten traces the pattern against her desk. It’s possible that Neji is hiding the seal beneath the bandages he always wraps around his forehead, but he covers one of his arms and legs in much the same way. It could simply be a Hyuuga style or tradition. She’s seen a few Hyuuga dressed similarly, after all.
She couldn’t see herself in the vision, and had only seen Naruto – if it was Naruto – from behind. It was impossible to verify their ages to compare with the dying man. Maybe-Naruto was a few inches shorter than him, so it was possible he was younger.
Someone nudges Tenten, a quick, wary poke in the arm.
Kimiko gives her a weak smile, whispering, “Um, are you okay? You’ve been staring at Neji-kun for so long, I thought – ”
Tenten shakes her head, “It’s nothing. Just lost in thought.”
Kimiko accepts the excuse, settling back in her seat to continue listening to the teacher’s speech on diplomacy.
Tenten’s not sure why, but she’s never been popular with girls. She’s heard the word scary being used to describe her in passing, and her weapons demonstrations make most of her classmates wince, not just the girls. Was this why Ino misunderstood her yesterday? She’s so unused to interacting with girls her age, maybe she said something weird that made Ino think she was… Tenten determinedly does not blush at the memory, though shame seeps through her whole body. She’s been so busy focusing on her training and helping her mother at the store, she never had time to hang out with classmates. How were you supposed to make friends? By the time Tenten thought about trying to, it seemed like everyone in class was already paired up and uninterested in any more applications for friendship.
When she first started at the Academy, kids traded their surnames like currency. The ones from fairly well-known families had immediate status, everyone vying to be their friend, but the kids from prominent clans were mostly left alone, admired from afar. Such was the case with Hyuuga Neji, who Tenten had barely heard speak in the entire time they’d attended the same school.
Tenten remembered the other kids’ bafflement at her lack of surname, then the scorn that always followed their realisation that she was literally nobody. Worse than her lack of surname was the complete absence of her father. Some kids assumed he’d died in the last war, but others pressed her for answers. Who was her father? Where was he? Was he even alive? If so, why wasn’t he here with her?
She’d always thought friendship was just something that happened to you. No need to work for it or actively seek it out, because one day a like-minded person would gravitate towards you and that was it. You had a friend.
Even with Ino, she’d approached her like she was recruiting for an army, a speech already laid out about her strengths and weaknesses and how Ino might aid her in her quest… It hadn’t even occurred to Tenten to befriend her. She just wanted someone to talk to about the scroll and all the madness that had ensued ever since she found it. Fang was helpful to a certain extent, but he was prone to agreeing with her on everything. She needed a fresh perspective.
The class ends and the students all file out, some chatting together, others rushing out as quickly as possible. Tenten’s in the latter group, though she simply leaps out the window, ignoring the teacher’s angry yell.
She heads for the exit, thinking about all the questions she’s going to ask the scroll.
Hyuuga Neji steps in the way, a thunderous look on his face.
Tenten stops short, touching her Fang choker for reassurance.
“You,” Neji says, clipped, “What were you looking at in class?”
She doesn’t think saying she was lost in thought will cut it with him. He’s already angry, and less likely to believe her. She may as well just get this over with as quickly as possible.
“A pretty boy.” She says brightly, then skips around him as he gapes in disbelief.
“You should focus on your training!” He yells at her back.
Tenten lazily flicks a kunai up in the air, then tosses a few more after it. She catches them one at a time with two fingers, hurling them up one after the other, juggling with a single hand as she walks.
It’s better than any reply.
The younger kids are being let out at the same time as Tenten’s class, and she spots Sasuke’s distinctive haircut in the crowd.
His head is down low, his hands shoved in his pockets, and he is surrounded by giggling girls. His face is hidden by his collar, but Tenten can imagine the sullen look he was sure to be wearing.
His dark eyes drift towards her without recognition, but his brows flick upwards and he jerks his chin ever so slightly, as if indicating something behind her.
Tenten looks back, but only sees Neji, still seething.
She gives him a little shrug. If he’s been paying any attention to her at all over the years, he’ll know she’s not shallow enough to be distracted by his looks. And if he doesn’t know that, then that’s his problem.
There’s a tiny smirk on Sasuke’s face that wasn’t there before. It’s gratifying to have brought a little light to the poor kid’s life. She’s known Sasuke since they were small, but they never actually became friends, mostly because Sasuke didn’t have friends.
He had his brother.
Tenten grimaces, thinking of how that turned out.
The scent of cedarwood and violets floats by as someone steps just behind her. She tenses up at the invasive feeling, whirling around to confront the violator of her personal space.
Neji looms over her, using all his extra two inches to his advantage.
“What is your name?” He demands, hands on hips.
“You seriously don’t know?” Tenten asks, mouth twitching in amusement. “We’ve been in the same class for years.”
“And?” Neji replies. “I only know you because of your one hundred percent rate of accuracy, which is impressive, but hardly worth noting.”
Tenten’s anger simmers just beneath the surface, her smile turning strained, “You’re right. One hundred percent accuracy is barely above average. Which is why out of our entire class, only you and I have the same test scores in target practice, right?”
“It isn’t noteworthy because for you, your accuracy is the result of years of hard work, whereas for me, it is only the natural advantage of a skilled Hyuuga. You had to train constantly for a long time to achieve the same thing I have simply by opening my eyes.” Neji says coldly.
Tenten’s mouth drops open.
Neji brushes past her, apparently satisfied now he’s rendered her insignificant.
Tenten grits her teeth, then opens her palm, a bomb appearing in a puff of smoke. She hurls it his way.
As expected, he catches it without looking.
Tenten smirks.
A quick hand-seal and a muttered word is all it takes to make the smoke bomb erupt, exploding with a foul stench.
Neji turns to stare at her, affront written all over his incredulous, twitching face.
“Stinkbomb,” Tenten says sweetly, “What? You didn’t see that coming? You should try opening your eyes more often. Bye!”
Tenten races off, the crowds of students becoming blurs all around her. The last thing she sees is Sasuke’s smirk as he steps in Neji’s way.
The roar of frustration Neji makes in response is priceless.
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Tenten takes a moment to observe Yamanaka Ino.
The eleven-year-old is sitting at the counter, staring into space. If Tenten wasn’t watching quite so closely, she might miss Ino’s focused eyes, the contemplative slant of her mouth. She is twirling the stem of a flower Tenten is unfamiliar with, its petals a dusky rose splattered with gold.
She isn’t just daydreaming out of boredom. She’s thinking hard, chewing over a problem. Interesting, Tenten thinks, leaning against the doorframe. The girl’s focus almost makes up for her inability to notice Tenten’s entrance into the flower shop.
Tenten deliberately leans heavily on her right foot, allowing the floorboard to creak. Ino snaps back into full awareness, a bland, customer-service smile fixing onto her face. It falls when she looks up, a dark flush crossing her cheeks at the sight of Tenten.
“Hello, Ino-chan,” Tenten smiles, walking further into the room, observing how Ino crosses her arms and hunches her shoulders forward at her approach, “I didn’t get a chance to explain myself yesterday. Do you have time now?”
“I have to work.” Ino says shortly, turning her nose up. She refocuses her attention to rearranging a nearby vase, plonking the flowers into the water with a little too much force.
“I’m sorry to bother you. About yesterday… I wasn’t actually trying to confess to you.” Tenten says gently, wincing in anticipation of the younger girl’s reaction.
Ino’s hands stop, flowers falling back into place in the vase. She closes her eyes, looking as if she wants to sink into the floor.
“Of course you weren’t.” Ino says flatly. “I’m just a… ugh.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, it’s – ” Tenten says hastily.
Ino holds up a hand, the other pinching the bridge of her nose, “Don’t say it’s fine. It was stupid.” She sighs, then tosses her head. She regains her composure with admirable speed, visibly shrugging off her embarrassment, “But I’m over it. Whatever.”
Tenten feels a deep pang of envy. She’d give anything for that level of self-possession.
Ino pins her with a sharp look. “Are you actually going to buy anything?”
Tenten blinks. There’s nothing in the shop but flowers, vases and baskets, various decorative pieces and ribbons. Not really her thing, except maybe…
She touches her Fang choker, his little painted face warm to the touch.
“Sure,” She smiles easily, “can I get a couple of those ribbons? The strongest you’ve got, please.”
Ino gives her a deeply dubious look.
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Later, after Ino hangs a closed sign on the door and they start walking aimlessly through the streets, Ino finally speaks up.
“So, if you weren’t going to… what did you want?” She asks, clearly trying to appear uninterested, but her darting glances gave her away.
“I wanted your help. I’m set to graduate pretty soon and I’ve just got something that might give me an edge in the last test. I need someone to help me with it.” Tenten says breezily, ignoring the ingrained misgivings she has about lying. Her mother’s bluntness has drummed an appreciation for honesty into her, and even the smallest of deceptions weigh on her conscience.
But, she’s going to be a great shinobi, and to do that, she will have to set aside her misgivings.
“My help?” Ino stops walking, suspicion flickering in her eyes, “What would you need me?”
“I need someone clever with a history in interrogation,” Tenten says, lowering her voice just a fraction below conversational, “Someone with a good head on their shoulders. I asked around, and your father was obviously recommended, but I can’t go to him for help, he’s far too – ”
“Important?” Ino supplies, displeasure colouring her voice.
Ah, Tenten thinks, hiding her smile, Ino is smart enough to doubt that I need her help, but too proud to accept she was my second choice.
“Busy,” Tenten corrects, “I hoped you might have more time to spare.”
Ino purses her lips, “You know, I don’t exactly have a ‘history in interrogation’ just because my dad does. My specialty is botany. I’m also proficient in poisons.”
“That’s great!” Tenten enthuses. A little too much, judging by Ino’s quirked brow. Tenten hastily backpedals, “I mean, I haven’t actually met a poisons expert yet.”
Ino regards her with a long stare, then rolls her eyes, “You still haven’t. ‘Proficient’ is not perfect. But I’m advanced for my age, naturally. Tell me what you need from me, and I might think about helping – depending on what it is, of course,” she adds severely when Tenten perks up, “I’m not going to interrogate your crush on whether or not he likes you back.”
That sounds exactly like something you would do, Tenten thinks but doesn’t say. Ino may be small and sweet-looking, but she’s beginning to resemble her future self more and more. Tenten’s not exactly eager to get her face clawed off.
“I don’t have a crush,” Tenten says, ignoring the incredulity on Ino’s face, “And it’s not so much a one-time job I need you to do. I’m recruiting for a team, and you’re first on the list.”
Ino’s brows draw sharply together. She blinks rapidly and scans their surroundings. Checking for eavesdroppers, Tenten thinks, struck by inexplicable pride.
Ino sighs, whirling around, “Let’s go somewhere quieter, then, shall we? Not the park this time.”
Tenten leads her home, hope lifting every step until she’s almost walking on air. She’s nearly got her first recruit in the mission to save her pretty boy.
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Ino slips up once again.
Kanon is in the hall when Tenten lets them both in the house, and she greets her daughter with a warm smile that freezes at the sight of Ino.
Tenten is confused until she looks back at the younger girl and sees the pity and disgust mingling on her face.
“Right,” Tenten grits out, “We won’t be long, Okaa-san. Ino, upstairs. Now.”
Ino is startled into easy compliance, all too eager to get away from Kanon’s icy glare.
Tenten pulls her bedroom door shut with a gentle click, wishing she could slam it without disrespecting her mother’s rules, and turns on Ino with a fearsome look.
“Don’t you ever look at my mother like that again.” She says hotly.
Ino swallows, hard. She can’t seem to make eye contact with Tenten, who can’t bring herself to care.
“She’s my mother, not a freakshow for you to stare at – ”
“Well, couldn’t you have warned me?” Ino bursts out.
Tenten counts slowly under her breath, then shoves Ino into the chair by her desk.
Quick as a flash, she whips out the ribbons she bought from the flower shop, and ties Ino’s wrists to the arms of the chair.
“Warned you about what?” She asks, daring her to answer.
Ino opens her mouth, then happens to glance down at the desk. A dozen weapons lie on its surface, each one lovingly polished and organised. Ino tugs at the ribbons tying her to the chair. They don’t budge an inch.
Tenten raises her brows in challenge.
Ino gathers herself, recovering admirably quickly yet again. “Nothing at all, Tenten-san,” She says, a touch of wry humour in her voice, “I just love making an idiot of myself every single day.”
Tenten huffs, finding it harder to set aside her anger as Ino had done her fear.
“I don’t doubt it. You’re in your penultimate year of the Academy, right? And they’ve not trained squeamishness out of you yet? Or was it vanity?”
Ino squirms, just a little. Her fingers flex, wrists rotating ever so slightly beneath the knots.
“Vanity, then.” Tenten sighs. Harder to get rid of without breaking the person’s self-esteem. Humility was a fine teacher, it was just difficult to weaponize.
“I’m sorry,” Ino mumbles, “It just took me by surprise.”
“There are no surprises,” Tenten says, repeating her teacher’s favourite phrase, “Just a lack of preparation in life.”
Her teacher referred to attentiveness as Second Sight. He said that you saw first with your eyes and second with your intuition, and only one would ever fail you. Your eyes only told you what was before you. Your gut told you everything that could ever be before you, behind you, and around you.
It was Second Sight that alerted Tenten to Ino’s inferiority complex. She’d never met someone so confident that still placed their self-worth in others’ hands, and it saddened her to see it in someone so smart.
“So, why the ribbons? Is this my punishment for being vain?” Ino asks, rearranging the way she’s sitting down so it’s less of an ungainly sprawl and more a graceful perch.
“More my way of making you sit still through my explanation,” Tenten says sheepishly, “I don’t know the details of your kekkei genkai, only that I have no intention of being caught in it. And maybe… if you break free without me noticing, you can be the leader of this little group. Sound good?”
Ino plays at being irritated, giving only a rough shrug in response. Tenten might’ve been fooled by her display if she hadn’t spotted Ino using the movement of the shrug to test her bonds again.
“One thing I’m really good at is seeing the potential in others. But I guess I kind of cheated, with you, since I had a secret weapon.”
Tenten takes the scroll out of its hiding place, a hollow carved behind her bed, and lays it on the floor between them.
Ino looks at eagerly, wilting at the bare expanse of paper. “It’s blank.”
Tenten grins wolfishly, “Is it?”
She touches the scroll and whispers, “What does Yamanaka Ino want most in the world?”
Ink diffuses across the page, forming patterns that eventually solidified into words, to be loved for who she is.
Ino is unimpressed, “So… you have some kind of fortune-telling scroll?”
“If you could ask any question in the world, what would it be?” Tenten tilts her head, enjoying herself.
Ino rolls her eyes again, a little flick of pale blue.
“I bet you’d want to know who you’ll marry one day.” Tenten says.
Ino’s eyes dart back to her face, not bothering to hide her interest this time. “A fortune-telling scroll couldn’t know that.”
“This is a different kind of scroll. Who will Yamanaka Ino marry?” Tenten asks. It’s a bit of a gamble, because Ino might not like the answer. But if she does…
The scroll sketches a man’s face, stark black lines harsh against the white vellum.
“Sasuke!” Ino squeals.
“No.” Tenten frowns. She knows Sasuke’s face. This isn’t it.
This man’s eyes are rounder, his cheekbones lower.
Finally, a name etches over his head.
Yamanaka Sai.
“Sai?” Ino’s mouth twists, “There’s no one in the clan named Sai.”
“Maybe he takes your name.” Tenten suggests.
A little smile crosses Ino’s face, unbidden delight at the thought, “He’s so handsome! Does he come from Konoha? I’ve never seen him before!”
All her doubts, erased by a pretty face, Tenten thinks wryly. She can’t imagine many people being swayed quite so easily on the subject of a world-changing tool like this one.
“Where is Sai now?” Tenten asks.
The scroll pauses, then shivers. Sai’s face becomes rounder, puppy-fat emerging, and his eyes get even bigger. He’s just a kid. His surroundings are sketched in hastily, a small, cramped room, rather like a cell.
Ino frowns, “Where is that?”
“Please be more specific, scroll-san,” Tenten says. Ino throws her a look, but Tenten sees nothing wrong with offering an inanimate object a little deference every once in a while. Especially when it’s smarter than her.
Sai is in ROOT’s headquarters, the scroll spells out. Tenten opens her mouth, but the scroll hurries on, as if anticipating her next question, ROOT is a secret part of ANBU, that operates unbeknownst to the Hokage.
Tenten narrows her eyes, sinking into her ANBU self. She remembers how she became another person when she put the mask on, how she became capable of things Tenten could never do. If ROOT is another layer beyond ANBU, she can’t imagine the things they must be capable of.
“Ask if he’s there by choice.” Ino asks, her quiet voice cutting through Tenten’s inner musings.
When she looks up, Ino’s eyes are full of fire, her jaw set in determination.
Tenten asks the question.
When the scroll spells out no, neither of them are surprised.
“Well,” Tenten says finally, forcing the airy tone, “looks like you and I have our first mission.”
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It takes thirty minutes for Ino to get one hand free.
She was hampered by the fact that Tenten kept giving her deliberate looks, checking up on her progress, apparently oblivious to the way Ino was working her wrist, achingly slow.
Ino uses those thirty minutes to get the measure of the older girl. Tenten seems nice, if a little odd. She’s too self-effacing by far, always ready with a self-deprecating joke or a bashful shrug to stave off any illusions Ino might have of her competence. And she is competent. She’d pinned Ino down and kept her there with no trouble at all, and Ino is the best kunoichi in her class. She has a feeling she would be second-best, if Tenten had been born a year later.
She’d talked about her ‘secret weapon,’ and Ino had taken it literally, expecting some great, unwieldy, chakra-enhanced sword. Instead, Tenten revealed she had the power to topple a nation. Perhaps an exaggeration, even if the scroll really was what it seemed to be, but still! It was the last thing she had expected, when Tenten asked her to join her little team.
Which was something she’d yet to address, and it would hopefully fill the time it would take Ino to finally wrench her left hand free.
“So, you’ve talked about missions, teams, alliances… what exactly are you hoping to happen?” She asks, tossing her head irritably to get her bangs out of her eyes.
Tenten gives that same old sheepish grin again. Ino doesn’t trust it for a second. She’s seen the steel beneath the weak smile, the flash of iron in her eyes. Ino hadn’t even meant to anger her and had actually been scared when Tenten pushed her down and she came face to face with a desk of sharpened weapons.
“Basically, I’ve got one mission that I can’t do alone. I need to save a certain person from a certain fate, and I can only do it by getting stronger.”
Ino fights to keep the scorn from her voice when she replies, “So, you want to stop one person from dying, and that’s… the entire basis of this whole thing. The team, the alliance, everything. You’re recruiting me for one mission?”
“Well, I don’t know who I have to save, or when, or where,” Tenten’s smile turns playful, as if she can sense Ino’s attention sharpen, “all I know is that he’s going to die unless I get stronger. I don’t know about you, but I believe true strength lies in numbers. I work best in a team. And I saw you in the future. We were friends, ANBU teammates. Seeing how strong we’re going to be made me think… what if we got a head start?”
ANBU? Ino forgets herself, mouth dropping open. I’m going to be ANBU? One of the elite? Only a handful of shinobi are ever chosen from every generation… and she’s going to be one of them.
Tenten’s watching her with gentle amusement, a benign smile on her lips. Ino feels an ugly twist in her gut – a feeling she’s all too familiar with – and subtly plants her feet on the floor, hardening her spine.
She drops her eyes as if in contemplation, then tears her arm free, hauling the chair between them with the ribbon still attached to her other arm. She looks up to get a hold on Tenten’s position, then gawps, her hand dangling uselessly as she drops the chair.
Tenten is gone.
The lightest of thuds is all the warning Ino gets when Tenten drops down behind her, and it’s far, far too late by that point.
Tenten pulls the discarded ribbon gently around Ino’s neck, a mockery of a killing blow.
“You tried to jump me from the front, right before my very eyes. In my own room, a territory I’m obviously familiar with and you aren’t. And you only bothered to free one hand before acting, leaving you shackled to the chair. It’s interesting that you tried to use it as a shield, but with a bit of patience you could’ve had both hands free and the element of surprise. I appreciate the effort, but… you could do better.”
Ino’s been grinding her teeth throughout the older girl’s lecture, and she rips the ribbon out of Tenten’s lax grip, hurling it to the ground.
“I could so beat – ” Ino snarls, spinning around to face her.
She shuts her mouth so quickly her teeth clack together.
Tenten beams at her wickedly, a red panda sitting on her shoulder, “I cheated again. I had Fang hiding in my wardrobe, watching your every move. You never noticed my choker vanished?”
“Your what – ” Ino feels her indignant expression melt away as she recalls. Tenten’s cutesy, tacky choker, the one with the red panda face.
Tenten’s smile is beatific, and all too enraging.
“Whatever!” Ino throws her hand up, the effect slightly diminished when she stumbles, automatically trying to move her captive hand too, “I got out of your stupid ribbons, so I’m the leader.”
“Leader of what, not listening to wagers before you make them?” Tenten snorts. “I said you could be leader if you broke free… without me noticing.”
“You did say that, Tenten-chan.” The red panda said, tail curling around Tenten’s neck. “I distinctly remember you saying that.”
God, Ino hates feeling off-balance. So she tosses her head, purses her lips, and plants her one free hand on her hip.
“Okay, then,” She says, pearly white teeth clenched in a parody of a smile, “you’re the boss.”
Tenten’s smile turns wry, as if she can sense the anger boiling in Ino’s veins and thinks it’s kind of funny. Or pathetic.
“Nope. I’m the leader, and you’re my right-hand gal. Okay?” Tenten says hopefully.
Ino catches herself rolling her eyes, yet again, and stops. Right-hand gal might be one of the more stupid things Tenten’s said so far, but the sentiment… Ino being her first choice out of the entire village, implicitly trusting Ino with a life-changing secret after knowing her for at most, an hour… Ino can appreciate the sentiment.
I saw you in the future, Tenten had said, we were friends.
Ino only has one real friend, someone who abandoned her because she was sick of being suffocated under her wing. Sakura wanted a chance to bloom in the light, out of Ino’s shadow. Ino stepped back, didn’t try to chase her friendship. She’d hoped Sakura would visit the shop one day, timid and remorseful, begging her forgiveness. And Ino wouldn’t even acknowledge it. She’d toss her head and smirk, and say something cool like, ‘oh, were you gone? I didn’t even notice. C’mon, help me with these flower arrangements. Put that massive forehead of yours to good use.’
That’s what she’d been thinking about, when Tenten stopped by that morning. Imagining her friend returning to her, and everything being exactly as it was.
Now, she was tied to a chair in a room full of weapons, facing down an obscenely-optimistic senpai with a red panda dangling from her neck.
Maybe she didn’t need everything to be exactly as it was. Maybe she needed everything to change.
“Partner sounds better.” Ino gives a tentative smile, slow and sweet, and watches something new blossom before her.
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Tenten is on her bed, lying on her stomach, the scroll spread open in front of her.
“Do you have a name, scroll-san?” She asks curiously.
The scroll remains blank for several long seconds, like a blink of surprise, then characters form slowly, almost shy.
“Yoin.” Tenten repeats. It’s not a name, not really. It means reverberation, trailing note. Lingering memory. “Yoin-hakase, then.”
Hakase is the suffix her mother uses when she talks to the old scholar that shows up at the store just for a chat. Intelligence is useful, wisdom is priceless, Kanon often tells Tenten. She always listens to every word the old man says. Moriyama-hakase has a wealth to share whenever he speaks.
The scroll – Yoin – ripples with colour, almost like a blush.
Tenten takes her hair down, feeling the tightness in her scalp recede. She lies down, chestnut locks spilling across her pillow. Paper brushes against her cheek as she turns her head, the scroll curling up on the mattress.
“Who is the Hyuuga that died in my vision?” Tenten whispers.
Yoin shimmers, then wipes blank, just as it did the night before when she asked the same question.
It seemed there was a limit to Yoin’s knowledge after all, and it extended to the mystery man whose life Tenten has sworn to save.
***
Hello, friends!
Yes, Tenten used a stinkbomb on Neji.
Yes, he absolutely deserved it.
Poor Ino, having accidentally rejected someone who actually wanted to recruit her for a super-secret shinobi team dedicated to saving the world. And poor Ino, getting tied up with ribbons she actually sold to her assailant. It’s just not her day.
I’m still so frustrated with the total lack of info we have about Tenten. We know SO MUCH about so many Naruto characters, but for some reason Tenten didn’t even get a surname. Hmph. However, the Naruto wiki tells me her hobby is fortune-telling, which is… insanely relevant to this fic.
The next few chapters should have: Tenten’s first mission as a Champion of Future Justice and Team Gai meeting for the first time. I’m sure Neji will be polite and civil and not at all murderous.
It’s not that Tenten didn’t recognise Neji in the vision per se, it’s more like she didn’t want to. Because if she acknowledges that he is, for definite, the mystery Hyuuga, that means:
1) He’s gonna die young and tragic.
2) She’s gonna fall in love with him.
So instead she’s going the good old-fashioned route of emotional repression. Very healthy!
Tenten got her first recruit, Yamanaka Ino! And sure, she’s not who you’d normally pick for your team, but that girl’s surprisingly wily and has some scary claws on her.
Speaking of Ino, here’s her playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/t964t4kj8pz9nlxbl03wiloq2/playlist/35Szeoqrxfj5ZuRSHNK73l
The scroll has a name! Yoin! And it seems like it might be kind of sweet, maybe? A shy little scroll.
Fang didn’t get any poems in this chapter because he’s busy writing them behind the scenes. He’s super happy to see you, though! (please look up pictures/videos of red pandas. They are some of my absolute favourite animals for a reason)
(A family member of mine is having a semi-serious operation tomorrow. I would really appreciate you guys sending good vibes, if that’s okay. Thank you!)
At the moment I’m toying with the idea of these minor pairings: NaruHina, SaiIno, ShikaTema, SakuKarin, GaaLee, ShinoSasu, and KakaGai.
Quick poll for fun: What is your favourite Naruto crack pairing?
If you don’t know, a crack pairing is a romantic pairing that is absolutely ridiculous, bizarre, or just unlikely. (if you’re not sure if your pairing counts, tell me anyway! I love hearing about what you guys ship!)