Pushing herself off the ground Tenten saw that she was once again in the forge of her home, the heat and scorch marks surrounding her the only proof of the weeks that had passed in the summoning realm. Looking towards the Forge she saw that it was glowing with a fierce light and flames were shooting out of it. Walking up to it she saw a massive handle jutting from the door in front of her. 'I guess this is the part where I sign the contract,' she thought with a grimace as she grasped the handle with both hands, searing pain shot through her as she pulled the blade out, the kanji for sword branding themselves into the palms of her hands. A two foot long handle of black steel soon emerged followed by a six foot long steel blade that was at least a foot wide and an inch thick, shining red kanji covered the surface of the blade from top to bottom except for a small space near the hilt. Slamming the blade into the ground next to her with a cry of exertion, she reached into her pouch for bandages to wrap her scalded hands.

Taking up a hammer and the stamp she used to add her mark to the weapons she creates, setting them down next to her anvil she pulled the massive zanbatou from the ground and laid it across the anvil in front her. Placing the stamp down at the base of the blade she channeled as much of her chakra into her arms as she could, slamming the hammer down over and over again as sparks flew and flames burst from every swing, feeling her chakra and blood flowing down onto the blade from the broken skin on her hands. With a final swing, the stamp shattered with a final burst of light and all of the script on the blade faded from red to black. Grinning excitedly at the beautiful weapon lying in front of her, she tries to lift it up but the pain and chakra exhaustion finally catch up to her and she slumps down across her new weapon and passes out.

Flames surrounded her as she stumbled through a crumbling cityscape, people dying all around her. 'what's happening, who are these people.' Everytime she approached one of the dying people she would see the light fade from their eyes, screaming in frustration and fear. A hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around and she saw his silhouette as she woke from her nightmare. Opening her eyes she was bathed in bright fluorescent lights, seeing a white tiled ceiling she looked around in confusion before realizing she was in the hospital. As she tried to sit up a strong hand came down on her shoulder and pushed her back on to the pillows. " I wouldnt do that if I were you," said a stern voice to her left looking over she saw a stern blond woman with a purple diamond tattoo on her head.

"Tsunade-sama! What are you doing here, what am I doing here?!" she stuttered to her idol the legendary slug sannin. Pursing her lips Tsunade frowned down at the girl laying in the bed in front of her.

"That is something I was going to ask you Tenten, when one of my genin disappears for 6 months, and then we find her covered in wounds and suffering from chakra exhaustion and malnourishment passed out in the floor of her father's shop. The reason your in the hospital should be obvious, where you have been is what I need to know. "

Tenten's entire body began to shake, 'I've been gone all that time, everyone must think I was dead or became a missing-nin this is terrible!' she screamed to herself in her head as she stared at Tsunade in horror. Her mind was racing as she thought about all the things that were done to missing-nin when they were brought back. "I.. I was in the summoning realm proving myself worthy of my contract, but I had no idea it had been that long!" she stuttered to the Hokage.

"Hmm.. Well that would explain the extensive damage, and changes to your chakra network. I will have to have you questioned by T&I to confirm your story but if it's true we will be able to remove you from the missing-nin list and put back into the regular forces." Tsunade said with a sigh, "and I'm sure your teammates and Sensei will be extremely pleased, I hate to say it but a depressed Gai is even more horrifying than his usual self." she said shuddering at the thought of the new version of his Sunset Genjutsu. "I swear those two have become as stoic as the damn Hyuuga, and I haven't been woken up at four in the morning to screams about the power of youth since you disappeared."

A tear coming to her eye at the thought of the pain she put everything through, she knew that Gai-sensei probably blamed himself for what happened since he taught her the summoning jutsu in the first place. "Can I at least see them so they know that I'm alive, its hard to believe that Gai-sensei or Lee would let something like me disappearing slow them down."

"I suppose that I can arrange something within the next few days, but now its time for you to get some more rest. Your body has gone through an extreme amount of stress and it will take time for all the damage to heal," the blonde hokage said as she stood up and stretched her back. "When you've sufficiently recovered we will have to also run some tests to figure out what has been done to your body and chakra system." Walking to the door before sliding it closed she said, " get plenty of rest Tenten when you get out of here you're going to have a lot of work to do." Sighing Tenten closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness, dreaming of battles in a strange land and a sword of unimaginable power.

Three days later Tenten awoke to a strange man with blonde hair and pupiless eyes sitting next to her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes she looked at the man in confusion. "Hello Tenten I am Inoichi Yamanaka from the T&I department, and I've been sent here to look through your memories to confirm your whereabouts for the last six months."

"Hello Yamanaka-san, are you Ino's father?" she asked noticing the resemblance between the two. Smiling down at her he nodded as he laid his hand on her forehead.

"Now I'm going to look into your mind and go through your memories, I apologize for this but considering our standard practice's concerning missing-nin this is the best option."

"It's ok, Tsunade-sama explained everything to me when she visited before. Whenever you're ready, but I have to warn you the task's my summon's set for me where not pleasant." She said bracing herself expecting the invasion of her mind to be painful. Her eyesight fading for what seems like only a moment she looks u p to see Inoichi staring down at her with a look of shock and pity.

"Oh you poor child, no one let alone a child should be forced to endure something so extreme. I will advise Hokage-sama that your report on your location was truthful, and if you ever need someone to talk to about your experience's my door is always open." He said with a serious expression. "Shinobi who go through the ordeals you have been through often need some counselling to get over the trauma they have been put through."

"It's ok Yamanaka-san, its what I wanted to get stronger to protect everyone I care about. If it was easy there would be more than three Sannin right?" she said with a smile on her face. Smiling down at the incredible strong young kunoichi before him he laughed.

"Tenten it does my heart well to see someone who has been through so much able to continue on." Getting to his feet and walking to the door he looked back before leaving. "Get plenty of rest I look forward to seeing how far you have progressed after that nightmare your summons called training." With a small wave he closed the door behind him and walked away.

The next day Tenten was staring at the ceiling examining the seals on the palms of her hands when the door of her room shot across the room as two green blurs burst through the doorway,and landed on either side of her bed. A huge grin lit up her face because there were only two people she knew who would do something so ridiculous. "Lee, Gai-sensei!" she yelled, before both of them wrapped their arms around her and she felt hot streams of tears hitting her neck. As their sobbing continued and she got progressively more embarrassed she saw her other teammate Neji Hyuuga enter the room, for a moment his normally stoic expression was replaced by a look of happiness before he quickly suppressed it. "It's good to see you again Tenten, we have all missed you greatly and Gai-sensei has actually been tolerable." He said with his characteristic smirk as he set down in the chair next to her bed.

Rubbing Lee and Gai's back trying to comfort them she smiled at Neji knowing how much Gai and Lee's antics irritated him. Noticing that Neji was wearing a Chuunin vest she perked an eyebrow up at him. "I see you made Chunin I guess I've missed a lot in six months."

"Yes, shortly after you went missing the Uchiha decided to join the traitor Orochimaru and left for Otogakure. I was given a field promotion shortly after and Lee earned his in the last Chunin exams two weeks ago." He said smirking, "other than Naruto and you only Sakura,Ino and Choji haven't been promoted. It seems that you are falling behind Tenten." After hearing Neji making a jab at Tenten they both shot up with looks filled with passion and fire.

"Tenten my most youthful student, don't listen to Neji-kun from the report I recieved from Inoichi-kun you have been through a most strenuous training regimen and I am sure that you are ready to advance and If you are not then I will do five-thousand laps around the village On my hands!" Gai said giving her his patented good-guy pose.

"YOSH!, and if we cannot then we will do ten-thousands squats under a waterfall!" Lee cheered as the two of them got caught up in the moment and started to cry out each others name, while Tenten and Neji just sighed used to their teammates antics.

"I haven't been forced to see that in six months, even though your presence has been missed." Neji paused looking at the atrocity before him, "I have not missed that."

Tenten laughing at the antics of her sensei and teammate just rolled her eyes at Neji knowing that this was the most she was going to get out of her stoic teammate. "Umm… Gai-sensei since I've been cleared of being a missing-nin does that mean I can finally leave the hospital?" Finally finished with their youthful expression's Her jonin-sensei looked down at her,

"Tenten-chan thats why we are here Lady Tsunade has cleared you for release from the hospital but do to your injuries you will not be allowed to return to active duty for at least a month." he said before showing her a huge grin and giving her a thumbs up, "but she didn't say anything about TRAINING!, the most youthful of recovery methods!" staring at him with a blank expression still amazed at how quickly he shifted moods, 'only sensei' she thought as she began to unwrap the bandages around her hands, wincing as the still burnt skin on her hands stuck to the bandages. Seeing her wince Gai grabbed her hands and looked at her palms. A dense sealing array covered her palms surrounding the kanji for blade on one hand and sword on the other. Sucking in his breath he looked at the complex sealing array etched into his students hands. In one of his rare serious moments he looked into his students eye's, "I had heard from Tsunade-sama that you had undergone changes while in the summoning realm, and I would like you too explain to me what was done to you there."

Tenten looking away from her sensei said, "Of course Sensei but could we wait till I've recovered a little more so I can show you." Leaning back from her bed Gai nodded as he stood up straight, all seriousness disappearing from his face.

"Then we will wait outside while you prepare your things before reporting to the Hokage." Throwing out another thumbs up he stepped out of the room with Lee and Neji. A few minutes later she called them back into the room where they were stunned by her new look. Since they had never seen her in civilian clothes they were stunned when she came out wearing a tight black t-shirt that said "your sword can't handle this" stretching across her bust, and a pair of white shorts. As Lee and Neji both blushed Gai simply grinned at his students finding their passion to be very youthful. "What do you think, it's the only thing I had left that would fit." She said with a smirk enjoying the two boys discomfort since neither of them ever thought of her as anything other than a teammate. Coughing lightly Neji looked her in the eye's,

"It is very becoming," he said quickly before turning and walking away from her embarrassed at the situation. Lee though was not embarrassed and quickly leapt next to her exclaiming loudly into her ear, "YOSH! Tenten-chan you have truly blossomed into the springtime of youth and have become a beautiful flower." Stepping away from the over exuberant Lee she shrugged at him,

"Thanks Lee… I guess but there is one thing missing, Sensei do you by chance know where my sword is?"

"You mean that massive blade they found you slumped over, I believe it is with the Hokage." Gai said, "Let us depart immediately for the hokage tower to retrieve your weapon and then we can tell you about what you have missed the last six month's over a youthful meal."

Walking into the Hokage's office they found Shizune sitting Outside the Hokage's office with an amused expression on her face as agonized moans came from the office. Knowing that they would be stopping by she just waved them passed as they walked by her into the hokage's office. They saw Tsunade slumped across her desk with an empty sake bottle in her hand cursing about disrespectful apprentice's not letting their masters have an afternoon pick me up, noticing that they had entered she stood up and walked around the desk to Tenten and began checking her over with her mystic palms jutsu. After a few minutes she stopped and sat back down at the desk, before pulling out a small piece of paper and handing it to Tenten. "You seem to be well on your way to a full recovery, but during some of the tests we did to determine what had happened to you we notice what seems to be changes to your chakra network that are indicative of a kekkei genkai. Particular the extremely high metal content in your body and change to the chakra network around your eyes." Looking very serious she pointed at the paper in Tenten's hands, "that is chakra paper, when you channel chakra into it, it will reveal your elemental affinity hopefully this will shed some light on what these changes are." Looking a little uncomfortable Tenten held up the paper in front of her and channeled chakra into it.

Everyone stared at the paper when it started to glow, one side of the paper began to crumble while the other side caught fire but in the middle where the two sides met it changed to metal. Shocked at what they were seeing, they all looked at Tenten their mouths agape at what they were seeing. Tenten was as amazed as any of them staring at the thin piece of metal in her hands. "Huh.." was all she could get out before the whole room erupted in conversation before Tsunade slammed her hand down on her desk.

"QUIET!," she yelled silencing the rest of them in an instant. "It would appear that Tenten has a metal based kekkei genkai, it is entirely possible that it may work in a similar manner to the Kaguya clans judging by the amount of iron she is retaining in her body. "This leads me to the next thing we have to deal with." Tsunade said as she reached into her desk pulling out a plain ANBU mask. "During your disappearance from the village you were labeled as a missing-nin.I know that you were interrogated by Inoichi but your sudden reappearance in the village with new abilities would be problematic with some factions of the council. If I have you join ANBU I can use that, showing that you were on a deep-cover assignment." Pulling more forms out of her desk she handed them to TenTen who saw that it was the the paperwork necessary to join the special ops division. Taking the pen from the Hokage's desk she looked at her stunned teammates and Sensei realizing that she would have to leave them again so soon after finally reuniting with them.