Ten Stories of Spring

I.

When Neji holds his new-born daughter for the first time, his attention is immediately drawn to her eyes out of pure instinct. They are undoubtedly the Byakugan of his clan, though they have a noticeable caramel tint to them, like coffee with too much milk added. He watches, inexplicably transfixed, as the infant blinks slowly.

"Neji?" There is an unusually warm inflection in Tenten's voice, something that he has only ever heard a few times. "She's a girl – we'll use the name that we agreed on, right?"

"Haruka," affirms Neji quietly. "Yes, of course. It's perfect for her." He passes the baby, still wrapped securely in a blanket, back to his wife. "I talked to Tsunade-sama a few minutes ago. She said that everything has gone well, and you'll be able to go home in a few days, but no training for at least the next six weeks."

When he sees that Tenten is about to protest, Neji clarifies Tsunade's order with an air of finality. "Even if your chakra levels return to normal before then."

II.

Tenten is finally cleared for active duty, though hardly three months have passed since Haruka's birth. She knows that her talents, unlike Sakura's or Ino's, are not useful inside the village, and thus she eagerly returns to the field. Her first assignment places her together with Neji, as expected, though it is not a combat mission; they are simply to join Konoha's delegation for the quarterly goodwill visit to Iwa.

They depart on a clear morning, early enough to feel the last of spring's breezes flirt with summer's approaching heat. Hanabi, with Haruka soundly asleep in her arms the entire time, accompanies them as far as the main gates and waves farewell as the group sets off. When the village is nearly out of her sight, Tenten waves back one last time, then lets her hand brush softly against Neji's and turns her gaze toward their destination.

"She will be fine," Neji says simply but reassuringly, his normally neutral expression replaced by a subtle, pensive smile that Tenten matches with her own.

"I know."

III.

For the children of the Hyūga clan, training in the clan's secret techniques begins before they are even old enough for the academy. It was at this young age that Neji himself had already been identified as a prodigy whose potential surpassed that of all others in the clan. Naturally, the expectations for his offspring are even higher, so it is a quite unpleasant surprise, especially for Neji, when it turns out that the power of Haruka's Byakugan is mediocre at best and she struggles to grasp the precise, lightning-fast strikes of the Gentle Fist.

She fares somewhat better when training with her mother, quickly approaching Tenten's unerring accuracy with projectile weapons like senbon or kunai. It is in close quarters again where Haruka comes up short, as she seems to have little innate affinity for any variation of blade, spear, or staff.

As his daughter repeats another kata, Neji observes in reflective silence, finally understanding how his uncle must have felt when training Hinata in her childhood years.

IV.

"It's not working," laments Tenten. "Neji and I tried every training method that we could think of, but Haruka doesn't seem to take to any of them!"

The other two surviving women of the Konoha 11 stare at her wordlessly.

"Training...method?" Sakura finally asks, hesitating. "She's...how old now? Seven?"

"Yes," affirms Tenten matter-of-factly. "She was born in the same year as Sarada."

"I've only just started teaching Sarada basic chakra control," begins Sakura. "Maybe-"

"-Haruka's a bit young for that," Ino finishes for her. "Can't you wait another year or two before starting the advanced techniques?"

"I don't understand..." Tenten tilts her head to one side questioningly. "When I was her age, I had learned a lot more than she has now. Neji too. Actually, he already mastered thirty-two palms back then, but Haruka can't even do sixteen yet..."

Sakura and Ino glance helplessly at each other and sigh as Tenten continues to ramble.

V.

"You've been friends with Hokage-sama ever since you were a genin, weren't you?" asks Haruka as she bounces in her chair and tugs on Neji's sleeve. "What was he like back then, tou-chan?"

Neji wonders how his daughter is still so energetic after sitting through the hours-long Hokage inauguration ceremony. "Naruto? Of course," he reminisces. "He'd always say that he would become Hokage one day, although nobody believed him at the time."

"Really?" Haruka questions uncertainly. "Why not?"

"He was an outcast with no family," explains Neji, taking a deep breath. "That in itself wasn't uncommon back then. Your mother and I both lost our parents when we were very young too. Naruto was different, though. He was a loudmouth and a troublemaker, so no one took him seriously at the beginning – but he trained hard and never gave up, and eventually everyone came to respect him."

"Does Hokage-sama have a family now?"

Neji hesitates; the question evokes memories that he would rather not revisit. Fortunately, it is Tenten, seeing his indecision, who answers.

"The entire village – everyone here – we became his family."

VI.

As her daughter starts her final year at the academy, Tenten grows increasingly worried. Haruka, while excelling in her studies, still shows no particular aptitude in the fighting styles of either of her parents despite giving her all. It is only when she begins learning the most basic of the elemental techniques that something different stands out.

"I did it, kaa-chan!" Haruka wipes the excess water out of her hair. "Did you see that? The water style is way easier than lightning or fire!"

"Well done," Tenten says approvingly. "That definitely has potential."

"Agreed. Her chakra certainly has suitable properties for the water style." Neji speaks quietly so that only Tenten, who was beside him, can hear. "On the other hand, she only has average chakra reserves, and you need a lot of chakra to generate water in dry places. Do you remember-"

"-the team from Ame that we met in our second chūnin exam. Out in the desert. They couldn't create mist to hide in because there was no water," recalls Tenten, finishing the thought.

Neji nods in agreement, but Tenten, seeing Haruka successfully perform the technique again, decides that they can wait until later to tackle that particular issue. For now, she is content to enjoy the moment.

VII.

Snow is rare in Konoha, but winter's presence, in the form of freezing temperatures and bitterly cold winds, still dominates the the month of December. On the twenty-seventh, Neji, as he does every year without fail, wakes before dawn and leaves home alone. Few are out in the streets so early in the dead of winter, and no one else at all is visiting the cemetery.

Neji kneels on the hard, frozen ground in front of his cousin's grave and meticulously wipes the frost from the tombstone.

"Hinata-sama, I hope that you are doing well," he begins. "I wanted to let you know that Haruka will be graduating from the academy soon. She has struggled before, but she finally found that she enjoys learning water style techniques. It's quite unexpected for a Hyūga, but I think that you would encourage it if you were here. You weren't fond of many clan traditions yourself, right?"

He stands up straight for a moment, then bows deeply.

"Thank you for watching over her, Hinata-sama."

After bowing one more time, Neji slowly makes his way home. Not far from the cemetery, he passes Naruto, who is heading in the opposite direction. Their brief exchange is silent, yet full of mutual understanding.

VIII.

Neither Neji nor Tenten ever request or are assigned to lead their own genin team, instead partnering only with each other on missions – an unspoken agreement that lasts through their entire careers. Consequently, they have minimal experience in teaching or mentoring. When it comes to their daughter's assignment to a three-man cell, however, they agree without a doubt that there is no better team for her than Rock Lee's.

"I thought Lee-sensei was a taijutsu expert?" asks Haruka doubtfully as she prepares to meet her new teacher and teammates. "Can he really teach me how to master ninjutsu?"

"Haruka," assures Tenten, affectionately adjusting the shiny new hitai-ate on her daughter's head. "When your father and I were young, our teacher was Guy-sensei. Do you remember meeting him?" When her daughter nods, Tenten continues. "His fighting style was nothing like ours at all. Actually, specific techniques aren't the most important thing that you need to learn. What's most important is to truly understand dedication and teamwork. I have no doubt that Lee will be a superb teacher in that regard."

"I'll do my best, okaa-san!" declares Haruka, beaming.

"Go on then, and don't forget your equipment." Tenten hands a pair of scrolls to her daughter and gives her a brief hug. "You don't want to keep your new team waiting!"

IX.

At the second junction in the road, the old teammates must go their separate ways – due south for Lee and his team, roughly northeast for Neji and Tenten. The farewell is brief; the two veteran jōnin soon break off from the group in the direction of their own objective.

As they leap into the treetops, Tenten opens the sealed envelope containing the detailed mission information and takes a quick look. "Seems like the reconnaissance team will arrive about four hours before we do and get in place early," she summarizes efficiently. "We'll enter through the side gates and remain undetected until they give the signal. Don't want to spook the target before – Neji! Are you even listening to me?"

Tenten turns to glare at her partner, but her expression softens immediately when she sees that he is using his Byakugan to look backward.

"Haruka will be fine," she says in a quieter voice. "You shouldn't worry."

"I know," replies Neji calmly, deactivating his Byakugan. "Lee would never let anything happen to his students. Now, where were we?"

X.

Her daughter's first chūnin exam is also the first one that Tenten has watched in many years, but the third round still consists of one-on-one matches just as she remembers. From where she and Neji are seated, Tenten can spot Lee and his other two genin in the reserved area.

The ground of the arena is all dirt and concrete punctuated by a few rocky outcroppings, without a single drop of water in sight. Haruka initially appears to be at a severe disadvantage, but as soon as the match begins, she unseals her first scroll, flooding the arena with so much water that there is soon nothing solid left to stand on.

"Who knew that this trick would end up being useful after so many years?" remarks Neji lightly.

"Do I need to remind you," Tenten retorts, elbowing him playfully. "That the first time I tried it out, it took you completely by surprise? I think that in itself made it useful!"

Neji doesn't reply verbally. He simply smiles – not in his usual faultlessly polite but somewhat distant manner, but in the warm and genuine way which is reserved only for her – and Tenten can't help but smile back.

Author's notes:

It's been quite a long time since I last tried to write NejiTen...

Yes, Naruto never got the loving family that he deserved in this story (unfortunately, the fact that he got one in Boruto is the main reason why that series is an uninspired, unoriginal farce) because Hinata had sacrificed herself to save him rather than Neji. I actually like Hinata as a character and I think she had good character development, but her dying in place of Neji is much better in terms of leading to engaging follow-up plots.

There are a few references in this story to the filler episodes where Team Guy and Sakura, etc. retake the chūnin exam. If you haven't watched those, then you may not understand the references. (I strongly recommend watching or rewatching them, if only for all of the great Neji, Tenten, and Lee moments.)