Back with a pretty early chapter, just like I said I would! It's the finally awaited Tenten and Naruto meeting! I didn't spellcheck, and posted it in quite a hurry, so there may be errors.

It was the next day when Lee had showed up to practice wearing the same green onesie that Guy Sensei always wore. Tenten didn't know how to feel about it when she saw him wearing it. She had expected it, since Lee had promised that he would "forever" treasure it.

But what she had not expected was the hair. Lee had also cut his hair the same way as Guy sensei had. And that meant a bowl cut.

"Lee?!" Tenten had exclaimed first thing when he had turned around. Shiny hair was cut in a perfect bowl around lee's head.

Lee winked at her. "You like it?"

Tenten just smiled hesitantly, her mouth twitching. "Uh… sure."

Lee grinned. "I had it done this weekend! Isn't it great?! Me and Guy sensei will now be youthful together!" His eyebrows turned downwards as he looked at her. "Although it's rather sad that you and Neji do not wish to join the tradition of this fabulous clothing."

That comment had earned Lee a slight bonk on the back of his head from Tenten, who proceeded to yell that she did not want to play look alike with her team every single day. "You want me to look like you guys every day?!"

What had really been funny though, was Neji's reaction to Lee.

The Hyuga boy had just casually walked in, with his hands tucked in his pockets, and he looked towards the both of them. His white eyes had caught on to Lee, and he stopped, standing still for a few moments. And then he turned back as quickly as possible.

"G-Guy Sensei?" He said quietly.

"Nope! It's me, Lee! Though I do look quite like sensei, don't I?"

Neji blanched.

Tenten burst out laughing, and she tried to cover her laughter up with her hand, but to no avail. Neji let out a sigh (Tenten had expected him to glare at her). Lee had just looked at her confused. "I do not understand why you're laughing."

Guy sensei had walked in on the scene a second later, with the same confused expression, when he saw Tenten laughing, and Neji with an exasperated look on his face.

She walked with Lee back home after training, and ended up deciding to have a late afternoon snack at the ramen place Ichiraku's. Tenten liked their food a lot—it tasted great, and it wasn't super expensive either.

"What do you recommend Tenten?" Lee asked.

Tenten shrugged. "Everything is good here." She eyed the menu again. "But their Shoyu is really good."

Lee grinned. "We'll both take Shoyu then!" He cheered to the owner.

The man responded from the back. "Coming right up!"

Tenten grinned and turned towards Lee. "It'll be great. You'll love it."

"Well, next time, we should bring Neji along too!" Lee said, tilting his head. "We're a team, right? Guy Sensei said our first mission was coming up, and we still haven't gotten to completely know each other."

She sighed, and placed her hand against her cheek. "Yeah that's true." Then the incident she had before with Neji popped into her mind.

'I'm leaving. Tell Guy Sensei.'

Tenten brought her hands to both sides of her head and groaned. "Ugh Lee. I think I really messed up."

"Huh? How so?"

"Well, I might have said something to Neji. And he got pretty insulted."

Lee blinked, and then he started laughing. "Don't you always insult him somehow Tenten?"

"Hey! Not always!" She growled. Then she sighed. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure he got super annoyed though." Tenten glanced towards Lee. "Now it's just gonna be super awkward between the whole team."

"Well, you can always apologize."

"What?! No way am I apologizing to him!" Just because I may have annoyed him doesn't give him the right to insult others! If anything, his insult canceled out the apology! She screamed internally. "He was rude back to me!"

Lee grinned. "Then all you can do now is move forward! Gradually the awkwardness will disappear!"

She considered the advice for a moment. Then she nodded. "Yeah. I think that's really all I can do now." Then her eyebrow twitching. "It's not my fault. I was trying to be nice, but he brought up all this clan stuff…" She muttered. Well technically, I did ask him about it. I probably shouldn't interfere with all of that clan business… "Well, whatever."

Two plates of Soyou slid in front of her and Lee, and Lee grinned at the man who had served it to them. The man had permanently squinty eyes, and grinned at Lee back. "Thank you for the food! YOSH!"

Tenten smiled as well, and looked towards her food. If there was one thing that could make her happier, food was probably it.

She had gotten home finally at around 5, after saying bye to Lee and departing ways at Ichiraku's.

Tenten opened the door to the weapon shop, humming a tune she heard playing at the market on the way home. An old woman sitting outside on a chair that she recognized waved at her.

"Tenten!" The woman said as she opened the door. She pointed towards her forehead. "Congratulations on becoming a genin!"

Tenten grinned. "Thank you!" She said, politely saying bye afterwards. Tenten ended up making her way through the shop, stopping to say hi and chat with a few regulars who came by to Toshi's Weapon Shop quite frequently. They also congratulated her on becoming a genin after seeing her headband, and Tenten just smiled and thanked on them.

She spent another hour in the shop, showing customers around to different weapons they might be interested in. Tenten was always known for having an eye for weapons, and the regulars knew it. It made Tenten good for any recommendations in the shop, even if she was still a genin. She had practically been raised around weapons, so she liked to think she knew about most of them very well.

After a while, she made her way upstairs. She had some free time today, and Tenten was going to spend it wisely.

She opened the door to her room, and cracked her knuckles lazily. Hmm… Maybe I should practice some seals… oooh, I could read that new book about weapons dad got… Tenten thought. Or read that book on fortune-telling.

Her eyes moved around her room, while all the while thinking about what she was going to do. Her eyes settled on the black case of the sword which lied against her bed. Tenten remembered when she showed the sword to her father. Her father's eyes had widened when he had unsheathed the sword for the first time.

"Wow." He had examined the blade of the sword, and the engravings across it, Kanji that said "Seal." Tenten had been confused when they first appeared, since she had never seen them before, but she had passed it off as nothing. Knowing her, she was probably too eager to get it that she never even noticed the engravings in the first place.

"Tenten, are you sure that old man-"

"Saturo-san." She had interjected.

"-yes, him, didn't actually know the value of this when he gave it to you?"

Tenten had shrugged sheepishly. "He said that it was special to him, but he was willing to give it to me anyway."

"Well, this sword is in excellent condition." Toshi had said, stroking his chin. "Interesting that this sword has been apparently sitting in his shop for years. How did no one else see this?"

Tenten had shrugged again. "Well, his shop isn't exactly in the most known places…"

Toshi had just nodded. "Just try it out. Tell me how it feels."

Tenten had practiced with the sword for the rest of the afternoon that day.

She smiled thinking of it. Maybe she should start taking the sword with her more often to practice. Tenten didn't feel like she was especially great at using it yet, but she knew that it could be useful. And if she never used it, it would just be a waste. With a weapon like a sword, she could already imagine her arsenal of weapons expanding. Tenten grinned just thinking about it.

She flipped open the case, and picked up the sword, feeling it in her hands again. Tenten couldn't help but notice its unusual design once again. She unsheathed the sword in one motion, and the blade gleamed at her, showing her own reflection.

"Use it." A voice said.

Tenten nodded. Yes, that was it. She would use it. For real. She would start sealing her sword in her scrolls from today onwards. Tenten could then finally use it in practice.

Then she froze. Huh? Her eyes widened as she stared at the sword, and then she looked around frantically. "Use it." Who was that?

"Uh…?" She said staring at disbelief at the sword. Then she sighed. "It must be imagination…" she said, muttering to no one, and closing her eyes.

"Uh, no. It's not your imagination." She froze as she felt a sudden flare of chakra from the sword, and her eyes opened at once.

Tenten flung the sword at once across the room, and away from her. "AAAAHH!" Tenten screamed, landing on her butt, and scrambling away from the sword, her eyes widening exponentially.

"Great job, brat." Another, deeper, voice said. "You scared her."

Tenten didn't stop screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Hey, stop acting like that's not how I reacted when you tried speaking to me for the first time!"

"Ugh." Tenten could practically hear the deeper voice roll their eyes.

She expected to see people appearing in front of her anytime. To her surprise, nothing happened, and no one appeared in front of her.

Only the sword was there, laying in the middle of the floor.

"Wha-What?" She tripped over her words, slowly crawling over to the weapon. She picked it up with her hands.

She heard a cough. "Yes. Hello." The voice came from the sword, the weapon that was still in her hands.

Tenten just gaped at the sword. "What?"

The voice sighed. "I'm in the sword." The he paused. "Shit." He groaned. "I gave it away again." He paused. "I meant; I am the sword."

Tenten raised an eyebrow quizzically. She was talking to a sword. A sword. Or wait. Something in the sword. "You're in the sword."

"… Yes." Tenten heard the second voice in the background, laughing deeply.

"Oh my god." Her eyes widened. "I'm going crazy, right?" Her hands clutched at her head. "That's it." She laughed nervously. Then deliriously.

Tenten heard a chuckle. "You're not crazy. Believe me, if anyone was crazy right now, it would probably have to be me."

She swallowed. "Is that a good thing?"

The voice paused. "For you? Yes."

Tenten sighed, and then she rubbed her temples. Her mouth twitched, as her own actions reminded her of an old grandma. She inhaled a breath. Ok, just think. I'm a ninja. If anything, this shouldn't be the weirdest thing I'll face in my life. I'm a ninja. A ninja! Just like that, Tenten sobered herself up from her previous state of being distraught.

Just think. Handle the situation calmly. A level head. Like Neji.

She breathed in again. "Ok. So, you're in the sword."

"Yes."

She blinked. Wait. "Then why are you in my sword?!" She yelled.

"Hey, hey, I've been in this sword for a long time." He paused. "It's kind of like a package deal. I'm like, the voice of the sword."

Tenten stared at the sword with a deadpan expression on her face.

"If you're the voice of the sword, then who's the other one?" She asked.

"Oh, you mean the bastard furball." Tenten's eyebrows raised at the name.

"Shut up. I can speak for myself."The deeper voice she had previously mentioned said.

"Wait a second." Tenten said pausing. "Who even are you guys?"

"Oh, I know this! I'm Naruto!" The voice cheered at once.

The deeper voice groaned at the introduction. "Idiot. Have you even considered she already knows you in real time?"

Tenten frowned. "Naruto? I don't know any Naruto." She paused. "Should I?"

"Well, it makes sense. Have you taken the chunin exam yet?"

She blinked. The chunin exam? That was so far away. "Uh, no."

"Great! So, we haven't met yet."

Tenten nodded in confirmation, before stopping. Her eyes looked at the sword suspiciously. "Wait, what do you mean by real time? If you're in the sword, how can you also be-" She gestured to around her. "-outside? Aren't you a voice?"

"Well, let's just say I'm not just a voice. I'm a human." He paused. "A shinobi, just like you."

"We were sealed in the sword for a long time."

"A really long time." Naruto spoke.

Tenten paused, and her fingertips ran over the kanji that spelled out 'seal.' Then she frowned. "Living things can't be sealed." She said matter-of-factly. "It's not possible. Otherwise… they die."

Naruto sighed and spoke up again. "That's not true. They say that in the books, but it's not true."

Tenten stared at the sword in disbelief. But if two people were speaking from the sword, she guessed it could be true. Nothing else could explain why there were two very present chakra signatures from inside the sword. And why they were speaking to her.

"…Ok." She said slowly. Then she paused again. "This isn't a prank, right?"

The man sighed again. "Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?"

She frowned. "Well, hey! You expect me to believe anything you're saying?" Tenten said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm talking to a sword! A sword! And you're telling me there are two, living, people sealed inside! How am I supposed to believe that?!"

"She's got a point."

"Thank you!" She huffed. Then she looked at the sword again. "But that still doesn't explain the real time? How can there be two of you?"

"That's more complicated, I-"

Naruto was cut off by a few knocks on the door. Tenten looked to see Toshi open the door, alarmed. "Tenten?! Are you ok?"

Tenten looked up at her father, gaping. "What?"

"A customer told me he had heard someone screaming upstairs." Toshi's eyes looked around her room, and back at her. "Did anything happen?" Toshi was pretty sure he had heard something else, or another voice, from her room as well.

"Well, I-" She hesitated and looked toward the sword.

"Kid. There's no point saying anything." Tenten's eyes widened at the words, and looked towards her father, expecting him to be alarmed or to shout like she had at the voice. Her father just looked at her with the same concern.

"W-What?"

"Tenten?" Her dad asked. "You screamed."

"He can't hear us now. I'm speaking through your mind right now."

"R-right." She looked up at her father with a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry Dad. I just fell off the bed on my back while I was practicing with the sword." Tenten said, waving her hands around aimlessly.

Her dad looked at her skeptically, and then his face relaxed. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Tenten nodded. Her father kept looking downstairs, and Tenten knew that he had to get back to the shop quickly. Ugh. I feel bad for bothering him for his work, and, I'm lying.

Toshi smiled in relief and patted her head. "Okay then Tenten. I have to go back to the shop, but don't try any reckless stunts like that, ok?"

She smiled tentatively and nodded, and her father left, and closed the door. Tenten waited until she heard his footsteps disappear downstairs, and then she sighed.

She turned to the sword, her eyebrows furrowing. "I just lied to my dad!"

Naruto sighed. "Sorry about that kiddo." Then he paused. "Woah. I totally just sounded like sensei there."

"What?"

"Never mind. But it's true. We were sealed into the sword, and we've been stuck in the sword for hundreds of years."

Tenten's eyes widened. "Hundreds of years? Are you guys like super old then? Before Ninja even existed?" She tried to keep the awe from her voice, but her voice betrayed her.

"No. Well, I'm pretty old. But we were sealed in the future. And then we were sent back in time."

The room fell into silence. Then her brow twitched. "Sent back in time?! That's not even possible."

"Trust me. It is." Naruto said wearily. Tenten's eyes widened at the tone. And then she sighed.

"Say if this is all true. Why-why are you telling me this?" She paused. "I might be a shinobi, just like you, but I'm still just a genin." If what they were saying was true, that they were sealed in a sword, and sent back in time, why would they be telling her? Maybe in the future she would be a great shinobi, but right now she was just a genin that had horrible chakra control.

"Well, you're the owner of the sword. And it's not you who picked up the sword. The sword is the one who picked up you." She frowned at the strange choice of words and the hesitating voice.

"I feel like you're leaving out something really important here." Tenten said dryly. She jolted as the deeper voice laughed, a bone-chilling sound.

"She's smart. I haven't talked to anyone other than you or those stupid idiots called siblings in so long that I forgot how it feels to be talking to someone who has common sense."

"Ha-ha, so funny." The other voice drawled.

Naruto spoke up again, after a moment of silence. "Tenten, you want to be a great kunoichi, right?" Tenten nodded her head, surprised by the question. "The best?" She nodded again. "I had that dream too." He said, chuckling. "And that dream, it should never go away, OK?" She nodded again this time, more slowly. Why was he telling her this?

"Well one day, that dream for everyone might go away." Her eyes widened.

"What? What're you trying to say?"

"The future doesn't always end up as a 'happy ever after.' But this time, we have to make sure it does."

"And you know this because you're from the future." She said slowly.

"Yep. And we need your help."

Tenten blinked again. "M-Me?" She spluttered. "What? Why me?"

"The sword is yours. And we can't help you without a sword."

"And you're a weapon master."

Her mouth opened in shock. "Bu-But, can't you just get out of the sword? Then you can do whatever you want."

"We're sealed in the sword."

"So? I can just unseal it for you right? And then boom, you can go save the future." She paused. "Assuming this is all true." She couldn't believe she was starting to actually believe them. It didn't seem like a prank, and the way they spoke, their words rang true to her ears. Tenten was actually believing all this. Was she a fool for doing so?

"It's not that simple. The last person who tampered with the seal- it didn't end well with them." He sighed. "And we can't unseal us. The only person in the world who probably has enough chakra to even attempt to get us out of the seal is probably me. But I'm inside the seal, so it won't work."

Tenten felt cold. What had happened to the last person?

"It's your choice. We're here to help you." The deeper voice said.

Her hands curled in her lap as she stared at the sword.

"Hey." She said. "Do you know me in the future? You said we meet in the future, right?"

"… Yeah. We do."

"And I'm a shinobi in the future, right?"

"Yeah."

She thought back to when he said she should never give up on her dream. "Do I give up on my dream?"

"… That's debatable."

Debatable? What was that supposed to mean? "Tell me."

"… Something happens in the future. And after that- "

"Right." She said, cutting him off. Tenten's eyes fell, and her heart squeezed. So, she eventually gave up her dream.

The thought made tears well up in her eyes, and she tried everything in her power not to cry.

First, she had wanted to be like the great Lady Tsunade. But she had had horrible chakra control, oo that had slipped out of her hands. Then she found a better dream: She wanted to be the best weapon master in the world. She wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, what she had always seemed to have an innate talent for. She was known as Ten out of Ten for aim.

But she gave up that dream in the future too.

She looked towards her clenched hands, and she felt the hot tears in her eyes. Why was she crying over something like this?

The voices said nothing from the sword.

Tenten. She thought to herself. That's in the future. She looked toward the sword, forcing herself to not cry. They messed up too. And they were sent back in time. And they've lived in that sword for hundreds of years. And if they're still that determined to change the future… than I can too!

Her gaze grew determined.

"Tenten?" The voice asked.

"I don't wanna give up on my dream!" She shouted, brushing the tears out of her eyes. "And if you want to change the future, and save everyone's dreams, then I want to help too!"

She could practically hear the smile in the voice of Naruto. "Of course."

"So, what do I have to do then?" Tenten said, sniffling.

"Don't worry about that yet. Just put your hands on the sword."

Tenten did as he said. "Why?"

"You're the owner of the sword in name, but not in chakra and contract." Naruto explained. "We'll have to change that." Tenten nodded in affirmative. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

The Kanji that read "seal" on the sword flashed orange, and the chakra of the sword flared once again, but instead of just being blue, a bright orange was mixed alongside it. Tenten marveled at the colors, and how the feeling of the chakra was warm as it rushed over her hands, and seemingly seeped into her. She screwed her eyes shut as the chakra completely engulfed her, and it felt as if years of existence passed over her in a few seconds.

When the feeling subsided, Tenten opened her eyes tentatively, only to find herself standing in the middle of murky water that lapped on to her feet gently. Her eyes widened as she looked towards the person standing in front of her. He had bright blond hair, and sky-blue eyes that looked to her happily. A grin was plastered on his face, making the three scars parallel on both of his cheeks stand out even more. His face looked familiar, and a memory tingled in the back of her head.

What surprised her even more was the enormously large fox that was sitting beside him, his head laying on the ground. The fox's eyes opened, and red eyes with black slits looked towards her. Her eyes flitted towards the back, where eight, no, nine, tails waved back and forth.

"Still believe it's a prank?"

Tenten just gaped.

She continued staring at the two people—well one person, and one fox—in front of her.

"Oh my god." Tenten pointed. She tried to say something, but nothing seemed to exit her mouth.

"Right. We didn't introduce this guy's name, did we?" Naruto, the blond man's name she presumed, waved towards the fox. "This is Kurama!"

"The nine-tailed fox." She whispered.

"Yeah!" Then Naruto looked back at her, and his face fell. "Oh, wait. I know what you're thinking, and you've got the wrong idea. This guy—" He waved towards the fox again. "is good. He might not seem that way, but he is. I should know, since he's been sealed inside me for my whole life."

The fox sighed, exasperated. "This is why I didn't want to show her me yet."

"Wait, what? Sealed inside you your whole life?" Tenten said, gawking.

"Yes. I'm a jinchuriki." He explained. "That means I have a tailed beast sealed inside me."

"And you were sealed in the sword."

"Yep."

"So, the fox was sealed in you, and you were sealed in the sword."

"Yep."

Tenten felt a little bit lightheaded. "I think I may need to sit down." She muttered. "This is too much for me to all take in at once."

"It's fine. That's usually the reaction most people get." The fox shrugged.

Tenten looked towards the fox (Kurama, wasn't it?), and she noticed how lax and chill he was. She had read a book on the nine-tailed fox once, and they had learned about it once in school with Eito-Sensei. They had learnt how the fox had gone on a rampage in Konoha one night, and the Fourth Hokage had sacrificed himself to seal the fox away. But they had never said anything about the fox being sealed into a person.

The book had also said how the fox was the incarnation of evil, in the form of nine tails, and the strongest of all the tailed beasts.

Right now, it didn't look like that. Honestly, the fox looked like it was pretty done with life as a whole.

"Ok then." She said, taking a breath. "I think I get it now. The whole story I mean." Tenten eyed Naruto warily once more. "But what exactly did you do to me?"

"If we're going to help each other, we need to be able to transfer chakra from in and out of the sword. It's like a contract. We can't act outside if we don't have anyone outside to do it on our behalf."

"And that's me." She said, everything clicking into place.

"Yes. Ever since we've been stuck inside the sword, we've been slowly seeping my chakra outside of the seal, so we could communicate more with the outside."

So, she was a vessel. They had tried to use their chakra from inside the sword, but it wouldn't work. And if they seeped their chakra out of the sword, it would just leave them. There needed to be a place to keep the chakra they pushed into the outside.

"Wait." She deadpanned. "So, I'm a battery."

The blond-haired man blinked at her, but the fox opened his mouth and laughed his head off, showcasing his sharp fangs, which glinted unnaturally in the dark lighting. "A battery! AH-HA-HA! That's the first time I've heard that!"

Naruto sighed. "That would make me an even bigger battery."

Kurama didn't stop roaring with laughter.

Tenten's eyebrow twitched. "Well, am I or not?"

"You're not a battery." He looked towards Kurama, who didn't stop laughing. "Actually, you're the only way for us to do anything outside." Naruto looked towards her, his expression growing serious. "And we have to do everything for the future."

"What happens?"

"What?"

"In the future?" Tenten spoke up.

Naruto blinked at her, surprised. Then, sorrow spread over his features. "A lot of things. Things that no one should deal with." He said softly. "So many things."

Tenten wanted to ask more, but she didn't want to push him any further. "Ok."

She thought about her dream, and how he had said that she had lost her motivation. What even had happened to her in the future that she lost her motive to achieve her dream? Her dream ever since she was a baby?

It's for my dream. Her eyes hardened. For Lee's dream. She thought about Neji. For Neji's dream.

She thought about her class as a whole, and all the shinobi in the leaf village. She thought about the ninja that would stop by her father's shop every week just to talk to encourage her, and to congratulate her for coming so far. She thought about those people—the people who supported her.

"Ok." She said again, reaffirming her thoughts and words. "I understand." Tenten looked towards to Naruto, and for the first time since they had met, she grinned brightly.

Naruto, in what felt like the first time in forever, grinned back.

Hope the flow of the story felt natural. Leave reviews please! I read all of them!