"You're an orphan."

Tenten blinked at the stranger, frowned, and took one step back.

He was larger than her and was dressed in a way that immediately put her on alert. She could barely see any of his body, actually, because it was covered up in a long black, ragged coat. And, as if that wasn't a worrying enough look, he had a dirty red bandanna covering the lower half of his face as well.

All in all, he looked like the kind of guy her parents would have once warned her to stay away from.

... Her parents weren't around anymore to tell her who she should stay away from...

She wouldn't cry over that, though. She didn't have any tears left, nor was she in a safe enough place to show such vulnerability.

"What's it to you?" She spit out, just like she had seen other, much older orphans do whenever they were confronted by someone that was not one of their own. "Doesn't matter, leave me alone!"

The young girl made to dash away and run back to the small hole she now called a home, but found that she couldn't move. There was a sudden pressure on her wrists and ankles, keeping her from being able to move any of her limbs.

"What the-"

"You thought you could get away... How quaint."

Tenten didn't know what that word meant. But she was smart enough to know that she didn't like how it sounded coming from this guy's mouth.

"Let me go!"

The guy didn't seem capable of blinking. His eyes were blown out so wide that Tenten thought they could pop out of his skull at any moment. He looked as intense as intensity could look and that was terrifying, seeing how that intensity was directed wholly at her.

"I am doing nothing, child... But, why don't you calm down? Maybe then we can speak like adults about this."

Tenten couldn't see his mouth, nor could she see his dark eyes crinkle up in that way she knew happened whenever someone smiled. But, even if she couldn't see either of those things, she would swear on her life that the man smiled.

"Who knows, maybe we can even come to some kind of agreement?"

She didn't like the sound of that.

"Konoha? Why're we going back there?"

Hiruko remained silent for a couple of seconds in that way he always did when he didn't want to answer one of her questions. So, in retaliation, Tenten jumped on his back in that way she knew always angered him and got him to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"Get off of me, you brat!"

"I'm your brat, Hiruko! Now answer my question!"

Her family had left Konoha behind after the Nine Tails attack... She thinks. She couldn't remember completely. Her family had always been pretty tight lipped about the whole thing. Her mother had always told her it was because she didn't like to remember the event that had driven them from their home. Her father said it was because he would much rather forget the whole thing and it would do her good to erase it all from her memory as well.

They weren't around anymore to tell her to forget things or not...

"Because, as a refugee from a catastrophic attack, who was a minor when you were driven from your home and are still a minor, you have a right to the citizenship you weren't even aware of having lost." Hiruko spit out as he bucked ever so slightly to shake her off, but the girl managed to sit herself comfortably on top of his rather hilarious humped back.

The big words the man said meant literally nothing to her. But Tenten understood that Hiruko wanted to bring her back to Konoha, a village she had escaped from years ago, and he had a reason for it... Even though she couldn't understand said reason.

The man continued to walk with her on his back for a couple of steps before he stopped, made a noise that was a cross between a groan and a growl, then used the metal tail that he had nestled beneath his dark cloak to pick her up and put her back down on the floor.

The first time Tenten had seen the tail, she had tried to run away... Again. But she had quickly learned that Hiruko only ever used it to make her do something she didn't want to do- like get down from the comfortable perch that was his abnormal back.

"As your official guardian and refugee from an inconsequential town on the outskirts of Sunagakure, I have a limited claim to that very citizeship. With you, I'll be able to enter Konoha and begin the process of being admitted as a full citizen." He growled down at her with his glossy eyes piercing into her soul... Or, well, trying to pierce into her soul. There really weren't a lot of things that actually managed to shake her ever since she had been left alone to live on the streets, she liked to think.

The young girl looked up at Hiruko through narrowed eyes before huffing and shaking her head. "You're a weird one, Hiruko. Why do you wanna be a citizen of a place you don't belong to? Shouldn't you want to go home?"

A couple of seconds passed between them in which the man said nothing- instead, he merely glared down at her. Eventually, though, he began to move away from her, supposedly in the direction of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "I have no home."

That reluctant murmur hit Tenten much harder than it should have.

Hiruko was a self-serving jerk that had openly admitted to only having picked her up because of the haitai-ite she wore around her waist like a belt. He only wanted entry into Konohagakure and had only just now explained to her that it was because she was apparently a citizen (which, no, she had not been aware of the fact that she had a claim to a citizenship- whatever that meant). The only times he ever actually decided to interact with her were when she purposefully tried to get on his nerves and when he needed her to not be a complete nuisance.

The man that now called himself her guardian was such a jerk, actually, that she had never once contemplated the logic behind his actions... Why he was so mean and callous... But, if he was an orphan like her...

Frowning softly, the girl ran after Hiruko and made sure to keep pace with him this time around.

When night fell, Hiruko set up camp, lit a fire, and prepared the fish they had caught in a stream nearby. The only noise around them was that of the crackling fire and the few songs of nocturnal insects flying around.

It was only broken by the soft clicking of Hiruko's tail as the man cleaned it.

Tenten busied herself by sharpening her only kunai- the only memento of her mother she had left. From her father, she had the belt with- apparently- Konoha's symbol on it. Even though she wasn't any older than six years old, she had found out that this was a world in which sharp kunai were much more useful than sharp words.

"When we reach Konoha, you are to call me Seita. Hiruko is not a name you know. Have I been understood?"

"Why?"

The man growled at her, but sighed and kept his focus on the metallic tail coiled around his cloaked body. "Because I gave you an order and it is to be followed. We will be reaching Konoha's Village Gates by tomorrow's afternoon. As soon as I tell them about your true origins, a group of ninja will take both of us into a secluded sector of the Village where we will be interrogated and your true origins will be investigated. Answer honestly about your parents and how you came to meet me- the only lie will be my name."

After he had finished the lengthy explanation, something terrifying happened.

Tenten watched in horror as a person walked out from beneath Hiruko's coat- a person taller than herself with a shock of red hair nestled on their head.

"What the-"

"Silence. What is my name?"

Hiruko's voice was different... It was less growled now... Much smoother, actually.

Tenten blinked in complete stupefaction as she watched the mysterious newcomer that was supposedly the Hiruko she had known for the past week pulled a scroll out from a pouch on the belt draped around his lithe hips. He soon opened the scroll and, with a grand puff of smoke, Tenten was suddenly seeing a completely different person in front of her.

Pale skin, dark hair, sunken cheeks, and a rather bulky robe were the things that struck her the most about the person now standing in the same place as the person with the red hair.

"Tenten!" The dark haired person turned to her with a glare of their glassy green eyes. Dead green eyes. "What is my name?"

Her mouth opened to answer, but no sound came out.

The voice was Hiruko's. But the body was not.

"You are testing my patience."

After they had said this, the person with Hiruko's voice pulled out a large scroll from beneath their robes and opened it up.

During this whole odd encounter, the body from which the red haired person had come out from had been left suspended to the side. But now the person with Hiruko's voice walked towards it, glared at it, and soon it disappeared with another, much larger, puff of smoke.

"My name is Seita. Got it?" The person with Hiruko's body rolled up the large scroll and hid it once again, glaring directly into the young girl's eyes with annoyance clear in their face. "Seita."

Who in the world was Hiruko? Was that even his name?

She should never have agreed to help him out in exchange for food and money.

She was scared.

She hadn't been around this many people in her whole life. And they were all looking at her- as if she was some kind of two-headed monster or something that needed to be poked and prodded at.

For the past few months, she had lived and survived on her own and never before had she felt she could be scared ever again. But she was terrified and she wanted nothing more than to be with the mother and father she knew were long gone.

"I'm fleeing the recent rebellious uprisings in Suna. When I stumbled on this orphan, I noticed she had this with her," Hiru-Seita offered the people that were scrutinizing them with a very good impression of a shy voice. Meek. He was putting on quite a performance for the ninja around them. "Neither of us had anywhere else to go..."

She had never been so scared before in her life.

She had known Hiruko was dangerous from the start. Both her parents had been warriors before they had died and left her all alone. Because of them, she knew what strength and skill looked like. Hiruko had fit the bill almost perfectly- and the metallic tail had simply confirmed the suspicions she had about him being different from a regular civilian.

But what she had witnessed last night... The fact that Hiruko could change his whole body... This guy wasn't human. And she was merely a pawn of his in whatever plans he had.

The person seated opposite them was a stern looking blonde man with pupil-less blue eyes and a headband with Konoha's symbol on his forehead. Thick strands framed either side of his face, even though the rest of his long hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. He was wearing a heavy black trench coat on top of a boring gray uniform and was supposedly the person in charge of refugee 'interviews'.

There was a man with red fang tattoos on his cheeks and wild black hair to the side of the room that was currently resting against the back of a giant wolf. And a purple haired woman was standing beside the blonde man with a her this lips pressed together, all the while she swung the clipboard that held the papers Tenten had tried to fill out with what little information she knew about herself and her family a couple of minutes ago.

"Well, Seita, you must know that our refugee policies aren't as oppressive as other Hidden Villages, but they are strict. With what little information- Tenten, right?"

Tenten merely stared at the blonde man, unable to properly answer the question.

The blonde frowned softly at her lack of answer, but soon sighed and returned his gaze to Hiruko... Seita... Her guardian? "It's going to take a little bit of time for us to corroborate the birth of someone with that name with our records considering how she was not able to give us a surname. But, if the birth date she was able to give us correlates with any name we find, I don't see any reason as to why her reclaiming her Konohan citizenship would be obstructed."

"And because our Hokage's so great, you'll be able to capitalize on her good luck and win yourself some free time in Konoha unless we're able to track down any living family members." The purple haired woman crooned, earning a glare from the blonde man.

"Anko, that is not appropriate."

"Neither is outsiders capitalizing on loopholes that were supposed to help only Konoha natives."

The man in the corner with the large wolf groaned loudly, "Scents check out, Inoichi! Girl's a Konoha native and guy's a Suna one. If this is the only case we've got to review today, I'd like to be on my way. My nose is needed for more than just refugee cases."

Tenten shirked away and shrunk into herself when the woman glared at Hiruko. She closed her eyes and hugged her waist, running her thumb over the only memento she had that had once belonged to her father.

She soon heard a heavy sigh, "It's an open and shut case for now. Tenten, Seita, please follow Musashi so he can show you to some temporary quarters the Village of Konoha will be offering you."

Tenten didn't dare look up. She didn't dare move.

She heard a chair scrape then there were hands on her sides and she was being lifted up into the air. Immediately she opened her eyes in fear, worry over who was carrying her overcoming her quickly enough.

"It's alright, Tenten. We're in Konoha and you're finally safe."

She couldn't help but stare at Hiru-Seita in complete astonishment.

The man actually sounded as if he cared...

In a moment of vulnerability, Tenten grabbed at Seita's neck and clutched his body tightly. For a moment, she felt the body that was much too tough to be human freeze beneath her. Then there was an arm beneath her legs holding her up and another around her back.

Seita carried her out of that cold and hollow room all the way towards what was supposed to be their new, temporary home.

~/~

"It's a small place, but more than enough to put you both up for the two weeks we're supposed to need to gather information on the kid." The gruff voice of the man with the tattoos on his face broke through the heavy silence that had fallen over them.

All the way from the cold room where they were interviewed, past a vibrant and busy populated area where people walked to and thro without sparing either of them a glance, and to a small compound of buildings, Seita had carried her. Now they were in front of a small gray building, nestled in between the collection of other small gray buildings that made up the compound where refugees were placed for a small while, and Tenten felt completely unsure as to what she was supposed to do.

The giant wolf had accompanied them the whole way and maintained a relative distance to them. But when Seita finally put her down on the ground, and Tenten was left alone and so very alone as he walked towards the gruff man deeper into the small building, the large animal walked up to her and began to sniff at her.

For a moment, Tenten blinked at the large canine.

Then she saw its teeth. Bright and sharp, the pointed fangs stared back at her; glared at her.

She began to cry before she even noticed it.

"Seita!" She screamed out, scrambling to run away from the large animal.

The wolf followed after her and scooped her by the collar of her shirt, immediately making her begin to scream and kick at it to try and escape. "Seita! Help me! The monster's trying to eat me!"

"Monster?"

"Adzumi! Let the kid go- she's not used to Inuzuka!"

Suddenly there were large hands around her sides again, although these were much bigger than Seita's. Tenten opened her eyes and found the worried face of the man with the tattoos on his face glaring over at the large monster, who had let go of her shirt and allowed him to take her away.

Tears continued to fall down her face and she sobbed, just wanting Seita to be there and get rid of the horrible monster.

"She's not a monster, Tenten. Adzumi, c'mere. Can you give me your hand, kid?"

Tenten kept her eyes closed as she sniffled, but allowed the man to take her hand and lead it wherever it was that he wanted to take it. Soon enough, her hand caught on soft fur, running through it because of the man's own hand.

"I'm sorry she scared you, kid. She's not used to not playing with kids." The man chuckled softly, then let go of her hand as Tenten continued to pet the monster by herself. "See? She's good... There's no need to cry."

She sniffled softly and the tears stopped coming, then the big man let her go and placed her back on the ground. When she turned away from the large, soft, monster and looked at the adults, it was to find Seita looking at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry about that. Adzumi likes to play and she's used to carrying my son around by the back of his shirt when he gets in trouble and cries. Usually calms him right down."

Tenten blinked at the idea of someone being calmed by getting their shirt's bitten by a large monster, then looked back at the wolf and found her panting with her eyes closed. She seemed to be enjoying getting pet by Tenten... And she didn't seem like she was willing to eat her.

"Is there anything else you would like to inform us of before you leave?" Seita questioned, making the big man shake his head.

"Nah, I think that's all." The man murmured, looked back at Tenten with an apologetic look on his face, and said, once again, "Sorry she scared you, kid."

Tenten nodded numbly at this, then patted the wolf's back one more time before she made her way over to Seita. Once she was beside him, the man placed a hand on her head and kept it there until the large man and his large wolf were gone.

Once that was over with, she heard Seita say, "We will need to work on your skills if we are to accomplish what we came here to do."

The girl frowned at this because she had thought she was supposed to be here to finally have a stable home. But she soon remembered that this person with her a much scarier monster than the wolf had been... And she couldn't escape from him.

"You are to enter the Academy. Seeing how you are seven years old but have very minimal knowledge when it comes to the ninja arts, you will be entering with this year's youngest students. This is perfect to begin your mission."

Tenten blinked at Hiruko-Seita's words, swallowed her breakfast, and finally questioned, "What do you mean, Seita?"

The man was sitting opposite her, sitting on the harsh chair offered by the apartment. He was not eating, yet again, and was looking over some scrolls Tenten had no idea as to what they held.

"We are here for a reason, child. That reason is not one you need to know. All you are to be aware of is the fact that, entering the Academy with the newest class will help achieve that reason." The man murmured with disinterest, never taking his eyes off of the scroll he was reading.

Tenten frowned softly at the lack of a useful answer, but soon shrugged and finished eating her breakfast. She knew that pissing off Hiruko-Seita was not something she wanted to do; so questioning him really wasn't something she wanted to do.

"Once your identity issue has been cleared, we shall go to one of the civilian's quarters and find lodging. After that, we will go to the Academy so you can apply for the new school year. For this, you will have to display some semblance of competence with weapons- luckily enough for you, your chakra is more finely tuned than that of most children."

Tenten nodded at the information, more than accustomed by now to Hiruko-Seita beginning each day by explaining what his plans for them would be. At the beginning of their two weeks in the refugee allocation apartment, she had been confused as to why he did this. But seeing how he had used each day to teach her about shinobi arts and how to properly school her emotions, she didn't really mind.

"Finish up so we can go meet with that Yamanaka fool and his companions as early as we can. I hate to be kept waiting, child."

Yeah, she knew... Tenten sighed and picked up her plate so she could wash it and leave it drying before they were to leave.

~/~

"We found a girl under the name of Tenten Tanaka in the records of those registered for the birth date she gave us. We have scouted around the Village, and the only true family members we have found are distant cousins we have deemed unable to take care of another child. Not because they are unable to, but because they are farming civilians that travel more than half of the year. It seems that Seita would be the most appropriate guardian for you, Tenten, unless you wish to be enrolled into the orphanage or adhere to your cousins' busy schedule."

The blonde man read from stack of documents he had carried into the cold and hollow room; the very one they had been in two weeks ago when they had first arrived in the Village. Hiruko-Seita sat beside her, looking like a perfectly worried human being- not like the cold and calculating shinobi he undoubtedly was.

"I like Seita." Tenten murmured softly, "Why would I give him up?"

The blonde man quirked an eyebrow at her, remained quiet for a couple of seconds, and finally nodded. "Here is the girl's birth certificate and identification papers. I'll need you to come with me, though, so we can set you both up with more recent papers."

"Of course." Seita nodded, "Anything to be able to finish with this process and get on with our lives."

After this, Tenten found herself accompanying both men to a large building that was just as cold and hollow as the room they had been within. There, they found a handful of people that then helped them create papers that legitimized their identity and status within the Village.

While in there, Tenten kicked her feet as she waited in boredom, seated on a chair. Seita had been pulled away to legitimize his status in the Village, along with finding a way to get a job, and now she was alone. She was kind of hungry but didn't dare move because she didn't want to accidentally piss Seita off... Even though he was nowhere to be found.

Sighing softly, Tenten put her hand to her grumbling stomach and pouted.

She had no idea how much time had passed since breakfast, but it had clearly been enough for her to be hungry again.

As she hopelessly waited for Seita to come back, Tenten, once again, regretted having agreed to follow the man. Before she was able to become totally hopeless about the situation, she found a hand being thrust in her face.

With wide eyes, Tenten looked up at the person to who the hand belonged to and found a masked man with a headband on his forehead. He was dressed like almost every other ninja she had seen walking around, although his eyes were extremely different from anything else she had ever seen. They were blood red where they were supposed to be white and the irises were a beautiful shade of green.

"Here." The person grunted out, shaking a bar that he held in his hand.

The girl frowned at the offering, but soon her hunger beat out her wariness of strangers and she soon ripped it open and began to eat. As she ate, the man sat down beside her with a soft grunt.

"Been here a while." He offered, "Everything fine?"

Tenten shrugged her shoulders softly, "I dunno. But I'm supposed to sign up at the Academy and if Seita doesn't hurry up soon, I won't be able to get in."

For a moment, the man remained quiet. Then he growled, "Ninja Academy?"

"Yup." Tenten bit off a large chunk of the chocolate bar- it was actually pretty delicious. After she had chewed and swallowed the piece, she turned to the man, "Thank you for the food... D'ya know what's taking so long?"

The man crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, "When refugees from other Hidden Villages come to us, they've got to go through a long interrogation process with some of our experts to find out any secrets they may be housing. Did no one tell you this?"

The young girl shook her head, "I'm a kid. No one tells me anything."

And that was the sad truth of being a child in this day and age...

With a heavy sigh, the man stood up and offered his hand. Tenten blinked at it and then up at him, then quirked an eyebrow to silently ask him what he expected of her.

"I'm going to take you the Academy. You're a citizen of this Village and I don't have any interest in losing out on capable shinobi. So come on."

Tenten stared up at him, then looked over in the direction that Seita had left with the blonde haired, gray clad man. There were only gray clad people walking around, but no Seita in sight.

"Uh..."

"Morino, tell the guardian of this girl that I'm taking her to the Academy to get her registered. We should be back in less than an hour." The man barked at one of the people that passed them by, a large and scarred man that took a second to look down at her before he sighed and nodded.

"Anything you'd like to tell Lord Yamanaka?"

With this, the masked man nodded, "Yeah. And you too. Keep that loud mouthed Jashinist away from the Hokage's office. I've had it up to here with Naruto talking about Jashin."

Those were all names she did not know. But she was sure there was an interesting story behind it.

The scarred man bowed and left. Then the man looked down at her once again and offered his hand once again.

Tenten warily grabbed onto his palm, then almost freaked out when his large hand engulfed her own tiny one.

"Name's Kakuzu, by the way." He murmured as he began to walk, taking her with him.

"Naruto Namikaze is your target. Befriend him and convince him to invite you to his home. That will be perfect for me to continue with my own endeavors."

Tenten remembered Seita's petition as she focused on the blonde boy that was brought to the Academy's first day by a beautiful red haired woman and a handsome blonde man.

Seita had still not explained just why it was that Seita wanted her to befriend the kid. But she knew that he was currently working two jobs to be able to afford a small house near the Academy and was working himself ragged- the least she could do was make friends with the kid.

As she fiddled with the new clothes Seita had given her, she couldn't help but miss the familiar weight around her waist from the make-shift belt that had once belonged to her father. Even though she had wanted to keep wearing it, Mr. Kakuzu had told her that she shouldn't wear it until after she became a genin, simply to respect shinobi hierarchy.

She liked Mr. Kakuzu. He was the only adult in her life that actually told her things. He didn't tell her much, but at least he let her know why it was that he did things. And he also allowed her to follow him around on whatever task took him around the village. He didn't ask much of her, just to not get into trouble. And seeing how she didn't have any friends her age, she liked knowing at least one old person she could trust in if anything ever happened to Seita. She didn't get to be with him much, maybe one or two times in a month, but at least he didn't push her away when she spotted him.

Eventually, she heard a very loud voice proclaim something about that guy Jashin dancing on a dog's corpse, and found a blonde girl with pupil less blue eyes talking with a kid with red fangs on his face- a Yamanaka and an Inuzuka, she had come to learn. Behind them, she could see the large and scarred man Mr. Kakuzu had talked to all that time ago when he had taken her to get registered, along with the blonde man that had interviewed her and Seita when they had come to the Village, along with a beautiful woman and a crazy looking gray haired man.

They all seemed very... Familiar with each other.

… She didn't have a family anymore...

After a couple of minutes of waiting alone at the front of the Academy, the students were called to enter their classrooms. Finally Tenten wasn't surrounded by happy, smiling families, so she no longer had much of a reason to be sad.

Their first day passed boringly enough, without too much happening until snack time. Eventually the blonde, blue eyed boy named Naruto Namikaze walked up to her with a broad smile on his lips.

"Hey, you're Tenten, right? Kuzu told me about you! He told me to not piss you off."

Tenten blinked at this, then shook her head, "That sounds like something Mr. Kakuzu would say."

She needed to befriend this guy because Seita had said so.

"Hey, you wanna play ninja with me?" She questioned, immediately getting his face to light up.

"Yeah! Let's do this thing!"

After a couple of weeks of playing with Naruto, Tenten could safely say he considered her to be his best friend.

She told Seita this and the man nodded with the beginnings of a cruel smile on his lips.

"Have you gotten invited to visit his home?"

Tenten nodded as she packed up her school supplies. "Kakashi Hatake is supposed to pick us up from the Academy today."

The man's shoulders tensed when he heard the name... And then she could see an actual upward curl to the corners of his mouth.

Seita, for the first time in her life, was smiling.

"Good. That is... More than good, actually. Great job, Tenten."

Even though she knew she shouldn't have felt good because she knew that Seita's intentions with Naruto were cruel, the young girl could not help but feel proud over the words she was hearing. And she almost swooned when Seita rested his hand on the top of her hair, ruffling it just slightly.

"You will make a fine shinobi one day."

Naruto's family was weird.

"What do you mean we can't have the pups over today? Jiraiya, you promised!"

"They're professionals, Hatake. They've got their own lives to live and they cannot drop everything simply because you wanted to have a family dinner."

Most of the people here were, apparently, not related to either Naruto or his parents. But they all considered each other as if they were family- even though they were not tied by blood.

"You should just be happy so many of us were able to come together. When was the last time anyone even saw Kakashi if it didn't have to deal with work?"

"That's mean, Orochimaru. I just saw you last month."

"When you were looking for where Tsunade was so you could fix the arm Obito somehow broke... Are you both still genin, by any chance?"

"Ouch. Orochimaru, I thought you liked me!"

From what she had gathered, there were at least five different different generations within the large room that housed the dining room table. The first of which were Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Sakumo. These three were very different in looks and attitudes, but all shared one thing: they were all here because of Mr. Kakuzu's invitation. Mr. Kakuzu, apparently, was somehow older than these three, even though he certainly didn't look it.

The next generation in the room was that of Minato and Kushina Namikaze. They were both Naruto's parents, so old enough, but not as old as that of Sakumo's own generation. She knew they were pretty old because Minato had been the teacher of the next generation on Tenten's list.

Obito had given her the impression of being cool and collected, like Orochimaru. But then he had opened his mouth and, unlike Orochimaru, who still seemed aged and wise even when he said weird things, Obito sounded like a loud mouthed idiot. Rin had seemed like the kind of woman that would lie down and accept whatever she was given, but she had driven a fist into Obito's head when he'd made a snide comment and Tenten kind of liked her now. And Kakashi was less of an idiot than Obito, but still acted like a child whenever it dealt with Naruto.

And, finally, there were Naruto and her. The blonde didn't have that many friends and her coming over was the reason why his family had decided to bring 'everyone' together. She was, apparently enough, the first friend his age Naruto had ever made... Even though she was technically a year older than him.

They were all currently sitting in the large dinner table with a large feast spread out in the middle of the table, up for anyone to grab. Tenten had not taken anything yet, though, seeing how no one else had reached for the food. Naruto hadn't grabbed anything either.

After hearing the adults bicker back and forth for a couple of seconds, she found Naruto leaning towards her to whisper in her ear, "They'll be there a while. The food's gonna get cold, but mom usually heats it up for me. Wanna go out for some target practice until they finally stop arguing?"

She was hungry. But she was also overwhelmed by the sheer number of people in the same room. Even when her parents had still been alive, it had just been the three of them. Never before had she been around so many people that were considered to be just one family. So, yeah... She did not mind leaving and getting a bit of fresh air.

Hopping down from her chair, Tenten soon found her hand being snatched away as she was pulled behind Naruto. They ran through the large maze that was known as the Hokage's home until they eventually reached an inner garden where a couple of targets were set up. There were kunai strewn haphazardly along the ground.

"I like to come here when they get into those stupid arguments. They don't bother me, but it's just weird to see adults acting like kids. Y'know?" Naruto questioned as he quickly picked up all the fallen kunai.

Tenten blinked at the question because, no, she had never seen adults acting like children. She had only ever seen worried parents that tried to keep her from finding out about their lack of food or clothes... She had only ever known parents that failed at keeping her from finding out about how they were teetering on the edge of poverty every single day.

She had only ever known Seita, with his harsh words and cruel glares.

She had only ever known adults that treated her like a child that could not comprehend anything's importance or severity.

She had never known an adult that could bring themselves down to a level that even a boy like Naruto could consider immature... She had never known that could even happen.

Naruto noticed her silence as he handed her three kunai, "Hey, you okay, Tenten?"

The girl looked down at the weapons in her hands and felt tears begin to sting her eyes.

She had been told to not wear her father's hitai-ite because she was not a genin yet and it was disrespectful for her to walk around with something that did not belong to her rank- or lack thereof. She had been told by countless teachers to leave her mom's kunai at home because it was uncouth for a child to be left unsupervised with such weapons... She had been stripped of the only items that reminded her of her parents and they had been banished to only be seen within her room.

Seita hadn't done that. He had allowed her to walk with those things. He had even told her that she didn't have to give them up just because some people told her to leave them. No, it had been Villagers that had made her give up her parents' memory.

"Y-yeah, Naruto... I'm fine..." She breathed out shakily, reminding herself that Seita had taught her to never allow anyone to see what she truly felt. But... This was her friend... She could be honest with her friend, right? "I just miss my parents."

Naruto was silent for a moment.

Then he was hugging her and patting her head with too much force in an adorably frustrating way only Naruto could pull off. "I don't know how you lost your parents but just know that you're my best friend! And because you're my best friend, you're family! So you're never gonna be alone!"

Tenten chuckled softly at the simple thought process, "Thanks, Naruto."

He patted her two more times- leaving a sting of pain on her head- and then stepped back. "You still wanna throw kunai around?"

With a sniffle, the girl nodded. Then she turned to the targets, narrowed her eyes, and allowed them to fly with the agility and strength her mother had taught her at an early age.

Each one hit the center target, even though two of them fell to the ground. Tenten frowned at this, more than aware that this had happened because she had not thrown them with as much as strength as she would have liked.

"Whoah! Tenten! That was amazing! Show me how you did that!"

Naruto bounced up and down with nothing short of excitement as he pointed at the target, all the while smacking Tenten's back with, yet again, a lot more force than was necessary. The girl smiled and accepted the pain from her friend, then tried her best to position his body like her own mother had taught her all that time ago.

Naruto managed to throw all of his kunai at the middle part of the target, never getting close to the center. But he cheered about how this was an improvement and he needed to show that Obito jerk that he was capable of learning!

This kid... He was so happy...

"The food's gotten cold."

Both kids turned to the entrance of the inner garden to find Mr. Kakuzu standing with his arms crossed over his chest. The man didn't seem too surprised by finding them there. Although, from the flicker of intrigue in his eyes when he saw the state of the target, Tenten liked to believe that he was caught off guard by the single kunai in the center of it.

"Did you do that, Tenten?" The man asked as he pointed at the kunai embedded in the center.

She was just about to answer when Naruto interrupted her, "Why do you think it wasn't me, Kuzu?"

With a simple point at the kunai on the floor and in the middle areas of the target, the man answered. So Tenten, after Naruto took a moment to pout, nodded. "Yeah. My mom wanted me to grow up to be a marksman before she died."

It still hurt to talk about her parents, even though they had been gone for almost a year now. Would it ever not hurt?

The man nodded quietly, then motioned for them both to follow him. "Those children are giving me a headache. And if I have to put up with them, I'm not suffering alone."

"Ah, but Kuzu! Aren't they done arguing yet?"

With a shake of his head, the man walked out of the garden and the children followed him into the long winding halls of Naruto's much too big house. "Tenzou arrived and now he and Obito are going at it... Again." He breathed out, stopped walking, and glanced down at them both. "They're all being annoying in there."

"You don't got to tell us."

Tenten nodded along with Naruto, making Kakuzu grunt softly.

"Alright. Turn around. We're going to Ichiraku's."

Naruto cheered but Tenten was left slightly confused as to what that meant.

~/~

When they returned to the Hokage's house, it was with full bellies and, for Tenten, with a brand new set of kunai and a pouch to carry them in. Kakuzu had bought these things for her after having decided that her skills in long range attacks were something Konoha would need to hone and perfect. She had found it odd that he had then even told her he expected to see her carrying these things around from now on, but she didn't mind.

She now had a place to hold her mother's kunai without being told it was dangerous by her teachers- this pouch was specifically made for safe carrying. And Kakuzu himself had told her to stay armed to cultivate the practice of never being vulnerable for when she was older.

"Kuzu… Did you kidnap these kids?" Naruto's father questioned as they walked in through the threshold of the home.

"Not at all." Kakuzu answered with a bored tone, "We went to get the dinner you all were keeping from us."

Tenten looked around the big room that led into the rest of the large house and found that there were a lot of adults in the room, four of which she had not seen before they had left. A brown haired man with a soft (kind of creepy) smile, a purple haired woman with a piercing below her lips, a man with bright orange hair, and a sickly looking person, whose gender Tenten wasn't completely sure about, with brown hair that reached just above their shoulders.

"That's unfair. How come you get to kidnap Naruto and not get any repercussions, but when I tried that last time I was put on library duty?" The orange haired man questioned with a frown as he walked up to them and grabbed Naruto beneath his arms to hug him tightly. "He's my favorite little fox!"

Kakuzu glared back at him, "Because last time you took Naruto with you, it was to smuggle him into an A-Ranked mission to work as an infiltrator. He is only six years old and is not to be taken on any kind of missions until he becomes a genin."

The man stuck his tongue out at Kakuzu, nuzzled Naruto's cheek with his own, then put the boy down. Finally, he noticed Tenten and both of his eyebrows lifted high onto his forehead.

"Naruto! Is this your girlfriend?"

Tenten took a step back with a frown, brandishing one of her brand new kunai as the guy's face got too close to her own. This, though, didn't seem to dissuade him. Instead, he began to laugh, all the while Naruto began to smack at his shoulders while his face became so red even his ears began to redden.

"Stop it, Yahiko! She's my friend! And, yeah, she's a girl! But that doesn't make her my girlfriend!"

With her kunai aimed at the man's face, he laughed loudly, straightened back up and took a step back. "Well then, she's got the makings of a great kunoichi."

Somehow, the man having said this bothered her.

Seita had said she could be a good shinobi. What was the difference between shinobi and kunoichi?

"Put the boy down, Yahiko." Kakuzu grunted, then looked at Tenten. "You can put that down now. He may be an idiot, but he's not dumb enough to hurt a kid."

The girl kept her hand up with the kunai prepared to strike in case of any trouble. Then she nodded and put the kunai back into its rightful place in the pouch attached to her leg.

She didn't like being around all these people. But at least she now had weapons to protect herself.

That really did make a world of difference, now that she thought about it.

"Tenten, your father is supposed to be coming to pick you up any moment. Do you have everything?"

Naruto's father didn't mean to hurt her. But that didn't mean remembering the father she did not have any longer did not affect her at all.

"Dad! Seita isn't Tenten's father." Naruto hissed at his father, but Tenten did her best to try and smile.

"He's my guardian. Not my father."

The man's face fell as soon as she said this, but soon there was a knock on the door they had just come in through that distracted him. The man crossed the room in a couple of long steps and opened the door, revealing Seita's stern frown.

"I am here to pick up Tenten." He told Minato seriously enough.

The man smiled and offered him to enter the house, and Seita's eyes widened just slightly when he took note of all of the people that were in the room. But Tenten noticed when those widened eyes narrowed just slightly and in what direction he had been looking when that happened. And when she turned to look in the direction of the person that had made those eyes narrow, Tenten noticed Kakashi Hatake's father sitting in a recliner as he laughed at Obito and Rin.

Kakashi Hatake had been a name he had reacted to before... And that was Kakashi's father...

Slowly but surely, she began to see just why it was that Seita had decided to come into the Hidden Leaf... Or, well, not why... But at least who he had come for. And now him asking her to befriend Naruto made a lot more sense.

"Are you prepared for this excursion?" Seita asked her as she finished up packing her backpack.

Before she answered, she made sure she had everything she considered important. Her father's hitai-ite was wrapped firmly around her stomach and she wasn't about to let anyone tell her to take it off again- not even Mr. Kakuzu. Her kunai were all packed in their respective pouch, even her mother's own. And she had her ration of food and water for the following three days, along with extra clothes.

"I think so. Is there anything else I'll need?"

Seita looked over the things in her pack, shook his head, and patted her on the head. "You have everything you need."

She wasn't quite sure just why, exactly, they would be leaving the Village. But Seita had asked her to prepare herself for what he called a training trip and to be ready for at least three days outside of their house. He had also already informed her Academy Teachers that she would not be going to school on Monday, but had only told them that Tenten would be going on a small family trip with him- he had not told them about the training part of the trip.

With one final nod to himself, Seita hid one of the scrolls he had been working on beneath his bulky black robes. Then he motioned for Tenten to follow him, which the girl did without questioning it too much. Seita was the kind of person that didn't explain himself unless it was absolutely necessary. Even though she didn't like it, she could at least trust him, she'd come to learn. He only ever told her about things he considered to be dangerous for her- like when he had explained that Mr. Kakuzu was the Hokage's advisor and was someone she should keep pleased and close to her in case of ever needing a strong ally within the Village.

"You are nearing the end of your first semester. How are you feeling about your academic progress?" Seita questioned as they walked out of their small, single-story house and into the energetic streets of Konoha's civilian 'shinobi' quarters.

This specific quarter of the town was mostly populated by those shinobi with children that weren't allied to any Clan. It was the closest people were allowed to live to the Ninja Academy and Tenten saw lots of kids her age running around all the time. She didn't play with them, though, because she was always indoors working on her homework and trying to perfect the sealing technique Seita had told her would be invaluable to her.

"I feel like a genius, honestly." She murmured as she straightened the straps on her shoulders, then shrugged softly. "All the classes are real easy and I keep getting perfect scores on everything."

"You must be considered outstanding."

She huffed at this, "With seven kids that belong to the big clans, six more that are part of the smaller clans, and Naruto, how could I ever be outstanding? I'm a civilian orphan that doesn't even answer to that last name that's supposedly mine."

Even though she was outstanding, the teachers all played favorites. And she was nobody's favorite- not by a longshot. The only reason she ever got some kind of attention was when she convinced Naruto to get into trouble- and then she was labeled as a bad influence on the kid. Quite frankly, he was loud and brash on all his own, pissing off many girls because he was too crass to understand certain social queues. But she certainly didn't help by not explaining what he did wrong- she merely played dumb with him.

Naruto was a good friend, but he was fun to mess with.

When Tenten glanced up at Seita, it was to find him with a harsh frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. She pursed her lips at this, wondering what she had done to accidentally piss the man off. But when she was about to ask him, they were interrupted by a happy "Hello!" that came from in front of them.

The girl glanced forward to see if the greeting had been directed at them, and she soon found Inoichi Yamanaka's smiling face. And Ino Yamanaka's pouting own. The girl's hand was being held by the big man with the gray hair and the crazy looking face.

Yeah... She and Ino didn't really get along. Even though they were very much alike- Ino had Kiba and Tenten had Naruto and both boys filled in the 'willing sidekick' role pretty well and they were both extremely strong willed and intelligent girls-, neither girl liked the other.

"Tenten, Seita, how have you two been?" Inoichi asked curiously enough as he came up to them until they were eventually standing only a couple of feet apart.

"Very well, Lord Yamanaka." Seita answered pleasantly enough, masterfully covering up any sort of disdain he may have been feeling.

Tenten really wanted to learn how to be like that. She hated when she was obvious about her feelings.

"Aren't you going to say hello, Ino?" The man prodded at his daughter, who pursed her lips.

"Hello." She spit out harshly enough, making Tenten roll her eyes.

"Hey."

She wasn't a thousand percent sure just when it was that they had decided to hate each other. But Ino had never struck her as right in the head. She would sometimes talk about that Jashin guy as if he were some kind of omnipotent god and that kind of made her sound like a nut. And she was extremely bossy, always trying to be the team leader in all activities that were supposed to be done in groups (which were supposed to emphasize teamwork). Besides, she was a clan kid with a good family and a big brother that walked her to school every single day... She, like all of the other kids in her class, was lucky. And she wasn't even aware of it.

This was getting tiring.

Tenten looked up at Seita, silently prodding him to get a move on.

"We must be on our way, Lord Yamanaka. Please excuse me if I'm being rude, but I promised Tenten to take her on a small trip if she managed to get good grades during the semester. We must hurry if we wish to reach our destination before nightfall."

"Ah, of course. I hope you have a great trip, you two."

So they walked off after that, even though Tenten felt weird about Inoichi's reaction... There was something off with that face of his- like a spark in his eyes that shouldn't have been there.

As they walked away, she heard the crazy guy mutter, "Geez, what's her problem, Ino?"

"I don't know, Hidan. I just don't know."

She really didn't like Ino.

"Is Tenten in trouble?"

She shouldn't have been!

But there was no other explanation as to why she and Seita had been asked to come to Iruka-sensei's office after school-hours. She hadn't done anything to get into trouble and Naruto had been out sick that day, so it wasn't like she had been able to concoct any plans to get into trouble. Besides, it was the end of the semester! Why would she do anything now?

"Not at all, Mr. Tanaka. Actually, it's the opposite of trouble- are you aware of Tenten's mastery on ninja themes? She is one of my brightest students."

She didn't like that name. It wasn't her name. And it wasn't Seita's either. But that's what they were known as now... Could she change it at some point in her life?

Seita sat up straighter upon hearing this, and prodded, "Oh?"

He was really good at making himself seem as if he was nothing more than a curious civilian that was only just learning about shinobi arts. Tenten was really grateful that he was such a good liar and she could learn directly from him.

"I have spoken with her other teachers and we have come to a consensus, if you would approve of it, of course." Iruka-sensei smiled over at her, and Tenten couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive about what was going to happen. "We would like to move her up a grade. Her knowledge at the moment is advanced for her age and she does act out in class because of it. We think that putting her in the following age group would give her a bit of a challenge that will keep her concentrated in class."

Seita looked over at her with a perfectly perplexed look on his face. "You wish to have her advance a year?"

"That is correct." The scarred man nodded, then looked her directly. "Only if you would like to move up, of course. You have a choice, Tenten."

The girl blinked at the man, then turned to Seita. He looked confused, like he was supposed to. But for a flicker of a moment, his face hardened and his eyes filled with determination, until that was erased once again and he remained perplexed.

Luckily enough, from that second of emotions, Tenten knew her answer.

"I'd love to move up."

She moved up in the Academy at lightning fast speed. She had entered the Academy at age seven and was already leaving it a genin by age eight. She had only been in the Academy for a full year.

Seita was with her during the Graduation Ceremony with a content (fake) smile that never wavered. He walked around with her, emanating an air of pride that fooled everyone into believing that he was happy over Tenten's promotion. Which, in a certain way, wasn't incorrect. But it wasn't the whole truth. He was happy because she had been placed on the genin team that would be taught by Sakumo Hatake- the final team he would ever teach before he finally retired.

When she was informed as to who her teammates would be, she was intimidated. But she did her best to remain stoic and not seem bothered by the news.

Itachi Uchiha was a prodigy in his own right and brother to Sasuke, a kid she had not particularly enjoyed being around the past year. And Hana Inuzuka was Kiba Inuzuka's older sister- again, a kid she didn't like all that much.

After the Graduation Ceremony had ended, Mr. Kakuzu walked up to her and Seita. She had been holding the brand new hitai-ite she had been given by Minato, the Hokage she was supposed to respect no matter what.

"Seems you've finally earned the right to wear that." He muttered, pointing at her father's own, which was still wrapped firmly around her stomach.

The girl blinked at him, smiled, and nodded. "Yeah. Guess I have." Then the smile fell and she glanced down at the floor. "Uh, do you think I can keep wearing my dad's belt? I don't want to stop wearing it."

Mr. Kakuzu crossed his arms and soon nodded, "I don't see any problem with that, kid. Now, aren't you late for something?"

She stared at him for a moment, then heard Seita sigh. When she looked at him, she found the man shaking his head softly. And when she noted his displeasure, she noticed what was wrong. "Oh! I've got to meet my team!"

Mr. Kakuzu grunted, Seita smiled softly, and she waved goodbye to both of them before she ran off to where she was supposed to the classroom where they were supposed to meet with their teachers.

Sakumo Hatake was an older man, but not an ancient fossil. He was in his late fifties but still smiled and laughed as if he were no older than twenty years old.

Like many other ninja, he wore standard shinobi uniform with his hitai-ite covering his forehead. His hair was gray with what Tenten assumed to be age, and there were laugh lines at the corner of his eyes and edges of his mouth. Aside from those small signs of age, he looked as if he could be in his thirties.

Itachi Uchiha was seated in the desk closest to the board, seeming to count the kunai in his pouch. And Hana was petting one of her three puppies beside him. Neither of the older genin turned to look at her when she entered. But they did stand up to salute Sakumo when he walked in.

… This wouldn't be easy, would it?

"Good morning, newly-minted genin!" Sakumo smiled at them all, then zeroed in on Tenten. For a moment, his smile brightened even more and Tenten felt a bit more relaxed with it. But he continued his speech without talking to her directly. "This is an exciting year for all of us. You've just become genin and I've just been handed the last group of genin I'll ever teach. How are you feeling?"

"Ready." Itachi stated bluntly.

"Confident." Hana followed with a smirk.

And, finally, Sakumo turned to Tenten for her own answer. The girl shuffled on her feet- she hadn't even gotten to sit down before Sakumo had arrived- and shrugged. "Prepared to kick some ass, I guess."

The man let out a pleased chuckle at this answer, all the while both of her new teammates shared looks of disbelief. Tenten merely smirked at having been able to receive such reactions- all the while she freaked out internally over how badly her team seemed to be able to get along.

"I like those answers." The Hatake nodded to himself, then motioned for them to follow him, "Let's go get some lunch and get to know each other."

~/~

"I'm eight years old, sir."

"You're Naruto's best friend."

Tenten nodded yet again, earning a heavy sigh from Sakumo.

"I thought Konoha had stopped promoting kids younger than twelve..." He sounded as if he lamented the fact that Tenten was already a genin. But he soon shook his head and smiled softly at her, "Your team was given to me because of your age, though. And because of Itachi and Hana's independence. Because those two are so advanced with their own skills, I can focus some more on what you need."

After they had eaten lunch and gotten to know each other, Sakumo had asked to accompany Tenten home. Her other two team members had nodded and left to their own homes, most probably annoyed with the fact that it seemed they would not be able to shake Tenten as their final team member. Because they were clan kids, they would most probably even push their respective parents to kick her out.

They were so lucky to have families that cared about them...

"Luckily for us, you're a long range expert. This means you won't have to throw yourself into any danger in a regular battle and you'll just work as support for your teammates."

Tenten pursed her lips at the idea of only being support but kept quiet. She was still very much eight years old and her teammates were older and stronger. And she knew for a fact that both their clans specialized in taijutsu.

"I'm not going to lie to you, kid, things'll be tough for you. You're the youngest kid on a team of prodigies. And you've got yourself a hardass of a teacher." Sakumo stopped walking then and turned to look down at her with his eyes closed and a broad smile. "But you've also got one of most determined eyes I've seen in a while... You'll be fine as long as you never lose sight of what you want."

For a moment, Tenten stared back at the man. Then she nodded stiffly, "I want to be a great shinobi."

His eyes opened at this and he blinked down at her in surprise. But that soon melted in happiness and he smiled as he patted her head with much less force than Naruto ever had. "Sounds like a plan, kid!"

"You already know how to seal?" Itachi questioned as she packed up the small number of swords and two giant shuriken she had been able to accumulate over the past year.

They weren't the best, but she had been able to buy them cheap. And she was currently pressuring her number one weapons' seller into teaching her how to make her own weapons so she would be able to craft them as she needed.

"Mm-hmm. Learned last year, actually." She remarked offhandedly as she sealed the weapons away and began to wrap up the large scroll.

She still didn't know how to place bigger items in more compact spaces. But she was learning with Seita.

After she packed that up, the girl began to count her kunai and senbon to make sure she had not lost any during the training session. Once she had them all in her hands, she noticed that she was missing one.

Quickly she began to scan over the training grounds, all the while Hana and Sakumo-sensei spoke about possibly starting on D-Ranked missions. She eventually caught sight of the stray kunai and smiled softly. Instead of walking towards it, she decided to try out the chakra strings Seita had been teaching her. So she concentrated, sent out a very thick string from her fingertip, and did her best to haul the kunai towards her.

The weapon flew in her direction and she was able to catch it before it hit her. She then placed it in its appropriate pouch and turned back to Itachi.

He was staring at her with widened eyes.

"Everything alright, Itachi?" Tenten questioned, immediately feeling apprehension begin to settle over her.

Had she donen something wrong?

"Not many Konoha ninja are known for their prowess utilizing chakra strings." He murmured, making Tenten immediately wince.

But she quickly schooled her features, shrugged, and jutted her hip to the side to appear relaxed. "Read about them in a book and thought it'd be a good idea to try out."

Sometimes she forgot that Seita was supposed to be seen as a civilian. It was very easy to forget when he was the one that had been working her ragged for the past year, preparing her for the shinobi life.

Itachi looked at her with eyes that read of disbelief. But he wasn't able to question her any further when Sakumo-sensei and Hana walked up to them to inform them of their plans for running missions.

Naruto was jealous over the fact that she was already a genin and he was still stuck in a classroom with the likes of Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga.

Hinata, if Tenten remembered correctly, had once been a painfully shy girl that could barely form a sentence. Apparently, she was now even showing off prowess in water style ninjutsu. And that was pretty freaking awesome.

"Why can't I be a genin too?" He cried as he threw a kunai at the targets in his inner garden... None of which hit the center.

Tenten smirked at him and waved towards the evidence, "Maybe because of that?"

He stuck his tongue out at her and Tenten laughed at his childishness. But she soon sobered up and threw her own set of kunai, all of which hit the three targets in the center and stayed there.

Sometimes she wondered just why it was that she had been promoted to genin so quickly. She had been in the Academy for less than a year, yet she was allowed to graduate with Itachi and Hana's class and placed on Sakumo-sensei's last team. From what she had heard whispered around her, she was an anomaly. Konoha didn't graduate kids younger than twelve anymore... Yet there she was. A newly-minted genin with her father's hitai-ite carried proudly on her waist without having to worry about anyone telling her to drop it.

Seita assumed that it was because someone was pulling the strings behind Konoha's curtains and Tenten was just a pawn in their schemes. But what this person may have gotten from having her become a genin so quickly, he himself was not sure.

She enjoyed being a genin and being on Sakumo-sensei's team. Hana and Itachi didn't like her, but they were slowly starting to realize that she wasn't some stupid little kid.

But it was weird that she was an eight year old genin in a Village that was not currently in a war.

Seita had been preparing her dinner when he finally let her in on a little bit more of his plan for Sakumo Hatake.

"You are to invite your team over for a dinner here. Your teammates will leave after they have eaten and you will convince Sakumo to stay for a little while longer. After that, you will leave the room and pack your belongings. We are to leave the Village once I am finished with the Hatake. Have I been understood?"

Tenten blinked at Seita and stared at him.

"What... What are you going to do to Sakumo?"

"Nothing you need to worry over." He grunted, turned off the stove, and served her meal. "You are to do as you are told, Tenten."

With how nice life had been, Tenten had almost forgotten how selfish Seita truly was.

"Yes, sir."

Once an orphan without a home, always an orphan without a home, it seemed.

Her heart was beating at a thousand miles. Her hands were sweating and felt clammy. Her chest was tight.

She was an eight year old genin that was helping her guardian set up an ambush on her teacher.

"The way of the ninja is not to kill as many people as possible, Hana. I know you're clan says that, but the Inuzuka say a lot of other things you don't agree with." Sakumo-sensei wagged his finger in Hana's face as she pursed her lips at him. He soon sobered up, though, and leaned back on his chair with a heavy frown. "Body counts on your hands are not supposed to be something you brag about. Deaths induced are not brag pieces."

Tenten wasn't quite sure just how this conversation had come to happen. She had been too busy trying to seem inconspicuous and normal during the whole dinner. But she had barely said a single word and her plate had been left mostly untouched.

She hated being so obvious about her feelings. But, quite frankly, she had a right at the time. Sakumo-sensei was a good man, great sensei, and an important person to her best friend. She had a right to be worried over what was going to happen to him because of Seita.

"I've done some bad things in my life I regret. I wish I could take them back, but I can't. That's why, with all of my genin, I try and teach them to never take a life unless it's absolutely necessary. A life's a life- destroying it affects more than just one person."

When Tenten looked at both of her teammates, they seemed like they were taking Sakumo-sensei's words to heart. She admitted that she may have found them to be moving if in the right mind frame, but she was currently too worried to think too deeply on what was being said.

~/~

Only Sakumo-sensei was left. It was just her and her teacher and Seita was in the other room, preparing himself for whatever it was that he wanted to accomplish.

With tears beginning to sting in her eyes, Tenten excused herself and made her way to Seita's room. She knocked on it and peeked in, informing him about Sakumo-sensei being left alone for him.

Seita didn't even move.

Tenten just walked into her room with tears stinging at her eyes and began to pick up as she forced herself to not allow herself to cry.

~/~

After an hour of sniffling and lamenting over all of the people she would be leaving behind once she left Konoha, Tenten found it odd that Seita had not come to inform her about having finished up. So, quietly, she tiptoed over to the dining room, fearful of what she may have found.

There was only one person at the table, sitting on one of the chairs. It wasn't Sakumo-sensei. Instead, it was the red haired body Tenten had seen a year ago when she had first seen Hiruko become Seita.

"Seita? Is... Where is Sakumo-sensei?"

The person didn't look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze on a scrap of paper that was held in his hands. "I would assume he returned home to his son and adopted children."

Tenten stared at the person for a couple of seconds, too scared of questioning him.

Eventually the man stood up and walked towards her. His eyes were a dull brown; lifeless just like the Seita's dead green eyes; and his skin was pale. But he somehow looked a bit more alive than the other body.

"You can unpack everything you wanted to take with you. I have decided that we are not going to leave this Village just yet."

She looked up at him as his eyes continued to stare into her own. "W-why?"

With a heavy sigh, the man patted her head. "I have decided that Sakumo Hatake is not the same man now as he was when he murdered my parents. Killing him now would win me nothing other than a manhunt for us both."

Tenten frowned, "So you were going to kill him?"

He didn't answer. Instead he turned around and walked over to the table.

"He handed me this photo to give to you. And asked me to remind you to meet with him first thing tomorrow morning so you can continue to learn how to wield your swords."

When he returned with the picture, it was for Tenten to see that it was one Kakashi had taken of her and Naruto before she had become a genin. They had gone to his house yet again and she had learned a bit about the Hatake clan from the only two members left. Kakashi's whole pack was in on the picture as well, with Naruto being carried on Bull's back.

It felt as if this picture had been taken centuries ago, even though it had been less than a year ago.

"Seita-"

"My real name is Sasori. Within these walls, you can call me by my real name... See my real face."

"Sasori?" She tried out the name and received a nod.

"There are many things we will need to discuss eventually. But, for now, please return to your room to unpack. I will make you some of those cookies you enjoy."

He walked away and into the kitchen before she could tell him that she really didn't feel like eating anything else.

"Tenten Akasuna? Is that really what you want to change your name to?" Mr. Kakuzu questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"Seita said he would like to adopt that surname as well." Sakumo informed from beside her, "They both seem like they want to drop the Tanaka name and take on their own."

She had asked her teacher what she would need to do to change her official surname and had gotten his help in the endeavor. Sasori was not a big fan of adopting a moniker given to him as a surname, but he wasn't stopping her from it either. And she believed it was about time they officialized the fact that they were officially a family now.

Sasori was a difficult man and she still barely knew anything about him. But she now knew that he really cared about her... Cared about her enough to let her learn about how dangerous it was for him to reveal who he really was, and still tell her the truth.

"He's from the desert and my favorite color's red." She offered with a small shrug.

Mr. Kakuzu grunted softly at the explanation, but soon nodded. "I see no issue with changing both of your names to reflect your actual status as a family. We will need Seita to come in and change his name yet again, though."

"I'll tell him, then." Sakumo smiled broadly, clapped his hands together, and looked over at Tenten. "Now that this has been dealt with, shall we?"

They were to meet with Hana and Itachi to complete a set of D-Ranked missions before they were to continue their training. It had been a week since they had gone to Tenten's home to eat- a week since Sasori had decided to spare Sakumo's life.

She didn't know why it was that Sasori had decided to spare it. She didn't know what Sakumo had done to convince the man that it was a mistake to kill him. And she didn't know if Sakumo even knew that Seita was Sasori. But he continued to call him Seita and had never once even mentioned anything about him being someone he wasn't.

"Let's go."

"Before you go, Sakumo, do you think you could give me a bit of time with Tenten alone?"

The man quirked an eyebrow at the petition, but soon nodded and stood up. Once he was outside of Mr. Kakuzu's office, the masked man stood up and performed a series of hand signs before a bright blue glow momentarily filled the room until it dissipated a couple of seconds later.

"As a genin of the Hidden Leaf Village, you are bound to following the shinobi hierarchy. This means that there are some orders you will be given you will have to go through with that you will not like. But you will have to follow those orders, no matter what. Have I been understood?"

Mr. Kakuzu... He was serious.

Well, no, that was wrong. He was always serious. But before, in every other interaction with him, Tenten had felt that his seriousness was somewhat laid back, if that made any sense. Right now, though... He seemed as serious as Sasori had been when he had first changed from Hiruko to Seita.

"Tenten?"

She was eerily reminded of past conversations with Sasori.

"Yes. I understand." She nodded stiffly, straightening her back as she looked up at the man.

Mr. Kakuzu nodded, sighed heavily, and shook his head. "I would not do this if I had a choice, Tenten. I was one of the driving forces behind suspending the practice of kids younger than twelve being promoted to genin. But you are one of the most competent children I've come across. And there is a mission I will need your help with- I could not take you on it if you did not have the proper knowledge."

After he had said this, Mr. Kakuzu sat back down and clasped his hands together beneath his chin. "In three months, you will be called back into this office. Your guardian, Akasuna no Sasori, will accompany you. And you will both be informed of the mission you are to go on."

Tenten felt the breath knocked completely out of her body.

How... How did...

"I am aware of all missing nin that enter my Village, child." The man sounded as if he was smirking, but Tenten was not sure. Now that she thought about it, she was never sure of what he looked like other than what was emoted through his eyes. "He is in no danger of being harmed or incarcerated at the moment. He's been nothing short of a model citizen and has blended in extremely well with the rest of the civilians and non-clan affiliated shinobi."

She had known that. But she was just too taken aback by the fact that Mr. Kakuzu knew about the big secret she had only just found out about.

"Sakumo will continue teaching you as he has for the past months- nothing will change in that front. But do ask Sasori to advance your teaching in chakra strings in the following days."

"Wait a minute, you even know about that?" Tenten questioned, earning a stiff nod from the man.

"I have eyes and ears in the whole Village, Tenten." He informed, then shrugged softly, his voice taking on an easier tone. "And Naruto is a blabber mouth that cannot be trusted with too many secrets."

Ah, of course.

The girl sighed as she shook her head at her best friend. She loved that kid, but she should never have told him about being able to use chakra strings to move her weapons, rather than the ninja wire most shinobi tended to use.

"Continue learning as you have and you will be prepared for this mission." With this final message, Kakuzu stood up, went through the hand signs yet again, and the room momentarily began to glow once more. "You may leave with your teacher. Have a good day."

Tenten stared at him for a couple of seconds before she nodded, jumped out of her chair, and numbly made her way out of his office.

Seated in front of the Hokage's desk, she found Sakumo talking merrily with Naruto's father.

It was weird that the only way to get to Mr. Kakuzu was going through the Hokage's office, but she had been told that he was a very busy man- even busier than the Hokage, in a way. He only took meetings if they were absolutely necessary... And now him having agreed to meet with her and Sakumo made sense. He hadn't allowed them to come in to meet with them about her name change being a possibility- he had allowed them to come in to be able to inform her of the mission he wanted to prepare her for.

"Everything alright, Tenten?" Sakumo questioned as the smile faded from his lips, taking in Tenten's worried face.

She blinked at him for a moment, narrowed her eyes, and nodded. "Yeah. Nothing's wrong, Sakumo-sensei."

"Are you sure? You can tell me if anything's bothering you."

Sakumo was a kind man.

Why would Sasori have ever wanted to kill him?

Tenten smiled awkwardly, a tight thing, and nodded slowly. "I know that, sensei. Now, weren't we supposed to go and meet up with Itachi and Hana?"

He took a moment to really look at her, but soon nodded and excused himself from the Hokage. Minato looked at her with an almost strained look on his face, then sighed and shook his head. Tenten quirked an eyebrow at the odd actions, but Minato was soon smiling at her, waving her away, and telling her that she should pass by the house at any time so that she could spend some time with Naruto.

Tenten stared at him for a moment before she ran off after Sakumo-sensei to go and find Itachi and Hana.

She didn't know what Mr. Kakuzu wanted from her and Sasori. She didn't know who knew about what he wanted or who knew about Sasori's true identity. She didn't even knew precisely who she could trust and who she couldn't.

But she did know that Sasori had been right when he had assumed that her being promoted to genin so early had been by someone pulling string for their own gain. And she knew that Mr. Kakuzu had been the one to do so- and he had a mission related reason to have gotten her promoted.

With a small sigh, Tenten followed after her teacher.

There was time left until the mission Mr. Kakuzu wanted her to go on. That meant that there was still time to learn, get stronger, and perfect her strategies. That also meant that there was still time to get to learn more from Sasori to be able to protect herself and him if ever the need came up.

She didn't know Mr. Kakuzu's game. But at least she knew Sasori would be there for her. She wouldn't have thought so before he had admitted to being Sasori. But now that he had done that, she knew.

She just hoped everything would work out well for them both. Sasori was the only family she had left.

~..~..~

And that is the end of the fourth installment in this series! Shit. This is a long one, isn't it?

Don't worry, my faithful, beautiful readers! There will be a continuation of this story in which you will find out everything you need to know about Kakuzu's intentions and missions. Because, believe me, it'll be quite the read!

Please review! I hope you all enjoyed this!