9 Visiting Tenten's Shop and a B-Rank Mission

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Later that day, at the agreed time, Neji went to the Tenten's shop located right inside the village's center. He already gave her some of his measurements before so he was ready to pick up his custom wearable body weights. It was the best way to prepare his body for the Eight Gates, or else, Might Guy wouldn't have given his own pairs to Rock Lee right after mentioning that technique.

They currently had a short break from their missions, given by their sensei, therefore Tenten agreed to personally wait for him at her family's shop to give his order of custom body weights. Team Guy members also got much more familiar with one another in the last couple of months, even Neji occasionally used to ask for help from Rock Lee and Tenten in some of their more boring mission.

Soon, Neji eventually arrived outside the Tenten's shop and felt a little surprised. It was one really big shop, occupying a whole building, many times larger than all the other various shops he passed by on his way there, and it was also at the central, most sought-after location of the village center. It was made of wooden-like architecture and had a big sign of "Higurashi Weapons Shop" on top of it.

'I didn't expect Tenten to be so rich, it wasn't mentioned in the original, but this should be the biggest weapon shop in the whole village.', Neji thought about many different things regarding her.

"Neji!", And just as he arrived outside, he heard a young girly voice calling out to him from inside of the building. Tenten, who was now in her casual clothes, in some kind of a casual pink Chinese-style sleeveless long dress hurriedly went outside to greet him. It was his first time seeing her not being in her traditional shinobi combination, "I prepared everything you asked for before, let's go inside!"

Neji nodded and they both went inside. Inside it, there were hundreds, if not thousands different weapon types and styles displayed in various shapes and forms. The interior of the building had many Chinese-style decorations, and symbols, and overall was set up in a very Feng Shui-like style.

Tenten secretly watched him observe her family shop with interest and felt proud for some reason. After all, it was hard for such a stone-cold genius like Neji to show interest in anything. And the various weapons here, which she played with since she was a child, inside this very own family weapon shop of hers, were some of the most precious things in her whole life. They were only the two of them currently in the building, as she sent away her female workers to get some rest today.

Her parents didn't work at the shop, it was left for workers, while they mainly went outside the village, and even the country sometimes, in search of various weapon materials, craftsmen, etc. They were mainly merchants who didn't make weapons themselves but connected various dots to profit.

Of course, as their status was of utmost importance to the village, as the number one weapon suppliers, they were always heavily guarded by shinobi, at the orders of Hokage, mostly jonins.

That's why, Tenten had a pretty lonely childhood, often playing inside this shop alone while waiting for them to return home. It was then that she also developed her passion for different weaponry.

And soon, they were seated inside the building. Tenten sat on the weapon boss's place, behind the counter, while he sat where probably various other customers also sat once they come here and want to negotiate something. Neji also secretly noticed the way Tenten dressed differently than usual today, and how they were the only ones left here, inside such a big shop, without any workers present, which was all weird, 'Maybe it was a coincidence.', However, Tenten's expression showed no difference from her usual, so he thought nothing about it and stopped dwindling on such matters.

'It seems that he didn't find anything weird... It's good!', Tenten also sighed with relief internally, in fact, she had no idea why she dressed like this today, or why she sent those workers away, maybe she wanted to test Neji's reaction, maybe something else, but the point is, it was all undoubtedly done subconsciously. But looking at his black long swirling hair and sharp features with indifferent eyes, she didn't know why, but she suddenly felt a bit disappointed for no reason, 'Why is that..?'

But, not wanting to think about anything weird any longer, she got right to the business. From below the counter, she swiftly picked up a few medium-sized boxes and dropped them on the table.

However, poor Tenten didn't know that, right at that moment of her disappointment, in that split second, Neji's trained eyes detected her short-lived abnormality right from her small face, and the exact cause that maybe even she didn't realize, 'So that's how it, I understand everything. I guess it's the same as in the original, no maybe it happened even earlier in this timeline. But it makes it certainly easier for my next request toward her, regarding teaching me fuinjutsu, so it's all good.'

Of course, Neji pretended not to notice any of those things, and stood up next, checking over his new weights while opening and closing those couple of wooden, nicely-packed, boxes from the table, 'Nicely packed?', He was getting more and more sure now. But the weights were satisfactory. Tenten also put her hands on her chin and secretly looked at him while he checked over the boxes.

"So, how much do I owe you for this, Tenten?", Neji suddenly closed the boxes, with a thump, also unexpectedly smiling, bringing Tenten out of her daze, who now blushed lightly for some unexpected reason, not knowing why, was it because of Neji's unexpected smile, or him catching her peeking on him, "Y-You don't owe me anything for this Neji, we're teammates so it is normal..."

"Alright, since you said so. But, I owe you a favor for this, so remember, if you need my help with something, you can ask freely.", Neji's face turned to usual once again and he sat back in the chair.

Tenten nodded happily after hearing that. Her face also gradually returned to normal, after a few seconds, but just as she wanted to say something, she heard Neji's question first, "How is your practice in the sealing class going?", After graduation Tenten visited Konoha's various branches.

Tenten's dream was always to become a strong kunoichi like Lady Tsunade, so her first association towards that goal was to learn medical ninjutsu just like her. So, her parents first got her to enter the Konoha's hospital and learn from the most advanced medical ninja of Konoha. However, after some time progressed, she realized that she had little talent in medical ninjutsu and literally zero passion.

That's when, on one of many sleepless and worried nights, she got a flash of inspiration and realized what her biggest passion actually always was, how everyone has their own path, and that she should follow her own, just like her sensei and her teammate Rock Lee. She got the idea to actually use all of her hundreds of favorite weapons, from this shop, in fights, by sealing and resealing them with ninja scrolls. She would do it on such a scale, that nobody thought of before.

It was possible because her parents got a monopoly on the majority of the weapons from Konoha, so she wasn't lacking in any. She just lacked the sealing knowledge required for using that fighting system. Therefore, one month ago, she decided to leave the Konoha's Hospital and enter the Konoha's Sealing Branch, to try and learn fuinjutsu there, of course with the help of her parents too.

"It's going great Neji, I feel like I won't be such a drag on the team for much longer!", Tenten exclaimed joyfully, and held her arm in the air all of sudden. She felt like it was her true life passion.

Neji also nodded in agreement. In his opinion, Tenten was one of the best fuinjutsu experts from the original series, not only being able to store thousands of big or small weapons inside her scrolls, but she could even seal pure elements like fire and water in the second part of the Naruto series, so her fuinjutsu was pretty superb, without a question, "Tenten, I have another favor to ask of you."

"Can you please also teach me the fuinjutsu, that you're learning at the sealing class, when we have free time and aren't on missions or training.", Neji smiled all of a sudden and looked straight at her.

He needs to learn fuinjutsu, in order to be able to seal away his own eyes, as the last resort if those Main Branch bastards wanted to activate the curse mark on him. He would be blind, while his eyes were sealed, but he would at least be able to escape in that case. If they, however, manage to activate that wretched seal on him successfully, then there is basically zero hope of escaping. He would be able to only cry on the ground in pain, all the while his brain slowly got turned into gel. He already observed and analyzed internally that tricky area of his head, with his advanced Byakugan internal vision. That curse seal is mainly latched onto his eyeballs and optical nerves, if he seals them away, then he's safe, in theory, and there is no way for pain to travel further to his brain.

'This is the only way for me to change my fate before I get to Senju cells and my lovely Tenseigan.' Neji thought longingly. Nearly ten years in control of this body, and he was still a slave, it was hard.

Tenten couldn't possibly guess Neji's motive for learning fuinjutsu, all of a sudden, so she happily agreed, feeling very joyful for him finally acknowledging her and wanting to learn something from her. Through their communication today she learned that Neji wasn't as cold as she previously thought. And she would be able to spend even more time alone with him in the future. After Neji finally left her shop, she smiled and started humming happily while leaning on her table peacefully.

In fact, Neji really wasn't as cold as he portrayed himself before. He is actually cold, but not to that extent. He also hated being indebted, so he would surely repay Tenten in the future for everything.

***

Nearly a year and a half passed since then. Somewhere inside the Land of Fire, but away from the Konohagakure, inside a big forest, a little older Team Guy casually jumped over different trees.

They are currently completing their first B-rank mission. B-rank missions are dangerous missions with a significant risk of combat with other shinobi. B-rank missions are usually assigned to experienced chunin. However, since their overall strength, Hokage made an exception this time.

Some missions of that rank include guarding important clients such as nobles and politicians, espionage to obtain political or military information, military law enforcement, prison security, and border patrols. Their current objective wasn't exactly a border patrol, but it was closest to that type.

Recently, inside the Land of Fire appeared an extraordinarily powerful group of bandits looting and terrorizing many ordinary merchants operating inside this nation's territory. Ordinary warriors weren't a match for them, so it was speculated that the perpetrators had shinobi in their ranks.

The merchant union, consisting of the biggest merchants, of the country, made an official request for help to the Konohagakure in a form of a mission. It was deemed to be a B-rank by the Hokage immediately due to other shinobi being involved and the high likelihood of a clash against them.

And the mission got into the hands of the Team Guy next. They decided to lay an ambush on those bandits since they have no information on their headquarters, only some general descriptions.

For many days already, they shadowed different prominent merchants all over the Land of Fire. Neji's Byakugan played a crucial role in checking over different radiuses near them for threats. Maybe it was another reason why the Hokage dispatched them specifically on this B-rank mission.

Neji didn't expect that due to him exerting his Byakugan for an internal vision, all of his life, it was harder to switch it back to seeing towards large distances ahead, as it was a totally different concept, so he could currently see only up until two kilometers away from himself, not too great for a Hyuga. So far, they haven't got a clue. Now trailing another famous merchant's caravan route.

"Don't worry guys, we have more than a month until the Chunin Exam starts. Lord Hokage also personally promised that if we are unlucky, and don't catch them until then, we could just return back to the village, and someone else will pick this mission from us.", Might Guy suddenly said toward Rock Lee and Tenten, as Neji was currently focused on using his Byakugan to check, again, if there were any foreign hostile presences moving around those new merchants they were following. They were all on the move, jumping over trees, but keeping a certain distance away from those merchants. Therefore, only Neji could check on them, periodically, in order not to overuse his eyes.

Neji was qualified to even take the last Chunin Exam, but the problem was that it was a team-based event, so he decided to wait another year until both Tenten and Rock Lee grew a little bit more before giving their applications to the Lord Hokage. But, it was obvious that they were ready now.

The whole team got much more harmonious than a year and a half ago. Even Rock Lee gradually stopped challenging and pestering Neji, instead pouring all his energy into training hard. He decided to become a little smarter and challenge Neji only when he felt confident to actually win.

Tenten gradually realized her feelings for Neji, during this period, but she buried them deep inside her heart. She already noticed some abnormalities in Neji while she taught him seeing before inside her shop in their closed-off fuinjutsu sessions there. He tried his best to hide it, but by some of his specific inquires, she already realized what kind of seals he wanted to actually make. She held a lot of pity and heartache towards him ever since then, realizing everything, why he worked so hard, why was he was so indifferent to her, and what was his final goal. So, she had no courage to disturb him in it, also realizing that even if he also harbored feeling for her, he would still reject her for sure.

And, just as she was lost in her thoughts about Neji and looked at his tall back, in question, once again, she, Rock Lee, and Might Guy, all suddenly heard him shouting seriously from the front, "There are enemies entering my field of vision and approaching the merchants. Thirty ordinary chakras but further away, on that hill, there are three more really strong people, behaving as if guarding those ordinary bandits, they are surely all on the elite jonin level of strength in my estimates!", Neji reported in one breath, while pointing at the direction of a small hill in the forest.

"Do they happen to notice us?", Might Guy asked and turned thoughtful, 'Three elite jonins, huh?'

"No, they don't notice us Guy-sensei! We should try and sneak attack them.", Neji immediately recommended to Might Guy, not wanting to waste this precious real battle opportunity in front.

"Guy-sensei, please listen to Neji, we got to save those merchants!", Rock Lee was also excited for combat, holding his fist in the air. Tenten didn't say anything, just looked towards her sensei next.

'Well, this could be a really good experience for all of them for the upcoming Chunin Exam. And Neji here could also probably take one against himself, with Lee as support, while I deal with the other two elites. Tenten could take those ordinary bandits, it's not too bad. Neji especially needs such a battle...'

"Alright, Neji, lead Lee and me to the intruders quickly, and we'll try to sneak attack them! Let's go!"

"Tenten your job is to protect merchants from those average bandits. You have those long-range attacks of large scale to deal easily against them, so we'll leave it to you!", Might Guy instructed.

Everyone nodded and quickly moved on to the work. Tented didn't protest too much, after all, her method of attack was really the one best suited for dealing against such large crowds of enemies. While Neji and Lee were stronger than her currently, and she wasn't good at, in one-on-one battles.