Naruto pulled the kunai back and left a slightly dazed Lee standing there.
Neji and Tenten stepped forward, reacting very differently.
Tenten's gaze was mostly curiosity with a tiny bit of admiration mixed in. Neji's eyes, though, were heavy with seriousness—and battle intent.
He'd watched that exchange from start to finish. Naruto had moved without a single wasted action, every burst of force perfectly measured, calm and unflustered the whole time.
More importantly, he'd looked like he was having fun—even egging Lee on to fight him.
Only the strong had that kind of mindset.
In canon, geniuses like Neji and Sasuke wanted as many challengers as possible.
Granted… canon also showed that only late-series "pillar-level" Sasuke managed to challenge the last 5% stronger than him and then get beaten half to death repeatedly…
Still, Neji was genuinely interested now.
"Hey. What's your name?" Neji strode up and stared Naruto down.
Naruto thought, Oops, I stole Sasuke's line. My bad. But he kept his face neutral.
He answered with a question. "Byakugan, huh? Branch family or main family?"
Neji froze, then his face darkened at once. Another guy looking down on the branch house?
"Does that matter to you?" Neji bit out.
"Not really. I'm just checking if you're main family—because if you are, I'm about to roast the hell out of you," Naruto grinned. "That dogshit system should've been abolished ages ago."
Neji was stunned. A complete outsider had just criticized the Hyūga's ancient hierarchy. His emotions turned confusingly tangled.
"Forgot intros," Naruto said breezily. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. You don't need to tell me your name—I'm only interested in the strong."
Then he pointed at Sasuke with a bright smile. "Like that guy."
That guy?
Neji looked at battered Sasuke, then at Haku unconscious at his feet.
He didn't ask Sasuke's name. He just gave Naruto a long, deep look.
Uzumaki Naruto… I'll remember you.
Tenten also noticed Sasuke and silently thought, He's so cute! But like Neji, she found Naruto striking.
Lee was still staring at Naruto with burning admiration—he didn't even notice Sakura nearby.
Guy nudged Kakashi with his elbow and whispered, "Kakashi, is this the Nine-Tails kid? The Hokage asked me if he's been acting strange lately."
Kakashi shrugged. "His biggest abnormality is that he got smarter. Also, he seems able to control a bit of Kurama's power now."
"Got it." Guy nodded and loudly introduced the Taijutsu Squad to Team 7.
A while later…
"…So that's the situation," Kakashi finished.
"I see." Guy rubbed his chin and decided immediately. "Lee and I will escort Zabuza and Haku back to Konoha. Neji has Byakugan—he and Tenten will help you capture Gato. How's that?"
"Agreed," Naruto said first. He glanced at Tenten and quietly wondered if he should kick off his grand harem plan right now.
I mean, study hard—Tenten on top… ahem. Mainly, Tenten's family sells ninja tools. For early-game Naruto with limited methods, that's a huge power boost. And a tools shop? That screams rich girl, right?
What a beautiful dream.
Because honestly… being a jōnin might not be that safe either. Who knows if Boruto-era Naruto doesn't get farmed like a random mob by the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Better to find a sugar mommy!
No one objected. Tazuna's bridge project resumed smoothly, the whole operation running clean and orderly. Everyone stayed focused on "quality control," making sure they didn't wrongfully accuse good chingu and only took down bad chingu, faithfully embodying the ninja spirit with maximum professionalism.
During all this, Naruto started inching closer to Tenten.
First, he "accidentally" chatted with her a few times during the pursuit. Then he used ninja tools as the angle to keep the conversation rolling—discussing practical value and weaknesses of different weapons.
Even with impure motives, Naruto genuinely learned a lot. His understanding of tools rose a whole level.
Naturally, the topic drifted further and further off-track.
Naruto casually brought up how so many girls in their class were obsessed with Sasuke and looked down on him, then fabricated a bunch of melodramatic gossip to paint the girls as shallow green-tea types who only chased looks.
The goal was to give Tenten a platform to complain with him and build closeness.
Once Tenten started venting about her own teammates, Naruto immediately went full "support mode," roasting Guy and Lee's outfits and their abnormal brain wiring, then concluded dramatically:
"Tenten, you deserve better teammates!"
He wasn't actually trying to sow discord—he was just dumping emotional value nonstop.
Pure-hearted Tenten didn't catch the trick. She just thought this boy was strong and nice to talk to. What a talent!
Later, they wandered into boy-girl topics, and Naruto smoothly declared, "A kunoichi like you is totally my ideal type."
Tenten's face went instantly red.
Then Naruto softened it: "But you're really great, and I'm still not worthy of you. Don't feel pressured. It's just… I've been really happy talking with you. Before this, everyone just rejected me because there's a monster inside me…"
He slid into his tragic backstory with perfect timing, emphasizing how miserable he'd been and how desperately he wanted a warm place to belong.
Tenten's saint complex flared so hard she almost teared up.
And then…
Sakura finally caught on to Naruto's scheme and threatened to beat him senseless, shutting down his evil flirting plan on the spot.
…Well, shutting it down publicly, anyway.
Still, Tenten truly was left with a deep impression. Naruto had already affected her.
Sakura was furious. "If I catch you building a harem again, I'll personally make sure you can't be a man!"
"Tenten is Neji's canon ship!"
"Girl, that's not even official! And we're already in a different timeline—just let me enjoy myself a little… okay okay, calm down, put your fists down!"
After a beat of silence, Naruto blurted out:
"Then… what about you and me?"
Sakura smashed him with a punch so hard he yelped, then turned her face away.
Kakashi walked over, helpless. "Enough fooling around. Neji's got new info."
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