Title: And Tenten Never Misses
Author: Lovesrainscent
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or these characters and do not stand to make any profit from posting this story.
Summary: Set shortly after Tsunade becomes Hokage. Tenten is sent on a solo mission at Tsunade's command. Very dark. References to child abuse and murder. Read at your own discretion.
And Tenten Never Misses
Kiba and Akamaru are the ones to find the body. On their way back from a routine mission shortly after crossing the border back into their native land Akamaru leaves Kiba's side.
Puzzled the Inuzuka follows his dog who has left the main trail through the forest and is whimpering, pawing gently at the ground. The earth there is disturbed and Kiba has a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling. Akamaru's mournful whimpers aren't helping as they both dig gently opening up the shallow grave.
The little girl can't have been more than about four years old.
Tears in his eyes and bile in his throat Kiba forces himself to memorize details he really shouldn't have to think about because he's just a kid, too, after all. Twelve years going on thirteen. But those details are going to be important in the investigation as it's clearly a crime scene. He hesitates because he's disturbing evidence but decides the hell with it, he's not just going to leave her there.
Akamaru growls low in his throat and Kiba understands, he can smell it, too - the scent of the one who did this. Faint in his nostrils he can only imagine the stench his companion must be able to detect. And Akamaru won't forget.
Kiba lifts the little body, wraps it in his jacket and they head back to Konoha double-time.
Tenten isn't sure why she's been summoned here. There's a strange hush around the village now. Whispers of things but how much of it is true and how much is innuendo and how much is wild speculation she doesn't know.
"Lady Tsunade? You asked to see me?" She hopes she doesn't sound as star-struck as she feels at the moment. Why has the Hokage sent for her and only her? Why not her teammates? Why isn't sensei here with her?
Tenten's idol, the most powerful kunoichi in the world, looks up from her desk. Her eyes are brittle and she doesn't smile. "Tenten? Gai told me about you. Come with me."
They walk through emptied halls. Tenten finds this strange. She doesn't have much call to be in the Hokage tower but still she had always seen it bustling with people. It's almost as if Tsunade's ordered the way cleared. She looks at the older woman's eyes then quickly looks away. Then again, maybe everyone has just fled.
Empty halls lead to a nearly emptied street. They cross quickly to the hospital, again where the halls are quieter than Tenten can ever remember.
The door opens into a chilly room and she realizes this must be the morgue. Shizune is there looking grim. She lifts the sheet and Tenten gasps, she's seen bodies before but this one is so...small.
Voices drone and she realizes that Shizune and Tsunade are commenting about the results of the autopsy. Only a few things register in her mind.
One is that they've identified the girl, she's an orphan from Konoha who had been reported missing a few days ago.
The second is the dirt they found in her mouth, in her nose; the last few breaths she'd struggled to take had been in the small grave where she'd been left for dead.
The rest of the facts blur in Tenten's mind, none of it really matters. Tsunade's voice is sharp, rousing her from the fuzz that her brain wants to swaddle her in. "Come with me."
The three kunoichi walk briskly to a second room with a second body in the morgue and this time there's no luxury of fuzziness in her brain, in her mind. Tsunade's voice is sharp as a kunai and her meaning is crystal clear, "Pay attention."
Pay attention to the body in front of you. Pay attention to what I'm telling you. Pay attention to chakra points and nerve bundles and major arteries and organs. Pay attention to what you must hit and what you must miss. Pay attention to what I'm telling you. Tenten pay attention.
Tsunade is Hokage now. And no one is ever going to commit a crime like this in her village again.
Tenten pay attention.
Hai.
Kiba doesn't like his role in this mission but he's a shinobi and he accepts. He and Akamaru have scented the killer and they track him with Tenten along in tow. They're close now and Kiba chafes and Akamaru whimpers. They do not like this mission but it is their assignment. They leave Tenten there. Kiba's orders are to meet up with her in this same spot in three days.
Tenten's perched in the trees like some beautiful exotic bird. She sees her target below and deliberately crackles a branch with one toe. The man looks up and a single senbon nicks at the corner of his left eye.
He's seen her though, seen her hitae-ate. Recognizes her as a leaf kunoichi.
"Kunoichi whore!" he spits out.
The irritant that the needle was tipped with begins to work. His eyelid swells almost shut. His vision is blurred and he stumbles through the ground cover ahead of her muttering about bitches and kunoichi whores.
Tenten follows at a distance, occasionally releasing a senbon. Some are tipped with chemicals that immobilize muscles, constrict blood flow. Others are clean, simply going straight to their target like the one that punctures one eardrum, leaving him off balance, unable to sense her direction reliably.
Evening brings the first day of her mission to a close. Tenten rests high in the trees above her quarry. She can sleep. The poison that's temporarily paralyzed the muscles in his legs won't wear off for a solid eight hours. Plenty of time for her to get a good night's rest.
The morning breaks with a volley of senbon, all clean, simply designed to pierce and irritate, like a swarm of mosquitoes. The target is up and cursing, another senbon to the corner of the eye keeps that one swollen and weeping. Loss of binocular vision makes depth perception difficult. He stumbles more trying to elude her today than he did yesterday.
Afternoon brings the use of shuriken, each placement designed to cut and graze superficially, each depth calculated precisely so that it doesn't damage muscle or connective tissue beneath the skin. The cuts are larger though and bleed more. The blood attracts insects, among other things. The insects she can allow, as it simply irritates the target. But competitors for her prey must be eliminated so she spends a few kunai to take out hungry giant snakes and boars.
Tenten does not allow herself to sleep this second night. Oh, she's safe enough from her target, she just needs to be sure to keep him alive until she completes her mission. During the long night thoughts cross her mind.
Tsunade hadn't asked her to go on this mission, she had just... given it to her.
Tsunade hadn't asked her if she thought she could do it, she had known she was capable of performing it.
The man moans below and a small part of her, the part of her that's still a fourteen year old girl wonders if she should do something, if she should at least ... end it. But the larger part of her that is poised on the brink of becoming a perfect weapon called a shinobi knows that a coup de grace was specifically excluded from the mission specs.
And Tenten realizes that Tsunade has given her the greatest gift imaginable. Absolution. She can do this because it's what she's been trained to do and what she's been ordered to do. She imagines that this is what it must feel like to be the arrow released from the bow. And Tenten glories in the fact that she is now a perfect weapon called a shinobi.
The next day dawns and she begins to herd her quarry toward the pickup point. She really doesn't want to have to lug the body any farther than necessary, it's better if he dies at the edge of the forest. They're almost there and Tenten can see a faint outline that must be Kiba up ahead. The target stumbles and collapses to the ground. Kiba does step forward then, Akamaru at his side, to see if she needs any help.
Tenten jumps down from trees and lands gracefully by the body. Checking the pulse, feeling it thin and thready, she takes out a kunai and slits the man's throat.
Kiba starts to say something, then realizes there really isn't anything to say. They each grab an arm and drape it over one shoulder and haul the body back to Konoha between them.
Gai waits nervously outside his Hokage's office. He's heard the rumors and seen the body for himself. The dried blood around the cuts and the varying shades of the bruises on the flesh testify to the fact that the man took days to die. The injuries occurred over a number of days.
Gai is mortified. He is...ashamed...of his Tenten, of his lovely, precious student. How could she fail in this manner? How could she miss her mark so many, many times?
He realizes that it is his shame to bear. If he had been a better teacher, a better sensei to her...
Finally, Tsunade calls for him. "You wanted to see me, Gai?" she asks, as she bids him enter her office, resuming her seat at her desk, turning her attention to the few remaining reports she must review and sign for the night.
Closing the door behind him, Gai prostrates himself in front of her. "Lady Tsunade, I beg you do not punish Tenten. The fault is mine, it lies in my training of her. I will redouble my efforts with her. I will devote myself entirely to..."
"What are you saying, Gai?" Tsunade asks, barely raising her head from the papers in front of her to look at him.
"My lady, I can hardly bring myself to say it, but I saw the body. I know how displeased you must be with her but I beg you..."
"Why would I be displeased with Tenten?" Tsunade asks plainly.
"Lady, I saw the injuries. I know how long it took her to complete this assignment. I saw how many times she must have missed before..."
"Missed?" Seconds tick by on the clock as Tsunade looks at him before continuing. "Gai, Tenten never missed. You said so yourself when you first described your team to me - 'and Tenten never misses.' That's why I chose her."
The silence of the summer evening is punctuated only by the cicadas outside her window and the gentle scratch of Tsunade's pen across paper as she signs the final reports. Gai-sensei is very still as he kneels in front of his Hokage, hands on his thighs. He is feeling an overwhelming sense of pride at the moment but also a profound sadness. His beautiful...his precious Tenten...in the springtime of her youth...is now a perfect weapon called a shinobi.
"Hai, Lady Hokage," he murmurs as he rises to his feet.
As he reaches the door, with his back to her, he hears Tsunade's soft command. "Be sure it gets around, Gai, Tenten never misses."
Hai.