It was supposed to be a regular C-ranked mission. Team Gai had been sent to guard a warehouse full of junk, from a group of ninja thieves. Tenten had reservations about the importance of the mission, but it was not her duty to question the judgment of the higher-ups. Gai, and Neji were defending the outside, while Lee, and Tenten dealt with any that made it inside. Simple enough right?

Over a dozen enemy ninja had made it inside. Tenten kept them at bay with barrage after barrage of thrown weapons, while Lee rushed around the interior at nigh-inhuman speeds, taking out the intruders with bone-crushing taijutsu. Just when it seemed that all the ninja had been subdued, they all pulled out and tossed several explosive tags all over the building before disappearing in puffs of smoke.

Lee knew that they only had split-seconds to get out of the building. Furthermore he knew that even with his strength, and speed, he couldn't get both himself, and Tenten out in time. Spotting a nearby desk that did not have any tags placed near it he quickly grabbed Tenten and rushed under the piece of furniture just nanoseconds before the tags went off.

(Meanwhile outside the warehouse)

BOOM!!!

The force of the explosion knocked Neji, and Gai off their feet. Seconds later the majority of the warehouse collapsed. As the two team members who were lucky enough to be outside looked at the wreckage. They both had the same thing to say.

"LEE!!! TENTEN!!!"

(Meanwhile back inside)

"Ugh" Tenten groaned as she emerged from the remains of the desk. She was dirty, and scratched up, and carrying an unconscious Lee. It was clear from looking at him that Lee had taken the worst of the explosion, and collapse. Tenten tried to walk out, but after two steps she fell to her knees gasping for breath. When she looked at the ground she couldn't believe what she saw.

She saw a green lantern, that was illuminating the wreckage with a green flame. Tenten could do nothing but stare wide-eyed and in awe of the sight. Just when she thought it couldn't get any weirder. A booming voice rang out.

"Greetings mortal woman!" The voice rang out.

"Me?" Tenten managed to squeak out.

"Of course you, do you see any others that match my previous greeting. Anyway consider yourself lucky, for I flame for the third time for you, and you alone."

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Tenten asked.

"I have flamed twice before in the past. The first in rage to bring death. The second in remorse to bring life, and now in my desire to live again I flame a third time to bring POWER!!!"

"And you want to give that to me?" Tenten asked in a combination of curiosity, and apprehension.

"I have been around in one form or another on this world for centuries. I have been held in the hands of many, some good, some evil. I have brought good luck, and fortune to the good hearted, while to the evil though they might achieve great conquest in the end I brought about their destruction." The voice explained.

"Wow." Was all Tenten could say.

"And now I have a promise to make. I promise power over the dark evils of this world will be yours as long as you have faith in yourself. To lose your faith will result in the loss of your power, for willpower is the true flame of the lantern. To be able to manifest the power you must carve away part of me to make a ring. The ring will in turn need to be touched to me at least once every twenty-four Earth hours. I have told you all you need to know for now. Now I leave you to tend to your teammates. Farewell for now Tenten." With that the flame died down.

"Lee, Tenten! Are you alright!?" Gai shouted as he managed to break his way through the rubble at that moment.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Later that night)

Tenten had used a kunai to carve off a small piece of the Lantern, and was just finishing carving in into a ring-like shape that was in her size. It was in a simple, kinda crude design, but Tenten figured she could try to do some more detailed work on it later. When she slipped it on her finger it crackled, and glowed with a green energy for a few seconds before dying down. As Tenten lay on her futon to get some sleep, she couldn't help but think one thing.

"This Lantern, and ring is gonna cause me a lot of trouble."