Hi all :)
Thank you so much for the reviews people, made my week :)
Okay so the first chapter was basically me just testing the waters a bit and I'm glad people seem to be enjoying it.
Also 'Scottish Dwarf' hahaha actually loled :)
soooo... on with the story:)
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The small family were seated round the low table in the warm kitchen. The youngest member was looking between her mother and father, waiting to be told, finally, the story of their past.
"Tenten you wont like what I'm about to tell you but I realise you have to know now, before..." Tentens father, Hitoshi trailed off, leaving the "it's too late," hanging in the air.
The youngest member of the family knew what the unsaid words meant but chose to ignore them,
"I don't care daddy, please tell me," Hitoshi smiled at his daughter who always seemed older than her years and was glad of the fact. It would make what was happening now that tiny bit easier.
"Well you already know that we were going to be sent on a dangerous mission at some point but we didn't tell you why,
It all started twenty years ago when me and your mother were newly wedded and still working for ANBU," Tentens eyes widened in shock, although she knew her parents were in ANBU a while ago she didn't realise this mission had anything to do with it. Her original fear for her parents lives came flooding back tenfold. If it was an ANBU mission it was bound to be more dangerous than she thought.
Hitoshi waited until Tenten processed this information, knowing that she was smart enough to realise just how serious this was.
"We had only just arrived back from a mission in Suna when we received an urgent summons from the Hokage. We left immediately, thinking it was strange seeing as we had just returned and had already turned in our mission report,
When we entered the Hokages office we knew something was wrong straight away..."
Flashback-
"Ah, Hitoshi, Amaya, come on in and have a seat," the Sandaime Hokage said, peering at the couple over the top of the mountain of paperwork on his desk.
The newly wedded couple stared at the leader of their village for a few seconds trying to place what was different. Amaya noticed after examining his features, the most important being his eyes. They were downcast and filled with something close to panic.
Not that most people could have realised that was the hidden emotion behind the great leaders eyes, Hitoshi and herself were just more perceptive when it came to understanding other peoples emotions, strangely enough it was with other shinobi, namely enemy shinobi where this talent came in handy. Being able to do this was why they were such an irreplaceable team in ANBU. Shinobi are trained to hide their emotions, and, if an enemy is able to pick up even the slightest amount of trepidation behind the closed off look of the enemy's features, it increased the odds of survival more than an intimidating show of strength would.
It worried the couple that the strongest shinobi in the village was fearful of whatever he was about to tell them.
"There have been reports from ANBU scouts of suspicious going ons in Iwa. They realised that there were people spending an amount of time together who really normally wouldn't have a reason to.
ANBU and Med nins, jonins and the village elders. Our scouts didn't find this overly odd at first but it soon seemed that they were meeting a lot more often than was obvious, they were good at covering their tracks, and it was never in public. ANBU had to track them to remote parts of the village where the only buildings were abandoned warehouses and unused training fields," he paused here to let the pair across across from him take in all he had said.
They were very confused, not seeing what this had to do with them. It did all sound odd but they couldn't see where it was leading. Hitoshi nodded to the Hokage to continue.
"The last time ANBU tracked them saw three men enter the smallest, most nondescript warehouse. They heard someone scream and signalled to the Hyuga with them. He activated his Byakugan and was shocked by what he saw," the Sarutobi stopped to make sure the couple were following., Obviously they were as Hitoshi spoke up,
"Yes? What did they see Hokage-sama?"
The Sandaime sighed and looked them both in the eye,
"Nothing," Amaya frowned in bewilderment and looked to her husband, noting that he looked as lost as she did. The Hokage continued,
"What I mean by nothing is that there was no one there who could have screamed, just the three men they saw enter sitting round a table playing cards."
Hitoshi sat up straighter in his chair trying to figure out what was so wrong that it had gotten the Hokage so worried.
"That isnt all," the Hokage said, "the ANBU scouts retired for the night but in the early hours of this morning three of the four scouts were assassinated. The Hyuga escaped knowing he had to get this information to me. I got it this around the same time the Hyugas name and ANBU registration number disappeared from the board.
The last piece of information in the letter was a name -Matashi Hiro. I don't know what relevance he is to all this but it would do to remember the name well."
The office was silent as this news sank in. Hitoshi and Amaya, although saddened by the news of the deaths of four Leaf shinobi were, extremely confused. Obviously their mission was more important than they first thought.
The Hokages eyes were sad as he looked to the young couple in front of him, knowing he was about to shatter the life they were striving to build for themselves.
"I'm afraid to say there is no way you can turn down this mission, you are the only people who I know would be able to pull this off."
Amaya, knowing that they wouldn't dream of turning a mission down anyway, felt a prickle of fear hearing it being ordered that they couldn't turn it down. She pushed the fear aside and looked to the Hokage confidently,
"Hokage-sama, we will accept any mission you choose to give us and we will complete it to the best of our abilities." she stated, her husband nodding beside her.
The Hokage wore a slight smile hearing the young womans words but turned serious once more.
"Your mission is to find out what is going on in Iwa. It has to be something. We cant pass off the scream the ANBU heard as them hearing things. There was an Inuzuka with them. Aside from that is the fact the people are meeting at all and so far from civilisation.
This is possibly the most dangerous mission you will ever do," seeing their raised eyebrows he told them the thing he had been putting off as long as he could.
"I need you to become Iwa shinobi. As soon as you leave this office you will no longer be Leaf shinobi, as soon as you leave through the village gates you will sever ties with Konoha completely."
Hitoshi was angry.
"Why? Why must we? Surely we can do this as Konoha shinobi and just infiltrate the village?" he questioned.
"Because, Hitoshi-san, we have already done that, and now those shinobi are dead. We need you to gain the leaders of Iwas trust enough for them to allow you to become part of their village and eventually make you a part of their shinobi force. This will give you free rein of the village and so be able to investigate without raising too much suspicion.
You will go to the village as nomad shinobi, tired of travelling and get them to allow you entrance to the village. Hopefully, if you keeps your heads down and stay out of the spotlight, the rest of the plan should follow through smoothly. Your main objectives are to get closer to this man Hiro and start scouting the warehouses, especially the smallest one. Find out as much as you can but don't send word, if they find out you are communicating with the Leaf you will be killed. You have as long as it takes to get as such information as possible. If they start to get overly suspicious you must leave immediately."
Amaya, tears gathering in her eyes, asked,
"When do we leave?"
"You must leave tonight. It will take you around four days to arrive," he looked at them both sympathetically,
"I'm sorry, but with your skills of perception and scouting not mention your mastery of weapons and traps there is no one else I would trust enough to do this.
When you leave the village you will leave your surname behind also. Nomads have no need of one."
Hitoshi and Amaya stood and bowed to their leader,
"We will complete this mission no matter what Hokage-sama. Goodbye."
End Flashback.
Tentens eyes were wide as her parents finished their story.
"So... that's why I don't have a last name?" she asked them.
Despite the seriousness of what they had just told her they had to laugh. Only a child could ask something like that after hearing everything that had just been said.
"Yes darling, that's why," Hitoshi smiled.
Tenten looked thoughtful for a moment,
"So why are you back in the village? Did you complete the mission?" she asked hopefully, not understanding that if they had completed it they wouldn't be leaving again.
"No sweetheart. We were given a mission from the leader of Iwa to come to Konoha," Hitoshi sighed knowing that Tenten was probably extremely lost .
"The mission we were given was to infiltrate the leaf village and assassinate the Uchiha clan." Tenten frowned, horrified,
"So it was you! You told me you didn't know how they died!"
She knew the Uchiha clan had died the year before but her parents had told her they didn't know how, they thought she was too young to be told something so terrible.
"No, Ten, we didn't, we told you we don't know what happened,
We did tell the leaders of Iwa it was us, we sent word when we found out what happened and told them we were going into hiding. Of course we stayed here but officially we are still Iwa shinobi.
The Hokage is sending us back to finish our mission now you are old enough to understand. You will be staying here with an old friend of ours. Maito Gai.
We dont know when we'll be back but we promise to return to you."
Tenten was still confused about something.
"So where was I born?" she asked.
"You were born here Ten. You were born the year we came back. We stayed in Iwa for two years and we've been back in the leaf for five," Hitoshi told his young daughter.
They all started when a loud knocking erupted on the front door. Amaya answered it to see Maito Gai and an ANBU operative standing on the step.
"Amaya-san, it is time," the unknown ANBU told her.
With tears in her eyes she turned to her husband and daughter. Hitoshi stood and placed their belongings by the door. They both knelt beside their child.
"Tenten, we want you to know we love you with all our hearts and we will be back. We don't know how long we will be gone but we will see each other again." Hitoshi said in a choked voice hugging Tenten to his chest.
Amaya, tears running down her pale cheeks simply said,
"I love you sweetheart."
Tenten wiped a tear from her mothers cheek and said quietly,
"Shinobi must not show emotion mummy."
After that she was silent., She couldn't speak. It felt like something was stuck in her throat preventing her from saying words she longed to say. She waved to her parents as they left the house for who knew how long.
When the door clicked shut she looked to the man who was stood next to the kitchen table. Suddenly he smiled, his teeth so white they were almost blinding.
"Hello Tenten my name is Gai and I'm Konohas Handsome Green Devil."
Tentens broken heart sank.