Deeper
abyssus abyssum invocat
Their little truce-deception grew deeper and more entangling as the days sped by. Tenten had several times discovered packages of kunai on her doorstoop – nothing unusual for her, weapons-master that she was, she who supplied a significant portion of the local blacksmith's income. However, these were not from the local blacksmith, though someone had gone to a little trouble so that the packages looked that they were.
She liked receiving these packages. The kunai inside were of excellent quality - sharp-edged, strong and well-balanced - their handles already wrapped in linen for that gripping quality she liked. The steel had that dark-blue sheen that meant it had been very well-tempered, with the strong scent of new-forged metal.
And some of these beautiful kunai were hollowed, and inside those hollows were thin slips of paper, with short messages inscribed in a terse, neat hand.
Tenten never revealed these messages to Konoha. They were, in any case, small matters: where a team of Sound jounin would be, who was hiring some chuunin and why, the abilities of the ninja she could expect to run into in her missions. Nothing to topple Sound; nothing that Konoha's survival hinged on, really. And how would she explain where these came from?
Small matters, yes; but useful. Very useful. With that information at hand, Tenten began racking up a very impressive record of completed missions. She was developing a reputation for incredible luck, never running into Sound-nin – who could always be counted upon to harass, if not kill, Konoha-nin – or spying them out before they saw her, and being able to ambush or avoid them. Soon Sound Village was beginning to list her on a list of Konoha-nin with whom an encounter should be carefully considered for survivability.
And there were those said it wasn't luck, it was a well-developed set of senses and instincts, a skill at reading the situation, an undeniable flair for trap-setting and ambuscades - it was the quality of a great kunoichi...
Either way, her name was always near the top of the list when a mission profile was being constructed.
And if, on those missions, she sometimes dropped kunai, lovely blue-steel kunai, no one noticed. A weapons-mistress could be assumed to use up weaponry at a fast rate.
And no one minded when the hotshot new ANBU with the incredible mission success-rate was always hanging around ANBU headquarters, and no one on the periodic 'Search for the Uchiha' missions ever bothered to guard their tongues around her.
And when sightings of the Uchiha began to drop in frequency – when it began to seem as if he knew where the teams would be, appearing just a little out of their search radius like a taunt – that only meant the kid was becoming better at dodging them, or was sticking closer to Orochimaru's base, or he had developed a new invisibility jutsu.
It did not mean – it could never have meant – that someone was helping him.
"This be unwise," Tenten said to the air, gazing pointedly at nothing.
"Truth or not, this be, at the least, safe," a smooth, dark voice replied from out of the shadows. "Thy companions know nothing; and thou hast, like a wolf among the milgha deer, run them until they sleep as do the dead. They shalt not wake."
"This wast done not for THY sake, mind. I...was of a mind to simply enjoy a night's silence."
"Of a certainty, o lady from the north."
"As long as ye remember, o sheepherder."
Though Tenten was looking at the stars, and carefully not scanning the area for the voice, she knew they were smirking at each other.
TBC
Next chapter: Sasuke is nervous. Tenten is irritable. Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.
