Chapter Nine: Dreams

Two weeks had passed since they left the Leaf Village.

Tenten, Neji, and Lee had trained consistently and faced Itachi several times. Each time, he utilized a different set of skills against them. Each time they utilized what he taught them, and each time some new power appeared. It rained and poured, and they walked by many paths, coming into more traveled areas.

Master Panda wrote to them, then informing Tenten of improving markets. Supplies were being subtly bought up all over the world. Someone, somewhere along the line, had begun amassing weaponry. And the others had replied.

Which meant a war might happen.

Either way, Tenten just hoped it didn't start while she, Neji, and Lee were still genin. She'd like to get some real experience before she started fighting for real.

Their path led them to a town.

"Ah, at last, we have arrived in another town. I am glad to once again set foot in civilization," said Lee.

"And best of all, this is a place large enough to have a bank," said Tenten. She noticed the numerous non-essential services. "That means there will be some actual businesses."

"Why does that follow?" asked Lee.

"Starting a business is hard, Lee," said Tenten. "You have to save for a long time to get everything you need.

"But, if you have a bank in town, you can get a loan to buy what you need right away. Then you sell your product, pay back the loan and have enough to keep doing business. Banks serve a very important function.

"Without it, we'd be back in the Warring States period."

"You exaggerate, surely," said Lee.

"Nope," said Tenten. "In fact, all the Hidden Villages have their own sets of banks, if you can believe it."

"I do not see why," mused Rock Lee.

"It's a symbiotic relationship, of course," said Tenten. She glanced to Neji, who had been very quiet. "See, the banks give loans to the Hidden Village so when they need to buy a shipment of equipment of whatever they can. Then the Hidden Villages promise them protection in exchange for protection."

"Protection from what?" asked Lee.

"Gangs of thugs, bandits, other ninjas, that kind of thing," said Tenten. "Actually, it's a real win. See, if a bank in a town is protected, that means that the entire town is protected."

"Well, how did we finance our wars before banks?" asked Lee.

"Well, in the old day's ninja clans were mostly just mercenaries," said Tenten. "They took jobs and lived by the margins. When Madara and Hashirama built the Village Hidden in the Leaves, they called in a lot of favors. Mostly from people they helped out. And all the other clans who were joining with them also called in favors.

"That got us started.

"But once we had a big village, our costs rose, and we had to take loans more often. Pretty soon, moneylenders couldn't keep up on their own. So the first banks were set up. And once the Land of Fire was setting up the system, everyone else was as well."

Tenten stopped.

Suddenly she saw a child, about eight years old, looking up at them with puppy dog eyes. She was clad in rags. "Please, Ms. Can I have some money? I don't have a home."

"Of course you can-" began Lee.

Tenten caught his hand. "What are you doing, Lee? Why are you giving that girl money?"

"Because she is poor and in need of it," said Lee.

"We are in need of it too," said Tenten. "Why should she be given something she's done nothing to earn?"

"Why should she have to earn the ability to eat?" asked Lee.

"I don't know," said Tenten. "Why should we have to earn the right to be a ninja? Why don't they just hand us kunai and tell us to fight S rank Shinobi?"

"That's different," said Lee.

"It's the same," said Tenten. "If you give someone something they've done nothing to earn, they won't appreciate it."

"And what if it were you in her situation?" asked Lee.

"I was in that situation when I was eight!" said Tenten. "I didn't steal. I didn't go and beg someone to give me money. I found a way I could use my talents to earn my keep. And then I did the absolute best work I could. Because of that, I managed to put myself through the ninja academy.

"Nobody went out of their way to help me; nobody rolled out the red carpet. And I feel proud of the fact.

"What if you give her that money? She'll spend it in a few days then go looking for more.

"Is this truly a life to aspire to, Lee? Trying to make yourself out to be as much of a put upon woobie as possible for money. Living a life where all you do is feed the self-satisfaction of people you hate. Then eventually grow old enough that your puppy dog eyes are no longer effective. Then you get forced into prostitution or more violent forms of thievery." She'd done some research.

Neji stepped forward and handed the girl some money. "Ignore them.

"Take the money and don't ever both us again."

"Thank you, Mister!" said the girl before running off.

"Neji! Why are you encouraging the parasites!" said Tenten.

"Because it became more convenient than listening to your philosophizing. I wanted her to go away, so I gave her the money," said Neji.

"So you're just gonna let her extort us?" asked Tenten.

"I do not understand how you can hold such uncharitable views, Tenten," said Lee. "You were always very kind to everyone in the Leaf."

"I don't have a problem with kindness, Lee. I have a problem with altruism," said Tenten.

"Are those not words for the same thing?" asked Neji.

"No, they aren't," said Tenten. "Kindness is being nice to somebody and helping them out because it's the right thing to do, even when it's hard. Altruism is pretending to be nice to someone when it's convenient for you, so you can feel like a good person.

"If somebody has really worked hard to get where they are and has a run of bad luck, sure I'll help them out. But if someone has dedicated their life to sponging off others? Because they don't have the discipline to do honest work? I'll cut them loose in an instant." Then she looked up and saw Lady Tsunade. The blonde woman had much the same outfit and appearance she had before and was looking around. "Hey, look, it's Lady Tsunade!"

Quickly, Tenten raced up to her, calling. "Lady Tsunade, Lady Tsunade!"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" asked Tsunade.

"Um, well, we met when you were walking through the woods," said Tenten, feeling rather crushed. "I showed you the way through the forest to the town."

"Oh, I see. I remember that," said Tsunade. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, you sort of inspired me to set out on my own journey. I managed to put myself through the ninja academy with my own finances," said Tenten. She was feeling very proud. "Now I've been assigned to a team under Itachi Uchiha. We're sort of in the middle of a bell test.

"Also, I think we may have accidentally stopped a civil war."

"Bell test?" asked Tsunade, looking around. "You're a very long from the Leaf for that."

"Itachi-sensei sort of extended the timescale for a full year. Then he disappeared," said Tenten. "So we're tracking him, using a genjutsu he put on us. And every so often, we find him, and he teaches us a new skill after we try to get the bells from him.

"It's uh... painful, but rewarding."

"I see," said Tsunade. "Well, the Uchiha Clan always did tend to be eccentric. Good luck with that; you'll need it."

Uchiha Clan, what did they have to do with this? They were talking about Tenten, not Itachi. Either way, Tsunade moved off, and Tenten felt just a little bit annoyed. "...I was kind of hoping for a little more interest."

"Wouldn't that be altruism?" asked Neji.

"Congratulating someone on beating impossible odds isn't altruism; it's common courtesy," said Tenten. "Especially if they helped you out earlier and were specifically inspired by you."

But Lady Tsunade was gone.

Tenten was now feeling in a bit of a bad mood. But Neji utilized his Byakugan. "Hmm."

"What is it?" asked Tenten.

"Lady Tsunade just transformed into a completely different blonde," said Neji. "And she is now going into one of the banks."

"Hang on, where is Shizune, anyway?" asked Tenten. "She was with Lady Tsunade before."

"I do not think that is any of our business, Tenten," said Rock Lee. "Tsunade likely has some other mission ahead of her.

"We should head out."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's get something to eat," said Tenten.

They stared.

"You want to eat at a restaurant?" asked Neji.

"Why not?" asked Tenten. "We got a ton of money. Might as well spend some of it and put it into the economy. Actually, I say we use this cash to get some new clothes and stuff.

"What?"

"You have usually been the most frugal out of all of us, Tenten," said Rock Lee. "Now you are in favor of a spending spree?"

"I've never had this much money," admitted Tenten. "We earned it, so why not get a bit of use out of it?"

"It seems reasonable," said Neji. "My shoes have become worn down, so another pair could be helpful."

"Very well," said Rock Lee. "Then let us eat."

Tenten found a nice place. Not a ramen place; obviously, she was not going to be like Naruto. Instead, they got rice bowls and ate together while speaking. Even so, they didn't really have much to talk about. They'd been so focused on journeying after Itachi they hadn't had a break.

"So..." said Tenten, wondering what normal people talked about. "If we actually make it to genin, what are you going to do next?"

"Hmm, what do you mean?" asked Rock Lee. "I will continue my training and become greater."

"Well, yes, but don't you guys have a dream you want to achieve?" asked Tenten. "Something you want to work for?"

"I suppose, I would like to become as strong as Guy-sensei, perhaps even stronger," said Rock Lee. "I would like it if I were known far and wide as a great ninja who achieved his goals with no special advantage."

"What about you, Neji?" asked Tenten, interested to know what he wanted. "What do you want out of life?"

"Nothing attainable. And nothing you would want to hear," said Neji.

"Oh come now, Neji, you must have some desires," said Rock Lee. "What is it you want people to remember you for?"

Neji paused, looked between them, and sighed. "...To crush the Cloud Village, to kill the Raikage with my own hands, and to wipe out the Main Clan. When everything they love lies in flaming ruins, then I will have achieved my dream."

Silence.

"...Any dreams that involve you getting something that actually benefits you?" asked Tenten.

"I have fantasized about making off with the Cloud Village's most beautiful women. To keep as slaves, obviously," said Neji.

"Well, that's... dark," said Tenten.

"Are you sure you do not want something less destructive?" asked Rock Lee.

"I have no options for advancement, Lee," said Neji. "The Caged Bird Seal on my head means that the Main Clan will always have a hold over me as long as I live. They legally own me and can do what they wish with me. Even if I were to somehow break the seal, they would be well within their rights to put it back on me.

"And because they have that hold, I will never be trusted in any other organization. At the same time, I will never be given any position of authority in the Main Clan without crawling to Hiashi.

"And that, I will never do.

"As a member of the Branch Clan, my entire existence is to live and die for the Main Clan. My dreams are irrelevant and unattainable by default."

"Would you like a second order of rice bowls, miss?" asked a waiter.

"YES!" said Tenten. "Yes, I would!"

The rest of lunch was awkward, to say the least.

The worst part was that Tenten actually saw Neji's point. The brand on his forehead meant he could never be anything the Main Branch did not want him to be. If he started to beat the system and get his dreams despite their restrictions, they'd kill him off. Just like they did to his father. And no one in the Leaf would call it wrong.

So Neji basically had to forsake himself completely. To give up on all personal ambitions and desires that didn't help the Main Clan. And as long as he had that brand on his head, any and all dreams were a nonstarter. So the only thing he could dream about was brutal, dark fantasies of revenge. He dreamed of burning everything down so he could start over and have a real future.

Wiping out the Main Clan actually seemed like the ideal solution. If Neji were to murder them all, he could then torch their compound. That would probably destroy any techniques for using the Caged Bird Seal. Which would be as good as breaking it.

Tenten filed that particular plan away as a last resort as they paid their bill and left. Neji didn't really want revenge. If he did, he wouldn't have been so reluctant to say what he wanted. He really wanted to be able to control his own destiny. But the only way to achieve that he could find was killing everyone holding him back.

"...I do not understand why the Hyuga have never altered such a system, Neji," said Rock Lee.

"The Main Clan benefits from the system," said Neji. "And as long as the Hyuga are one of the richest families in the Land of Fire. They don't have to change. They were royalty before they became a Clan of the Leaf, and they possess all their old holdings."

"Are they involved in banking at all?" asked Tenten. In a hypothetical scenario where the Hyuga were wiped out, how would it affect the economy?

"Why do you ask?" asked Neji.

"Just curious," said Tenten. Maybe they could steal the Hyuga's stuff, pawn it off, and invest the rest into the banks.

"Well, Hiashi often takes loans from the banks," said Neji. "And Hyuga are a prized tool for tracking down those who default on their debts."

"But what does Hiashi use the money for?" asked Tenten.

"Conspicuous consumption is one of the purposes of the nobility," said Neji. "In addition, it keeps members of the Branch Clan busy."

Tenten nodded and decided that she was going to get Neji and Lee what they wanted, one way or another. "...Huh, I think there might be an opportunity here. I'll have to think about it for a bit."

Shopping took a while.

They got new books of a much more durable kind that would last. Some equipment was replaced, and they also changed clothes. And at last, they made their way past the bank, following the genjutsu.

"We spent a great deal of money," said Lee.

"Well, yeah. If you buy really durable stuff, then you save money in the long run," said Tenten. "You get more value from better materials, so you don't have to keep replacing them. So while everyone else buys ten cheap pairs of boots, you buy one. And those ten together cost more than the one.

"Still uh... we haven't even scratched the surface on the money we've spent here."

"Why is that a problem?" asked Neji.

"Well, I mean, all this money could be used for something," said Tenten. "But we're just keeping in a Fuijutsu scroll and hoarding it. There has to be something we can-"

"Tenten, have you ever seen a bank run before?" asked Neji, suddenly.

"No," said Tenten. "Why would there be a bank run going on? Master Panda has been selling weapons like crazy to multiple villages. If people are buying weapons, that means they're buying a lot of other things you need for war.

"So the economy should be doing pretty well.

"War is good for business, after all."

"But surely wars also devastate entire nations and ruin business," said Rock Lee.

"Well yeah, peace is good for business too," said Tenten.

"That seems a contradiction," said Neji.

"It's all about supply and demand, Neji," said Tenten. "If you have peace for too long, there is no demand, and there is a lot of supply. So the supply becomes less valuable, and new businesses can't be started. With an increasing population, you get a huge surplus of people with no options. That means it's a buyers market on labor. So the elites can take ordinary people for granted and make them fight for table scraps.

"When wars break out, they destroy the supply and increase the demand. The population falls. At the same time, the government needs the common people more. So they have more bargaining power. They can demand better treatment and the Feudal Lords have to give it to them or fear rebellion."

"But then how could one create peace?" asked Lee.

Tenten stared at Lee. What world did he live in? "We don't want peace, Lee. If world peace ever happened, the Ninja Villages would be out of a job. Why do you think we went into the Land of the Rain?"

"To restore peace," said Rock Lee. "Wars were breaking out, and the Land of the Rain invited-"

"No, for money," said Tenten. "To force the various clans in the Land of the Rain to fight one another. Once everyone was killing everyone else, they had to hire us. We did the same thing in a bunch of different places. The Land of the Rain just had the bad luck of being stuck between several nations. So a whole bunch of Ninja Villages were using it as a battleground.

"Then they wrote up the academy books to pretend like we were peacekeeping. If you actually read some of the books in the library, the Leaf does not screw around."

"But the Hokage would never do something so... so monstrous," said Rock Lee.

"It sounds monstrous, I guess," said Tenten. "But then you have to consider what would happen to all the ninja in the Leaf if the only jobs available were D ranks. And to the people who supply their weapons and clothes and food. And also to the people who sell people like Ino luxury items.

"And once all those businesses fail, everyone who supplies those businesses does too. And the same thing would happen in every single Hidden Village we're allied with. And also with the other Great Nations.

"So, it was either start a war somewhere or let our entire way of life die a slow death before starving in a wasteland.

"So, sucks to be the Land of Rain, I guess. Their loss is our gain."

"And you don't have a problem with this?" asked Neji.

Tenten blinked in surprise. Why were they asking her that question? "No.

"Why would I?"

Awkward silence.

"Out of curiosity, why did you ask about the bank run?" asked Tenten.

Neji pointed. "Well, that looks like one."

Tenten looked up and saw that the entire bank had people crowded outside it. A steel fence had been set up, and people were banging on it.

"...Oh damn," said Tenten. "Come on, let's see what is going on."

This was not looking good.