Chapter 8: The truth (part 3)

"This has got to be the biggest joke of the century! Me? An Uchiha! Oh that's great. Give me a second and I'll just pop out one of my Sharingans and give you guys the nightmare of a lifetime!" Tenten was swaying her hands around for emphasis.

"It's true. He is your father." Griselda assured firmly.

"Right. Of course because me being an Uchiha is just so natural!" Tenten scoffed incredulously. "Just who is this Uchiha Madara exactly?"

"That's him right there." Yue pointed towards one of two giant statues located on each side of the huge waterfall.

Tenten looked at him intently. One of his hands formed a seal and the other was holding a sword. He had long and spiky hair and his face showed no mercy. Tenten tore her gaze away from the statue and back to the four.

"Ok. So that's porcupine looking shinobi is supposed to be my dad?" Tenten asked as she pointed at the statue.

All four nodded.

Seeing as none of them was making any move to tell her it was all a big joke, Tenten threw her arms up in defeat. "What else should I know?" Tenten crossed her arms nonchalantly. There was probably nothing else they could say that could shock her senseless as much as that did.

"Do you know of the attack of the 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox' on Konoha about 13 years ago?" Yue asked.

"Of course. Who wouldn't know about that? I was about a year old when that happened. Why do you ask?" Tenten raised a perfectly arched eye brow.

"The attack of the nine-tailed demon fox on the village of Konoha was intended." Griselda said in a standoffish manner.

"Elaborate." Tenten demanded. Her eye brows were now creased.

"People say that the attack of the nine-tailed demon fox on Konoha was merely a disaster, an act of God – some form of divine retribution. But we have our doubts." Lucas folded his arms on his chest once again.

"We believe, for sure, that it was summoned." Yue added.

"That can't be true. There's no way that someone could actually summon something like that!" Tenten argued. It was utterly impossible.

"No." Mifuyu shook her head in disagreement. "There was one person."

"Uchiha Madara." Lucas looked at Madara's statue with poorly veiled hatred.

"That's impossible!" Tenten whispered in disbelief. Her eyes fell on the statue as well.

"That's what most people say as well. After all, Uchiha Madara was one of the founding fathers of the Leaf Village. He couldn't have been alive 15 or 16 years ago." Griselda said.

"Wa-Wait a minute!" Tenten motioned for the four of them to stop. "One of the founding fathers? Couldn't have been alive 15 or 16 years ago?" Tenten's eyes were ready to pop out their sockets. "Then how the hell did he become my father?"

"We know it seems impossible. But it's the truth." Yue assured as he raised his hands up in the air in defeat.

"How on Earth was a man who lived decades ago capable of being my father?"

"To tell you honestly, we don't know. We never really met your father. Nadeshiko, your mother, just said that the name of her lover was 'Uchiha Madara'. We did some researches and background checks on him but we only found out very few facts about him. Most of his records were erased." Mifuyu replied, her face should uncertainty.

"So, then, that means there's really no proof that he is my father right?" Tenten gave them reprimanding looks for assuming something without proper evidence. "After all, if I really were an Uchiha, then my Sharingan would have appeared by now. I don't have one so he can't possibly be my father."

Tenten's raised an eye brow when she saw the four of them look at each other meaningfully. "What? Why are you guys looking at each other?"

"I know we should tell her during training but I think she needs to know now." Mifuyu told Lucas.

He nodded.

"Well, you see, our clan's blood limit appears the moment a child is born." Mifuyu began.

"Okay. So how come I can't bend?"

"The four of us gave you a seal." Yue answered directly.

"A seal?" Tenten blinked.

All four of them nodded.

"The 'Dragon Seal'." Lucas said.

"Dragon Seal?" Tenten asked.

Lucas nodded in affirmation. "Anyone given this seal will never be able to use their blood limits unless the seal is removed by the same people who formed it."

"So you're pretty lucky that we're all still alive." Yue stated smugly.

"The four of us performed it on you about a month after you were born." Mifuyu added. "The reason why we place that seal on you was because your powers were too strong. When you were just about two weeks old you were already able to control the elements subconsciously. You played with the milk in your bottle and made images with it. You even burned Yue's clothes when you sneezed. Just think of what people would do to you if they found out about you."

"Okay. So I guess that explains my inability to bend and my lack of a Sharingan." Tenten couldn't help but speak with sarcasm. "So then tell me, how did I end up in Konoha?"

"As Mifuyu has said, your powers were too strong and you kept on using them whenever you felt like it. Your display of your abilities was spotted by a shinobi from the hidden sound village." Griselda replied.

"We tried to stop him but he escaped." Yue added. "One night, we received a surprise attack. Five shinobis from the hidden sound attacked and tried to kidnap you. They said a guy named 'Orochimaru' ordered them to."

Tenten could only listen with her mouth agape in disbelief. Everything she was hearing crossed the boundaries of what was believable.

Mifuyu exhaled in exasperation at the memory. "The shinobis from the hidden sound village were tough. Luckily, we were able to trick them and escaped."

"Why would you guys run away if you had such amazing powers?" Tenten asked perplexed.

"That's the point. No one is allowed to know of our abilities. You know very well what could happen if they did. There was nothing we could do but run." Lucas answered.

Griselda nodded in agreement. "We ran for days. We managed to get quite far, but not for long. While they lagged behind a considerable distance, we located a cave and rested for a while. Then we all decided to give you the Dragon Seal. It was the only way that we could protect you from people who would want to use you to get stronger or the people who would want to kill you because of envy or fear."

"So when I was a month old I already had the dragon seal am I right?" Tenten clarified.

All four nodded.

"So how come I've never seen any seals on my body?"

"We hid it of course! You don't expect us to give you a seal that screams 'Hey! I'm a seal! Release me!'." Yue teased.

Tenten failed to suppress the blush that spread all the way to her ears. "Ok! Ok! I get it. Then what happened?"

"We continued our journey. It wasn't long before the five shinobis of the hidden sound caught up to us." Yue continued. "We had to get you somewhere safe. At that time, Konoha was our only choice. We realized the sound ninjas stopped following us after we crossed the fire country's boundaries."

"We had no choice but to leave you in Konoha. Your safety was all that mattered. We knew that those five would follow us wherever we went and that they would never stop until they found you. So we led them away from Konoha." Griselda justified.

"When the time was right, we took care of those five and made sure no information about the four of us would leak out." Lucas added.

Yue folded his arms on his chest. "We're not sure but their Lord might already know of our clan and our abilities. There's a possibility."

As if reading Tenten's mind, Lucas began to speak. "If you want to know why we didn't come back for you, it was because we were assured that you would have a peaceful life in Konoha. Being out in the open with us nomads would only increase your risk of the exposure. We also resolved to learn ninjutsu. If we didn't want anyone to know of our clan and its abilities, it was the only way to defend ourselves."

Tenten nodded in understanding. A long uncomfortable silence followed.

"Is there anything else you want to know about?" Mifuyu asked.

Tenten was still silent, speechless. She shook her head unable to think of any more questions.

"For the details of our abilities, you will learn them all once we've reached the Avatar temple." Lucas said.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. "Avatar temple?"

"It's an old temple that belonged to our clan. It's old, but we've been maintaining it for the past years. That's where your training will begin." Lucas paused as he glanced at the sky to check the time. "Our time of departure is here."

Tenten looked at the sky and saw that the darkness was slowly being consumed by the light. The sun was coming up soon. Dawn was breaking.

"Let's get ready to leave." Lucas commanded.

Tenten felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Are you ready?" Mifuyu asked ever so gently.

Tenten sighed exasperatedly. "More than I'll ever be."