Chapter 3
"Where are the Treasured Tools?" asked Sasuke as he entered the shop, not even waiting to sit down. He darted around and stopped at the items on a glass shelf with the sign 'Not for Sales'. "Are these the ones? Take them out."
Tenten could not believe the nerve of this Sasuke. She knew he was a prick, she knew he did not care much about manner, but she could not stand it when someone ordered her around like that. Even Guy-sensei never talked to her that way and he was rightfully her superior.
"These are not for anyone to touch, you know," said Tenten with arms on her hips obstinately.
"This is not the time to be boasting about your precious possession," said Sasuke. "I need to test their use."
"Like I said, normal people can die using these tools from chakra exhaustion," Tenten could feel her house-sized ego starting to surface and refusing to let him intimidate her. Sasuke had been living through his life with girls fawning over him and other people licking his boots at his whim, so he must have thought he could do the same to her.
"Tenten, Sasuke is not any normal ninja. Just let him see them," Naruto started to sense a tension that could go out of hand soon.
"If not, I can just break the shelf," said Sasuke coldly.
Now it was Lee's turn to step in, "Sasuke-kun! That's not a nice way to…"
"Go ahead. They're not even the real things," said Tenten with a challenging tone. "You think I'd be so dumb to put such valuable weapons on display like that?"
Sasuke turned around this time, glaring at the weapon kunoichi with his uncovered eye. It had been a long time since someone talked to him that way, or more accurately, someone who was not of his power level.
"What? Are you going to beat me up to get the Treasured Tools out of me now?" said Tenten upon seeing the angry stare.
"What is your problem? Why are you making this difficult?" said Sasuke with a slightly raised tone.
"My problem? You may think you're larger than life now, so you don't even have basic courtesy anymore. Barging in here, disrupting my happy hours with my husband, not explaining a word, and then threatening to break my shop. Is this how a close confidante of the Hokage should act?"
Happy hours? – Lee was embarrassed about Tenten's word choice.
"Tenten, me and Sasuke came here with good intention to…" Naruto placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder to calm her temper, but Sasuke raised a hand to stop his friend from talking for him.
"Fine. I'll explain what happened," Sasuke flipped his black cloak to sit on a nearby chair. It was not an apology, but they would be here all day if she expected more from him. "Kumogakure was under attack two days ago."
Tenten's and Lee's eyes somewhat enlarged at the vague news that seemed to have no connection to them, though it was uncommon to hear an attack on a major village in this peaceful era. Sasuke opened the world map on his hand and pointed at the area in the middle of the Land of Lightning.
"This whole section of the country had been destroyed," Sasuke made a small circle on the map, but based on its ratio, that would be equivalent to the destruction of one whole village.
"That's close to the Flaming Mountains…" Tenten recognized the area and turned to Lee to confirm it.
"Yes. You already know that Isshiki had revived, and he's now leading Kara once again, right? They attacked Kumo's weapon arsenal and retrieved the two Treasured Tools, the Kohaku no Johei and the Shichiseiken. They're going to come after your collection too."
Tenten exchanged a knowing glance with Lee. A long time ago, she had agreed with the Raikage that the Treasured Tools needed to be kept separately, three on her shop in Konoha and the remaining two in Kumo to avoid anyone being able to have access to all five at once. The plan had remained dormant for more than a decade which sometimes made her wonder if it was even necessary, but now she was glad that they were still a few steps ahead of the enemy.
"Why would Kara want to collect the Treasured Tools?"
"To be more specific, they want to destroy them. Because they are the only weapons that could counter the Scientific Ninja Tools and their massive chakra attack."
"How is that possible?" asked Lee.
Sasuke stood up from his seated position, "I'll demonstrate. But you need to take them out first."
Tenten gingerly took out a scroll from one of her shelves, among hundreds of scrolls neatly stacked on the same chamber. She did not label any of them, but she had a very effective organization system which allowed her to remember exactly which scroll containing what items. With a few hand seals, she summoned out the Bashosen.
"Naruto, make a Rasengan, a big one," said Sasuke to the Hokage.
"Not too big. Don't ruin my shop!" Tenten ordered and the blond ninja laughed nervously.
A blue rotating sphere appeared in Naruto's right hand, slowly growing to the size of a basketball and lighting up the dimly-lit room. Lee and Tenten had to squint their eyes to get used to its brightness.
"Now, swipe that fan towards the Rasengan," Sasuke continued.
Tenten had been practicing the control of the Bashosen, but it had always been in a large, open field, not inside an enclosed space and especially not at her shop. This would be a good chance for her to test her ability to control the magnitude of its attack. She gripped onto the fan tightly and made a soft flapping. A gust of wind breezed through and the Rasengan vanished, like how a candle was blown off.
"It disappeared?" Tenten and Lee exclaimed.
"Absorbed, to be more precise. The Treasured Tools have this ability, to absorb chakra," Sasuke sat down again on the chair after making his point. "This is why any normal human being can die from chakra exhaustion with these tools, because they absorb their chakra."
"Then Tenten can use them because…?" asked Naruto.
"Because she's not like any of us, right?" Sasuke looked towards the kunoichi.
Tenten sighed, "I thought you knew about this, Naruto? Surely, the Sixth Hokage must have told you about my origin and why Lee and I have to meet each other discreetly like this."
Naruto scratched his head with his fox eyes, "He did mention that I need to keep your marriage and the fact that you're Metal's mother a secret. But as for why, he asked me to read the files he left behind and… well, you know…"
Now everyone in the room sighed. Sasuke mumbled his usual phrase 'Usuratonkachi' specifically used for Naruto. There had never been a Hokage as careless as him. It was time for Tenten to retell the lengthy story once again.
When Metal had finally fallen asleep, Tenten passed him to her husband so he could have a taste of the fatherhood experience. Her first hour of holding her son was paralysing. She was continually worried that she would drop him if her arms got tired, so she decided to freeze herself at one position for hours. The realization of her responsibility as a mother also started to set in when Metal would cry for breastfeeding every hour. She knew what to expect, but things only started to get real when she actually held that tiny creature into her cradle.
Lee, on the other hand, was natural with his newborn son. He cradled him so smoothly that the latter slept soundly on his arms while he would disturb her every waking hour. And the happiness in Lee's eyes when he was playing with Metal's puffy cheeks was nothing like she had seen before.
"How is it that you're so good with him?" said Tenten, with a hint of envy in her tone.
"Hey, I suck at everything, you still want me to suck at being a father?" Lee playfully pouted and Tenten giggled.
The noren curtain hanging at the doorway was suddenly swept open by a dark-skinned ninja who usually looked uninterested in almost everything, but today had a small spark of joy on his expression. Babies were indeed magical beings that could put a smile on anyone's face.
"Hey, congratulations!"
"Darui-san!" Tenten exclaimed at the sight of the Raikage's right-hand man who had been the person to whom they reported for the mission. She stepped out of bed for a proper greeting, but he raised a hand to stop her from moving unnecessarily.
"Raikage-sama asked me to personally congratulate you two for your successful delivery and to bring you back to the mainland," said Darui as he bowed politely. "How are you doing by the way?"
"I'm recovering well. I think we can travel back in a few days."
"That's good to hear," Darui smiled. "Hey, since you're already here, do you want to see Fung-sensei?"
"Fung-sensei?" asked Lee.
"Fung-sensei is the famous fortune teller of Kumogakure and he also happens to reside around this area. He's known to have an almost hundred percent accuracy in his fortune telling."
Tenten's eyes sparkled with stars as if she was about to meet a celebrity, and started rambling non-stop, "Oh my God! I've heard of him. Rumour had it that people would queue for hours every day to get a reading from him, but he'll strictly do for eighty-eight customers per day. No more, no less. Well, I guess he can do less but he never had fewer than a thousand people waiting for him at any time."
Darui nodded with a satisfied look that he did not have to explain his recommendation, "That's right. Since your baby is just born, it's a good time to see what the future holds for him, isn't it? Plus, he owes me a few favours, so I can bring him here for you."
"Thank you, Darui-san!" Tenten clasped her hands together and her cheeks turned rosy from excitement.
"Let me go get him," said Darui as he exited the room.
Lee was much less eager than his wife about this, as the idea of fortune-telling was antithetical to what he usually stood for. He believed in the power of human beings to be whoever they would like to be, and he hoped that one day, he could impart this youthful determination to his son. To have someone with a crystal ball telling him what he should or should not be, was almost like an acceptance of fate, and if Lee had accepted his fate as a loser, he would not be here today. However, since it made Tenten happy and it was just for fun, he figured it could not hurt.
An hour later, an old man at around his seventies with goatees, wearing a white robe covered by a sky-blue cloak on the outside, walked into the hut together with Darui. His back was slightly hunched as expected of someone his age, but he still looked nimble and had sharp eyes.
"Is this the child?" said the man as his eyes were immediately fixated on Metal.
"Yes, sir. I mean, sensei. I mean, Fung-sensei," Tenten was too flustered that she could not get her sentence straight.
He placed his wrinkled hand on Metal's forehead and closed his eyes. After a long silence, he started spouting out words that sounded too strange for verbal communication, "This child is robust with vigour, brimming with compassion, prodigiously emulating the patriarch of the house."
Simply put, he would be just like Lee. Not that it surprised Tenten. Somewhere in her gut, she sensed that she would have to be a tsukkomi to two hyperactive spandex-wearing men for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, Lee was still trying to decipher the meaning of his words.
"Hmm…" The old fortune teller mused as he continued. There were some changes in his expression. He took his hand off Metal's forehead for a short while and put it back, as if to double confirm something. Then he looked up at the couple, aghast. His mouth parted but he did not say a word.
"What is it, Fung-sensei?" asked Darui, noticing his behaviour.
"This child… this child…" Fung found it hard to complete his sentence.
"What? What about him?" asked Lee as his arms cradling Metal were shaking from the suspense.
"This child would be met with an early death."
It took Lee a short pause to process the information, then he immediately pushed the old man's hand and stood up, "Get away from us!"
The sudden movement from his father woke Metal up and he started making uncomfortable noise. Tenten quickly came over and took him back from Lee, swaying her arms side to side to lull him back to sleep.
"My wife just gave birth yesterday. Is this the kind of thing you'd say to parents who just had their newborn?" said Lee, clenching his fists so tight that his arm veins popped out.
"The truth is always bitter in taste, but it is still better than the sweetest lie," Fung put his two hands together.
"Everything you do is a lie!" Lee raised his voice. "Fortune-telling? Aren't you just a big fraudster who tries to coax money out of gullible people? Are you going to tell us next that we have to pay you a huge sum to save our son?"
Darui stepped in between Lee and the old fortune teller who was fully absorbing the rage, "Calm down, Lee-san! Let's hear what he has to say first!"
"Money you shall not pay, but there is a price for everything," Fung continued, pointing towards the young mother who apparently was still struggling in her new job. "You will have to make the sacrifice for the child."
Tenten looked up, "Me?"
"If you want to save him, you will not be the mother to this child. You will not call him your son and he will not call you his mother. Your relationship will and shall not be known to the mass."
Lee pulled the curtains at the door, "Please get out now before I lose all my patience."
In complete silence, the old man took a bow and left the room.
"You too, Darui-san," said Lee without looking back. Anger had blinded Lee's judgment and he irrationally blamed the other ninja for bringing such bad omens to his family. Darui nodded and walked out without trying to justify himself.
Tenten continued humming a lullaby that she heard from Sakura when her friend was doing her mother duty. She only remembered parts of the song and was sure the song sounded much more melodic when Sakura sang it, but it eventually helped calm Metal down and the room went back to quietness. Lee sat at the corner of the room watching her and Metal but did not say a word.
"So, are we going to talk about what happened just now?" Tenten broke the ice.
"There's nothing to talk, Tenten. It's just some senile man talking. We will go home in the next few days and forget this ever happened," replied Lee.
"But, he's really very famous. I heard of him way before this…"
Lee cut her off with an angry tone, "I don't care who he is. Nobody can tell me and my son what our future will be."
Tenten nodded timidly. Lee's stubborn mode had been switched on and it would be useless to talk to him further at this point. She did not blame him, though. Even her, someone who took up fortune telling as a hobby and had admired the man for years, was now tempted to disregard the whole concept. She was probably too foolish to have believed in it.
As the Lee family was ready for the return trip, they were met with a surprise in front of their doorsteps. The brawny Raikage was standing on top of a white yacht docked at the lake, completely different from the small boat with which they came, with his arms folded proudly and seemingly waiting for them.
"Raikage-sama…"
"Congratulations to your new baby boy!" said A while opening his two arms widely. As expected, his right-hand man was standing behind him and nodded for a subtle greeting.
"You came all the way here to bring us back to the mainland?" asked Tenten, but she knewit was not the case.
"I have some important business to discuss with you two. Get in," A turned away and went down to a lower cabin on the yacht. Lee and Tenten followed, exchanging anxious glances.
The lower cabin was unexpectedly spacious. Right below the deck came a large meeting room surrounded by ancient tomes and maps. Located at the centre of the room was a square table made of oak, scattered with documents, seemingly in the midst of an important conference. In one of the corners of the room, a small door opened to a neatly made-up bedroom, as if this was an expensive cruise. The bedroom even had a small crib with a colour slightly off from the rest of the furniture, probably a last-minute addition to the place.
"This is where we usually have our classified strategy meeting to avoid information leakage at the headquarter," said the Raikage as Tenten and Lee were still in awe by the cabin's interior design.
"Classified?" Lee was perplexed. The espionage mission they just participated had never required this level of caution, plus it had already been completed. It must have been something else much more important. Was it just a coincidence that this came right after the sinister prophecy to his family?
"I've heard about your incident with Fung-sensei," A started talking and noticed an exasperated look on Lee's face as the topic was brought up, "and before you start dismissing it as nonsense, I would like to stress that I have brought on Fung-sensei to this strategy table before. He is that reliable."
Tenten found herself holding Metal tightly in her hands, while Lee's face had become extremely stressed. Someone vouched and trusted by the Raikage himself was not to be taken lightly. All of a sudden, it was hard to think of him as a confused old man or a charlatan anymore.
"Any normal person would find it hard to believe in such an ominous prediction, so I understand your feeling, but I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you what I knew about the man, especially when we still have a way to save your son."
"But why would me staying away from Metal save him?" asked Tenten.
Darui, who had been mum behind his boss, started speaking up, "I suspect his claim had something to do with your origin."
"My origin?"
Tenten's origin remained a mystery for her entire life, and yet for some reasons, she never put a question on it. All she knew was that she was an orphan, but there were hundreds of other orphans her age as a result of the Nine-Tailed disaster. She was not sure if she had the same circumstance with the others, as the topic was always too gloomy to bring up in the orphanage. Still, she did not grow up feeling different, so she never once wondered where she came from. Not until now.
"If I'm not wrong, you're probably a long-lost descendant of the ancient Niu clan in Kumogakure."
"The Niu clan? Long-lost descendant? Wait, how do you even know about my origin more than I do?" Tenten was getting more sceptical.
"Basically, the Niu clan was the inventor of the Treasured Tools, and the only few ones besides the Sage of Six Paths that could use them without exhausting themselves to death. Remember the last time we met? You've demonstrated that you could use the Bashosen six times," said Darui while massaging his neck. "I can tell you that a regular ninja will die after using them once. I've used the Kohaku no Johei once during the war and after that, I did not have enough strength to even fight back Zetsu clones."
"Darui is going to be the successor for the Raikage position, so naturally he has a large pool of chakra. But a normal Jounin who can use these tools so many times, that is unusual," the Raikage looked at Tenten with a sternness that made her shoulders tense up.
On the other hand, Lee was shocked at the information. Just when he thought he knew everything about her, such a fact was revealed. Why she never told him about this feat, Lee had no idea. Some part of him was enthralled by her hidden capabilities, but some part was hurt that there were still some secrets between them.
"So that's why you suspect that I'm connected to this Niu clan?" asked Tenten.
"It's a long and dull story, so I suggest you read it up here for more information," Darui took out a thick book from the shelf behind him, titled 'The History of Kumo', and placed it on the table. "The Niu clan had a bloody past of being hunted by people who feared the power of the Treasured Tools. After the tools fell into the hands of the Sage and later on the Ginkaku/Kinkaku brothers, they finally enjoyed a period of peace. But after the war, there have been rumours circulating the village about these tools and this is a potential threat to the peace in Kumo as well as those with the power to use the Treasured Tools. That includes you and possibly your son."
"Is there any proof that she is connected to the clan or is it all just your speculation?" Lee spoke up with a serious frown.
"Unfortunately, no. You can either choose to ignore what we said, or you can go to the Flaming Mountains to find out the truth yourself. That's where a lot of the Niu clan descendants are still residing."
"The Flaming Mountains…" Tenten quietly repeated the name to herself, indicating that she had taken the issue to heart.
"Anyway, enough about that. That's for you two to decide amongst yourselves," A placed a hand on the table, but it felt like he was slamming it. "We're here to discuss about the plan to divide the Treasured Tools between Konoha and Kumo."
For the rest of the meeting, Lee found it difficult to concentrate on their discussion. The gist of the strategy was to avoid the tools from falling into the enemy's hands all at once, but why and what specific tools that Tenten would possess, he could not bring himself to remember. The thought that occupied his minds the most was the validity of Darui's claim on Tenten's origin. There was no concrete evidence in what he said, but at the same time, there was no contra-evidence to refute it either. The uncertainty was driving him insane. He just wanted to grab the historical tome in the table and gobble on it to find something to prove Darui wrong. Anything.
"You're really planning to go to the Flaming Mountains?" Lee raised his voice and immediately got shushed by Tenten when she just successfully put Metal to sleep.
"I have to. I can't ignore it, Lee," said Tenten softly.
"Why would you trust him just like that? He said it himself, he wasn't sure," Lee dropped his arms on the blanket with a pout.
"That's why I have to find out. If something happens to Metal because I decide not to take action, I will regret it for the rest of my life."
"It's incredibly hard to go through the mountain with Metal this young, you know," said Lee.
"You and Metal can go back to the village first if you don't want to come along."
Truthfully, Lee did not want to go, not because of the journey of a thousand miles to one of the most treacherous mountain ranges in the world with a newborn baby in his hands, but because the secret that the Flaming Mountains contained was like a Pandora's box. He did not want to open it. He was scared to know the truth, because the truth would break his family apart, the little happy family that he had been envisioning in his head for years, ones that his batchmates had enviably built. However, not going with her would also result in the broken family that he feared. He wanted to stay with her, for as long as he could.
"I'm not leaving you, Tenten. We will go there together," Lee held her hand and placed a kiss on it, erasing all signs of displease on her face. "By the way, why didn't you tell me that you managed to use that fan for six times? That was so amazing."
Tenten smiled coyly, "You didn't seem to have any interest in the Treasured Tools, so it just didn't come up."
"Of course I do. How can we be husband and wife if we don't share our interest to one another?" Lee caressed her cheeks as he spoke. "I don't want to have any secrets between us, Tenten."
Tenten's smile slowly faded and she stayed quiet for a while, seemingly mulling over something, until Lee continued pushing.
"What is it?" Lee slightly sat up.
"I… uh… It's not a big deal, but since you said you don't want secrets, I just thought you should know this."
"Know what?" Lee was starting to get nervous. Apparently, he did not know Tenten as well as he thought.
"Darui-san… Well, we kinda had… some history…"
That was not at all what Lee was expecting to hear. He thought she was going to reveal more impressive capabilities, but this took him off completely. "What?"
"We worked together a lot after the war. He used to invite me for dinner and send me flowers as well. But I wasn't very interested in him, so it didn't go anywhere."
Tenten seemed to stress heavily on the last sentence, which she thought was his main concern, but in fact, there was something else disturbing him.
"And now he suddenly brought a fortune-teller who gave a convenient prediction that would tear our family apart. Does that seem a little strange?"
Tenten was taken aback by Lee's question, "What are you saying? Are you insinuating that Darui-san plotted this?"
"I don't know what to think. And why would you bring that up in the first place?"
"Because you said you didn't want secrets between us!" It was Tenten's turn to raise her voice and woke her baby up. Metal started crying and Tenten crawled out of bed to bring him into her cradle. A few minutes later, the night quieted down again.
"Go to sleep, Lee. Stop thinking too much. You're going to stress yourself out this way."
From there, they gradually sank down under the blanket and snuggled into each other's arms to sleep.
But then, Lee's mind could not relax. The thoughts were still racing in his head, one after another, like a cacophony of voices in a bustling street where everyone tried to speak over one another with their louder volumes. He could even feel the veins on his temples pulsating as his head tension accumulated. He knew he had to entertain these thoughts before he could quiet them down, so he silently snuck out of bed and went to the meeting room, where the book was still placed on the table. Lee had never been an avid reader, he even found reading extremely boring, but today he could not imagine falling asleep without having gone through that book first.
Just within the first few chapters of the book, Lee started to yawn. The book did not have any special chapter dedicated to the Niu clan. It was divided into chronological orders of events that happened in Kumo, so he had to read the irrelevant history that had nothing to do with what he was looking for. He did, however, come across a section describing the bloody past of the Niu clan that Darui mentioned. Many clan members were murdered in their sleep, or disappeared without a trace. Some unlucky families even got killed entirely, including their infant children. The hunt was so bad to the point that the clan no longer gave their members a surname to hide their origins.
It was a disturbing story before sleep. Lee decided to stop reading and put the tome back to the bookshelf. Then, he noticed an adjacent book, much thinner than the one he was holding, with the title 'List of Kumogakure clans'. Curious, he pulled it out and did a cursory reading. The book was a collective record about all the clans in Kumogakure, listing down the clan symbol, head of clan and year founded, et cetera; all in kana order. He quickly searched for the Niu clan.
Immediately, he felt as if the blood circulating his body went cold for a minute. The Niu clan's symbol almost looked like a devil's pitchfork, with a three-pronged head on top of a long pole. The clan head was someone who went by 'Bull Demon King' and the clan was said to be made up of mostly demons or those with demon's blood. It was the first time he heard of a ninja clan who were not human beings, but what sent chills down his spine was the familiarity of the clan symbol.
Back when they were Genins, he used to watch Tenten train with her kunai to learn her techniques from behind, and he subconsciously remembered a strange clan symbol on her blouse. She only had one blouse with that symbol which she did not wear often. Eventually she outgrew the outfit and no longer wore it. Neji asked her about it once, to which she had no answers and it ended as a mystery. But the shape of the symbol, it was still vivid in his memory because of its uniqueness; and today, he saw it again. This was a definitive answer to his swarms of questions, but it was not the answer he was desperately searching for.
Suddenly, images of death flashed through his head, some real, some imagined; Neji's limp body in his arm, Tenten's back arched against a sharp weapon, an immobilised Metal lying on the ground. The air around him got heavy with tension. Lee stood hunched over, his hands gripping the edge of the bookshelf for support, while the book dropped on the floor with a thump. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as his chest tightened, and an overwhelming sense of dread washed over him. It was a panic attack gripping his mind and body, threatening to overpower him completely. His heart raced, pounding against his ribcage as if trying to break free. His breath came in shallow gasps, each inhalation a struggle. The room seemed to shrink around him, closing in on him like a suffocating prison.
Desperate for relief, Lee clenched his fists tighter, trying to ground himself in the physical sensation. But the panic only intensified, coursing through his veins like a relentless storm. His body began to tremble uncontrollably, as if being shaken by an invisible force.
With each passing second, the panic attack grew in strength, twisting Lee's stomach into knots. A surge of nausea rose from within him, threatening to spill over. He swallowed hard, fighting to keep the rising bile down, but his efforts were in vain. Thankfully, he managed to hold it until he could rush to the toilet inside his bedroom. In a fit of desperation and helplessness, Lee began to retch violently, his body convulsing with the force of his vomit. The room echoed with the sound of his retching, a harsh reminder of his body's betrayal. The acrid smell of stomach acid filled the air, intensifying the suffocating atmosphere.
"Lee, are you okay?" Lee heard Tenten's voice next to him, as she made a gentle circular rub on his back.
As he heard her concerned voice, Lee felt a strange mix of relief and shame wash over him. He was relieved because she was still here with him, in the flesh. He reached for her hand and held it tightly to reassure himself that this was still reality. She automatically grasped it back.
"Are you having seasickness again?" asked Tenten.
"What… Oh no… I…" Lee was confused by her question for a moment until he realized she did know what just happened, so she innocently assumed his nausea was a benign case of seasickness.
Perhaps it was the shame, mixed with a concern of not wanting to worry Tenten, but Lee decided to go with it.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Lee closed his eyes and leaned against the bathroom wall.
"So, we went to the Flaming Mountains, confirmed that I was indeed the descendant of the Niu clan and stayed there for about a year and a half, where I trained with them on how to use my youki more effectively," Tenten ended the story.
"I'm sorry, but what is 'youki'?" asked Naruto as he scratched his hair.
"I thought you're supposed to be the Hokage, Naruto-kun…" said Lee with a disappointed tone while Sasuke shook his head.
"It's alright, not everyone knows about this," said Tenten. "Youki is an element which is similar to chakra, but is only present in ghosts and demons, as chakra is life energy while youki is ghostly energy. There are some members of the Niu clan who are half-demon, half-human, so we are able to mould both chakra and youki."
Sasuke added, "Also, youki absorbs chakra very well. The Treasured Tools are heavily imbued with youki, which is why they can seal the strongest opponent out there, including someone like Madara. But at the same time, they also take a lot of chakra from the user."
"So what's the plan now? Do you know when Isshiki will arrive at Konoha?" asked Tenten.
"Anytime actually," Sasuke replied, not hiding the worries on his face. "He'll probably take some time to find out that you are holding onto the Treasured Tools, but once he does, he'll be here in an instant."
Having faced Isshiki once before, Tenten remembered that he took her, Lee, Kiba, Chouji and Konohamaru; all down in one swoop. They were severely underestimating him and charging in with no proper plan. This time, she would not make the same mistake.
"I've already informed Ino and Sai to start the evacuation in Konoha," said Naruto. "But knowing Isshiki's power, we should still try to move the battle as far away from the village as possible."
"How would we do that?" asked Lee.
Tenten suggested, "We can lure him out by bringing the Treasured Tools outside of Konoha to a deserted place where we can fight without damaging the village, like, I don't know, the Flaming Mountains?"
"Back in Kumogakure? Where he just attacked?"
"I stayed there for almost two years. I know the terrain well and can lay down some traps," said Tenten.
"Your booby traps will not work against Isshiki, Tenten. And he just came from there. That's like charging into the lion's den," said Naruto.
"That is not a bad idea," Sasuke stepped in. "He may not even expect us to bring the Treasured Tools back to where he just came from. Me and Naruto can distract him in Konoha to buy some time for your travel. But you have to use a different route to avoid running into him on the way. Don't be impulsive. Wait until both of us arrive, then we will fight him together."
A heavy sense of responsibility swept through Tenten as she listened to Sasuke's instruction. It was not the first time she went for a dangerous battle, but this time, she would no longer be a supporting fighter at the back to help defeat the powerful enemy anymore. She would be at the front line, together with the two demigod ninja that she always thought were way out of her league. The fate of the world would rest on her and how well she could wield those tools. It was more than just herself and her own survival. All of a sudden, the air around her was getting stuffier.
"Don't worry, Tenten. I'll protect you with my life," Tenten felt Lee's hands on both of her shoulders from behind.
"Be careful, Tenten, Lee," said Naruto sombrely. "I count on you two this time."
"Leave it to us," Lee gave a good old 'nice guy' pose just like in his youthful days.