Chapter 79: What He Knows.
Danzo climbed the stairs to the Hokage's tower slowly.
Every step was a concession, and Danzo did not make concessions. He hoarded information the way other shinobi hoarded secrets. Intelligence was leverage. Intelligence was power. Intelligence shared was intelligence halved, and intelligence given to a man like Might Guy, who would do nothing clever with it, who would simply act, who would throw his body and his village's bodies at the problem with the subtlety of a thrown boulder, was intelligence wasted.
And yet he climbed.
It simply changes the methods I was originally going to follow, he told himself. This is the optimal time. The council needs preparation time. The military needs preparation time. Sharing now maximizes that window.
His cane tapped the next step.
The Hyuga boy had nothing to do with this decision.
He almost believed it.
The council chamber was lit by the late evening sun coming through the wide windows. Guy sat behind the Hokage's desk, hat off, doing vertical one-handed push-ups while also doing paperwork with his other hand. Kakashi stood at his left not reading a book, which meant he was actually working. Two council elders sat to the right. Shikaku Nara leaned against the far wall with his arms folded.
"Danzo." Guy greeted him positively. That was the problem with this Hokage. He treated everyone as though they were worth his full attention, which made it impossible to operate in his shadow the way Danzo had operated in Hiruzen's. "What did you call this meeting for?"
"Intelligence." Danzo said. "Critical intelligence regarding the security of the village."
The mood shifted. Shikaku straightened off the wall. Kakashi's visible eye opened fully.
"I’ve received vital information regarding the Mizukage, Raikage, and the Tsuchikage." Danzo set his cane against the desk and stood straight. "Three Great Villages are coordinating a simultaneous invasion of Konohagakure. Stone from the northwest. Cloud from the east. Mist from the south. The Raikage's meandering negotiations over Yugito Nii are a deliberate stall to buy time for the three-way alliance to assemble."
The chamber went silent.
Guy was shocked before his face shifted into something serious. He turned into the man who had sworn to protect every person in this village and had just been told that three nations were coming to hurt them.
"How long do we have?" Guy asked.
"Months, not weeks."
Guy stood. He was already thinking the things a Hokage thought about when war was coming.
"Shikaku. I need strategies on my desk as soon as possible. Three-front scenarios. The number of shinobi we need and have. Every possible situation."
"Already thinking about it." Shikaku replied without hesitation.
"Kakashi. Reach out to Sand. If three villages are moving against us, our alliance with Suna is the only thing keeping this from being a complete encirclement. The Kazekage needs to know."
"On it." Kakashi said.
Then Kakashi paused. His visible eye drifted to Danzo. His sources, Kakashi thought. I was just in Stone. I was at those exams. I escorted Tenten through every round and sat outside that arena for days. And I didn't see or hear any of this. No private meeting between Kage or Kages that I noticed. No unusual security that flagged coordination. Nothing.
But Danzo's "sources" heard it.
What sources does Danzo have inside Stone Country that the Hokage's own aide couldn’t find out about?
He simply kept that in mind. He didn't bring it up. Not here, not now, not with a war on the horizon. But later it would have to be addressed. Sooner rather than later.
Guy turned back to Danzo. "Thank you for bringing this forward, Danzo-sama. This intelligence will save our home."
"That is my purpose…" Danzo said. He took his cane and left.
The door closed behind him. The council began planning for war.
Danzo walked down the stairs faster than he had walked up them.
Training Ground Nine. Thursday morning. Five o'clock.
Ami, Fuki, and Kasumi stood in a line in front of Lee, weights on, canteens at their hips, notebooks out. Lee had told them to bring notebooks today. Lee had never told them to bring notebooks before.
Lee was about to speak when he noticed something.
Kasumi was wearing green.
Not the exact green of Lee's jumpsuit. A darker shade, fitted differently, a tight green jumpsuit with orange leggings and her forehead protector tied around her waist. But the look was unmistakable, and the intent behind it was louder than anything Kasumi had ever said out loud.
Fuki noticed too. She looked at Kasumi, looked at Lee, looked at Kasumi again, and she burst out laughing with her hand on her gut at the loudest volume.
Ami stared at Kasumi with an expression of disgust. "That better not be a statement toward me."
Kasumi's cheeks flushed pink against the green collar, but she didn't look away. She didn't shrink. She stood in her new clothes with her hands at her sides and her chin level and she looked at her sensei.
"This is my own decision. It has nothing to do with you." Kasumi said quietly. “Is that alright, sensei?”
Lee's eyes were already filling.
"Kasumi-chan..." His voice cracked. "That is... that is the most..."
"Of course he's going to cry..." Ami muttered in irritation.
Lee wiped his eyes with both forearms and gave Kasumi a thumbs up so enthusiastic it blurred. "IT LOOKS WONDERFUL ON YOU!!!"
"Sensei, please stop crying, you're making me more embarrassed..." Kasumi was now very red.
"I’ve never been so happy before…" Lee sobbed as the warm feeling in his heart couldn’t be contained.
While previously if anyone asked, he would never say he had a favorite student out of his students but now, he definitely had a favorite student…
Fuki was laughing so hard she had to lean on Ami, who shoved her off. Ami didn’t see what was so funny about this. In fact, it kind of pissed her off. If she wanted to suck up to Lee so hard, she could’ve done something like that too. If only her pride would let her wear something so embarrassing. Isn’t she embarrassed to wear something so tight-fitting anyway? Gosh! Kasumi is such a freak!
"Today," Lee said, wiping his face one final time with renewed fire in his eyes, "I will teach you ninjutsu."
Three faces stared at him.
"You said you can't use ninjutsu." Fuki said.
"I cannot." Lee confirmed. "But I can teach it."
"How?" Ami's eyes narrowed. The question from weeks ago, the one that had been burning in all three of them since the tree-climbing lesson when Lee smiled and said who said I couldn't help you?
"Because I know every hand sign for every jutsu that has ever been used against me." Lee said it simply. "And quite a lot of jutsu that have been used beside me."
"I spent six years at the academy practicing hand signs." Lee told them. "Every day. Hundreds of repetitions. They never worked for me. My body cannot mold chakra into techniques. But I learned all I could about ninjutsu."
He shifted to a different sequence. Dog. Rat. Bird. Snake. Then another. Tiger. Hare. Boar. Dog.
"And then I became a chunin and went on a lot of missions." Lee's voice stayed bright. "I fought Stone shinobi who used earth techniques against me. I fought Cloud shinobi who used lightning. I fought alongside Leaf shinobi who used fire. I fought pirates in the Water Country who used water techniques. And every time someone formed hand signs in front of me, I memorized them. Every sequence. Every variation. Because I could not counter jutsu with jutsu, so I had to understand them well enough to counter what was coming towards me."
He looked at his students.
"Fuki. Your nature is Earth. I have memorized the hand sign sequences for over a dozen earth techniques, learned from watching the shinobi of Iwagakure use them against me and our comrades from the Sand. I will teach you a few core jutsus. You will do the molding."
Fuki's eyes went wide.
"Kasumi. Your nature is Water. I learned water techniques from fighting alongside Konoha's water users and from fighting pirates in the Land of Water. I will teach you the same way."
Kasumi gave an awkward smile and threw a thumbs up, her face flaring red. Fuki couldn’t help laughing again after seeing that. But Kasumi ignored her as Lee’s smile widened.
"Ami. Your nature is Wind. Wind techniques have been used against me by shinobi from multiple villages. I will teach you."
Ami stared at him for a long moment. Then she shook her head once, not in refusal but in disbelief.
"You memorized jutsu from people trying to kill you." she said.
"Yes!"
"While they were trying to kill you."
"It is actually easier to memorize hand signs when someone is trying to kill you with them! The urge to stay alive is a pretty great motivator!"
Lee clapped his hands.
"Ears open. Fuki, we start with you."
He walked her through it in the way best for Fuki. She was a more hands-on learner.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall." Lee formed the signs in front of her, slowly, one at a time. "Tiger. Hare. Boar. Dog. The chakra gathers from the entire body, not just your core. On the final sign, you push the chakra to your palms and into the ground. The earth responds to the shape you've given the chakra, and it rises."
Fuki copied the signs. Chakra gathered from her body and she pushed it to her palms before slamming it down onto the ground. The ground in front of her shot up and a thick earth wall appeared in front of her.
"I DID IT! I’m a ninjutsu genius!" Fuki screamed.
"That was excellent for a first attempt!" Lee was beaming before he taught her two other earth style techniques. That was a defensive one, the other two were offensive and supplementary. Which were Earth Style: Stone Pistol Jutsu and Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu.
Kasumi went next learning Water Style: Hiding in Water Jutsu, Water Clone Jutsu, and Water Style: Raging Waves. Lee walked her through the signs with the same care, the same corrections, the same knowledge that should not have existed in a boy who could not mold a single jutsu.
Kasumi copied the hand signs and when she released the jutsu, a continuous jet of water shot out from her mouth.
"Wonderful, Kasumi-chan! The volume will increase with practice. Your control is already very good!"
Kasumi flicked her hands and looked at the wet grass and the corners of her lips turned up.
Ami's turn. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, Wind Style: Gale Raging Wall, and Wind Style: Jade Hurricane. Lee's hands formed the signs.
Ami memorized the hand signs and just like the others, did her utmost performing the three jutsus.
"Not bad…" Ami panted.
“Better than not bad!” Lee corrected her.
They practiced for an hour. Lee moved between them having them work on their taijutsu when they were running low on chakra.
"Now." Lee said, after the three of them had each produced the three basic ninjutsu technique. "Genjutsu."
Fuki laughed. "More?!"
Lee sat cross-legged in front of them. "Genjutsu is the art of manipulating another person's chakra flow through their senses to create illusions. It requires very fine chakra control, which all three of you have been building through tree climbing and water walking."
He explained the basics. How genjutsu targeted the brain through sensory input. How the hand signs shaped the user's chakra into a signal that disrupted the target's perception. How recognizing and breaking genjutsu, the technique called Genjutsu Dissipation, was as important as casting it.
"I know the basic D-rank genjutsu from the academy." Lee told them. "I practiced the hand signs thousands of times. They never worked with my body. But I know the theory inside and out, and I know what genjutsu feels like from the inside, because people have used it on me many times."
He taught them the Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu. The hand signs. The chakra shaping. The targeting. And then he sat in front of them and told them to practice it on him.
"On you?" Kasumi hesitated. "Sensei, I don't want to..."
"Please! This is how you learn! Cast it on me and I will tell you whether it worked and what you need to adjust. I can handle it."
Fuki went first because she wanted to. Her genjutsu was less "hellish vision" and more "mild visual disturbance," but it landed. Lee felt the chakra touch his mind, felt the illusion attempt to form.
His mind resisted it naturally. The genjutsu pressed against his consciousness and his consciousness pushed back, and the illusion wobbled and faded.
"Good first attempt!" Lee said. "The illusion was weak but that is normal for a first attempt. Try layering more chakra into the jutsu."
Kasumi went next. Her genjutsu was subtler than Fuki's, a quiet insertion rather than a blunt push, and Lee felt it slide into his perception more smoothly. For a brief instant, the training ground around him flickered, the grass turning grey, the sky dimming, before he increased the flow of chakra throughout his body, breaking it.
"Excellent, Kasumi-chan! Much smoother. You have a natural talent for genjutsu."
Ami's attempt was the sharpest of the three. The illusion hit Lee with full understanding of what she wanted him to see and fear. For two full seconds the training ground was replaced by darkness and the faint sound of his loved ones screaming. Then he broke it and the morning came back.
"Very good, Ami-chan!"
They practiced for another thirty minutes, rotating through casting on Lee and then each other.
After the genjutsu practice, Lee called a break. The girls drank from their canteens, and Lee noticed what he always noticed: the trembling in their hands, the shallow breathing, the signs of chakra depletion that came from training too long.
"Come here." Lee said. He knelt in front of Fuki and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hold still."
Chakra flowed from his palm into her body. His reserves pouring into hers like water filling a vessel. Fuki's eyes went wide as her depleted reserves topped back up, the trembling in her hands stopping, her breathing steadying.
"Sensei, what are you..."
"Sharing my chakra with you." Lee said.
He moved to Kasumi, placed his hand on her shoulder, and did the same. Then Ami, who flinched at the contact for half a second before the warmth of the chakra transfer made the flinch irrelevant.
"You can just... give us chakra?" Fuki stared at him. "Like, your chakra? Into our bodies?"
"It is a form of chakra control." Lee said. "I cannot shape my chakra into jutsu, but I can move it through my body and into others. It is the same principle as tree climbing, directing chakra to a specific point with focus and control. The point just happens to be another person."
Three girls sat on the grass with full chakra reserves and expressions that ranged from amazed (Fuki) to thoughtful (Kasumi) to not surprised (Ami).
They trained until noon. By the time Lee sent them home, the girls could perform three new ninjutsu techniques and a single genjutsu. Lee watched them go and jotted everything down in his notebook.
[Teaching Proficiency +2,400 points!]
[Chakra Control Proficiency +350 points!]
[Leadership Proficiency +400 points!]
[Spiritual Resistance has reached the next level!]
[Inspire has reached the next level!]
Tenten walked through Konoha's main gate at sunset with the chunin vest on her shoulders. Kakashi ran ahead once they left Stone country and was back safely in their own nation.
Izumo looked up from the logbook. Kotetsu stopped mid-yawn.
"Look at who it is." Izumo grinned.
"That's a vest." Kotetsu confirmed.
"That's a new vest that hasn’t been broken in yet." Izumo learned forward as if he needed a closer look.
"On a certain girl who left here as a genin."
Tenten grinned at both of them. “Yep! I told ya, I’d get this thing.”
“We’re proud of you, Tenten!” Izumo said.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long before you got it.” Kotetsu laughed.
Tenten thanked the two and kept walking.
The tower was warm in the evening light. She climbed the stairs two at a time, knocked on the Hokage's door, and entered to find Guy behind his desk in the Eight Gates doing paperwork.
He looked up. He saw the vest.
He slowly smiled as the papers were forgotten. The desk was forgotten. The weight he had been carrying, the intelligence, the war, the three-front threat that had consumed his every thought since Danzo's visit, all of it was set aside for the span of one smile, because his student had come home wearing the thing she promised she would.
"Tenten." Guy said her name like it was a medal. "Look at you."
"I told you I'd come back wearing it." She did a spin while smiling proudly. "It fits perfectly, by the way."
Guy came around the desk. He hugged her with joy and pride. For a moment the Hokage was just a sensei seeing his student grow up.
"I heard the gist of your journey from Kakashi." Guy said. "You made the village proud, Tenten. You made your team proud. And you made me prouder than I have words for."
Tenten's eyes stung. She blinked hard.
"I have something for you." Guy walked back behind the desk and opened a drawer that required two separate keys and a seal to unlock. From inside, he withdrew a single scroll, old, heavy, wrapped in a cloth that bore the Hokage's seal.
"This is from the Third Hokage’s archives." Guy held it out with the gravity the object deserved. "The Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. Developed by the Third Hokage himself. It is a difficult technique and I believe it will raise your fighting style to a new level."
Tenten's eyes went wide.
"You have earned this." Guy said. "Your performance in Stone proved that you have the skill, the judgment, and the discipline to handle a technique of this caliber. Learn it. Master it. And use it to protect the people who matter to you."
Tenten took the scroll in both hands. It was heavier than it should have been, or maybe that was just what responsibility felt like.
"Thank you, Guy-sensei." She whispered. "Thank you."
"Now go home." Guy smiled. "Rest. Eat. You've been in enemy territory for weeks and you smell like a bunch of boulders." He chuckled.
"I do not!"
"You absolutely do. Kakashi smelled it too but he was too polite to say so."
"He did not say anything about it! Because I don’t smell like freaking rocks, Guy-sensei!"
Guy laughed harder.
Tenten left the office with the scroll under her arm and the vest on her shoulders and the evening coming in gold through the tower windows. She passed Kakashi in the hallway, who gave her a polite wave and as she passed by did mention something about smelling like rocks.
“I DON’T SMELL LIKE ROCKS! A BUNCH OF GROWN MEN BULLYING A LITTLE GIRL! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!” Tenten shouted.
She walked home through Konoha's streets a little irritated and self-conscious but the village was no different from when she left. Home was the same as usual.
Tenten had promised Lee she'd be wearing the vest the next time he saw her.
She couldn't wait to show him.