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Tenten waited patiently outside the facility. Even though it had been a few years since the Fourth Shinobi War, it still felt surreal to think of the Hidden Sound Village being allies of the Hidden Leaf. Something like that would have seemed impossible back when she was younger, and yet even a man like Orochimaru had somehow changed his ways for the better.
Nevertheless, Tenten’s heart was racing with excitement. She had been sent here for one thing: to look at some of the weapons that the Hidden Sound Village had been working on. And if there was one thing Tenten knew, it was that they probably had some mind-boggling stuff in those research facilities. After all, Orochimaru was one of the most skilled researchers in shinobi history, and he had been hiring a lot of talented people over the last few years.
Neji was also right there with her, since they wanted him to use his byakugan to help inspect some of the new tools that the Hidden Leaf had ordered. Weapons weren’t his specialty, but he would be able to catch even the slightest flaws.
Once the facility was in their field of view, Tenten excitedly clutched her pouch as if she were ready to pull out one of her scrolls and unseal something.
She asked her teammate, “Hey, Neji, are you ready?”
He nodded, “Yes. But it looks like you’re even more ready than I am.”
Tenten laughed, “You bet I am! This is practically a dream come true for me. I’ve just got to know what kinds of weapons they’ve been working on.”
Once Neji and Tenten arrived, a couple of Hidden Sound shinobi came to greet them. One was a tall and muscular man with messy ginger hair, while the other was a man with white hair, a purple shirt, and unusually sharp teeth.
Tenten wondered to herself if the white-haired man was from the Hidden Mist Village. After all, she knew of the tooth-sharpening tradition that a lot of Hidden Mist swordsmen followed, meant to intimidate their opponents.
But what surprised Tenten more was the sword that the white-haired man had strapped to its back. It was a dead ringer for one of the most famous swords in shinobi history, one that Tenten had never imagined getting to see for herself.
The white-haired man said, “Hey there! You must be those folks from the Hidden Leaf, eh?”
Tenten gasped in excitement, “ No way! Is that the Executioner’s Blade!?”
The man had the biggest grin on his face as he said, “Indeed it is! I’ve been the proud owner of it for several years now!”
She said enthusiastically, “I’ve always wanted to see one of the Seven Ninja Swords for myself! You know, you always hear stories about them, so it’s like… It’s like I’m staring at a piece of shinobi history.”
Tenten then nervously asked, “Um, may I have a closer look?”
The white-haired man handed it to her, saying, “Be careful…”
Tenten carefully rested her hand on the handle as she exclaimed, “Whoa…”
The Executioner’s Blade looked even more impressive in real life than it did in those old illustrations from her books. The sheer heft of it made it feel intensely powerful, and even a cursory look at the blade showed just how sharp it was. Tenten’s imagination was filled with thoughts of how Zabuza and his predecessors would have fought in the shinobi wars, effortlessly slicing through his foes as if they were made of butter.
She traced her finger around the handle before picking it up and moving back to give everyone space.
The white-haired man and Neji shouted, “What are you-”
It was a much heavier weapon than most of the ones Tenten had used in the past, but she was still able to easily swing it once. She knew that it was best not to swing it around willy-nilly, especially since it wasn’t hers, but she couldn’t resist the temptation to swing it.
Then, Tenten bolted back to hand it back to the white-haired man, apologizing for her impulsiveness. He was a little annoyed at first, but that annoyance quickly faded away once he saw that Tenten was being sincere.
Neji, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Tenten talked for a little while longer before they realized something.
The ginger-haired man said, “Um, I think we forgot to introduce ourselves.”
He then bowed to Neji and Tenten as he said, “My apologies, by the way. My name’s Jugo.”
The white-haired man winked as he pointed at himself and said, “And mine’s Suigetsu.”
Neji and Tenten then introduced themselves, making sure to bow politely.
As Tenten lifted her head back up, she noticed that Jugo appeared to be wearing some sort of wooden arm bands around his wrists. They didn’t appear to cause him any discomfort, but they seemed strange.
Jugo explained, “It looks like you’re wondering about my arm bands. I have a kekkei genkai that lets me absorb nature energy. Sadly, it also makes me lash out uncontrollably whenever I absorb too much, leading me to attack both friends and foes.”
He then held out one of his hands as he said, “These arm bands help block the absorption so I don’t go berserk.”
Ssuigetsu added, “Yeah, our boss made ‘em a few years ago. Supposed to be made from trees near Mt. Myoboku or something. I don’t really know all of the details, but if it works, it works. ”
Tenten rubbed her chin and went, “Hmm…”
She wondered to herself if devices like that could be used to help train people who want to learn Sage Mode. Tenten didn’t know much about those powers, but she did remember Naruto saying that Sage Mode was tricky to learn.
After a brief exchange and some paperwork, Tenten and Neji were about ready to take a tour of the facility and inspect some of the experimental weapons. However, before they could walk in, one of the researchers popped out of the building with a mortified look on his face.
He apologized, “I am so sorry . We’re still working out the kinks on some of our experimental explosives. It’s not going to be safe for any visitors for another hour or two. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.”
Neji was frustrated with the results, and even Suigetsu gave an annoyed sigh. Tenten wondered to herself if those sorts of issues were common, or if she and Neji were just a little unlucky that day.
Jugo gestured towards the back and said, “Um, there’s a courtyard nearby. We can probably rest there while you wait.”
Tenten asked, “Do you guys need to do any work? I don’t really want you guys to get in trouble or anything.”
Suigetsu waved his hand and said, “Nah, not really. We’re supposed to be the ones giving you a tour, anyways.”
He then waved Neji and Tenten over to follow him as he made his way to the back. The path was pretty clear, and it was all thankfully above-ground, unlike many of the old Hidden Sound hideouts. It wasn’t long before they reached a large and well-maintained courtyard in the back. There were a couple of benches at the ends of the courtyard, training dummies, and more. There was even a machine to dispense drinks as well, which Tenten hadn’t really seen before.
Tenten stared at the machine and thought to herself, I wish we had that in the Hidden Leaf.
Neji sat down to read a book of his while Jugo watched some of the birds flying by.
Meanwhile, Tenten thought, This would be a great place to train.
And who better to train with than the guy with a legendary sword? How else would she get the chance to see it in action?
Tenten pulled out one of her scrolls and walked over towards Suigetsu, who was polishing the Executioner’s Blade.
Tenten suggested, “How about we have spar?”
Suigetsu laughed teasingly, “Are you sure about that?”
“Bring it on.”
Suigetsu smirked as he said, “Well, don’t blame me if you lose.”
The two took their places in the center of the courtyard and took on battle stances.
Then, Tenten unsealed a long wooden pole and got ready to fight. She figured that if she could find an opening, she could knock Suigetsu off balance while keeping her distance from him. However, he moved surprisingly fast for someone with such a heavy weapon. Perhaps it was just a testament to his skills, but it was clear that he wasn’t taking the fight too seriously.
Then, Tenten had an idea. Why not just create the opening herself?
She unsealed some projectile weapons to distract him before she lunged the pole towards him. While Suigetsu was trying to deflect the projectiles, Tenten lunged at him to try to hit him in the gut. However, before she could land a hit, he suddenly turned into water. Tenten stumbled around to regain her balance while Suigetsu reformed with a smug grin on his face.
Suigetsu took advantage of Tenten’s stumbling by taking a swing at her from behind. She tried to dodge out of his attack, but he grazed her skin.
He said teasingly, “Nice try!”
Tenten thought, Wait, is he a Hozuki?
She had heard a little bit about how the Hozuki clan had a jutsu that let them turn themselves into water. The idea seemed a little far fetched when she first heard it, but it was definitely what was going on.
That gave Tenten a challenge: how could she hit water with a weapon? Tenten had never been the best at most conventional ninjutsu, nor did she really know anything about genjutsu. Still, she didn’t just want to flounder around uselessly.
The two of them continued to fight on for a while. It felt like it was only going to be a matter of time before Tenten would tire herself out, and yet she struggled to do any damage. However, Tenten still did not want to give in just yet. Conventional weapons didn’t work, and Suigetsu dodged a lot of the explosive weapons she tried.
And, well, Tenten was quite fascinated by Suigetsu. He was an expert swordsman with one of the strongest swords in history, able to dodge attacks with ease, and he had this energy to him that seemed to draw out Tenten’s own motivation. It was as if he was
Meanwhile, both Neji and Jugo were watching the fight with great interest. Neji had never seen someone fight with a technique like Suigetsu’s, while Jugo was impressed with Tenten’s tenacity even against an opponent like Suigetsu.
Tenten took a deep breath as she tried to think of a strategy that would let her beat Suigetsu.
Tenten wasn’t an expert on the clans of the Hidden Mist, but she did remember hearing once that lightning-style jutsus were the main weakness of the Hozuki clan. There was one trick she had up her sleeve: the Leaf Fan, or the Bashosen as she heard it called in some old records. Usually she wouldn’t use a weapon like that in a spar, but she had no other way to hit him.
However, Tenten hesitated. Could she use it in a way that wouldn’t seriously hurt Suigetsu? She didn’t want to seriously hurt him, especially since they weren’t supposed to be enemies at all. Worse, she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him in misery, knowing that it would have been all her fault.
Suigetsu noticed her hesitation and asked, “What are you doin’?”
Tenten nervously answered, “I just… I don’t know if I should use this…”
Suigetsu swung his sword as he said in an annoyed tone,“Well, you’ll have to try somethin’ if you want to stand a chance! If you want to give up, just give up, don’t get all wishy-washy.”
Tenten dodged the attack as she asked, “Well, if I land one hit, we’ll call this it, hm?”
He answered cockily, “Sure thing! I’d like to see you try.”
Tenten had to get some distance from him if she wanted to land a hit with the Bashosen. However, it was tricky since Suigetsu was now using his water pistol jutsu as projectiles, trying to disorient her. Tenten could tell that he wasn’t using the jutsu at full strength, but even slower projectiles could be tough to dodge.
Yeah, he’s definitely a Hozuki.
Eventually, Tenten managed to get enough distance that she felt safe to use an attack. Then, she took a deep breath and waved the Bashosen as gently as she could, aiming for his leg instead of anywhere vital. Lightning came forth.
Suigetsu shouted, “Ah!”
Then, he fell to the ground and winced in pain.
Everyone ran towards Suigetsu as fast as they could.
Tenten asked, “Are you okay?”
Suigetsu grumbled, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just give me a second to reconstitute.”
He noticed the guilty look in Tenten’s eyes and said, “You’re fine. Guess I should have that coming, huh?”
He thought, That’s why she was so hesitant.
Suigetsu then gave Tenten’s fan a curious look before saying, “Whatever that thing is, it reminds me of the Lightning Blades… Or the Kiba, as some folks call them.”
“That’s a good point. I bet you probably know a lot about the Kiba if you know about the Executioner’s Blade.”
Still, Tenten couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. She unsealed some bottles of water and handed them over in hopes that it would help him recover.
“Wow, you really carry everything with you, don’t you?”
Tenten said nervously, “Haha, yeah, I try to be prepared for everything.”
She thought to herself, Please be okay.
He eagerly chugged them down and watched his leg slowly become whole again. Then, he slowly got back up on his feet. He looked rather happy despite the way that Tenten had roughed him up.
“That was rather careless of you, Tenten. What if Suigetsu hadn’t recovered?”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. She already knew she screwed up. Let’s not make a big deal out of this, okay?”
“Very well.”
A few moments later, the two of them sat down on the bench and watched Neji and Jugo spar. Jugo was a lot faster than Tenten had expected him to be, considering how large he was. However, Neji was still the faster of the two.
Suigetsu took a swig of water as he watched Neji land a blow on Jugo. The Gentle Fist was a lot different than any other taijutsu style that Suigetsu had ever seen, and it was giving even somebody as tough as Jugo a lot of trouble.
Tenten found herself wondering a lot about the man next to her. How did he get the Executioner’s Blade, when Team 7 had left it in the Land of Waves? She remembered Sakura telling her about that one mission she had been on years ago. A part of Tenten had envied
How did he wind up working for Orochimaru?
She muttered to herself, “Okay, I don’t know if he’d want to answer that.”
Suigetsu cocked his head and went, “Huh?”
Thenten shook her head, “Ah, nothing. I’m just curious about something.”
Then, she asked, “How’d you wind up with the Executioner's Blade? I thought it was left by Zabuza’s grave.”
Suigetsu laughed, “Haha, I stole it.”
Then, he clarified, “Yeah, I was working with Sasuke back when he broke out of the Hidden Sound, and we decided to make a pit stop in the Land of Waves. I always wanted to get all of the Seven Swords for myself, you know? And besides, it was far from the only time someone stole a sword.
Kisame killed his boss and stole Samehada, Raiga stole the Kiba after Ameyuri Ringo died, so on and so on.”
He shrugged and said, “So, why not start with the one with a known location?”
Tenten was curious. She had known that people had fought over the Seven Ninja Swords from the moment they had first been forged, but she had never heard of someone trying to steal all seven for themselves.
“Wait, you said that you’re looking for all seven of them? Is there any special reason why?”
Suigetsu said, “Ah, well, it’s a long story. My brother actually was one of the Seven Swordsmen back in the day.”
He pointed at Tenten and asked, “Ever heard of Mangetsu Hozuki?”
Tenten said, “Of course I have! Prodigy of the Hidden Mist, expert in all types of sword fighting, one who had used all seven swords, but then he died in a freak accident on a mission.”
Suigetsu did a finger gun as he said, “Bingo! Yeah, I’m his lil’ brother. He and I both trained to become Swordsmen, though he was a lot more talented than I am. Seriously, he would have wiped the floor with you, even with the fan.”
Tenten asked, “So, what was he like?”
Suigetsu had a bittersweet look in his eyes as he stared up at the sky and sighed.
Then, he said, “Mangetsu was a good man and a good brother. He was strong, talented, and he never lost his cool. He’d train with me in the early mornings, and we’d play together whenever he came back from a mission.”
Suigetsu then said, “I still remember us fishing together whenever we had the chance. I was bad at it, but Mangetsu always made me feel better whenever a fish got away.”
Tenten said, “I wish I could have had the chance to meet him.”
Suigetsu nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you would have loved him.”
He had tears in his eyes as he said, “Sometimes, I wish I could see Magetsu again, even if it was for a brief moment. He was the best brother a kid like me could have asked for. I just hope I can be the kind of guy he’d be proud of.”
Tenten wrapped her arms around Suigetsu and gently hugged him. She could only imagine the grief he must have felt, knowing that he’d never see his brother again. The least she could do would be to comfort him.
She said softly, “I’m sure Mangetsu’s proud of you.”
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, reflecting on what Suigetsu had said. They thought to themselves about how Mangetsu would have felt about Suigetsu and all of the hard work that he had done. Perhaps he too had wished to see his brother once more.
Then, Suigetsu broke the silence by resting an arm on Tenten’s shoulder and saying, “Hey, Tenten.
She cocked her head and went, “Hm?”
Suigetsu said sincerely, “Thank you. It felt good to get that off my chest. I know a lot of folks find me annoying, but you never once judged me.”
Then he laughed, “Wow, I hadn’t thought I’d ever say that.”
Tenten said, “No, you’re fine! I like spending time with you.”
Her cheeks then began to blush as she said, “You’re a cool guy, you know that.”
Suigetsu poked her cheek and teased, “I see you blushin’! You must have a crush on me, huh?”
Tenten said in a mock-offended tone, “Hey!”
The two of them casually laughed. Tenten felt like Suigetsu brought out her enthusiasm like nobody else did, all without even trying.
Then, Suigetsu asked, “Oh, since we’re here, you mind if I look at that one weapon you used? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Tenten handed him the Bashosen, letting him carefully examine it.
“By the way, it’s called the Leaf Fan or the Bashosen. I’ve seen it called both whenever I’ve done research on it.”
While Suigetsu was no expert on war fans, he could somehow feel a sort of raw power from it that felt different from any other weapon that he had known. It was as if all sorts of chakra flowed through every inch of it. He wondered to himself how exactly the Bashosen was made.
Tenten then told Suigetsu all about how she and her allies had fought the Gold and Silver Brothers in the Fourth Great War, and how she had managed to steal the Sage Tools from the two of them. The Sage Tools were her greatest treasures, ones so wondrous and irreplaceable that she hoped that they’d be treasured for thousands of years.
Suigetsu said, “No way! They’re from the Sage himself?”
Tenten had a proud smile on her face as she said, “Yep! And without them, I wouldn’t have been able to save so many people in the war.”
The two of them continued to talk about all kinds of weapons, from the ordinary ones to the most wild and unique ones in shinobi history. They could have practically spent the whole day talking and it still wouldn’t have felt like enough time to either of them
Jugo and Neji, meanwhile, were watching Suigetsu and Tenten talk. Neji was impressed at how quickly the two of them befriended each other. Meanwhile, Jugo gave Suigetsu a knowing look and waved at him.
Suigetsu shouted at him, “Hey! What are you looking at?”
Jugo chuckled to himself and said, “Ah, I’m just glad to see you looking so happy. You two would be a cute couple.”
Suigetsu wanted to yell back, but he hesitated. When he thought about it, he too realized that Tenten would be a fun girlfriend. They could fight together, tell each other wild stories, and mess around without a care in the world.
But before Suigetsu could get too carried away, one of the scientists walked into the courtyard and spoke to Tenten.
He said, “We’re ready now. Everything should be all clear.”
Suigetsu and Jugo then waved for the Hidden Leaf shinobi to follow them. They had their fun while it lasted, but now was the time to get back to work.
As the group was led inside, Tenten reached out her hand. Suigetsu then winked at her and
Tenten jokingly said, “Looks like I’ll just have to make up an excuse to head here again.”
Suigetsu said, “But your mission’s barely even started.”
“Exactly.”
Once Suigetsu realized what Tenten met, he knew that he too couldn’t wait to see her as many times as he could. After all, there was nobody quite like her.