Chapter 14

The end of the invasion. ~LeViAcKeRmAnN

———

When it finally stopped and everyone retreated, Tenten immediately located a trashcan and threw up.

Genma appeared next to her, rubbing her back. "Hey, it's alright. It's over."

Tenten slumped to the ground once she was done emptying her stomach. "They had families and friends," she whispered miserably.

"And so do we," Genma said, sitting next to her. "It's a hard thing to learn, but in war, it's either their family mourns, or yours does. It's a difficult truth, but in war, no one is right or wrong."

"Does it get any better?" she mumbled, leaning into him slightly.

He wrapped an arm around her. "Somewhat. It gets easier to ignore. Easier to justify. That person could have killed my teammate later, he could take out a genin later." Genma sighed. "It's best not to think about it too hard. Word of advice though, do not ask Kakashi how he deals with it because he doesn't."

Tenten giggled wetly. "Is Gai-sensei a better option?"

Genma made a groaning noise. "Theoretically, he's somewhat sane. But maybe stick to someone who acts saner, hm?"

Tenten giggled again, wiping at her eyes. "Thanks, Genma-sensei."

"No problem kid."

The Third Hokage was one of many casualties, although luckily due to Konoha's emergency evacuation protocols, the civilian casualties were lower than they could have been. Shinobi casualties weren't all that high, and next to nothing compared to the Suna nin's death toll.

Tenten kept getting congratulations for her death count, which was quite high, and she hated it with a passion. Logically she could understand, she had killed attackers, people invading their village and trying to kill everyone inside. But they had been people too, they'd had families, friends, lovers, children…

Tenten sighed quietly. As far as she could see and tell, neither Neji nor Lee were having any problems, although Gai seemed determined to work them into the ground for the time being. The village needed to be reconstructed in some areas, and with Gai as their sensei, her team was used as pack mules for transportation for everything from wood beams to cement.

On the plus side, she had yet to suffer from any nightmares, her body too exhausted to dream from the manual labor. She was grateful and extremely sore. Any rest days were spent sleeping, for the most part, gathering energy for the next day.

Luckily, her apartment had been in one of the mostly undamaged sections of the village, even if Lee's apartment had been destroyed and now she was temporarily sharing with him until his apartment was rebuilt.

Lee was a good housemate thankfully, insisting on cooking dinner every other night, cleaning up after himself, and generally being incredibly polite.

When it finally slowed down, Lee moved back out and into his apartment, the village was mostly reconstructed, people had mostly moved on from mourning, and Gai slowed down their pace to its usual one.

With energy to spare now, Tenten started having vivid nightmares.

The first time it happened she weathered the resulting panic attack when she woke up alone, activating the silencing seals around her apartment so she didn't disturb the neighbors.

The second time she couldn't manage on her own anymore, so with Genma out of town, she wandered across town to where Gai-sensei's house was. She hesitated before knocking, but the door opened before she could knock.

Gai looked about like he always did, with the exception of being in a pair of looser pants and t-shirt. Still bright green, however.

"Tenten! Is something wrong?"

The concern on his face almost made her start crying right there, and he quickly ushered her inside. He settled her on the couch, bustling around to start tea and grab tissues.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Gai asked softly, sitting next to her as an open invitation.

Tenten took it, leaning into him for a hug. "Mhmm," she mumbled.

Her hair was down, she hadn't bothered pulling it up when she left, and she felt Gai's hand running through her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"I have them quite often," Gai admitted quietly. "You don't get to be a shinobi and not have trauma."

"How do you manage?" Tenten whispered.

"Depends on the nightmare," Gai decided after a moment. "If it's the death of friends, I find it's helpful to have very recent pictures nearby, or if they're available, go to them, they'll understand. If it's the kind I suspect you're having, there's no specific way universal to all. You just have to work out what works best for you."

Tenten paused for a moment. "Genma-sensei said not to ask Kakashi, but how does he deal with it?"

Gai sighed, looking about a decade older all of a sudden. "He washes his hands raw. It's why he wears gloves all of the time, he sees phantom blood there."

Tenten blinked sleepily. "That doesn't sound great."

"It would be why Genma said not to ask him," Gai said, chuckling quietly. "You can stay on the couch for the night if you wish."

Tenten was too tired to disagree, two nights of lack of sleep catching up to her. She just hummed sleepily.

When she woke up in the morning, it was to the smells of breakfast. Gai was in the kitchen, wearing a truly awful pink apron with bright green stripes.

"Ah, good morning Tenten!" He declared, back to his usual volume.

"Morning Gai-sensei," Tenten replied, at a far lower volume, rubbing her eyes. "Do you always do this?"

"Yes! I find it far more pleasurable to wake up and have homemade breakfast than any sort of ration bar! Also far more filling and healthy!" For some odd reason, as he said it, he glared at a picture of Kakashi and him set on the counter.

"Alright," Tenten agreed, with no little amusement. "I usually just reheat any leftovers from dinner."

"That is also a worthy meal!" Gai declared.

"Do you want any help?" Tenten asked after a moment.

"No, it is almost done, my youthful student! Also, you are a guest here, and need not help!"

Tenten, long use to Gai's views on politeness and loud volume, simply hummed an affirmative and sat at the table, starting to pull her hair up into its usual twin buns.

When he set food on the table, Gai seemed mildly confused at her slow pace on doing her hair. "Are you not capable of a much higher speed?"

"Yeah," Tenten agreed, fastening the second bun into place. "But those are hasty and fall apart after a while. These'll last all day."

"I will take your word for it!" Gai decided, setting a plate and chopsticks in front of her.

If her teammates were confused by her and Gai arriving together, they didn't show it, or ask her about it. She was grateful for it.

They went through their morning stretches, then the run.

"Neji! Remain at rest until Lee and I finish!" Gai said, pausing when Neji stopped running to flop on the ground. "I wish for a different schedule this time!"

Neji nodded, putting his arm over his eyes. Tenten hummed an affirmation, assuming that either Genma was coming over, or she'd spar with Gai. Both had happened before.

With Gai they worked on her close combat weapons usually, he always held back to the right point to challenge her, but not outright destroy her, or make it seem like he was letting her win.

Tenten fiddled with different weapons, cleaning, polishing, and sharpening the ones that needed it. With the invasion and the recovery from it, she hadn't had time for much of anything, even polishing and sharpening some of her weapons that she rarely used. She needed to check on the crows after lunch actually, she hadn't managed to do it in the chaos that was the last week or two. She'd have to go through the village on her way to the Naka cliff, to check for any of the fruits the birds enjoyed. She had plenty of jerky and dried fruit, but the birds preferred fresh fruit when possible.

She snuck a glance at Neji, who was now doing stretches so he didn't cool off too much. He didn't seem particularly concerned, although he rarely seemed concerned about anything, let alone a changed schedule.

In the end, she sparred with Gai. "All out?" She called, somewhat worriedly.

"All out!" Gai shouted cheerily. "I want to see what you can do with Hiraishin!"

Tenten took a deep steadying breath. Right. She could do this. Fight her teacher with Hiraishin. No big deal.

She summoned a full set of kunai to her hands, ready to throw them. "Alright, let's go."

Gai beamed, and she threw them, only partially trying to hit Gai. She knew he'd dodge, and she needed the kunai out there to teleport to.