Chapter 16

Kinda short, but what can you do. I'm so many chapters ahead in this it's amazing. ~ LeViAcKeRmMaN

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She didn't sleep again that night and spent the rest of it resizing the holster to fit her instead.

The next day was a rest day, for which Tenten was grateful. She didn't think she could manage practice after all of yesterday. Plus she had things to do. Primarily grocery shopping.

While out, at some point, Kakashi ended up walking with her. She wasn't entirely sure when it happened, it just did.

"So, is there a reason you're accompanying me on my grocery trip?" Tenten asked casually, knowing full well anything else would scare the guy away. He was weird like that.

"You look tired."

"Having nightmares all night does that to a person," she remarked, staring straight ahead. "I suppose you would know that though."

Kakashi just grunted.

"Did you know an Uchiha by the name of Shisui?" Tenten asked curiously. She knew her teacher's eternal rival (and best friend) had been in ANBU for a long time, maybe he knew of the two.

"Why?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

Tenten traced the edge of the harness. "No particular reason. Just curious."

"Curiosity can get you killed."

"The saying is curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

"Satisfaction won't bring anyone back. Nor will it change what happened. Ask Genma. He knew Shisui."

Tenten watched his back disappear into the crowd. That was weird. Kakashi in general was weird though. Well, it looked like she was finding and asking Genma today instead.

She didn't actually find him until late afternoon, after shopping and a nap prompted by the concerned crows that somehow got into her apartment just to parent her.

"Tenten? I didn't think I'd see you today…" Genma trailed off as he turned around and saw her. "Where did you get that holster?"

Tenten touched it with one hand, then looked around at the very deliberately not at all interested jounin. "Maybe let's go somewhere with less eavesdroppers and I'll tell you?" She offered, staring at the jounin and chuunin around them. They had the good grace to at least look somewhat sheepish.

"Right. My apartment is reinforced and sealed up pretty tightly, we can go there," Genma said after a moment's hesitation. "I was going to show you something I found we can work on anyway. We can talk while I show you."

Tenten nodded agreement and followed behind him when he shunshined away.

Genma sealed up the apartment behind them once they arrived, then sunk onto the couch. Tenten sat across from him in the sole armchair.

He looked tired all of a sudden, rubbing a hand over his face. "Gai warned me you guys got the caravan to Iron mission. Warned me that you were speaking to the crows. Should've known it would lead to this."

Tenten tilted her head, remembering Itachi's warning about knowing the risks before she looked too far. "If you can't or don't want to talk about it that's fine," Tenten offered. "We can work on the thing."

"No, it's high time someone knew about the boys," Genma replied quietly. "That's what they were, just boys, children caught up in a war that shouldn't have been theirs to get caught in the middle of."

Tenten listened quietly, unwilling to interrupt him and risk not getting the information she wanted.

"They were both on an ANBU squad with me," Genma said, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Weasel and Squirrel. Shisui, Squirrel, wasn't common in the squad, he wasn't quite in ANBU, more of a person who had the clearance and the ability to be on call if a mission required him.

"They were small, but Kakashi wasn't all that much older than them anyway, so we accepted it without too much difficulty. We should've questioned it when Shisui disappeared without a trace and it was labeled suicide."

Genma took his feet off the table and leaned forward, hiding his face in his hands. "We should've questioned it when Itachi, who'd previously shown no inclination towards genocide suddenly slaughtered his entire clan, not even a week after Shisui's death."

Tenten hardly dared to breath, carefully storing away the information.

"Shisui's holster and tanto looked just like that," Genma said after a long moment, voice shaky. "His body was looked for, by the stars we looked for it, combing the Naka river and surrounding forests, but we found nothing. Not even his holster or tanto."

Tenten gently touched the holster again. "This is his. The crows had it."

Genma's head shot up, and Tenten tactfully ignored the slightly damp face and puffy eyes. "It is? I thought it looked just like his."

"They also had a note and their contract," Tenten added carefully. "I have both with me."

Genma paled ever so slightly. "Keep both of those on you and hidden at all times. Not even when you think you're alone can you read it, and not in your apartment until I go in and help you seal it completely up."

Tenten nodded wordlessly.

"May I see the note?" Genma asked quietly, and Tenten handed it over after she unsealed it and pulled it from under her shirt.

He read it quietly, and she was pretty sure he just stared at it for a while without reading afterwards.

He handed it back a moment later and Tenten resealed it.

"That's dangerous information," Genma said at last. "But it lines up. Itachi is correct though, Tenten, he was involved with dangerous people still in Konoha, and you are only a genin, a chuunin if you are promoted because of the exam. He was a jounin, even with hiraishin you can't stand against them."

Tenten wondered who these dangerous people were. There were only so many people in the village it could be. She'd keep an ear to the winds and try and figure it out. She'd have to put pieces together without people knowing she had any pieces at all it seemed. Well, she'd wanted to be a sneaky undercover type of ninja as a kid, might as well try now.

Genma took a deep breath, and Tenten looked up at him quizzically. "Let's take a look at what I wanted to show you hm? A better note to end on then that anyway."

"Yeah," Tenten agreed quietly, wondering if the holster was why Kakashi had started walking next to her earlier. He'd seen it then thought it was Shisui's. Well, it was, even if she'd had to adjust it quite a fair amount to fit her far slimmer shoulders. It probably was. She wondered if Kakashi would give her the same warning to beware the risks of looking into this. He probably would just as cryptically as possible, knowing him.

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Okay! We are moving on. We remember that canon is still happening behind us next chapter when Tsunade crashes in and Jiraiya decides that he's gonna mess up my plot plans and make me add a chapter or two. ~LeViAcKeRmMaN