Thunderous clouds looming overhead made for a gloomy view outside the window panes, doing little to calm her frayed nerves as thoughts of war littered the kunoichi’s mind. Home to a collection of scars and imperfections as a result of the young woman's profession, she was prepared to defend the Village of Hidden Leaf to the very end. But there was no ignoring the quick advances from the shinobis of Sound, driven hard by their master and fueled with the Snake Lord's hate for the citizens of his former home. After spending years recovering from the loss of Uchiha Sasuke as his next human vessel, acquiring another willing victim to take the clan prodigy’s place, Orochimaru had finally amassed enough of his forces to set his plan in motion and there were no signs hinting that he would be relenting soon.
It was with that worry in mind that Tenten stood silently at the window, watching the other leaf agents work on the preparations in an equally somber mood. Unflinchingly, the kunoichi's gaze remained on the outer walls surrounding the village as flames flickered and flashed in the distance, reaching out with a burning arm to attack any who were careless enough to approach it without caution. Seconds later, the brunette heard the earth-shattering boom of explosive tags going off near the South Gate, feeling the very foundation of the building shake under the force.
"You think there are enough explosives in those traps?" the only other occupant of the room commented with his usual snerk, drawing her attention away from admiring the cryptic shapes creeping along the glass.
"Not really," Tenten replied with a smirk, practically feeling his brow quirk during his sarcastic statement, "But if I had equipped them to my standards and preferences, there wouldn't be a single explosive left in the village for a few weeks."
Another snerk was all that the young man would show of his amusement as he began his slow approach. Folding her arms over the expanse of her stomach, gripping at the bend in her elbows, the esteemed weapon specialist made no attempt to acknowledge the shinobi's nearing presence, his movements silent to the untrained ear. Even the creak of the wooden floorboards yielded to his abilities, only the soft rustle of the young man's clothes whispering amid the chaos of the outside world. Only the smoky scent of his skin told Tenten of the young Uchiha's approach, the smell almost permanently melted into his body from the collection of fire attacks his clan had been once known for.
"Like we can afford to go without those for so long during all this," Sasuke murmured softly, a small clang indicating that he had set his katana down on the counter.
"...War has its limitations just as much as anything else," Tenten responded calmly, watching as the light of the fires played against the shadowed buildings of the village.
"Orochimaru's men seem to have no limitations," Sasuke countered, his calloused fingers sliding over the curve of her shoulders as he spoke, slowly kneading the muscles underneath.
Dark eyes shifted to the side at his touch, leaving the scene at the window to give attention to the prodigy's lingering hands. He was so close and it had been so long since either one had seen the other outside of the battlefield. The duties required of shinobis during wartime had kept them both so busy to a point of exhaustion when they would stumble into bed at odd and random hours of the night. Truth be told, this had been the first time that Tenten found herself in the young Uchiha's presence for more than a few minutes since his return from Sunagakure weeks ago. And the kunoichi could not deny how good it felt to have Sasuke standing right beside her, lungs filling up with the sweet smell of burning. Mentally, she cursed his name for always coming before her after his training sessions, knowing just how much of a weakness the girl had for the scent. After so much death and destruction, falling into the arms of a lover seemed all too tempting for a girl to resist...
"That's because Orochimaru's men only have a choice between dying in this war or facing the Snake Lord's wrath for failing," came her delayed retort, using it as a smokescreen to his advances, whether they be unintentional or not, "Which would you prefer?"
"...Point taken," was Sasuke's response to the buffer, seeing the truth behind the kunoichi's words while ignoring her attempts to fend off his actions, "But we have a choice as well."
"And do you honestly think that our pride would let us settle with any other option than to fight?" Tenten inquired rhetorically, expecting her companion to have no answer.
And indeed he did not, other than give a scoff dripping with his amusement. Though she refrained from turning around, the girl could practically see the smirk on his face. If there was one thing young Uchiha was familiar with, it was pride, both his own and the pride of others. There was no a single shinobi that had ever worn the engraved symbol of their respective villages that did not possess the trait, both for the place that they swore to protect and for their own ambitions. And as his own history had shown, those that valued the latter over the former were more likely to betray their homes and doomed to live a miserable life chasing unattainable goals. Without a strict sense of morals, there can be no foundation to one’s success. Sasuke had learned that lesson the hard way after years of training under Orochimaru's care.
"I didn't think so," the talented weapons specialist commented when he gave no other response, taking his silence as answer enough.
Lightning reached across the expanse of the darkened clouds looming over the village, briefly illuminating the otherwise pitch black room and the world that waited on the other side of the window glass. The land that stretched out before them seemed so peaceful and quaint, littered with tall structures that credited their solid foundations to the history of the village. But it was an illusion they both knew better than to believe, Sasuke most of all. No matter how strong a foundation there is, with the right leverage and manipulation, even the toughest fortress could fall.
As if wanting to prove that point right, another explosion burst into flames in the distance near the outer walls, soon followed by a large mushroom cloud billowing towards the dark storm clouds overhead; another failed attempt made by the Sound-nins to breech their borders. To that indication, the kunoichi could only smirk with pride. The explosive tags were working like they were supposed to, the way she had designed them to. But it was only a matter of time before all her traps would be no more; nothing lasts forever. With that depressing thought in mind sobering her expressions, Tenten waited for the deep boom of the detonation to come after as the sound waves struggled to catch up to their flashy counterparts. After all, it was a scientific fact that light traveled faster than sound. And she could only hope that the statement was true concerning shinobis as well.
"As the minions of a Legendary Sannin, you'd think those Sound fools would know by now," someone commented with the same emotionless attitude that he used to address most matters concerning the war, "Launching a direct attack isn't going to work."
Turning nonchalantly to face her new guest, the steel mistress could only smirk at the young man's remark, none too surprised at who she found standing at the door. The barely audible shuffle of his footsteps and the whispering sweep of his clothing as he moved told her of his presence long before his decision to speak, and even then she needed no announcement to know who it was. After all, there were only two other people with access to the upper levels of the building or who even knew where she would be at this time, and Sasuke was already standing beside her.
"It’s good to finally see you again Lord Kazekage," Tenten greeted quietly amid the chaos that was raging outside, prompting the former demon vessel to finally step into the room, “I had hoped we would meet again under different circumstances.”
"As many times as I have corrected you, you still insist on calling me that?" Gaara inquired towards the girl, sounding irritable as ever, though she could see no serious weight behind it, “I believe we are all past formalities at this point.”
Light sandals moved with the stealth of a cat at his slow advance, looking almost tempting with his graceful movements in the dark, maneuvering around furniture and forgotten weapons littering the floors. He was every bit of the shinobi leader that everyone had grown to respect over the years, the mass of fearful citizens finally overlooking his past as the former holder of the Shukaku spirit and seeing the dedicated protector both Sasuke and Tenten had always known him to be. A few quick strides across the room and Gaara was there standing next to the pair, completing the tripod that was their sorted relationship.
"...Sorry," the brunette apologized half-heartedly at his previous statement, just as she felt his cool fingers slip around the curves of her wrist, "Force of habit."
“Then I will have to break you of that habit,” came the sand-nin’s sneering retort, gently brushing the pads of his thumb across the bone.
“Is that a promise?” she challenged further, finding this little game of theirs entertaining enough, encouraged by it when she felt the ends of Sasuke’s hair tickle the nape of her neck.
An exchange of knowing and teasing smirks had the three of them almost instantly falling into the roles that had been set so many years ago when they were mere children playing at the game of Shinobis. And for the first time in months, Tenten had to admit to herself that she missed this. It had been too long since the three of them had been together for more than a few seconds. Instances of intimacy during their relay missions to Suna and quick kisses after alliance meetings in Konoha were all that the threesome could afford in the midst of warfare when spare time was a scarce luxury. And as she felt herself sandwiched between their two towering forms, the kunoichi could hardly care about what was going on around them. All that mattered for that brief moment was that they were together once more.
The moment was cut short though, as yet another set of traps were triggered by the agents of Hidden Sound, this time shooting up a spray of debris and clumps of dirt along with it. The reminder was enough to bringing her back to reality as well, stilling her advances, much to the disappointment of the two men occupying the room with her. The traps were giving the leaf-nins some time at least, keeping the enemy busy while they replenished their energy and stocks. But it would only be a matter of time before those were gone as well and the soldiers would have to rely on themselves to ensure that Konoha would remain standing.
“Persistent, aren’t they?” the former keeper of the sand priest’s spirit murmured quietly, stating what they all already knew.
"They're testing our defenses," the kunoichi finally responded, turning back around to look out of the window in hopes of distracting herself from the allure of having both of her lovers occupying the same room, "They're looking for a weak point, like any good shinobi would."
“If that is true then I suppose Orochimaru has taught them well,” the young village leader from Sunagakure commented skeptically, “But I highly doubt that is the case.”
“I wouldn’t underestimate him if I were you,” the weapon goddess responded teasingly, directing most of her statement to the shinobi standing next to her, “He is a Sannin after all, and he did a pretty good job training Sasuke, considering…”
She let the sentence hang, knowing how sensitive the young Uchiha was about his years spent under the Legendary Sannin’s teaching, and with good reason she supposed. They were the darker days of his existence, a time when nothing but vengeance and the gaining of power mattered. Friendship and loyalty were qualities that the Sharingan user had to forsake in order to gain what he needed to avenge his fallen clan. In the end, though, things had turned out differently than anyone could have ever expected. It had been a long, hard road towards revelation, but Sasuke had come back to the village on his own; to a place where the people held mixed feelings about his return. Understandable. One of the only remaining heirs to a once prominent clan in Konoha and he had thrown away all the years of history, all the generations of tradition for his own, personal vendetta. Betrayal was something that could not be forgiven so easily...but it was not impossible.
“In any case, they seem to have proven themselves enough to greatly concern the Hokage,” Tenten continued on, “...She’s set Operation Phoenix into motion.”
“Are you sure?” Sasuke inquired demandingly, turning towards her in strained alarm.
“I was there when she signed the official papers this morning,” the young girl replied calmly, never once taking her eyes away from the window, “My team was charged to deliver the messages to all of the commanding officers in the village.”
Curious to see what the reaction would be of one so even-tempered and controlled, the kunoichi looked on with interest as a mix of confusion, shock, and understanding melded into the features of the shinobi’s face as silence settled in the room. Seeming in a daze of thoughts and stifled emotion, Sasuke turned and sought out the nearest chair to take a seat. It was in that moment that Tenten was allowed to catch the corner of Gaara’s eye twitched unnoticeably in a wordless inquiry, completely unaware of the weight of what had been said.
“What is Operation Phoenix?” the red-head finally asked when it became apparent that neither of the other two would explain.
“It’s...it’s an extension to the village’s protocol concerning foreign ninjas,” the young leaf-nin began, taking the lead with answering the Kazekage’s question, “It was created after Tsunade became the Fifth Hokage, and was only to be used as a last resort.”
“With good reason,” the steel mistress retorted with a frown, folding her arms over her stomach with a huff, “Operation Phoenix would leave no one left alive.”
“I don’t understand.”
Sighing, Sasuke stood up from his seat and started to pace the room. It was obvious that his mind was still swimming from the realization of what was about to happen to the village, the place that all of them had grown to love and wanted to protect more than anything. But with the initiation of Operation Phoenix, that ideal was becoming less and less possible. With forces on both sides of the line still holding strong despite the shortage of resources, the decision to move towards more drastic measures of fighting had been inevitable. The war had been waging for months now, after all. It was obvious that the Fifth Hokage was looking for a quick end, or at least a short reprieve.
“Legend has it that when it is time for a phoenix to die, it bursts into flames, burning itself from the inside out,” the kunoichi finally spoke out, giving an opening for her companion to answer Gaara’s question, “Only then could it be reborn in its own ashes.”
“The way Operation Phoenix works would be the same concept,” the Uchiha’s chimed in, “With all of the enemy’s forces inside our walls - ”
“ - You would the destroy the entire village,” Gaara interrupted, figuring it out and finishing the thought on his own, “But the citizens - ”
“ - Would be evacuated and taken to strongholds hidden deep within the mountains, which they were this morning,” Tenten concluded with a hint of sadness, “And in twenty-four hours, Konoha will be nothing more than a mass grave.”
Sobered by that thought, all three stood in there respective places as each mulled over exactly what that meant for the Hidden Leaf Village. War was filled with casualties and sacrifices so it should have been no surprise that things would eventually turn out this way. Gaara looked on at his two lovers from Konohagakure, helpless and unable to understand the emotions that were obviously coursing through their bodies, the thoughts that were plaguing their thoughts. A ninja’s loyalty to their village meant everything and to knowingly continue on with a plan that would destroy it...he could only imagine what that was like.
“Well...looks like a big storm is brewing on the horizon,” Tenten finally stated as she glanced out through the window glass, drawing the attention of both brooding shinobis to her and away from their own ponderings, “It’s a perfect day to die, don’t you think?”
