"I think I may have overdone it."
You and Gai-sensei stood there for a long moment, staring at the merrily burning remains of what was mere moments ago a wooden target dummy. You had attempted to use your not-chakra to help make your kunai more debilitating by infusing them with a negligible amount of your own chakra.
It was not a resounding success.
"Well my hip young student, every piece of training is a success in its own wa-"
One of the arms of the target dummy disintegrated in a shower of sparks "Gai-sensei..."
"Yes, you did." He shifted into what you knew was his 'heartfelt encouragement' pose,
"But don't give up Tenten! A technique like this takes time, and you have already made great strides in understanding the true nature of Hard Work!"
You sighed and pulled out a kunai. With it you managed to scrape out the remnants of your thrown kunai from the target dummies funeral pyre. Like you expected it was broken into half-melted pieces. You'd put way more chakra into it than you'd intended which caused...
all this. You're just lucky it hadn't exploded in your hand.
The idea was from watching Neji train. If you could imbue your weapons with just the slightest edge of your own chakra so that they transferred it to whatever you hit, you could disrupt their chakra network momentarily. On top of whatever physical damage you caused. Of course, Neji's style had all the fluid grace and precision of a surgeon's scapel. Your idea had all the elegance of a sledgehammer to a support beam, but seeing as you lacked a dojutsu that gave you perfect vision of everyone's internal chakra network and the capability to process their information in real-time sledgehammer would have to do.
You had to rely whatever the not-chakra was though to help though, since your normally you wouldn't have the chakra control to even attempt something like this. Too little chakra and it was worthless, too much and well...you glanced to down at the molten remains of the kunai. It turned into an unstable grenade with no pin and an uncertain timer. Not exactly something you were comfortable holding.
So you had to rely on the not-chakra. You still weren't exactly sure what it was, just that it made you
better, but even with that it was still tricky to get down. You were never the best at chakra control, it just wasn't something you enjoyed practicing, especially after your attempts to be a medical-nin fell through and your practical motivation to improve had tanked.
Your fingers closed around your intact kunai, none of those thoughts now. You wanted to improve, you
had to improve. Even if it meant doing something unpleasant, you could do this, you knew you could. That faint whisper of possibility that hadn't left you since the preliminary fight. It was just a matter of getting there. You pushed yourself up and focused on the remaining quartet of target dummies.
Gai-sensei gave a blinding smile you could practically feel on your back
"That's the spirit!"
~///~
As you descended the elevator leading down to the main complex of Konoha Intelligence you idly rubbed your hand. By the time the finals ended you'd definitely be sporting some new callouses on your hands, but for now you just had to deal with the bloody bandages currently wrapped around your dominant hand.
Still, your own injuries weren't the reason you were here. No, you were here to visit Kin. You had meant to do it earlier, but a combination of more pressing matters and the fact that you were sure you could (or should) had stayed your hand. Now though, you'd gotten permission from Gai-sensei, who'd in turn gotten a visit approved for you.
Which left the only obstacle between you and a friendly visit to the girl you...recruited? was passing the security check to actually enter the underground complex that formed the backbone of Konoha's Intelligence Services. A process that involved getting finger-printed, having your blood tested, stuck with a chakra needle designed to disrupt henges and genjutsu, and those were just the parts you weren't blindfolded for.
Gai-sensei had briefly explained the issues caused by defections during a hosted chunin exam, a fact that was covered by the various treaties that allowed these to happen in the first normally. Not that anyone actually followed those provisions, but an image of compliance had to be maintained. So Kin was confined to special quarters reserved for handling and debriefing defectors until the Chunin Exams had completed, both to protect her person, and her value as an intelligence asset.
Which led you to a nondescript metal door in a nondescript hallway, its only defining feature was the fact that it was one of the few doors with visible guards standing near it. Your guide stopped to talk quietly with one of the guards.
You however hesitated, did she even want to see you? She'd been in a bad spot the last time you'd seen her. Had T&I done anything to her?
The guard nodded, and you saw a keycard swipe across a pad and the faint sound of the door unlocking. Hesitantly you knocked, and it was with a faint stab of disappointment that you didn't get an answer. The guard rolled his eyes and motioned to the doorknob.
Oh.
You pushed open the door, wincing slightly as the obviously unoiled hinges let out a soft groan, to find...an apartment; A very nice apartment.
It was nicer than yours at least. Nicely carpeted, with no lack for furnishings, and a clearly used bed in the back that was almost twice as large as yours. The only thing it lacked was a kitchen. Oh, and the view that added almost 1000 ryo to your rent. And in the center of it all, gazing down at a book, was the person you came here to see.
She looks much like you remember her, even if they'd given her a change of clothes, trading in her flak vest and cargo pants for a konoha green t-shirt and sweat pants. Her Sound hitai-ate is nowhere to be seen, which you suppose is a good sign.
She glances up, and you see a faint flash of confusion on her face before her eyes widen in recognition.
"Hi." You give an awkward little wave.
She closes her book, Konoha and the Will of Fire, and sets it carefully on the table in front of her before responding. "Hey." there's an odd edge in her voice you can't quite place, "Why are you here?"
"Well, um, I just thought I'd come visit, see how you were doing you know?" You sat down in one of the chairs opposite her, doing your best to give her the brightest smile you could. The faint look of confusion on her face though tells you she probably doesn't.
"Oh."
The silence dragged on as you tried to think of something to say. Come on Tenten, what would Le-no wait bad idea Nej-okay even worse. Ino! Ino is good at this kind of stuff, what would Ino sa-
"Why?"
You blinked at the sudden interruption, "Why what?"
"Why...w-why did you help me?" Her voice cracked slightly and she gestures to the book on the table in front of her, "I'm trying to understand, but I just...can't...why me? Why help me? I'm just-...I'm not-..." She opens her mouth like she wants to say more, but nothing else comes out. She just looks at you, and you can see fear, and pain, and some very, very broken in her eyes.
How are you going to answer this?
[ ] It was the right thing to do.
[ ] Because everyone deserves a second chance.
[ ] You looked like you needed it.
Right so, because you chose the Kin Interlude, she's managed to recover just a touch from what you witnessed in there. She had a nice long chat with Hiruzen, which helped a little bit. Don't get me wrong, she still has capital-I Issues though.
Oh, and I hope everyone is happy with how I'm interpreting how Joint Wounding Attack works.
