One week later.
Tenten had reached a conclusion she would never admit in front of Kaito.
The humiliation had been worth it.
Not because she had enjoyed cleaning his apartment. Nor because of what Kaito had done to her.
But because seven days later. Just as he had promised. She was standing in the middle of a training ground, staring at the completely black kunai between her fingers.
It wasn't chakra, nor was it an illusion. Much less paint.
It was Busoshoku Haki.
And for approximately ten seconds, she managed to maintain it.
She couldn't help remembering the intense week of training.
Repeating the same exercise over and over again.
Since the embarrassing incident. She hadn't seen him in his apartment again whenever she went there to clean and cook for him. At least he had shown her that much respect.
And aside from that. During training, he seemed like a completely different person.
A serious gaze, strict to the point of absurdity. And without the slightest trace of pity for her suffering and exhaustion.
Tenten remembered how horrible the second day had been.
Kaito began the training exactly as he had the day before. By breaking the habit most deeply ingrained in any shinobi.
"Don't use chakra".
Tenten was sitting cross-legged on the grass with a kunai resting across both hands.
"I'm not".
"You're circulating it". Kaito told her, rolling his eyes.
"I haven't even done anything yet!".
"Exactly".
Tenten opened her eyes.
Kaito remained seated in front of her.
"Your body is already trying to direct chakra toward your hands".
Tenten looked at her palms as if they had personally betrayed her and gritted her teeth.
Kaito raised a finger.
"First part of today's training: I want you to simply hold the kunai".
"That's easy".
"I'm not finished".
"Then I want you to try to harden it without allowing absolutely any chakra to circulate through your channels".
Tenten stared at the kunai.
"And how am I supposed to do that?".
"Willpower".
She closed her eyes.
"I hate that word more every time I hear it".
Kaito smiled.
The next two hours consisted of failure. Tenten focused her attention on the kunai and her chakra reacted to her control.
Kaito stopped her every time.
But inwardly, he nodded at the excellent training method he had come up with.
It was very effective at separating the two concepts.
Chakra and Haki.
After almost fifty attempts, Tenten managed to keep her chakra completely stable while trying to evoke that unfamiliar sensation.
But nothing happened.
"Good. You're making progress".
Tenten smiled radiantly at the compliment.
The third day was worse. Kaito stopped allowing her to remain seated.
Tenten had to move.
Run, jump, throw weapons. And even retrieve them.
Switch between kunai, shuriken, and close-combat weapons. All while trying to identify each style and shape of the object.
Tenten was accustomed to repetition. Her specialization practically demanded an extraordinary tolerance for it. No one learned to handle so many different weapons with precision simply because they had talent.
She had repeated throws until her fingers bled. She had practiced movements until her muscles trembled. She had learned distances, weights, shapes, centers of balance, and trajectories through thousands of hours of training.
That was why this exercise came relatively easily to her. Kaito quickly discovered that this was precisely her greatest advantage.
Years of training and familiarity with ninja tools.
Tenten didn't need the training to be entertaining. She needed to know that it worked.
On the fourth day, Kaito changed the exercise again.
He placed a stone on an improvised table.
"Break it with the kunai with everything you've got".
She looked at the stone. Then the weapon. She was about to do it, but then Kaito spoke again.
"I don't want to see a single scratch on the kunai afterward".
Tenten looked at him in horror.
And that was how the entire day went.
Kaito began to understand that threatening a weapon was considerably more effective than threatening her.
"The concept is simple. Doing it isn't". Tenten said.
Kaito picked up another kunai.
"Busoshoku can be understood as armor formed from willpower. But repeating those words is useless if your body doesn't learn what they actually mean. Don't think about generating energy. Don't imagine chakra but black. Don't try to push anything through your channels. Just focus and feel the energy that's different from chakra".
Kaito's hand darkened a moment later. Then the kunai did as well.
"Decide for yourself that this isn't going to break".
He struck the stone.
Crack.
The rock split apart while the kunai remained intact. Without a scratch.
"And it will. It'll break because your will wanted it to".
Tenten stared at the fragments.
"You make it look insultingly easy".
"Because for me it is".
Kaito handed her her own kunai.
"Your turn".
Tenten struck.
Clang.
The impact traveled through her entire arm.
"Shit!".
Kaito examined the small mark on the edge.
"You failed. Again".
Kaito was beginning to get irritated. Clearly, Tenten was far less talented than Hinata.
If it weren't because he knew she would do everything possible to become a great kunoichi. And that, in fact, was her dream.
Kaito wouldn't have bothered teaching her.
The cleaning?
That was simply a whim. A deal where both of them benefited.
"Think only about the weapon". Kaito decided to take a different approach with her.
"You know that tool better than I do. You know how much it weighs. You know how much it can withstand. You know where it would break if it struck something too resistant. You know its limitations". He emphasized the word limitations.
Tenten carefully ran her thumb over the handle.
"Yes".
"Then reject all of them. There are no limitations for the weapons you hold. You're the one who puts them there. That's the quality of a king". Kaito got excited and then thought that line was fucking awesome.
Then he gently tapped his own chest.
"That is willpower".
"Only then will you be able to manifest Haki". He said, concluding his verbal encouragement for the day.
Tenten looked up. For the first time, she believed she understood a small part of it.
That afternoon ended with a damaged kunai, two intact stones, and a completely frustrated and maddened Tenten.
But when she returned home, she practiced until the next day.
On the afternoon of the fifth day. An unexpected visit arrived.
Kaito sensed them the moment they entered his detection range.
"You can come out. You don't need to hide".
Tenten stopped training.
Two figures jumped down from the trees to the ground.
"Neji, Lee".
Tenten ran toward them.
"We have a mission. We were looking for you". Neji said. Then he narrowed his eyes at Kaito.
Lee introduced himself, like the gentleman he was.
"We're Tenten's teammates".
Kaito returned the greeting.
"Kaito Shirogane. Jōnin".
Lee then looked at Tenten.
"Let's go, this time Neji will be the leader. We'll show him that even though we aren't Jōnin like him. We're not really any less than that".
Tenten became excited about the sudden mission. She was already beginning to grow bored with the same routine.
"Kaito-sensei, I'll see you when I get back". The brunette said goodbye.
Kaito returned the farewell and sighed in relief.
He looked at his panel and smiled with excitement.
"I think it's time to advance". He said.