Forced Wedding

The attack

He watched Tenten's farewell from afar, he saw how Toshio almost dragged her into the transport, and he was annoyed. It wasn't right to send her back, it was a risky move because where something went wrong they would hold her hostage, they were voluntarily handing her over so that her kidnapping would continue.

The carriage pulled away and he headed to the meeting they were having, it was time to start planning the attack and Tenten's release.

Carefully she had left a couple of books in the residence that she had brought that might be of use to them, inside one of them she had provided them with a list of names of both some families they should investigate, and other books that would suddenly be of use. There was also a blank piece of paper that he could assume was the note that Toshio had sent her the day she stayed at home.

They organized different work fronts, he wanted to go do field research but Tsunade had prevented him, his face was easily recognizable which would alert them, and for him to go with an ANBU mask wouldn't be wise, so he had to step aside in that area. Besides leading the team and consolidating all the information that was collected, he was helping to review some of the books brought by the scouts that were stacked one on top of the other on his desk.

At what time had Tenten read all that? He could assure that not even the natives of the village of Lightning knew the history to the level that she knew it, maybe that's why she had discovered the inconsistencies that no one else had noticed, no one had that innate curiosity. Besides he had to read the countless manuscripts and scrolls they had in Konoha about the Lightning country, he sighed resignedly.

The work was arduous and they weren't moving as fast as he had hoped. In his most optimistic plans he had hoped that with two weeks they would already be planning the logistics of the attack, not waiting for the reports of the interviews that were conducted with the families that had been listed as possible victims. They had to be very cautious in gathering information as they didn't want to raise suspicions. The Hokage had made it clear that it was indispensable to have the confessions of the families to prove the criminal activity of the Yoshida, otherwise the Raikage would support them, and they could give that battle as lost even before giving it.

~

Another couple of weeks passed and Tsunade had arranged a meeting with the Raikage at the Sand village, a neutral territory for the two villages in which it wouldn't be entirely suspicious for them to address. As he waited for the outcome of the meeting he couldn't get Tenten out of his mind, by now she had completed the first quarter, would she be doing the exercises that had been recommended to her? Would Toshio continue to exert that violence he witnessed? Would she believe that they had given up on the plan and that she should resign herself to continue in that marriage? He exhaled heavily and with his hand squeezed the bridge of his nose, he was exhausted.

The Hokage returned to the village, and summoned him to her office.

"Sit down," was her greeting, he approached the chair but remained standing, on the desk was the pile of folders with the reports she had brought to the meeting.

"What was the result?" he asked impatiently.

"He won't intervene," he nodded, "he won't support us, but he won't stand in our way either."

"Can we proceed?"

"We can proceed, whatever is seized will belong to the Raikage."

A part of him wanted to just attack and be done with it, not wait any longer, but no, they had to establish the plan of attack. The news of the betrayal of the village had spread fast, in his ANBU suit he had spoken to several villagers who reported the questions they had received from the lightning retinue, as well as wondered what was going to happen to Tenten, no one had questioned her loyalty and showed concern for her and the baby's well being.