That afternoon, the Konoha research workshop smelled of scorched paper and hot metal. Gears clicked beneath the whine of grinding tools while Tenten stood over a wide metal table, completely absorbed in her work.
Spread out before her were the remains of the Snow ninja equipment: the broken propulsion board, the cracked regulator, and the heavy chakra core. Since Tsunade had officially signed her onto the inspection team, Tenten hadn't stopped moving.
"So, when the rider shifted their weight, how exactly did the board push them?" Tenten asked, leaning close to the exhaust ports. "And how much physical weight was it carrying during active combat?"
Kenji stood across the table, answering only what he remembered from the fight.
"It carried a fully grown man in heavy armor without slowing down," Kenji explained. "The burst came from the back. It didn't glide; it forced its way forward through brute-force chakra release."
Tenten's eyes lit up. She left the researchers arguing over the regulator, grabbed a charcoal pencil, and began sketching directly on the workbench.
"If we isolate that brute-force release," Tenten muttered, drawing a thick cylinder, "we don't need a board. We can use one short, directed burst to throw a heavy weapon much farther than a normal human arm ever could."
An hour later, the workshop staff carried the first rough prototype into the reinforced testing yard. Tenten had called Neji and Lee over after their morning training, reasoning that one could spot flaws and the other was difficult to break.
Neji stood behind the marked safety line with Kenji and the workshop chief. Lee waited nearby, openly disappointed that Tenten had claimed the first shot for herself.
Tenten hoisted the heavy launcher onto her shoulder, loaded a weighted practice spear into the barrel, and fed chakra into the starter seal.
The resulting blast sounded like a thunderclap.
The blast sounded like a thunderclap.
The weighted spear blurred across the yard, punched through the armored target, broke through the perimeter fence, and tore one of Guy's abandoned training dummies into a cloud of straw and splintered wood.
Tenten staggered half a step as the launcher slammed into her shoulder. When she recovered, her face was glowing with delight.
The workshop chief stared through the hole in the target, the hole in his fence, and the empty patch of grass where the dummy had been.
Kenji crossed his arms.
"How much would that cost to produce?"
Before Tenten could begin calculating material costs, Neji stepped forward.
"It is useless in its current form," he said. "You absorbed the recoil because you were prepared. Most shinobi would lose the use of that shoulder after one shot."
Tenten rolled her aching shoulder. The joint was already throbbing beneath her sleeve. She glared at the launcher rather than Neji, which was as close as she came to admitting he was right.
"Fine," Tenten conceded.
She carried the launcher back to the workbench. Over the next half hour, she widened the shoulder brace, added a second grip, and rewrote the starter seal so the chakra burst came out shorter and cleaner. The workshop staff helped secure the altered frame while Tenten checked every fastening herself.
When she was finally satisfied, she turned toward the yard.
"Lee! Come test the recoil on this one!"
"I am ready to embrace the explosion!" Lee shouted enthusiastically, marching forward to take the heavy metal tube.
While Lee and Neji prepared for the second firing sequence, Kenji stepped up beside the workbench. He watched Tenten wipe grease from her cheek with the back of her wrist.
"You know," Kenji said, keeping his voice casual. "You are the first person to look at this foreign technology and actually ask how to make a better weapon out of it. Everyone else just stares at it and talks about how impressive it looks."
Tenten paused. Praise usually stopped at how many weapons she could throw at once. Kenji was talking about the work behind them.
A pleased smile appeared before she could hide it.
"A weapon is only impressive if it works," Tenten replied proudly.
Kenji nodded and allowed the compliment to stand for a moment. Then his smile turned perverted. "I always knew you had incredibly talented hands."
Tenten's face flushed. She snatched a heavy iron wrench from the table and raised it toward his head.
Kenji lifted both hands in surrender. Tenten did not swing, and she did not step away.
Behind them, the workshop chief sealed the original Snow core inside its storage case and ordered two shinobi to return it to the locked examination room.
Across the yard, Lee triggered the modified launcher.
BANG.
The second spear tore across the field and buried itself deep in the reinforced target. Lee skidded backward two feet, his boots cutting twin lines through the dirt.
He rolled his shoulder once, then gave Tenten an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Tenten hurried over and checked the launcher. The brace had held, the seal had not cracked, and Lee still possessed both arms.
Tenten lowered the wrench and stared at the scarred target.
"Now," she said, "I want one that fits in a scroll."
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