(I should have made this two days ago, but it didn't cross my mind until now)

Tenkuu stood outside the village. She was awaiting her Assistant and her Captain regarding the Kage meeting tomorrow. She was thinking about not attending. And sending Lee as well as Shen in her place. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe Micah would take it as a sign of weakness. She sighed. She was starting to question if she was cut out to be Kage. "Where are they?"

Shen still had Etsu with him, the small girl having fallen asleep while he'd been holding her. He was tired, and his whole body ached, but it wasn't a problem. He could hold a small child up for a little while. And just as he'd told Sukai, Shen was on his way to find Tenkuu, since Etsu was finally calm. When he found the pink haired girl, he walked up to her, the anger that he'd been hiding from Etsu starting to rise to the surface. He was trying to find a different outlet for it, but with Etsu with him that wasn't easy. As soon as he was free, chances were, he was going to train himself to exhaustion out of pure anger. He didn't want to take it out on Tenkuu. Though much of this was her fault, she was probably beating herself up enough as it stood already. Instead, Shen was tormenting himself. He should've persuaded Tenkuu not to send all the ninja out, and he should've been strong enough to push back most of the Snow ninja. But no. By the time he'd arrived back home from the Magma, he was worn out. Some stamina he had. He didn't care to let it register in his mind that he'd taken out large amounts of snake warriors. All that registered was that he should've taken out just as many Snow ninja. "Lady Tenkuu," he addressed her as he approached. "How you holding up?"

Kaoru entered the Stealth Village with a few other ninja from the Crested. The ANBU had been sent by Kenjiro to help in the assist of rebuilding the Stealth. It didn't seem like the ideal job of an ANBU, but it was orders. Leading the group to Tenkuu she stopped in front of the Stealth Kage and the man with her. She waited until after the guy had finished talking to quickly speak. "Sorry for the interruption, we're here on orders of the Crested Kage. We are at your disposal ma'am. Any supplies needed we will get for you right away. Any help needed, we will without hesitation lend a hand."

Tenkuu was glad to see Shen, although it would have been more appropriate to leave the little girl with someone else. Tenkuu disregarded the fact and went to speak when a group of Crested ninja approached her, with an ANBU in the lead. "It's good to have allies," stated the kage. "Tell Kenjiro I said thank you. We're currently in need of muscle to help remove all the rubble from the village." She waited until the group had left to speak. "I'd be doing better if my village wasn't hanging by a thread," she answered to Shen. "How are you holding up?"

Shen looked at the girl leading the ANBU as she came up and spoke with Tenkuu, remaining silent until they left. At least Kenjiro was helping out. That was good to know. He looked back to Tenkuu as she spoke, his face damn near void of emotion. He was trying to hold back his anger for the sake of the girl in front of him. "I've been better," he responded simply. He gave a sigh and looked around. They really did a number on this place, he thought silently. He wouldn't speak it aloud though. He then looked back to her. "Besides rebuilding, what exactly do you plan on doing now?" he asked. He knew Tenkuu. There were times when she didn't think she was good enough to be there Kage. And there were times when Shen agreed with her. But right now they needed a stable leader. They could not end up like the Storm village. If they lost their leader now, they'd be in worse condition than the Storm had been in.

Tenkuu shrugged. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do," she told him honestly. "There are two many things to consider at this point." She paused for a very long moment. "I've failed my village. I'm not fit to be Kage if I can't defend this village." Jaymaru made a mistake when she placed me in charge. And as much as I'd hate to say she did it because I was too weak, she may be right. If this was a plot for the Akatsuki, then it was a success. "Shen, I'm not going to attend the Kage meeting."

Shen shifted Etsu a bit so that his arm was in a more comfortable position, listening to Tenkuu as she spoke. He stayed silent, about to speak when she said that she wasn't fit to be Kage, his near emotionless expression turning a bit angry. He waved his free hand dismissively as she finished. "Every Kage screws up at some point, to varying degrees. Remember Kinaga Unabara? He gave up, and look what happened to his village. You're going to that meeting Tenkuu. We can't let the other villages think that we're going through a stage of weakness. We have to appear stronger than we are. Make it known that we haven't given up," he told her firmly. He paused to let it soak in a moment before adding "Have you given up on us Tenkuu?" He didn't want to be harsh towards her, but he did need to get through to her.

He just had to bring up Kinaga, didn't he. Tenkuu sighed. "I'm not saying that," she said trying not to snap at her Captain. "But you and I both know that I've screwed up twice now! First the Akatsuki and now the Snow. We're bound for another attack and what happens when I can't keep this village from another attack?" Tenkuu paused. "I mean, it's obvious that we're in a weakened state. Look at our village!" She spread her arms to indicate the damage. "Shen, we don't have to act about anything, people know." Tenkuu wanted to add that Kinaga didn't just 'give up'. They had been winning, who just 'gave up' when winning, but there was no time for that right now.

Shen tried to contain his anger when Tenkuu started stating how she screwed up. "Okay, yeah, you did screw up. Big time. And yeah, what if you can't keep the village from another attack? What then? Tenkuu, listen to yourself. You're worrying about the what if's." He paused to take a breath and close his eyes for a few seconds. "We don't have the time for doubts Tenkuu. What needs to happen now is that we need to keep the moral of the village up. Otherwise, we will fall to the next person who attacks us. And they might not leave us alone like the Snow did, they might not just leave our village. Tenkuu, we can't let that happen." He put one hand on her shoulder. "Look, the Crested is helping us rebuild. No one else knows that, no other village knows that we will recover faster than usual. We'll let the village know that we're getting help, and it'll only speed up the process that much more. We have to keep this under wraps." He took his hand from her shoulder and looked around. "You have to go to that meeting Tenkuu. If they think for a moment that we don't have a Kage, who knows what'll happen. There's no doubt that we'll be attacked again," he told her, then looked back to her. "What's it gonna be Tenkuu. If you're going to keep doubting, you might as well step down now, because we'll get attack either way. But if you're going to buck up and keep this village going, I'll give you any amount of help you need. The ANBU Black Ops will be in the village defending our borders as much as we can, missions will be cut down on. You have the support of your people Tenkuu." He paused again. "What's it gonna be?"