Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. One day I might, you never know...

Hi. My name's Tenten. I know what you're thinking, what's my surname? Well, I don't have one, so live with it.

I am 12 years old this year and my birthday is the 9th of March. Like most youths in Konoha, I'm a student at the ninja academy. If you ever need to find me, you can go to class 06-04. Look for a brown haired girl with 2 buns in her hair: that would be me.

I'm a tomboy, I don't associate much with the other girls, so I usually either spar with the guys in my class or talk to them about weapons. There's nothing I love more than a brand new kunai or any other weapon you care to name. My hobbies are sparring, polishing my arsenal (which can arm an entire army) and fortune telling.

Anyway, I've just taken my final exams. It's the most important exam which decides whether I get to graduate or not. Also, depending on how we do, we'll be placed into our 3-man teams. I was a bit worried about the written exams, but I had no problem with the physical exams, especially the targets. In the past, I couldn't even throw a kunai straight, but now I have impeccable aim, gained through many years of practice.

Since the exams were over, the teachers gave us several days off before the we got our results. On the last day, I was in the forest, trying to think of a method that would let me carry my entire weapons collection wherever I went. It isn't easy carrying 54 kunai, 78 shuriken, 10 fuuma shuriken, 159 senbon,4 tonfas, 20 scythes, 13 katanas, 14 maces...

As I was thinking, in vain I might add, I heard a rustling in the bushes. I nearly threw the kunai I was holding at it. Luckily, my friend, Asuka, stepped out before I did. He invited me to spar with him and some of his other friends, which I gladly agreed since I was bored of thinking

I followed Asuka to a clearing in the forest. There were two other people there. One was Asuka's friend, Makoto and the other was Asuka's best friend, Neji. Asuka had been my friend for about two years. We were frequent sparring partners; he's like my little brother while Makoto is Asuka's friend. I'm not that close to him.

Neji is from the prestigious Hyuga clan. I've never sparred with him before, he usually prefers to train alone. We were seat mates for half a year so I guess you could consider us accquaintances. He's a pretty nice guy, once you get to know him. Very polite and quiet too, but a wonderful listener.

Asuka was looking at me with this wierd smile. I'd seen that before. It meant he was up to no good.

"Ok. Tag team spars. I get Makoto."

"What?" I nearly screamed.

"Come on. You two make a great couple, so I'm sure you'll be good partners-"

I cut him off by throwing a shuriken at the tree behind him, missing his face by a hair's width. Neji just glared.

Asuka gulped and decided to keep his mouth shut. If he hadn't...

"Fine," Neji said.

"You sure?" Truth to be told, I wanted to fight against him, not with him.

"Yeah, whatever."

So we started our spar. It ended pretty quickly.

"You nearly sliced my arm off!" Asuka complained.

"Sorry."

"Good match." Makoto held out his hand.

Neji stared at the outstretched hand for a while before taking it in his own and shaking it lightly. I guess he didn't want to bruise it further. Despite all the taijutsu he was doing, not a strand of his hair was out of place and his clothing was immaculate. Wish I could say the same for me. Usually I don't care about my appearance much, but I just didn't get why he wasn't as messed up as the rest of us were.

After I fixed my hair, which was falling out it's buns and distracting me, I walked up to Neji and asked him to fight me. He agreed.

We stood in our ready positions, waiting for someone to make the first move. I made it by throwing three kunai at him. They hit.

"Wow! You got him." Makoto shouted, clearly amazed. No way this is Neji we're talking about here.

Suddenly, "Neji" poofed and turned into a log.

"Kawarimi!" I shouted and looked around. I couldn't find him at all. Then I heard a voice in my ear.

"I'm right here." I whipped my head around and came face to face with him. Simultaneously, I drew out a kunai to strike him, but he parried with his own. I jumped back and threw the kunai at him, then blinked in surprise as he plucked it out of the air and wrapped his hand around it

Using my chakra to keep myself in mid air, I threw all the shuriken and kunai I had at him. All at different speeds and angles, praying that at least one would meet its mark. One did. A kunai grazed his arm, leaving behind a small thin cut. The rest hit logs or were deflected.

I went back down to earth and was met with a cool smile and a kunai at my neck.

"You lose."

I sighed and he holstered his kunai.

Meanwhile Asuka and Makoto were cheering for both of us.

"Haha you rock Neji!"

"Tenten wasn't too bad either. She actually managed to hit him."

"Yeah. I didn't even come close," Asuka admitted.

I laughed and thanked Neji for sparring with me. He just gave a small smile and said, "No problem."

"Tenten," Asuka whined, "why did you get him and I didn't."

"She's better than you. You just lost to a girl!" Makoto laughed.

"Well I don't recall you scoring any hits on him either!" Asuka retorted, pouting.

While the two boys bickered, I was feeling guilty for hurting him.

"Sorry about your arm. Is it ok?"

"It's fine."

"It's bleeding!" I reached into my pocket for a bandage and wrapped it around his cut. I could see him wince slightly when the bandage was lowered onto the cut, but I didn't say anything.

"There. Good as new!"

"Thanks," he said quietly.

I just smiled and went to break up the fight between Asuka and Makoto, who were now arguing over who was the bigger wuss. Even though I don't want to admit it, I think that my hit on Neji was pure luck, not skill.

The day had finally arrived. The day that would determine the rest of my life as a kunoichi. Today, I would be getting back my results, as well as my team mates. I entered the classroom, only to be ambushed by Asuka.

"Hey, I heard no one in our class failed!" Asuka was smiling that smile again.

"Really? Why is that such a surprise?"

"Because Mr "I can't use ninjutsu" is in our class. I thought he would have dropped out of the Academy a long time ago. It's a wonder he even passed!"

Asuka was probably referring to Rock Lee. He's nothing special. Since he can't mold chakra, he can't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, hence the nickname. Most of the boys like to make fun of him. I don't really know much about him actually.

"Ok, Ok..." I said, sitting down in my seat. One of the guys who was obviously not updated on the previous fact went up to Lee and said, "I thought only people who passed were supposed to be here?"

"I passed as well." he replied politely, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was hurt. If I were him, I would have embedded a kunai in the kid's head to get some airholes in his skull.

"Class settle down," Iruka-sensei said. Everyone sat at their respective places. I could practically feel the tension in the air. "First things first, report cards!" Some people groaned.

"Asuka." Asuka stood up and got his card. Judging by his face, he did ok. But for him, ok equals passed.

"Ayame."

The list went on and on until it came to Hyuga Neji. He was number one rookie, no surprises there.

"Tenten."

I nervously got up and walked to the front. I accepted the card from Iruka-sensei and went back to my seat. I didn't really want to open it, but since I'd have to get it over with eventually, I decided to just open it. I was pretty happy with my grades. I did well for the physical, I messed up a bit on the written exam though.

"Rock Lee." When his name was called, many people started whispering.

"He passed?"

"I can't believe it."

"Lowest in class I suppose."

"Quiet!" Iruka-sensei slienced the class.

When Rock Lee walked back to his seat, Iruka sensei held up a list.

"Now for the next order of business. Your teams. Team 1: Asuka, Kotarou and Kasumi."

"Aww..."Asuka moaned. I felt kind of sorry for him since he wanted to be with his friends.

"Team 2: Makoto, Kazuya and Akane." Makoto was cheering because he was with Kazuya, the second best in class.

"Makoto, these teams are arranged so that it will be balanced. There's nothing for you to be so happy about," Iruka explained, to Makoto's horror. The whispering began again.

"That means Neji is definitely with Lee."

"I pity him."

"Now which girl's going to be with them?"

"I bet it's Tenten. She's been with Neji most of the year, they're like so fated," Asuka said again. Some other people nodded in agreement. Note to self: Kill Asuka later.

While I was plotting 101 ways to kill my "friend"; Iruka-sensei had continued on until

"Team 9: Neji, Lee and Tenten."

"I knew it! Pay up!" Asuka shouted at his friend who handed him some money.

I could swear Iruka-sensei and some other people were sweat-dropping. Let me make a correction to my previous statement. Make it : 201 ways to kill Asuka. Beyond my anger at Asuka, I was pretty shocked. Was I that bad that I had to be in the same team as Neji? God, I sucked.

I didn't bother to pay attention to the rest of the teams.

"Tomorrow you'll meet your Jounin-sensei. Dismissed." Everyone else stood up and started leaving.

Iruka-sensei was cleaning the white board as the rest of my classmates left.

"Sensei, can I ask you a question."

"Sure."

"Did I do very badly?"

"I think your grades speak for themselves."

"But I'm in Neji's team..."

"Remember what I said? Since err...Lee is in your team... two very good students are needed."

Well, that made sense enough to me. So I thanked him and left.

I decided to train for awhile before going to bed early.

Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new chapter of my life.

Author's Note:

I haven't seen many Tenten centered fics, and since she's my favourite character, I decided to make one. I had lots of trouble deciding what to write about, then my sister asked me what I thought Tenten was like when she was younger. In the end I decided to make this fic.

Thanks to Midnight Memories for helping me and pointing out my (numerous) mistakes.

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