The Weapon Mistress
For a long time already, Tenten wanted to learn to use a sword, a katana preferably, but a ninja-to would be fine to start with as well. She had once seen the examinator of the Chuunin prelimentary exam, the one with the cough, Gekkou Hayate, she vaguely remembered, practice. The "Dance of the Crescent Moon", that was what the move was called (she heard him say it) and it was beautiful.
And yet Gai-sensei kept teaching her other skills. She didn't doubt her sensei, not really, although she found his peculiar attitude a bit of a bother sometimes she knew he was a great ninja. Why did he not teach her the sword?
She asked him finally. She thought for a couple of fleeting seconds that he did not know how. Then for a few even more painful seconds she feared that he doubted her strength. His answer wasn't what she expected,
"There are many who say that the first weapon that you should master is the sword. -Start with the sword- they say – once you get that you can go on to all the other stuff. – This is not my approach. If, in the end you want the katana to be your first weapon of choice, and I dare say it will, then I want you to know as many other weapons as possible. I want you to know their strengths and their weaknesses. And with that awareness, believe me Tenten, you'll be able to master a katana to perfection."
He had been unusually serious, so serious in fact, that Tenten felt a pang of pride that he valued her enough, and acknowledged her enough to treat her seriously. And so Tenten practiced. After Kunai and Shiruken and knives and daggers, she learned to use a Kama. She mastered the Naginata, and learned to use a Chigiviki. She got pretty good with a Bo-staff. She mastered the Nunchako and Shobo. She even learned how to deal with Shuko and Neko-te. But in her free time Tenten practiced Bunshin. She looked forward to the day when finally she would receive a katana, and to the day that she to would dance the "crescent moon" even more beautifully then she had seen the examiner.
Hayate practiced the Crescent Moon Dance like crazy, it was an A level jutsu after all. He was good, really good. And yet it never came out perfect. Until the day of his death. Yes, that night, it had been...
...perfect…
I'm not implying any pairings...I just thought it would be likely that Konoha's future weapons mistress would be aware of a jounin specialized in sword fighting.
DISCLAIMER: All the characters in the story, and the world they live in belong (and are copyright of) Masashi Kishimoto, author of the manga Naruto.