Strange Ambitions

A Naruto fanfiction by Otaking GTJ

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi-sama, not me. If I owned it, it would be called "The Shikamaru and Neji Prime-Time Hour of FUN! Guest-starring Chouji, and Lee with the weather" So there.

AN: I can't believe I'm writing fanfiction again... You Naruto fans may not know me, as I was previously a Zelda author, under the name "Mousse 1/2". I wrote two fics, and never finished them. And I probably never will. That was 2 years ago, and I still have no desire to continue those fics. But this one, I will try my hardest to write in it's entirety. This fic's idea was inspired by the ever-so-awesome Link and Luigi, from whom I formulated ideas on this fic while chatting online late one night... Plus, her fanfic "The Naruto Primer" is the best Naruto fanfic EVER. Go read it. But after you read mine. Btw, this fic was meant to be written in Script format, but I see cancelled them for no reason. Whatever, might as well try something new..

Strange Ambitions

Chapter 1: To be a Hero

It was after the whole ordeal with Sasuke and his whole "kill-Naruto-and-awaken-the-Mangekyou-Sharingan" thing. That was over now. Both of them lay in the hospital, resting after that little scuffle. But we are not looking at the hospital for them right now. No, there are more important things afoot. Today was the day on which Hyuuga Neji was to be released, after being rescued by Shizune and having all his wounds healed from that nasty fight with Kidoumaru, who died since he wasn't as lucky. But that was his destiny to die, as it was Neji's destiny to survive and go on and prove that the Branch House is so awesome, and can overcome the evil Main House, and prove once and for all that...oh, sorry, got a little carried away there..right. Anyway, today he would be released, and his teacher, the ever-hyper Gai-Sensei, was there to see him off and get back to ninja-ing with his team-mates. Accompanying was his clo-er, student, Rock Lee, flashing the same bowl-cut, super-huge eyebrows, and stylish green bodystuit as his teacher. Well, except Gai wore a vest, but that's just because he's a Jounin. Duh. As they walked up to the desk, they were greeted by the receptionist.

"Hello? May I help you?", said the receptionist, whose name will not be given because nobody really cares, though people will still look her up in one of those handy Naruto guidebooks, then put up as much info about her as possible on their fancy Naruto info sites....

Gai replied, "Yes! We are here to pick up Hyuuga Neji, so that we may continue in our SUPER-COOL NINJA MISSIONS!" He then bared his super-shiney, brushed-7 and a half-times-a-day, teeth, which gave their usual Gai Twinkle. "We would like to see him as soon as possible so we can start! Right, Lee?"

"Hai, Gai-sensei!", replied Lee. "Neji needs to be out and ready! We have LOTS OF HARD WORK TO DO!"

"Alright, then, you can follow me up to his room. I think he's sleeping right now, but he should be able to leave as soon as he wakes", replied the receptionist.

The receptionist/nurse then came out from behind her desk and began to escort Gai and Lee upstairs to see the recovering Hyuuga. However, by the time they reached the foot of the stairs, they heard the sound of running footsteps, and a shout out from an almost-recognizable female voice. The voice that you don't hear that much, since the recipient doesn't get that much spotlight, and has almost no real development whatsoever. Care to take a guess?

Yep. You got it. Tenten.

"Hey, Lee! Gai-sensei! Wait up for me!", she shouted in and out of pants, catching up to them as the two Beatles look-alikes stopped and turned to face her. "Why'd you come without me? I thought we were going to see Neji off then continue our ninja missions! We can't do the missions without the entire team!"

Gai looked at Tenten with a look of confusement. "What?" Then, the look in those eyes changed to realisation, and then immediately to one of pity. "You didn't know?"

Lee's eyes, on the other hand, only have two modes: Really big with no real color, and Fiery Inspired DO IT OR KICK THE LOG! mode. Since he wasn't exactly inspired right now, his eyes were in the former, but that doesn't really matter. "Tenten, I thought you knew!"

"What are you talking about?" Tenten was confused. She was coming to see Neji off with Lee and Gai-sensei and continue to do missions, and they look as if they weren't expecting her to be there! "What is all this about?"

Gai gave a heavy sigh, and kneeled down to Tenten's level, placing an arm on her shoulder. "Tenten, remember that day off you had a while ago, while Sasuke was going all nutso, and Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Kiba, and Chouji went off to rescue him"?

"Yeah. It was a day off. What about it?"

Gai coughed, and tried to explain the situation to Tenten as good as possible. "Well, didn't you think it was a bit strange that you were allowed to take the day off when the village was in such a state of emergency that everyone was busy with missions, and even Shino, a Genin, had to go do missions with his father?"

By the look on her face, it was obvious that this thought had never crossed Tenten's mind. "No, I never thought of that..." She finally got the concept. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes. That wasn't just a day off. I didn't know of any better way to phrase it.. But, you didn't get it, so I'll have to more straightforward. Tenten, you're fired."

This hit hard on the poor weapons girl. The look of shock on her face easily showed that. "F-fired? But why?"

"Well, to put it honestly, Tenten, you're just not much of a ninja. I mean, you lost to Temari in that one fight, and all she did was swing a fan. You also have shown no real personality or meaningful development, so I'm afraid, we're going to have to let you go."

"What? But I tried my best in that fight, and you're always telling us to try our best! What about all that hard work stuff you always talk about? LIke with Lee! He used to be worse than Lee, and you didn't fire him!"

Gai gave another sigh. "Yes, he got better through hard work. You have not improved at all, and have obviously been slacking at times. I mean, all we ever see you do is throw stuff at Neji to help him train! And your training is just for aim! You already have perfect aim, you need to improve your physical strength! But you have failed in that, and your poor performance in the Chuunin Exam made me come to this very sad decision! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, TENTEN!"

Gai then burst into tears, as Lee did the same. "Yes, Tenten, we shall miss you! Farewell, and do well in your life as an ex-ninja!"

Tenten was getting quite angry now, and tried to stop the two sobbing wearers of the green. "Wait, you guys! I'm not accepting this! I didn't do that bad! Shikamaru couldn't beat Temari either!"

"Yes, but he did a really good fight, and was the only person who passed the exam", replied Gai (Who then was very glad that Asuma wasn't passing by at the time, because then He'd hear even more gloating than usual.)

"But what about Neji and Lee? They didn't pass the exam!"

"But Lee was up against an evil demon who could control sand, and who was practically invincible!"

"And what about Neji? He lost to Naruto!"

"Naruto put in lots of hard work to beat Neji, while Neji gloated in his genius! That is a valid loss!

At this point, Tenten gave up. "Fine. Your reasons suck, but I guess there's no point in arguing it. But how are you going to do missions without me? Don't you need a 3-Genin and one Jounin team?"

Apparantly, Lee had never thought of this. "That's right, Gai-sensei! Who will our new partner be?"

"Don't worry, Lee! I've already chosen a perfect partner, with all the right skill, strength, and personality to fit as a partner for you!" He then gave his super-sparkle Gai Smile and Nice-Guy Pose (TM). MEET YOUR NEW PARTNER! COME IN, NEW NINJA!"

The two ninjas and one ex-ninja stood there, as there was silence. A tumbleweed rolled. Tenten sweatdropped.

"Um, so where is this new partner?", she asked.

At that time, who would come in but THE SQUIRREL LEE SAVED WAY BACK IN THE 2ND TEST OF THE CHUUNIN EXAM! And it was wearing a tiny little Konoha headband too! It came up, and crawled up onto Lee's shoulder, then gave a bit of a squirrel salute.

Tenten sweatdropped again. "You replaced me with a SQUIRREL?!"

"Yes!", said Gai. "If it weren't for him, Lee wouldn't have partook in the fight between the Sound nins to save Sakura, and Sakura would have died! That Squirrel proved itself to be more important in that one scene than you ever have since you graduated!" (Keep in mind that he is not saying this in malice, but in his usual way. He's not making fun of Tenten, he's just telling the truth. Though technically that is the same thing)

Lee, however, was ecstatic with his new partner. "ALRIGHT! YOU'RE ALRIGHT! AND NOW YOU GET TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE GAI-SENSEI, NEJI, AND I! HOORAY! You need a name though! Ah! I SHALL CALL YOU NUTNUT!"

"....Nutnut?", sighed Tenten.

"Yes, Nutnut! That way he reminds us of you, our old partner! And he has nut in his name twice, since he's a squirrel! Nutnut is the perfect name for him!"

Gai seemed almost as ecstatic as Lee. "YES! GOOD NAME, LEE! BUT NOW, WE MUST GO SEE NEJI! WE'VE BEEN STANDING HERE TALKING HERE FOR TOO LONG! Goodbye Tenten, and good luck finding another job! Come, Lee, Nutnut!"

And so Gai, Lee, and Nutnut went up to Neji's room, leaving Tenten alone in the waiting room.. Well, not really alone, as there were patients and receptionists, but you know what I mean. She just stood there, shocked at this. She was fired? And replaced by a squirrel? She was unimportant? She couldn't handle this, oh no. She had dealt with being in the backstory for awhile, but this was the last straw.

Tenten wanted revenge.

"So, they think I'm unimportant, huh? Then I'll prove how important I can be! I'LL FIND OUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING, AND NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, I'LL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON THE SCENE! Then Gai will see how wrong he was, and Lee will realise that I'm better than a stupid squirrel and Neji will.uh.....have me help in his training more! I WILL BE THE HERO OF THIS STORY, IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

And so Tenten set her goal. But little did she know that all kinds of zany things would be happening later, and she's have a lot to deal with. Angry cousins, gymnastics events, lame mysteries, strange allies.. and that would only be the tip of the iceberg that the Tentenic was headed for. But would she succeed? Ah, that is another 20 or so stories.....

There's your teaser. Sorry this was short. If a lot of you like this, later chapters will be longer, I promise. this was just an introduction, and there will be many ongoing plots to deal with, each dealing with different characters..and Tenten. And that's where you come in! You get to choose which plots I introduce first! For one, one of the plots involves Neji and Lee. that will be touched on next chapter. however I will also cover at least one other plot, and maybe two. Here are the characters in each plot. Feel free to choose which one or two plots you want to see first! The one/ones with the most votes will appear next chapter!

Kiba/Shino

Hinata/Ino

Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura

Kakashi/Asuma/Gai/Kurenai

Shikamaru/Chouji

Kabuto/Orochimaru

Itachi/Kisame

Jiraiya/Tsunade

Iruka/Konohamaru/Udon/Mogei

Don't you worry about those more random ninjas though, like Genma, Morino, Kotetsu, etc. They will come into play, I promise. Keep in mind that I am not going for any romantic pairings in this fic. This is all comedy, not romance. However, there may be some unrequited comedic love (Think Ranma ).

The "day off" Gai was talking about refers to the cover of one of the chapters in the most recent storyline, during those fights with the Sound 5. It showed Tenten, having a day off, while all these other ninjas are fighting...

Lots of influence from linkandluigi in this, and of course from my own twisted mind. Please review, and I accept Constructive Criticism but no flames please! Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chap will be up next week if enough people like it!