I call this ficlet: "Replacement Race" AKA How Tenten beat Neji at Academy Basics.

Author's Note: This started on the Recursive Fanfiction - Dreaming of Sunshine forum, and happens while Naruto is away from the village. I figured it was long enough to post here anyways and who knows, sometimes I get a whim and I tend to extend these things when I get bored or procrastinate when writing for other fics. As always with my shorter stories or one-shots, if it's a ficlet or snippet or plot bunny kinda story, it's complete as is posted, whether I update it later or not.

Disclaimer: Naruto is Masashi Kishi-troll-motos and Shikako Nara belongs to Silver Queen.

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Tenten tossed a kunai repeatedly, absentmindedly, as she pondered how her morning had gone. She'd been working on target practice, while Neji had been working on blocking, something they did quite often, and Lee was working on his strikes against the wooden training logs, when a funny thought occurred to her.

She'd been watching Shikako's team playing her game, "Replacement Tag," days before and wondered if they shouldn't try something similar. She thought she'd like to play a game requiring ninja skills, so the thought struck her and she entertained it for an hour before bringing it to her teammates.

Well, it never hurt to try, right?

But this was something that she wanted to be competitive about, and so, she changed the rules of the game: They had to get from point A to point B, and they could only replace with kunai.

Her sensei was late today, unusual for him, but the overly green garbed man had been held up by paying a penalty for having lost to Kakashi-Sensei at their latest competition- something about 'Which of the two ETERNAL RIVALS can eat the most dango in one sitting.' (Hearing her Sensei yell that, The Tenten was NOT amused.) She also knew Kakashi-Sensei was notorious for dropping the bill on anyone fool enough to eat with him. Paying a penalty And paying for the meals? Poor Sensei! He was currently climbing the Hokage mountain, repeatedly, with just one hand and one foot and no chakra, his left hand being tied to his right foot. He had a goal of one hundred times. She had taken one look at him inching his way up the mountain like a worm trying to avoid a bird, rolled her eyes, and took her teammates to the training ground without him.

She called Neji over, and had Lee be the referee, since it was just them there today.

Once the game was properly explained to them, Lee was ecstatic to be involved and promised to do his solemn best to adhere (and make sure his teammates also adhere to) the rules.

With a gleam in her eye, Tenten drew up a game board for them on the ground. Once they had all memorized the game area, they got into position.

Tenten handed half of her supplies of kunai to Neji, who chose to use them from a holster she provided as he had not brought any with him, and they waited for Lee to call for the game to start.

Lee stood beside the starting line, pumping his fists, cheering that they 'must do their utmost best', before finally calling out, "BEGIN!"

Neji immediately tossed a kunai as far as he could, striking a tree a long, long distance away. With a smirk, he used the Replacement Jutsu, just as Tenten's own kunai struck a tree not too far away from his. She also used the same jutsu, a fraction of a second behind him. She had taken her time in preparing, before aiming.

Neji threw the kunai once again, striking a rock far in the distance. He replaced with the kunai, and stood beside the rock. It blocked his throw for his next target. He hadn't quite thought of that, as his Byakugan, which he was allowed to use for this game, had allowed him to see directly through the rock and made him misjudge his future trajectory. He was stuck behind it and had to go around; so, pulling out another kunai, he threw it not too far ahead to stick into the side of a tree which would put him closer to the correct course he was supposed to be heading in. He decided he didn't need it as his misjudgement of distance for seeing through the rock was detrimental to his progress, nor did he need the chakra drain from using it, and so deactivated his eyes. This was a very simple matter, after all, and didn't really call for the use of his Byakugan.

Lee ran along behind them, eager to catch up to where his friends had disappeared to. He watched their every move, and did so with brows raised as he watched Tenten's preparations. They... were not against the rules... but were quite... different.

Then he realized; she wrote the rules. Lee smiled, knowing this would be a true challenge for Neji, though he would have a fair shot at it if he used his head, and so, with an exuberantly loud cheer, he chased after them.

Neji saw a kunai fly past him as he was assessing his trajectory, and realized that Tenten had just passed him by.

This would not do.

He tossed another kunai and it struck home right where he was aiming, and he replaced with it, near the edge of the training grounds.

Now Lee ran past him. 'Oh, hell no.' Even if Lee was only being the referee for this game, he was NOT going to fall That far behind. He redoubled his efforts, pulling out another kunai from the holster on his leg and engaging another tree in the distance.

He could see Tenten nearby the tree, throwing another kunai far ahead of them. His own knife stuck the tree near her, making her jump in startled surprise.

Lee commented, "No fighting, Neji! Only racing!"

"I know. I was not aiming at her, but at the tree near her!"

"Ah, I see! Very well, then proceed!"

They continued to travel in this manner, tossing kunai and replacing with them over and over, with Lee in tow giving support and praise, until they reached the training grounds where Shikako's team was training. They didn't want to interfere with anyone else's training program, but they did have to pass through the area to get to the goal (which was in the next training ground over) so, as they proceeded to hop from location to location via kunai replacement, they tried to do so without interrupting anyone's training. And without accidentally hitting someone with their knives, of course.

Shikako noticed them first, as she had long felt them coming, but didn't comment. She gave them a distracted and barely noticeable half wave, a vibrant smile which was probably mostly-aimed at Sasuke as she dodged his punch and his glowering stare, and returned to her taijutsu-only spar with the Uchiha, tripping him so he landed on his back as he'd been distracted by the sudden appearance of Tenten a few feet away from them. The two of them had yet to break a sweat, and their Sensei was nowhere to be seen, presumably being his usual late self, although this time Tenten thought she knew why. He was probably still tailing after Gai-Sensei, having just competed with him and won, and so choosing to rub it in.

Or he ate so much dango his swollen belly meant he couldn't freaking move, and chose instead to lay on the ground shamelessly in the middle of town with a pile of dogs as a pillow and a raunchy book propped up on his chest, reading the day away. Either possibility was plausible. She'd put good money on the latter.

Neji passed her by, replacing with his last kunai as he landed in the training field near the small clearing where the Lucky Sevens were sparring. He reached into the holster only to find it empty. Tenten saw this and smirked, and took the extra moment she'd been taking before every throw to retrieve the kunai she'd just seen him throw by using chakra threads, and pull it over to herself quickly like how a puppet master would make their puppet fly. She had also done this to her previously thrown kunais. She then caught her kunai, threw it again, and bypassed him this time.

When she completed the replacement jutsu with the tethered kunai she'd just thrown, Lee finally caught up to her position, and gave her a thumbs-up. "Now to see if Neji catches on!" Lee whispered dramatically. Tenten's smile could rival Naruto's on a good day, as she said, "Oh, but I'm not letting him get the chance!"

Making sure to keep her kunai tethered, she swiftly pulled it to her, out of his replacement range. She then used it to move ahead another throw, leaving Neji behind her with a manically grinning Lee.

Neji gave a startled cry, as he realized what had just transpired. Sasuke and Shikako stood there staring, spar forgotten, as Neji came to the conclusion he was stranded with no more kunais to use to replace himself with. The Hyuga let his head thunk into the tree he was leaning against, then thumped his head against it once more for good measure. Lee chuckled as he followed Tenten off into the distance.

With a shared shrug, Shikako and Sasuke went back to sparring. They had seen stranger things from Gai-Sensei's team, for certain.

In stubborn resignation, and too proud to beg kunais off of the sparring duo, Neji plopped down on the grass with his arms and legs crossed, waiting for Lee to call the game, knowing he'd bee had. He looked like a sullen five year old who was told he couldn't have his favorite snack as he huffed in indignation. He had to wait for another ten minutes before Lee and Tenten completed the race, then returned to his location while gathering a few of her stray Kunai on the way back. At least the spar was entertaining to watch. Lee gave his teammate a pat on the back and his condolences on the loss of Neji's winning streak, all the while grinning like a lunatic.

When Gai-Sensei finally showed up, drenched in sweat and covered in dust, he chalked Neji's attitude up to; "Youthful, teenage hormones! Like a rite of passage! It is all right to have an occasional bad day! We must work off that negative energy... with a foot race!"

When Neji heard that declaration, the Hyuga threw his hands in the air and stomped off, heading home. Gai-Sensei was well and truly confused.

(Lee won the foot race, by the way. For obvious reasons, Tenten didn't mind, though.)

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