Tenten huffed to herself. For the umpenth time her finger twitched with the desire to start hurling things at her problems until they went away. Though she was pretty sure it wouldn't work with this particular problem. Besides her problem wasn't as clear cut as she thought it was.

It had been a week since she agreed to start teaching Naruto. A week of seeing the blonde and watching him look at her expectantly only to see him deflate a bit when she never approached. Honestly she thought he would ignore the whole, "don't approach me, I'll approach you" thing and run up to her the next day. But no, for the whole week he waited. She could tell he was using every scrap of patience he had… though she also noticed that as the week went on he waited a little less time before seeming to deflate just a little bit more. It was kinda sad to watch really. However she couldn't approach him right away. She had wanted to see something. Wanted to see what the truth about the blonde really was.

It all started when she asked her dad if it was alright for Naruto to work there so he could work off the payment of the kanabo he was going to buy so she could teach him it. The man had nodded, and stated that it would do the boy some good. That he would get a bit more discipline and have less time to do pranks. It was said in such an approving and relaxed manner that it completely took the kunoichi in training off guard. She honestly expected her father to put up SOME kind of resistance. However when she asked him why he would have no problem letting a trouble maker like Naruto work there, he responded with "Most trouble makers aren't taught how to make anything else. They just need attention and a guiding hand thats all."

That had filled her with a sense of unease. It went against everything she knew about the blonde. However from what she noticed when she watched the boy shop just earlier that day… could she really say she knew him? Did anything really match up when it came to him?

So she spent the last week watching her future student. What she saw when she actually paid attention didn't make her happy in the slightest.

She always hated being proven wrong. She was a ninja, being wrong about anything on a mission could lead to failure or even death. She was the top of her class. She specialized in throwing weapons. She was suppose to be able to observe and notice everything around her. Able to tell what was right and wrong with a situation in a single glance. The fact that her glance had been wrong irked her to no end.

It had started in class. She had made sure to observe the blonde throughout it. During the lectures he did in fact seemed bored and lost interest easy. That fit what she knew. However then practicals happened.

First had been throwing. Naruto, with his last name beginning with U, was one of the last to throw. Everyone was ready for the same showy failure they were treated to each time he came up. However this time he threw his weapons with precision. There was no sloppy haphazardly aimed trajectories from loose swinging arms. No, this was a vast improvement. He eyed his targets. His arms and wrists had a nice snap to them. While he was nowhere near her level, he was well above average. In fact he did better than the day before. If she didn't know any better she would believe he had actually practiced. Which… she would later found out he did. But she didn't know that then.

However she didn't focus on that. Her attention was where no one else's was. The teacher. This was a man that without fail would praise a child for improvement. However this time he said nothing. In fact he was giving the slightest of frowns. Granted he was standing behind the gathered children, and thus most wouldn't normally see his expression, but it still struck her as odd. Thats was when she realized something. The teacher always told Naruto after he did horribly, "maybe next time" with a small smile. Never scolded the boy for her terrible throwing no matter how awful the attempt. She felt her stomach sink a little as Naruto did a little cheer for his success with the completely stunned silence of the class as a backdrop.

Without a word from the teacher the blonde joined his fellows with a large smile on his face. That wasn't too significant since he always had one plastered on his lips. However this one seemed… different. It made the bright day seem brighter. Like all the smiles she saw before this one were just pale imitations. For just a split second it looked like it got wider and brighter as it passed over her, but it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her.

No one spoke or moved until the teacher told the next in line to start. Even then it took a few seconds for the next person to prep themselves from the shock. There was a noticeable decrease in accuracy.

The next shock had been taijutsu training. She made sure to keep an eye on the blonde, as the first thing the teacher had them do was work on the basics of either the academies style or the style of their family, as a warm up before spars. She watched as the blonde looked around instead of starting right away before approaching Rock Lee while the teacher was distracted. He proceeded to ask the boy for tips and advice on the basic form stating that he just couldn't seem to understand what the teacher was trying to explain. He then went on to say that since Rock Lee was one of the better fighters then he must have a firm grasp on what was being taught. It all sounded so natural. Even if it was a different reason then he told her. Of course the fact that it WAS a different reason made her narrow her eyes a bit. They narrowed further when the words worked and Lee proceeded in giving very firm advice on the stances. Advice that, judging from the blondes face, was hungrily devoured and assimilated. He then thanked the dark haired boy with another of those bright smiles and went off to practice on his own… and was marginally better. His stances firming up.

When sparring time came Naruto was put up against one of the other boys, not Neji… this time, who clearly expected an easy victory. In fact everyone expected one. After all Naruto was sloppy in his taijutsu. However it would seem a little advice goes a long way. That little shrimp has a lot of speed and power in his body. Speed and power that was almost completely neutralized by his sloppy stances. Granted he wasn't amazing in the fight, but he still won. Now if he put even more effort, and tried to actually do things right more often… no that line of thinking no longer held significance.

The teacher was even more unhappy after the spar, and the class even more shocked. After they went inside for more lessons and lectures class was dismissed. However Naruto was asked to stay behind. Which was little weird, and probably Tenten's best chance to learn the truth. Though she was no longer sure what the truth was, nor if she truly wanted to learn it. In the end she made her choice and listened in from outside the classroom. The conversation she listened to had been… educational.

"Uzumaki," their teacher said sounding as calm and kind as ever, yet there was a slight undercurrent of something else there, "I couldn't help but notice your performance today."

"I know right?" Naruto responded as energetic as possible. "I did awesome. Everyone was shocked."

"Yes, they were. As was I. Why did you perform like that?" Wait that question sounded off.

"Well," Naruto started to reply and sounded a little embarrassed, "I know you said I should do it exclusively the way you taught me, but I was curious. I mean you never taught me how to do it like everyone else, and I wanted to see the difference."

"So you went against my orders?" Orders? What? The teacher suddenly sounded a lot less kind.

"What do you mean teach? You suggested I stick with your lessons because they would make me more awesome than everyone else. I didn't go against that. I'm merely getting a comparison. That way I know how much better I am doing with what you taught me." There was that ability to justify things again. It sounded so logical and yet… the teacher taught him everything wrong? Is that what HONESTLY happened? It had to be. The teacher pretty much said so.

"Who taught you?"

"Taught me?"

"Yes, who taught you how to do everything? Who did you show off and brag to?"

"No one Teach. I promised I wouldn't and I Naruto Uzumaki ALWAYS keeps his promises." Well that was true.. He HADN'T bragged about it. However why was the teacher sounding so… angry? "Besides no one really wants to talk to me so I had to watch the class to figure out how they did things." Okay NOW he was lying… why?

There was silence so thick you could cut it with a nodachi and still whole. It was deafening. Then a voice finally and suddenly shattered the silence, "Very well Uzumaki. But do not rely on what is taught in class. I taught you the alternative despite it being so very advance because I believed you would be able to do great things with it. If you start relying on what is taught in class it would minimize the efficiency of the techniques I personally taught you." WHAT!? That.. that was bullshit. It had to be.

"I know teach. I just wanted a baseline. That way when I get super amazing with your techniques I can show just how great I got."

She could hear the smirk from the teacher. Actually hear it. "Good. Now head home Uzumaki. I need to grade the papers."

"Alright, see ya."

After that point she had made a very hasty retreat, and it still made her shudder a bit to know that her teacher really WAS trying to sabotage Naruto. But why? And why did Naruto lie about how he learned to do things properly? Okay so the teacher wasn't happy, and was doing things on purpose but… The idiot couldn't have been trying to protect her and Lee was he? Why would he do that?

In the past week none of those questions had been answered. Not in class anyway. Not that she limited herself to just class. No, apparently class wasn't the best place to get the full story that was Naruto Uzumaki. So to get the full story she started following him after school. By doing this she learned three important facts.

The first was that the idiot was seriously lacking situational awareness. This however might be as much of a plus as it was a minus. At least from his point of view. She hadn't noticed it when she was walking with him to her dad's store the first time but now that she wasn't pissed off she saw it clearly. Most of the adults glared and avoided the young boy. No words, no actively aggressive behavior. Just a lot of passive aggressive ignoring of existence. And the boy was ignoring it right back easily. It didn't look to bother him. Like he trained himself not to notice those around him so that he wouldn't have to deal with it. But why would it get that bad? Yeah he was a troublemaker, but wasn't this a little extreme?

The second thing she learned was that he actually did train. In fact he trained a lot. His methods weren't exactly right, and a lot of the techniques were sloppy, but he was diligent about it. She also noticed that the practiced the lessons and advice that he got out of herself and Lee. They were some of the only thing he did right. Coincidently they were also the things she saw him practice most. It was like the problem wasn't his attention, but the tools he received. The fact that she also saw pick up several low quality and damaged items on the way to his training spot just made her frown.

However it was the third thing she found out that was the most interesting. She learned of it the third day. She learned the details just the day before now. It turned out that the young blonde had a stalker.

Tenten watched as the blonde entered his home than turned her attention to across the street where a young girl with dark blue hair gave a sigh, and retreated from her hiding spot behind a telephone pole. She noticed the girl a few days ago. It was quite the shock realizing that she wasn't the only one following the blonde around. The fact that it was a Hyuuga that was doing it…

"Hey kid wait up!" Tenten called. She decided that if she was going to try and learn about her would be student, she was going to need all angles. A stalker might be biased to the positive, but there was usually a grain of truth in even the biggest of exaggerations. Usually.

Though she was going to take the fact that the girl squeaked, jumped, and turned around meekly and with great surprise as a cute bonus.

"Oh um, hello." The girl said with her pointer fingers coming before her face and pushing against each other. "How can I help you?"

"Oh nothing much, I just noticed you were following Naruto and thought you could help me understand him a bit more. I will even walk you to your compound. Its quite far isn't it?"

The girl appeared hesitant and was blushing a dark red but eventually nodded. "Fantastic, I'm Tenten by the way."

"I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

"Neji's cousin and the heiress?" Tenten immediately regretted her blurted out statement as she watched the girl flinch before she started walking. There was something wrong there.

"Yes." was the quiet response that the bun-haired girl had to strain her ears to hear.

As the throwing expert recaptured her wits and caught up to the shy girl she cleared her throat. "Right, well… why are you following around Naruto?" Might as well cut to the chase. Maybe it will make things less awkward. Then again if the girl keeps mumbling… "I'm sorry I didn't catch that."

"He protected me from bullies two years ago. I was being picked on because I'm a Hyuuga, and I didn't want to fight… then he just ran in and jumped on the biggest of the bullies, however he was quickly beaten up. I c-couldn't do anything." The girls eyes started tearing up."I-I wanted to b-b-but I was so scared. Than the man that was watching over me interfered but took me away before I could thank my savior. Said I should never see or talk to him again."

Tenten was floored. The kid acted selflessly, most likely in a situation that the could not win in period and likely with his usual brash and loud way of doing things, and an adult had told Hinata not to interact with him even after he did such an act? That… that didn't sound right. "But that doesn't explain why you follow him around."

The girl blushed a deeper shade of red and looked to the floor. It was a miracle she didn't crash into anything while walking. "Well he was so brave than unlike me. He kept trying to fight even when he wa losing. I-I… was hoping th-that maybe I could learn how to be like that if I watched him. If I learned about him may-maybe I could draw strength from him."

"Pfft. Good luck with that. You don't have class with him. He is lazy, doesn't pay attention, doesn't really try, goofs off way too much…" she started to trail off when she realized she was walking forward by herself. She looked over her shoulder and saw the little Hyuuga giving her a hard look with her little hands shaking.

"Then why did you agree to teach him?" What? How did she- "How can you say that while you yourself have followed him around for the past week? How can you believe that if you actually watched him?" Why was her voice so strong? "Or are your eyes closed like everyone else's? Do you hate him for no reason like the rest? Are you only teaching him so you can milk him for money or labor? Is that why you have made him wait for a week?"

Okay, that was weird. When did shy and cute become a spitfire? "Woah, hold on now. No need to bite my head off… I was just telling you what he was like at school." That stopped her. The anger, while not completely gone, faded and she suddenly got read again and looked at the ground once more. What was with this girl? "Look until recently all I saw was a lazy, troublemaking class clown. Yet now I have learned he seems to be so much more. I had to figure out exactly who I was dealing with. I don't hate him, but he confuses me. You see him one way, and I find it hard to believe because it goes against everything I have seen till recently."

"Th-then what will you d-do?" The girl asked.. the stutter was back.. and yet some of that anger still remained. Who would have thought this quiet little girl would have a bit of fire in her? That was interesting.

"Tomorrow I will begin Naruto's training…" She then smiled. Another decision was made. "If you want you can get in on it too. I can teach you a weapon like I am Naruto. You will be under the same penalties, but I'm sure you could pay easily, but then if you work at the store you'll be able…" Her words ceased when she noticed something in the girl's eyes. Fear. "Whats wrong?"

"A-a Hyuuga can not learn things outside of the clan, the academy, or their team instructors." Hinata stated with a fearful tone to her voice. "And we may not use anything other than the gentle fist outside of the academy. All other things are below us and thus useless except under the more direst of circumstances. If we can not protect ourselves with gentle fist alone we are not Hyuuga."

Well that explained Neji's stick up his ass when it came to the academy. But seriously what was all this about gentle fist? Okay yeah it was tough but it couldn't be unbeatable right? "No one has to know right?" The girl shook her head still terrified. "Fine.. but since you will likely follow him there anyway.. why not come in to work at my father's store. Earn a bit of money… and see Naruto more." That seemed to grab her… but by then they were at the compound. "Alright than meet me after classes… you do go to the academy right?" a nod. "Good see you tomorrow." With that she left the poor confused girl at the gates of her compound as Tenten headed home.

She smiled at that little memory. The girl had potential. As did Naruto if she was honest, and she found that she really didn't want to be. It still felt off. Everything about that boy did. However she would just have to deal with it. What was done was done.

Just before class she had approached Naruto and finally told him that he was to meet he after class. They would discuss scheduling at the shop. God he had been so excited. That super bright smile made its appearance again. He was so confusing. A puzzle that had to be solved. A puzzle that she would solve, damn it.