Chuunin Academy
Chapter 7
A/N: OH MY GOD. I'M SO SORRY. I HATE SCHOOL AND HOW IT WON'T LET YOU UPDATE FRICKING FANFICTIONS. -bows to you all- FORGIVE ME! I've had this chapter written since the end of August. I can take a pic to show you all how horrible the lead-y paper looks. Bleh. Anyway…Like I said a little while back – I'm losing inspiration, so I'm gonna fast forward the story by…four months. One-third of a year. I think it'll make things a bit smoother. Not to mention I could wrap up the fic a lot better…somehow. Once again, sorry to all for the wait!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, it'd be called "Tenten."
It's been a really long time since I started the Chuunin Academy. Honestly, one-third of a year goes by really quickly if all you do is train, train, and…train. Bleh. That's about all you get to do when one of your closer guy friends is Hyuuga Neji. Or Uchiha Sasuke. I swear, the two of them are addicted to training. The probably get high on it. Haha. Okay that was a bad joke.
Anyway, the academy isn't really a bad place to be. You get some pretty cool info out of it. Plus, it increases your chances of passing the Chuunin Exams. And I know I've gotta pass that if I want to be one of the greatest female ninja ever. In fact, I already know what I wanna specialize in. Weaponry. Oh how I love the sharp, shiny steel…
…You didn't hear that.
Notable people I've met along the way? Let's see…There's Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, and Hinata. Those guys are from the class a year below me. The only two I know that are originally from my year are Neji and Lee.
"I can't wait to figure out who's gonna be in my team! It might even be – Tenten? You listening?"
"Who? What?" I responded, snapping out of my reverie. "Sorry about that…repeat?"
"You know the festival we're supposed to have at school?"
"What about it?" I asked.
"I was wondering about who we'd get teamed up with."
"Ah…" I mumbled.
The festival seems promising…according to Gai-sensei. But when you think about it, anything Gai-sensei talks about sounds promising…and youthful. He claimed that it would be a way to celebrate the success of the Third Hokage's (who just passed away recently) Chuunin Academy. Students are supposed to grouped together at random and complete a certain series of activities. What the activities are, I have no idea. They will be a "youthful" surprise so says Gai-sensei.
"And just who were you hoping to 'get stuck with'?" I joked, "Me?"
"Haha…nah. Well, I was hoping you and Ino…or Hinata," she paused, "…Or Sasuke…"
"Oooo…Looks like someone like a certain chicken-butt haired guy…" I teased.
"Aw shut it. At least I don't have most of the people at the academy thinking that I'm a lunatic for mauling someone. Specifically Hyuuga Neji."
"Ooo…You have a good point there." I laughed, recalling the event.
A Few Months Ago
"HYUUGA NEJI!!!" I screamed, running up to the dark-haired boy. "What the hell was that for?"
"Hm?" He gave me a funny look. "I've no idea what you're talking about."
"I know what you did and I know that you know what you did." I huffed, my cheeks turning red. A small crowd started to form around us. "Don't play innocent, Neji."
"I'm not," he smirked, "I said nothing in particular to you. Just a simple compliment."
"Ha. Sure, if looking at my bra is the definition of "compliment"." An audible gasp from the crowd. "Hyuuga Neji…You are a goddamned pervert."
"All I said is that you looked nice in white. I had no knowledge that your underclothes were white during that time," he reasoned. "For all I know, your underpants could have been blue."
"…Care to repeat that?" I asked carefully. 'My underpants were blue yesterday…'
"I did not see your undergarments."
"No, no…Before that. Like…exactly."
"For all I know your underpants could have been blue?"
"Hyuuga Neji…" I growled, clenching my fist, "Just tell me how the hell you knew that."
"Knew what?" he asked.
"How the hell did you know that it was blue?" I hissed. He took a step back.
"Tenten…I was only using a color at random to show – "
"Tell me, would I look good in blue?"
"…A dark blue, yes. It matches your – "
"SCREW YOU NEJI!!"
"It was so amusing to see him with a black eye." Sakura laughed.
"Yeah…but then he tripped me and I twisted my ankle." I grumbled. "I'll see you at the festival thing tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe I'll be competing against you and your team for the next two days."
"Hehe…Maybe. We'll see. Bye!" she waved.
The Next Day
I scanned through the mass of people in the training field. All of the students, including me, were standing according to first class teachers – meaning that I was standing with people from Aoba-sensei's class. "People" being Neji, Sasuke, and Hinata.
"Ugh…where the heck is Sakura?" I mumbled. "I can't find her pinkness anywhere in this crowd…"
"STUDENTS!!" Tsunade-sama called. No one heard. "YOUNG NINJAS!!" Nothing. "HEY PEOPLE!!" Silence…
"Alright…" she sighed, "You will be put into teams according to the scrolls that have been given to your Jounin instructors. Find out just who your teammates are and proceed to try your hand at the events provided. That is all." she turned around and walked off, only pausing to say, "You have twenty minutes until we begin!"
After hearing that, I walked around to locate Aoba-sensei. I knew he was in the general area – I mean, I was standing where his class is supposed to be. I really wanted to know who I'd be teamed up with…Mainly because I wanna kick some butt at today's part of the festival. And yes…I'm VERY competitive.
"Aoba-sensei!" I called, spotting him. "Aoba-sensei! Over here!"
"Ah, Tenten. Hello," he smiled goofily, "I've got your scroll right here! Just gimme a second…" He started shuffling around inside the giant bag of scrolls he was carrying. He mumbled the names of several other students before coming across mine. "Aha! Here's yours. Sorry 'bout that."
"It's alright. Thanks!" I bowed, turning around. And luckily enough I caught sight of a pink blob moving through the mass of people. 'Sakura.'
"Tenten!!" she cried, "Who'd you get teamed up with?! WHO?!"
"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" I put my hands in front of myself to ease her screaming. "First off, I haven't even opened my scroll. Second, who're your teammates?"
"Open the scroll, damnit!! Open it!"
"Hey! Answer the ques –"
"OPEN THE THING!" A new voice screamed.
"AAH! Ino! When the heck did you get here?" I yelped, jumping around.
"JUST OPEN IT!!" They chorused.
"Alright, alright. Just quit yelling…" I sighed, peeling my scroll open. "It says here…"
Sasuke
"...I'm paired with Tenten and the Hyuuga. Damn." I cursed. Me and Hyuuga on the same team? No. Just…no. Me and Tenten? I suppose that's alright.
Well, that excludes being called a chicken-butt.
Then again…I do kidna respond to the name. I guess it's because Tenten calls me by it so often.
…What the hell am I saying? You didn't just hear that…
Tenten's just a reasonably powerful kunoichi much like Ino and Sakura from my year. She's pretty proficient when it comes to weapons, but she sucks at genjutsu. I would help her if I could, but that's just not me.
…Hold it. What did I just say? I would help someone? Okay…Screw everything I just said. All that matters is that I can work with her in this…festival thing.
I looked around and caught sight of her pink Chinese shirt along with the pink from Sakura's hair. Pink's a pretty easy color to find… I walked over to them, spotting Ino along the way. Looks like Ino and Sakura will be our opponents.
"…Sasuke and Neji."
"You called?" I asked, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "Hey."
"Hey Chicken-butt," she greeted, "Looks like you and I are on the same team with Neji."
"Hmph. He just needs to keep up with me."
"I think you have the situation reversed, Uchiha."
"What do you want, Hyuuga?" I growled, inwardly jumping. I wasn't able to sense his presence approaching me… I usually do. Why did I miss it today? I much of been preoccupied by something. But what?
"You're the one who needs to keep up with me," he smirked, "Don't drag the team down."
"Break it up guys, break it up." Tenten sighed. She put a hand on each of our chests and pushed us apart. "I swear, I'll be playing peacemaker for the rest of the time we're on a team. Joy."
'…Why is my chest suddenly so warm?'
Tenten
"Even number one," Kakashi-sensei smiled, "Make a fire."
…
"You're kidding…right?" I stared at me Ninjutsu teacher. "Couldn't you have thought of a better challenge, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Would you rather wear green spandex, Tenten?"
"…"
"Well?"
"…Making a fire doesn't sound so bad now…" I mumbled. 'It's better than wearing spandex suits…'
"I thought so. Then again you'll have to do so for Gai's event."
"…"
"Have fun," he grinned, "Oh, and you may begin."
"FIREWOOD!!" someone screamed, "WE NEED FIREWOOD!!"
I turned around to face Neji and Sasuke. "Who ever said that is right. We need firewood to make a fire."
"Not necessarily," Sasuke smirked. "Wood is only used to keep the fire alive."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "Neji go get some firewood, will ya?"
"Done," he responded, leaning against the tree he knocked over.
"…Jyuuken?" I asked. He nodded. "Great. All we need to do now is light it on fire."
"Which I've done."
"Huh?" I peeked beyond Neji and saw a small flame behind him. "…Oh right. You use flame justsu, don't you Sasuke?"
A gust of wind came from nowhere and spread the fire we had made on the tree trunk. Neji quickly jumped away from it, avoiding any burns. I stared at the giant flame in front of me.
"Holy crap," I whispered. "Neji, couldn't you have gotten…a smaller piece of firewood?"
"Hn." He shrugged.
"Well, well," Kakashi smiled, walking over to us. "Looks like you guys have a nice fire going. Good job. You win." He stared at our fire. "Just make it smaller next time. We don't want all of Konoha to catch on fire."
"Hai," we nodded. One down…several more to go. Damn.
Training Field
"My challenge for you youthful students is to wear this youthful spandex and youthfully brush your teeth for two hours straight! Green spandex for the boys and neon pink for the ladies." He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows during the last two words. …Is it me or does that look really wrong? Eurgh.
I leaned over to Sasuke, "Is it me or does that sound impossible?"
"So far it seems like the latter," he muttered.
"I suggest we forego this challenge," Neji frowned. "I would rather not have sodium fluoride in my mouth for two hours."
"Agreed," I nodded. "Let's leave this to Lee's team. He's the only one who can –"
"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI!! I SHALL YOUTHFULLY COMPLETE THIS TASK!"
"…Uh…yeah…" I mumbled.
"We give!"
"We're forfeiting!"
"Count us out!"
"Forget this!"
"We forego this challenge!" I shouted, raising my hand.
"GUY-SHENSHEI!! DOESH SHIS MEAN I WRIN?!" Lee cried, furiously brushing his teeth. I've never really understood why he loves…doing what he does.
"LEE! YOUR TEAM IS THE ONLY ONE THAT REMAINS! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR YOUTFUL VICTORY! SAKURA! INO! LEE!"
"Losers," Sasuke muttered.
"Aw, c'mon. Don't call say that about them."
"GUY-SENSHEI! YOU ARE ZHE BESHT!" Lee shouted, toothbrush still in his mouth.
"As you were saying?" Neji asked.
"…Okay, so Lee's a little nuts, but Sakura and Ino are good people!"
"A little?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Arg…" I muttered. "Just leave 'em alone, alright?"
"Whatever,"
"We need to move onto the next challenge or else we'll default," Neji said, walking towards the other end of the field. I saw Aoba-sensei standing to the left of several training posts with targets posted on them.
"Targets?" I wondered aloud. "Does that mean it involves weapons and accuracy?"
"Probably," Sasuke shrugged. "If it does, we'll win. Or rather, you will."
"Haha…Right." I laughed.
On The Way Home
"Ah…I'm tired." I sighed.
"Same here. I think I used up all my chakra…"
"Aw, whatever. At least we each won some of the stuff." I said, turning to face Sakura. "I guess I'm happy with that."
"Heh. Why wouldn't you be happy? Your team is beating all the others. My team only beat a few of the challenges – and one of them by default!"
"Haha. Yeah, you were lucky to have Lee on your team. That guarantees at least one win. And if Sasuke hadn't fallen off the tree, we could have won Shizune's challenge. But no, the idiot decides to use too much chakra while walking up the tree and smashes it to bits! I feel bad for it. Didn't your team win that event? You won that one right? You're best when it comes to chakra control…"
"Yeah, we did win that one. But chakra control's nothing compared to seeing through things like genjutsu."
"Are you kidding me? I didn't even do anything during that one. Sasuke did all the work by seeing through her genjutsu. Which reminds me – why are you complaining in the first place? Your team is right behind mine!"
"But the events you won were so much cooler!" she wailed. "You even won Aoba-sensei's by hitting all of the targets at once!!"
"Hey, hey! Quit flattering my team. Flatter your own." I joked. "Naruto's team isn't doing so bad, either. Didn't Shikamaru get them one win by beating Asuma-san in a game of shougi? Isn't that less cool than walking up a tree?"
"No. Walking up a tree and brushing my teeth isn't cooler than winning a game of shougi. Nothing can be worse than winning an event where you have to brush your teeth for two hours…"
"Suck it up. You won. That's what matters, right?" I grinned. "Did you hear that the final event is going to take all day tomorrow? Some said it might even take more!"
"Yeah, I did," she nodded. "I wonder what it'll be like if it takes up a whole day…or more. It kinda makes me scared."
"Who knows? We'll find out tomorrow, though." I grinned, stepping inside my house. "I'll see you then Sakura!" 'But I've got this sick feeling in my stomach. Something weird is gonna happen…'
A/N: God…I made this chapter REALLY long…I think. Anyway, I've recently decided to allow you, my loyal readers, to decide who Tenten will end up with in the end. Will it be Sasuke? Or Neji? Let me know in your reviews, because I have a feeling this may end in about three to four chapters. Thanks! -dives into her mass of homework that she has to finish-
EDIT: Lots of you have asked about SasuTen in this fic. Yes, there will be major SasuTen in the next chapter. This was kind of a chapter to lead into it. There will be lots of SasuTen and one sided NejiTen in the next chapter. However, we have yet to find out who she'll end up with in the end. You people will decide that for me. Make sure to let me know.
