Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
A/N: Sorry for not posting for so long! Things have been really hectic. Don't kill me!
On the other hand, a lot of people requested Tenten (rather unexpectedly), so here she is!
Warning: There is some more explicit violence at the end. Nothing too dramatic, but fair warning anyway.
Tenten didn't know Naruto as well as the others. She hadn't fought him like Neji, hadn't declared him her rival like Lee, and she hadn't spent her academy years with him like the rest of the genin.
She did know some things, though.
She knew he was an orphan.
She knew he loved ramen.
She knew he wanted to become Hokage.
She knew he was much more powerful than he seemed.
She knew he had played an instrumental part in stopping the Invasion of Konoha.
She knew he had been betrayed by a teammate.
She knew he would do anything for his friends.
She knew he didn't bully Lee, or belittle him.
She knew he was the one who had helped Neji from his self-destructive path (When all of her continuous efforts had achieved nothing).
Beyond that, even from her brief interactions with him she knew he was something special.
(At the very least, she hoped he was something special. Neji had been stalking the poor boy as, if not more, efficiently than his cousin ever had. She even thought that Hinata might get jealous soon.)
She couldn't really blame Neji though. There was just something about Naruto.
A strange sort of magnetism that sucked you in and charmed you until you never wanted to leave again.
Whenever Tenten saw the blonde, she felt an inexplicable attraction.
It was not a romantic attraction, but rather a sort of natural pull to simply be near him. To talk with him, to laugh with him, to preserve his smile. An unfamiliar yet urgent need to be a part of his life, an instinct that told her that being his friend was the greatest reward she could ever have, that this, this was something special. Something she couldn't let go of. Something she should treasure.
As she spent more time with him she learned more. She learned his laugh was contagious. She learned his smile had a radiance that warmed any who were near it. She learned his sky blue eyes had the uncanny ability to shine with such earnestness it left the viewer dazed for a few seconds.
She learned he was absurdly loyal, absurdly trustworthy, and absurdly inspiring in times of crisis.
And just absurd in general.
She learned that someday, maybe, she wouldn't mind calling him Hokage.
So when she found out about his nonexistent sense of self-worth and his past abuses as a child, she was not as devastated as Hinata and Choji, not as shocked as Kiba and Lee, not as wrought with guilt as Ino and Sakura, not as overtaken by all-encompassing fury as Neji and Shikamaru, but she was pretty damn pissed.
Because she liked Naruto.
More specifically, she liked him happy, laughing, and most certainly alive.
And she really, really didn't like the bastards who made him think it was okay for him to be anything otherwise.
Hearing everything he went through had been like having a bucket of ice cold water dumped over her face. And not just ice cold water, but ice-cold water with a few large chunks of ice still in it, that hurt and bruised your head when the bucket was dumped. Chunks of ice that happened to be shaped as extremely sharp and deadly needles that pierced your skin straight to your heart, impaling the organ and making all the blood in your body turn to frost until all you can do is breathe shallowly and hope it passes soon.
You know, that kind of feeling.
She figured, since it was those bastard villagers' fault anyway for making her feel like that, she'd repay the service tenfold.
She was a weapons mistress. She had plenty of ideas for them.
As Tenten walked through the village, the civilians around her took a wary step back, afraid of the near maniacal grin on the young girl's face that promised all sorts of painful occurrences. She was chuckling in what most would describe as a decidedly evil manner, absently fiddling with a kunai in her hand. It was a shock to most to see the normally fairly composed kunoichi behaving in this manner. They had learned to expect strangeness from her teammates, and had figured she was the normal one of the set.
It appeared they were wrong.
Suddenly, as though it had never been, Tenten's expression changed from gleefully murderous to earnestly happy and innocent. Her face lit up and she seemed to be radiating excitement, as though she had been pleasantly surprised by the sight of a rarely-seen friend. The onlookers could only shudder at the sudden change in expression, and some wondered whether they had imagined the entire thing.
Looking to see what had caused the sudden mood shift, the villagers collectively sneered.
There, walking through the village as though he hadn't a care in the world and with his back turned to them was the demon-brat.
And so came the automatic response at the sight.
"It's disgusting, how that creature is allowed to roam the village freely like this." One of the villagers snarled to the person next to him, revulsion and hatred all too evident in his voice.
"Did you see how it's walking around with others these days? The ninjas are treating it like a fucking person now." Another growled. He spit onto the pavement, as though needing the physical demonstration to express his disgust.
"The Hokage should lock it up before it decides to murder everyone again." An old woman said sagely, as though imparting some great wisdom.
"Lock it up? That thing doesn't deserve to live!The Hokage should just hurry up and kill it. We know it's just a matter of time anyway."
"You think people haven't tried?!" Another looked indignant, "It just won't fucking die! It uses its demonic powers to heal anything!"
Another of the nearby villagers opened his mouth to further comment, but was quickly stopped when a vicious kunai imbedded itself in the concrete wall behind him. A moment passed and he felt a sting on his cheek, where a red line appeared, a single drop of blood trickling down to his chin.
Paralyzed and afraid, it was all he could do to notice that a variety of other weapons had suddenly appeared entrenched in the walls near the other civilians he was talking with, all of them with shallow cuts on their cheeks where the weapons must have made contact.
Slowly, apprehensively, they turned to the kunoichi they had been observing earlier, eyes wide and uncomprehending, not understanding why she would suddenly attack them.
Tenten felt sick. Hearing these- these fucking idiots talk about Naruto like that, like he wasn't even a person. Naruto who was- who was everything that was so loyal, so wonderful, so strong – who would give his life to protect these very same shittyunforgivingpiecesofshit- How dare they! How dare they speak of him like that! Had they always done that? Did they do that where Naruto could listen? Did Naruto have to put up with all of this fucking shit every fucking day?
Tenten felt something inside her snap. She was usually a fairly tolerant person, having to put up with the shenanigans of her team who was nothing if not eccentric on a daily basis, but this – this was too much. Way too much.
No one talked about Naruto like that.
She turned to Naruto, making sure that his back was still turned to her and the villagers and that he hadn't seen or heard anything.
They're lucky. Tenten thought. They're so, so lucky.
If Naruto had heard them then their day would have become much, much worse.
As it was, though, they wouldn't be escaping unscathed.
Ever so slowly, like a lion approaching its prey, she stalked towards the still paralyzed civilians.
With a snarl, the weapons mistress hissed, "You all disgust me."
The civilians looked affronted, but too terrified to say anything.
"You are nothing more than cockroaches. Filthy, pathetic, crawling around self-importantly as though you know everything when really it's you who should be locked in cages, where no one can be affected by your bitter venom. It's you who should be killed, for all of your ignorance and cruelty."
"S-so the demon-brat really is planning on killing all of us! He's convincing you that we should all die!"
Tenten couldn't hold it in. She laughed. It wasn't a laugh of joy, however, it was harsh and almost painful. The civilians winced when they heard it.
"Naruto? Want to kill you?" Tenten laughed again. "You aren't worthy of even feeling his foot on your face!"
The villagers stood still, this time paralyzed not by fear, but by the sheer revulsion in the kunoichi's tone.
"You mean nothing! You are nothing!" She had to take a moment to compose herself, lest she do something she regrets. "You see that man over there?"
She pointed at the still oblivious blonde who was talking to Neji.
"He- He means everything. He is loved so fiercely that people will lay down their lives for him! He is the inspiration! He is what we fight for, whom we follow to battle without questions, whom we know will always support us! There will be tales of his heroic deeds decades- no, centuries from now! He will be worshipped! And still it will not be completely what he deserves! Because he is beyond us all!"
She was trembling now, fists clenched and hair fraying out of her usually neat buns. Her face was flushed and her eyes were wild. The villagers had never been so afraid.
Tenten shot them a piercing glare, "And you worms won't be worthy enough to grovel at his feet."
And, before she could enact scenes of mass violence and torture, she gave a roughly ordered, "Leave."
The rest of the street had already been vacated, the villagers knowing not be stay around when a ninja was so visibly incensed. That this was one that had previously been considered one of the most calm and normal ninjas out there only added to their fear.
Tenten turned to see if Naruto was still there, only to find him and Neji gone. She figured her teammate must have seen the situation and guessed what was happening before quickly and efficiently leading Naruto away from it. Naruto shouldn't have to deal with scum like this. Even if they couldn't erase his past, much as they'd desperately like to, they could do this. They could take care of these idiots so that he didn't have to waste his time on them. So that he didn't even have to see them.
This they could do.
And it felt good.
Tenten turned back to look at her prey. At the six previously maliciously gossiping villagers' still terrified and uncomprehending stares, she repeated, "Leave. Now."
As though something had finally clicked, the villagers rushed away from her in a mad scramble, hurrying to get as far away as possible from the murderous kunoichi with the mad gaze and trigger-happy fingers.
As the last one tried to run off with the others, he felt a blinding pain in his foot. Hesitantly, as though afraid of what he might find, he looked down at the throbbing appendage.
There, imbedding his foot to the street floor, was a kunai. The villager was about to let out a guttural cry, but was silenced by hand on his mouth and the skilled application of a gag.
Trembling and with eyes so wide they looked like they would fall out of their sockets, he turned to the owner of the calloused yet feminine hand.
"Shhhhh," Tenten comforted almost affectionately. She could have been a mother soothing a child after a nightmare. "You're going to come with me now."
The villager attempted to say something, but couldn't form any words due to the gag in his mouth. All he could do was shake his head rapidly, quick, jerky motions that he kept repeating over and over.
Tenten grabbed his chin to stop him and made him look her in the eyes. His were wide and terrified, a frantic gleam to them. Still with a soft voice, the kunoichi continued, "Oh, but yes. You see, you said some pretty interesting things earlier. I don't know if you remember," She went to brush his hair out of his eyes before pulling it sharply, earning a whimper, "Something about trying to kill Naruto before and failing?"
The villager started crying silently, big, fat tears leaking out of his eyes. He gave more mumbled responses, and she thought he was saying please, but she couldn't be sure. She didn't much care.
The villager looked around desperately, searching for someone to help, but found only an empty street.
"I know some people who would be very interested in what you have to say."
Gently, Tenten placed a delicate foot on top of the kunai still imbedded in the villager's bleeding foot, earning another whimper and making his eyes dilate.
"To be honest, I didn't have to do all this to take you with me," She applied more pressure to the kunai, twisting it and making even more blood soak the floor. "But I really, really wanted to."
With a last, vicious smile, Tenten bent down and sharply pulled the kunai out of the villager's foot, eliciting another pained cry from him. Faster than the eye could see, she picked him up and they vanished.
A/N: Did anyone notice how Shino was not in Tenten's list when she talked about their reactions? Poor Shino, forgotten again!
Hope you didn't think Tenten was out of character! I don't really know her all that well, I think.
