Tenten greeted the dawn in a way that was all to familiar with her. The sounds of her kunai, shuriken, and other masses of metallic death impacting against the training dummies filled the brightening sky with a beat of death and pain. Naruto had told her that he had a team meeting today, and that he'd probably not be around all day. It was nice that he let her know, but she just didn't know why she'd become so used to him being around all the time so fast. Maybe it was something about him that just drew others in like flies to honey.

Shelving those thoughts for another time, she began cleaning up her training area. She had a little looking around to do, and the scrolls gave her the first clue.

Her first stop this morning had been the Shinobi library, and in particular the librarian, that confirmed someone about her age had been in the training scrolls section, they didn't remember much about him, but they had at least pointed out that it was a him. For some reason just knowing made it easier on her. And the next stop was to the oil merchant off of the main street of Konoha.

This stop was added after she had found her new gift for the day, imported oils for wood, metal, leather, and massages. The note had teasingly suggested that he would be the lucky one to rub the oils into her. She had to admit the smell of a few of the massage oils put her into a very good mood, which was why she had taken to hammering away at the dummies for a few hours today, instead of hunting down the merchant right away for information.

She didn't need another lecture on threatening civilians, or Anko-sempai following her around for months trying to get her to join Torture and Interrogations again. How was she to know that Gai-sensei had gotten to the explosive tags dealer and arranged a banning of her purchase of the happy happy boom boom fun fun tags. She was still a little miffed about that, after all, their hair grew back...

Heading into the village, she dug out the note to read while she walked. "Dearest Tenten-hime, I have noticed you suffer from stiff shoulders, and thought these oils might help. Maybe I'll be the one to work out those troublesome knots. And as one must care for their weapons as they care for themselves... oils for the care of your tools. Enjoy, My True Love."

Tenten made it to the store with little trouble, and found the clerk barely awake behind the counter. Okay, she had to admit that there was a few people who couldn't handle mornings the same way she could... After all, not everyone could possibly like being up before the Sun, it would just be weird. Especially since that was what kept the green duo alive.

Looking around, she found that she had been musing long enough to pass the oil merchant, sighing she turned around and began backtracking, paying close attention to her surroundings. She was getting really bad about this lately. Maybe once she figures out who 'My True Love' was, she'd be back in normal form.

Finding the oil merchant's shop was easy, now that she was actively looking for it. Finding the man himself was easier still. The information he provided was the easiest to understand. Now she was looking for a girl with waist length brown hair, vibrant emerald green eyes, and creamy complexion. After thanking the merchant, she found herself walking back towards the training grounds. For some reason even though she was smiling, people were giving her a street's width of clearance.

Of course 'My True Love' would use henge to buy the gifts, she should have known that. And as her kunai began plowing through the targets, she had to admit that they got her good with this little snare. Set up two easy clues, and then use a henge to keep their true identity a secret. If she didn't know they were a ninja already, she'd know it now. As the last of her weapons impacted the targets, she decided it was time to work on her taijutsu.

She barely realized that punching rocks with the battle gloves on didn't hurt nearly as much as it should, especially since she wasn't channeling chakra into her strength or protecting her hands. A few minutes later, she decided that it was a very stupid idea to kick the boulder when her fists weren't working fast enough. Now she had to limp her way to the hospital, and get her big toe looked at. She was fairly certain that hearing that type of crunching sounds was bad.

Her trip was cut short when she heard a cough from behind her. Praying to any power that be that it wasn't Naruto standing there she looked over her shoulder, and felt her heart and rage drop down into her now broken toe. There, looking rather bemused was her idol, Tsunade of the Sannin, the current Hokage, and head of the Konoha hospital.

"I heard reports of a person the brat's been hanging out with being pissed enough to kill, and thought I'd come check it out..." Tsunade offered while poking Tenten in the breastbone with enough force to make sitting down the only option, unless she wanted a broken sternum on top of the toe. "And I find you wailing upon a poor defenseless rock, and losing."

Tenten winced slightly at that, she lost, in front of her idol no less. First the fight with Temari, then her temper with Naruto in the Land of Birds, then there was the mission that only she wasn't selected for, the Gaara mission, her chakra control wasn't good enough during the Three-Tailed Beast incident, and many more failures began piling up in her mind, culminating in her second to latest failure: 'My True Love'.

"There you go again," Tsunade stated calmly as she pulled off Tenten's boot. "You never win when fighting yourself Tenten..."

Tenten blushed and looked away, biting her lip as Tsunade began inspecting her toe. Even though she was being gentle, it still hurt like hell. After a moment she sighed. "I can't win today... he's beating me at every turn..."

"He?" Tsunade asked as she began healing the bones back into place. "Is all this about that secret admirer of yours that Sakura's been going on about?"

Tenten looked down at her gloved hands silently for a few breaths before answering. "Yes... I... I just want to know who it is..."

Something of a shade of guilt passed over Tsunade's face, before she let out a heavy sigh and settled into the grass next to the weapons mistress. "Why is it so important to know who it is? Aren't you finding out in two days?"

Tenten opened her mouth to answer, before stopping. Why was it so important to her? Was it so she could judge them worthy or not? Was she hoping for someone in particular?

At this last question, a familiar smiling blonde ball of energy and sunshine popped into her mind. He had become so dear to her in the past few days, it was like he wanted her to know that she was the center of his world, but couldn't say it out loud from lack of social training. Did she really have feelings for Naruto? Was that why she wanted to know?

Plopping onto her back, she stared up at the blue sky, letting the winter breeze drift over her, cooling her temper with the rest of her body. "I think... I like someone... and I don't want to lead the other on... so I want to let them off before the final two days..."

Tsunade watched the younger brunette quietly for a couple seconds with a sweet, sad smile on her face. Reaching over she pulled the startled kunoichi into a hug, rubbing the snow off her back. "You know... if I had ever had a daughter... I would have loved her to be like you... You have a good heart, and a strong head on your shoulders. If you could learn to control that temper, I'm sure you'd do excellently in both battle and love. You know... I overheard someone mentioning that they were worried about this 'My True Love' person stealing you away before they could prove themselves in your eyes..."

"M...Me?" Tenten exclaimed, her mind reeling from all the information presented, Tsunade respected her enough to wish her daughter would have been like her, and someone liked her... aside from the obvious suspect.

"Yes you... Now put on your boot, and get some rest, I want you to stay off that foot for a day at least, maybe even two..." Tsunade instructed with a motherly smile. "I sent one of your new training dummies to gather your weapons, they're in the backpack over by the road. And I'm telling your little buddy that you're to take it easy for the next day or so, understand?"

The glare the Hokage forestalled any arguments that she might have had, and instead she meekly answered "Yes ma'am." and limped her way out of the clearing. The healing helped, but it still hurt, but then again, bruised pride never did heal with jutsus; only time.