Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything copyrighted.
When Naruto had thought of wielding and training to use the katana, he had been expecting glorious things. Not repetitive swinging. Over and over again. Tenten had been a ruthless if effective teacher in making sure that Naruto didn't slack off. Not that he would have done so anyways, it was against his nature to do so. But damn if swinging over and over again wasn't getting tiring.
He had watched as Tenten showed him a set of moves to use with the katana, or as she called it, a dance. It was entrancing to say the least, to see her lithe body wielding the shining slice of death in such an artful way. It definitely looked like a dance when she did it. It did not look like a dance when he did it, more like a clumsy drunk trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue.
She had told him shortly thereafter that before he even attempted to learn such complex maneuvers, he would have to get a good muscle memory of the basics. So with that in mind, she had given him a simple, yet very tiring regiment for his training. He would start with one hundred vertical strikes, then one hundred horizontal strikes from the left, then one hundred from the right. That task in and of itself was daunting, however, she upped the difficulty when she took his katana away and handed him a wooden bokken with weights attached to it. She had told him that if he continued to use the katana, he would probably end up injuring himself, and besides, the weights on the bokken made it heavier than the katana. Once he gained a good grasp of the basics with the bokken, he would be able to use the katana even faster and smoother than if he trained only with the katana.
It was a time-proven method, and Naruto decided that maybe the samurai had more knowledge of the art than he did, so he would trust in the training methods. Even if he did really just want the katana back in his hands. He couldn't explain it, but it felt so right in his hands, like it was meant for his use. Of course, in retrospect, it was in fact meant for his use, since Tenten herself had forged the katana for him. That was a thought that still brought a smile to his face, along with a blush.
Naruto sighed as his idle thoughts carried into his training and suddenly he had a weighted bokken slapping against his thigh. If he had been holding the katana, he would have just ended up slicing his leg open for the entire world to see. It would probably be quite a while before he would be able to use it against an opponent without hurting himself more than them. That was an embarrassing thought, and Naruto cringed at the truthfulness of it.
Tenten had told him that after he had beaten her in a kenjutsu battle using the bokken, she would give him back the katana. When Naruto pointed out that she was much better with the blade, and it would take forever to catch up, let alone pass her, she simply smiled and said that he better get to work then. Naruto had not found that to be quite as amusing as she did, but didn't retort, in fear that she might decide his regiment needed to be increased.
Walking over to his newest teacher after he finished the routine, he couldn't help but wonder if she was enjoying this as much as he was. Oh, he wouldn't lie, some of it was boring as hell, and Naruto was not a fan of repetition. He liked the saying 'variety is the spice of life' and tried to integrate variety into everything he did. However, he liked having a teacher that was around his age group, someone that he could work with and improve together with. Unlike Gai, who had all but mastered all things taijutsu. Not that learning from Tenten was new, he had after all learned some things about sealing from her. Kenjutsu was different though, it was more hands on than the other stuff. Several times, Tenten had to direct his arms through the kata in the beginning of his training. That had been a warm and pleasant feeling, and he had almost been tempted to continue to need help just so she would continue to help. Naruto shook his head as a blush formed when he thought about how she had to stand behind him and latch their arms together while she went through the movement, so that Naruto could feel how it was done properly. That had been an interesting experience.
Naruto didn't realize it, but he had let out a somewhat perverted giggle when he thought about it, and that had informed Tenten of his approach. Seeing him approach while off in his own little world gave her a wicked idea, and so she quickly set to her task of ambushing the poor boy. He would never know what hit him. Tenten left a bunshin of herself where she had been, and using the Head hunter jutsu, quickly got behind the boy as he approached.
Naruto snapped out of his daze when he saw Tenten relaxing in the shade of a tree nearby. He couldn't help but feel a tickle at the back of his neck though when she looked over to him and smiled. Something was wrong…she was being too nice while she was in teacher mode. Of course, it hadn't been the evil grin that she had the first time she set up his training regiment, but nonetheless Naruto couldn't help but feel like a hunted beast in the wild. Despite his increased vigilance and concern, he never expected a pair of slim hands to shoot out of the earth and grab his ankles.
Suddenly he was looking at a pair of ankles that had much softer curves then his own, craning his head upwards, he sighed as he realized that Tenten had used his own jutsu against him. Concentrating on moving his hands through the dirt so that he could form the handseals for the jutsu, he was surprised to find his hands tied to his sides. He hadn't even noticed her doing it.
"Huh…How?" Was all the poor boy could manage, and then he noticed the smile on her face had turned into a sadistic grin, oh this couldn't end well for the boy.
"Well, Naruto. I assume that you've finished your exercise for the day, so now, it's time for a little payback for our spar a few months ago."
"Payback? What kind of payback?"
"Well, it's almost lunch time now. I'm going to go eat some ramen, you can join me if you want to. But if you don't, I understand." The girl pretended to sob out the last part, oh yes, she was evil sometimes.
"Ramen! I'll go, I'll go!!"
"Well, that's good to say and all, but how are you going to get out of there?" The girl asked, seeing his face drain in realization.
He wouldn't be able to escape without her help, and he was going to miss out on eating ramen for lunch. Naruto dropped his head for a minute, she had tricked him pretty well, and his not often utilized prankster side could respect that. Narrowing his eyes, the boy wracked his mind to think of way to get out of this situation. One could see the light bulb go off over his head when he thought of the way. She wanted him to apologize, and maybe grovel a little. That wasn't his way, he didn't like to back down from anyone after all. He looked back up at her grin, and suddenly a grin broke on his face. Two could play at this game, then.
"You're right Tenten, I can't escape. However, the training area we are in right now, happens to border the Hyuuga residence. Or more specifically, Neji's training area. Which is why you picked this place, remember? I'd hate to see what he would think of you killing off your first and only student, especially after he finds out about your little crush on him." Naruto's grin broke out into a sadistic smirk to emphasize his threat. He wouldn't actually go through with it of course, but she didn't have to know that.
"You! You! That's just evil, you can't use something like that against me!" She blurted out, trying to regain her footing in this debate. She had underestimated him, she could see that now, he could be more devious than he put on.
"A ninja uses every tool at his disposal, sensei." Naruto drawled out the last part, making sure to get under her skin. It worked apparently, because Tenten glared at him before sighing and put her hands into a hand sign and softly saying "kai". This released the genjutsu that had been making Naruto think his hands were tied up. Naruto's eyebrow quirked at that, 'Well at least that explains how she did it so quickly and without my noticing.' The boy thought as he quickly did the handseals to escape the ground and then walked over to the now dejected girl.
"Come on, that ramen is calling. I'll buy you a bowl." Naruto offered while placing a hand of her shoulder to cheer her up. It worked, because she cracked a smile for him and fell in step with him as he walked along.
"So, Naruto, what do you think of kenjutsu so far?" The girl asked after they had arrived and ordered their ramen. A vastly different order too. Naruto had ordered ten bowls of ramen to Tenten's two bowls.
After slurping up some noodles, Naruto looked over to the girl to see if she was trying to test him. Seeing no hidden agenda there, Naruto shrugged and said "Well, it's a lot harder than I originally thought, but I guess other than the boring drills, it's pretty cool. I just want to be able to get to use some of those dances though, they were beautiful when you used them."
Tenten blushed at the inadvertent compliment, and laughed it off. She didn't really think she was a beautiful girl, not in a village where girls had such exotic colors. Hell, there was a girl with pink hair at the academy! Most of the other girls also had pretty eye colors too, but not Tenten. She was just plain in her mind, brown hair, brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She had tried to bolster her looks slightly by wearing somewhat more traditional clothing. She had thought about wearing makeup, but after the first incident of training hard and having it run down her face from her sweat, she had abandoned that idea.
She had resigned herself to being plain looking, she couldn't improve her looks after all. She could however improve her kunoichi skills, and so her goal had always been to become a legendary kunoichi like her idol, Tsunade. Tenten was however, still a girl, and therefore still self-conscious about her looks, and when someone complimented her looks, she would blush, no matter who it was. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't realize this, and so he would give her compliments regularly, and make her blush far more often than Tenten would prefer. Not that she didn't enjoy the compliments, but it was just Naruto after all, not someone like Neji complimenting her.
"Well, I'm sure that you'll be able to do them sooner or later. That all depends on how dedicated you are to the routine. If you feel you're up for it, I could test you again when we get back, and see if you're ready to learn some new moves." The girl asked, after regaining her voice.
"That's awesome! Hell yeah, I'd love to learn some new moves from you!" Naruto shouted, oblivious to the dual nature of his words. In his mind, they had been a simple declaration of wanting to learn more sword stuff. However, in the mind of the public, which included several young girls, there was another meaning. A meaning that Kakashi or Jiraiya would be interested in, and proud of Naruto for. Tenten understood the dual nature of the words, and a bright blush enflamed her face.
"Naruto…if you ever want to have children in your future, never scream something like that out again, especially in a crowded area." The girl said, making her voice as serious as possible, while brandishing a katana that she had pulled out of … somewhere…and pointing it at Naruto's 'precious'. The boy gulped, while losing several shades of color, and nodded quickly.
They quickly finished eating and left in a hurry, to try and avoid public eye. Naruto had one thought running through his mind as he left the establishment, and it was one that all men think at some point during their life. 'I'll never understand women.' A thought which would later be compounded with a lot of pain when he had been foolish enough to utter it aloud when Tenten got ready to test him to see if he advanced at all. That beating was something he was not going to forget for a while, and he wondered idly if he would be safer just not talking to the fairer sex, which ironically, was another thought that a lot of men consider at some point in their life.
Unfortunately for the two young children, their quick escape was seen by several people. They all got the wrong impression, and very shortly thereafter the rumor mill was afire with the rumor of the demon brat taking a girl into his possession and forcing her to obey his every whim. Tenten would get several sympathetic looks, which bewildered her, for the next couple weeks. Naruto on the other hand got a mixture of even more heated glares from the women in the village, and a few perverted grins from some of the men. This freaked out Naruto even more than the glares, and he quickly hid back in his room and started rocking back and forth until all the horrible reasons why they might grin perversely at him had been eradicated from his mind.
The next time the two had met, things had been awkward for a few minutes, until Naruto had tripped on a tree root and face planted into a mud pit. The scene was so hilarious that Tenten couldn't help but laugh as she pulled the boy out of the mud, which only increased her laughter as he looked at her with a face full of mud. The only parts not covered were his shining blue eyes and his bright blonde hair. It left quite an image, and Tenten had pulled out a mirror so that Naruto could get a look at himself. When he did, he burst out in laughter himself. He looked utterly ridiculous at the moment, and after a good healing session of laughter and Naruto going to wash his face off in a nearby stream, the two got back to work in their respective training.
A/N: Well, it seems like this story had finally garnered a bit of attention, and I'm glad to see that my hard work is paying off. It is also very nice to see several new reviews every time I go check the status on my story. To address a few of those reviews, thank you for the input, it is appreciated. One reviewer suggested a completely different look for the sword, sorry that you don't like it, but it's not changing. I might consider him getting a more discreet sheath for covert ops, but that's it. Moving on, to address the review about using a katana instead of something more exotic. Read the A/N next time. That's all I have to say about that. Just to let you all know my opinion on this, I feel that if a story has a flaw or something along those lines, the author is better off just integrating it into his story as his spin on things, since when correcting the story, it usually suffers, as no author likes to rewrite his work, so he won't put nearly as much enthusiasm and creativity in it. So, I won't go back and fix anything I have in my story to your liking, but I might add a way to counter it in the future. If I want to of course, this is after all, my story. Thank you for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.