Guy both walked into their room without preamble and spoke to Tenten without hesitation. "Why did you leave the table?" he demanded to know. "You know that our team always shares meals together."
"Maybe I don't want to be part of this team!" Tenten shouted suddenly, glaring at her teacher with over-bright eyes. Guy's mouth dropped open.
"What makes you say something like that?" he asked, obviously shocked and injured.
Tenten was avoiding his eyes now and had started to pace around the room. "You know, Neji has been at the top of our class all five of his years at the Academy. Lee was a labeled as a failure, but look at him now! Not only can he not perform ninjutsu, but he does fine without it! He's a genius as much as Neji! They're both geniuses!" She finished her praises at the top of her voice, breathing hard as though she had just finished a run rather than a speech. "And I'm..." She hesitated. "What am I?"
Guy stared at her for a long moment in silence, inviting her to go on. But Tenten had finished her tirade and stood looking up at him with wide, vulnerable eyes. He could clearly see the struggle of admiration and envy, of self-motivation and self-deprecation, of hope and hurt, that lay there. She waited, holding her breath, to hear what he had to say.
Her sensei reached out slowly, brought his hand up to her face and…grabbed her ear. "Don't you dare talk about yourself that way, Tenten!" His voice was sharp, his eyes bright. "I won't allow it." Shocked, Tenten reached up to her pained ear and opened her mouth to speak, but Guy-sensei didn't give her the chance. "I know your heart; I've heard your dream. One day you want to be as good a shinobi as your role model Lady Tsunade.
"But your teammates make you feel like giving up. You feel like your skills are nothing compared to theirs."
"They have more skill than I'll ever have!" Tenten cried out through gritted teeth.
Guy's voice dwarfed hers in volume as he shouted back, "They have different skills than you! How dare you compare yourself to them! As if you could do the same things as Neji can with the byakugan, or Lee can with chakraless taijutsu!" He finally released his hold on her, balling his hands into fists of passion. "Don't compare noodles to rice! They'll never have the skill you do with weaponry! No one in the history of Konoha has possessed a skill like yours! If you downplay it, you do a gross disservice to both yourself and your village!
"One day," he vowed, his eyes shining with—was that tears?—"you will be a kunoichi the likes of which our village has never seen! You'll be in all the bingo books! And you know what I'll say when I hear people talking about the legendary Tenten of Konohagakure?" His mouth stretched in a proud grin. "I was her teacher! I'm the one who taught her everything she knows!" His eyes and voice softened at last. "…I was a witness of her growth in knowledge and power. I watched while she matured into a fearless young woman." He laid his large hand on her head, ruffling her bangs. "It's an honor to be your teacher…to teach all three of you—the next generation of Konoha shinobi, the geniuses of your time."
Then he left her alone to stare for a long time at the wall, dazed at the words spoken to her so bluntly from the man whose approval mattered more to her than any other.