This takes place in the era of the final chapter of Naruto.

March 9 - Tenten

"YOOOOOSH! HERE I GO!" The small bushy-browed child bolted forward, hollering to the entire village as he went.

"STRIDE FORTH, MY DISCIPLE! TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM!" A tall bushy-browed man followed suit, his shout nearly overpowering his student's.

The boisterous pair barreled down the shop aisle. Racks of wicked weapons rattled in their tailwinds. Fortunately, no other patrons bothered visiting the shop this early in the morning. Anyone who came would only see a pair of forest green blurs streaking by.

A pair of green blurs, followed immediately by an aggravated shopkeeper.

"You two! Pipe down!" She snatched a handful of pointy objects from her sleeve and brandished them threateningly. "Lee, stop making a ruckus in my store."

"My most sincere apologies, Tenten!" The man screeched to a stop in the aisle. "Halt, my cherished disciple!"

The boy whirled around immediately at his teacher's call, but tripped over his feet. He grabbed onto the nearest handhold to steady himself, but found it falling with him… and brought down an entire row of naginata to the floor.

"Do not worry, Tenten; I will recover the naginata!" In a blur, Lee snatched each weapon out of the air, barely before the blades scratched the floor. He held them out to the boy. "Here, my student, you must reset the weapons that you have displaced."

The child promptly set to work, placing the weapons on their shelves under Tenten's watchful eye.

"Well then, is everything in order?" At the shopkeeper's nod, Lee brightened. "Alright, to the training weight section! Last one there must pay for the udon!"

"I will surely beat you this time, sensei!" Both males prepared to take off again.

"Stop right there!" A shower of shuriken whistled through the air.

"Oh, Tenten, an agility exercise! It is so kind of you to keep us on our toes even as we shop in your store!" declared the older man, effortlessly dodging the sudden barrage. He held his student out of harm's way by the collar.

When all the shuriken rested securely embedded in the walls and shelves, Tenten and Lee remained standing in the aisle across from each other. Lee's student stood between them.

"I apologize, Tenten-san!" The boy bowed low, as his teacher looked on in approval.

"You'd better. You'll probably knock over half the shelves if you don't slow down."

"I am unworthy to challenge your swift shower of blades! I will do one hundred push-ups right here as an apology to you for my lack of skill."

"No, kid, that's not what I meant, and you don't have to do that…" Tenten trailed off, seeing that the boy had already entered a terrifying focused state, executing push-ups with a single-minded determination.

She decided to leave him to it, and turned to his teacher instead. "Lee, I'm glad you came to visit, but the running and rushing really wasn't necessary."

"Thank you, Tenten, I am glad to be here!" Lee beamed for a moment. "I thought you needed some livening up in your day, since you just sit behind the counter all the time, waiting for customers to come."

"That's sweet of you, but you should have been more careful," Tenten responded. "I know you've always preferred to use your own hands and feet, but those are precious tools."

"Alright, I will keep it in mind for next time," Lee promised, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Next time? Just get the weights you need and go," Tenten griped with a grudging smile.

"Will do!" Flashing his friend a suspiciously bright grin, Lee stepped around his student, and took off for the weights section with a dozen tailwinds flying out in his wake.

"Lee!" Tenten heard rising laughter from several aisles over and scowled at her friend's antics.

"Stand up, my dear student! We will now repay your debt to Tenten by buying all the weights from her store and giving her a nice profit!" Lee's cheerful voice came from the other side of the store.

"Yes, sir!" The boy quickly stood up, refusing to give in to the insistent burn in his exhausted muscles.

"Alright, I'll take your money, but scram already!" Tenten snapped, shaking a fist in Lee's general direction. "You've livened up my day enough!"

"You're welcome, Tenten!" Lee appeared at the end of her aisle again, the entire length of both his arms covered in multi-colored weights. His student peeked around him, lugging all the smaller-sized weights with a determined expression. "Well, my student, we are set. Let us race through the village on our hands, with the weight of these gifts from Tenten to bolster our arms!"

The pair rushed to the door, leaving a trail of sweaty handprints along the floor. "I left the payment on the counter, Tenten!" declared Lee, pushing open the shop door with one foot. "Please excuse our noisy intrusion!"

Tenten watched them leave, grimacing fondly. "Don't run over any passerby, you dolt," she called back. "And don't come back!"

-mm-

Notes: This was written in part while I listened to dreadfully crackly customer-service-rep-waiting music. Anyway, please pretend that we have suddenly reversed time, and today is the 9th, and this scene isn't late...

Is this an excess of exclamation marks? It somehow felt inaccurate to write Lee's speech without including a truckload of exclamation points, but now it seems to be overkill. XD

Fun fact: while researching for this scene, I learned that one of Tenten's hobbies is fortune-telling. Also, I had an idea to write about an older Tenten, who thinks wistfully about her youth... but then takes it back, out of annoyance at Gai and Lee.

Thank you for reading! Next up is Hoshigaki Kisame.