25. Tenten and the Sharingan.
Higurashi Tenten was a practical girl.
She assessed her strengths and weaknesses before deciding to specialise as a weaponsmaster.
Tenten had no use for the flashy and attention-drawing jutsu of clan ninjas. She wanted to be a great female ninja like Tsunade-sama. The female Sannin may have been known for her prodigious strength and medical jutsu but she had earned her stripes through down and dirty ninja work. The kind of work that the faceless majority of the ninja forces and the black ops performed or what Tenten termed "proper ninja work."
Unfortunately, while the ninjas of that generation received recognition and acclaim for what they did now the populace worshipped people for merit of their last name. It was rather unfair in her opinion.
She grew to respect Neji (and develop a crush on him) due to his talent and skill not his family name. Tenten didn't give a damn that he was a Hyuuga. She respected and liked him as a ninja.
She grew to feel the same way about Lee, respecting him for his hard won skills and determination.
(Gai-sensei, she liked off the bat because even if he was completely nuts he was skilled, loyal, powerful and dedicated to making them the best they could be.)
So, in essence Tenten respected skill, hard work and dedication. Not lineage or family name. Unsurprisingly, Tenten famously beat members of prominent and wealthy clans into the ground while in the academy and quickly gained a reputation for being a truly promising and hard-as-nails kunoichi.
She was all of ten years of age (and practising with more weapons than the average chuunin) when Sasuke had first appeared before her.
While Tenten would admit the boy was attractive (no use in denying concrete facts like that) she was rather embarrassed by the sort of attention the girls in the academy paid him. It was demeaning in the extreme, especially as the boy ignored them as best he could, refused all gifts and was almost as infamous as the Uzumaki kid when it came to making a speedy escape.
He had appeared in her training ground, bowed and respectfully asked for her help in training. She was leery at first but Sasuke was all business on the subject. He explained his Bloodline Limit and the sort of training he was attempting to undertake.
His explanations made sense and his proposal was very well thought out. Then he sealed the deal by presenting her with a gift of a large box of good quality weaponry and a little book detailing an introduction to practical sealing. She seriously contemplated kissing the pale and serious-looking child but quickly threw that aside in favour of examining the goodies with which he had bribed her.
Tenten made an oath there and then. She was going to help Uchiha Sasuke awaken his Sharingan, dodge damn well near everything that could possibly come hurtling towards him at great speed and if she failed may she be punished by Tsunade herself over his weapon-riddled corpse.
She hefted her kunai and let them fly.