From the way I see it Chapter 2

Authors note: A big thank you for all your wonderful reviews! It really encouraged us to continue with this story, so a big thank you to: Kaeru Soyokaze, harukakaanata, FireDragonBL, Amaterasu, Bianca, Magus Black, snow child yukiko-chan, moonlightpath, SGL, i-dream-of-blue-eyes and Fwoggie! Yes, it's kind of sad that there aren't many Tenten fics out there, Tenten's one of our favourite (and most mysterious) characters in Naruto, that's why we wrote this fic. Not much is known about her however, so if she acts a little OOC, please don't flame or blame us! Suggestions and constructive criticisms welcome! This story is currently centered on Tenten's test and stuff, but will later focus on her and a particular white-eyed teammate… read on and review for this chapter please!

Chapter 2

I happily walked to the next testing ground, still a bit hyper from my successful Bunshin technique from the test before. I was a bit suspicious about the quietness and tranquility of the testing ground though, it seemed too quiet, too peaceful.

My intuition told me that something was suspicious with this place. Kunai and shruiken on the ready, I walked onto the testing ground.

Funny. There was nobody, not even the examiners were in sight. I blinked in surprise as I looked around, hoping to find someone there. Just when I was going to turn around and leave, I felt a 'whoosh' coming behind me. Acting on instinct, I threw my shruiken backwards, and to my relief, the kunai speeding towards me clattered to the floor. One of the ribbons holding my bun together broke into half, and dropped on the floor.

Man that was a close shave, I thought to myself. Although I wasn't injured by the kunai, I was seriously pissed at whoever that threw that weapon at me. This was just the genin exam; the examiners didn't need to kill the participants! Argh! My ribbon! I thought as I stared rather forlornly at the ribbon on the ground, now snapped into half.

It was a pink one, and although it wasn't the exactly my favourite colour in the world, I was still seriously pissed. Now what am I supposed to tie the other half of my hair with?

"Very good, you deflected the kunai. In fact, you are the first to be able to do so," I heard someone's voice behind me, which made me whirl around, but yet, I couldn't see anyone. Am I having hallucinations? No way, that kunai was real; I could pick it up… so… it must be a genjutsu used to fool us.

So, I realized, the peacefulness and quietness of the training was just a genjutsu to fool us. The world around me seemed to swirl, as the illusion created by the genjutsu wore out. Damn, now I was getting a headache, and a big one at that. Telling myself to breathe in and out, I tried to relax. When the genjutsu finally wore out, I saw targets, weapons and a chuunin step out.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a chuunin step out from the forest. He was the examiner for the weapons accuracy test: Mizuki. (A/N: Yeah, we know that he later betrayed the village, but remember, this is the year Tenten and her batch had the genin test, he was still a teacher at the academy.)

I recognized him as a teacher in the ninja academy. He never taught my class before though, but I have seen him before in the academy. I was seriously pissed, when did they say that the examiners could kill a participant? I saw him smile at me, which I returned with a glare.

"Ohayo Tenten," he said, smiling at me. I glared back, still feeling extremely pissed over the loss of one of my hair accessories. Ok, I knew that I was being petty, but that ribbon had been with me for ages, and now it's been severed into half. It contains sentimental you know.

"Mizuki-sensei," I greeted, knowing that although I was pissed off with him, he was still my sensei, and I had to greet him with respect. Not wanting to back down just like that, however, I glared at him and said, "Mizuki-sensei, I didn't realize that participants could be injured or killed while in the exam," empathizing on the 'killed' and 'injured' part.

I saw him smile at me and say, "Well, you are the first to pass this… even when the real weapons accuracy test hasn't started," he gestured to a corner, where the unconscious students lay. Weird, they just seemed to be fast asleep, not injured at all. Taking a closer look at the kunai that almost hit me, I realised that it was blunt, not even sharp enough to pierce through the skin. Its tip was coated with an antiseptic, which was why those students were just sleeping.

Oh wow, I felt so stupid now. I sighed, and gave Mizuki-sensei a weak smile. My poor ribbon though… I must look rather silly now, one side of my hair still in a bun, and the other side was let down. Sighing, I undid the other bun, and ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to neaten it. I know I look like someone who just woke up.

Trying not to sigh, I asked, "Mizuki-sensei, can we start the test?" I saw him nod, and he gestured me to follow him. I gripped my kunai tightly, in case a weapon tried to hit me again. When we reached there, I saw targets of all types, and smiled. This was going to be a breeze; the targets were only a little smaller than those that we practiced on at the academy. At the corner, I saw that a small group of people were sitting there. I saw that I was not the only student there, I saw the Hyuuga guy again, and many others. There were only forty people sitting there, and I guessed that only those here had passed.

Mizuki-sensei motioned me to the targets and said, "Just hit the moving targets and you will pass," I nodded and gripped my kunais tightly.

"Ready? Start!" I heard him call out, and the first target shot out from the tree. I swung a kunai at it, and it broke. Several other targets swung at me, and I was glad that I left the house with many shruikens and kunais. But no matter how many targets I shot down, the targets just seemed to appear, more coming out at each time.

I counted the number of targets I had already shot down. I had already shot down eighty, but the targets just kept coming… and they don't seem to stop. I was running out of weapons, and I panicked on the inside. What should I do?

Calm down Tenten, I told myself, as I shot another three targets. I forced myself to relax, and my brain to think. Maybe this test had another motive, besides testing the accuracy of the student. Iruka-sensei had also told us that the test was also testing us on strategy. Maybe in this case… I thought, I had to aim for the source of whatever that was producing those targets.

Making my left eye focus on hitting the targets, my right (and stronger) eye scanned the area for anything suspicious that could be the source of those irritating, non-stop targets. I looked around, searching, hoping that I would be able to find it fast enough before I ran out of weapons. I had only five shruikens, ten kunais and about twenty darts left. Deciding to save on the kunais and shruikens, I decided to use the darts to continue hitting those targets while I looked around for the generator of those targets.

Aha! I saw it! I squinted, hoping to make it out clearly. It was a machine, those that generated and shot out targets non-stop. I gripped a shruiken, and aiming it towards the machine, I released it with as much power as I could, hoping that it would hit.

It hit the machine, right in the place I wanted it to hit. I thanked the heavens and kami-sama for being able to hit it in one shot. I was right, after I hit that machine, the targets stopped coming. I panted heavily, trying to catch my breath. I saw Mizuki sensei smile at me and say, "Good job, Tenten! You bothered to think out of the box and I declare that you have passed this round."

I joined the group at the tree opposite. After the last person had passed the second round, I realised that out of the two hundred of students who had gone for the test, only about forty five remain. I was glad to have passed the second round. Another chuunin, one who I have never seen before at the academy guided us to a field.

Round three had started.

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Authors' note: We hope that you have liked this chapter! Please review, and the next chapter will come sooner!