Chapter Four: Class Begins

Tenten got up within her apartment.

She'd spent the last few days putting everything in order for her stay at the Leaf. Sarutobi had given her a one-room apartment. It had a kitchen over to one corner, and a sofa, and one bed. Tenten had quickly bought herself some basic foodstuff, mostly stuff that was on sale. Now she was cooking an egg while getting dressed.

She'd taken a shower first thing, so she was good.

As she put on her clothes, she checked on the egg she was cooking. By the time she finished up, the eggs were nearly done, and she turned off the stove. Pouring herself a glass of milk, Tenten quickly put the egg onto a plate. Eating quickly, she immediately washed the silverware and then swept up.

Done.

Tenten then headed out for school the next day, looking forward to it. She walked with her pack, making her way through the streets. At last, she reached the academy and entered the halls. As she walked through the halls, Tenten thought about her plans. "Alright, I'm finally here for my first day at ninja school. Now, Tenten, you're entering late, so you'll be older than the others. But that just means you have more life experience.

"So, you'll take your lessons seriously, work hard, and then go to street cleaning. Once you're done with that, you'll read at the library. Right, I've got it all planned out.

"Now, if I keep at this, nothing will-"

Tenten opened the door to her classroom, and an eraser fell onto her head, dousing her in chalk. Laughter ensued. Yeah, this was a great start.

"Hahahaha!" laughed Naruto. "You fell for it; I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book!"

"What book?" asked Tenten, moving forward. "I didn't read any book about-" A prank. "Very funny."

Well, this was off to a good start.

"I was hoping to catch Iruka-sensei with that, but you make a good target too," said Naruto.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, loser," snapped Tenten, now in a bad mood. "Some of us spend our time studying instead of stupid pranks. If you put the effort you had into making that prank into doing your appointed task, you might not be the class clown." She almost said worse but decided it wouldn't help situations. The boy flinched at the words, but she took her seat and put out her books. These were on loan from the Hokage, so she'd have to pay them back eventually, too.

"Oh yeah, that's pretty rich, new girl," said someone; Tenten didn't know or care who. "You're like twice our age, and you've only just started. I'll bet you even weaker than that loser, Naruto."

"Don't put a kunai through his eye, don't put a kunai through his eye, don't put a kunai through his eye..." murmured Tenten.

At that moment, the door opened and Iruka, or Iruka-sensei Tenten supposed, strode in. Instantly, all semblance of mockery disappeared. His eyes scanned over the eraser and picked it up. "Am I missing something?"

"I... oh Iruka-sensei, you're here. I uh..." Naruto halted.

"All of you sit down and no more of this," said Iruka. "Now, joining us today is Tenten. She is a year older than all of you; however, she has been deemed qualified to start late. I expect all of you to show her the proper respect as a fellow student.

"For a start, we'll begin with some basic theories of chakra."

Tenten had to admit, Iruka ran a tight ship. Several times Naruto stood up to try and pull something, but Iruka would often appear and shut him down flat. Tossed notes got caught by Iruka without him even looking up.

Not that Tenten had anything to do with it, she was paying attention. Or trying to, actually. It was... difficult. Basic theories of chakra were, to put it mildly, boring. Apparently, chakra had been an inherent part of every creature in the world since who knew when. The most interesting part though, was certain legends about the origins of chakra.

"Iruka-sensei," said Tenten. "This Rabbit Goddess Kaguya, um, do we actually know she existed?"

"I'm afraid not," said Iruka. "What we know about her is incomplete information. It is mostly scattered references in ancient histories. We know that the Sage of Six Paths existed, and he made reference to her at several points in his writings.

"However, we've nothing to indicate that she was the all-powerful Goddess legend claim her to be. It's conceivable that she was a very powerful warrior who was later raised to deity status. Records of that period are scattered at best."

"Maybe she was like, an alien!" said an overweight boy between munching on crisps. "And like, she came to this place planning to protect it from an even bigger alien invasion! And she like, gave out her chakra to the entire world, and then tried to take it back-"

"Choji, that is ridiculous," said Ino.

"Why?" asked Choji.

"Well, you see uh..." Ino paused. "It's because... Sakura, tell him why it's ridiculous. I mean, we both know why."

"Historically speaking, defenseless nations are eaten by powerful ones very quickly," said Sakura. "Regardless of how well you negotiate, if you can't fight back, the bad actors in the other nation have no fear of you. If your enemy regards you as a joke, they won't hesitate to destroy you.

"Just look at the Land of the Rain. It had a weak military and bordered numerous strong nations. As a result, it became a failed state until the Cult of Pain."

"Wait a minute," said Naruto. "Sakura, I thought uh... Hanzo ruled the Land of the Rain, didn't he? I mean, you helped me with that test and-"

"Hanzo is the head of state, Naruto," said Sakura. "But the Cult of Pain is a religious organization that he used to propel him to that level. It gave him a justification to use any and all means to defeat his opponents.

"See, the worshippers of Pain believe that their God provides instruction through suffering. And that by having agony inflicted on them, people grow up and become better people. So by that basis, Hanzo could be as violent and brutal as he wanted and still be justified since he was doing Pain's work.

"Although he hasn't made any public appearances in recent years. And the Cult of Pain is pretty much running the country these days. So he might have died or been sidelined by his own cult. I think that his tendency to purge organizations the Cult of Pain liked backfired when-"

"And that's enough," said Iruka. "Sakura, I appreciate your interest in history. But our subject matter is currently chakra. You can theorize to Naruto about the geopolitical rise and of brutal despots later."

"But Iruka-sensei, I was interested!" said Naruto.

"Then talk to her about it later," said Iruka. "Sakura, perhaps you should make your original point about the aliens so we can move on?"

"Right," said Sakura. "Um, my point was that if there was a race of all-powerful alien gods who knew about us, they would have invaded a long time ago. It's far more likely the Kaguya was a Goddess, an ordinary person, or just flat out didn't exist."

"Well, why are we even talking about this, then?" asked Tenten. "Why is it in the textbook on chakra basics if it has no relation and we don't even know it really existed?"

"Can you tell me that?" asked Iruka.

Tenten paused and considered it for a moment. Before she could speak, however, Sasuke over to one side raised a hand. Iruka pointed to him. "Yes, Sasuke, what is it?"

"It's a motivational tool," said Sasuke. "Ninja are supposed to think about their opponents. All the scientific stuff before this was incredibly dry. So they added in the legends about the origin of chakra to catch people's interest."

"Exactly, Sasuke," said Iruka-sensei. "Keeping a class of people interested is difficult. So going into the legends surrounding chakra is a much more interesting way to start the class.

"So, now that the interesting part is over with, turn to the next page, and we'll read about chakra flows."

"Ugh," murmured a boy with a top-knot. "This is such a drag."

"You say that about everything, Shikamaru!" said Ino.

Chakra flows turned out to be a lot less interesting than the Goddess Kaguya. Tenten read as she did, listening to Iruka's explanation of various matters.

"Ugh, this is a lot less interesting than anything I'm used to," murmured Tenten. Even so, she took notes as Master Panda had taught her. "I don't even know what half of those words mean, but I'd better take notes anyway. Hmm, looks like not many people are taking notes." It was true, Sakura was taking notes, and Ino was reading them.

Sasuke seemed to be reading the textbook but was obviously bored by it. Most of the class seemed to regard this class as a boring thing you had to get through to get to the interesting bits. Didn't they realize this stuff was important too? They wouldn't be teaching it if it didn't have relevance.

And then Tenten saw Naruto folding up a paper airplane.

"Is that... a paper airplane?" thought Tenten to herself. "Oh, no, he is not derailing this class again, is he?"

Naruto hurled it with expert accuracy. But Iruka-sensei disappeared into a puff of smoke moments before it hit. Naruto flinched, and then he realized Iruka-sensei was behind him.

"Naruto did you throw that?" asked Iruka-sensei.

Naruto stood up nervously. "Yeah, yeah, I'll just head outside-"

"No, Naruto, that isn't going to work this time," said Iruka. "You aren't going to be rewarded for disrupting this class. Sit over there in the corner; the desk doesn't have any paper in it for you to misuse. I set it up this morning. You never take notes anyway, so you can just read with us. Or don't read.

"Now try and pay attention, this may be boring, but it is important."

Naruto leaned forward, miserable, and walked over to the desk. "Yes, Iruka-sensei."

Tenten had to admit, Iruka-sensei was pretty damn cool. Even so, Tenten had to admit she was less than impressed with the class. Most of them didn't even realize how good they had it to have someone pay for school for them. Instead, they were treating it like some sort of punishment.

"Hmm, so, fatso isn't paying attention. Shikamaru is sleeping; the rest of them are bored," mused Tenten to herself. "The only people taking notes other than me is Sakura and Ino.

"What a bunch of morons.

"Do they even realize how privileged they are to be in here? We didn't have anything like this where I was from."

That class ended, and another began.

This one was taijutsu, and everyone seemed more enthusiastic about it—everyone except Shikamaru, who talked about how it was a drag. Tenten, for her part, listened to Mizuki's instructions and followed them to the letter.

Even so, she had to be corrected in a lot of her stances.

"Look at her; she's only learning the basic movements just now. What a loser," said a meaningless naysayer. People who lived life with a perpetual sneer on their face were pathetic. They had to tear down others because they couldn't build a thing for themselves.

Tenten knew without looking that whoever it was wouldn't graduate with flying colors. People who put their energy into making others feel bad didn't have any left to build themselves up.

'Just ignore the meaningless distractions, and they'll go away,' thought Tenten.

Strangely enough, Tenten found her gaze drawn to Sasuke as he practiced his taijutsu, and he was good. He was performing his movements perfectly, striking and kicking with fluid grace. It was obvious he was putting a lot of work into it, and Tenten was beginning to see why Ino and Sakura were into him.

Not that Tenten liked him or anything. Wait, that thought process was completely out of character for Tenten. What was going on here?

"You're not going to have a crush on Sasuke too, are you?" asked Naruto to one side.

"What, no, not at all. I'm not even sticking around this class any longer than I have to," said Tenten. "My plan is to graduate to the next one early, once I have things down."

"Oh good, everyone seems to have a crush on Sasuke," said Naruto. "I don't know what they see in him?"

"Well, he is performing his movements perfectly," said Tenten.

"He's not that great," said Naruto.

"He's a lot better than you, so you're acting jealous," said Tenten.

"I'm not jealous," said Naruto.

"Yes, you are," said Tenten. "You're trying to get attention by pulling stupid pranks. Imagine what you could be using that time for instead. You didn't hear a word our sensei said in there, and now you're trying to distract me."

"No, I'm not," said Naruto. "Taijutsu is my best class."

"Oh really?" asked Tenten. "Well, your stance is all wrong."

"Huh," said Naruto. "But Mizuki-sensei said I was doing fine. Are you sure?"

"Look, I'm not your teacher," said Tenten. "I can't correct you because I'm only just learning. You probably misunderstood his instructions. So why don't you call over Mizuki and ask for him to set you straight."

"Right, um..." Naruto paused. "Mizuki-sensei, Mizuki-sensei, am I doing this right?"

Mizuki came forward, brushing aside the strands of his hair, and looked at Naruto's stance. It was completely wrong. His glance went to the class, which we're now looking in his direction. All of them saw that Naruto's stance was wrong.

"Hmm," said Mizuki. "You seem to have gotten my instructions mixed up, Naruto. Let me straighten you out." And he did just that, pointing out a number of critical errors that even Tenten could pick up. Then Mizuki looked to Tenten.

"Hmm, your stance needs adjustment, Tenten. Shift your foot a little back, no a little forward," said Mizuki. "Good work. Now keep it up."

"Thank you, Mizuki-sensei," said Tenten.

"You just lost your stance," said Mizuki.

"Sorry," said Tenten.

Tenten had already decided that Naruto was not very bright at best. So she kept waiting for him to complete mess his stance up. Except he didn't. Naruto just kept following the motions. Now and then, he'd ask Mizuki-sensei to help him, and Mizuki-sensei would point things out.

The rest of the class was weirded out by this. Tenten could tell by the way they were glancing over. What was going on here?

Naruto was obviously doing better in training than he ever had before. And everyone was weirded out here. Had Mizuki-sensei really missed those holes all this time? But nobody else seemed to be having the same level of screwups. Even Sakura got chided and responded now and then. And she wasn't putting nearly as much work in.

Then Tenten noticed it. It came to her around the fifth time Naruto asked for guidance, and Mizuki came over in frustration.

Mizuki never once gave Naruto any instructions without prompting. He smiled at him and pretended to treat him like the other students. But Naruto had largely been imitating the others. Mizuki seemed outright angry as he strode over, though he tried to hide it.

But if Mizuki were sabotaging Naruto, why would he correct him?

Because everyone was here to see it.

If the rest of the students caught Mizuki teaching Naruto wrong, one of two things would happen. They'd think they'd got it wrong and changed to fit the bad teaching, which could lose Mizuki's job. Or they'd see that Mizuki was sabotaging Naruto.

But why?

Was it just Tenten? Was she reading too much into it?

Either way, there was nothing Tenten could actually do about it. Nobody would believe her if she told them. So the most she could do was suggest Naruto ask for help, which he was doing. Really, Naruto wasn't that stupid. He could figure it out on his own, and it wasn't Tenten's problem anyway.

The good news was that most of the class were not taking their lessons seriously like Tenten. The weren't working on this as their livelihoods depended on it. They didn't realize the stakes. But Tenten did. When recess came, Tenten spent it reading about chakra meditation techniques. Apparently, they helped a person with jutsu. She ate her lunch and went back to reading. The good news was that food was provided by the academy, so that was one less expense.

During target practice, she worked on trick shots. Everyone else was working on getting a bullseye. Even Sasuke looked at her with some surprise as she made one shot after another. Tenten forced herself to make the most of every waking moment. If she went beyond her goals, she pushed on to get to a further goal.

No rest for the weary.

After classes concluded, Tenten moved through the halls. She found Iruka-sensei in his office and knocked. She knocked before entering. "Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, Tenten, what is it?" asked Iruka-sensei.

"Can I borrow a mop and bucket?" asked Tenten. "I need it to clean the streets outside some shops."

Iruka blinked. "Is that necessary? Citizens of the Leaf are expected to clean the area outside of them. It's the only way we keep the streets clean. Everyone has to pitch in."

"Exactly, it's a market opportunity," said Tenten. "I'll do the work for them for a bit of payment. But I need a mop and bucket, and I forgot to bring mine from home." She wouldn't make that mistake again.

Iruka-sensei. "Well, if you need the money, I guess I could let you borrow it."

"Thanks," said Tenten.

Then she rushed out. Tenten came up behind Ino while she was walking after she'd broken off from Sakura. "Hey, um, Ino, right?"

"Yes, you're the new girl?" asked Ino, blinking. "Why'd you start late anyway? And why are you carrying a mop and bucket?"

"I didn't get the chance to come here before," said Tenten. "Hey, I was wondering if you needed any help cleaning the streets outside your home. I could do it for you for a low price."

"Okay, um... are you desperate for cash?" asked Ino.

"Actually yes," said Tenten. "I'm paying my time for the academy by doing work for people. And I've got some debts to pay off."

"Well, Mom wanted me to do it," mused Ino. "But I guess giving you a bit of my allowance to do it for me might count as delegating. Okay, how much."

A deal was made.

Tenten set to work cleaning up the street outside Ino's home right away. Using the mop and bucket, she was able to get the place clean. But she was certain to get all the corners and do the extra work. Looking in through the window, Tenten noticed that Ino's home doubled as a flower shop.

Odd. She'd heard in conversation that the Yamanaka Clan were important. Part of a trio of clans, the Nara, the Akimichi, and the Yamanaka. Individually, they were not powerful. But together, they had formed a block that was comparable to the Uchiha and Hyuga.

But, it was none of Tenten's business.

In the end, she finished the job and got her payment before moving on to make the offer to the nearby houses. Some of them accepted, others refused, but Tenten managed to get paid several times. By the time the light started waning, she'd made a decent profit.

Deciding that she needed rest, Tenten returned the mop and bucket to the school.

Once done, Tenten heard a shout of rage on her way back, and someone called Naruto's name. Sensing an opportunity, she ran ahead. A store owner was standing in front of a building that was covered in paint.

"That little brat Naruto has painted all over my store!" said the man. "He's vandalized three houses!"

Tenten smiled. In hardship, opportunity. "Excuse me, would you like me to clean that up for you? I can do it for a low price. All I ask is a small but reasonable fee and the tools to do it."

The man looked up. "Alright, I could use the help. If I don't get all this off my store soon, it could cut into my business. I need it off by the end of the day."

"Yes, sir, I'll see it cleaned off in record time or your money back," said Tenten.

Getting it all off was hard.

Very hard.

Tenten had to work nonstop for her remaining time, racing against the clock to get every bit of paint off. But, in the end, she managed it and got paid extra. She also gained a new appreciation for why Naruto was disliked.

"Thank you for your help, young lady," said the store owner. "That rascal has been nothing but a plague on this town since he was born."

"Since he was born?" asked Tenten. "How is that possible?"

The man went pale for a moment and looked like he'd had a narrow escape. "...Nevermind, we're not allowed to talk about it. There are some uh... reasons, I assure you. Here's your payment?"

"Where are his parents anyway?" asked Tenten.

"He doesn't have any," said the man. "The Hokage gave him a stipend that he uses to live. It's way larger than most war orphans get. Paid for his entrance to the academy too."

Wait a minute, so Tenten was having to work herself nonstop to put herself through the academy? And she was having to pay off a huge debt for something she did by accident. But Naruto was being paid for in full, complete with living expenses. He wasn't even suffering any consequences for deliberate vandalism.

"Thanks, sir. I'll be back," said Tenten.

What the hell was going on here?!

Then again, if Naruto hadn't painted those buildings, Tenten would not know about any of this. She'd also be poorer and have less of a reputation. So his loss was her gain, to be honest. Tenten walked through the streets in the waning light. Eventually, she saw Naruto eating ramen at a stand called Ichiraku Ramen.

The food they were serving at the stand looked so good. And he seemed to be getting on with the person in charge. She almost went up to him. But then Tenten thought about how it would look if she ate ramen with Naruto after what he did. People might think she'd set it up. And it wouldn't be right in any case, it would be like drinking with an enemy agent.

Also, she'd made a lot of money.

And eating out would take away from that money. "No! I will resist temptation."

So Tenten turned her back on Ichiraku Ramen and Naruto and walked away. As she did, she stuck her hands in her pockets. "Okay, Tenten, let's set some ground rules.

"No eating out at all. I'll go out and purchase some cheap but healthy good and cook it for myself: no spending any time socializing or anything else. I'm going to work at this nonstop until I catch up to the rest.

"No one is going to stop me from surpassing them all! No one!"

Victory would be hers!

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, glad people are enjoying the fic. Sorry if there hasn't been a lot of action so far. Tenten is still in training, and there hasn't been a logical place to put it in yet.

Just so everyone knows, I base which fics I prioritize on which ones get the most response. So if you want me to focus on this fic, leave a review to tell me what you think.

On a separate note, I am presently slogging through the War Arc of Naruto. So if Kaguya was completely unknown in the ninja world, tell me so I can correct it. I figured it would make sense to be some ancient legends about her, at least. But if there being a few legends about her somehow completely breaks canon, please inform me.