Author's Notes: Thanks goes out to Gouken 2010 for this one folks, he kept bringing it up, until finally he triggered something that got my muse going. If you'd like to discuss this, there's places for it in the forum, so feel free to drop in and talk. This is a crossover with BlazBlue... that I've never played, but according to Gouken was fairly accurate. So let's blame him if I completely screwed the pooch on this one.

"Kappa... Ten..."

Was the only sound heard over the rushing waters of the now blood red river. A single survivor amidst a sea of bodies slashed and torn apart, some leaving only tiny meat chunks to identify the bodies with. Nearly all of them were Nuke-nin of some ilk, drawn to this final slaughter by some unknown force.

"Kappa... Ten..."

Directly by the red river was the source of the call, coming from a tiny girl nearly completely drained of her chakra, barely weak enough to lean against the giant sword that supported her from behind. The rescuers that arrived on scene first had never seen such a sword before, but were instead focused solely on the lone survivor of the blood bath. They couldn't help but notice that despite the carnage surrounding her, she was almost pristine, like some magical force had prevented her from getting coated in the gore if only it had spared her the memories of the attack.

"Kappa... Ten..."

Maito Gai scooped the little girl up carefully, pulling her away from the massive blade embedded into the ground. Only for her to kick him in the face and flip out, clinging to the hilt of the sword as though her life depended on it. Brushing off the surprising damage from the five year old girl he knelt down and patted her on the shoulder lightly. "Hey kid, do your youthful fires declare you need to remain with this sword?"

"Kappa..." the small brunette answered, her eyes wide and almost terrified of the man in green spandex. Oh how she'd learn to loathe that outfit in the future, but for now she only saw him as the man trying to take her away from her sword.

"I see... what's your name?" Gai asked, not trying to provoke her any further, after all, she had moved the blade that was easily as tall as he was when she clung to it. And it wasn't just her weight pulling it down.

"Ten... Ten..." the girl answered timidly, just in time for the green clad ninja to pick her and the blade up together.

"Let's go back to Konoha Tenten... away from this most unyouthful place..." the man proclaimed proudly carrying her and the blade as though they weighed nothing. "We can even seal that sword of yours into a scroll, so you can keep it with you, but not quite as big as this..."

Tenten seemed to consider that fully for a few minutes before nodding slowly and tucking her head onto the man's shoulder. What she had seen today would forever be burned into her memories, after all, Kappa-10 was supposed to be the best Murakumo unit out there. It would be a shame if she didn't remember her first victory.

But she knew this would have to be a secret, for if anyone found out about it, her mission stated that they would have to be eliminated as a threat to the completion of her mission. She wasn't ready, yet. But soon she would be ready for when the wheel of fate began to turn for her again.

Closing her eyes, she sighed contentedly and allowed sleep to claim her, whispering, "Kappa Ten... out."