Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Break

Tenten hadn't left her room since she had returned to her home that night. Her foster father hadn't really said a whole lot, but he had congratulated her on making it to the preliminaries. Kimura Isamu was not good at speaking to people, but he was a kind man to his foster daughter, who he believed was completely undeserving of the suspicions that even his wife seemed to harbor towards the girl.

She looked around the room now, at all the weapons and scrolls that littered it, and at the character for power that was painted over her bed above the intricate floral scroll work that was in her room. It was a room that usually she was very proud of, having both feminine and warlike aspects. Right now, she wished that she had been taken in by the baker.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Tenten had joined for the specific reason of proving herself to be as worthy as any native-born Konoha ninja, but instead she proved that she was inferior to a foreign trained ninja. She was surprised that someone from Retirement hadn't showed up yet. Tenten had always wondered why she was even allowed to fight.

That boy's face and words continued to come back to her.

"I wonder why you're so worried about the fact that I come from Kusa," Haru said conversationally as he whirled the staff towards her, "Could it be because you're not from Konoha?"

Tenten growled a little, "It's none of your business."

"It must have been difficult going to school after the Sandaime's assassination. People in Konoha don't seem to approve of taking in foreigners as much as they used to," Haru continued, "So you thought that by defeating me, a ninja from another village, you could prove that you were truly a Konoha nin."

"Shut up!" Tenten screamed, taking out a scroll and making a mace appear from it. She jumped to attack, hitting the staff that Haru had stolen as he blocked. Haru just looked slightly amused. He was calmly and systematically attacking her psychologically, and Tenten knew it.

He had learned through his fights how psychology was a go four-fifths of any battle, and he was using it very effectively. What as worse ,was that Tenten knew it, but she couldn't help fall into it. He was voicing all of her fears and doubts.

Tenten was wearing down.

"It's funny, you're wearing the Konoha symbol on your head yet you don't feel like a Leaf nin," Haru said, "You know something else..."

At that point, Haru lunged forward, and struck with the staff, forcing Tenten back. For a moment they were close,he leaned forwards and whispered into her ear, "I can see that you don't even like what Konoha stands for now. So why pretend?"

Tenten clenched her teeth and rolled over.

No, she didn't like it. She hated it. She didn't mind competition (actually she loved it) but this hatred for the other villages was completely unnecessary to her. There was no reason to hate her rivals. Yes, they were from enemy nations, but they were paid to fight for one thing and she was paid to fight for another, there were no feelings mixed up in business.

But that didn't even matter.

Tenten had always seen that it was not important if she actually liked them. She wanted to make her foster father proud and she wanted to prove that she wasn't a spy to her foster mother. She had wanted an opponent from Konoha so she could prove that she was just as good, if not better, than they were. Instead, she had been crushed by a foreigner.