Ten Out of Ten- Tenten AU

3.

Jūzō and Tenten became the most unlikely of friends. Despite his sharp teeth and his otherwise brutal appearance, he had a cynical and twisted sense of humor that somehow appealed to the little girl. During training, he was surprisingly laid back but that didn't mean he didn't train her any less. Most of it had to do with the fact that Tenten did all of the pushing for herself. The girl hated taking breaks, thinking of it as an excuse for her to become weaker.

She strengthened her arm muscles through push ups and pull ups. The girl conducted an insane amount of them for her age, sweat dripping down her back and forehead. She would run countless laps around the hideout, sometimes with weights attached until she would collapse from utter exhaustion and wouldn't wake up for hours. Jūzō somehow found himself to be the one to tell her take it a little bit easier but Tenten only gave him a slight glare that reminded him of her grandfather.

He wasn't exactly sure why the girl was so determined to become a shinobi, but he decided not to ask. People had their own personal matters.

Tenten was anything but a genius but as for effort, she had no limit in. Jūzō saw her potential in taijutsu and being that her aim was almost insane with her shuriken and kunai, he saw her becoming a taijutsu expert in the future. He decided to test her in ninjutsu once she had the fundamentals down. Perhaps he could teach her kenjutsu.

It took a good while before Jūzō grudgingly admitted that she had some kind of affinity with weapons as she trained harder and harder. Konan had recently allowed her access to Pein's private library which was now disused and the girl had been pouring over books about metalwork and the creation of weapons.

He had never seen anyone with a greater appreciation for cold steel.

Tenten often went down to the village to sit by blacksmiths, to see how they created such weapons. The girl almost had an obsession over them. The blacksmiths seemed to have a slight appreciation for the girl who wouldn't play with other children but would listen to their many stories. Tenten was a master at getting whatever she wanted. She would simply put on that innocent, childish look on her face and all of those foolish adults would bend to her will.

Jūzō wondered where she learned that skill from and noted that the girl might be skilled with infiltration. Tenten could now grip a weapon and understand how the steel was folded and if the weapon master had used a particular technique. She could understand the proper way of using the weapon even if she had never seen it before in her life.

Jūzō knew Kakuzu was not the friendliest of people. Actually, that was quite the understatement of the century. Kakuzu was flat out not friendly. However, Jūzō sometimes detected a quiet flare of chakra now and then while Tenten was training. When he would look back, the chakra would be gone.

For those who were young, years passed by quick. Tenten soon became eleven years old. She had found out that her Chakra nature was Earth. Jūzō, not knowing much of that nature, procured some scrolls on Earth jutsu. Tenten did not quite excel at it as much as taijutsu. She could perform the basic jutsu but she just didn't possess the fine tuned chakra control despite the strong chakra she inherited from her grandfather.

Slowly, the other Akatsuki members became used to her presence. Kakuzu's partner that she met would grunt at her occasionally but he was gone within the month. Apparently, her grandfather accidentally blew him up. The "accidentally" was according to her grandfather.

Orochimaru was still creepy, but Tenten got used to him and his overly long tongue.

As for Sasori, the puppeteer would always be inside his puppet. He often just stared at her through the eyes of his puppet. At one point, Sasori had to fix Hiruko, his puppet, and that was when Tenten saw his true form. He looked very young, with red hair that reminded her of the yarn that her grandmother would knit with. Tenten was a curious child. Drawing closer to Sasori, she saw him look up at her through his hooded brown eyes.