Tenten

is one of the main supporting characters of the series. She is a Chunin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure. She is the female member of Team Guy, and the teammate of Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga. She's a weapons specialist, using throwing weapons she keeps in specially prepared scrolls.

Personality
Tenten strongly believes that female ninja can be as strong as a male ninja. Tenten's personal dream is to become as strong as Tsunade. She can be quite fierce sometimes, especially with Lee, violently shaking him whenever he is left unconscious. Tenten also has shown a strong distaste for weakness or being overly dependent for other people. Despite this, she is not above showing a softer side when it comes to her teammates. She holds great respect for her teammate Neji and often helps him train.

Chunin Exams arc
Tenten is pitted against Temari during the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams. Since their fight goes unseen in the manga, the anime adaptation explains the circumstances. Tenten began the match by throwing wave after wave of weapons at Temari, though Temari easily blew them away with her fan. As Tenten ran out of weapons, Temari used her fan to trap Tenten in a cyclone and propel her into the air. She finished off the match quickly, as the cyclone dispersed and Tenten fell to the ground. Temari made it a point to have Tenten land on her closed fan, knocking Tenten unconscious. Even after she was declared the winner of the match, she threw Tenten off of the fan in attempt to have her land on the many weapons on the ground. However, Rock Lee jumped in to save Tenten before she hit the ground.

She later watches Neji's fight with Naruto in the finals, first admiring Neji's skills and subsequently Naruto's ability to defeat Neji.

Anime Filler arcs
During the Konoha 11 arc, Tenten is shown to be a very keen observer, picking up on facts that others overlook. During another arc Tenten shows disgust for Ranmaru, a young cripple who could not take care of himself. She then saves his life by taking him to the Curry of Life shop, and teaches him that life is worth living and that you don't need to be to dependent on other people. When she is sent on a mission to the Land of Birds, she smacks Naruto for faking his own death and claims that she was worried about him.

In Episode 158; ''Follow My Lead! The Great Survival Challenge'', the Academy Students were divided into teams of three and were assigned to a genin who would lead them on a mission against the other teams. Tenten was assigned to lead a team of three academy students; Hajiki, Ayato and Mari. Her time with them was not covered much except that she was doing better than Naruto.

In the last of the filler arcs, Tenten is the only one of the Konoha Genin to be left out of the mission, and Tenten scolds Lee because of it. Lee explains that Tenten was away on another mission and so couldn't have come, though Tenten attacks him anyway, using Dynamic Entry to defeat him.

Rescue Gaara arc
Team Gai is sent to assist Team 7 in rescuing Gaara. Along the way, the group encounters Akatsuki member Kisame Hoshigaki. Tenten tries to attack Kisame with a spiked bomb, but he is able to avoid the explosion. Seeing that Neji, Lee, and Tenten are in the way, Kisame quickly creates three water clones that captures the three team members in a water prison, leaving the original Kisame to fight Guy in peace. Tenten claims she is about to suffocate due to lack of oxygen in the small sphere of water. She was saved when Neji broke out of his own sphere and released Lee who took out the Kisame clone holding her captive.

After Kisame is defeated and Team Guy reaches the Akatsuki hideout, the team disperses to remove a number of seals in the surrounding area that are making entrance to the lair impossible. Although they succeed, they are each forced to fight exact copies of themselves, with the handicap of them tiring out, while the clones seems to have infinite energy. Lee realizes that while each clone is as strong as themselves when it was created, they have no emotions and hence no drive to surpass their current limits. Realizing this, they each pushed to surpass themselves and using a new stronger jutsu, and each defeats their lookalike in time. After Gaara is rescued, Team Guy returns to Konoha with Team 7.

Three-Tails Arrival arc
In the anime, Tenten is sent to provide backup for a team trying to seal the Three-Tailed Beast. Upon arrival she is instructed to defend against attackers. When Team Guren finally appeared, Tenten used several bombs to blow away the enemies' smokescreen. Despite defeating the enemies, Guren managed to stop the sealing process. After which, Tenten was given orders to watch over the recently retrieved Yukimaru while the rest of her team searched for Naruto.

After learning that Naruto was in the Three-Tail's belly, Tenten was assigned as a front defense from another attack by the enemy while the rest of the team dealt with the Three-Tails. To her surprise, Guren's men returned, ready to fight again. Unprepared for her opponent's enhanced might, Tenten and her team were defeated and barely survived. They later return to Konoha with the others.

Invasion of Pain arc
When Pain's invasion of Konoha begins, Team Guy is away on a mission. During a pitstop on their return home they notice a number of birds apparently escaping from the village. They rush to the village and find it to be in ruins. They find Hinata Hyuga badly injured and get her medical attention. Later, she is seen with the rest of the village celebrating Naruto's victory.

Abilities
Tenten specializes in weapons, which she carries in a number of scrolls in Part I and a single large scroll in Part II. In Part I, her arsenal is composed mostly of steel projectiles, though in Part II she is shown using a spiked bomb. She is also capable with taijutsu and melee-based weapons.

Her favored method of strength attack is to throw her scrolls in the air in such a way as to cause them to spin above her, then jump between them and toss a myriad of weapons at her opponent in rapid succession, otherwise known as Twin Rising Dragons. She also uses strings to control and guide the direction of her weapons.

Other Media
Tenten appears as a playable character in 7 out of the 9 games in the Clash of Ninja series. She also appears in 7 out of the 8 Naruto: Ultimate Ninja video games.

Trivia

 * "Ten", in Japanese means heaven or heavenly so in this case, it means "heavenly, heaven". "Tenten" can also mean, "little by little" in Japanese, or "this and that".
 * Tenten, like Shino, has never had her background explored.
 * Tenten has slowly improved her ranking in the Naruto character popularity polls. She has placed 29th, 24th, and 22nd in the last three polls.
 * Creator Masashi Kishimoto favors her character design over all of the other female ninja in the series and plans to use her more.


 * Like the rest of her team, Tenten's character seems to draw inspiration from Chinese culture as seen from her attire and hairstyle.
 * According to the third databook:
 * Tenten would like to have a rematch with Temari and would also like to fight Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura Haruno.
 * One of Tenten's hobbies is fortune-telling.
 * Her favorite foods are sesame dumplings and Chinese food.
 * Tenten has completed 62 official missions in total: 28 D-rank, 23 C-rank, 3 B-rank, 7 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Tenten's registration number is 012573.
 * Tenten and Neji have the same theme in the anime, but Tenten's has a slower beat.
 * In original color illustrations of the manga, Tenten's costume is blue. This is changed to pink in the anime and later manga images.
 * Tenten is the only member of the Konoha 11 to have her last name unknown.

Quotes

 * "I always hit my target!"
 * "Whether you're a boy or girl means nothing on the battlefield."
 * "The weaker you are the louder you bark."