Tenten

is one of the main supporting characters of the series. She is a Chūnin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure, a member of Team Guy, and the team-mate of Rock Lee and Neji Hyūga. She's a weapons specialist, using throwing weapons that she keeps stored in specially prepared scrolls.

Personality
Tenten strongly believes that female ninja can be as strong as male ninja. In episode 41 of the original Naruto series Neji suggests that kunoichi aren't great fighters at taijutsu, but Tenten tells him off by explaining that girls are just as good as boys when it comes to taijutsu. 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 on other people. Despite this, she is not above showing a softer side when it comes to her team-mates. She holds great respect for her team-mate Neji and often helps him train. Tenten also has a naturally inquisitive nature and doesn't like to be kept out of the loop, as seen from her reactions toward Naruto and Lee in the filler arcs.

Appearance
Tenten has brown eyes and long brown hair gathered in a Chinese-style Chignon. In Part I, Tenten wears a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants. Her appearance is a reference to the Chinese culture. In Part II, her outfit changes from a pink blouse to a white one and red pants instead of green. The shuriken holster and the bandage on her right leg is removed and wears black fingerless gloves; everything is still a reference to the Chinese culture. She holds a giant tool summoning scroll on her back that she uses when fighting.

In the manga, during her first appearance her blouse was blue instead of pink which in later chapters, changed to her common Part I outfit. Her scrolls have also changed color from red and yellow to green and yellow. During the Chūnin Exams, Tenten is seen wearing this dark blue blouse and red pants while helping Neji to train for the finals and also during Naruto and Neji's match. In the episode of the Konoha Annual Sports Festval, she is also seen wearing the same blue blouse, which is longer compared to the pink one.

Weapon Specialist
Tenten specializes in mostly long-range attacks thanks to her weapons, which she carries in a number of scrolls held in a holster on her waist in Part I. In Part II, she carries her weapons in a single big scroll and some little scrolls. In Part I, her arsenal is composed mostly of steel projectiles and 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 myriad 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.

In Part II, she is shown using a two-stage attack using exploding tags and a grenade full of kunai. Also, she uses more weapons than ever, developing new techniques such as Twin Rising Dragons Control where she adds exploding tags to most of her weapons and her most powerful technique known as Manipulated Tools: Heavenly Chain of Destruction where she unrolls her scroll and releases hundreds and varieties of weapons in a rain to pierce her enemies and/or their defenses, which is mostly impossible to evade. Tenten can also summon more than just weapons as she summoned a fireball against Guren.

Other Skills
She is also proficient in taijutsu and melee-based weapons. She is also the fastest kunoichi of her age group, which is expected considering her team-mates. However, she is still the slowest member of Team Guy. She mostly uses her weapons to corner her enemies, supporting and covering her team, working in perfect synchronization with Lee and Neji and being vital to her team. According to the team, Tenten will never miss her target as she can hit 100/100 marks. She's a great analyzer as she sees things others cannot and she's able to measure the perfect distance for attack or defense between herself and her opponent.

Chūnin Exam Arc
During the written exam, Tenten assisted Lee in gathering answers. Using strings to adjust hidden mirrors on the ceiling, Tenten allowed Lee to see his fellow ninja's answers and copy them without being caught. She was seen again during the second part of the exam in the Forest of Death with her team-mates. Their team decided to split up to find weaker teams to corner and take scrolls from. She and Neji met back up at the assigned destination, but became worried when Lee didn't return. She and Neji went looking for Lee and arrived in time find an unconscious Lee and also witness Sasuke's brutal defeat of the sound genin. After this, Tenten was seen taking over watching an unconscious Lee for Ino, and then proceeded to wake him by violently shaking him.

Tenten was pitted against Temari during the preliminaries of the Chūnin Exams. Since their fight went unseen in the manga, the anime adaptation explained the circumstances that occurred. Tenten began the match by throwing a few of her weapons at Temari while keeping the best distance for offense and defense. The Third Hokage complimented Tenten's strategy, though Temari easily blew the weapons away with her fan. She was surprised that not one weapon reached Temari and tried a different approach. Temari explained the power of her fan and that once Tenten had seen all three moons the match would be over. Since nothing had even come close to hitting Temari, Tenten used one final technique that she was saving for the finals. The Twin Rising Dragons proved to be an impressive technique, but ultimately ineffective against Temari's fan. As Tenten ran out of weapons, she used strings to control the weapons and fling them once again back at Temari, in attemp to surprise her. Temari however quickly used her fan to blast Tenten, along with her weapons and she hit the floor. Temari finally used her fan to trap Tenten in a cyclone and propel her into the air. As the cyclone dispersed and Tenten fell to the ground, Temari had Tenten land on her closed fan, knocking her 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.

Before the finals begin, Tenten helps Neji in his training to perfect his techniques. She was seen using her weapons to help Neji perfect his Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. Later, she watched Neji's fight with Naruto in the finals, where she admired Neji's skills and praised Naruto's ability to defeat him.

Anime Filler arcs
During the Konoha 11 arc, Tenten was shown to be a very keen observer, picking up on facts that others overlooked. During another arc Tenten showed disgust for Ranmaru, a young cripple who could not take care of himself. She then saved his life by taking him to the Curry of Life shop. She brought the young boy out of his depression and convinced him to live and to stand on his own two feet. After this she made a formidable opponent for Raiga Kurosuki when she faced him in a one-on-one fight. Knowing that he used Lightning Release techniques she quickly deduced that her metal weapons would be a bad idea to use, and took on the Missing-nin using her wooden based melee weapons. She appeared to gain the upper hand in the battle when she succeeded in disarming Raiga before he overwhelmed her with his techniques.

When she was sent on a mission to the Land of Birds, she smacked Naruto for faking his own death and claimed she was worried about him. While this was true, she showed anger toward Naruto and Neji for leaving her out of their plan.

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 was the only one of the Konoha 11 to be left out of the mission, and Tenten scolded Lee because of it. Lee explained that Tenten was away on another mission and so couldn't have come, though Tenten attacked him anyway, using Dynamic Entry to defeat him, shouting a forceful "Sore!" as she did so.

Kazekage Rescue Arc
Team Guy 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 capture the three team members in a water prison, leaving the original Kisame to fight Guy one-on-one. Tenten reaches her limit the fastest, and 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, each defeats their lookalike in time. They make it back to the others just in time to corner Deidara. Deidara escapes by switching out with an exploding clone that nearly killed everyone before they were saved by the Kamui technique of Kakashi's Mangekyō Sharingan. After Gaara is rescued, Team Guy returns to Konoha with Team Kakashi.

Three-Tails Arc
In the anime, Guy taught Tenten and Lee how to synchronize attacks, something that consisted of tying them together. This had little success. Soon afterwards, 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 Yūkimaru 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. 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. The team decides to make stop before returning to the village, much to the relief of an exhausted Tenten. During this pitstop they notice a number of birds apparently escaping from the village. The team decides to hurry back to the village with Tenten not looking forward to more trouble. They rush to the village and find it to be in ruins. They find Hinata badly injured and Tenten says she will be alright before getting her to Sakura for medical attention. Later, she is seen with the rest of the village celebrating Naruto's victory.

Five Kage Summit Arc
After everyone of Konoha 11 come to the conclusion that they must take care of Sasuke themselves in order to prevent a war between Konoha and Kumo, Tenten commands Kiba not to yell at Ino who is torn about the decision to kill Sasuke.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
Later, after the Five Kage Summit, she angrily bangs her fist against some wood and scolds Naruto about his decision of fighting Sasuke alone, feeling that he is being stubborn.

Naruto: Shippūden the Movie
Tenten only plays a small part appearing with some of the other Konoha shinobi protecting the village and not having a speaking part. She was seen being led by Kakashi and Guy in making a counterattack against Mōryō and his stone soldiers to buy time for Naruto and Shion to defeat Mōryō.

Naruto Shippūden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire
Tenten was first seen with the rest of Konoha 11 eating barbecue to celebrate Naruto and Sai's recovery. After Naruto and Sai arrive, Naruto exclaims that Shikamaru in paying for everyone. She and the others quickly thank Shikamaru before he can protest. After Hiruko announced a fourth ninja war will occur, she was one of Konoha 11, except Naruto, assigned by Tsunade to secure the village. After Naruto and Sakura left the village, she and the others were ordered to go after them and bring them back. When they encountered them they all got ambushed by Ichi. Tenten released the others from Ichi's tentacles with some exploding kunai and they started to battle them while Naruto and Sakura went ahead. Neji told Shikamaru that Team Guy will handle the battle and sends the rest of the team after Naruto and Sakura. Tenten uses her weapons to distract Ichi while they prepare to use the Front Lotus: Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. They succeed in defeating Ichi before San summons him and Ni to make a more powerful chimera. She and her team-mates join back up with Team 8 and Team 10 and take over fighting the chimera for and exhausted Shikamaru, Sakura, and Sai. In the end when Hiruko revealed his true form to Naruto and Kakashi, she and the others all defeated his chimera together with Tenten landing the final blow with Twin Rising Dragons, covering the beast in exploding kunai and detonating them. She and the others praise Naruto for defeating Hiruko and witness the weird moment between Naruto and Kakashi because of his creepy smile after remembering Obito.

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, only being omitted from the first one.

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, "this and that", or "here and there". It is also a possibility that her name insinuates "Ten out of Ten," a reference to her skill in hitting targets.
 * Tenten has slowly improved her ranking in the Naruto character popularity polls. She has placed 29th, 24th, and 22nd in the last three polls.
 * In an interview, Kishimoto said he preferred Tenten out of the four Konoha girls because he liked her design.
 * Like the rest of her team, Tenten's character seems to draw inspiration from Chinese culture as seen from her attire and hairstyle, the chinese style Chignon.
 * Tenten and Neji have the same theme in the anime, but Tenten's has a slower beat. It is often used in flashbacks and emotional moments.
 * In original color illustrations of the manga, Tenten's costume is blue. This is changed to pink in the anime and later manga images.
 * In the second ending of Naruto Shippūden, Tenten only appears in episodes 28, 29 and 30.
 * According to the third databook:
 * One of Tenten's hobbies is fortune-telling.
 * Tenten would like to have a rematch with Temari, she would also like to fight Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura Haruno.
 * Her favorite foods are Sesame dumplings and Chinese food, while her least favorite is pickled plums.
 * Statistically, Tenten is tied with Chōji as the weakest member of the Konoha 11.
 * Tenten's favorite phrase is "Never miss a target".
 * Tenten has completed 62 official missions in total: 28 D-rank, 23 C-rank, 3 B-rank, 7 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Tenten loves to investigate.

Quotes

 * (To Neji about Ino and Sakura fighting) "It's not because they're girls you know, Neji. It's just that those two are using kid gloves. It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman in battle."
 * (To Guy) "I want to be a great and powerful ninja! To walk in the footsteps of the legendary kunoichi, Tsunade!"
 * (To Naruto about Ranmaru) "I can't stand weak and indecisive people!"
 * (To Ranmaru) "I won't let that happen. Your not getting off that easy. No way! The people you and Raiga killed, they all wanted to live but you didn't leave them that choice! You decided for them! Well you don't get to decide this time, ok?! Your gonna' live and your going to take some responsibility for all those people's lives you cut short!"
 * (To Sanshō about Ranmaru) "I'm not running away and I'm not giving up. I will save this child."
 * (To Naruto) "Let's just say I don't like being kept in the dark!"
 * (To Naruto) You're gonna fight Sasuke alone? And you think all of us are just gonna stand here and let you?!