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tentenarchive · 8 months ago

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In Defense of Tenten - the Chunin Exams' Written Test and Her Mirrors

A common joke made about Tenten is how obvious her mirror and line contraption, used to share answers with Rock Lee during the written exam, is. In this post, I'll show how her solution is perfectly reasonable and why she wasn't disqualified by the ninja proctors.

Firstly, we have to stablish what the objective of this written test is: to cheat. The written test was designed to be too difficult for ninjas of their level to be able to answer, forcing them to cheat from each other. Such is stated by Ibiki in the end of the First Phase chapters:

Next, the proctors are all higher level shinobi, better prepared and used to seeing various tricks and jutsu. It's not an stretch to suppose they're aware of EVERY cheating attempt made by those Genin, but were responsible for judging if their technique is too sloppy, obvious or ineffective.

My theory is supported by this scene, where Izumo eliminates one of the ninjas doing the test, claiming he took "five strikes".

It implies the competitors are allowed five errors before being disqualified, and one of the eliminated Genin makes it clear to the reader the "five strikes" are five times being caught cheating.

Naruto is also implied to be caught almost cheating when Hinata offers him her test answers (it can be interpreted either as Naruto being closely watched or Naruto's nerves making him think like that, half the proctors' job is to scare the Genin) and even then he is not automatically removed.

Tenten's technique may be obvious for us, as readers who have been shown by the author himself how she did it, but it's a single and successful attempt, and it's not commentated by any other characters, meaning no one caught on her besides the proctors, and they would only disqualify her if she did it more than once (which wasn't needed, she found the mole with all the answers!).

A pettier criticism i've "how isn't anyone seeing the lines?" to which the answer is very simple: manga is a visual media and the author needed the audience to understand how she was manipulating the mirror. If you take in consideration Tenten's fight with Temari in the anime - which is filler, btw, and it's up to you reading this to decide if it's a fair assessment on their abilities or not - she's shown using invisible lines to manipulate her weapons after throwing them. The lines are, conveniently, only visible when the animation needs us to understand how the weapons are moving backwards. Any other frame they're invisible.

You can see in the panel how the lines fade out towards the bottom and only show where they're attached to the mirror.

Finally: that's exactly what Ibiki expected the genin to do. There have been a few posts, specially on twitter, asking "how are you supposed to pass if you don't have a kekken genkai??". Like Tenten. That's how.

Kankuro and Tenten are the only characters which Kishimoto showed us cheating that didn't use an exclusive DNA super power. Kankuro and Tenten both use hidden threads, one uses chakra lines for puppetry and the last manipulates mirrors. They also pass their answers to their teammates, Temari and Lee.

(Sakura is the only confirmed character to do the entire test without cheating. Congrats Sakura!! You could argue Hinata used her byakuugan to cheat like Neji, but if you think she did it by herself, I will give you the pleasure of congratulating Hinata too. Congrats Hinata!)

Tenten's method was practical, and used her specific skill set: summoning and kunai work (where do you think the mirrors came from? a scroll, that's for sure). It was probably set up before the test started, during the commotion Team 7 created with their arrival. We're not shown it because Tenten is a tertiary character and Kishimoto wouldn't invest 2-3 panels of set up for a 3 panel sequence pay-off that works by itself very well. She is smart, did great and made sure her teammate was not left behind.

Tenten is not even the most absurd method used in this exam, so, as a treat, i will show you, in order, the most obvious cheats shown in the manga from least to most!

Sasuke's Sharingan If you're a ninja from the Leaf Village, you know who Sasuke Uchiha is and what a Sharingan is capable of. Unfortunally for him, the Exam is being held at the Leaf Village and all the jounin and chuunin there are from the Village. Any proctor looking at his direction in a position in front of him could see clearly his eyes and know exactly what he was doing.

Neji's Byukuugan Like the Sharigan, you can physhically see when it's activated, with the downgrade of being noticible by people sitting at up to 95º from him, as the veins are visible on the sides of his face too. A fair trade for the ability to see better than the Sharingan, even if you're not able to copy, in my personal opinion.

Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu The jutsu's hand signal is simple and can be missed, but it's still obvious for any Konoha ninja watching, it is a very recognizable ability. There's also the higher chance of Ino being caught since she needs to do it three times (once for getting Sakura's answers, twice to pass them to Chouji and Shikamaru). Besides, the "dropping dead on the table" thing can be disruptive in a mostly silent classroom.

Akamaru and Kiba's communication Akamaru is barking all the way through the exam, and while the balloon used for the text is the one for thoughts, it's also the same used for whispered conversations up to this point in the manga. The anime makes the barks happen in the real world, and not in their thoughts, and as far as i could find, Kiba can understand dog language but there's no psychic talk between them. By the noise alone he could be caught. I think he wasn't expelled just because a full conversation between dog and human is a novel enough ability to not be considered by most ninjas unaware of the Inuzuka clan's special abilities.

The Most absurd one: Kakuro and his Puppet He put an entire guy no one knows and has never been seen in a room where all the authorities are from the same village and have, at least, a vague knowledge of each other's existence. To increase the absurdity, somehow everyone let Kankuro use his own puppet to guide himself to the bathroom. I cannot express enough how unlikely it is that, in a real info gathering mission inside a single room where all the higher rank ninjas are exclusively from the same village, Kakuro's plan could work. Most decent sensors could also catch the chakra line's signature.

I'll give it to him, making the puppet talk helps with the disguise, but it only fools his fellow attendees, not the proctors. He's too confident that he didn't raise any alarms.

But Ibiki goes as far as insinuating he knows (and has known from the start) about the puppet's existence when Kankuro comes back from the bathroom.

If Kankuro was able to finish the test and not get disqualified, even if he had what I consider the most obvious cheating attempt from the named characters shown, it's fair game for Tenten and all the other important cheaters. Besides, it's a single attempt at cheating, even if it required an entire prep work for it, so it doesn't matter if all the high level ninja's are aware, that's not enough to kick him out.

I cannot leave out the meta reasons why these characters weren't removed from the class: they're important to varying degrees to the story and they need to advance through the first phase to keep readers engaged.

Regardless of how absurd I think Kiba's and Kankuro's methods are, they need to go all the way to the fight tournament after the Forest of Death, where they have important roles to fill: Sasuke and Naruto are main characters and are prioritized by the narrative; Ino and Sakura will have an important character developments and flashbacks during their fight; Neji has an entire arc that only concludes all the way in his fight against Naruto; Kiba is the rival for Naruto in the surprise fighting tournament and he is one of the few characters able to match Naruto's silliness so he can win in a silly way; Kankuro and Tenten are both part of the two strongest cells present in the event, the Sand Siblings and Team Gai, both introduced as real threats to Team 7, and having anyone from these cells lose would undermine the narrative created around then. All of them would get through anyway.

Tenten losing against Temari in future parts of the Chuunin Exam has narrative importance too, a fight I will cover in the next In Defense of Tenten, but in short Tenten was introduced as a threat alongside Neji and Lee, her abilities and experience surpassing Team 7's. Having her lose against one the Sand Shinobi serves to show how big their gap in power is: if someone more experienced and well trained than them can't win against them, Team 7 has no chance. It's part of the build up for the future Naruto and Gaara fight, and the suspense about their real strength (since the fight doesn't exist in the manga, only the result is shown).

Conclusion: people are overly critical of Tenten because she's seen as a "lolcow" in the Naruto fandom, in part by the bad adaptation of her fight with Temari to the anime, which poisoned any feat of hers before and after it; but also because Naruto and Boruto don't give satisfying ends to any of the original female cast besides Hinata (she marries the man she loves and becomes a housewife away from the battlefield, an honorable decision i will never shit on, she never wanted to be a ninja and is a kind mother and wife, good for her!) so all female characters are seem as weak and useless when compared to their male peers. Naruto is a work riddled with undercover misogyny, never out right stated but always preventing the girls to achieve any meaningful resolution or permanent development.

That added to the ever expanding powerscalling abilities and fights make characters with simpler and down to earth abilities and feats outdated by its own universe. Knowing how big the Naruto fights and jutsu get in the future make people look down on crafty solutions like sealing scrolls, kunai and mirrors, when that is a perfectly respectable solution within the series and matches the powerlevel presented this early in the story.

Tenten is not weak, or bad, or useless. She's misrepresented by the most popular media consumed: the anime, and further misunderstood by the fans of said work. Large fandoms can be allergic to text interpretation and infighting is stimulated to the point fans of smaller characters are bullied off social media and forums (i.e. the forum where I got the list of all chapters Tenten is in is filled to the brim with comments about how OP should move the topic to "fan works" since no one would want to read about it in the canon work page, or how the mods shouldn't allow him to have a thread). I respect Tenten's feats, as well as other small characters', and refuse to be fed the same "uselessness" narrative this fandom always had, because i actually enjoy Naruto, even if i have many problems with it, and I take it seriously.

She did great.

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konoharfts · 30 days ago

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Look Alive Sunshine ~

New Bulletproof Hearts AU lore just dropped

Here, have Kakashi and Genma’s character intros and thumbnail designs and notes for 6 out of the main 7!!! (I’ve already posted Anko ;) )

(If this is the first Bulletproof Hearts AU post you’re seeing, for context this is my Danger Days inspired AU featuring the tokujo squad and also Kakashi :) )

And now for the official intro:

In the fallout following the Resource Wars , and shortly after we lost Kiri to the waves, the Senju company in collaboration with the Red Fan company establish Neo-Konoha, the new capitol of the remnants of the Land of Fire. A shiny new city free from the troubles of post-war faction life, and the dizzying desert heat.

Here in the city everything runs on chakra energy. No more nuclear or fossil fuels, that’s for the old-world now. By tapping into the “dragon veins” flowing through the earth chakra can be cultivated and converted into the fuel that powers all of Neo-Konoha’s beloved bright lights, hover-cars, gadgets, and gizmos. It’s even opened up the doorway to cybernetics and body-modification. With chakra being an energy source that resonates with life it’s never been easier to merge man and tech. Now, many new companies wanting to make their mark on chakra-tech industries have sprouted up, and Chakra City (Neo-Konoha) is very kind to those wanting to contribute to the expansion of the city, and the growth of the economy.

The city is split into three main branches. The tall buildings and neon lights of the inner-city, the seedy bars and backroom deals of the under-city, and the plastic smiles and white picket fences of the residential district. Everything inside the city walls is labeled as Neo-Konoha, and everything outside in the wide open desert plains is labeled as the Outer-Ring, where many live in the little non-radiated pockets of barely habitable land. Made barely habitable thanks to the over mining of chakra, causing the land to be drained of its vitality. Life in the O.R is rough, it’s a lawless wasteland filled with criminals, thugs, and the kindest and realest people you’ll ever meet. It’s the home of all of those who don’t belong inside the city walls. Those who were cast out, or those who chose to leave, and those who had no choice but to be born.

After the tragic death of chairman Minato Namikaze the Golden Era of Neo-Konoha has been replaced my Sarutobi Hiruzen’s age of radio silence, aided by president of ROOT Danzo Shimra who’s company specializes in keeping the people “in line”. A powerful regime threatened only by a newly established pack of desert rats out in the Outer-Ring consisting of two of Minato’s former bodyguards, the previous head of the intelligence division, a woman who’s more machine than human, a sickly smuggler, and more recently a once-double agent turned pink hearted. These anarchists call themselves Wildfire.

Operating out of an abandoned gas station from back in the old era of gas powered vehicles Wildfire’s unofficial leader Genma Shiranui runs a 24h radio station - titled S.E.N.B.O.N radio - where you can tune in to all of the greatest punk-rock hits AND get all the information you need regarding the movement of Neo-Konoha’s exterminators, soldiers, and SCARECROWs out in the O.R. How to best avoid them, and how to best blast ‘em to one of the four respectable levels of dead without sending yourself sky high with ‘em. Unintentionally Shiranui becomes somewhat of a guardian angel for the people struggling against the chains of oppression out in the wastes. What was once a station created to provide some musical escape with just a sprinkling of survival tricks turned into the stage in which the revolution is set.

In that same gas station that’s home to such an iconic station are all of the other main members of Wildfire. We’ve got Anko Mitarashi, who has a mechanic shop where she can do just about anything given the proper materials. Anything from mods to prosthetics, vehicle repair and customization, making whole new gadgets, and making cyber-cycles from scratch. Meanwhile, when he’s not out on an assignment Raidō Namiashi’s running the “convenience store” that’s really just a front for the whole fence thing they’re running. Ibiki Morino is used as the group’s ‘intimidation and muscle’ but when he’s not scaring Konoha dogs shitless he’s slaving over his pride and joy, a car that’s more modifications than car. Hayate Gekkō manages their connections to the smuggling routes and also makes it his life mission to act like the station’s cat. Agent Yūgao Uzuki, former SCARECROW assigned to take down the rebels, turned double agent, turned Wildfire loyalist tries to take charge of planning as much as she can. After witnessing the state of the leadership in the revolt rocking konoha she’s flabbergasted they accomplished as much as they did.

On the side of Neo-Konoha Kakashi Hatake, Mad Dog, agent #07, and Hiruzen’s top SCARECROW, is assigned to take Wildfire down. The group consisting of his old comrades and friends, before they turned traitor. With his soldier prowess and the use of the advanced AI program ‘B2’, created by Obito uchiha, Kakashi is the only individual able to stand against Wildfire, the question is, does his loyalty to Neo-Konoha and his trust in “Obito” outweigh the ache he feels. The niggling feeling that there’s something very wrong, something he’s missing.

This is not a tale about heroes. This is not a tale about glory. This is a tale about people. People living, and people dying, and people clawing their way through life, and people snapping at the hand that tightens the leash. There is no victor, there is no clean cut, just what is left when the fire burns through. The embers that sparked the Wildfire are doomed to fizzle out and die in the infancy of the flame. But as long as you stick around to witness the trees burn, they cannot claim it hadn’t happened at all. When a tree falls in a forest, tune in to the sound. Because remember, they can’t control you if you don’t give in to the silence.

Orrrrr

The tokujo gang fight against the oppressive fascist regime of Neo-Konoha while spreading chaos through the wastes and making Kakashi’s life way harder :)

So yeah, I hope that makes sense T~T it’s so late at night when I’m writing this I fear I may be too cryptic…. BUT PLEASE TELL ME YOU GET THE VISION!!

If anyone is interested in more lore feel free to ask anything <<33 I’m going to try and post some mini comics and blurbs for this AU often-ish (for art practice and also I want to push my brainworms onto y’all) so stay tuned?

Alright I think that’s enough yapping (for now ;) ) if anyone read all of that I shall give you one (1) soft little forehead kith :) 😙💋

Okay byeeee~~~

#bulletproof hearts au #I did not proofread all that so if it makes no sense eeeeeh 🤷‍♀️#there are some things mentioned in the character design guide sheet thing that y’all have NO context for but I swear I’ll release more lore #the scene between Kakashi and Genma in their respective character sheets is referring to when genma (with raidou and ibiki) left konoha #because genma uncovered a conspiracy involving the nature of Minato’s death #genma trusts those three with this info since they were all close to minato but kakashi rats them out to danzo #(kakashi is being manipulated into believing that Genma is a lying traitor so HE feels betrayed)#and the monent where it clicks that the one to betray them was KAKASHI??? his friend and comrade and maybe secret third thing KAKASHI???#devestating…#anyways :)#naruto #naruto fanart #artists on tumblr #kakashi hatake #genma shiranui #ibiki morino #yugao uzuki #hayate gekko #raido namiashi #raidou namiashi #i’m not normal about them *knawing at the bars of my enclosure*#EDIT: ACCIDENTALLY POSTED A CROPPED VERSION OF THE THIRD IMAGE OOPS

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