[x] Go over an make sure she's okay - She may be a complete bitch, and the sister of that monster that tried to murder Lee, but you're better than her. And you want her to know you're better than her.
You sigh and step off the girl's chest, no matter how much of a bitch she might be. You want to at least make sure she's okay, especially now that adrenaline is slowly washing out of your system. You let out a deep breath and extend your hand to help her up, what was her name again? Tem-something...Temari...
Temari that was it. As you stand over her she let's out another wracking cough, and a few more blood flecks join the expanding red splotches on her shirt. Her pale face is contorted in pain, the cough not doing her any favors. Especially since you're pretty sure you broke her rib...why did you come over here again? You nudge her leg and her eyes snap open.
"Hey." Her face contorts into a scowl and you only return it with a smile, "That was a good match." She opens her mouth to say something, but evidently the broken rib gets in the way of whatever she was trying to say. Knowing her, it was probably something biting. Once the the wince of pain subsides, she simply stares at your hand, and you are forced to repress a roll of your eyes. "Come on, I don't bite."
Hesitantly she lifts her arm up for you to grab, which you do. You feel her tense in your hand just before you yank her upwards. She's lighter than you would have expected, and you're able to get her up on her feet with only a hiss of pain on her part...or well at least until her feet almost collapse out from under her, forcing you to shoulder most of her weight. Eventually, she does manage to get her feet under her, even if she's still leaning on you as you walk her over to the medical-nins that just arrived.
"Your team..." she finally rasps out, "is total bullshit."
"You were really good as well," you say grudgingly as you try to suppress a pride-filled smirk, "I guess we all just don't know when to give up" Now though, you're reminded of Lee's match with her brother, and you feel something inside you harden as you hand her over to the medical-nins. Temari wobbles slightly when you let go of her, but manages to stay on her feet. "Her rib is broken, and she's lost a fair bit of blood from multiple lacerations" you rattle off to the medic on the right, who just nods as the two lead the blonde girl off. She spares you one last look, with an unreadable expression on her face.
You spare yourself a smile, that went better than you had expected. You doubt she'd of extended you the same courtesy if the positions were switched, but then that was basically why you did it. That and you did genuinely want to make sure she was okay and be a good sport. This was a diplomatic event after all. You stifle a yawn, the first hints of lethargy starting to creep into your limbs now that the adrenaline from the fight is staring to fade away. Then the rest of the exhaustion slams down on you, the fight must have taken a lot of you, you haven't felt this tired since-...the next thing you see if the floor rising up to meet you.
You aren't around to see it, but you were snoring before you hit the floor.
When your eyes flutter open the first thing you notice is the soft beams of late afternoon light stretching through a window to your right. The
second thing you notice are those very particular type of scratchy, uncomfortable sheets that every shinobi in Konoha eventually has seared into their minds. Scratchy sheets that mean you can only be one place. Hospital You lever yourself up onto your elbows to look around the hospital room you're currently situated in and scowl. Last thing you remember was giving Temari over to the medical-nins and then...everything is kinda fuzzy.
"Oh good, you're awake." You glance over to see a unfamiliar Konoha shinobi standing in the doorway, looking you up and down. The subtle markings and the white labcoat hung over his vest mark him as a medical-nin.
"What happened?" You groan, rubbing your head, "I remember finishing the fight, and helping my opponent but then..." you trail off.
"You passed out from acute physical exhaustion," He idly glances at the clipboard in his hand as he continues, "You're presently in the on-site medical wing we use to treat the injuries for the preliminaries, though now that you're awake you should be free to go after you answer a few questions."
You quirk an eyebrow, "Questions?"
He nods, "Yes, most of them could be answered by looking at your background records, but the higher-ups want a personal interview as well," He flips through the papers on his clipboard, and you idly notice another shinobi standing outside your door, "Now, firstly, have you been trained by your Jounin-Sensei in how to open the Eight Gates?"
"No." That's all you say, that's all you really
can say. You had wanted to learn, but Gai-sensei had determined very early on that your stamina reserves weren't anywhere close to being able to handle the immense strain the opening he Gates place on the body.
The medical-nin just makes a note on his clipboard, "Then, did you notice any sudden physical changes during your match?"
You shake your head, "No I-..." You mentally run over your memories of the fight, for a time when you noticed something like that or...anything amiss "No."
"Mmm." the medical-nin just makes a noncommittal noise as he marks something down on the clipboard, "That's not uncommon. Now, finally are you aware of any previous blood-line limit in your family history?"
What.
"No I-what.?! No, I'm an orphan I don't-" The shock of just hearing the words 'blood-line limit' being spoken in conjunction with you throw you for a loop, "No, I don't know who my parents were or have any knowledge of what my extended family might look like" you finally manage to spit out.
"Well, we have already collected blood and chakra samples, but the tests will likely take several days to complete so we will know definitively then" He tucks the clipboard underneath his arm, "However, I would say it's likely that you have experienced a catalyzed blood-line limit activation due to acute physical stress. Once the tests are complete the results will be given to you and your Jounin-Sensei. Preliminary tests show you should be fine, but if anything changes please inform your Jounin-Sensei and consult the Medical Corps."
The man then bids you goodbye, and leaves you alone in the small recovery room with your thoughts.
You wrack your brain as you go over the entire fight again with palpable disbelief. First, you were getting your ass kicked, then Temari broke your spine and you almost passed out, then she threw you on top of a pile of knives, you glanced her with one of them, then she threw you into the wall. You almost gave up there, but you kept going, got up and then you beat her. Where...wait.
Wait.
Your spine was broken and you
got up. How.
Spine's don't just heal themselves. You know enough medicine to know that. You also know enough about medical ninjutsu to know that something like that is theoretically possible with some medical jutsu. But you are painfully aware you can't do
any medical ninjutsu, certainly not one that would let you fix a broken spine without a conscious thought.
A blood-line limit though? From what you remember of your medical-nin studies, those were oftentimes very esoteric. So who knows what could have happened if that was actually the case.
The only thing you can conclude is that
something happened to you in the middle of that fight there, when you got thrown into the wall. Unfortunately, that is the only thing you can conclude because at that moment the door to your room explodes inward. You almost jump out of your skin as you try to get into something resembling a fighting stance and shards of wood scatter around you. Your exhaustion-adled mind sluggishly trying to piece together wha's-
"My Youthful Pupil! I came as soon as I heard!"
oh
oh no
The bane of eardrums, doors, and fashion sense all throughout Konoha is currently standing where your door used to be, gleaming smile proudly displayed on his face and stuck in a pose you know to roughly mean
I am overcome with pride for my students. You can already feel the exasperated smile creeping onto your face. "Hi Gai-sensei."
"Congratulations Tenten!" His booming voice softens to something approaching a normal tone,
"I hear you won you preliminary match, just as I knew you would!" He gives you another beaming smile when you nod.
"I even heard from my eternal rival it was quite a spectacle!"
You rub the back of your head, "I guess, though...something odd happened." When he cocks his head, and you continue, filling him in on the events of the the battle and what you think happened. "So...I'm pretty sure something happened when I slammed into the wall...but-" you stop short as your mentor envelopes you in a bone-crushing hug.
"Tenten. It sounds like to me that you finally managed to surpass your limits! To find the true spirit of youth locked with you!" He says with streams of tears running down his face. You feel your ribs shift uneasily
"Gai-Sensei! You gasp out, "Can't...breath..."
He sheepishly releases you, and you gasp for air, before you finally ask the question you really wanted to ask. Above and beyond all your swirling thoughts about your fight. "So Gai-sensei, so how is Lee doing?"
The question leaves your teacher more subdued than you've ever seen him. "The medical-nins had to perform emergency surgery, and they managed to save all of his limbs, but the damage is very extensive. He's currently sedated while they run more diagnostics."
"But Lee is strong! I'm sure he won't let something like this defeat him. As long as we support him!" Gai-sensei gives you one of his trademark thumbs-up and smiles, but you get the sense he's trying to convince himself just as much as he is you.
"Now Tenten!" Gai-sensei snaps you out of worrying over Lee,
"You have been cleared to be discharged, and the medical-nins informed me of your new abilities. So I expect your Youthful display to only blossom further in the finals! I will of course support you in every way I can! Or I shall do 10,000 laps around the village!"
"Thanks Gai-sensei, I knew whatever else, I can always count on you" and you mean it, despite the eccentricies, there's no one you trust more to have your back then your Jounin-sensei. He gives you a much more genuine seeming thumbs up.
Then he jumps out the window.
As you pinch the bridge of your nose, you wonder what you should do now.
[ ] Go visit Lee. He's probably asleep, but you want to see him regardless.
[ ] Hey, maybe Temari is here. You could annoy her again if you wanted to.
[ ] Try and find Neji, you really need to talk to him about what happened during his match
[ ] No, you're just going to head home. Even after passing out, you still feel exhausted, and you need time to process...everything
(this will skip to tomorrow as Tenten will immediately fall asleep when she gets home)
Alright so that update is done, and you got your first taste of the stamina cost of going fully Totemic (it's pretty heavy). For reference and as a rough rule of thumb, expect to be able to be fully Totemic for a number of fight scenes equal to 1/3rd your stamina dots, Bonfire for a number of fight scenes equal to your stamina dots and have your caste mark up for a number of fight scenes equal to three times your stamina dots.
Also if anyone wants to become a beta reader for this quest, I'm open to that, I've never actually worked with a beta editor before though, so mainly you'd be someone to bounce update ideas off of and help me check my writing to make sure I don't just skip random words all the time. 
