Before we get started here are the main people that Tenshinhan is associated with when we first see him in Dragonball.

Tenshinhan: First: Some DB History: Dragonball was originally based on an ancient chinese legend. Gokou's character was based on the monkey king with a magic staff and a magic cloud, Yamcha was a famous desert thief, and Tenshinhan's character was based on a three-eyed Chinese god. That makes Tenshinhan's character seem like he was intended to be the strongest character in DB. Sadly, that idea was soon to die, especially in DBZ.

Anyways, Tenshinhan is Tsurusennin's strongest pupil. Ten is loves the martial arts a lot and loves to fight. He constantly strives to be better than Gokou, but can't in DBZ. He is definitely the strongest human, and has actually beat Gokou before! At the beginning of DB he is somewhat mean, evil, and cruel due to the harsh training under Tsuru and Tao. He looks up to Tao Pai Pai, and hopes to become a an assasin just like him. Ten changes his ways after he meets Gokou and the gang and becomes one of them. His actual personality is kind, courageous, and determined. Tenshinhan is kind of shy and sometimes likes to train by himself and not with Chaozu (I know, hard to believe). He actually reminds me of a quiet and intellectual version of Gokou. He regrets having to do with Tsuru's evil tidings an is one of the best guys around in DBZ.

Tsurusennin: Tsuru is also called the Crane Master. Tsurusennin is Tenshinhan's trainer. He trained Ten and Chaozu and taught them many techniques. He is quite evil though, and uses Tenshinhan as and Chaozu to take revenge on Kamesennin and his pupils at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai. Kamesennin and Tsurusennin hate each other, because when they were young, and being trained by Mutaito, they both loved a girl named Lam Fan. So after so many years he has trained to great fighters and wants revenge on Kame!

Chaozu: Chaozu is Ten's best friend and looks up to him a lot. They trained together under Tsurusennin and are telepathically connected. Him and Chaozu are introduced as bad guys at first but later befriend the Z gang. Ten's always liked Chaozu he's Chaozu's friend and he'll never hurt him. Tsuru tells Tenshinhan to kill little Chaozu, but he can't do it.

Tao Pai Pai: Tao Pai Pai is Tsuru's brother and Tenshinhan's idol and tutor. He is a hired assasin. Tsuru wants him to kill Tenshinhan and Chaozu in th 23rd Budoukai, because Ten and Chaozu rejected Tsuru and have nothing to do with him anymore. Of course Ten kicks his butt!

Lunch (Kushami): She's that girl that was seen w/Kame in early DB, who, when she sneezed, turned into a bad girl called Kushami. During the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai she meets Ten, and falls in love with him. She always trying to get Tenshinhan, because she is madly in love w/him. They actually hook up. But it soon ends early in DBZ.

The Story...

We first see Tenshinhan, Choazu, and Tsurusennin at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai (in the anime we see him first during th Urani Baba Saga) Tsuru has taken his prized pupils to take revenge upon Kamesennin and his students. Tsuru and Kame are seen yelling at each other a lot, and we see Tenshinhan's bad side, while he badmouths the Z gang too. So Ten is seen as a bad guy at here. The tournament begins.. Ten easily beats Sumouto, and then beats Yamcha with pretty much ease. Then he fights Kamesennin. In this intense battle, Kamesennin sees how much skill Tenshinhan has and notices that deep down Tenshinhan is pure hearted. Kame tells Tenshinhan that he has been waiting for a fighter with his skill to appear and how Tenshinhan should stop working for Tsuru and to become a good warrior. Then Kame forfeits the match. Later, Kame tells Tenshinhan that Ten would've won the match if he continued. The reason for Kamesennin forfeiting the match was because he said that the next generation of fighters already have the drive to continue on without his influence and that Tenshinhan is not an evil person at heart. Tenshihan begins to realize that Tsurusennin is evil. Afterwards, Tenshinhan advances to the final round w/Gokou. After a long intense fight with Gokou, (which is Akira Toriyama's favortie fight in all DB) Ten finally wins. During the fight, Tsuru orders Ten to kill Gokou, but Tenshinhan refuses, because Ten realizes he's not an evil assasin. This is the first Ten starts to uncover his real side. Tsuru tries to kill Chaozu for Tenshinhan's disobidience, but Kamesennin blows Tsuru away with a Kamehameha. After the fight, we see Tenshinhan and Chaozu turn good and become part of the gang. They abandon Tsuru, after realizing his evil ways, and Ten oncovers his true self. during the 23rd Budoukai, Tsuru is ready to take revenge against his students for leaving him and rejecting him. He has Tao Pai Pai fight Ten and Chaozu. Tao Pai Pai is back as a cyborg, after Gokou totally demolished him. Choazu loses to Tao, but Ten kicks Tao's butt, even though Ten gets a scar. And the 23rd tournament is the last time we see Tsuru and the last time we see Ten and Tao together. Tenshinhan and Chaozu are good guys now, and will always be!

DB movie 3...

In this movie a kind of a different story takes place. Chaozu is a kind emperor and Tsuru and Tao supposedly work for Chaozu. They secretly are planning to take over the empire with the dragonballs, but tell Chaozu they're going to use the Dragonballs for him. Tenshinhan is in on the plan to, but regrets it, because he really likes Chaozu. When Tenshinhan is asked to kill Chaozu he refuses. Tsuru decides to kill Chaozu himslef, but Tenshinhan blows him away with a Kikoho. Tenshinhan and Chaozu become great friends after this. Ten isn't really a bad guy in this movie and this movie is actually quite different from the manga/show.

That's about it. Basically summing up the history of Tenshinhan we see in DB: Ten is evil and turns good! I'll add more stuff to the section later on to give you a better idea of Ten's early days.