And its not that hard to throw kunai with exploding notes.
Assumption. Tenten never has used an explosive note.
As for comparing Tenten to Kankuro, Kankuro is a puppeteer, Tenten is a weapons master. They're all long distance fighters, so saying Shino beat Kankuro even though he's long range, then you're saying Shino can beat Shino because he's long range.
I don't understand what you are saying, but what I am pointing out is that Shino isn't weak against long range fighters, so there is no rock/paper/scissor BS you are coming up with. Nothing suggests Shino would be weak against kunais.
But her attacks are much faster and have a much stronger instantaneous effect which would win her the match.
If one move with no versatility can win the match, then this isn't a ninja anime. But it is. So it won't.
Against Zaku, Shino won in a wide open room with no cover. Zaku is a long range fighter. Shino is clearly good at distracting his opponent, keeping them occupied. Clearly long range instantaneous attacks aren't enough. Especially in this case, when the attacks are non-destructive.
I can think of plenty of ways for Shino to beat Tenten:
-All kunai attacks will be nullified by bugs hanging out in front of him
-Shino can use cloning techniques to allow him to close in on his opponents
-Shino constantly thinks ahead and adapts to a situation, while TenTen has no versatility whatsoever
-TenTen has 1 form of attack and 1 form of attack only
-TenTen isn't Shikamaru, who can win using only 1 basic strategy due to being smart
-Shino's bugs do whatever he wants them to do
-Shino has proven himself intelligent and controlled
For Kankuro, Shino won because the bugs ate all the chakra lines that he used to command the puppets
Wrong. Shino won mostly because of the bug he cleverly placed on Kankuro, which ate Kankuro's chakra as well as ate the chakra lines to beat him.
So the stats? Shino is smarter, the progeny of his clan (as in, the future of his clan), and gets respect from the other ninjas. What does TenTen have? Nothing except throwing kunais and such.
Also, I don't understand why you are dismissing the fact that Shino is clearly in a bigger league than TenTen. They clearly aren't even on the same page. TenTen is good in comparison to Sakura and Ino at the time, but I have no doubt Naruto/Kiba/Shikamaru/Lee/Neji/Gaara/Sasuke/Shino would tool her. I don't care if she can throw kunais perfectly. She is just not on the same level as those guys are.