A/N: Well, this was supposed to be up a week ago, unfortunately, a few things got in the way, though this chapter is longer. The next chapter should not take as long, though this time I should not have problems with my flash drive. Yeah new computer. Thanks to rose-of-alabaster, Jaur, and Sien for reviewing and all those that have read it. I'll try to keep out of the obvious traps of time travel.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, just playing in the author's world.
This morning will definitely not be mentioned to any of my subordinates, Panda will never look at me seriously without laughing his head off. Neji thought as he attempted to keep his worry from manifesting in his actions. It had been bad enough that he had woken up two hours early. He used the extra time to make sure he did not overestimate his reach. Fortunately, by the time he finished practice, the distance problem was dealt with. However, he would have to consciously put less distance between his opponent and himself for Sixty-Four Strikes.
When he arrived at the Hyuuga gates, only the normal day guards, Michi and Nobu, were there, Hinata had been uncharacteristically late. Both guards were glancing at Neji, who occasionally tapped his foot against the ground. "Is the prodigy of our prestigious clan worried about his genin team?" Michi pondered.
"Yes, it will probably be my fate to be stuck with two teammates that will not help with the test, and thus force me to do the work of three people." Neji replied, attempting to cover the truth.
"No smirk, Neji?" Nobu commented. Neji froze mid-tap, as he glared at the guards. Both guards placed the patented Hyuuga smirk on their faces as he turned back to the Main House, hoping to use Hinata as an excuse to leave. A smile slipped onto his face upon seeing Hinata shuffle over as she hunched her shoulders at seeing Neji.
"Come, Lady Hinata, we must go." He let her pass before following, easily keeping up with her quicker than usual pace.
The crowds were at their usual level, giving Neji time to notice the shopkeepers they had passed. One of them was a "sleeper" ANBU. "Snare" had been quite helpful with dealing with the last root member, who had not been known. Anko had been more vindictive than usual while torturing the man since he had been one of the ninja that had stopped any attempts at catching the snake sannin after his assassination of the Sandaime. After revealing himself, he had tried to apologize for his past behavior by giving all of the Hokage's cloth and paper needs a large discount, but it was Naruto, so the apology was unnecessary. Tenzou had appreciated it as it cut down the cost for his ANBU units by about 10%. He went back to studying his cousin and noticed that she was holding her arm stiffly.
"Did you spar with your honored sister today, Hinata?" Neji silently cursed at his inattentiveness, even though no non-Hyuuga would have noticed with such limited information.
"Y-yes, B-brother N-neji." Her gaze dropped to her feet as her shoulders became even more hunched.
"Hinata, look at me." She creaked her face towards him, her eyes darted up to look behind him. "Do you think either Lady Hanabi or I are weak?"
"N-no, it is I who-"
"Then you insult us by holding back in spars."
"B-but, I d-do not, B-brother N-neji." The ground had regained its admirer. He placed his hand on her shoulder; he almost regretted it upon feeling her jump.
"You are worried about hurting us, I can see it. I appreciate that you were worried even though I was not deserving of it. But when we spar, even if you do not defeat me, if you fight your best, you help both of us. If you try your hardest, even your honored father would have to see your ability." He moved his hand, looked toward the academy and noticed Shikamaru, one of Hinata's classmates, was strolling to class, they will be late at this rate.
"Come, Lady Hinata, we must hurry." Hinata stuttered out an apology as the two rushed to the academy, Neji avoided looking in her direction. She was probably thinking about how she had messed up Hanabi's and Neji's training, but hopefully she would notice what he really meant.
They separated at the front hallway. Upon reaching his classroom, he walked in and found a seat in the back. He grimaced as he realized that Ryoko was in the next seat, she had been one of the more vocal fangirls. Very much like Sakura and Ino when they were in the academy.
"Neji, we're going to be on the same team and be the best team ever. Then we'll start dating and then get married and have many beautiful children." Neji's grimace grew, if he was not careful, Iruka would notice that he was worried. He had zoned out the lunatic next to him, knowing all too well that she will not pass Kakashi's test. If the worse case scenario happens, I have to throw the test. Hiashi's will not kill me, she does not deserve to be a ninja. Besides she could not handle the actual job. Wolf of all people could make her a mental wreck and he had problems with scaring Hinata. Ok, perhaps I am not being fair, Wolf would get Hinata now, but Ryoko has her ninja family supporting her. Calm down, Neji, do not give Iruka any reason to believe you are worried.
He started to tap his foot with a slow rhythm. He glared at the door as if it was its fault that Iruka was late. The only thing he remembered that his name had come first in the list. Iruka pushed the door open and walked in, apologizing for his lateness. While giving the standard graduation speech, Neji's foot started to speed up. Ryoko did not notice, even as she occasionally stole a glance at the boy next to her. Iruka cleared his throat as he picked up the genin roster. Teams 1-4 were assigned and fortunately, none of his genin team was placed yet. The next two teams still had genin teams assigned to them, and thus skipped in assignment.
"Alright, for Team 7, Rock Lee, Tenten-"
"I feel sorry for the poor group that has him on a team, right Neji-darling?" Ryoko attempted to grab Neji's attention, believing that neither would have to listen it.
"Neji Hyuuga, your jounin-sensei is Maito Gai." Neji stopped his foot mid-step as he realized that he had leaned in about two degrees. That was unbecoming of himself, he smirked at Ryoko's complaint to Iruka and his response as an explanation that teams had to be balanced. Iruka continued to announce the rest of the teams. Upon finishing, he put the papers down and the class waited to be dismissed.
"Team 7, stay behind, everyone else is dismissed for lunch and then come back to meet your team leader." The class looked confused and Neji joined them while cocking an eyebrow. As the other students left, Neji smirked. He made it to the right team, he could pass whatever test Gai threw at them. He joined the other two in standing in front of their former teacher.
"Gai, if you are ready, you can come in now." Much to Neji's surprise, the door opened normally and Gai had just walked in. Neji's eyes widened and gripped Iruka's desk with his left hand. "Please have your meeting somewhere else, Gai."
"Of course, Iruka, I thank you for the opportunity to meet with my youthful students early." Iruka nodded while closing his eyes, protecting himself from being blinded by Gai's smile. "I have the perfect place." He added. Tenten blinked a storm at the jounin's actions before following, not sure what to make of him. Lee remembered the man from the one time he had encouraged him, thus this was a dream come true. Iruka blinked twice at Neji, who was still standing there, still gripping the desk.
"Neji, you'll be left behind if you don't hurry. Don't worry, Gai knows his stuff despite his dress." Iruka sometimes wondered if some of the male ninja disliked Gai's style because he actually had a body that could pull it off. Though he would never voice that opinion out loud, he did not need to give the rumors of his preferences any more false validations.
"Yes, Iruka." Neji rushed out the door. He stared at the open door, did Neji sound remorseful? Perhaps he should ask Gai about it later.
Neji could not believe it. He had practiced with Naruto to prevent shock, making sure that his Byakugan was not active. They had gone through everyone that they thought might come up, including Kabuto. The first kage bushin of Kabuto was killed with a quick blow to the chest and after forcing Neji to see him ten times, the Rokudaime had presumed him adequately prepared. They had not practiced with Gai because his death should have had enough time that Neji thought he would be fine. Now, if Gai had not been wearing his green spandex with his bowl haircut, he could have blown his cover. At least he still had the edge on avoiding being read by his sensei for now. Even if Lee stole the tactic of watching the students a week before the genin exam from Gai, Neji had slightly better control. At least, when ghosts from his personal past were not suddenly revived. He caught up to the other three with Lee watching Gai's every step. Yep, he had to beat Lee as quickly as possible. Tenten gave Neji a look over before returning to her scanning of the area. He smirked as he had a good idea where they were going. The area had always been pretty quiet. At least when none of the ANBU had to give chase to anyone. Gai had not been thrilled that the mediation exercise was interrupted. Or the fact that the cover for the place was destroyed. The benches were comfortable, if you did not try to sleep on them.
Upon reaching the place, their sensei motioned for them to sit.
"Well, my youthful students, today starts the grand and wonderful journey of your youth. First, tell me more about yourselves, your likes and your dreams. Tenten, if you would start us off." The sparkle from his teeth irritated their eyes.
"Yes, sensei, my name is Tenten, I like training with my weapons and wish to be a strong kunoichi like my idol, Tsunade."
After Tenten finished, Rock Lee shot his hand up, nearly hitting her, before almost shouting, "My name is Rock Lee, and I want to prove that I can be a great ninja without ninjustu or genjustu." Neji slightly smirked, remembering the first time this happened.
Lee turned towards his teammate, "What is your problem?"
"You think you will be able to be a ninja with just taijustu? We should test it, if it is ok with you, Sensei?"
"Of course, I know the perfect place." Gai shouted as Neji's smirk grew larger. Lee glared at him, Gai's enthusiasm saturated the area, and Tenten frowned at her teammates.
Walking up next to his hyper teammate, Neji whispered, "How about we lay down a bet. If you win, I will announce to as many people as you want me to that you are a better ninja than I will ever be. But, if I win, you can never model your style off of sensei, ever." Lee nodded, and he smirked as he saw Gai slowed his step for a microsecond. Perhaps Gai had more of an effect on Lee's style than he originally thought.
"This place will work well, my youthful students. So are you only using taijustu, Neji?"
"Of course, sensei. Are you ready, Lee?" He nodded as Neji prepared himself in his standard Jyuuken stance. No matter what the Rokudaime claimed, Jyuuken was nothing more than taijustu with releases of chakra out of the body. As soon as Lee aims a low kick, I'll close the tenketsu on his upper leg. After that, I should be able to knock his other foot out. Neji activated his Byakugan and waited as Lee started to charge. Lee aimed his fist at Neji's head, which reminded him that Lee was still using the academy's style. He shifted to the right, and Lee brought his right hand to chop at his side. His lower arm blocked the attack as he brought his open palm to strike the vulnerable chest. His opponent jumped back as both fighters noted that the wind from the palm had affected Lee's shirt.
Charging to close the distance, Neji targeted the same area. Lee shoved the attacking arm out of the way and then attempted to take off Neji's head with a roundhouse kick. Ducking under the kick, he stabbed two fingers into the offending knee. His other arm blocked the second kick as Lee drove him back a couple of steps. As his opponent landed, he lashed out with his free hand and speared two fingers into his opponent's upper right arm. He chambered a kick and launched it into his opponent's unhindered arm. The kick dislodged the block, and wasting no time, he brought an uncharged open palm to strike the chest. He smirked at Lee's collapse onto the ground.
"Yield." Lee's refusal to respond was answer enough to Neji. "You know, you might never beat me, but you are right, you'll be a great ninja with just taijustu." He reached out a hand. Lee stared at him for a minute before accepting.
"Yes, my youthful students have planted the strong seeds of rivalry." Gai ambushed both of them with one of his large one-armed hugs. Neji's smirk shifted to a smile while Tenten laughed at the ridiculous scene in front of her. "You know Neji, you still have not answered the original question." Both boys landed with a thump, though Lee practiced his balance using only one working leg.
"My name is Neji, I enjoy watching birds flying free, and I dream to end those terrible curses still in Konoha." Gai's smile brightened and Neji wondered if he should challenge…, before realizing that these two had rubbed off of him a little too much.
"Now, tomorrow, it really begins, be here at 8:00 a.m. You all should go grab some lunch, and Neji wait a moment." The serious glint in his eyes appeared at his ominous message. Tomorrow is Gai's test, do not be worse than the bell test. The other two walked off, or in Lee's case, limped away.
"Yes, sensei?" Neji questioned after his teammates left.
"It is nice to see you not mention fate once today."
"I came upon a startling discovery, sensei. And that gave me a new light to see my situation from." Gai entered his nice guy pose and Neji briefly wondered if Gai would try to get him to wear spandex as well.
"That is most excellent, keep the flames of youth burning brightly." Neji smirked before shaking his head at missing Gai's antics and made his way back to the village.
He came upon Lee limping with Tenten listening to him proclaim how he will bet Neji someday.
"Lee, stand still." Both his teammates watched as Neji pressed the points that he had closed and reopened them. "We all should grab some lunch, I know a cheap but good place nearby."
"Neji, can you explain what you did to Lee in your fight? And why did you challenge him but not me?" Tenten spun a kunai in her hands; it was how she dealt with nervousness until after starting to use summoning scrolls.
"I will explain when we get to the restaurant and besides you are a great long range fighter. I think sensei was wrong Lee, I do not think the seeds of rivalry have been planted." Lee crept closer as could not believe that he would contradict sensei.
"I think we might be friends, if we pass the genin test."
"What type of test are you talking about? Do the jounin get to deny genin they don't like?" Tenten speculated.
"Yes, if we do not pass his test, we have to go back to the academy, and each jounin test differently. Just as long as we work together, we can pass easily." He smirked realizing that today had to be the last time coming to the Ramen Stand this week. While tasty, it was not good for his health and he did not want the Hyuuga clan cooks thinking that he preferred a ramen stand to a real meal.
"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, oh, we have a new genin team perhaps?" The young woman with a brown ponytail and white kitchen apron smiled at the three walking in. "My name is Ayame and what can I get you today?" The stand was quiet, as the lunch rush had finished and the civilian jobs usually finished in about another hour.
"I happened to come here while I was waiting for my cousin and The Sandaime was here." Neji relayed to his teammates about the place.
"What was he like? It must have been wonderful to talk to the Hokage."
"Right, Lee, umm, Neji, that was Jyuuken you used against Lee, right? I thought that the strikes were supposed to be palm strikes? And why challenge him in a fight you know you were going to win?" Tenten's curiosity about the fight and her guess that Neji would want all of the questions at once fueled the questioning.
"I modified the fighting style slightly, gives a bit more reach. You are the best in our class at throwing weapons, while I wanted to make sure Lee was not just given a pity pass from Iruka." He smirked.
"Thank you, my rival." While Lee could be dense quite a bit of the time, it was his smarts that had helped him pass without the ability to complete the academy justus. Neji just stared at his teammate, it had been a very good thing for the bet.
"Though, Neji, why the bet with the fight?"
"Simple, it made sure neither of us held back and I saw how you seem to admire our sensei. I do not want another eyesore on my team."
"He is not an eyesore, Neji." Lee harrumphed as he crossed his arms in front of him. Neji had hoped that Tenten would add something, but it looked like the team needed more time together first.
"Tenten, could you explain what type of weapons you prefer?" Tenten jumped at the chance as Lee listened attentively, while Neji only pretended.
After Gai's death, Neji went into ANBU, while the other two worked on becoming jounin and eventually leaders of genin teams. Lee had stop modeling himself after Gai, claiming until he surpassed Gai, he could not call himself a Green Beast of Konoha. Surprising his teammates, he had asked Tenten for help with his wardrobe. He had surprised most of the males in the remaining rookie 11 with having a decent style, when he was not mimicking his sensei. The important part during the time for Neji was the fact that Naurto had convinced Hiashi, with help from Hinata, to have his seal removed. And to help make it easier for the rest of the clan to deal with, Neji went on longer missions. During this time, Lee had given up on Sakura, and had turned his attention to Tenten. And having known the man since they were young adults, she knew that he was not just using her as a rebound attempt. They officially started dated about a year after Gai's death and got married six months later. Neji had been Lee's best man and had to help Tenten make sure there was no possible way any alcohol would be there. They did not want the situation turning into what happened before, where the Rokudaime, his wife, Shikamaru, and himself had to restrain Lee after he had a whole bottle of sake. Saying that the owner had only a slight problem with it would be equivalent to saying that Hinata had a slight crush on Naruto.
"So, Neji, besides the academy techniques, do you use anything besides Jyuuken?" Tenten's question dragged him from memory lane.
"As a Hyuuga, it is highly discouraged to use any other justu." Of course, it had been highly discouraged for a Hyuuga to join ANBU, but he had been first according to the records. It might have been due to the fact that the first head had been miffed when the Uchiha's received control of the military police. Ayame placed their food in front of them as they started eating.
"Neji, you were most correct about the food here. Perhaps we should stop here as a team often." Lee grinned and gave a thumbs-up. Neji felt a moment of dread as though he would never have any money in his wallet after two months. Though he could not place the reason why.
"Hey, it's Weird Eyes! I told you this place was the best." Tenten mouthed 'Weird Eyes' at Neji while he examined Naruto as he entered. He wore his 'I look always happy, but I'm just trying to hide the sadness' grin on. Neji raised his eyebrow a tenth of an inch in response.
"My name is Rock Lee, this is Tenten, and we are Neji's teammates. How do you know him?" While Lee asked, Tenten gave Naruto a once over.
"I met him here yesterday, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage, nice to meet you Rock Lee!" He beamed at the group.
"Didn't you fail the exam twice?" Tenten attempted to find out if the rumors were true.
"Hey, next year I'll do fine, I just have too much chakra. Why don't you tell them that, Neji?" His eye veins bulged as he stared at Naruto's coils. They are larger than I thought they would be at this time.
"I have never seen any student have this much chakra." Naruto cheered the news while both Tenten and Lee stared at him.
"Hey, Naruto, no scaring the other customers." Under Ayame's scrutiny, he sat back down in his seat, staring at the table.
"Umm…, Neji, you're strong right?" The hyper boy was replaced by a quieter and subdued Naruto.
"He was the rookie of the year and is the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan." Lee stated.
"So you're stronger than Sasuke, right?" His eyes glued to his target.
"Yes." He replied as he went back to the ramen.
"Then, can you train me?" He bursted out, ignoring Ayame's warning. "If you did, I could easily beat Sasuke, then everyone in class-" Naruto's exclamation was interrupted by a group of people walking by, not attempting to be quiet. The leader of the group had covered some of his face and one eye. He had glanced over at the stand, contempt in his face. He must be mad that the weapon is not emotionless. Either that or because he does not have control of his development. Too bad I cannot just go out there and arrest him. I miss that. I need to convince Hinata to give me an official order to help Naruto otherwise I will be punished by the caged bird seal severely.
He deactivated his Byakugan before answering, "When I have time, Naruto. Excuse me, Lady Hinata is probably finished with classes." Neji placed his money on the table, stood up, and walked out. He smirked at Tenten following him out.
"So, are you going to explain what you are up to? You go from continually talking about how we have no control of our fate and that you do not believe that anyone in our class can help you to espousing that teamwork is important and that you believe Lee is a friend."
"To tell you the truth, Tenten, I realized that I did not believe in fate and had been struggling against it the whole time. And that the best way to defy my fate is to make sure that our group becomes the best it can be, especially since Lee's on our team. If I am helping Naruto, the village pariah, they will be even more furious."
"But won't they activate the caged seal if you don't follow orders?" Neji slowed his step, it seemed that she had learned as much as she could about him.
"Not if I can get someone in the main family to order me to help Naruto. One of my cousins has a massive crush on him."
"That would make sense, but why are you trusting me with this?"
"Because you're the best kunoichi in our class and it our team will help deal with my 'sudden' change." Tenten nodded before leaving, needing time to digest the information she had just heard.
Neji continued onto the academy with the occasional respectful nod from civilian passer-bys, showing support to their protectors. He recognized a couple of them, one of which had been caught trying to light the Hokage's tower on fire a day after the Rokudaime's ascension. It had also been the last attempt by a civilian on him, especially after the improvements made by his rule.
Neji came upon Hinata standing there, pushing her fingers together as she would every minute or so, and glance at the swing, wishing that it would be filled with a certain blonde-haired individual. He made sure to make his approach noticeable, that way she would not feel that he attempted to sneak up on her.
Once he stopped about five feet from her, she turned and uttered, "N-naruto was not in class today, d-did he pass a special exam?" Her words filled with hope and despair at the same time.
"I saw him today, he did not. Though it sounds like that the teachers do not like him. Would you say that is the case, Hinata?" Neji neutralized all traces of emotions on his face and stance. She nodded as she stared at her cousin, not understanding where the conversation was going.
"Naruto asked me to train him, claims that if I do he will be a better ninja than Sasuke." They started to walk back to the Hyuuga clan area.
"D-did you s-say yes?"
"I cannot, since your honored uncle would not approve. However, if a main branch member gave me the order to help Naruto, then I would have to obey." He replied as he watched Ryoko try to hide behind one of the buildings ahead. He swerved their path to the other side of the road, hopefully avoiding whatever she had planned.
"B-brother Neji, w-would you help Naruto?" She barely squeaked out as Ryoko jumped out to surprise them, but upon seeing they were ten feet away, and ignoring her, stormed off.
"That was not an order, Lady Hinata." He stated, ignoring Ryoko's attempt to draw attention to her. Hinata brought her index fingers together and taking a deep breath, looked into Neji's eyes.
"B-brother Neji, I wish for you to help Naruto become a ninja." As she finished her pseudo-command, she held his gaze while holding her breath in.
"As you wish, Lady Hinata." A smile escaped onto his face as she looked down, entirely fascinated with the ground. "Do not worry about your honored uncle, I can take care of myself. Though you do need to check up with Naruto and make sure that I am teaching him well. That does mean speaking to him in a long conversation." At this her cheeks burnt bright red as she attempted to speak, but only squeaks came out. Being able to tease his cousin caused his smile to become quite visible, he added, "Hinata, I know you do not feel comfortable speaking with him, but he needs you to. The day after you do, I will probably hear about how he made a friend with this nice, shy girl with strange eyes just like you, and are you related?" Unfortunately for Hinata's endurance, she could barely stay standing, which brought him to use his arm to steady her, making sure not to grab her injured arm. She responded to the touch by looking around. After discovering her target was not here, her cheeks drained most of the color away, though they still tinged with a bit of redness. His smiled vanished as he replaced it with his favorite smirk, covering his thoughts.
I think I know how to get rid of Danzo, the Kyuubi Law affects anyone who tells someone who does not know, even if they did not mean to. He occasionally told his subordinates about the fox. If I can get Naruto to sneak into the building and overhear him, it will take care of him learning about the fox and take care of Root. If that does not work, I can use Naruto hiding and oversee Danzo talking about it. The only question will be, what will happen with Sai and the other young children in Danzo's grasp?
Neji had spared Hinata from any more teasing on their journey. He was not in the mood to carry an unconscious body back. The two guards bowed at Hinata's arrival, Neji had removed his hand before reaching their destination, much to her relief.
"Neji, Lord Hiashi will speak with you immediately." Michi stated before turning his attention to Hinata. "Lady Hinata, your father wishes to see you afterwards in the dojo." They separated as Neji headed towards Hiashi's office. He kept his Byakugan shut off, not wanting Hiashi to believe he was spying on official clan business. Even though this clan had no sense of privacy, when summoned to the clan head's office, they must show respect, thus no activated Byakugan. He was hoping that Hinata was going to be watching a match, to see proper Jyuuken performed, not another sparring match.
"Enter." Neji kept his face void of emotion as he followed the command. Hiashi had paperwork in front of him, and unlike the Sandaime and Godaime, he did not mind paperwork. It helped him avoid having to deal with the problems of his oldest not being strong enough, or that his only nephew would never want to speak or let alone be in the same room as him.
"Who are your teammates and leader?"
"Maito Gai, the Lee boy, and the weapon user Tenten." Hiashi nodded, his relief at the news plainly visible to Neji. "Lord Hiashi, will I be needed in escorting Lady Hinata to the academy anymore now that I am assigned to a genin team?"
Placing the pencil down, Hiashi focused his full attention on his nephew. After finishing his mental evaluation to his satisfaction, he ordered, "You will follow me to the dojo." The two Hyuuga both left the office and strode to their destination. Hinata and Hanabi were standing there, waiting for them. Hinata had resumed her examination of the ground, while Hanabi had a slightly raised eyebrow as she had already sparred with her sister today.
"Hinata you will have a chance to redeem yourself. You will fight your cousin, do not disgrace yourself." Neji stared at his uncle while his cousin hunched her shoulders and pushed her index fingers together.
"I was told by Gai not to exert myself tonight. If the test is as strenuous as he implies, I may have to cover for deficiency in one of my teammates." At his statement, Hinata shot her line of sight at the two. Her fingers had also stopped moving.
"Are you implying that-"
"Gai attempts to surpass Hatake Kakashi in everything." Hiashi raised one of his eyebrows.
"Very well, then, you are dismissed, you will report to me immediately after your test." He bowed and left the three main family members. Once out of Byakugan range, he smirked, as the passing branch members ignored him. The branch members congratulated him at dinner, though both Michi and Minoru gave him their condolences about his jounin. He nodded, smirked and mentioned fate, though it was not in the way that the others thought. After finishing dinner, he slipped off to his room. He spent the rest of the day trying to remember how his teammates fought starting out of the academy. The best part of the night was when Hinata came by and thanked him for not fighting and was able to not stutter.
The next morning, Neji found himself to be the last one to make it to the training field. Lee was stretching while Tenten had been checking her kunai and shuriken. Neji activated his Byakugan, verifying that his weapon cache was secure. He nodded to both of them as he joined Lee in stretching. However the quiet time was cut short by Gai's arrival.
"Welcome, today we will be testing your strength and teamwork against me." His smile and thumbs up not reflected in his pupils' reactions, Lee gulped as he stared, Tenten grasped the kunai in her right hand, and Neji grimaced. We have to defeat Gai, I know he will not go full strength, but this might be worse than Kakashi's test due to Gai's high standards. Neji dropped into the stance for Jyuuken, while Lee mimicked with the academy's taijustu, and Tenten grabbed a few shuriken while backing away from her sensei.
"Begin." Gai charged at Tenten, forcing Lee and Neji to intercept him. As Lee swung his fist at his opponent's stomach, Neji aimed for the arm that he hoped would be used to block. Unfortunately, Gai's other hand slammed into his upper arm, knocking him out of position, while his other arm easily stopped Lee's attack. Gai pressed his advantage as he whipped one of his legs at Lee, who barely could bring his arm to block, but the force from the kick drove him back. His follow-up attack was delayed by multiple shuriken that intercepted the path between him and Lee. Turning toward the other melee attacker, Gai launched a kick at his chest. Ducking under and away the kick, Neji jabbed his fingers at the offending leg. However, the attack was too slow and Gai retaliated with a sweep of his legs, knocking the Hyuuga off his feet. Gai weaved away from Lee's swings, and chambering a kick; releasing it into his chest. The impact removed the air from his lungs as he crumpled onto the ground. More shuriken and kunai clobbered Gai's shadow, who aimed his next punch at Neji, who barely had enough time to leap away to avoid suffering the same fate as Lee.
He leapt back again, and smirking for the first time during the fight proclaimed, "You are within my divinations, Divination Field: Sixty-Four Strikes." He rushed at his opponent, moving with greater speed than usual. "Two palms." Bringing his fingertips to strike at the critical tenketsu, Neji's momentum was interrupted as Gai swatted away the arms and slammed the other fist into his stomach. He dropped as his vision went blurry, as his legs could not handle the strain of holding him up.
OoOoOoOoO
He opened his eyes to see tree branches above him as he activated the Byakugan, he saw both Tenten and Lee sitting about twenty feet away while Gai spoke quietly enough that Neji could only make out the words due to being able to read his lips. The normal breathing indicated that Neji had been out cold for a decent enough time. However, the bruises from where Gai hit them straight on were still quite visible. He reached down and slowly pushed himself to his feet.
"Neji, it is good to see that you are awake, come join your teammates." Using the deactivation of the Byakugan as a physical distraction, he composed his thoughts. He walked over and placed himself on the ground next to Tenten. "Now, I must say, the basics of teamwork in this group are here, you made sure to not force your teammates into covering for over extending yourself, and you attempted to maximum the chances of at least one of your attacks hitting. Lee, while using your attacks to prevent me from taking down Neji, your speed was too slow. I also broke yours and Neji's defenses with too few strikes. Neji, you attempted to surprise me with a technique, however, the technique requires me to be slower than you to be effective. The main problem the team had was no attempts at planning, this lead to Tenten's attacks becoming only defensive screens instead of setting up a successful strike. While it is true that you theoretically fight with someone you have no experience with, in this exercise you had time to communicate with each other." All three genin were staring at him, the normal optimism completely vanished. Neji almost activated his Byakugan to verify the identity of their sensei.
"However, I believe that you three have shown great potential in this sparring exercise. I had expected to have Tenten defeated first before you two were able to position yourselves. Instead I was force to defeat both of you, if Tenten had been a scout with important information, she had a good chance of getting away. And Tenten's defensive screens were effective at preventing me from ending the fight earlier." His smile smothering his words. "Now that we had a small break, time for some training. Lee, run one lap around Konoha, this will help build your endurance and be useful for your main training. Tenten, practice hitting the targets from about 50 feet away, I will be there shortly for you to avoid hitting a teammate while still hitting the target." Pausing as Lee nodded as he took off at a moderate pace while Tenten walked away from the last two of her team.
"That was a sparring practice, what about your test?" Neji's inability to explain how they passed getting the better of him.
"You already passed it, yesterday, you have shown the ability to work with your teammates and all of you possess the will to strengthen your flames of youth. Now, do you know Kaiten?" Neji mouth slid open about a half of inch at Gai's question while the questioner's smile grew even wider. It had seemed that Gai had learned all he could about the gentle fist. Returning to the actual question, Neji nodded, brought his arms out, started to pump chakra into his body and released it while spinning. The spin was not a complete shield yet.
"Well, you know what you need to work on and when Lee comes back, tell him to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups."
"Understood, sensei." Gai headed over to target practice area. Ok, time to relearn Kaiten, if only I actually remembered how I learnt it without help the first time. Perhaps I will rope Naruto into being taught a little bit by Gai or at least, suggest to Lee if he needs a sparring partner, that Naruto would always be willing. Just as long as Naruto does not start wearing an orange spandex suit or pepper his speech with "The Flames of Youth."
Let me know if the fight scene were done well, and let me how the rest is.