DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Period. End of line.
Chapter Nine: Greetings in Green
Naruto and I were wandering aimlessly around town a few days later. I didn't want to be alone at the moment, so I was tagging along with him. "So Naruto," I started, "The team we're on is Team Seven, right?"
"That's the one!" Naruto replied.
"And Tsunade said that we were stretched pretty thin in terms of amount of ninja available, right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Grandma said that."
"Huh? Grandma?"
"Yeah! That's what I call her! It's so funny how she gets so angry at me calling her that sometimes!" Naruto laughed for a little bit.
I waited until he was done laughing (though I have to admit, I stifled a laugh myself) and said, "Anyways, back to what I was trying to say. Tsunade said that I'd probably be placed with people from different teams other than Team Seven when we were on missions, right?"
"Yeah, what's your point?" Naruto asked.
"How many other Genin teams are there in Konoha?"
"Umm…three as far as I know. There's Team 10, with Shikamaru, Choji and Ino-"
"Hold on a sec," I told Naruto, "You said Ino was on Team 10? Ino Yamanaka?"
"Uhh…yeah, she's on Team 10. Why?"
"I've already met her, actually. It was at the flower shop; she was the only person other than me that was there. I actually met her before I met you!"
"Yeah," Naruto replied, "Ino's family runs that flower shop. It's got pretty good selection too!"
"How would you know, hmm? Grabbing flowers for Sakura?"
"NO!" Naruto shouted in my face.
"Calm down Naruto, it was just a joke!"
"Oh, okay. Anyways, there's Team 8, with Kiba, Hinata and Shino. Ever met any of those?"
"Nope. Keep going."
"Right then, and the last one that I know of is Team Gai, with Tenten, Neji and Rock Lee."
"Rock Lee?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool. He doesn't have any Ninjutsu at all, just Taijutsu. Thing is, he can use Taijutsu like a master. And Gai-Sensei is even better than him!"
"Sakura mentioned Rock Lee. She said that he helped bring me here after Sakura got me into town." I said.
"Rock Lee's a good guy," said Naruto, "But he can sometimes get on the weird side."
"That's pretty much what I gathered from Sakura and Kakashi-sensei," I said to Naruto, "Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make. If I'm going to be put into teams other than the one I was originally assigned to, then shouldn't I get to know the other team's members as well?"
"Hmm…" Naruto thought for a moment, and then replied, "I never thought of it that way until now. It's probably a good idea now that I think of it. Hey, I know! Since you can't train or anything today because of your hands, I'll introduce you to all of the others today!"
"Sounds good to me!" I replied cheerfully, "So, where to first. I don't know where anyone is, so you're going to have to lead me around this village!"
"No problem!" he said enthusiastically, "And I know where to take you first, too! C'mon!" Naruto started running the opposite way we were going before, and I ran with him.
"You know," I said to Naruto, "We don't have to run. We've got all day!"
"Well, I want to run!" said Naruto. Hyperactive indeed! I easily caught up to him, and we ran together to the first place. Naruto led me to a secluded part of town I hadn't noticed before, and a little ways further we were standing in front of what looked like a log cabin. "This is it! I'm sure he's in here, he's always in here!" said Naruto as he walked into the log cabin. I followed him inside.
The place was bigger inside than it looked from the outside, but then again the place was entirely empty except for one thing. A person was facing us at the back of the room, and he was standing on – Holy shit, he's standing on his pinkies!!! How the hell is that possible!? – and a good sized puddle of sweat was right below him. He got off of his pinkies and stood up normally
This guy was wearing tight, green spandex with a Konoha headband he used as a belt, and large, orange cuffs (or something) were on each of his ankles. His eyes were pretty much white with big, black dots in the middle, and he had really fuzzy eyebrows. "Ah, hello Naruto!" The Green Guy said, "How are you doing."
"Pretty good, Bushy-Brow," replied Naruto, "I came here to introduce the new addition to our team, James."
"Hi!" I said cheerfully, "My name's James Moretto. What's yours?
"I am Rock Lee, of The Hidden Leaf Village!" said The Green Guy, "And I am pleased to meet you."
"So, you're Rock Lee?" I said more to myself than anyone else. Then I told him, "Sakura said that you helped carry me to Konoha Hospital."
"That is true," said Lee, "Sakura was carrying you alone when I saw her in the middle of my training, so I decided to help out."
"Well, I never got the chance to thank you for that!" I said to him.
"Oh, that is no problem at all," said Lee, "The power of youth should always be preserved!"
I didn't really know what that meant, so I just nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about and said, "Yeah…power of youth…gotcha!"
"Now then," said Lee, "Since you are in my dojo, would you like to battle me? A friendly battle, of course."
"Umm, I wouldn't mind taking you on if my hands hadn't just gotten burnt to a crisp. Maybe later?"
"I will look forward to testing your strength." Said Lee. He gave a thumbs-up and a huge grin that practically blinded me because it was so bright. "Let your hands recover, and then we can test each other!" he said.
Wow…test each other? I know what he means, but that still sounds wrong in my mind!
"Alright you two," Naruto cut in, "James, we've still got a lot of people to go if you want to get through this today."
"True enough," I said. On my way out the door I called over to Lee, "I just might take you up on that challenge!"
Just then Sakura came running over towards us. She got to us and stopped so fast that she almost fell forward. "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, just in a hurry, that's all." Sakura said.
"What for?" I asked.
"James," she started, "You've got to get to Hokage Mansion as soon as possible. It's your first mission!"
So much for meeting the people BEFORE I was sent out on a mission with them.
