Disclaimer: If I did own Naruto, Tenten and Neji would be the main characters.


"ATCHOOO!!!" The sound echoed throughout Konoha. Not long after, twittering birds could be heard. Obviously they were scared to bits, poor things.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate people who were directly in front of the source of the sneeze covered their mouths and ears. Sadly, Lee, Neji and I only had two hands each. It was a tough choice, either we go deaf or catch Gai's cold.

"I'm terribly sorry," Gai sniffled, "it seems that I caught a cold the other day at the beach."

"It's not your fault Gai-sensei!" Lee said, pointing dramatically at me. What did I do? "It's Tenten's fault. She suggested going to the beach."

"So? You're the ones who wanted to play in the water," I retorted. Lee looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Gai-sensei! I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was the one who suggested playing in the water." Lee cried, tears welling up in his large, round eyes.

"No Lee. It's mine. I should have known that I would have gotten sick!"

"Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Sensei!"

"Le-ATCHOO!"

Here we go again...


The next day, Team 8 met at the usual training spot in the forest.

"Where's Gai-sensei?" Lee asked. "Is he late?"

"Probably still sick," Neji reasoned.

"I still think it's partially Tenten's fault. If she hadn't suggested going to the beach, I would never have thought of playing in the sea. If I never thought of that, I would not have suggested it to Gai. If I did not suggest it, Gai wouldn't have agreed to it and fallen sick!"

"Huh? Does it matter whose fault it is?" I asked, confused.

"YES IT DOES!" Lee screamed, punching the air before announcing "After training I shall look after Gai-sensei. If he does not get better by tomorrow, I will force feed him medicine until he does!"

"That will just make him more sick," Neji said.

"That's enough now," a new voice called out, the source stepping out of the bushes. It was that silver haired Jounin with the funny book, Gai's "rival". "Yo!" he waved at us. I think he was smiling, but I couldn't really tell. "I'm going to be your teacher for today. Sorry I'm late, I was training some turtles to be ninjas."

Silence filled the clearing. He's a horrible liar...

"Oh, I almost forgot. Gai told me to give you this," he held out a piece of paper which Lee grabbed. It said:

My dear beloved ever-youthful students,

Since I am unwell, I have asked my eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi to fill in for me. Do not worry about me as my everlasting flame of youth will continue burning and I will get well soon.

Your loving mentor,

Maito Gai :)


"Would you please introduce yourselves, just your name will do."

"My name is Rock Lee! My goal is to be as good a ninja as Gai-sensei!" Kakashi-sensei's lone eye looked at Lee as though studying him.

"I see..." He turned to Neji, "You're a Hyuga, aren't you?"

"Hyuga Neji."

"I'm Tenten."

"Right. You start training now, just try not to bother me too much. I'm going to catch up on some reading," he whipped out his orange book and started reading, giggling every now and then as we watched. Was this how all Jounins behaved? I hope not.

Lee walked up to our replacement sensei and tapped his shoulder. Kakashi-sensei looked up.

"Are you really Gai-sensei's eternal rival?"

"I guess so. It's a one-sided thing really," he explained briefly before looking back at his book. Lee wasn't done yet.

"But for Gai-sensei to acknowledge you as his rival, it means that you are as strong as Gai-sensei! Please teach me how to become a wonderful ninja!" Gai's mini-me knelt down in front of Kakashi-sensei and begged. "Please, please, please..."

Kakashi-sensei sighed and kept his book, gesturing for Neji and I to go to him.

"Very well. I want all of you to show me your abilities. If I deem you worthy, I shall teach you all a secret technique." Lee gasped, even Neji looked intrigued. "The objective is for one of you, any one of you, to score a hit on me." Kakashi explained. "Start!" The Kakashi-sensei in front of us disappeared in a puff of smoke.


Neji activated his Byakugan and scanned the area, "He's not within hearing range so here's the plan. We'll fight him, three against one."

"YES! WE SHALL FIGHT HIM TOGETHER!" Lee shouted for the rest of the world to hear. Neji and I glared at him which made him shut up. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"New plan, Lee shall fight him first-"

"Why do I have to go first?" Lee whined.

"You're the one who spoilt the original plan." I snapped.

"Anyway," Neji continued, "based on your fight, I'll construct a plan. After you lose, Tenten and I will take over."

"Who says I'll lose?" Lee said indignantly.

"Me. Now go, he's 80 metres south of our current location." Lee saluted and ran off to find the target.

"Now what do we do?" I asked, preparing my scrolls.

"We'll hide in the trees and observe. On my signal, we'll..." Neji proceeded to explain the basic plan. I smirked. This was going to be interesting...


Lee's POV:

Where is he? He should be around here somewhere. I continued my search, following the coordinates Neji gave me. It's not fair that he has a cool bloodline limit, but that doesn't matter! The flame of youth and training will help me to become a wonderful ninja! Gai-sensei, I will not let you down!!!

As I was running, I saw a squirrel that was being attacked by a larger one. I scared the big bully off and picked up the smaller squirrel.

"There, he's gone now. By the way, have you seen a tall silver-haired man?" The little guy started chittering and jumped out of my hand. He bit onto my suit leg and started running, pulling me along.

"Very well friend squirrel, I shall follow your wisdom!"


Normal POV/Tenten's POV:

"What is he doing now?" I asked. Neji and I were following Lee discreetly. Near enough so that Lee was within Byakugan's range, but far enough so that when Kakashi-sensei found him we wouldn't be found as well.

"He's following a squirrel..." Neji said, raising an eyebrow. I always knew Lee was weird, just not that weird...


Lee's POV:

As I was following my new friend, I was thinking of as many ways to beat Kakashi-sensei so that I could prove Neji wrong and make Gai-sensei proud. Since I can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, I can only use taijutsu and weapons. Taijutsu is my strongest point, weapons being Tenten's. After thinking for a while, a bright idea hit me. Gai-sensei, If only you could see me now!

Suddenly, the squirrel stopped and let go of me. After pointing at a tree it squeaked and left. Good-bye friend squirrel, see you again next time! I approached the tree and kicked it as hard as I could. Kakashi-sensei fell out of it and landed in front of me, holding his book.

"So, you found me."

"No I didn't. My squirrel pal told me where you were."

"..." Kakashi-sensei sighed. "Why me?"


Normal POV/Tenten's POV:

"Found him," Neji stopped running, careful not to make any other noises. I nodded and halted. Both of us hid out presence and stayed up in the trees to watch and wait.

Lee got into what I figured was a battle pose and waited for Kakashi-sensei to put down his book.

"Why aren't you attacking?" he asked, not taking his eyes off his book.

"You're reading, it would be rude to attack someone who is distracted," Lee replied.

"Just attack, I'll fight and read and the same time." Lee gasped. "Before we start, do you mind helping me get that shuriken over there?" He pointed to a shuriken that was lying under a tree. Lee obliged. The second he stepped near it, a rope caught him by his ankle and he was suspended, upside-down.

"Gai-sensei! I have failed you!"

I had expected him to lose, but to lose without even fighting...

"The two of you up there, aren't you going to come down?" Neji nodded and both of us jumped down from our hiding place. "Well, start. I hope you two aren't as gullible as your teammate over there."

Neji rushed forward and engaged him in hand-to hand combat. Kakashi-sensei was still reading his book. I gritted my teeth in anger, we were being underestimated. Neji did his Kaiten and Kakashi sensei was knocked backwards, but he soon regained his balance.

"It looks like you're better than I thought," he kept his orange book and got into a stance. My turn. Summoning all my weapons, I threw them at Kakashi sensei. All of them hit.

"What?" A Jounin couldn't dodge that? Kakashi-sensei poofed and turned into a log.

"Kawarimi," Neji muttered as he ran towards me. We stood back to back and covered each other.

"Where is he?"

"He's-"

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu"

Neji was cut off when a hand appeared out of the ground and grasped Neji's leg, pulling him downwards. Before I could react, Neji's body was stuck underground, only his head was visible. Kakashi-sensei appeared about half a metre away from Neji.

Great, now I had to face him alone. There was no way I could beat him without Neji. I reached into my holster and pulled out a shuriken, throwing it at the rope suspending Lee. He screamed on his way down and landed with a thud. I threw a second shuriken to cut the rope around his ankle.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have believed him," Lee moaned. Glad you know.

"Never mind. You distract him while I free Neji." Lee tried to fight him, but he was defeated almost instantly.

"Do you give up?" he asked Neji, who was still stuck.

"Yes," he admitted.


"Do you know why you lost?" We shook our heads, waiting for him to continue. "It was because you didn't use teamwork."

"We did," Neji said bluntly.

"You and the girl maybe, but you almost completely ignored your other teammate. First, you send him to face me alone. Next, when he was trapped, none of you did anything to help. Only at the last minute when you were caught, Tenten freed him because she couldn't face me alone." Neji frowned at his words.

"But we don't even know much about Lee's techniques. How can we cooperate?" I said, trying to defend Neji.

"It's my fault, I should have been stronger," Lee sighed dejectedly.

"It's not only your fault," Kakashi-sensei said. "100 laps. After which you will spar so that you will be more familiar with each other's techniques."


After completing our task, we began sparring. Kakashi-sensei was absorbed in his book.

"Who fights who?" I asked.

"Since Tenten and I train and spar frequently-"

"Neji-kun, do you mind fighting me?" Lee asked, getting into a battle stance. Neji agreed and the fight began.

It wasn't long before Lee got his butt kicked.

"You are very strong, Neji-kun." Lee panted as he lay on the ground."You truly are worthy of being my eternal rival." Neji merely shrugged.

"Since Lee is in no condition to fight, Neji wins." Kakashi-sensei announced, "Lee, you use a lot of basic taijutsu. You should work on increasing your speed and strength. Tenten, judging from your fight earlier, you have to work on your summoning speed. Hyuga..." Kakashi-sensei looked thoughtful, "I don't know anything about Hyuga techniques, but you should learn more of them. All of you have to learn how to cooperate with each other." He snapped his book shut. "That's it for today." He was about to leave when Nej spoke up.

"I hit you earlier."

"You did?"

"With my Kaiten." Kakashi was silent for a minute.

"Very well. Come here. This is a secret technique known only to elite ninja." All of us stared expectantly at him, waiting to see this awesome jutsu. Was it ninjutsu or genjutsu? Anyhow, it should be good.

"Watch closely, the three of you," he instructed, forming hand seals. The first was unfamiliar to me then Goat, Ox and the last seal. "Ready?" The three of us gulped.

"The bridge!" he announced, in his hands was a piece of string forming the shape of a bridge.

Thump! All three of us fainted. Yes, even Neji.


The following day's training...

"ATCHOOO!!!" The combined sneeze was loud enough to cause an earthquake.

"It seems that all of you have caught my cold," Gai pointed out.

"It's your fault! If you hadn't been so insistent on going to Gai'-sensei's apartment, we wouldn't have fallen sick!" I screamed at Lee. As loud as one can scream with a sore throat.

"No, it's your fault Gai-sensei fell sick in the first place," Lee retorted, coughing slightly.

"It's all your faults except mine," Neji said before blowing his nose.

"NO!" Gai shouted, "It's Neji's fault! It was because we were celebrating his birthday that I fell sick."

"I never wanted to celebrate my birthday to begin with," Neji said.

"So it's Gai's fault for making us celebrate it in the first place," I announced as Neji nodded in agreement.

"It's all our faults," Lee sighed dejectedly.

"Except mine," Neji added. I groaned in exasperation. Suddenly my nose started twitching and from the looks of it, Neji and Lee's were too.

"Ah…"

"AH…"

"AH…"

"ATCHOOOO!!!"


Author's Note:

The promised chapter. lolx. I got the ending from this comic I saw and I know that what Kakashi did was similar to what he did to Team 7, but he couldn't use chidori on them could he? By the way, I posted a oneshot yesterday. You can check it out later.

Edited: Added an alternative ending. Got the idea coz my bro was/is sick and he passed it on to me. It sucks to be ill...

After this I still have to finish my tution homework. Harry Potter is out today. After I'm finished with my evil homework I shall steal it from my sister. Mwhahaha. : p

Beta read my Midnight Memories.