Author's note: As always, thanks go to my illustrious beta Dark Machine for making sure this was the best chapter it could be. And for those of you who have been waiting for the Naruto/Lee fight, have fun and make sure to review.
"Yosh! It is finally my turn to fight!" Lee cheered. In a blur of movement, Lee was in the middle of the room. Naruto jumped down right after him. "Naruto-kun, this will be a most youthful fight. Hold nothing back!"
"Same to you, Lee," Naruto agreed. "But it's kind of funny, isn't it? We were both dead last at the academy, and now our fight's going to be the best one today."
"Yosh! A most youthful declaration, Naruto-kun. I accept your challenge. Our fight will surpass all the others!"
Hayate declared them ready to start, and Naruto was immediately on the defensive, caught under a barrage of powerful kicks.
"Oh man, there's no way Naruto's going to be able to beat Lee," Sakura worried.
Ino brushed off the statement. "Naruto-kun's a lot stronger than you give him credit for, Forehead. He'll beat this guy."
Sakura turned to her once best friend with wide eyes. "You don't understand, Ino-pig, Lee's stronger than Sasuke-kun. And even if Naruto was a lot stronger in the Forest, Sasuke-kun lasted a lot longer against Orochimaru than Naruto did."
"Geez Forehead, you really think any genin stands a chance against a Sannin? Orochimaru was probably just messing with Sasuke, and didn't want to bother fighting Naruto-kun because he knew it would be a lot harder."
Sakura shook her head. "You weren't there, so you didn't see how much better Sasuke-kun did. Naruto's a lot stronger than I thought, but unless there's something he's never told me, he's going to lose." Not wanting to argue anymore, knowing she was right and there was no way to get that across to Ino, Sakura turned back to her teammate's fight.
Naruto took a nasty kick to the ribs, but struck a nerve cluster behind Lee's knee in return. Lee hopped away, favoring his other leg. "Very good, Naruto-kun. You took my hit to deliver one of your own. You are certainly a youthful opponent!"
Lee struck another nerve that released what Naruto had done to him (rather painfully too, if Naruto recalled his anatomy lessons correctly), and started raining down blows again.
After a few seconds, Naruto caught a break and took enough time to form his favorite hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Lee was suddenly surrounded by ten blondes, but to his credit, his smile never left his face. The only other person Naruto knew who smiled through a whole fight was Anko, but it wasn't the same kind of smile, so Naruto felt fairly safe.
Naruto did noticeably better with the aid of his clones, but they were still dispersed quickly by Lee. He replaced them immediately, but it was soon obvious that things weren't going to work as Naruto had planned.
Lee cleared out the last clone and drove towards Naruto, who just barely dodged the first punch. Lee followed it up with low sweeping kick that tripped Naruto before he could recover.
Naruto threw his body weight back and brought his legs up in an attempt to catch Lee, but the spandex clad boy was too fast. But the wild kicks took Lee's attention away a second too long and Naruto grabbed Lee's leg to lock it up, hopefully to either break it or get Lee to submit.
Naruto made progress and got Lee to fall down, but the taijutsu specialist quickly turned the maneuver against him and brought a heavy leg down on Naruto's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to give up the hold.
Lee bounded away, giving Naruto time to recover if he could. Thoughts of ending the fight while Naruto was down were far from his mind, he hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
Naruto sucked down air, and was ready to fight again quickly, more quickly than any normal person should be. He brought out another dozen clones, and dived into the fight once more.
Lee dodged the first punch as two clones grabbed his arms, pinning them to his sides. He twisted his body, slinging the clone off his right arm and into an approaching attacker, before dispersing the one holding his other arm with a punch to the face. A high spinning kick ridded him of another two clones. Naruto grabbed Lee in a rear chokehold as his remaining clones all rained down blows on Lee's torso.
Lee exploded in a flurry of movement, sending Naruto smashing into the wall, and destroying the remaining clones before retreating to the other side of the room.
Naruto pulled himself off the wall, grinning as he rubbed the ache out of his ribs. "Sorry Lee, but I'm not going to lose. You're stronger and faster than me, but I know I can last a lot longer than you. The only way you're going to beat me down is if you can hurt me bad enough to make sure I'm not going to get up." Naruto's grin widened. "And I don't go down, and I don't give up. Bring it on."
Lee was surprised Naruto had lasted this long against him. The only other genin who could was Neji, though Lee often spent half the match dodging disabling strikes and trying to keep his tenketsu from being sealed. Once they were, Lee couldn't keep moving long enough to finish the fight youthfully.
"My rival, I must apologize, because Lee is going to win this match," Gai proclaimed. "Your student is strong, but Lee will not fail."
Kakashi rolled a lazy eye over to his long-time training partner. "I wouldn't say that. Naruto has a point. I've never seen him give up a fight. Unless Lee pulls out something I haven't seen, Naruto will win just by attrition."
"Very well, my hip rival," Gai said firmly. He looked at Lee, who was currently destroying another squad of Kage Bunshin. "Lee! Take 'em off!"
"Gai-sensei? Really? But you said–"
"I know what I said. Lose them!"
"Yosh!" Lee gave a firm nod and flipped up on the top of the ram seal statue. Naruto watched patiently, giving Lee the same respect he had been given. Lee had had several chances to finish him off, and decided not to, so Naruto would let him do this, even though Kyuubi was warning against it. Naruto knew it was a bad idea to allow this, but Naruto wanted to test his limits against someone his own age, just like Lee did.
Lee held up his weights, one set in each hand. A few people scoffed, knowing that a little training weight wouldn't do any good. He might get a little faster, but it wouldn't be anything fight winning.
BOOM!
Two enormous craters formed where the weights hit, kicking up dust clouds as tall as the statue Lee was standing on. While everyone, including Naruto, was stunned, Lee disappeared, leaving only an afterimage.
Naruto would have panicked, but he didn't have time. Lee's fist sunk into his gut, and the next thing Naruto knew, he was literally inside the wall, his impact having created a crater, and the pain of having two of his ribs broken. A warm burning in his stomach told him that Kyuubi was working overtime to heal his injuries.
Lee looked at the dust cloud where Naruto resided and sighed. He would have liked Naruto to have lasted longer, but knew that without his weights, Naruto couldn't win. "Proctor," Lee called, "I do not believe Naruto-kun will be getting up. You may also want the medics to come in. I fear I may have hit him a bit too hard on that last strike."
"Juuryoku Fuuin: Kai!" (Gravity Seal: Release)
Everyone's attention snapped to the clearing cloud of smoke, just in time to see a blur emerge and punch an off guard Lee in the face. Lee was knocked back several feet, giving Naruto time to flip through a few handseals. "Dokukiri!"
A miasma of poisonous purple smoke was expelled from Naruto's mouth, who had given up any pretences of a fair and clean battle. That last strike had been centered right over the area where Orochimaru had cut him, and if it weren't for Kyuubi going into overdrive healing his wounds (and baying for blood, but Naruto was ignoring that fairly well), he wouldn't even be standing right now.
Lee escaped the cloud, only to see Naruto finish another three handseals. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!" A huge bout of mist descended on the room, obscuring all sight. Neji and Hinata were able to see through the unnatural mist with their Byakugan, but everyone else was blinded by the jutsu. Sasuke, who had been watching the match with his Sharingan active, cursed. The taijutsu style Lee was using would fit well with his family's style, and he had copied the Kage Bunshin from Naruto, but realized the chakra cost would be too much to be practical. He had long known Naruto had a large chakra supply, but to be able to use it the way he did was simply ridiculous. Maybe the dobe had an emerging bloodline that allowed for extremely quick chakra regeneration. It would explain why he ate so much all the time, though not his lack of manners. Perhaps it would be worth it to check out the possibilities of an emerging bloodline. Naruto had been showing that he was a great deal stronger than Sasuke previously thought, and if he did in fact have a bloodline, Naruto would make a worthy rival to test himself against.
Even if he didn't have a bloodline, the dobe would do as a test of his progress if rumors of his performance in the Forest were correct. Yoroi wasn't a good enough test, and he had been partially disabled by that seal Kakashi had put on him. He wanted to be able to fight someone at full strength, and hopefully he could find that in the finals.
Naruto wasn't quite as fast as Lee, but knew that Lee couldn't use the mist as well as he could. He trade punches in a hit and run style for a while, but while Lee couldn't see Naruto, whenever Naruto moved in to strike, Lee got in at least two or three strikes as well.
Quickly, Naruto's mist lifted. He hadn't been concentrating on maintaining the mist, and with the fast paced motion going on inside it, it didn't last long. When Lee could finally see his opponent again, his perpetual smile grew. "I didn't want to use this until I could see you, as I knew I could not defeat you without it. Kaimon, Kai!"
An explosion of chakra burst from Lee's body, surprising everyone. Kakashi snapped his now attentive gaze to Gai. "Gai, tell me you didn't teach your student that technique!"
Gai looked into both of Kakashi's eyes. "I did. The Hachimon is Lee's greatest technique. He has the potential to wield it better than I."
"Even if he had the potential, the technique is much too dangerous for a genin to know. I've lost respect for you Gai."
Gai's look turned cold. "What would you know about that boy? Nothing. Don't talk about things you don't understand. He has a dream that he desires to accomplish, a dream that he would give his life to accomplish. With that technique, hopefully he won't die to make it happen."
"Um, Kakashi-sensei? What technique are you talking about?" Sakura asked.
"The Hachimon is dangerous technique that uses the body's eight chakra gates. The user opens each one systematically, removing the body's natural limits, making them stronger and faster, eventually stronger than most can dream.
"But there is a serious drawback. Opening the gates damages the body, causing the user pain and serious injury. Few have the potential to reach it, but those that can open the Eighth Gate, will temporarily gain power that surpasses the strength of the strongest Hokage. However, if the Eighth Gate is opened, the user will definitely die."
"Kyuumon, Kai!" A second wave of chakra washed over the people in the room, shocking those present. Many hadn't heard Gai's words, and were wondering how many gates he could open.
"Gai, how many gates did you say Lee could use?"
Gai's face was one of unmistakable pride. "Five gates, my eternal rival."
Lee rushed forward with unknown speed, and kicked Naruto under the chin, sending him flying. He followed quickly, and his bandages started wrapping themselves around Naruto, binding the blonde.
"Now!" Naruto shouted, confusing those that could understand his order.
A second Naruto leapt out from the shadows, on a direct course for Lee. Lee saw the clone, but was already committed to the attack, and couldn't get away in time. "Bunshin Daibakuha!"
The clone was a little over seven feet from Naruto and Lee when it exploded, as Naruto didn't want to test his healing factor against being blown up, but the force was more than enough to break apart Lee's technique and send them flying. Lee crashed harshly into the floor while Naruto's side found the railing of the balcony before falling to the ground.
Both were moving enough for Hayate to keep the match going, but it was a good thirty seconds before they were able to stand up again. "Kirigakure no Jutsu," Naruto murmured as he was steadying himself. The mist cloud wasn't as large or dense as before. The audience could see the shadows in the mist, but couldn't figure anything beyond that.
"I'm ending this now, Lee. Sorry you couldn't win."
"Naruto-kun, you have fought a valiant battle, but I am far from done." Lee's face screwed up in concentration (not that anyone could see it), and seized the familiar feeling of the first gate, pulling the doors open once more. The pain was familiar, and almost welcoming, but so much more than he remembered. Perhaps he shouldn't be doing this again so soon. A little voice in the back of his mind said that he definitely shouldn't be using the Ura Renge. "Kaimon, Kai!"
Everyone watching saw the silhouette that was Naruto quickly move in on Lee, and latch on. Three seconds later, a strangled cry came from Lee, and seconds after that, Lee slumped to the floor, unconscious. The mist lifted to show Naruto swaying over Lee's body. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate announced.
Naruto nodded wearily, the effects of the fight catching up to him all at once. He really shouldn't have gone so fast on that last attack. Not to mention he had used up just about all his chakra. "That's good," Naruto stated firmly, but tiredly. He turned his gaze to Tsunade who looked concerned about how exhausted he seemed. "Baa-chan, you should probably look at Lee. I'll be fine." With that, he fainted.
--
Sasuke scowled as Naruto fainted, in a weird way proud that his teammate had won his match, but that was overridden by a severe resentment for beating Lee where he hadn't been able. Sasuke had been suspecting Naruto's true strength for sometime, but didn't think it would have been anything like this. There was no way someone could get this strong in such a short amount of time.
Sasuke started thinking back over the practice matches he had had with Naruto at their team meetings. Sasuke couldn't remember losing a single match to him, but after seeing Naruto do something like this, Sasuke started noticing certain things about their fights as he went over them in his mind. Times where Naruto would have an opening but didn't exploit it. Times where Naruto seemed to speed up for a second to block a debilitating strike before going back to normal speed. At the time, Sasuke just passed it off as adrenaline and luck. Now he wasn't so sure.
His mind drifted to the mission in Wave. He had already known the tree-climbing exercise, and apparently known the water-walking exercise that Kakashi had shown him as well. It made a bit of sense, now that he thought about it. Naruto had claimed several times that he had gotten training from the Legendary Kunoichi, Tsunade. Originally, Sasuke had thought the blonde was lying to try to impress them, but as time wore on, it became more and more likely. And after seeing just how familiarly his teammate talked to the medic-nin just assured it. Naruto had gotten training from one of the Sannin.
Sasuke could deal with that. Really, he could. Kakashi was said to be one of the strongest fighters of the Leaf, and had mentioned taking Sasuke on as an apprentice back in Wave if he could prove himself worth it. Of course, Sasuke couldn't tell if the one-eyed nin had been serious at the time, but he had been getting personal training at the time, so he took it as such. And if Kakashi was one of the best in Konoha, surely there couldn't be much difference between him and one called the weakest of the Sannin.
But Zabuza had mentioned training Naruto as well. Sasuke remembered just ignoring the comment, but now it seemed fairly important. Perhaps Naruto had more hidden than Sasuke knew.
He almost wished he hadn't been tuning Sakura out when she was babbling at him earlier. He vaguely recalled her mentioning something about Naruto being able to summon, but didn't think it was important. He had already seen his blonde teammate summon things from scrolls. She was probably just saying something about him being able to create the basic seal array. Naruto had mentioned it on their mission when Sasuke had finally asked, but Sasuke wasn't terribly impressed. Sealing skills wouldn't help him defeat him.
--
Sakura stared in awe as her teammate collapsed from exhaustion. Even in the forest when she saw Naruto summon all those foxes she hadn't thought he was this strong. The summoning, if she discounted all the signs pointing to impossibility of a genin pulling off a summoning, could be attributed to Naruto's gigantic chakra supply. She had half expected Naruto to try that again here, but he had seemed content to test his taijutsu against Lee, only to get beaten back every time he advanced. But he had still lasted longer and put up a better showing than Sasuke-kun had before the match was even half over.
Sakura had known it was over for Naruto when she saw Lee take off his ridiculous weights. Weights were a common training tool for taijutsu specialists, and when removed enhanced speed, but she had never known of someone who took it to the extreme that the green spandex wearing genin did. She had seen Lee send Naruto into the wall, quite literally into the wall, and knew there was no way her teammate would get up after that.
Of course, Naruto did, pissed off, faster, stronger, and doing better than he had before he had been hit. It had gotten to the point where she couldn't see the fight for the speed without channeling chakra to her eyes, and even then it was still mostly a blur.
Not to mention he was using ninjutsu she had never seen him use before. With as much as he bragged and shouted about he was going to be Hokage, she expected she would have known all of his skills by now. That had been disproved in the forest when he proved capable of summoning, and now he had displayed several techniques Sakura hadn't known existed before he had used them in the fight. Not to mention being able to fight so well in the mist he had conjured up. He couldn't have been able to see in there, which was the point, but she never knew Naruto was that good. He had always been the dobe, the class clown, the misfit, but now that belief had been shattered.
Sakura took note of the victorious smirk Ino sent in her direction and realized something she had always really known, deep down.
She was the weakest on the team.
Sakura felt her eyes start to prick with the beginning of tears, and looked around the room. Lee had apparently been the dead last of his graduating class, and his fight with Naruto was going to be permanently etched in her memory as one of the most ferocious battles she had seen, she knew that now. If they could come that far, what did that say for her?
Sakura blinked away unshed tears and resolved to herself to become stronger so no one would ever have to protect her again, reinforcing her vow to herself from the forest.
--
Kakashi was genuinely surprised when Naruto won the fight. He knew Naruto had hidden most of his ability, and knew of Naruto's near legendary stamina, but didn't quite think he had what it took to beat Gai's genin. Not that Naruto wasn't a good ninja, but after seeing the weights drop, Kakashi expected it was over. But his student got up and kept going, doing better than before.
Once Lee had opened the First Gate, Kakashi was certain Naruto wouldn't be able to keep going. He also needed to berate Gai again for teaching his student such a dangerous technique, but that could wait. But Naruto had had a plan in effect anyway. He hadn't caught when Naruto had made the exploding clone, but he expected it was when he had still had the cover of mist. Zabuza had taught him that one, most likely, and Kakashi was pleasantly surprised how well Naruto had utilized it. For as loud as Naruto was, he was quite good at hiding his presence.
Kakashi hadn't expected Naruto to win. But he couldn't say he was upset, either. He'd have to visit the boy in his hospital room after the preliminaries were over. Naruto had lived up to his title of the Number One Most Surprising Ninja once more.
--
Shino smirked lightly behind his coat. Not much, and out of his friends, only Naruto would have caught it. Of course, Naruto would have called attention to it, just because of all the emotions Shino ever showed, a smirk was fairly uncommon. But right now, he had good reason to smirk.
Shino had been watching Naruto's teammates as they contemplated Naruto's win. It was obvious what they were thinking about, at least with Sakura and Sasuke. Shino couldn't read Kakashi, but his allies were reading fluctuations in the man's chakra that meant he was contemplative. Shino didn't much like the masked nin, and so turned his attention to the other two members of the Rookie Nine. Sakura had always been expressive with her emotions, but whenever she was dealing with something she didn't know how to deal with or something she had never seen before, it was always worse than normal. Sasuke was harder to read, but was far from the emotionless log some people thought he was. And coming from the clan that was most experienced with suppressing their emotions, he was more than easy to read.
The emotions that flicked across the faces of Naruto's teammates were almost comical to Shino. They obviously hadn't been observant enough to notice that Naruto's skills were far beyond what they had thought. Shino felt it was a bit ridiculous that people who were supposed to be close and hold no secrets were so uninformed about their teammate. He knew part of it was Naruto's unwillingness to divulge information about himself, but if they would bother to put aside their emotions for even a second, think logically, and actually pay attention to their teammate, they could tell more about Naruto than they ever imagined possible. Naruto could be difficult to read, but honestly, they didn't even try.
Shino watched as Naruto and Lee were taken out by the medics. He would have to make his way to the medical wing after his team was finished their matches.
--
Naruto blinked his eyes awake and immediately shut them again. He couldn't understand why hospitals insisted on painting everything a blinding white. It was utterly impossible to wake up pleasantly. It merely reinforced his opinion that hospitals were merely an extension of hell, no matter what Kyuubi said about the actual place.
There was a pleased gasp off to the side as Naruto tried to get up, as well as a forceful hand pushing him back onto the bed. "Good, you're awake. I was afraid you'd be out longer than this, but I guess not."
Naruto saw Shizune standing over him looking at a chart, most likely his. "What were you thinking pushing yourself like that? You know Tsunade-sama told you to take it easy."
"She just said not to do any training until the end of the second test. She didn't say I couldn't go back to normal after that."
Shizune clenched the clipboard in her grasp tightly. "Baka! You were severely poisoned and nearly disemboweled less than a week ago. What makes you think you can fight like you did so soon? You could have killed yourself with that exploding clone! Not to mention all those other times you should have just stayed down. It would have been so much better for you if you had."
"I wanted to see what I could really do," Naruto reasoned weakly, seeing the look on Shizune's face. In the back of his mind, Kyuubi chuckled at his predicament.
SMACK!
Naruto winced as Ino smacked him on the back of the head. "You could have really hurt yourself with what you pulled out there today! How do you think that would have made us feel?"
Naruto looked at the females surrounding him and immediately felt bad about what he had done. He looked to the males around him for support and found none. He had just been having fun. Sure, it may not have ended up that well, but at the time, Naruto had been enjoying himself like he hadn't in a long time.
Luckily, or unluckily, Tsunade came over, saving him from further browbeating. "What did you do to finish your fight?" she asked seriously, the tone of a professional who was doing her job.
"Uhh, why? Lee shouldn't be out for too long. I didn't do anything too bad to him."
"What did you do, Naruto?" Tsunade asked, her eyes flashing, telling Naruto it was in his interest to spill the beans immediately.
Naruto glanced around the room, making sure no one outside those who knew his secrets were there. His fingers moved through the seals for the privacy jutsu Ibiki had taught him, making sure they wouldn't be discovered. He sighed. "You know how you can refill someone else's reserves by flowing your chakra into their coils?"
Everyone nodded, having either seen or experienced it at least once.
"And you know how youki is damaging to humans if it gets in their system?"
Everyone nodded again, a few looking like they were figuring out what he had done.
"Well, you know that the Shiki Fuujin is designed to filter Kyuubi's chakra into mine? Well, after the ritual that we performed that merged us, that sort of changed. It still does that, but my chakra is now almost equal parts human chakra and youki. I can still reach in and get the pure youki of Kyuubi if I need to, because I haven't absorbed anywhere near all of it."
"Wait a second, I thought you had three tails," Chouji asked, puzzled.
Naruto nodded. "I do, but that doesn't mean I have absorbed three tails of Kyuubi's chakra. For foxes, the number of tails you have corresponds to power and amount of chakra. However, I'm not a youkai, just a hanyou. Because of this, my chakra isn't as potent or as powerful as a full demon's is. A hanyou's chakra is actually only about a third as potent. And since I'm a hanyou, that's what my tails refer to. I have three tails, but I'm technically only as powerful as a one-tailed demon."
Once everyone indicated they understood, Naruto continued. "Youki can be deadly when in someone's chakra coils. However, since my chakra isn't as potent as youki, I can flow it into someone else's coils and all that will happen to them is that they'll be knocked out for a couple of days, tops. Sooner if you treat him for chakra poisoning. So you shouldn't have to worry about Lee."
Tsunade looked over her shoulder where Lee was laying, unconscious. "Well brat, congratulations on making something else go completely weird."
"Huh?" came Naruto's intelligent response.
"Lee has never been able to use chakra. This is because his coils are almost literally tied in knots. Everyone initially thought it was because he simply had no talent that he wasn't able to use chakra. It was only after a Hyuuga looked at his chakra system that Lee's condition was discovered. There are only very few procedures for healing the chakra system, and absolutely none for healing damage on the scale Lee was at. The chakra system is something that requires complete control to manipulate through outside forces, which is why the Hyuuga clan trains so extensively to master their clan's style. They affect the chakra system, and without training, they could never do what they do. They would likely just destroy the chakra coils completely, instead of cutting off the flow temporarily like they do.
"I'm getting off the point," Tsunade continued. "The delicacy and control needed to work on the chakra system is why nothing was ever attempted to heal Lee's coils. No one believed it could be done. Truthfully, nothing should have ever been able to fix him. But when Neji was up here earlier, looking in on his teammate because 'it would be unbecoming of a Hyuuga not to', I noticed something that didn't match Lee's previous records. I had Neji take a look at Lee's system while since he was the closest Hyuuga on hand, and he said that Lee's coils were no longer knotted and unusable, but looked like a normal person's coils now, even if they were a little on the small side, something that could be fixed through basic chakra building exercises."
Naruto was confused, and so was everyone else. "Why'd that happen?" the blonde shinobi asked.
"If Lee's chakra system was normal, things would have gone as you said. He'd be out for a couple days, but fine eventually. Nothing would have changed. Even where it wasn't normal, nothing like this should have happened. However, since Lee had the First Gate open at the time, more chakra than normal was flowing through his coils, stressing them. With your more potent chakra, and your lack of finesse, the intensity of all the chakra stressing his coils simply forced them to work the kinks out, for lack of better terminology. At least, terminology you'll understand."
Naruto scratched his head. "Heh, oops? I didn't mean to mess with his chakra coils."
"You actually ended up doing him a favor. In time, he'll probably be able to use ninjutsu and genjutsu. But if you had done the same thing to someone who didn't have such a damaged coils system, the stress could have possibly destroyed their coils."
"So I can't use it anymore, got it," Naruto nodded resolutely. He wasn't about to start using techniques that could permanently damage someone like that, at least not in spars and whatnot. If an enemy deserved it, maybe. Of course, not many people used the strategy Lee did, so it probably wouldn't come up that often anyway.
Tsunade shook her head. "No, your tactic should still work. The extra force came from the fact that Lee had the First Gate open. If he hadn't, this probably never would have happened."
"Oh." Naruto really had no clue what to say to that.
"Oh Kami," Tenten cursed, speaking up for the first time. Everyone looked at her questioningly. "I just realized what Gai-sensei's going to be like now that more things to teach Lee than just taijutsu. They'll never stop training to sleep!"
Everyone who knew Gai and his student blinked before the image took hold and they burst out laughing. Team Ten had never met the green-clad jounin outside of the prelims, so they were confused as everyone slowly regained control over themselves. "Hey, what about the rest of the matches? Shouldn't you guys be down there?"
"Those troublesome fights are over. You were out for a couple hours, baka," Shikamaru explained lazily. "The rest were a little boring though."
"Not Hinata's!" Chouji interrupted.
Shikamaru waved his hand. "Most troublesome fight of all…" he muttered.
"What were the fights? Who won?" Naruto pressed.
"I lost to Forehead Girl, of all people!" Ino exclaimed bitterly, startling Naruto. "I can't believe it."
"You didn't lose, it was a tie." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He had heard this line of complaints three times already.
"It doesn't matter if it was a tie, I didn't win, did I?" None of the males present said anything. They weren't about to risk the wrath of an angry kunoichi. The only person to do that and come out relatively unscathed was Naruto, and that was only because of his healing factor, and it really wasn't something he was eager to repeat.
"I lost too," Tenten announced. "That other guy from Suna, the one with the face paint. I thought I had him pinned down, but it was a puppet he had look like him. He was behind me with a kunai before I knew it."
"I tied with that Zaku guy from Oto," Chouji said happily. He knew he wasn't the strongest in the world, and after seeing how strong he had been in the Forest; a draw was pretty good in his mind. "We ended up sending each other into the wall at the same time when he used that air attack and I hit him with Bubun Baika no Jutsu."
"Kiba was rather foolish during his match," Shino stated. "He allowed his overconfidence to get the better of him. His fight with the Suna kunoichi Temari could have been won if he had thought logically and not tried to pull a stupid stunt like he did."
"What'd he do?" Naruto asked.
Shino gave the Aburame equivalent of a deep sigh. "Kiba believed that since he was fighting he was a female, he should let her have the first blow, to keep it fair, since she was obviously weaker."
"Dumbass," Naruto mumbled as Shizune smacked him on the head for his language.
"She used her fan to create a chakra imbued gust of wind, and blew him into the wall. He just woke up twenty minutes ago."
Naruto just shook his head as the girls fumed at the reminder of Kiba's attitude.
"What about Hinata? You said she had an interesting fight."
A cold silence descended on the group, and Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine. He was just glad the feeling didn't seem directed at him.
"She fought her cousin, Neji," Ino started. "Before they even started fighting, he gave this big long speech about fate and the Hyuuga clan, and Hinata looked ready to quit right there and then, but Chouji started cheering her on, and said that she shouldn't give up, or something like that. She got all steely resolve and whatnot, and suddenly, she and Neji are trading these super-fast hits. She got a few good hits in on him, but Neji was really dominating the match. She ended up getting hit in the chest, and Asuma-sensei explained how the Hyuuga style involves using chakra to hit organs and the chakra points. Apparently Neji had hit her with chakra right over her heart, and she was coughing up blood, but she got up anyway. Forehead and I started cheering her on, kunoichi pride, you know, and they started fighting again, but Neji hit Hinata again, right in the same spot. Neji started this big long monologue about how it was his destiny to win, and how a weakling like Hinata could never have hoped to win against him. Hinata got up again, and told him that she would never give up, would never go back on her word, and that he was the one suffering, not her. Neji finally lost it completely and charged her again, even though she was coughing up blood and could barely stand."
Ino sighed. "Luckily, before he got to her, that sick proctor, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Kurenai-sensei stopped him. Neji made a smart remark about the Hyuuga main house getting special treatment, and I wanted to smack him. But Shino was awesome and got down there to check on Hinata while everyone else was still making sure Neji wasn't going to do anything else. The medics started working on her, and Shino threatened to kill Neji if he met up with him in the finals." Ino glanced at the stoic Aburame. "It was kinda scary. You were a lot more intense than I've ever seen."
Shino nodded his assent briefly. "Perhaps I overreacted slightly; however, Hinata-san is my teammate and friend. Neji was attempting to kill her, even after he had beaten her. It was my place to defend her."
Naruto quirked his head. "I didn't know you were that close with her."
"I was not. However, Hinata has been training very hard lately, and I joined her after remembering how you once said that it was better to train with a partner than on your own. We have both grown stronger, and are better friends as well."
Naruto nodded. He would have to tease his friend later on, but right now there were more important things to figure out. "How's Hinata now?"
"She received serious damage to her internal organs," Tsunade answered. "Shizune fixed her up to begin with because I was still trying to figure out what the hell you did to Lee, but she'll be fine as long as she takes it easy and sees me for a few more sessions. The kind of damage she received couldn't be properly healed all at once."
Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He had never been close to Hinata, but he knew she had never hated him like most other people did. It would have hurt to hear that one of his friends wasn't going to make it. "That's good. So what's the third test?"
"There will be a tournament in one month. We will fight before a panel of judges to show our skills. You don't need to win to become a chuunin, but the longer you last, the more you can prove yourself," Shino explained. "I will be facing the puppeteer from Suna in my first match."
"And I have to deal with the troublesome girl from Suna," Shikamaru mumbled.
"Who am I fighting?" Naruto asked, eager to hear his opponents.
"Neji," Tenten confirmed. "He's going to be really hard to beat, and if you do win, you're going to have to fight either Sasuke or that psycho Gaara. I heard some things about him. He's called the 'Bloody Desert' because he's been crushing people with sand since he was six."
"Gaara's not that bad," Naruto countered. "He's just had a seriously bad life. He's a jinchuuriki, like me, but he was never accepted by anyone. He was shunned by the entire village," he said quietly. "I could have ended up like that if not for you guys."
Naruto brightened. "And if Sasuke does manage to beat him somehow, I'll just kick teme's ass all over Konoha."
"Maybe you could blow Neji up with a clone like you did with Lee?" Chouji added thoughtfully, if slightly belatedly.
Naruto shook his head. "I might be able to, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to. It uses too much chakra." Everyone rocked back. If Naruto said it used too much chakra, that was a serious technique. "I don't have it mastered, really. A normal Bunshin Daibakuha takes about ten times the chakra of a normal Kage Bunshin. Unfortunately, since I haven't completely figured it out yet, I'm stuck wasting a whole lot of chakra in it and over packing it with chakra. Until I figure something out, my version uses about ten times the chakra of a normal Bunshin Daibakuha. So it's like making a hundred Kage Bunshin, and I can't really do that over and over, or make a whole bunch at once, even with my chakra supply."
Nobody said anything for a brief moment. Everyone there had seen Naruto train, and they knew just how long he could go and how much chakra he had. To say he wasn't able to do something because it took too much chakra was something they didn't even want to try and process. Tsunade and Shizune both knew how chakra exhaustive Kage Bunshin was, and that meant it was a truly scary amount of chakra Naruto used on a daily basis. It was more than enough to kill any normal chuunin, and most jounin. Only jounin-level ninjutsu specialists could even think about the chakra reserves Naruto did, and he was still only a genin. It was astonishing.
"My youthful student!" Everyone jumped and was immediately on guard as Gai burst into the infirmary, over the top and shouting. "You fought with the fires of youth on your side! It was only misfortune that you opposed someone even more youthful than yourself!"
"GAI!" Tsunade shouted. "Shut the fuck up! This is a hospital, not a training ground. Keep quiet or I'll toss you out on your ass, got it?"
Gai nodded fearfully, quailing under Tsunade furious gaze. "Besides, Lee's not even awake yet. You can keep the ranting to yourself until he regains consciousness."
There were a few more minutes of idle discussion, but Tsunade quickly drifted off with Shizune, saying there were other patients she needed to check on. Asuma came in shortly after, looking for his team and saying that they would be leaving soon. Team Ten took him up on his offer to guide them back through the forest, knowing they could get back through themselves, but not wishing to do so. Shino decided he would go check on Hinata, leaving Tenten and Naruto alone.
"Um, Naruto-kun?" Tenten started tentatively.
"Yeah Ten-chan?"
"Neji asked me to help him train. He wants my help to finish a move he's been working on."
Naruto felt a strange pang when he thought about Tenten spending a month with Neji, but wasn't completely sure why. He quickly repressed the feeling.
"So? He's on your team. Even if I don't like the guy, you should help him just for that."
"But if I help him, he'll have another move he can use against you. And from what he said, it was supposed to be something big."
Naruto shrugged as best as he could from where he was on the hospital bed. "If he does figure it out, it'll just be that much better when I beat him. I've got a month to train, and frankly, I'll be fine. He's going to try and figure it out anyway, and if he's the genius that people say he is, he'll probably end up figuring it out anyway. If you help him, you can make sure he doesn't hurt himself when he's training, and that he gets it right."
A look of confusion passed over Tenten's visage. "Huh?"
Naruto sighed. "I don't like the guy, but he is a shinobi of the leaf. And he is pretty damn good, from what I hear. He just needs to get his head on straight. If you help him, Konoha will have a stronger ninja for it, and you might be able to get through to him. Besides, I'm going to kick his ass anyway. It wasn't right, what he did to Hinata, so I'm going to have to beat him into the ground until he makes it right again. But there's no way I could ever let him advance to fight Shino. Shino would just kill him, especially after somehow going through Gaara and me. Cause I'm still not convinced that there's any way Sasuke is going to be able to beat Gaara."
"Maybe you're right," Tenten agreed after a minute of internal debate. "Besides, if nothing else you can just outlast him. Neji can fight for a pretty long time, but nothing quite like you."
"Good to see you came around to my line of thinking. Since he is your teammate, you should help him in training anyway. And if I'm going to fight him, I want him at his best, not half strength."
Tenten nodded, her resolve restored. She would help Neji finish his move, and watch as Naruto beat the shit out of him. Maybe it would even kick him off the fate track.
Not likely, but maybe.
--
Sakura stood with Kakashi as they waited for Sasuke to finish up what he was doing and join them so Kakashi could escort them out of the Forest. She was teetering back and forth on her heels, looking nervous and apprehensive. "Um, Kakashi-sensei?"
The jounin turned a lazy eye to his female student. "Yes, Sakura?"
"I know I haven't been the most dedicated ninja in the world, but I want to change that," Sakura started, sounding slightly rushed, like she wanted to get it out before she chickened out. "I know I didn't make the finals, but I want you to start training me seriously," she continued, bringing her chin up, "even if I complain. I don't want to be the one holding the team back anymore."
Kakashi didn't say anything for a moment, regarding her with his one eye carefully. "Well, I'm glad you finally owned up to your deficiencies, Sakura," he said eventually. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can do anything about that right now. Sasuke's first match is going to be against Gaara, and you saw his fight. I'm going to need to concentrate on his training if Sasuke's going to beat him. I'm also going to make sure that seal on Sasuke's neck doesn't act up."
Sakura looked down, realizing she was being cast aside. "However," Kakashi continued, "I can give you a few scrolls with more advanced techniques to practice while I'm not around. It will be up to you to make sure you train. And I suppose I can see if anyone would be willing to take you on as a temporary student until after the finals."
Sakura nodded, happy she wouldn't have to be the one dragging her team down anymore. "Wait a second," she said, slight confusion creeping into her voice. "What about Naruto? You said you had to concentrate on Sasuke-kun, but Naruto got into the finals too. Aren't you going to train him too?"
Kakashi pulled out his book, something that Sakura mostly ignored nowadays, after seeing the damn thing so often, no matter how much it pissed her off. "I'm the only one in Konoha who can teach Sasuke how to use his Sharingan, so I'm going to have to really focus on him. Naruto will be fine. After all, he's got several other people willing to train him that he lives with. I wouldn't worry about him."
Sakura nodded, content in the knowledge that her instructor knew best.
--
Naruto had been taking a nap when Gai's exclamation woke up him up violently, knocking his pillow to the floor, tangling him in the sheet, and almost making him fall out of the bed.
"My most youthful student! You have awakened!"
"Gai-sensei!" For someone who had just woken up, he was entirely too energetic, Naruto concluded bitterly. "I am sorry I failed in winning my match. I will run five hundred laps around Konoha–"
"No Lee," Gai interrupted. "Do not feel bad about your loss. You merely encountered an opponent whose fires of youth burned brighter than yours. You fought the way I taught you, and everyone saw how brightly your youth shone. Be proud!"
Naruto groaned. He felt there was a compliment somewhere in Gai's comments, but knew he didn't want the strange jounin talking about his 'fires of youth', no matter what it meant. "Naruto-kun, you are awake!" Lee shouted. "Congratulations on defeating me this time, but next time I will win no matter what, eternal rival."
Naruto shook his head. He had just woken up. It was much too early for this. "What are you talking about, 'eternal rival'?"
Lee suddenly switched positions so he was standing on his bed, a broad smile on his face. "Naruto-kun, you are now my eternal rival! I swear I will defeat you and prove my strength," he promised, giving Naruto a thumbs-up.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I collapsed just after they announced my win. If you had a teammate in the shadows, I'd have been done for."
Lee shook his head. "No, I want to be able to defeat you honorably, and on my own. Then I will be satisfied."
Naruto snickered. "Sorry to burst your bubble Lee, but I can't lose to you. I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever, and that means I have to be able to beat anyone in the village. But I'll train with you, if you want."
Lee beamed. "Very well, Naruto-kun. If we train together, we will become stronger, and no one will able to beat us!"
"That's the plan. Maybe after the finals, though. I've got some serious training to do if I'm going to become a chuunin."
Lee nodded sharply. "Who is your first match against?"
"Your teammate, Neji."
"My former rival, I see. I wish you the best of luck against Neji. I have yet to defeat him, but perhaps you can show him a genius of hard work can surpass all other geniuses."
"Hey, you can probably beat him a lot easier now that you can use chakra," Naruto suggested.
A sad look passed over Lee's face. "What are you talking about, eternal rival? I know I can not use chakra, but there is no reason to use such unyouthful tactics."
Gai put an understanding hand on his student's shoulder. "Naruto-kun speaks the truth, Lee. Due to the technique Naruto-kun used to end your match, he fixed your chakra coils. If Tsunade-sama's predictions are correct, you can now use ninjutsu and genjutsu without fail."
"Yosh, Gai-sensei!"
"What are you talking about, Gai, if my predictions are right? I know they are, I looked over the results extensively, and even had a Hyuuga look at the boy's coils. If I'm wrong, I'm not one of the Legendary Sannin."
"But I thought there was no technique to fix my problem?"
Tsunade snorted. "Tell that to the brat over there. He does impossible shit all the time. Besides, Naruto did something no doctor would ever do. Most doctors treat injuries to the chakra system with a feather light touch. Naruto came in and used a hammer, if you get what I'm saying."
Lee looked up, fierce determination on his face. "Yosh! Thank you, Naruto-kun, for you have done something that I have hoped for a long time. You can't understand how much this means to me." Tears were now running down Lee's face in waterfalls, a sight that was slightly disturbing, but Naruto thought it was nice being appreciated.
Lee suddenly turned worried. "Gai-sensei! What about my dream to become a great ninja even without ninjutsu or genjutsu?"
Naruto shrugged. "So what? You're great with taijutsu. Just use that, prove you're strong that way, and if you ever do come across someone you can't beat with just taijutsu, you can have ninjutsu and genjutsu to fall back on, at least so you don't die, you know?"
Lee brightened again. Naruto swore the boy was most bipolar person he had ever met. "Yosh, that is what I will do! I will still become a great ninja through my taijutsu, but now I can have my other skills match!"
"Great, now quiet down, you're disturbing the other patients."
The three males immediately closed their mouths, frightened for what they dangerous kunoichi would do if they went against her.
Tsunade gave them all the evil eye, and turned around to leave. Once she was out of sight, they gave a sigh of relief. Gai turned to his student. "Lee, once you get out of here, we will have to start your training to truly make you the second Green Beast. You can now be the inheritor of the Turtle contract and learn everything I have to teach."
Lee looked up at his teacher with tear-filled eyes, and Naruto looked away just in time to avoid seeing the unbreakable genjutsu. Ten minutes later, Tsunade came back in and knocked the two apart. She forced Lee to go to sleep with a medical jutsu, and Gai stopped by Naruto's bed before leaving.
"Naruto-kun, I have some advice for you." Naruto perked up at that. He was willing to listen to just about any advice, especially if the person was stronger than him. "My student Neji is a strong ninja, but his fires of youth have long since guttered out. It may not be youthful of me to ask this, but please defeat him, and show him that his line of thinking is not the only way. He will become better for it."
Naruto nodded and Gai started to walk off. Before he was out the door, Naruto called him back. "You seemed pretty sure I'm going to win against Neji. I know I'm going to beat him, but why are you so sure he's going to lose?"
Gai smiled. "His fires of youth are nothing compared to yours, Naruto-kun. He would have lost by that merit alone. However, I am completely assured of your victory because of something else. Lee has never beaten Neji, this is true. However, Neji has never faced Lee at full strength, either. They have always fought with Lee wearing his weights and without using the Hachimon. You defeated Lee even after that. I have no doubt you will prevail."
Naruto beamed, the knowledge that someone else believed in him filling him with pride.
