Update! Barely got this one out, what a hectic day.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This story is for fun, not for profit.
Team Gai was ready for anything.
Gai had explained his status as a ninja to a handful of semi-surprised, semi-important villagers. It had taken a bit of knocking; everybody seemed scared to leave their houses past dusk.
The first villager to give him a chance; a kind elderly woman, informed him that there was a password that was used to indicate the threat had passed.
Before returning to his Genin for the night, Gai met with a few of the more influential villagers, who informed him that they had been invaded nightly by a handful of bears.
"Bears?" Tenten had asked with eyebrow quirked, once Gai had resettled into the little camp.
Neji had admitted that a family of bears hardly warranted the large, red, 'A' that was stamped on top of the mission document, even if this village really had no way of protecting themselves from the beasts.
The villagers had stated that the bears came from across the valley; more or less where the team of ninja had camped for the night—Gai decided that it wasn't worth trying to save the village tonight (a decision that Tenten saw as uncharacteristically rational), because it was probably better to trap the animals, rather than killing them.
Traps took time to set, as Tenten well knew.
It was unnerving, of course, knowing that an enemy lay just around the corner, but they all knew that they could take on a few bears.
A night-watch was scheduled, and Tenten received the first shift.
Nothing significant happened, but the hour-long shift passed fairly quickly. Time truly did fly when one was having fun, and Tenten couldn't get her mind off of her quirky teammate; the one with the eyebrows.
The only thing that truly set Tenten off was the half-man, half bird creature that seemed to fly around the edges of her vision. The weapons mistress reminded herself that it was only genjutsu; nothing to waste kunai over.
She shook Neji awake at the prescribed time, waking him from the light, practiced sleep that ninja employed in order to survive night-time ambushes when out on missions.
The Hyuga thanked Tenten for waking him, and bid her a good night before chakra-climbing a tree to get a better vantage point.
He could definitely see some branches rustling nearby, but so many of them moved simultaneously that he wrote it off as a breeze moving through the trees; nothing to waste chakra over.
Neji mulled over his sensei's latest pearl of wisdom, having nothing better to do.
Before Gai laid down to a decidedly loud sleep, he had reminded his students that underestimating an opponent was deadly… whether man or beast. Bears are capable of killing unprepared ninja, he had declared.
Maito Gai then went off on a tale of how he had single-handedly defeated a thirty-foot bear, armed only with the power of youth.
His students took him seriously… about the underestimation thing, anyway.
Neji knew the risk of looking down on an opponent all too well; he had done so all his life, and boy, had some of those opponents had surprised him.
Neji briefly reviewed some of his previous failures.
He had underestimated Hinata's worth, and limited her with his lack of confidence. He had underestimated Naruto's ability, and was defeated during the Chunin exams.
And he had underestimated Lee. The price Neji knew he would have to pay for looking down on his friend and teammate had not yet been manifested, but the Hyuga knew that Lee's hard work would someday catch up to his genius.
Neji was sure that that day would come soon.
Neji checked the time… seven minutes past the time scheduled for the shift change. Neji cringed; it wasn't like him to get lost in thought. He leapt down to the forest floor, and shook Gai.
He shook him again.
"Gai-sensei." Neji hissed, trying not to wake Tenten.
The older man didn't stir, he only just kept snoring.
Neji drove an elbow into his teacher's ribs, hard enough to force Gai back into the land of the living.
"Dynamic Entry!" Gai shouted, roused out of a dream.
Neji put a finger to his lips, silencing the Jounin. Gai looked around himself for a moment, getting his bearings.
"It's your watch, sensei." Neji informed the teacher, while tucking his hair into his uniform to prevent it's catching the campfire.
"Of course, Neji! Sleep well! You'll need all the youth you can muster tomorrow!"
Neji yawned and laid down, thanking Gai… Wait. All the youth he could muster? Was Gai trying to imply that Neji was unyouthful?
Neji sighed; this kind of thing never got to him before. Lee's absence had affected him more than he would admit to.
The night passed, with each teammate taking two more shifts before sunlight began streaking through the trees.
When morning came, the ninja left.
There were two bridges that connected the cliffs, and therefore connected the small village with the side of the Fire Country across from it.
Of course, the gap could be circumnavigated with a bit more time and effort, as it had in times past, but the bridges were much more convenient.
When team Gai arrived in the village, its population had gathered together at town hall to meet with Gai and his students. They greeted the three ninja warmly, but with wary eyes.
Gai began by asking the basic questions; how many bears? What did the bears do? Was there anything that could have lured them in?
The villagers gave vague but satisfying answers. There were a handful of bears that would come across the bridge at night and ransack the village. Children had been mauled, exclaimed a frantic mother. A few other villagers nodded to confirm this as fact.
They had tried warding the animals off with fire, to no avail.
Gai asked why they hadn't simply blocked off the bridges at night.
Exporting crops to Konoha kept the village alive, and importing things was just as important. To shut off their access to the Village Hidden in the Leaf for twelve hours in a day would cripple them.
Gai nodded, understanding the problem. There were a score of tributary villages like this one scattered across fire country; working to sustain Konoha.
Defence plans came next.
Neji was to be poised strategically, on one of the two bridges that were stretched over the gap. Armed with his Byakugan, he could respond to any threats before they truly manifested.
Gai would guard the other bridge.
Tenten, after having set up several non-lethal traps for the beasts, was to guard the villagers, who would be gathered…
Gai paused.
"Is there anywhere where you all can stay the night, out of harm's way?" he asked.
"Our… houses?" a young lady—Gai recognised her as the waitress from the restaurant—suggested.
"Sorry, but that just won't do. If there's anything unyouthful about these bears—and judging by their persistence, I think there is—They may become better fighters if they know that we're here." Gai gestured to his team.
Neji shrugged: Can't argue with that logic.
"Well, we could always sleep here, in the town hall." The mayor suggested. It would take some effort, and a lot of beds, but the biggest building in the village could fit all of its people.
"That'll never work." Gai said. "There're too many possible entrances."
The taijutsu master paused, deep in thought. He hadn't seen anything that really fit the bill. It had to be sturdy, spacious, and without many doors and windows.
"What about the Vault?" mumbled a young man who was immediately shushed.
A vault? Gai liked the sound of that. "What is this vault? It sounds super-youthful!" He exclaimed.
The villagers claimed that no such thing existed for a time, but Maito Gai was determined to know about it.
The mayor stepped forward with a dramatic sigh.
"The two bridges that connect this village to the path that leads to Konoha were built by the First Hokage." He began. "He built them there to keep this village from fading into nothingness like so many other small villages."
Gai nodded, egging the aged man on.
"The First, you see, had an interest in keeping something above the ground, to protect… the Vault." He let the word 'vault' pass through his lips with a bit of a flair. It seemed, to Neji, that this man had been waiting to tell this story for a long time.
"The vault contains a forbidden jutsu of sorts—except that it's not a jutsu. I really don't understand!" The mayor's speech ended with a whimper, not a bang.
Team Gai's interests were peaked.
"And… and you say that this vault is big enough to house everyone?" Gai asked, and the mayor nodded in affirmation.
"Excellent! Let's begin creating a temporary shelter at once! We'll go forward with the full power of youth!"
The Vault didn't look like much, at first. Behind the town hall, semi-shielded by the much larger building, lay a shack that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. It was ready to fall apart.
The only astounding feature to this shack was its thick door, which looked about as heavy as Tenten.
The mayor swung it open, to reveal a set of wide, cold, stone-chiseled steps that led down to darkness.
The mayor had asked that everybody remain in the town hall while he gave the ninja the tour, and so the four citizens of the Fire Country were going down alone.
The mayor expressed that he had forgotten to bring something to light the first torch, and Gai responded by lighting the tip of the torch with friction—a flaming karate chop.
The old man led the way into the chasm, lighting wall-mounted torches along the way.
Eventually, the foursome were met by another door, this one of solid stone. Engraved were the words 'Only the worthy sha…' but the rest had worn out with time, and were illegible.
The village leader became flustered. "I-I really don't know how to get past this point." He confessed, embarrassed.
Gai didn't mind; he smashed the barrier with a kick. Tenten smiled; her teacher never had been one for overly complicated tests of 'worth.'
When the rubble and dust cleared, Tenten peered in to see a room—lit by sunlight, despite their depth—that was huge, but nearly empty.
In the center of the room, on a stone pedestal of sorts, lay an old, dust-coated scroll.
Gai stepped towards it, and gingerly picked it up. Tenten was relieved that it didn't disintegrate, but it didn't seem like it would open without releasing a seal. It took the Taijutsu specialist a while to read the faded inscription.
His shoulders perked up, indicating that he had it figured out.
"It says… the word… 'Nine'".
FIIIIINAAAAALLY! BACK TO THE ACTUAL TITLE OF THE FANFIC!
Haha. Sorry that I'm updating a little later than usual... I just wrote this chapter within the hour; I haven't been home.
This one was a blast to write, and I think it's one of my favorite chapters so far. What do you think, fanficfans? :)
[Raistlin99- I'd like to begin this response by saying thank you for your continued support and reviews. You're absolutely awesome.
With that said, I dislike most of the pairings you ship. However, I've never seen LeexIno explained as well as you have, and so even if this story doesn't swing that way (I am a servant to my poll-vote, everyone!) I'll definitely consider writing some of them.
Anyway! I hope that no matter what happens, you'll enjoy my humble fanfic. :)]
Reviews maek me happy. Do it because this chapter is long?