(A/N) Double-upload today, maybe even triple. Tell me if you think I'm mischaracterizing people; especially Boruto characters but Naruto ones as well. Honestly any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ninja Profile: Sureki Hyuga

Ninjutsu: B
Genjutsu: C
Taijutsu: A
Specialties: Jyuuken, Byakugan, Taijutsu

Description: Sureki Hyuga stand at a normal height, but is thin and frail despite much training. He bears a striking resemblance to his deceased relative Neji, especially when he dresses in the more traditional Hyuga whites and grays. He is usually quite cheerful and open in conversation, but quickly becomes reserved and awkward when negative emotions and topics come up.

Origin: Sureki Hyuga was born the child of Hanabi Hyuga and the heir to the Hyuga clan, but his Byakugan was weaker than it should have been. While still present, it lacked the acuity and range of stronger manifestations. Ashamed of his weak bloodline trait, he decided to make up for it by becoming the greatest master of Jyuuken ever born into the clan. From a young age through his academy graduation, he trained with anyone who would teach him until his precision and grace were unparalleled. Upon meeting his squadmates, Naruko Uchiha and Kakuzen Uzumaki, he quickly got along with them and soon their team performed well enough for their jonin to sponsor them into the chunin exams.

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Deihaka was beaming at them when they made it into the lobby. The only place that I've seen that overkill level of pride is in new parents. He'd been talking to Senshiko, but as soon as they exited he darted over to them and held up his hands for high-fives. Wait, seriously? Kame complied, a bit put off by how childish his squad leader was acting.

Miriki, on the other hand, ran up and gave a full high-five to Deihaka, grinning like an idiot. "Yeah! We did it, sensei!"

"You bet you did it! It's all thanks to my incredibly amazing teaching skills. If I hadn't made all those great Executive Teacher Decisions, you all wouldn't be standing here!" Deihaka-sensei, what are you saying? Aren't teachers supposed to give the credit to their students? Kame shook his head in exasperation.

Miriki cocked his head. "You can't take all the credit, Deihaka-sensei." You're right, Miriki, we also- "If it weren't for my incredible leadership skills and genius-level intellect, then I don't think we could have passed either exam."

Deihaka nodded sagely. "Well done, Miriki." He turned to Kame, who was restraining himself from letting loose on the two of them in public. I think they're actually getting worse- or maybe Miriki is just infecting Deihaka-sensei bit by bit. "Kame, I'm proud of you and Haku as well. Oh, speaking of Haku, you guys are probably worried about her; she was taken to the hospital, but she should be alright."

Kame, remembering something they'd been told at the very start of the exam, whirled around to confront Metal Lee, who had followed them out of the courtyard. "Metal Lee- er, Proctor. Will Naruko Uchiha be disqualified?"

Metal Lee appeared to freeze up, glancing briefly at the Leaf squad and then back at Kame. "Umm… I do not plan to disqualify her, because-"

Kame wouldn't listen to his excuses. "You don't plan to disqualify her? Why? Didn't you announce at the start of the exam that attempts to kill or injure other participants would be met with severe repercussions? Where are the repercussions for her attack on my immobile comrade?"

Metal was clearly nervous, glancing again at Naruko and then choking out a response. "I… do not see… any reason to disqualify… her-"

"Could it be because she's the pride and joy of your village? Or maybe this is just personal favoritism?" Kame challenged. Metal swallowed, but before Kame could press the point any further, Deihaka took him by the shoulder.

"Come on, Kame." He turned around, starting towards the door. "Let's go check on Haku in the hospital, okay?"

Kame nodded, although his heart still seethed with resentment for the bureaucratic and clearly political favoritism shown to his Leaf rival. They exited the building and then took a sharp right, going down a few blocks and drawing glances from the people on the streets. I guess they're not used to ninja wearing sand uniform, huh? In sharp contrast to the green and pocketed utility vests of the Hidden Leaf, Sand shinobi wore dark brown combat vests that were build more for protection than storage.

When they entered the hospital, an attendant seemed to recognize them and directed them down a short hallway on the ground floor. They passed by rooms cordoned off with cloth barriers, but Kame still got glimpses of a few of the Mist, Cloud, and Stone shinobi, none of whom looked all that harmed. However, at the end of the hallway, there was a far more serious-looking room behind a set of double-doors. The hospital worker stopped them outside and then entered. Minutes passed, and Kame grew more and more terrified. Those burns were pretty bad… and they happened during a genjutsu. Although he knew from his studies that such an interaction wasn't anything special, his mind still ran rampant with theories.

It grew worse as the minutes stretched into hours, and he grew more and more terrified that something had gone wrong. Even simple surgeries can go horrifically wrong if the doctor makes an error… Haku was hurt on her stomach; what if they accidentally broke her internal organs!? It took an extreme conscious effort to sit still and wait, but wait he did. For once, Miriki didn't read his thoughts, and Deihaka didn't make any attempts to alleviate the stress. All three of them sat there, silent, for hours on end.

Eventually, the door opened back up, and standing in it was a woman that made Kame's heart briefly stop. Pink-haired, wearing a red robe and with a green diamond on her forehead, he knew about this kunoichi because he'd read her name at least a thousand time. He barely managed to squeak out, "Sakura…"

She gave him an odd look before turning to face Deihaka. "Alright, your charge is going to be just fine. She'll be up and about in a couple of minutes and should even be fine to compete in the tournament." That's a relief… "I heard what happened and I'd like to apologize for what my granddaughter did to your friend."

Kame looked up sharply. Granddaughter? Does that mean that Sarada Uchiha is Naruko's mother? Still, a burning question was in his mind, and before he could stop himself it turned to words. "Why? Why you? Why would they call you to treat Haku?"

"What!? I'm an incredibly accomplished medical ninja, you disrespectful whelp!" Sakura rolled up a sleeve and turning murderous.

Kame rapidly backed off, raising his hands in apology. "No, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I know you're an incredibly talented medical ninja, probably the most talented one ever besides your master Tsunade. But…" Sakura's face had softened a bit at the praise. "Why you? Haku's burns weren't life-threatening."

Sakura actually reddened a little bit and looked away. "I was called in to make sure that she could fight in the tournament."

But why would- Kame realized in horror why Sakura had suddenly started looking nervous. Naruko, her granddaughter and one of the few remaining Uchiha, can't afford to have taken an opponent out of the tournament- then they can't pretend they aren't bending the rules. If Haku can't fight, then Naruko injured an opponent and should be disqualified. He narrowed his eyes but didn't dare speak his mind before the legendary teammate of Naruto and Sasuke.

She seemed to grasp his understanding of the situation and sighed. "Naruko… she has a lot of pressure on her, and I think that you shouldn't push her so far that she'd-"

That's it. Kame interrupted the older ninja, unable to bite his tongue any longer. "She's unstable! Haku landed one hit on her, and in response Naruko trapped her in a genjutsu; but instead of leaving the defeated opponent be, she attacked my incapacitated teammate. If you don't muzzle her soon, she's going to end up killing someone!"

Sakura breathed heavily and looked at him with barely hidden contempt. "You don't have the faintest clue about her situation, so stop passing judgement without knowing the full picture." With those words, she brushed past Kame and walked off down the hallway.

Kame turned to watch her leave, but a voice from behind him brought him eyes back around to the hospital room. "Hey, guys… I'm glad to see you…" Haku's voice was weak, weaker than he'd ever heard it. When he saw her, she had bandages wrapped all around her upper legs and midriff. She smiled at them, but even that was shaky and obviously forced. Haku, I… I shouldn't have let this happen.

Kame, Miriki, and Deihaka all rushed over to her bedside, with Deihaka asking the first question. "How do you feel? Did they heal all the burns?"

She nodded. "I think so… none of it hurts, anymore. I think I can…" She swung her leg over off of the bed and gasped in pain. "Agh! Okay, that's not happening."

Kame knitted his eyebrows in worry, hesitant to even touch the leg. "What's wrong? Is the burn still there?"

She shook her head. "Nah, but… the leg feels super sore. I guess that's from having the muscles rebuilt through healing jutsu, huh?" She moved across the other leg and, gritting her teeth, lifted herself off of the bed and onto her feet. "Nghh- Okay, I think I can move around, I'm just gonna have to walk it off."

Deihaka nodded, and then she turned around to rummage in her pack, removing another skirt and turning briefly to jerk her head towards the door of the room. Kame flushed bright red and hastily escaped, followed by the others, and after thirty seconds Haku followed. The medical bandages had been replaced with her normal athletic ones and over them she wore another purple skirt coming down to just above her knees.

She winced with each step at first, but as she made forwards progress the winces grew weaker and weaker until she stopped altogether. They stepped out into the street and Kame only just realized how late it was- they'd woken up very late during the exam, maybe around lunchtime (due to all of them having exerted themselves so hard during the first day). Still, it was hard to believe that six whole hours had gone by planning, fighting, waiting, and then sitting in the hospital.

Deihaka scratched his head and pointed off to their left. "All the jonin squad leaders watched the camera feeds together, and I met the Leaf one. He recommended a dinner joint, so if you guys want to go there…?"

Haku nodded eagerly. "Yes, please!"

Miriki, though, awkwardly put a hand behind his head and cleared his throat. "Actually, Deihaka-sensei, I have a dinner date with Keikiro that I need to be going on, so…"

Deihaka's eyes lit up strangely. "Oh… yes. Yes! We can ask the Valley genin to come with us and do a team dinner!" Miriki opened his mouth to protest, but it was too late. "Executive Teacher Decision; we're doing a team date." Oh… Kame realized why his sensei was acting so strangely. He just wants an excuse to go to dinner with Senshiko, doesn't he…

They found the Valley genin near the inn that most of the exam participants were staying in, waving them over and pitching the idea. Keikiro had the same reaction as Miriki, but the lovebirds were overruled by an oddly-pleased-looking Senshiko. The two teams made their way across the town and eventually ended up walking into a place called Ichiraku Ramen.

It was a small place, with two tables and ten barstools. Deihaka sat down on the far left, graciously offering Senshiko the seat beside him. Keikiro and Miriki sat next, then Sagino claimed the other spot beside Miriki and Gunaji the spot beside Sagino. Kame sat next to Gunaji and Haku slid in beside him, leaving two empty seats to the right. Once they all got settled, an aging woman came out through a screen and smiled at them. "Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, I'm Ayame, what can I get you?"

Kame took a look at the menu, seeing something called a 'Naruto Special'. Well, obviously I'm getting that, he thought, holding up the menu and pointing at it. "Can I get one of these?" Ayame nodded. Haku ordered three more of them, and Gunaji ordered only one. While the others ordered their food, Gunaji turned towards Kame and proffered a hand.

"Congrats on getting through stage one, man."

Kame smiled and returned the favor, giving him a handshake. "You too. Thanks for helping us out against the Leaf team."

Gunaji nodded. "No problem… I'm just more afraid of how we're gonna take them on in the finals…" Yeah, no kidding, thought Kame. Haku killed a guy with one of her punches, but a direct hit against Naruko didn't even knock her out. "Anyway, I was surprised we even made it through the written exam. Keikiro and Sagino both got seventeens, and I got a twenty, so we literally hit the bare minimum to pass."

Kame nodded. "We probably weren't going to make it, but Miriki's visual kekkegenkai got him a pretty decent score and I used my one cheat-for-free to give Haku my answers."

Gunaji eyes widened. "Ohh… and they couldn't punish you because of the… that's pretty smart!" Kame tried not to look too pleased.

"Well, I think the real praise is for you, dude. If you hadn't lifted Haku and Keikiro into the courtyard, we might not have made it through that last one." Now it was Gunaji's turn to flush a little bit and turn away at the returned compliment. "Honestly, do you want to meet up tomorrow and talk strategy? At this point, those Leaf guys are the biggest threat, so I think it's in both of our interests to share information on them."

The Valley genin appeared to consider that briefly, and then nodded. "Okay, let's go to one of the training fields- wait, we're staying in the same inn, right? Let's just meet up at nine o'clock?"

Kame winced. "What about seven?" A two-hour gap in the morning sounded pretty painful to schedule around, and he didn't want to wake up late and waste all that time. Gunaji nodded, and then their food arrived.

When Kame turned his attention to the ramen before him, his heart fluttered a little bit- this was the best-smelling ramen he'd ever… well, smelled. The gathered ninja all muttered a quick "Itadakimasu", clearly distracted by the amazing food. When he spooned up a bite and ate it, he wasn't disappointed. You can suck it, Tetsute, he thought. This is ten thousand times better than your family's cheap-ass stuff.

He savored each bite, and was too busy eating to continue conversation. Beside him, Gunaji appeared to be doing the same thing. A glance to his left told another story, thought, as Haku was through a bowl and a half without showing signs of slowing. Kame actually froze as he watched his kunoichi teammate tear through the second bowl and start in on the third, which soon followed the other two and emptied. Even more ridiculously, she raised a hand and asked for another bowl.

He turned to look at Deihaka. The other night, he acted like money was an issue… what's he gonna- wait, what the… His sensei was slightly flushed, and an empty bottle of sake on the table before him told the rest of the story. Deihaka-sensei is drunk. Turning to look at Senshiko, Kame saw that the kunoichi jonin had drained three bottles and was also a little bit red in the face. I don't like where this is going.

Miriki and Keikiro were giggling and in their own little world, while Sagino held a conversation with her twin brother Gunaji, sparing an occasional longing glance at Miriki. In that moment, Kame felt strangely ecstatic, happy to be sitting in a ramen shop surrounded by friends and people so full of life.

The moment broke when he heard footsteps from behind him. Somehow, he knew what he'd find, but turned anyway and saw his worst fears confirmed- Naruko Uchiha was standing there, arms crossed and looking at them with derision and hatred. Kame was just about to return the glare and maybe even insult her when the curtains behind the three genin opened once more and he saw two adults standing there. All traces of any disrespectful plans gone, his heart skipped a beat when he saw who they were:

Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha stood in the doorway, the former dressed in orange and smiling happily while the latter wore black and had a much more restrained expression. I… they… it's really them… Kame felt his mouth flop open but couldn't close it; two of his idols were standing right in front of him, looking at him, and all he could do was stare at them with widened eyes. Come on, Kame, say something! He squeaked out, "Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!" No, not that, you god damn idiot.

Naruko's glare shifted to more disgusted than hateful, while Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, arms crossed. Naruto, on the other hand, grinned even wider and stepped forward to offer a handshake, saying, "Sand and Valley shinobi inviting me into my own hometown's ramen shop? Well, consider me welcomed!"

Kame stared at the man's hand, still not quite registering what was going on. "I… I can't…" He shook his head, still looking at the hand.

"Why not?" Naruto's smile weakened slightly.

"Be- Because I- I'm not worthy!" Kame bowed his head and stared at the ground. Can I embarass myself any more in front of Naruto and Sasuke? "You're the hero of the ninja world, the tailed-beast-tamer and jinchuriki of the strongest biju, the ninetails! You defeated Madara Uchiha, Kaguya Otsusuki, and all of the Akatsuki; and you are the hero of my hero, Gaara… I don't deserve to shake your hand!"

Naruto chuckled a little bit and then broke out into a full laugh, turning to face Sasuke. "Sasuke, you hearing this?"

"Yeah, I'm hearing all of those empty words," Sasuke drawled. "They're clearly misinformed if you're the hero of the ninja world. I was right there fighting Kaguya with you, wasn't I?"

Kame interjected. "But you're no less impressive, Sasuke! Your clan is legendary, and you are possibly the strongest member ever. You defeated Orochimaru of the sannin in single combat, fought Naruto to a stalemate, and helped in the defeat of all of those enemies I credited to Naruto…"

Sasuke finally cracked a smile, but Naruko's expression somehow soured even further. She sighed, "Grandfathers, can we get out of here?"

"Why?" Naruto hungrily glanced at the ramen they were eating.

"Because these losers are taking up the whole bar, so we might as well just go somewhere else. Besides, this kid can praise you all he wants, but he'd just a suck-up spewing empty words. He lost hard to me during the exam second stage."

Naruto's smile didn't waver. "But they're nice empty words, dearest. Besides, this is the reason they added the tables." He slid into one of the tables, motioning for Naruko to do the same. "This is your victory dinner, don't ruin it just because others also enjoy the ramen at Ichiraku."

Naruko poorly concealed a pout but sat anyway, and Ayame shuffled over to take their order. Kame tried to turn back and eat his food, but his eyes kept drifting off to focus on the living legends only a few short feet away from him. After minutes, he finally resumed his eating, forcing himself to consume the food, but choked on it and spat a whole mouthful back into the bowl when Naruto's voice came at him: "Hey, kid, you said that you knew Gaara? How is he; it's been a while!"

Kame spun around in time to see Sasuke roll his eyes and say, "You idiot, Gaara's coming anyway soon. The Kage gather to watch these tournaments, which you should know because you are one!"

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but I kinda want to know what I'm walking into."

Kame found his voice. "Uhmm…Lord Gaara has been fine when I've met him…" Afraid of disappointing the Hokage, he searched his mind for more to say. "He's actually been a little bit stressed out lately, because Ha-" Shit! I almost told him way too much! Kame remembered Gaara's explanation about the power balance between the villages, and he clammed up almost immediately.

Naruto raised an eyebrow but the brief exchange ended when Ayame gave him his food, so Kame took the chance to whirl back around and finish off his ramen. Haku gave him an incredibly hard to read look, but then finished her own bowl of ramen (her sixth one). Deihaka, now swaying and a little bit unsteady, was polishing off a fourth bottle of sake, while Senshiko's spot on the counter was littered with at least ten empty bottles. Deihaka was staring at the woman's chest, and she didn't seem to mind, putting an arm over his shoulder and pulling him in tight.

Kame blushed and looked away, noticing that Miriki and Keikiro had both finished and were now holding hands. Ugh. Gunaji was staring at Sasuke intently, looking as amazed as Kame felt. After a few minutes of relative silence, Ayame walked up to their little group and laid a tab down on the counter. That's… Kame jolted back a little bit. Holy crap, that's 40,000 yen!? How the hell did we eat that much?

Deihaka, now leaning on Senshiko and hiccuping, seemed to interpret the check as a signal to leave, and dragged Senshiko out the door. Gunaji, Keikiro, and Sagino followed their sensei, and Miriki tagged along with Keikiro. Wait a minute… Kame looked up, heart sinking, to see Ayame looking at him expectantly. Oh, crap… for the briefest of moments, he considered trying to fob the check off onto Haku, but the thought was gone almost as soon as it entered his mind and he reluctantly pulled the necessary money from his wallet. Well, there goes my pay for the last five missions…

As he rose to exit, Naruko tossed a final double-edged comment at his back. "See you in a few days for a repeat, loser." Kame slowed down a little bit, but he wasn't about to fight her in the middle of the restaurant, so instead he just kept walking. He took a tiny bit of satisfaction in the immediate scolding from Naruto and Sasuke that followed her jab.

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Kame woke up the next morning a lot more refreshed than he thought he'd be, considering that he'd slept on the floor of their room. Upon arriving at the inn, Deihaka and Senshiko had claimed the room originally reserved for the Valley squad for themselves, leaving the six genin to find a way to split the three-bed room reserved for the Hidden Sand. This had almost immediately ended in the three kunoichi getting the beds, but Miriki had weaseled into sleeping beside Keikiro and Sagino had agreed to let her brother Gunaji in next to her.

Kame, on the other hand, hadn't had the nerve to ask Haku to share her bed, so he'd ended up alone on the floor. Although, it was surprisingly nice, he thought. When he sat up, he noticed that it was 6:30. Enough time for breakfast before me and Gunaji go practice. Looking around, he saw that Sagino and Keikiro were sitting on their beds talking, while Haku was still sleeping, seemingly wearing only her bandages as pajamas. However, as soon as he stood up, Sagino darted over beside him. "Okay, you finally woke up. Now get out. Out!" She pushed him out of the room's door and into the hallway, where he stood in his Shukaku pajamas. Huh, maybe these things are unlucky…

After a few minutes, the door opened back up to reveal the three kunoichi clad in their day clothes, Haku still blinking sleepily. "Alright, your turn," Sagino said, marching off towards the lobby. Kame hurriedly re-entered the room, got dressed, and grabbed a breakfast bar from his pack, then walked down into the lobby. Standing there already were Deihaka and Senshiko, standing abnormally close to one another and both seemingly nursing extreme hangovers.

Miriki and Keikiro were just walking out the door, and Kame didn't want to intrude on whatever was happening between his sensei and the Valley jonin, so he opted to walk over to Gunaji. He, Haku, and Sagino were having a conversation that Kame caught the tail end of. Sagino was gesturing towards Haku and saying, "Come on, bro, back me up here. She needs a new coat."

Kame looked over at the offending piece of clothing. It was a bit too small for her, and patched in places. She was wearing it five years ago in the Kazekage's vision… It was too big for her then. Still, it probably has a hell of a lot of sentimental value to her if she's had it for that long… Haku looked self-consciously down at her coat and spoke awkwardly. "I… I like this coat, I kinda just want-"

Sagino just talked over the smaller girl. "Look, how about we go to a clothing store, and if you still want to keep it, then you totally can!" Haku seemed okay with that prospect, and so Sagino dragged her off, leaving Gunaji and Kame standing next to one another.

"So… do you want to head off to a training field…?" Kame offered.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure… I'm sorry that my sister hauled off your teammate just because she wants an excuse to go clothes-shopping." Kame smiled, thinking, so that's why…

He and Gunaji stepped out onto the street and, through intuition and asking directions, made their way to the practice fields. On the way there they drew stares just like they had the day before. This must be a very tight-knit community if outsiders draw this much attention, Kame considered. Either that, or they're incredibly suspicious of ninja not in Hidden Leaf uniform; which is perfectly reasonable.

They chose one of the unoccupied practice fields and stood next to one another, Gunaji pulling out a few shuriken and taking practice throws at one of the targets. He was surprisingly good at it for someone whose ninjutsu technique basically invalidated the need for projectile weaponry. Kame pulled out a large sheet of extra paper and an inkwell, preparing himself to make a new batch of paperbombs. If I run out tomorrow, then there's going to be a huge problem.

Once they'd settled, Gunaji broke the silence. "I've spent a lot of time studying kekkeigenkai, and I know enough about the Sharingan to see that she's not your average user."

"No?" This was news to Kame.

"Yeah, she's… well, there's two possibilities. The first is that she's unlocked the Mangekyo sharingan; which is ridiculous at her age and also would blind her unless she took the eyes from another living Uchiha. Given the lack of other living Uchihas, I think it's safe to rule that one out." Kame nodded. "Therefore, the second possibility is that she's just an incredibly powerful user of the basic sharingan. The normal sharingan has a visual component and a hypnotic component, and I think that she's using an enhanced version of the hypnotic component in order to freeze us."

Kame nodded. "Okay…?"

"Therefore, I think I know how to… well, not beat her, but I know a weakness. The sharingan, apparently, drains a huge amount of chakra, and she has to have it out to sustain the paralyzing effect. Also, if she closes her eyes, you're unparalyzed briefly, so if you can look away in the split second she spends blinking, you can get out." Those are some incredibly difficult to exploit weaknesses, Kame thought.

I guess I should spill what I know, huh? He turned towards Gunaji, hands still robotically grabbing, writing on, and then infusing chakra into the paperbombs. "My teammate, Miriki, has a visual kekkegenkai called- wait, what am I saying, he explained it to you already. Anyway, he says that Naruko is incredibly insecure about her skills and is terrified of losing, which explains a lot of her behavior.

"She's also demonstrated herself to be extremely mentally unstable, so I think another way of getting to her could be through taunting or embarrassing her in any way. In front of the gathered ninja, in such a public setting, it's practically guaranteed to make her lose her cool."

Gunaji nodded, suddenly looking thoughtful. "She also uses fire style, so if you have water release…"

Kame shook his head. "Nope, wind and fire."

Gunaji grimaced. "I got earth, and that's it."

Kame sighed. "What about her teammates? The Namikaze guy, Kakuzen, he has wood release…" That shouldn't be possible, Kame thought. I thought only Hashirama Senju had access to that kekkeigenkai. "Anyway, he's pretty good with it for defense and offense."

Gunaji shrugged. "But you have fire release, so…"

Kame frowned. "But you don't…" He thought for a moment, and then sighed and reached into his pack. "Here, I have something for you." He grabbed all three of yesterday's Firebombs, handing them to Gunaji. "I made these; they have fire chakra instead of normal chakra in them. If you end up against him, use them."

Gunaji reached for them, but snapped his arm back. "No, I can't… It's your strength, if I were to win because of it…"

"Just take it." Kame pushed towards Gunaji. "You helped us with information before, so just access my help now."

The other boy accepted them, seemingly grudgingly. "Thanks."

Kame nodded, turning his attention to the last member of team one. "What about Sureki Hyuga? Haku dealt with him pretty easily, but that's because…" I can't just tell people about her weakness, Kame chided himself. "She has a great matchup with him."

The Valley genin just shrugged. "He's a taijutsu specialist who doesn't seem to have any speed specialties. Worst-case, he knows how to use rotation, but even then I'll just wear him down from a range."

The two lapsed back into silence, but that was quickly shattered by a familiar voice from behind them. "Oh, come on, that's selling me a little bit short, isn't it?"

Kame was on his feet in an instant, holding his brush like a weapon, while Gunaji had rolled backwards and assumed a taijutsu stance. Standing a few feet away was Sureki Hyuga, who wore an exaggerated pouting expression. "I mean, you guys barely traded like two sentences. Writing me off so quickly?"

Kame opened his mouth but froze, unsure if he should apologize, trash-talk, or walk away. Gunaji seemed equally confused, so it was Sureki who eventually broke the awkward silence. "Aww, c'mon guys, I'm just kidding. Good job getting through the gate yesterday!"

Kame peered at him suspiciously. "Thanks…? You guys did alright as well…"

The Hyuga sighed. "This is unbelievably awkward… I think I'll just get to practicing, if you don't mind?" Kame shook his head, but internally he was perplexed. Is this guy seriously going to practice right next to us? Where we can see his moves?

Sureki's pale eyes suddenly hardened, veins appearing around them, and then his face twisted into a smile and he waved to somebody walking up the hill. "Lee-sensei! It's good to see you!"

Metal Lee is coming, too? Kame stood up, packing up his paperbombs and trying to see what the other boy's Byakugan-enhanced eyes had picked out. After a few seconds, he finally landed on it and gasped, all previous training forgotten. That's… that's really him, this time!

Rock Lee was running up the hill in the Lee clan's green bodysuit, smiling and waving back to Sureki. "It is good to see you as well, Sureki! You appear to have arrived early for our lesson… who are these people with you?"

Kame, after clamming up last night, decided that he had to learn to treat even well-known ninja like the humans they were. He cleared his throat, starting to formulate a response, but Sureki beat him to it. "This is Kame, and this is Gunaji. They're Sand and Valley genin who made it through the chunin exams!"

Rock Lee nodded. "Are they here to learn the secrets of the Power of Youth?"

Sureki chuckled nervously. "No, I don't think so, sensei… in fact-"

Kame interrupted the other boy. "How long is your lesson?"

"Umm… we should be done by… twelve-ish. Why?" Sureki appeared confused.

"Because I have a friend who is the pupil of Shira." At the sound of his old friend's name, Rock Lee turned sharply to face Kame. "And I think she'd really love to meet the man that her sensei is always talking about."

"Oh, okay… sure. For now, though, I'm gonna make the most out of my four hours." Sureki assumed a ready stance, and Rock Lee did the same. Kame pulled back out his paperbomb-making supplies, absentmindedly returning to his task while the Leaf's taijutsu master and his apprentice sparred at lightning speed.

Right off the bat, Kame could tell that in terms of speed Sureki was nowhere near Haku. The boy's movement, while quick, were still moving at a snail-like pace when compared to the wickedly fast attacks of his teammate. However, the frail-looking boy seemed to make up for it with extreme skill and perfect technique. Minimalist movements decreased the necessary amount of speed to the point that he could keep up with the godlike Rock Lee.

The green-clad jonin, however, was a completely different story. His movements were faster and stronger Haku's, maybe even faster than Shira's. So this is how he made jonin-rank without any ninjutsu or taijutsu, thought Kame. He's a monster. Sureki's extreme skill was no match for Lee's brute physical prowess, but the elder ninja was pulling his blows. Every time he would have landed a hit, he stopped millimeters away from his student and then returned to a neutral stance. Each time this happened, he'd also give the Hyuga a bit of advice on how to improve his taijutsu.

This went on for hours. Kame ran low on chakra and had to stop making bombs, but his stores were well replenished. He had thirty normal paperbombs, ten weakened ones, ten firebombs, ten windbombs, and three smokebombs, likely more than enough for the maximum of four fights that he'd be asked to participate in. After four hours, Sureki and Lee disengaged from their sparring, the former clearly winded and panting.

"Excellent work today, Sureki! The Power of Youth flows ever stronger through your veins, and each day you grow closer to Neji in strength!" Rock Lee and Sureki both bowed, and then they turned to face Kame. "Now then, where is this friend you speak of?" Rock Lee raised one bushy eyebrow.

"Uhh… she went out clothes-shopping, so… do either of you know of any shinobi clothing stores in the Leaf?" The two Leaf ninja shared a look, nodded to each other very seriously, and then wordlessly led the way back down the trail and into the city. Kame quickly shoved his materials into his bag and darted off in pursuit, but Gunaji waved goodbye.

"I think I'm gonna stay here and practice some more." Kame shrugged, turning to follow the strange pair of Leaf shinobi down into their village.