Chapter 21:

Things were going pretty well for a while now that everything had calmed down. Now that both Tenten and Lee knew about Neji's condition, they both worked extra hard to keep it a secret from Gai as well as convince him to tone down the training. It wasn't easy because Gai's solution to everything was to train twice as hard to get over whatever it was. If someone had a broken leg, then run on your hands!

So far, Kakashi's team had also toned down the training a little bit. Right now they were all resting under the trees, taking a breather. Kakashi was occupying his time by reading his favorite book.

After hearing from Neji about how he had known about their condition for some time now and was keeping quiet about it for entertainment purposes, Sasuke hadn't taken his eyes off his sensei all that morning. Just thinking about how his predicament was nothing more than entertainment in Kakashi's eyes made his blood boil. Rather than help them or say something, he'd rather hang back and watch? How cruel! Even when there were dogs around and a hard mission or two, Kakashi would send him off with the others as if it were another day!

Kakashi, you stupid jerk! You could at least try to help us out once in a while! My condition is nothing to laugh at, damn it! Sasuke cursed his sensei over and over again in his head. How dare he treat them like this! Entertainment?! Outrageous!

The masked ninja turned a page in his book making Sasuke flinch. He was such a wreck thinking that Kakashi was going to try something any minute that every time he moved, Sasuke would twitch in some way in anticipation. He was wrong every time. But just in case, he kept his eyes on him in an eternal glare. Any minute now, Kakashi was going to do something to torment him like roll a ball of yarn out from behind his book and laugh at him when he chased after it.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke flinched at the sound of the team's only female. The pink-haired girl dashed over to her sensei carrying a couple library books in her arms. She sat down next to him and flashed one of the books in his face.

"I checked out the books you recommended. They're really useful!"

"Glad you like them." Kakashi turned another page.

"Do you think you could teach me how to perform some of these?"

He bookmarked his page. "I'm no medical ninja. I only know a few things; just enough to get by on my own. I wouldn't be able to show you much."

"Then what about a mentor?"

"Well…" Kakashi scratched his neck. "The Hokage would be a good choice… She is the best after all. But I don't know if you're ready for that yet. You still have a lot to learn here on this team. Plus, her teaching methods are a bit… Outlandish, let's just say. You have a lot of book smarts, but that's all pointless when it comes to her. She'd tell you to do something different. I don't think you're prepared for that."

"But she could teach me, right? As her apprentice?"

Kakashi turned his hand over with a shrug. "Ehh…"

Sasuke tapped his foot on the ground, still expecting that yarn ball to be thrown at his head or something. He only looked away when he felt Naruto sit down next to him.

Naruto scooted a bit closer. "Hi."

"… Hi…"

Naruto moved closer to whisper something to him. "Psst. While she's talking to Kakashi, do you want to sneak away and take a nap or something? I know how you always get tired around this time."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, that's ok. I'm fine."

Naruto was taken aback by this. "What?! But you're always tired about now. What gives?"

Sasuke turned his head up to the sky watching the rustling leaves. "I know. I usually get real sleepy this time of day, but today's different. Maybe I'm getting better."

Naruto scratched his ear and he purred. "Yeah, you look so much better," he said sarcastically.

Sasuke pushed him away. "Shut up, loser."

Yup. Nothing had changed. Not one bit.

~*~*~

"Alright, team!"

Gai did a complete spin and struck a pose. "Let's seize the day with bountiful youthfulness and grasp the inner strength to guide us towards our ninja way!"

"Yay…" Neji groaned trying not to sound too depressed. That was the real trick.

"Alrighty, then! Let's go, team! Let's pick up the pace and warm up with a 100 mile dash!"

Lee and Tenten exchanged worried glances towards each other. They were both thinking the same thing. How was Neji going to handle this?

Thinking fast, Tenten had come up with a quick distraction. They needed to get Gai's attention away from training. There was no easy way to do it. But there was one way guaranteed to do the trick… in theory. Fight fire with fire, or in this case, training with training. There was one way to get Gai's attention and that was a challenge.

"Gai-sensei!" Tenten interrupted. "I had a question for you."

"What is it?" Gai stopped right in the middle of a kick, pausing with one leg still stretched out in the air above his head.

"Uh… Is it true that you and Kakashi are still rivals?"

"Of course!" Gai flashed a white smile at her coupled with a thumbs-up. "We are life-long rivals! I couldn't ask for a better one than him."

"Yeah, uh-huh." She wanted to speed this up. "But isn't it also true that you bested him one more time than he did you?"

"Yup! I have one more win than he does!"

"Well, I just heard that Kakashi wants to challenge you again and make it a tie… then take the spot as number one."

Gai froze in the middle of another pose. "Wait… Kakashi wishes to challenge me so that he can best me?"

She nodded, trying to make her story as believable as possible.

It took Gai a full minute to realize what this meant. His eyes widened with excitement and shock. "Then this means that he wishes to challenge me… twice!" Gai turned his back to his team and dashed over to a nearby rock. He climbed up on it, leading his team to believe that he was going to use it as a springboard or something. But instead, he bent his knees, holding the position as a battle cry rumbled deep in his throat making its way up to his mouth. He straightened his legs, threw up his arms, puffed out his chest and released his howl to the sky with fire in his eyes, stirring up multiple birds. "Challenge accepted, Kakashi! What a worthy adversary you are indeed! Not one, but TWO challenges in one day back to back in order to reclaim your place as top dog! This is my chance to take victory twice as quickly as usual and put myself two places in front of you so you'll have to battle me harder, faster and more often than you would before! What a beautiful thing! Your light of youth hasn't diminished at all, yet, has it, Kakashi?!"

Neji leaned over to Tenten in the middle of his ranting to whisper, "Uh… should we leave or..?"

"I'm not sure. He'll go on forever if we don't stop him soon."

Gai turned back to his team and, much to their surprise and displeasure, picked all three of them up in his arms and dashed towards where he believed Kakashi was. "Quickly, now! I don't want you to miss this!"

Neji glared at Tenten because his gaze couldn't reach Gai. "I thought you were helping…"

She shrugged. "I thought I was."

~*~*~

Sasuke was getting bored watching Kakashi listening to Sakura. They had been going on for some time now, talking about medical jutsus and potions. None of them would help him get any better or recover from the spell he was already under so he paid very little attention. As bored as he was, he still didn't feel like taking a nap. How could he, knowing that Kakashi would be standing over him, knowing, plotting…

A robin landed on a branch above Kakashi, catching Sasuke's attention for a moment. It looked especially plump. Sasuke licked his lips. He started to wonder if it would taste like chicken like the saying went. Little did he know, Kakashi was watching his every move out of the corner of his eye. The robin flew off soon after leaving Sasuke feeling a little sad but mostly annoyed that he had gotten so easily distracted once again.

"Ka… Ka… SHI!"

Sakura jumped aside as Gai came springing out of nowhere carrying his three genin in his arms and landing before Kakashi with a thunderous thud. Lee looked a little rattled, Tenten was still clinging to her sensei for dear life, and Neji just looked annoyed. With his arms still folded, he glanced up and gave Sasuke a nod in greeting. "Hey."

"Uh, hey." Just another day for them, huh?

Gai dropped his team and stuck his face in Kakashi's, eyes aglow with determination. "Challenge hereby accepted! I gladly accept!"

Kakashi gave him a long quizzical stare. "… Huh?"

"Don't act like you don't know!"

"Know what?"

Gai gave a hearty laugh. "There you go again, you big goof."

Kakashi raised a brow at him.

"I know how you want to best me, Kakashi! No need to hide it. Tenten told me all about it! She gave me your message."

"She did, did she?" He leaned to the side to take a peek around Gai at her. She gave a nervous chuckle and waved. In that one movement, he understood. "Aw, and I tried so hard to be subtle."

Gai was already stretching, getting warmed up. "What shall we do first? Challenger picks the challenge."

"I do, huh?" Kakashi stood up with a sigh. "Let me see…"

While they were distracted, Tenten pulled Sasuke and Neji away from the group. "Psst. I have something for you guys."

"What?" they whispered back.

"Come with me and you'll see." She dragged them off to another part of the training grounds. Naruto and Lee turned around, realized that they were gone and went off to find them.

~*~*~

Tenten dragged the two deep into the woods and put her hands on her hips. The two exchanged nervous glances. What was she up to?

"I had an idea."

"What?" they asked nervously.

She reached forward and poked their bellies. "Naruto was right, you guys are getting plumper."

"Stop that!" Neji slapped her hand away, hating being called fat.

"So I came up with an idea."

"Please don't say exercise." Sasuke moaned just thinking about it.

She nodded. "Think of it as training. The way I see it, we're going to be called off on missions anyway so it would be nice if you guys could master your instincts a little better and get back into shape."

They looked at each other again. She had a point, but that didn't mean that they were willing to do it.

"Trust me on this."

Lee and Naruto finally caught up to them and stood close by, listening.

"First off," Tenten pointed straight up. "Climb that tree."

Simultaneously, they raised a brow at the request.

"Go on. Start climbing."

"You've got to be…"

"Do it!"

"No!" Sasuke folded his arms, refusing to budge.

Naruto snuck up behind him and gave a sharp bark. Yelping, Sasuke scrambled up the tree without hesitation. Neji saw right through the trick and remained in his spot. However, a glare from Tenten sent him up the tree moments later. It looked like she would get her way after all.

After an hour, it became unclear whether it was training or just a game to her. She had them doing all kinds of things. She had them chasing after colorful rubber balls, climbing up trees and ordering them to tear up a tree only using their hands. That one they didn't mind so much since it gave them the opportunity to sharpen their nails.

Next she had them do a little hunting. She told them to find someone other than herself and capture them in their own cat way. That was where Neji drew the line. She wasn't helping them, she was making it worse! She wanted them to act more like cats when she already knew how hard they were trying not to. Sasuke was about to protest, but seeing as how Naruto was fair game in all of this, decided against it and started to stalk his prey.

Naruto wandered around for a little bit, unaware that he was being watched. Sasuke was shadowing him from behind, slowly letting his instincts take over. When Naruto turned around, Sasuke jumped into a tree and hid. When Naruto continued walking, Sasuke crept after him, moving from tree branch to tree branch. He crouched low, placing his chin on the branch he was perched on and waited for Naruto to get in position.

Naruto looked around, knowing that something was amiss but not sure what. He took a step to the right, lining himself up for the perfect tackle. Sasuke struck. He jumped from the branch and tackled Naruto to the ground. He had Naruto pinned, sitting on his chest with a smile. He had done well for himself.

Too bad Naruto didn't think so. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Sasuke flattened himself on Naruto's chest and purred. "I caught you. I win."

"Win what? I'm so confused."

Sasuke didn't know himself. All he knew was that he had done what he was supposed to and was happy about it.

"Get off!" Naruto pushed him off his body and sat up. "That's it! I've decided that I don't like Tenten's training. It's painful!"

Sasuke wasn't listening. He was sniffing the air. "Hey, do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

Sasuke sniffed around for a little bit before running off.

Naruto ran after him. "Come back! Where are you going?"

~*~*~

Neji was getting pretty sick of this. There was no way he was going to stalk Lee the way she had wanted him too. This was embarrassing enough.

He heard clicking and assumed it was Tenten. "Forget it! I'm not taking part in this!"

The clicking continued.

"Shut up! I don't care!"

More clicking.

"That's it! I've had it!" He got up and turned around to face her. "If you think that I'm going to lower myself to-"

She wasn't there. Instead, Neji found himself yelling at a bowl of milk placed carefully under a tree behind him. Who could have left this? Milk didn't just pop out of the ground, after all. Someone must have planted it there for him. Was this some sort of trick?

Neji was wise to this trick. "Very funny, guys! Ha ha!"

But still… That milk did look delicious. Nice and creamy.

He looked over his shoulder. No one was watching. Licking his lips, Neji got down on his knees and started to lap up the milk. It was nice and cold. He purred.

"Neji!"

He hiccupped and sprayed the milk out over the tree roots and grass.

Tenten pulled him away from the bowl. "What are you doing? We still have a lot to do today!"

He cast a sad eye down to the bowl and back up to her. "Come on! I'm thirsty!"

"Later. We have stuff to do now."

That's when an idea popped into his head. How did cats get their way all the time? They were cute! Maybe if he acted cute, she would give in. After all he had been through, lowering himself just a few more notches couldn't do that much damage to his ego.

He got down on all fours and gave her the cutest upward pout he could come up with. He wasn't used to begging or acting cute on purpose, but for the sake of milk, he'd have to do his best. He made his eyes sparkle a little and gave a little whimper.

Tenten frowned. "Oh, don't do that."

He didn't stop. He stuck out his lip a little and kept up the sad eyes.

"Neji..!" she whined.

He hung his head down with a look that read 'love me, pity me, feed me' no matter how you looked at it. He looked pitiful but so cute.

Neji pawed at her leg with his knuckles.

"Neji…"

He rubbed his face against her legs and circled around her, purring and pawing at her feet.

"Please stop that…" She looked like she was trying real hard not to let it get to her. But he was being too cute. At last she gave in. "Oh, alright! Go ahead."

He gave her one last rub before going back to the milk. How humiliating, but it was worth it. The milk tasted so good.

~*~*~

"Sasuke! Get back here, you fat bastard!"

Naruto chased Sasuke deeper into the woods not knowing what had gotten into him. He said that he had smelled something…

"Sasuke, if you're getting into that catnip again, you can forget me helping you out! You're Lee's problem!"

He stepped out into a clearing and found Sasuke jumping up and down with his mouth wide open. He looked more like a frog than a cat at the moment while he was doing that. As he moved closer, Naruto realized what he was doing. Sasuke was jumping trying to catch a fish in his mouth. A row of fresh fish were dangling from a high branch above his head, their tails tied with rope. The rope looked suspiciously like the kind a ninja would use. If Naruto wasn't mistaken, it looked like the same kind that Kakashi used on missions.

Sasuke kept jumping. He was determined to get that fish.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You know you could just climb up and get it that way or cut the rope with your kunai, right?"

Sasuke stopped jumping. Clearly he hadn't thought of that.

With a sigh, Naruto tossed a kunai through the air, cutting down one of the fish and into Sasuke's waiting mouth. He chewed noisily, ripping it apart with his teeth. It was kind of gross, but Sasuke didn't mind at all.

Naruto cut down another one and handed it to him. Sasuke snatched it away in a heartbeat. He opened his mouth to take a bite, but stopped. He looked from the fish in his hands to Naruto standing over him. He took the fish in both hands and ripped it in half. He handed the head to Naruto.

Naruto shied away. "What?"

"Have some." Sasuke was offering him something to eat. He was sharing!

"Uh, no thanks."

He shrugged and went back to eating.

Lurking behind the trees was a masked ninja, watching the whole thing. He kept his book tucked in his back pocket, having found something much more interesting for a change. Perhaps I should have done this sooner… It's a little boring waiting around for something to happen. Sometimes you need a little push.

Please review! ^-^

I'm going to end it soon so if anyone wants to see something tell me now!