II

.

"I've never heard of Maito Gai."

Arms folded across her chest, Naruto purses her lips after she speaks, even as her mind is cast back, wondering if what she has just said is in fact true. The name doesn't ring a bell but, then again, she knows most ninja by the appearance. Or by their voice, their jutsus, their chakra. A whole lot of things, but not names. They don't really tend to introduce themselves when it's time to catch her post-prank.

"If you had ever seen him, you would remember him. A bowl-cut and green… spandex." There's a stunned moment of silence as Naruto processes what her friend (her best friend, her only friend) has said. Then, she bursts out laughter.

"Oh my god, you go the Youth-man!" She's only ever seen him racing around the village, always training or bellowing about challenging his eternal rival to a battle. But it is exactly as Neji said; once you've seen this 'Gai-sensei', you don't forget him. From the pained look on his face, Neji has already resigned himself to this overly loud presence in his life. It's also alike the expression he wore when she kept popping up again and again and again in his.

Even if she knows he planned the first few times they met. Naruto's far from the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but she's not completely stupid. Why Neji had wanted to hang out with, she doesn't really know. But she has benefited from it. It's because of Neji that she got the henge down; it's because of Neji that she knows she has too much chakra for a clone illusion. She just can't do it; it's like trying to fill a shot glass with a water dragon jutsu. There's too much. Too much power, too much water, too much to get a refined trickle. It all flood out and Naruto just can't stop it. No matter the chakra control she develops, no matter how many leaves she sticks to her skin, no matter how many times she runs up walls (and that's another thing she needs to thank Neji for).

As for Neji… well, Neji's learnt how to keep going. That's really all Naruto's been able to teach him; the only thing she's better at than him is powering through, in keeping going when every other person would go down. Naruto's many things and a stamina freak is one of them. Neji'd had no choice but to build his own, otherwise he'd have lost their every friendly spar simply because Naruto would keep getting up after taking whatever punishment he'd dish out (and man, could he dish out punishment. Especially now that he's mastered that funky Hyūga style thing that she apparently can't learn without his freaky eyes) unless he put her down permanently.

But then he'd have had to explain to Jiji just why she was unconscious and Naruto rather gets the feeling that Neji would very much like to avoid that.

The Hyūgas are stuck-up assholes. It's exactly why she'd graffitied their South wall. Even if Jiji had made her wash it all off afterwards.

And yes, she's including Neji in that stuck-up bracket. He's just her stuck-up asshole, okay?

"You'll have new training techniques to show me soon then, right?!" Naruto chirps, rubbing her hands together in gleeful anticipation. She'd learnt wall-walking from Neji after all and even if she still can't do the shitty clone (the one thing that'd stopped her graduating with Neji, no matter how much she'd raged and screamed and had to scamper off to nurse her wounded pride), it's helped with her chakra. She just knows it has.

"You cannot rely on me to be your sole source of information. As a genin, I shall be occupied by missions to better the village, including ones that may take me outside of the Land of Fire."

"Yeah, you leaving is gonna suck. I'll miss ya loads, you know?" Cocking her head up to look at Neji (another irritating thing; he's taller than her, by nearly a whole head now and it's just not fair!). Naruto links her fingers and rests them behind her head, grinning. She's gonna miss him so much when he goes off on his missions, but it'll give her the chance to train sole, to catch up while he's off saving princesses or whatever.

Man, he better not get the super cool missions until she's a genin and can go with him! She'll ace this next graduation for sure!

She just needs to master that stupid clone jutsu!

.


.

"Yes, young Neji! How may I help you!"

Maito Gai's voice booms across the training ground and it's only because Tenten and Lee are both preoccupied enough to not eavesdrop (what with retrieving weapons and completing more laps respectively) that Neji does not cringe. He is now three weeks into his career as a Genin and it has been… hellish. The only comfort he takes is that Tenten suffers as he does. Regardless, he does hold some semblance of respect for Gai; the man truly is a master of taijutsu. That much is clear.

If only he weren't so infuriatingly loud then perhaps Neji may even come to enjoy training.

"I wanted to enquire about clone jutsus. I was under the impression there were more chakra intensive options than what is showcased in the academy."

"Yes! The shadow clone jutsu would be one to fit your description! It is indeed very chakra intensive; you do not yet have the reserves to apply this technique effective. It is a great goal to strive towards!" Gai plants one heavy fist into the meat of his other hand, dark eyes gleaming. "I shall endeavour to get you to a stage in your shinobi career where you can effectively make use of a such a jutsu! Then we may go see the Hokage about allowing you to read the forbidden scroll in order to learn its secrets!"

Sweet Sage, he does hope Gai doesn't talk like this to his opponents; the sheer amount that Neji has learnt from his single question is enough to have his head spinning. Surely not; the man is a Jōnin, he must know better than to talk to his enemy… Mustn't he?

.

Neji thinks very little of it when he reports back to Naruto what he has learnt; that there is a clone technique that requires far more chakra than he himself has access to. He recommends that she speak to the Hokage, with whom she has a strangely close relationship. Though, given what he has long suspected of her, then perhaps it is not so strange.

Jinchūriki, from what he has managed to deduce over years of covert study, are very much disliked by the populous. It generated a breeding ground for resentment, which is why the Biju holders are more often than not related to the Kage of a village in some form or another. The orphaned Uzumaki Naruto looking to the Hokage as her grandfather? It's clear textbook manipulation and it's obviously worked; Naruto's desperate to be Hokage, to be in charge of the village her grandfather loves.

It makes Neji sick but he cannot pull the rug from her feet. Not yet, not until he knows with the utmost certainty that Naruto is a Jinchūriki.

The large chakra reserves are another indicator, but the clan name she wears may also contribute. According to his textbooks and history scrolls, the Uzumaki were well known for their large reserve.

So yes, Neji does not consider it too much of an issue to share this knowledge with Naruto. He should have known to do so was a poor idea.

Two days later, all of the forces are on alert after the theft of the forbidden scroll.


...surprise?