Akimichi Chouji; 6 Years Later

Age: 18

-Our Team Clicked-

"To a year in the mountains!" said Gai as he held up a glass.

I'd toast to that!

"A year in the mountains!" Naruto, Kiba and I agreed.

Well, now that we've officially been up in the mountains training for a year, we were finally going back home.

While I was excited to get home and see my friends again, I had made really good friends with Kiba and Naruto and kind of didn't want it all to end! We had some really good times up in the mountains!

On second thought, I just really really wanted to go home.

We were just eating our fill at a local restaurant that was half way down the mountain. One thing I definitely missed about home were the fine restaurants! The restaurants were okay here, but not as good as the ones back in Konoha.

"Kiba, get your dog off the table!" Naruto said suddenly as he started to push Kiba's dog off the table. He probably shouldn't do that. Akamaru's pretty old.

But Kiba didn't seem to mind.

He only laughed.

"Akamaru, are you going to take that from Naruto?" Kiba said.

Akamaru barked at Kiba.

"You're no fun anymore, Akamaru." Kiba replied.

Kiba was such an odd duck.

And Naruto wasn't exactly normal either.

Though who was I to assess their normality? I must have looked like the biggest freak of them all since I most likely doubled all of their sizes put together, including Gai's.

None of them were very big people, and then there was me.

It was uncomfortable at times. I had recently gotten a lot bigger in just a year so it made training a lot harder since I had to adjust to my changing body more than the other two did. But once the changes settled in, everything only went uphill.

"Okay…" said Gai. "As soon as we finish eating, we're going to have one last training session before continuing on our way! How's that sound, youthful students of mine?"

"Yes sir!" we all said.

Naruto and Kiba both looked like they'd be finishing up at any point so I had to be quick.

My water was running out and a waitress came over with a pitcher of water.

But, just like the other waitresses before her, she gave a dreamy sigh and looked at Kiba who was only sitting idly by with a glass filled with water.

"Do you need your water refilled?"

"No." said Kiba. "Thanks though!"

I wanted to say something about the fact that my glass was empty, but I was getting far too much amusement over the fact that Kiba had no idea that all the waitresses in this restaurant were completely smitten by his appearance.

If one more waitress came over, I was definitely going to give him a little hint as to the fact that they were just trying to make up excuses to talk to him. With his dog-like hearing, you'd expect him to be able to notice that they were all giggling in the corner of the room.

Even I could hear them.

"Hey Kiba." Naruto whispered. I leaned in so I could hear the conversation too. "Which one do you like the best?"

"One what?" Kiba asked obliviously.

"Waitress, you dolt!" Naruto said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

I tried to keep my laughter in, but what Kiba said next just pushed me over the edge. "Oh I don't know. They all seem really efficient. All three of them really just want to wait on my water!"

I laughed out loud, but tried to cover my mouth.

Naruto only shook his head.

"The waitress with blond hair smells the best." Kiba tried. He wasn't sure what Naruto was saying and he wasn't sure why I was laughing.

"Just…stop." I advised him between laughs.

"Students!" Gai announced randomly as he stood on his chair. I looked around the room to see that everyone was now staring at us and whispering about our strange behavior… as if anyone except Gai was being strange. "When you have eaten your full, meet me behind the restaurant where we will commence our training session!"

When we've eaten our full?

That means there's still time to eat.

I don't know why Kiba and Naruto jumped up as fast as they could.

Gai said we could eat our full so I was going to eat my full.

There was no sense in being hungry later, right?

They both waited for me as Gai threw himself a parade and marched outside. Kiba and Naruto were sort of staring at me so I began to feel self conscious but they'd understand if they were apart of my clan. I'm bigger so I have to eat more…it's part of my advanced bloodline…

When I was finished, I went with Kiba and Naruto outside.

"This training exercise will focus on an extremely important aspect of becoming a ninja." Gai said as he picked up a rope. "Getting up when you're down, even when you're against all odds!"

I already didn't like where this was going. Why would he be introducing a new concept to us on our way back down the mountain?

"I shall tie one of you to a tree somewhere in this vast forest." Gai said, looking off at a forest behind him. "Then, on my word, the other two must leap into the trees, locate their partner and set him free."

"Piece of cake!" Kiba said.

I wonder when he was going to realize that whenever he said things like that, it just gave Gai incentive to make it that much harder.

And I was right. I watched as a smirk crept across Gai's face.

"At that point, it'll be a race between you three and me to get back to the top of the mountain." Continued Gai.

"Back to the top!" Naruto yelled before I even realized what he had just said. "We're half way down!"

"I hope you were all paying attention on the way down." Gai said"Because, if you don't beat me to the top then we will spend another entire year up there training for the exam."

Another year?

…Another…year?

"Another YEAR?" said Kiba.

How could a decision like that be assessed in a single training exercise?

"Yes!" said Gai. "To add to it all, I will begin my trek up the mountain as soon as I signal the two teammates to enter the forest to free the third so I will have a head start."

"What, you need a head start?" Naruto asked him.

Almost immediately, Gai leapt foreward and punished Naruto for his insolent behavior.

"NO! What did I say before I began this explanation! This training exercise is focused on coming back after you're down and fighting against all odds! If your enemy is ahead of you, you must be able to catch up with him and beat him to the target! Am I understood?"

"Yeah." Kiba said. "We shouldn't lose too much time finding whichever one of you two are going to be tied up because me and Mamemaru will be able to find you in a second."

Oh no. Why does he say stuff like that!

"Unfortunately, in the ninja world, you cannot just go around deciding who is the captured one. Missions are unpredictable! It's impossible to plan for anything! Therefore, I have elected Kiba to be the victim!"

"WHAT!" the three of us yelled, even though I had pretty much assumed that that would be yet another twist.

"Don't I have a say in the matter!" Kiba asked.

"Would you have in a say in the matter if you were captured in a REAL ninja mission!" Gai said.

He had a point…but that was still way too many conditions…

"You two are not to move until I return!" said Gai as he grabbed Kiba and dragged him off.

I sighed. Only Naruto and I were there.

"I really don't want to be up here another year." I said.

"I could go either way." Naruto said.

I felt like we should have been talking strategy, but the both of us were engaged in our own thoughts. I doubted Naruto actually felt that way about staying an extra year in the mountains, but I wasn't about to tell him he was wrong.

Gai suddenly appeared up on a rock over by the edge of a cliff.

"GO!" he bellowed, striking a pose.

I think it was pretty obvious that it was essential to find Kiba first. Kiba was the fastest of the three of us and he would be able to track our way back up the mountain a lot easier.

"Chouji, hurry up!" Naruto yelled.

"I can't go faster than this…" I called back.

"Sticking together is key!" I heard a voice yell. Before I knew what was happening, a large boulder came rumbling down the mountain.

"Look out!" Naruto yelled.

Like I needed to look out. It was easier for me to just go right through the boulder instead of taking all the time and energy to dodge it.

"Chouji!" Naruto yelled as he slowed down.

"Just keep going!" I yelled at him. Obviously he had forgotten about the fact that crashing through a boulder was easy.

Naruto was still watching me. I was fine. He had to keep going. When he finally saw me, he turned and continued on his way until we reached the ledge Gai had been up on earlier.

"It'll be shorter if we climb right up!" Naruto yelled to me.

I looked up at the tall ledge.

Easy for him to say…

Naruto had small body and a low center of gravity so that made it easy for him to do things like dodge… and climb…

But then there's someone like me who couldn't even fathom doing such things.

Naruto had already started climbing, though, so I didn't have much choice.

"Ha!" came Naruto's voice above me. "We've got nothing to worry about! Gai's not even close to the top!"

"Have I taught you NOTHING!" I heard Gai yell. Didn't he say that he was going to the top of the mountain?

If I had been prepared for impact, I would have easily been able to catch Naruto or at least brace myself. But, because he literally came out of nowhere and crashed right into me, I lost my grip on the side of the mountain and proceeded to fall down the mountain.

I didn't know how far we fell. I knew that I wouldn't be hurt by the fall, but I definitely had to protect Naruto. I took most of the damage on the way down until we finally came to a stop.

I felt like I couldn't breath. Almost on cue, raindrops fell from the sky. After only a few moments, the rain began to fall more heavily.

It was almost as if we were being told by some unknown force that we had failed. Another year up in the mountains to train was inevitable. No doubt Gai was going to look at our terrible performance and fail us. If that had been a real mission then we wouldn't have rescued the prisoner and we would have returned late, empty-handed.

"AHEM!" Gai said.

I turned around to see Gai standing there with a discombobulated looking Kiba at his feet.

"Students of mine…" Gai said dramatically. "It is decided. We will spend… one more year on the mountain!"

I couldn't believe it.

One more year.

I had never imagined that Consolidation would be this hard.