The four teams were seated at Choji's favorite barbecue. Since it was a group of 16 they had had to push some tables together. Neither the staff nor the management minded; ninja were notorious for packing away food while not on missions, and there was an Akimichi with them, always a pleasant sight for a food establishment.

The teams had been mixed up seating-wise to further speed along the inter-team companionship, and the waitress had just left with their orders after leaving the drinks. Choji opened up a brown paper bag and pulled out an egg; tossing it from hand to hand, obviously hot.

"You brought your own appetizer?" Tenten asked.

Ino didn't even look, "Yeah, he grabs anything from the stalls that looks interesting." She glanced over, and realizing what he had, scrunched up her face. "Ugh, balut again? How can you eat that? You're a kind guy, and you say you like animals, but then you go and eat that!"

Choji rolled his eyes and cracked the shell off.

Sakura, ever curious, asked, "It's just an egg, isn't it? What makes it a 'balut'?"

Shikamaru sighed. "It's a chicken egg that's fertilized and had the fetus incubate twelve to sixteen days. There's a tiny bird inside, usually without feathers though… It's a staple food in tea country, but a lot of big cities around the nations have started having stalls of it."

Several genin had disgusted looks on their faces, which only grew when Choji bit off the top of the egg and reached into it with two fingers. Finding the treasure inside, he pulled out a partially formed pink bird-thing, and tossed it into his mouth. In the silence that followed, you could hear the tender bones snapping as he chewed it up and swallowed. Then he finished the rest of the egg in one bite, and smiled wide. He looked around at some of the genin staring at him.

"What? It's not my fault, if they didn't want to be eaten, they shouldn't be so tasty! Like none of you have eaten veal…"

"Toss one over here," Asuma called from down the table. Choji pulled another two out and threw one over hard enough that when Asuma caught it, the shell broke all over. Asuma nodded and unwrapped the shell.

Naruto got a soft elbow in his side, distracting him from the macabre ritual. Looking for the offending limb's owner, he met the smiling face of Kiba.

Making sure everyone was paying attention to the odd egg dish, Kiba half whispered, "So, you finally got your head out of your ass and got together with her, huh?"

Naruto didn't miss a beat. Imitating the Inuzuka's canine influenced body-language for the extra believability, he cocked his head sideways and asked, "Huh, what are you talking about?"

Kiba let out a chuckle. "Don't try to BS me, I can smell it coming a mile away. And more importantly, I can smell the two of you all over one another. Not just the way you do when the five of you meet up in your hideout either."

Naruto's eyes were narrowing. " You seem to know an awful lot. So, what's your point? This is rapidly becoming the worst kept secret in Konoha."

The other genin were talking to one another now to distract themselves from watching the two balut eaters, and Kurenai was occasionally frowning at Asuma when she thought none of the students were looking.

"Whoa, I'm not making trouble, I wanted to congratulate your dumb ass. You finally woke up and smelled the pheromones. Hell, the way it was affecting her team performance, I was planning on coming over and beating some sense into you. As to the worst kept secret; you know that between the four jonin, they're listening to all of the conversations at the table and keeping track, right?"

"Yes, I'm sure that if they all didn't know about her and I before, they will when they talk tonight. However, my sensei wouldn't care and probably knew already, he might not even tell the other jonin if he's the one listening to us. From what I've heard of Kurenai-san, she's the nurturing type who will want to help her student, and probably won't tell if she's listening. And if it's one of the others, I don't mind them sharing as long as they also pass along this next interesting fact."

"Oh? Do tell."

"I will. At the age of 13, I snuck into the ANBU break room and mixed powdered laxative into the half and half without anyone knowing. The jonin might think they have a secure home, but they might want to think twice before they piss me off. Sure, they can pound may ass to grass afterwards, but how satisfying will that be when they have to stop pummeling me every five minutes to take a dump?"

"Dude, you have the biggest set of metaphorical balls. You really think you can pull one over on one of our sensei?"

"With enough planning and information gathering, you can eventually get anyone. They can't kill me, and if they ruined our relationship, I would eventually get my revenge- no matter how much negative reinforcement they pointed my way. I only need to be lucky once to attack; they would have to be skilled every time to defend."

Kiba shook his head in awe. "Unobtainium. They're made of unobtainium."

Naruto grinned, then frowned, "So, was there anyone in class who didn't know about her attraction to me?"

"I wouldn't have known if I couldn't smell her change when ever she was near you. Man, Sasuke's fan-girls had nothing on her crush when she hit puberty. Man, those were some fine aromas she made."

"I'll hurt you if you continue that line of thought."

"Right, sorry. It's just cool to be able to tell how fertile or aroused a girl is with one whiff."

Naruto started to growl quietly. Kiba nodded and continued, "So Mr. Emo Butt never knew, and Ino might not have known. She's smarter than her hair color suggests, and she was gossip queen, but your girl never was very popular, so…"

Naruto sighed. "We want this secret, her father-"

"Yeah, of course, he might be tricky. Don't worry, although my entire clan will know within a month, that clan annoys ours quite frequently. None of us will tell, if nothing else than to pull one over on him."

Naruto looked at him, then bowed his head slightly. "Thank you."

"No problem! Just answer one question, keeping in mind there's a significant betting pool on this among the ol' academy boys; she always wears sweaters and jackets- what cup size is she really?"

Naruto snorted and grinned, "Why don't you smell out the ink on her bra tag, Wonder-nose?"

"Some things are beyond even the mighty noses of the Inuzuka, stupid."

Naruto was confused over one thing though, "So, why are you congratulating me? Normally you're an ass towards me, not that I don't give as much as I get."

"Really? We've been fighting for six years and you didn't know why? I swear, sometimes you're as dumb as a box of rocks. It's because you three abandoned me, and I was angry about it. Eventually it was just habit."

" 'Us three' who? When did I ever abandon you?"

Kiba muttered loud enough to hear, "Ugh, a wagon full of rocks. Assuming two rocks are stupider than one." Then he continued, "Remember back when we were eight and nine? How you, me, Shikamaru, and Choji would all sneak out of class together and goof off?"

"Good times, except for the fact we were all little idiots. But we never abandoned you. When we started hanging out with Shino, and then Hinata, you left."

"Well yeah! I was a brat; I still thought girls had cooties, and that Shino would give Akamaru and me fleas! As you said, we were little idiots. By the time I realized I was being stupid, you five wouldn't let me into your gang."

"I remember now. Yeah, we had some fights when you left, and when you tried to come back. That was two years later though, the five of us had been through a lot together in that time."

"Fine, but you guys totally snubbed me."

"We're really close, and you wanted to barge in on that. We did something together that forged us together like you'd find in good chunin teams."

"What was so special? Got in a fight?"

"Well, that was part of it, but most of it's an S-class secret."

"… That's pretty impressive, you smell as if you're telling the truth. It's hard to lie that convincingly."

"I swear I'm being completely serious. Actually, the secret is only tangential, but if I explained why we became so close because of the events, I'd have to reveal it as well. And I've never actually told any one about it."

"Well duh, it's an S-class secret. You'd probably be tortured to death or something."

"Nah, I'm the only one who can talk about it."

"… Wha? How… huh? Never mind, if you can tell me, what's the problem?"

"It's complicated. You might overreact, and I'm not comfortable sharing."

"So it's something personal? …About your humongous reserves then? Dude, we used to be friends; you could tell me that you find Gai hot and I wouldn't care. I'd make fun of you, but we'd still be cool."

Naruto looked at the boy for a minute. "… Fine, but not here. If you reacted poorly, and repeated what I said loud enough for anyone else to hear, you'd technically be guilty of spreading it, and could be executed."

"Whoa, harsh. Fine, we can talk about it somewhere private, but we really ought to reconnect. I mean, if we've just been jerks to each other out of inertia…"

"True. Not that I really disliked you, we just sort of had a fun rivalry thing going on."

The boys joined back into the greater conversation, the bridge of friendship's site license checked off and blueprints certified, if not quite repaired.

Naruto pondered Kiba. He looked silly, Naruto decided between conversations with the other genin. Akamaru must have weighed 35 pounds now, and probably had to be perched on Kiba's shoulders instead of his head now. Kiba had this ridiculous custom-made hood on his jacket to compensate for the dog's increased size, and the dog would frequently give his opinion to his human partner.

Naruto wondered when Akamaru was going to seriously grow. Like all Inuzuka hounds, he was destined to be large. But unlike most dogs, which matured almost completely within a year or slightly longer, Inuzuka hounds matured slowly, which was why they were so intelligent. The slower a species' maturity through it's infancy to adolescence, the smarter it was generally. By the time Kiba was twenty, Akamaru would shoot up in size, and might be able to speak like a human. Though the speech thing varied more from dog to dog, so that might take longer.

Three servers chose this point to come out with food, and placed dishes all over the tables. Everyone eagerly put their meat and vegetables on the grills, the sight and smell driving their hunger.

"So if we're going to be buddies again, we've got six or so years to catch up on," Naruto said, rotating his kabobs.

"Yeah, I guess. Why, you want to hear what I've been up too?"

"Might as well, the whole point of this exercise is team interaction. I'll share too, once I've told you about the thingy."

"Huh, why not. Let me tell you about the time Akamaru ran away for a week, and I found him staying with this cute civilian girl's family…"

oooooo

Everyone had had a pleasant lunch, and many of the genin learned more about each other through the discussions over the food. Everyone was following the jonin, who seemed to know where they were headed.

"So what's next?" Ino asked.

"Good question. Each time we meet, we will pair the teams together and run missions. Every time we'll rotate which teams work together. Today it's seven and nine, eight and ten," explained Asuma. "We'll find out what missions they saved for us at the tower."

oooooo

Teams Kakashi and Gai were standing in front of a sizeable field of harvested grain. Naruto didn't know enough about farming to tell if it was wheat or barley. The two teams had run at a good pace for an hour to the south of the village to get to this farm, where apparently they were going to get it ready to plow again.

"So what do we actually need to do to the field sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Burn it, so that the plant's nutrition is returned to the ground, and to kill any bugs or pests in the topsoil," Kakashi answered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Couldn't the farmer do that with a match? Fire jutsu are cool, but I doubt the farmer is paying a double D-rank for a lightshow."

"Yosh! There must be more to it! Our sensei wouldn't give us a mission that didn't further our training!" Lee proclaimed.

"RIGHT! Kakashi has left out an important step, my shining students! Notice that the field goes right up to the forest on three sides, and up to the road on the other. Now we have two options, trying to put out the fire after it goes into the forest is one. It is not a very good option, but it is open to us."

Kakashi continued, "Can anyone think of the other?"

Neji spoke up, "Obviously we must stop the fire before it reaches the forest, though I'm not sure how we are to accomplish that. Where is the nearest source of water?"

"Besides the farmer's hand-pump, and a well, there is a stream a quarter mile to the east. However I'll tell you up front that if we require water, we've already failed."

The genin pondered this for a minute. "Well, obviously a barrier would work, we could pile rocks along the edges like an enormous camp fire," Naruto suggested.

"Too impractical," Sakura said. "Farmers hate rocks, they take all of them they can find in the area and turn them into fences and buildings. If they lie in the field, they take room away from the crop, and damage tools. We wouldn't be able to find enough rocks without taking apart a structure. But a barrier must be the right answer. What if we used the earth wall technique?"

"A wonderful idea, Sakura, with two problems! While Kakashi and I could indeed enclose this field in the doryuuheki jutsu, this is a mission for you genin. And I do not believe that you can accomplish that feat yet, or that the rest of your team can perform it at all."

Sakura nodded and returned to thinking, deciding Kakashi must have shared some of his lesson plans. Tenten asked for clarification, "So we can't pour water around the edges to get it wet so it won't burn? Why wouldn't that work?"

"It would work," Kakashi admitted, "but it would use up most of the farmer's water supply." He looked at Gai who nodded. "But you all have come up with some good ideas, and are very close. The answer is to make a barrier, but not one of earth or water. Instead, we remove a yard or two of the field on each side. That way the fire will die out without any necessary effort on our part, except for the initial fire-break." He took out a scroll and released its sealed contents. Six hoes fell out onto the ground, and Naruto resisted the impulse to make a prostitute joke.

"SO my cute genin! Pair up and pick a side! Remove a six foot strip from each side along the entire length, excluding the side against the road!"

"YOSH/HAI!"

oooooo

Naruto had to admit, as he tried to keep up with Lee, that Gai's methods gave results however silly the man seemed. Naruto was no slouch physically; once he understood that he really did heal faster than others, he knew that he could capitalize on that in taijutsu. But even considering the extra year Lee had on him, the green spandexed boy was far ahead of Naruto physically; he even seemed to have as much or more stamina than Naruto, which the blond thought he was ahead of nearly everyone in. The two swung the hoes down and scraped the remains of the wheat (as it had turned out to be,) clearing a strip of earth along their side of the field.

"So you can only do taijutsu? And they still let you graduate? That's pretty impressive; I didn't know it was even possible to graduate without knowing the basic three."

"Thank you Naruto, it was challenging, and if it wasn't for Gai-sensei personally tutoring me, and vouching for me during the graduation tests, I would not be with you here today. Due to a genetic mutation, I am unable to expel chakra out of my body. That will not stop me from excelling as a ninja though; Gai-sensei has shown me the fires of youth, which I will fan into a towering inferno!"

Naruto smiled, "Well, you've got enough enthusiasm for two or three ninja, I'm sure you'll do great! I was a loser during most of the academy as well, but my friends helped me study and improve myself. I came out pretty decent, though most everyone in the village still dislikes me for my pranks, and delinquent past."

"You are the one who painted the monument? While it was definitely youthful, you should put that energy into training, not mocking heroes."

"I'm sorry you didn't care for it, but I have no regrets."

The two boys continued chopping and pushing wheat stalks to the sides.

"I didn't say I didn't care for it, Naruto, it was quite humorous. I will deny it if you tell anyone though."

The blond laughed, "Your secret's safe with me." They continued working in silence until Naruto had to ask. "I understand you admire Gai; he seems like a great guy, if eccentric, but is the suit part of the training?"

"Don't mock the suit! Gai-sensei promised it boosts my youthfulness and my training productivity! I always wear one except for bathing and sleeping! It helps me focus on training."

"Okay! I'm sure it's a great training outfit; don't you want to get 'youthful' with the ladies though?"

Lee actually stopped for a second, before starting again. "Yes, it is a dream of mine to find a beautiful flower and share my passionate love with her. However, Gai-sensei says that there is time for that later, after I have more mastery over the hard fist style. He says that for a true master, the art of the fist is one's first and truest love, and women are just pleasant distractions."

"Wow, that's harsh. You don't sound fully behind the idea though."

"Training is fulfilling, but have you ever seen an ugly kunoichi? I know that I do not appear attractive, and that Gai-sensei intentionally makes our uniforms unappealing. However, if that is the price one must pay temporarily for greatness, it is not that much to ask."

"Damn, that's commitment… You aren't forbidden from doing the five knuckle shuffle though, right?"

"Thank the heavens, no."

The two continued to talk about their teams, sensei, and interesting missions as they worked. Naruto was able to learn a fair amount from the more experienced genin, though it was filtered through Lee's interesting point of view. The sun was beating down, and they decided to take a short break under the shade of the trees, since the forest was just feet away. Naruto unraveled a scroll and released a bottle of his energy drink from it.

"Sorry I didn't bring more, if you want some you're welcome to it, but it puts the energy in energy drink."

Lee frowned, "Gai-sensei looks down on chemical enhancement. The cocktails we got in school are very carefully administered, and are necessary for proper development of a ninja through puberty. However, few have the knowledge to dose themselves, or the access to quality ingredients."

"Dude, this is a civilian drink, as in caffeine. I take it on med-nins orders because of a slight chemical imbalance in my brain. It's strong, but only like a pot or two of coffee strong, not an Akimichi soldier pill."

"Ah, my apologies, I'll take a sip then."

"Sure, one second, then you can have the rest."

Naruto drank most of it in a few swallows and handed the bottle to Lee, who sniffed it, shrugged, then knocked it back.

"An odd taste, almost like cough medicine, but strangely tasty."

"Yeah, it's sort of an acquired taste, I'm glad you didn't hate it though."

"Why are youtalkingsoslowlyNaruto?" the boy in green asked.

"I'm not talking slowly, why are you talking fast?"

"I'mnottalkingfast; wellwe'vehadabreak, backtowork."

Lee picked up a hoe and blurred forward, chopping a fire-break into the field at an astonishing rate. Naruto had seen ninja move blurringly quick before, Kakashi quite often appeared or disappeared from view using chakra enhanced speed alone. But that was usually just running. Lee was making a complex action that changed every time he came to new brush. Naruto looked at the fallen bottle, then back to the green blur.

Naruto whimpered. "Gai won't just kill me if bushy brows ODs, that would be too easy a way out."

The jinchuriki picked up the bottle and ran to where he had last seen the two jonin, by the side of the road. He found them leaning against the stone fence between the road and the field, holding umbrellas overhead.

"You look worried, Naruto-kun! What is the matter?"

"Um, Lee and I were taking a quick breather since we were making good time, and I let him drink a swallow of my energy drink."

"Energy drink? That shouldn't have any alcohol in it."

"Alcohol? It doesn't; what's that got to do with anything?"

"Yes Gai, what's up?"

"Lee is a natural drunken master, the smallest bit of alcohol will send him into a drunken stupor, where he becomes an even more formidable fighter than normal. However, he does not always think rationally while in this state, and it can be dangerous for himself and his allies. Tell me Naruto, did he sway and hiccup, as if an exaggerated caricature of a drunk?"

"No, here's the bottle, I swear there's nothing but a ton of caffeine!" Naruto tossed the bottle over to Gai, who sniffed the opening and read the label before tossing it to Kakashi.

"Could he have over reactions to stimulants as well?" asked Kakashi, looking over the bottle.

"A natural drunken master is rare, it was once a blood limit before it got spread around. Now it takes three separate recessive genes for one to be born with it. To have an over reaction to stimulants as well would be very unlikely."

"All I can say is that he is acting like an 'exaggerated caricature' of a speed freak. Would any of this have to do with his inability to mold chakra externally?"

"Ah! I am uncertain, but they may all be on the same chromosome. Very well, I will have to ascertain my student's wellbeing in person!" Gai collapsed the umbrella and tossed it to Kakashi, then sped towards not Naruto's side of the field, but the girls'. Kakashi shrugged, collapsed his umbrella, and sealed them both in a scroll.

"Well, come on, we can't see anything interesting from here."

Naruto nodded and followed, as Kakashi started a lazy jog (for him) towards the same spot Gai was headed.

oooooo

Naruto was often reminded of how far he had to go when he tried to keep up with Kakashi when the man wasn't even taking it seriously. He arrived next to the two sensei, as well as Tenten and Sakura. They were all watching Lee attacking the field as if he was a miniature tornado, ripping a straight path down the side of the field. Naruto looked to the left to find that this end of his side appeared completed.

"What's going on sensei? He doesn't look drunk, but he's definitely acting strange. He almost looks like when he opens the first gate," Tenten worried.

"You taught him to open the gates? Isn't that rash, Gai?"

"I trust my student to behave and use the power responsibly. Lee follows the path very well. As to his current problem, I think I will test his abilities until he snaps out of it." The massive green 'beast' ran towards Lee and shouted, "LEE, SPAR ME!"

Lee spun around and grinned, thrusting the handle of the hoe a foot into the ground. "HAI!" He flew at his teacher, and the two clashed.

oooooo

Naruto had heard many metaphors for battle, though some of them applied better to certain types of conflict. Ninjutsu was often compared to an elemental fireworks display, and swordfights and certain taijutsu compared to dance, or even ballet. It was said that ANBU could come across a battle site and see the battle take place in their heads, often to music to visualize it better.

This was art, but nothing as pretty as dance.

CRACK

The shins of the two green fighters met at a speed that would have broken many ninjas' legs.

WHAP WHACK THACK WHAP

Lee launched a combo, each strike blocked by his mentor.

WHOOSH SWAP

Gai swung an uppercut through the space Lee's jaw had been fractions of a second before, then swung a cross that Lee blocked by pushing it off course.

Lee spun, bringing his foot around in a move that would cave in most opponents' chests, but Gai blocked easily. Lee pushed off the arm even as Gai attempted to grab his leg, spinning in the opposite direction even faster with an arm outstretched. Gai caught the arm and continued the motion; throwing his student around him, then angling it down to the earth. Lee impacted the ground on his knees and free hand though, and Gai allowed the impact to free his grip on Lee's arm.

Back to their starting positions, with little actual damage done, the fighters started again.

oooooo

By this time, the commotion had drawn the attention of Sasuke and Neji, who had hurried over at the sounds of the commotion. Sasuke was nearly as in awe as Sakura, who at one point had her jaw drop open. Naruto was impressed as well, though mostly at the notion that one of the fighters was only a year older than him. He had seen the Hokage practice Kata, and while not the same as a spar, it was quite the sight.

Even Neji was looking slightly surprised, and as a Hyuuga that spoke quite a bit.

"I take it he's not normally this good?"

Tenten shook her head, "No, he's great, but this is the speed he goes at when he's opened the first Gate, though he's not hitting as hard." She looked at Neji and grinned, "I think he could beat you like this!"

Neji frowned and glared at the two fighters, his eyes activated. "… You may be correct, Gai never allows Lee to fight me with the Gates open. This is with his weights on, as well. If he were to take them off, and perform like this… How did this come about, anyway?"

"Um, I shared some of my energy drink with him. I didn't know he'd react like this to caffeine. Didn't he have tea at lunch?"

"Yes, on several occasions I've seen him drink caffeinated products. There must be a threshold before this triggers," Neji explained.

"If there aren't any side affects to this…" Tenten began.

"There are, I can see some short term ones right now," Neji answered, "his heart and lungs are working much more rapidly, and his whole body is hotter than it should be, even in a taijutsu match. He's in such exquisite shape that it probably won't hurt him long term; no more than opening the first gate anyway, probably much less. But knowing Gai-sensei, he will limit the use of this ability quite a bit… Ah, he's slowing down."

The 'spar', which for most genin would count as the hardest life or death battle they'd ever been in, had reached an amazing pace, but was now slowing down again. Eventually, everyone was able to see the two combatants clearly again, as opposed to the blurry images they had been.

"HOLD!"

The master and apprentice leapt back and bowed to each other, then Lee fell back onto his butt, breathing hard. Gai was sweating a bit himself, and taking long, deep, measured breaths, before starting some light cool down stretches. Everyone waited for Lee to recover.

"Everyone was not moving slow, were they?"

"No Lee! We have found a new aspect of your fighting capabilities! You appear to have strong reactions to large amounts of caffeine, and possibly other stimulants! We will test this ability for the next week or so to figure out it's limits and side effects. You appear fine, but when we return, you and I shall head to the hospital as a precaution."

"Hai sensei! May I return to the mission?"

"I'm afraid not, Lee. You have completed more than your fair share of the work, you must leave some for the others!"

Kakashi looked at the completed side, and what was left of the other two sides that needed a fire-break. "Naruto, get the spare hoes together and bring them to me. Then practice your chakra control, you've caused enough wackiness for today."

"Hai."

oooooo

Naruto was sitting near the jonin and Lee, who were all under umbrellas (Lee and Gai shared of course). Slightly annoyed that he wasn't in the shade as well, he understood the only reason Lee was, was because of his incident. Naruto wasn't letting the heat bother him too badly though, and was practicing hovering a kunai when the girls walked up.

"Our side's done, sensei! Lee completed a large amount of it."

"Good, practice your earth jutsu after you rest a bit. I assume you know what you should be doing, Tenten," Kakashi said, eyes never leaving his book. Gai had his eyes closed, enjoying the heat and light breeze together.

"Normally I'd carve out a target on a tree, but the sun is oppressive today. I wish I had my sealing supplies, I could practice that."

Naruto perked up, "That's right, you use fuinjutsu! Here, I'm sure you've read this already, but I'm still trying to fight through it." Naruto handed his well-read sealing guide to the girl. Kakashi smiled a bit when Naruto pulled it out, not that anyone could tell with his mask on.

"You practice? Neat!" Tenten looked at the cover. "No, actually, I've never heard of this one. That's odd, I thought I had checked out all of the beginner and most of the intermediate level books at some point so far."

"Huh, maybe it's old; my academy sensei, Iruka, got it for me when he heard I was interested in the subject. Someone's written a lot of notes in the margins, some of them I don't understand, but some of it's brilliant. I used to day dream that this was Jiriya's personal copy, but if that were true, there would be a lot more sketches of naked chicks."

Tenten was smiling until he got towards the end. "Ugh, that stupid pervert. From what I've heard of him, you're probably right. It's amazing that someone that skilled can have vices like that."

"Most famous ninja have weird eccentricities about them; I know you admire Tsunade, but she-"

"I know, don't remind me. I like to pretend those are exaggerations and rumor-mongering… Actually, this book is pretty good, do you think I could borrow it?"

"Well, it was a gift, if anything happened to it…"

"Of course I'd take care of it! I'll get you another until I've looked through this. How far are you anyway? This says it's a beginners guide, but it leaves out a lot of things I've seen in others, and at the end it does some really complicated topics."

"I can make simple storage scrolls, and I was able to reverse the kinetic chilling seals in Teamwork River."

Kakashi and Sakura snorted, then Kakashi continued to chuckle under his breath.

"I admit I forgot to limit the amount of heat it would produce, I thought that would be taken care of by another section of the seal."

"So that's why that river is freezing," Tenten exclaimed. "Damn, I never thought of seals. It was fall when we did it. Ugh, it was miserable. Can you give me a rough sketch of it, and how you modified it? Oh, and one of your storage seals if you have one on you."

Naruto nodded and grabbed a scroll from a belt loop, then handed it over. "Hmm, I guess I can remember the layout, I couldn't actually replicate it though."

"Of course. Just etch it into the earth with a kunai." She said, looking over the storage scroll.

Naruto did so, then drew the modified version as best as he could remember them both. Tenten looked at them, and checked the appendix of the book a few times. "Actually, your reversal was quite good for field work, did you consult the book?"

"Nope, though I should have, that way I would have known to put a limiter over there," he pointed at part of the modified version.

"Draw it in now."

Naruto shrugged and carefully carved in the missing limiter.

"Hmm. That's an interesting way of doing it. The standard way is to draw it like this, and it's more robust, but it takes up more room than your way," she demonstrated on the ground.

"I think your book left out things it assumed your sealing master would have taught you, this is an older book. You've done pretty good on your own, and you have an interesting way of looking at seals. I'm a bit jealous, I'm farther ahead, but you'll probably come up with interesting solutions others wouldn't. Still, you need to learn the parts you're missing. I'm guessing that some parts of the book don't make sense?"

"Yeah, that's why it's taken me so long to get through it. That and my handwriting sucked so bad at the beginning, I blew up my first few seals."

"Ha, don't worry, I've burnt off my eyebrows a few times myself, though more because of design flaws than handwriting. I'm going to give you my old beginner's guides, and I want you to read them all the way through, even if a lot of it is stuff you already know. By the time you're done with that, I should be done reading this, and we'll both be farther along than we are now!"

"Wow, thanks! Do you think we can talk shop occasionally? I don't know of anyone else who's really into sealing in the village."

"Sure, that would be fine! I know there are some chunin who can crank out really good exploding tags, but none of them know how it works, they've just practiced three or four designs for years. I know there must be some advanced sealers in the village, but I can't seem to find any. Until today, I thought I was the only one under 40 interested in actually learning the art."

Kakashi spoke up, "Ah, the under 40 part is the tricky bit. Most of the good fuinjutsu practitioners are clan elders, especially the Hyuuga, Yamanaka, and Nara, with a few Aburame as well. Obviously, the elders don't get out and about much, but train new clan members as they retire from active service, or after marriage. Few genin understand or respect the art, as it takes a lot of sitting and writing, and not much action. If explosive tags weren't sold freely to any official ninja, I bet the picture would be very different, but as things are, it's more of something to do to as you age."

"That's stupid; it's hard, sure. But you can do anything your imagination can come up with if you are good enough with sealing!"

"True enough, but the better you get at any skill, the harder it is to get to the next step. This is especially true with sealing. With your shadow clones, you will have a big advantage over almost everyone, more time for practice."

"Do you think any of the elders would help us?" Tenten asked hopefully.

Kakashi closed his book and stared into the distance. "There might be one or two. Probably not any of the Hyuuga. I'd ask Shikamaru, but I doubt anyone will take you on unless you show obvious skill or talent. Keep hitting those books until you can't seem to go any farther, and master the basics. I actually know a fair amount on the subject, so when you two need someone to look over something, I wouldn't mind. Just don't expect to be asking me questions constantly, I'm not a tutor, and you should work on the simple stuff on your own."

"Man, I wish you had told me you knew sealing sensei, you could have told me to get a different book a while ago," Naruto complained.

"Nah, that's the book I learned with. Keep track of it; it's very good, and they don't print it anymore… Gai, have you thought about teaching Lee fuinjutsu? The blood is a medium for the chakra release, I'm sure that he's able to draw and release seals."

Lee perked up in interest, never having considered that path, despite having used sealing scrolls and exploding tags occasionally on missions.

"Mmm, I have considered it Kakashi, but as you have pointed out, the path to being a powerful fuin-jutsu user is a long and time consuming journey. In order to be a decent ninja one must be decent in all fields; to be an excellent ninja one must be good in all fields and excel in one or two. Since some fields are closed to Lee, he must truly master a field, to become better than all others! He will become better than I am, to the point where he can shut down an S-rank fight on the strength of his taijutsu alone!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee! I'm not done yet, though." Lee tilted his head, not used to that response. Gai continued, "If Lee is to become the very best in taijutsu, he must spend nearly all his focus on it. Additionally, while you are very bright Lee, you do not have the temperament to be a master sealer, nor the special near-insanity of imagination. You and I are men of action! The shortest path between points A and B is to follow behind our fists! Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Everyone closed their eyes and turned away this time.

"That's just creepy."

The two green men parted, and the beach receded back, to leave the field once more.

"Sensei, must you act so embarrassing? We're done by the way," Neji said, coming from the third side with Sasuke.

Naruto jumped up, "Is it time to light this barbecue up?"

"But what about all the innocent forest creatures Lee?" Neji asked in a sickly sweet tone.

Lee looked around, "Ahh! There must be dozens of furry forest creatures eating stray wheat! I can see three from here! Gai-sensei, we can't burn it now!"

Tenten rolled her eyes as Neji smirked; team seven looked at each other in disbelief.

Gai frowned, "Neji brought up a good point, though I will be speaking to him later," the man glared at Neji, who almost looked contrite, though it was always hard to tell with Hyuuga. "The reason we accepted this mission is to teach you about the circle of life, and how that relates to ninja. You see, children; this field is dead now, and although hundreds of animals are gorging themselves on stray wheat the farmer missed or knocked loose, they will have finished it within a day or two. What will they eat then? The field must be burned for new life to grow once again!"

"If I may add," Kakashi interjected, "this goes back to the very nature of fire. While fire is by it's very nature, a destructive force, it is also the symbol of resurrection. Just as a phoenix dies and burns to ashes, before being reborn; destroying a field, or a wolf, or an evil dictator can bring new life where it was dying out. Destruction is never the end goal. Destruction is only useful when one can rebuild or regrow something better to replace it."

"Thank you Kakashi, very true. While specific destruction can be beneficial, we must always ask, 'will this cause more joy than sorrow? Is the deaths of these few worth the result?'"

The genin pondered their senseis' words. Naruto waited a minute or two, then asked "So do the ends, a new crop, justify the means, furry animals in agonizing burny death?"

Kakashi rolled his eye, and Gai frowned. "Fortunately Naruto, we can have the first without the second. Fires happen in the wild all the time. The birds can fly, the rabbits and predators can run. Some insects will die, as will the sick and the elderly, but that too is the circle of life. Some animals will live through it without even moving! Though the snake may not be fast enough to outrun the fire, the field is not dense, the grass will burn very quickly and then go out, leaving some animals scorched, but alive. As long as we start the fire in one spot and let it radiate out, most of the animals should be fine."

"Sasuke, care to have the honor? One phoenix fire should do it, put it in the middle of the edge along the road."

Sasuke nodded, and everyone got on the other side of the stone fence. Going through the seals, Sasuke launched three small fireballs in a tight grouping where Kakashi had indicated.

oooooo

The two teams stood and watched as the fire crept over the field, consuming the grass. As promised, there was a mass exodus of furry critters, as well as a cloud of insects that flew off. Even Kakashi was watching, and had temporarily put away his book.

"They should have sent a poet," Naruto said quietly, though he was audible over the crackle of the fire.

Sakura snorted, "I read poetry when I was younger, you can find entire books of poetry about the deadly beauty of fire and so on. Most anything of value has already been said, all that remains is to read it, or view it firsthand."

They continued watching in silence.

oooooo

As the fire died out, and everyone prepared to leave, Naruto asked, "Gai-sensei, forgive me if this is too personal, but is it true that you are celibate to focus yourself on your art?"

"I don't mind Naruto; yes, for all but fourteen days of the year I keep myself focused away from women."

"Fourteen days?" Lee asked confused.

"I have not explained myself apprentice? Truly, I have failed you for making you think you must go throughout life without passion! Yes, once a month, I go into a bar and take the most attractive two or three available ladies home to ravish until the early morning!"

Kakashi was holding back guffaws as the genin looked at the Green Beast, horrified at the thought.

"Is he serious, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Oh, quite serious. One of his winning challenges against me was to see which of us could pick up women faster. He won hands down. You've never heard a pickup line quite like his before."

Sakura looked physically ill, and even Tenten looked uneasy at the idea, despite having known the man for longer. "Sooo… what's this pickup line, huh?" Sasuke asked casually.

Gai laughed uproariously, "Ah, I'm afraid you must be a master of taijutsu to use it. You're all a bit young, but I suppose it won't hurt. LEE! You must wait another year before you use this technique! And remember to never consume any alcohol while in the bar!"

"Hai sensei! I swear sensei!"

"Good! I walk into the bar, wait for a lull in the music, and announce "I CAN DO A HUNDRED PUSHUPS WITH MY TONGUE!"

Kakashi could barely control his laughter at the site of the genins' faces. Oh, he would remember this for a long time.

Naruto finally recovered enough to ask, "So what happens when they don't believe you?"

"Ah, good question! I admit, it is a small fib, but I find that if I put a plate on the floor and start proving it, the women usually start ripping off my clothing by the 20th rep!"

You could hear a pin drop as the genin all processed that mental image.

Kakashi couldn't take it anymore, "Haaa haaaa haaaa! Oh, the look on your faces, I'll never forget it, literally!"

Gai grinned and rolled his eyes at the in-joke, he had seen Kakashi pull his mask back for a moment, revealing his other eye while the genin were all looking in shock at the bizarre ladies man.

"Damn, that's brilliant! You actually work out your tongue?" Naruto asked.

"Well, the first few times I just opened the first gate to do it; but yes, now I train my tongue specifically for that. I admit, I can't reach a hundred yet though."

Sakura and Tenten were looking at Lee in a different light now, but both eventually shook their heads, as if to free it from a bad idea.

"Wait, that only accounts for twelve days, what are the other two?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask.

"My birthday, and valentines!" Gai answered.

The boys nodded, for once he made sense.

The fire was out now, and the sun was getting low. Everyone was ready to head off, so they checked the field one last time before heading back to turn in the completed mission.

oooooo

End Chapter the Ninth

A/N: Apologies to Nugar; from which the field scene was blatantly stol- er, I mean, I was inspired by his story. Yes. And Rorschach's Blot, whose tongue pushup joke deserves much praise. Both are fine authors who deserve your attention more than I, in the unlikely event you haven't already read all of their stuff.