To anyone who thinks I made Naruto a little too polite, let me ask you this, if you had been trained by the demon king who had a short fuse for six years, wouldn't you be inclined to be a little more polite too?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. ON TO THE FANFICTION!
Chapter 16 – Bushy Brows and an Old Friend
Last time:
"Interesting, what are the names of his students?" Another genin with long brown hair and a hitai-ite made with black cloth and some belt like attachments asked his teammates.
"They are only rumors, but the names I have are..."
This Chapter:
Four days, several hundred clones and many hours of training later. Naruto was walking up to the academy, he was slightly tired. From all the clones he created for Sasuke to fight, all the clones he made for Sakura to fight and then all the chakra he used helping Sakura perfect her techniques and teaching her one new one.
He had trained some himself as well, he had copied a couple of new seals he hoped would help in the exam. He was getting used to the dual wield work of the broadswords but he was still a little wet behind the ears with them. The knives he could use easily since they had given lessons on how to fight with kunai in the academy, the only difference was the knives being single edged. He'd also taken all the weapons from the last C-rank mission, the weapons he didn't want anyway, and put them in a new scroll. He'd left the scroll that stored the blood clone controlled by Kyuubi, back at the compound since he'd be inside the village and probably wouldn't need him for these exams. He'd kept the new weapons attached though, incase there would be fighting in the exam.
He walked up to Sasuke who was leaning against the fence outside the academy. "Hey Teme, been waiting long?"
"Hn." Was Sasuke's reply.
"That long, huh?" Naruto said.
Sasuke looked at him strangely. "Hn?"
"Nah, I don't understand you every time you use that non verbal 'Hn' of yours, but I have a pretty good idea what you mean when you use it." Naruto explained, grinning. Sasuke just gave him an incredulous look.
"Ohayou Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun!" Came the tired voice of Sakura.
"Damn, Sakura-chan, you look pretty tired. You stayed up late practicing your jutsu didn't you?" Naruto said in a concerned and slightly angry tone.
"I know you told me not to Naruto-senpai, but I wanted to make sure I had them all down. Besides I made it here didn't I?" Sakura replied with a smile.
Sasuke was giving her a slightly surprised look. 'She's been practicing her jutsus? She does look pretty tired and it looks like the 'depleted chakra' kinda tired. She was pretty stupid to train to this point especially before the exam. Still, if the jutsus she's been practicing are anything like the jutsus I saw her use last then that is pretty impressive. Maybe she's worth my time?' Sasuke thought, looking Sakura over. He noticed the changes that had occurred since the academy, the way she'd adapted her clothing and hairstyle to fit with her ninja life. He also noticed she was still wearing the weights Naruto had given her, even now when she was tired. He, of course, also wore weights now. He kept them hidden under the leg and arm warmers he usually wore.
"Hey, earth to Sasuke-teme! We're going to head out for the exam room now, are you gonna come with or are you just gonna stand there and check Sakura-chan out some more?" Naruto said as he waved his hand in front of Sasuke's face.
Both Sasuke and Sakura blushed at Naruto's comment about him checking her out. He started to splutter out a reply. "I-I wa-wasn't checking her out! I-I was just worried about her!" This caused Sakura to blush more and Naruto to raise an eyebrow at his words. "I-I mean, I was worried she would be too tired to be of any use for us... as a team." Sasuke quickly corrected as he turned around and started for the academy. Naruto just snickered at Sasuke trying to keep his uncaring attitude up.
"Well? Are we gonna do this or not?" Sasuke asked, turning his head enough to look at the two over his shoulder. Naruto and Sakura just walked up to be in step with him. What Sasuke found surprising about what happened just now, wasn't the fact that he lost his cool or that he spaced out and let his guard down. What surprised him was that he had actually been checking Sakura out!
'I can't start thinking about girls now, I still have to kill Itachi. Then again, after I kill Itachi, I'm going to need a wife to resurrect my clan. Maybe I should ask Sakura now, before she gives up on me?' Sasuke turned on to the stairs to get to the second floor. 'She does seem to have gotten stronger... NO!! I need to focus on killing Itachi first and foremost, only then can I restart my clan. Wait a second what's going on over there?' He thought as he reached the second floor to see a crowd of genin gathered in front of a room labeled 301.
"Hey what's up with the genjutsu?" Sakura whispered as she arrived next to him.
"Looks like they're trying to narrow down the candidates for this year by distracting them with the genjutsu." Naruto said as he arrived next to Sakura.
They looked on at the gathering of gullible genin. At the front of the crowd they saw a genin wearing green spandex trying to get pass a couple of chunin who were guarding the door. The chunin at the door were pretty normal, they were wearing their hitai-ite on their foreheads as normal and wearing some dark clothes that would make stealth easy, one was also carrying some sort of weapons on his back. What really caught their attention though was the ninja in green spandex. Not only was he wearing the green spandex but he was also wearing fighting bandages on both hands that covered his knuckles and most of his forearm, he also wore some bright orange leg warmers. Coincidentally it seemed to be the same shade of orange as Naruto's old jumpsuit. The nin wore his hitai-ite as a belt, had a bowl haircut and some of the bushiest eyebrows with some of the buggiest eyes any of them had ever seen. All in all the nin seemed ridiculous.
"Please allow me and my team to pass, we are here to take part in the exam." The spandex wearing nin asked the two chunin at the door, only to be punched in the face!
A kunoichi in a pink, sleeveless, chinese shirt, caught the spandex clad genin. "Please let us through we're supposed to go in there!" She received a punch in reply as well. She looked more like a usual kunoichi, her pants were the same design as Naruto's except they were a solid dark blue colour. She wore her hitai-ite around her head and wore her hair in two buns at the top of her head.
'Ten-chan!?' Naruto thought looking at the kunoichi he now realized was Ten-ten. If he didn't know that this was part of the test and that Ten-ten could take a weak punch like that, he would have punched that chunin's lights out by now. 'Leave it be, she's just putting on a show to get rid of the competition. Don't waltz in and save her, gotta hide our skill level so we can surprise the opposition later on.'
As Naruto was thinking this though, Sasuke had to show off. Sasuke walked up to the chunin guarding the door. "What do you two think you're doing?" The Uchiha asked the chunin without the weapons.
"What are you talking about?" One of the chunin asked.
"It's ob-hmmph!!" Sasuke's mouth had been quickly covered by Naruto and Sakura as they dragged him off.
"Sorry, we don't want any trouble. Come on Sakura-chan, if we're not getting in we may as well go out for ramen and forget about it this year. You and your friend wanna join us Ten-chan?" Naruto asked Ten-ten with a wink, as he and Sakura dragged the struggling and ranting Uchiha away from the door.
"Naruto-kun! I was wondering when you'd show up for the exam but I guess it was for nothing." She said looking back at the chunin. "Yeah, me and my teammate will join you, mind if my other teammate comes along?." She said as she helped the green spandex clad genin to his feet and pointed out the last member of her team.
The guy looked to be a pompous ass like Sasuke the way he had his arms crossed. From his eyes it was obvious he was a Hyuuga. He had long brown hair and a hitai-ite made with black cloth and some belt like attachments. He also wore a beige jacket and some baggy black pants, for some strange reason his entire right arm and leg had bandages covering them.
"Sure! The more the merrier!" Naruto said with a nod as they started walking towards the stairs. Sakura knew that was a signal for her to put up a small genjutsu to hide their presence.
They all stopped when Sakura put a closed fist up, Naruto brought his index finger to his lips, signaling for all of them to be quiet. Sakura quickly pointed toward the stairs that lead to the third floor. They all walked toward and then up them silently. Not until they reached the third floor and a rather large indoor training area that had three pillars on the far side of the room, did they start talking again and Naruto and Sakura took their hands away from Sasuke's mouth while Naruto destroyed the paralysis seal he had used on him.
"What the hell was that about? I was just about to put those chunin in their place!" He yelled as soon as he got the chance.
"Exactly why we had to get you away from there. Those chunin will narrow the playing field for us, less teams but only the most powerful will get through. Don't you want a challenge, Teme?" Naruto asked with a grin.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Fine, but I'm surprised you wouldn't want at least one weak team to get through so you have a chance, Dobe." Sasuke retorted.
"Alright that's enough we have an exam to do you two!" Sakura yelled stepping between the two.
'Did she just yell at me?' Sasuke thought to himself.
Naruto chuckled. "Sorry Sakura-chan, guess I got carried away." He brought both hands behind his head and broke into a grin. "We'll pick this up later, Teme. Now then, we have until 3pm for the exams to start. That leaves a full hour for now." He turned to look at Ten-ten and her team since they had been standing there in silence the whole time. "So, Ten-chan, it's been a while, what you been up to?"
'Wow, he's changed a lot since I saw him last. I don't remember him being that... muscular. He must have been hiding it with the jumpsuit. That's why he always complained it was too tight! I just thought he was getting fat from all the ramen.' Ten-ten stepped forward. "Training mostly, Naruto-kun. That's why I haven't had the chance to hang out with you. Oh, by the way these guys are my teammates, Hyuuga Neji." She gestured towards the Hyuuga.
"It seems you figured out the purpose of that flimsy genjutsu downstairs. Not bad, for a rookie." The Hyuuga announced, obviously mocking the team's skills.
"And Rock L- where'd Lee go?" She asked gesturing toward an empty space with a small frown.
"My name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura-san, right?" The one known as Lee asked a confused looking Sakura. "PLEASE BE MY GIRLFRIEND! I VOW TO PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIFE!" He announced with a thumbs up, wink and grin, his teeth even giving off a small twinkle, he was also sporting a small blush.
Everyone was now looking at the two. "Definitely... not." Sakura replied.
"Why?" Lee asked with a disappointed look.
"Because you're a weirdo!" She said in a matter of fact voice.
'Gotta admit, he is kinda weird. Especially those eyebrows.' Naruto thought looking between Sakura and Lee. 'That Neji guy looks like the strongest of the three but looks can be deceiving. Even if that Lee guy is weird, he looks like he can hold his own, after all, the bruises he had a minute a go are already gone.' Naruto thought looking over to Neji and then back at Lee. Lee sulked over to a wall and leaned against it with his head down.
Neji looked at Sasuke. "Hey what's your name?" Neji asked Sasuke as he stepped toward him.
Sasuke looked right back at Neji. "It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking another's."
"Don't be an ass Sasuke, Ten-chan already gave his name." Naruto told Sasuke, he looked back to Neji. "The Teme is Uchiha Sasuke, I'm Uzumaki Naruto and the kunoichi of our team is Haruno Sakura." Naruto said, pointing to Sakura with his thumb.
Lee looked up slightly from his place next to a wall. 'The Uchiha. He will be perfect to test my skills.'
Naruto looked back to Ten-ten. "Hey Ten-chan, I got something you might like!" Naruto reached for the scroll containing all the weapons he'd swiped from the last C-rank. He opened it up on the floor and unsealed the first storage seal which contained the first lot of weapons. "I got these from a C-rank mission. There aren't any swords because I put those in a different scroll."
Ten-ten was staring wide-eyed at the small pile of weapons in front of her. "Wow! How'd you get all these in a C-rank?" She asked looking over the small pile, her eyes lingering on some of the more interesting weapons.
"Our last C-rank was to apprehend some thugs up in a place called Mantis village. There were about twenty-five of them all together and all of them carried weapons. When we took them all down our sensei said I could do whatever I wanted with the weapons! Almost everyone of them carried some kind of knuckle duster, a few of them had knives too. I took some of the knives but left some others. I wanted to ask you about this weapon though." Naruto said as he picked up a multi bladed weapon. It looked like a sword except there were several smaller blades coming out of the central one. Some of the blades were curved and sharpened on one edge, others just stuck out and shaped strangely with every side sharpened. At the tip there were two blades that came out and made it look like an axe.
Ten-ten stared at the weapon, it was one of the few she had found interesting. "I think that's a type of throwing knife, Naruto-kun. It's usually used by novice knife throwers because all these extra blades give a better chance of hitting a target. The best part though, is when an expert knife thrower uses them they're more deadly than ordinary throwing knives. An expert could get two blades to strike at once or even cut off a limb." She explained as she silently asked to hold the weapon. "Mind if I show you how deadly it can be?" She asked with a grin.
"As long as I'm not the target, sure." Naruto said with a shrug.
Ten-ten turned to a pillar on the other side of the room and threw the knife. When it landed, the three blades that were on one side were all buried into the pillar. Everyone, except Neji and Lee, were staring wide-eyed at the result. Naruto finally got out of his shock to talk again. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said an expert could make them more deadly. Well there's a couple more of those knives in there, the other two are smaller though." Naruto said as he pointed towards the scroll. He then rushed over and yanked the knife out of the pillar. "I guess these are gonna be useful for you then." He said as he walked back over to the pile.
"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Ten-ten asked with a confused look on her face.
"What do you think I mean?" He asked back while resealing the weapons. He then rolled the scroll back up and held it out to her. "These weapons are for you! I thought you might like them seeing as you're so interested in weaponry. I'm just sorry I took all swords."
Several things happened after he said that, first Ten-ten was speechless, then her eyes locked on to the scroll with a sparkle appearing in them and an open-mouth smile tugging at her lips. After a couple more seconds she squealed and glomped Naruto. "Arigatou, Arigatou, ARIGATOU!" She screamed as she squeezed Naruto's head in a hug and swung him about like a rag doll. It didn't help that he was still short, his face only came up to her chest.
"Ten-... chan... can't... breathe!" Naruto gasped out. Ten-ten promptly let go, it was true he had turned blue in the face, he fell to the floor when Ten-ten let go of him.
Ten-ten had a small blush realizing just where his face had been. "Gomen, Naru-kun, uh, I mean, Naruto-kun."
Naruto inhaled the air deeply. "I gotta remember to bring you weapons more often. It's always good to see you happy like this." Naruto said as he put his hands behind his head and grinned up at Ten-ten from his spot on the floor. 'I am not a pervert, gotta keep the blood away from my face, don't look at her chest, her soft- NO! STOP THAT! I'm just lucky it was her that put me there, otherwise I'd be dead by now.' He thought to himself as he held out the scroll for her again.
Sakura was glaring slightly at the two of them as Ten-ten received the scroll and kept it safely in her pouch. She was glaring at Naruto because of where his face had just been buried and Ten-ten because of what she did to her Naruto-senpai. "Alright, that's enough, let's go to the real exam room now." She said grabbing the back of Naruto's vest and started dragging him away.
"Wait a second! What did you do with the swords then?" Ten-ten asked Naruto as she grabbed the front of his vest to stop him being dragged away.
Naruto looked between the two girls hanging on to his vest. "Before I answer that, could the two of you let go of my clothes please?" Both girls let go. "Alright, well three of the swords, you can see on me right now. The broadswords on my right and this wakizashi came from the same mission." He said as he brought his hands to rest on the end of the hilts.
Ten-ten's eyes were immediately on the wakizashi. "Can I see the wakizashi please, Naruto-kun?"
"I thought you'd want to see it." He had a smile on his face as he held it out to her, still in the scabbard, nobody had seen him actually remove it from his belt.
'How'd he do that?' Ten-ten thought as she put out both hands as Naruto lowered the sword into her hands. She brought a hand to the hilt and the other hand to the top of the scabbard. She then used her thumb to push the blade out just enough to release the habaki and proceeded to draw the blade out, carefully. There was a twinkle in her eye as she looked over the blade. 'The craftsmanship is beautiful and impressive. It's damn near perfect, wish I could have this but Naru-kun chose this out of all the blades he collected in his mission. I can't ask him to part with it.' She thought as she sheathed the blade.
"From the look on your face, it looks like you approve of the blade?" Naruto asked as he put his hands out to receive the sword. He reattached the scabbard to his belt.
"Yes, it's a good sword. What about the other swords though?" She asked as he looked back up to her.
Naruto broke into a grin. "The other's are all in here." Naruto replied as he pulled out the very first scroll in his belt from behind his back and held it up. "I've also got some swords from my first C-rank in here. I'll show you those some other time though, when we have more time to talk about them." He said again as he replaced the scroll.
"Alright, we have wasted enough time. I am heading to the exam room. Ten-ten, Lee, do not be late." The Hyuuga said coldly before he walked away.
"I guess I better get going. Neji can be a little rude sometimes and I don't want him to get killed by nin from other villages because he's being ass. I better go keep him in line." Ten-ten said before she hugged Naruto and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, eliciting a blush from the blonde. "Thanks again for the weapons Naru-kun!"
Naruto chuckled in embarrassment. "No problem Ten-chan." Naruto replied as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Lee, you coming?" Ten-ten asked the spandex clad genin.
"I will be with you in a moment, I wish to speak with Sakura-san's teammates." Lee replied.
"Alright don't take too long. Wouldn't want them to miss the exam now." Ten-ten said as she left with a wave and a quick wink to Naruto.
As soon as his two teammates left the room he turned to Sasuke. "As Ten-ten-chan said, my name is Rock Lee and I wish to fight you, right here and right now."
"You wanna fight me here and now, huh?" Sasuke asked in as bored a tone as he could manage.
"Hai, you said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give his own name first. Uchiha Sasuke! I challenge you! I have heard people talk of the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see if it is true, I figured you would be a good test for me. Also..." Lee looked over to Sakura, who flinched slightly at the look. Lee got a blush on his face as he announced. "Oh, SAKURA!... I LOVE YOU!"
Sakura immediately backed up and grabbed a kunai. "No way! Your hairstyle is awful and those eyebrows are so BUSHY, you're such a weirdo!"
"You are a tenshi... sent from HEAVEN!" Lee announced as a small heart appeared from his wink and he blew it towards Sakura.
'How the hell did he do that? Is it a genjutsu?' Naruto thought as he just stood by and watched the small heart float toward Sakura.
Sakura was whimpering slightly at the approaching heart. She quickly side stepped it before it hit her. "That was a good move, but let us see you dodge this!" Lee announced as he sent more hearts her way.
'If this is a genjutsu, it's a pretty lame one, still this is kinda fun to watch.' Naruto thought with an amused smile as he continued to watch. Sakura ducked and weaved between the hearts and even deflected one or two with her kunai. When it was over she looked extremely relieved.
'That was too close!' She thought as she backed up some more and dove behind a pillar. "Keep your valentines to yourself!" She shouted from behind the pillar.
"You have been trained well Sakura-san." Lee praised her.
Naruto couldn't help but grin. "Of course, you really think Sakura-chan couldn't dodge those after my training." Naruto told the spandex clad genin.
Sasuke ignored what just happened and carried on with the previous conversation. "You've heard of the Uchiha clan and yet you're challenging me? You must be more psycho than you look, if that's possible." Sasuke stepped forward ready to meet the challenge. "You wanna know more about my clan, then I'll teach you! The hard way!"
"Bring it on!" Lee replied as he brought his hand up and went into a stance that looked like he was taunting his opponent. 'Excellent! A match up against the number one rookie. I will draw him out and get him to reveal his technique and I will prove myself to you Gai-sensei. I have trained hard for this.'
"Hold on a sec guys!" Naruto yelled. The two of them looked over to the blonde ninja. "Give me a second to get comfortable." Naruto said as he turned around with his arms crossed. This caused Sasuke and Sakura to just look at him incredulously. He walked over to the pillar Sakura was behind. He turned back to the two fighters as he sat down, his back against the pillar, and said. "Okay, I'm good."
"Dobe. The fight isn't gonna last that long." Sasuke said cockily as he turned back to look at Lee. Sakura took this opportunity to come out from behind the pillar and lean on the pillar next to the sitting Naruto.
I feel I should tell you, out of all the top leaf genin, I am the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you.!" Lee announced.
"That so? Then lets do this!" Sasuke replied.
"Stop talking and get on with it then. There's less than half an hour until we gotta register." Naruto yelled from his seat.
"Shut up, Dobe! It doesn't matter. This will all be over in five seconds!" Sasuke yelled to the blonde as he charged forward.
'Here he comes, forgive me Gai-sensei. I know it is forbidden, but I may have to break the rules and use that jutsu!' Lee thought as he watched Sasuke charging.
Once Sasuke was within striking distance, he threw a right hook. Only for Lee to disappear before it hit and reappear above his head ready to throw a spinning kick. "Konoha Senpū!"
'Gotta dodge it!' Sasuke thought as he moved as quickly as possible to get away from the kick. What he didn't expect was Lee immediately dropping down in front of him and go for another kick to his face. 'I can't move fast enough! I've gotta block him.' Were Sasuke's thoughts as he brought up his guard. When Lee got through that guard and landed the kick to his face though, only one thought went through his head. 'WHAT!' Subsequently, he was sent flying back through the air and landed hard on his back, skidding to a halt.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted out in concern. She almost ran in to stop the fight but Naruto stopped her.
"Don't worry, anything serious happens, I'll stop it." Naruto reassured her. She calmed down and went back to leaning on the pillar.
Back with Sasuke, he was getting back up from his fall. "What's going on!?" Sasuke asked frustratedly to himself more than anyone.
Sakura looked down to Naruto for answers. "I don't get it though, Naruto-senpai. Sasuke-kun had his guard up, how'd he get hit?"
"Just keep watching, Sakura-chan. You'll find out as the fight goes on." Was Naruto's only reply.
'He must be using some jutsu to get to me! But what could it be! A ninjutsu or a genjutsu?' Sasuke thought as he looked back at Lee.
'Excellent he is coming back for more as I'd hoped.' Lee thought as he watched the Uchiha stand up again.
'Doesn't matter now! I'll just use my new ability!' He thought with a small smirk. "I've been waiting to try this out on someone else." Sasuke said as he turned to look at Lee head on, his sharingan blazing strongly.
"So, he did learn how to maintain his sharingan." Naruto said out loud.
"What? What are you talking about Naruto-senpai?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Remember four days ago, Kakashi showed up in our training field asking for my help?" Sakura nodded as her reply. "Well this is what he wanted help with. He wanted me to send some clones over so Sasuke could spar with them. Thing is, Sasuke could keep the sharingan up but only just, when he was in the middle of battle." He allowed that information to sink in and then continued. "All that time sparring with my clones allowed Sasuke to experience using his sharingan over an extended period of time. I did suspect that he had figured out how to maintain his sharingan but I wasn't completely sure." Naruto saw Sakura open her mouth ready to ask the inevitable, why? "The reason I didn't know for sure was because Sasuke only destroyed a few of my clones in that time frame so I never got that much info about his progress." He explained quickly.
"So, Sasuke-kun should be able to read this guy's jutsu now and beat him, right?" Sakura asked excitedly.
"Wait and see, Sakura-chan. Never guess the outcome of a fight in the middle, you always wait for the knock-out or the forfeit." Was Naruto's reply.
'So, that is the sharingan?' Lee thought as he watched the Uchiha.
'Genjutsu? Or ninjutsu? Whichever one he's using, I'll see it now!' Were Sasuke's thoughts as he locked on to Lee with the sharingan. Once again he charged at Lee, watching every detail. Waiting, for the slightest hint of a jutsu.
'Why would Naruto-kun say that? There's no way Sasuke-kun could lose to a guy like this!' Were Sakura's thought's as she watched Sasuke charge toward the spandex clad genin. Only for her eyes to widen in shock as Sasuke was once again kicked back by the spandex clad genin. 'How is he doing that?'
Sasuke was flying back through the air again, after being on the receiving end of an upward kick, right into his chin, from Lee. 'He got around my guard, again! But how could he!? What kind of jutsu is he using!?' Sasuke thought, once again frustrated.
Lee righted himself as he got ready to charge at Sasuke, he also spoke. "You see, my technique is neither ninjutsu or genjutsu!" At the final word he charged forward.
Sasuke had just landed after righting himself in the air. He barely saw Lee coming towards him in time to dodge and try to counter. 'Kuso! This guy is faster than Naruto's clone when it was attacking!' He narrowly dodged a downward heel kick by stepping back. He then dodged a roundhouse kick coming from his left by ducking under it but by dodging that he had left himself open for a follow up heel kick right into his left cheek. 'Dammit!That kick rattled a few teeth!' He thought as he recoiled from the attack.
'This is easier than I expected.' Thought Lee as he blocked an incoming fist and grabbed the wrist attached to it. He used the wrist as an anchor and brought his opposing elbow up to strike Sasuke in the gut, he then span away and stopped with his back to the Uchiha.
Sasuke reeled back from the strike. 'The last time I felt something like that was when Naruto kneed me in the academy.' He thought as he held his stomach where he'd been hit, one of his eyes closing from the pain.
"Do you get it now?" Lee asked as he turned on the spot. "I am using Taijutsu! That means no tricks, Sasuke!" Lee carried on as he brought his open hand forward again ready to attack. He disappeared momentarily, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen in shock. Only to narrow again as he reappeared behind and to the right of Sasuke. "It is just straight martial arts, nothing more."
"WHY YOU!" Sasuke growled as he tried to back hand Lee with his right fist. Only for Lee to leap away again.
He landed a few feet away and went back to the stance he had started in. "I know your technique! Forget it! It will not work! Not on me! I know you can see through your opponent's jutsu, that sharingan gives you the ability to read his chakra and decipher his hand seals and movements and guess what he's going to do almost before he knows himself!" Sasuke and Lee continued to stare each other down. "The problem is, taijutsu is a little bit different!"
"Right so wants your point?" Sasuke asked coldly.
"I do not try to hide or disguise my moves, I do not have to! Even if you can read them you still can not stop them, you are too slow!" Lee stated, not betraying any emotion. Sasuke gave off a slight growl. "Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me but if your body can not keep up what good does it do you?"
'Damn I was hoping for more time to get faster but looks like I'll just have to reveal it now.' Sasuke thought with a small smile."Too slow, huh? Then let my just lose some deadweight." Sasuke said as he loosened the belts on his arm and leg warmers quickly and removed the weights that were on underneath them. "There that should do." He said as he tossed the weights behind him, they produced a dull 'thud' as they hit the wooden floor.
'Since when has he been wearing weights!? Ah, doesn't matter, it can only make him a stronger teammate, even if he is copying our training method now.' Naruto thought to himself as he glanced at the weights quickly so as not to miss the fight. 'From the sound of the impact though, it looks like he's only just started wearing them because they didn't sound too heavy.'"Now let's try that again." Sasuke announced as dashed forward again, faster this time.
"Excellent, I was hoping to fight you at your best." Lee announced as he awaited the oncoming attack.
Sasuke tried to get Lee with a kick this time, he tried a round house kick to the head with his right leg. 'I was hoping he'd be faster and he is faster but not by much.' Lee thought as he merely blocked it and went to grab the offending leg only for Sasuke to follow up with a left roundhouse punch. Lee noticed the punch and blocked it with his own, there was a resounding 'CRACK' from the impact.
'AAAARGH! KUSO! KUSO! KUSO! His fist felt like a rock!' Sasuke thought as he pulled his fist back quickly due to the pain only to be spun around by his right leg and sent flying into a wall. Sasuke's back hit first as he then slumped down into a sitting position. 'How could he be so fast?!'
"I'm afraid you are still too slow!" Lee announced as Sasuke got up and stumbled back into the middle of the room. "Your body still can not keep up with me! You see, Sasuke, I believe there are two different kinds of ninja. I believe there are those like you who are born with talent and do not have to work at it. Then there are those like me!THE ONES THAT HAVE TO TRAIN EVERYDAY OF OUR LIVES!" Lee said, shouting the last part. Sasuke just charged wildly at Lee now. Trying to beat him any way he could, he threw a kick only for Lee to dodge. "The fact is your sharingan is the worst match for my extreme taijutsu!" Lee stated as he dodged another attack, a round house punch, followed by a back hand strike from the same hand. "HERE IS WHAT I MEAN!" Lee shouted as he charged in to attack.
'I can't let him hit me! I have to stop him!' Sasuke thought as he brought his guard up again and tried to dodge at the same time, hoping that a combination of the two might save him. Sadly for Sasuke it still didn't work. Lee brought his foot up and it connected solidly with Sasuke's chin again. Sasuke was sent skyward from the hit. Lee took this chance to use his jutsu, he kneeled down on the floor and suddenly disappeared. He reappeared once again behind Sasuke as he was still flying through the air. Sasuke looked back at the floating form of Lee behind him. "Kage Buyo." Sasuke said calmly, recognizing the jutsu.
"Good eye! Now I will prove my point!" Lee announced as he clawed his hand and forced the bandages covering his hand to loosen and unwrap themselves. "That hard work beats out natural talent." Lee stated calmly.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the proclamation. 'What's his next move!' Sasuke thought panicking slightly, unable to see his opponents attack coming.
"You're finished!" Lee announced loudly as he went to use his jutsu.
'Woah! This guy knows that technique!' Naruto had learnt this jutsu and performed it once and didn't like the amount of damage it would do to his opponent, especially if it was a Konoha nin. 'If he pulls it off with Sasuke as the target this could end badly. Guess I better step in and help Sasuke.' Naruto thought, sighing internally. He then saw the projectile heading for Lee's bandage from the other side of the room. 'Well that saves me some trouble but I'm still gonna have to break the Teme's fall, I guess.' Naruto made a quick signal with his index and middle finger in the direction Sasuke was falling.
Lee also saw the projectile heading for his bandage and one thought went through his head. 'KUSO!' Although he would never say that out loud, it was just how he felt at the sight of this particular projectile. Since it meant trouble for him to be caught using this jutsu when not under the right circumstances.
The point of the projectile caught the end of Lee's bandage and embedded itself along with the bandage in the wall. The projectile revealed itself to be a mere pinwheel, the blades slowly spinned to a stop while in the wall.
Everyone turned to look where the pin wheel had come from. "This is bad." Lee said to himself out loud as he looked at the source. Which happened to be a rather large tortoise... or some kind of land turtle.
It's underbelly was yellow while it's limbs, head and shell were red. The plates of his shell were decorated with yellow swirls. It was also wearing a Konoha hitai-ite around it's neck and some kind of orange band on one of it's front legs. "Alright that's enough! Lee!" It yelled at the genin in a gruff voice.
With his bandage acting as an anchor, Lee readjusted himself in the air to land safely. This of course left Sasuke to continue falling and he would have, had it not been for three of Naruto's shadow clones appearing from behind cloaks on the wall he was heading toward. The three leapt toward him one latched on to change his trajectory, while the other two got ready to catch him on the ground. The plan worked and Sasuke was set safely on the ground with a clone to lean on.
"Hey Teme, you okay there?" The clone asked the Uchiha. The real Naruto looked at his teammates demeanor. 'He's shaking, fighting this guy really shook him up.'
Sakura ran over to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun are you okay, do you feel pain anywhere?" Sakura asked in concern of his health. She performed a diagnostic jutsu and determined he was physically fine, his fist hadn't broken, it was just badly bruised. 'I'm not sure about mentally though. Naruto-kun caught him but he's still shaken up.'Lee had landed, kneeling in front of the tortoise, or turtle. "You were watching us the whole time?" Lee asked looking at the floor.
"Of course! That last technique is forbidden, you know that!" The terrapin like creature said in the same gruff voice.
Naruto was watching and listening to the conversation from his spot, his back leaning against the pillar. 'Weird looking animal, with weird markings and able to talk. This thing has gotta be summon.' He thought to himself as he took note of the animal's strange markings.
Lee bowed his head further to the terrapin. "I am sorry, I did not mean to." Lee apologized. The terrapin merely gave Lee a look and he was suddenly very nervous. He leapt up and started pleading his case. "I was not planning to use a forbidden jutsu! It is just- I was in the middle of the fight and I mean... you understand-"
Naruto tuned out the rest of the conversation as he got up and walked over to his teammates. There was still something that was nagging at the back of his mind though. He realized what it was when he dispelled the clone helping Sasuke. 'Wait a second!... How did that thing throw the pinwheel!? It doesn't have any hands, let alone opposable thumbs!' He looked over to his two teammates and asked the question that had presented itself. "Hey guys, did either of you see how that tortoise or turtle threw the pinwheel thing? It's just... he doesn't have any hands so how in the name of Kami did he do it?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his head in thought.
"No Naruto-kun, I didn't see. Does it really matter though?" Sakura asked while supporting Sasuke in the clones place. He didn't seem to hear the question as he was starring intently at Lee.
"Well... It's not really important, it's just-" Naruto clutched at his head and gave a frustrated scream. "HOW THE HELL DID HE DO IT! I'm gonna be wondering how he did that all day now!"
"You're a disgrace!" The terrapin creature spat in his gruff voice, causing Lee to flinch slightly. "You think you'll get away with a bunch of lame excuses like that? A shinobi never reveals his techniques, unless it's absolutely necessary, it's such a basic rule you should know it by now!" The terrapin creature finished.
"Forgive me, sir." Lee asked in a defeated voice.
Sasuke watched Lee's conversation, he wiped away some dirt that was planted on his face from one of Lee's kicks. He also wiped away some blood from his split lip and carried on glaring daggers into Lee's back. 'How could I lose to that FREAK!?' He thought angrily. 'First the Dobe and now him!' Sasuke was growling slightly as he continued his glare.
"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?" The terrapin asked in his gruff voice.
"I... yes, sir." Lee replied, his head lowered in shame.
"Alright, please come out, Gai-sensei!" The terrapin called out.
When the last word left it's beak an explosion of smoke appeared on it's back. When it cleared, it showed a man that looked like an older version of Lee, except he was wearing a jounin vest, his eyebrows were even bushier and his eyes weren't as buggy as Lee's. "Hey what's shaking? How you doin' everybody, life treatin' good!?" He asked in a cheery voice that would have made anyone suspicious but what got to team 7 was the man's ridiculous pose.
'This is Lee's sensei?' Naruto thought as his right bottom eyelid started twitching. "What... the... hell?" Naruto asked to no one.
Sasuke's eyes widened and he grit his teeth at the sight of the man, he was extremely shocked. 'What the hell's up with this guy!'
Sakura just eye'd the man's eyebrows with a little bit of fear. 'He's even weirder than Lee! His eyebrow are even bigger, bushier and even creepier!' She thought as she gripped Sasuke a little tighter.
Team 7's different looks of surprise didn't faze the man one bit as he continued to greet his pupil. "Hi, Lee-kun." He said with a thumbs up and a smile that caused his teeth to 'ping' from the light reflecting off them.
"So that's were Lee get's his taste in clothes and hairstyle." Naruto announced out loud.
"This is too weird!" Sakura announced.
"His teacher is even weirder than he is, I didn't think that would be possible." Sasuke announced looking between the two.
A vein formed on Lee's head as he heard the last comment. "Do not insult Gai-sensei! He is one of the greatest men in the entire world!" Lee shouted to Sasuke.
"Whoa! Sorry for not recognizing his greatness but he is acting a little too weird to notice anything else." Naruto stated calmly. 'I know I read that shinobi could get a little eccentric because of their experiences in the field and stuff but this guy is ridiculous! I'm surprised Dad didn't leave a file about this guy.' He thought to himself.
"HE IS NOT WEIRD!" Lee shouted back his fist tightened as he was glaring at the three.
"Give it a rest, Lee-kun." Gai told the genin.
"Yes, sir." Lee obeyed.
"NOW FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT!" Gai announced as he yelled a war cry, punched Lee right in the face and drew blood! "YOU LITTLE FOOL!" Gai yelled as Lee flew back.
Lee landed a few feet away sprawled on the floor. While Sasuke and Sakura were shocked at Gai's actions, Naruto just looked on indifferent. 'Seems a little light, that's probably what Kyu-sensei would do to me if I ever tried using a forbidden technique or disobeyed him, except I'd probably get hit harder.' He thought as Gai walked over to Lee.
Lee got up slowly as his sensei spoke. "I'm sorry Lee-kun, but it's for your own good!" Gai sounded almost on verge of tears as he said this.
"Sen- Sensei!" Lee chocked back as he was also on the verge of tears.
There was suddenly a sun-set on the beach in the back ground as Gai had tears streaming down his face. "Oh, Lee-kun!"
"Oh, Sensei! I am so sorry!" Lee chocked back again, tears streaming down his face as well.
'Okay... Kyu-sensei wouldn't do that with me, thank Kami for that, but where the hell did the frickin' sunset come from! Is it another genjutsu or something!' Naruto thought as he watched the two uncomfortably.
"Alright, it's over, you don't need to say anymore!" Gai told his student.
"SENSEI!" Lee cried as he dove into Gai's arms for a hug.
"LEE-KUN!" Gai cried as he held his student close. A wave appeared crashing into the rocks the two were supposedly standing on.
All of team 7 was now looking at the two, almost sick from the mushiness of it all. 'How could I lose to someone that LAME!' Were Sasuke's thoughts on the scene before him.
The two were still kneeling on the spot as they were hugging. Gai trying to comfort Lee. "I'm sorry Gai-sensei." Lee apologized, both of them still crying.
Naruto turned to his two teammates. "It's kinda sweet how they're all huggy and stuff but... it's just too weird at the same time!" He finished looking back at the two, shivering slightly at the image.
Sakura voiced her opinion. "Are you kidding me? They're more crazy than weird!"
The two spandex clad nin stood up. "You're just caught in between. You're too old to be called a boy and not yet quite a man." The still crying Gai told the still crying Lee.
"You are so good to me... Gai-sensei!" Lee replied.
Gai turned away and pointed off into the distance. "Now take off I want you to give me a hundred laps around the practice field! SHOW ME YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH!" Gai told his student.
"Yes, sir, no problem!" Lee replied with energy.
'Ah! That's the rest of the punishment, makes sense, still a little light though.' Naruto thought, nodding his head until the sunset came back. 'Where is that coming from!?' Naruto thought as he tried sensing the caster of the supposed genjutsu.
"Run into the setting sun! Run and suffer! But don't mess up your hair." Gai said the last part quickly. Gai looked at his student and showed his smile which 'ping'ed again. Lee wiped away his tears as he too performed his version of the smile. "Let us go!" Gai announced.
"RIGHT!" Lee shouted in agreement. The two started walking away
"Wait up! Not that I'm trying to get Lee off the hook or anything but Lee needs to participate in the chunin exams!" Naruto yelled stopping the two in their tracks.
"Oh right, I forgot about that!" Gai said as he turned back to Lee. He quickly told Lee all that he had done wrong and thought of a worse punishment. "Let's say 500 laps how does that sound?" Lee gave a positive reply to this new amount of laps.
'Well that sounds more like it.' Naruto thought looking at the two even as Gai struck another ridiculous pose.
"They've got to be insane." Sakura stated flatly.
"Not really, I'd probably get the same punishment from my sensei." Naruto said out loud.
"What do you mean your sensei, Natuo-kun? Isn't Kakashi-sensei your sensei?" Sakura asked looking over at the blonde genin.
'Kuso! I said that out loud, come on think of a lie.' Naruto thought frantically. "Yeah, he is my sensei but I, uh, was talking about Iruka-sensei! He still gives me some pointers every now and then." Naruto explained quickly. 'Come on, buy it, please, please, please, please.' Naruto chanted in his head.
'There's no chance in hell she'll buy that, you're no good at lying you know that.' Kyuubi announced in Naruto's head.
"Woah! Iruka-sensei would really get you to do that?" Sakura exclaimed surprised.
'Score! Show's what you know Kyu-sensei!' Naruto thought triumphantly as he saw his lie had worked. "Yeah, he knows I have a lot of stamina so he gets me to run a lot." He replied with his arms behind his head.
Gai had been watching the two's conversation intently. 'So, that's Kakashi's squad, I'll check 'em out."
Sasuke had been watching the two spandex clad ninja while Naruto and Sakura had been talking. He noticed Gai's sudden interest in them and apparently so did Sakura. "NO! He's looking at us, we should have snuck away when we had the chance."
"So, tell me, how is Kakashi-sensei?" The spandex clad jounin asked the three.
"Do you know him?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course he knows Kakashi-sensei. Most jounins know one another, after all when you're the best of the best you tend to find out who the other's are." Naruto told the Uchiha.
"You're friend's right. I do know him, people even say he and I are arch rivals for all eternity." Gai answered the Uchiha while holding his chin.
"Yeah right, how could a ninja as ridiculous as you be Kakashi's rival?" Sasuke asked the jounin.
"How dare you! If Gai-sensei says it is true then-" Lee started shouting to Sasuke with a raised fist, only to be stopped by his sensei.
"Let it slide Lee. A ninja's actions speak louder than words." Gai told his pupil as they just stood there for a moment.
Team 7 just watched them for that moment. 'Well, what's he gonna do to- Oh!' Naruto thought as he noticed Gai move. Naruto turned his head slightly to see Gai standing behind him, Sasuke and Sakura. They soon caught on as well when they noticed Gai had just disappeared from in front of them.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the realization that Gai had moved and he'd missed it even when he didn't blink. He heard the poof usually used by jounin to signify there entrance using shunshin from behind him and spun around to see the spandex clad jounin.
"My record is currently 50 wins and 49 losses, which is one better than Kakashi." Gai announced from his new placement. He noticed that Naruto was already looking at him when he arrived but the other two didn't look at him until he spoke.
"Wait a second, what did you beat him in exactly? If it's concerning speed, then yeah, you win. What about ninjutsu though, I'm pretty sure Kakashi is the expert on ninjutsu aside from Jii-san." Naruto asked only to get a bewildered look from the jounin. "By Jii-san I mean the Hokage." Naruto quickly explained to the jounin.
"I see, well that's were the 49 losses come in. I've challenged him 99 times now and I hold the most wins." Gai told the three.
Sasuke continued to glare at Gai. 'His speed is incredible! He's definitely faster than Kakashi, is he even human?' He thought to himself.
Lee spoke up from the other side of the room. "You see, Gai-sensei is the best there is!" Sasuke growled lightly at the proclamation.
"I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused you. Please look into my eyes and accept my sincere apology, also notice my handsome manly features!" Gai said as he looked over the three.
Naruto turned around fully to face the jounin, he looked to his teammates quickly and noticed they weren't gonna say anything so he decided to speak up. "Thanks for the apology but I should really be thanking Lee it's always good to watch Sasuke get his ass kicked even if I'm not the one that's doing it."
"Naruto-kun!" Sakura yelled at the blonde.
"Hey, it's time he found out there is always someone better than you at something." Naruto retorted.
"Shut it, Dobe." Sasuke told Naruto.
Gai smiled at the rivalry between the two and threw a kunai at the pinwheel holding Lee's bandage. "Lee, why don't you escort these fine ninja to the exam room?"
"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Lee replied as he started picking up the bandage, Gai then disappeared in a puff of smoke along with the turtle or tortoise.
Naruto looked back at the spandex clad genin, his eyes went straight for Lee's bare knuckles. He nudged Sakura to get her attention. "Look at gejimayu's knuckles." Sakura did as he said and took a sharp intake of breath. She was looking at the scars and callouses that decorated Lee's knuckles. "You always wanted to know why I wore these bandages on my knuckles right, Sakura-chan? There's your answer, when you train as hard as he and I do then you're bound to get some injuries and it's always easier to wear the bandages than put them on later." Naruto explained to the kunoichi.
"What are you blabbering about now, Dobe?" Sasuke spat as he turned to the blonde nin.
"Didn't you look at his hands Sasuke? You have to be observant to be a good ninja. From the look of that guys knuckles, he's probably been training until he drops, day in and day out. Which is a lot more than you!" Naruto finished.
Sasukes eyes widened at his blonde teammates words. He then looked over to the spandex clad genin that was walking towards them. "Follow me, I will escort you to the exam room as my sensei asked." He told the three genin of team 7.
"Alright, lead the way gejimayu!" Naruto exclaimed as he put his hands behind his head.
'Gejimayu?' Lee thought a little downcast. "Very well but before we go, Sasuke." Lee said getting the Uchiha's attention. "I have not been completely honest. There is one other leaf genin that is better than me and he is on my team. I wanted to test myself but not against you, you were just practice. Now you are a target though, you have been warned."
At that Lee started walking toward the exam room. Naruto soon started following, then Sakura and sluggishly Sasuke. 'Next time, I'll drive him to his knees!' Sasuke thought to himself as he followed the other's.
It didn't take them long to get to the exam room. Upon arriving they met up with Kakashi while Lee went on ahead. "I'm glad all of you came." The lazy jounin told the three.
"Huh? Why's that sensei?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because, if any of you had chosen not to participate then none of you would be allowed to take the exams." Kakshi explained plainly.
This recieved shocked stares from all three of them. "Wait a second, you said the choice to participate was up to the individual." Naruto announced.
"And it is, in a way. You did have the choice of taking the exam or not, but if one of you declines then none of you can take it. The chunin exams are always done with groups of three genin, it's how it's always been done." Kakashi explained.
"Interesting, doesn't matter now anyway. We're all here so we don't have to worry about that." Naruto announced.
"Exactly, before you go in though I have one thing to say. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. I'm proud of the three of you, you three are the best genin squad I could have hoped for, good luck!" Kakashi praised the three, looking over each as he said their names.
The three just smiled or grinned at him and Naruto said what the other two were thinking. "Don't worry sensei, we won't let you down dattebayo!"
The three then walked in to the exam room.