Rise of the Science-Nin
Chapter IV: The Noble Green Beast of Konoha
Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: "What separates noble actions from the ignoble? What makes a man a turn into a hero or a coward in the face of danger? Why do some crumble in the face of adversity while others come through it stronger than ever? The answer is conviction. In order to be strong, you must embrace that which is precious to you, and never let it go.
For the past seven weeks Maito Gai had been visiting the training grounds at the Konoha Ninja Academy each night, in order to observe a particular student. As afternoon bled into evening, and evening into night, this student would stay longer after his peers had gone home, training his body into exhaustion. Gai could tell the boy wasn't the smartest or most creative student he had ever seen, but the child called Rock Lee had a demonstrated the single greatest talent he had ever seen for both dishing out and taking punishment. Gai had seen him strike a post over two thousand times in a single night without breaking bone or tearing ligament or tendon. He had watched Lee shatter meter-thick logs with a single, well-applied drop kick. He'd watched the boy as he pushed himself into exhaustion—and out the other side of it, catching a second wind fiercer than the first. Truly, this Lee was a hard worker.
Gai had been told that Lee couldn't use chakra, but that wasn't precisely true. According to the medical reports the young lad had a complete chakra circulatory system that was in good health. He could generate plenty of chakra to fill his coils, and had even learned how to enhance his movements using unmolded chakra; there was no other way to explain his physical prowess. And judging by the amount of time Lee could keep his chakra-enhanced movements up, Gai guessed he had enormous reserves for a genin. He wondered what was keeping Lee from being able to mold chakra, and came up with a few possible reasons in his mind. Either Lee had a problem with concentration, an unknown neurological disorder, or some other unknown reason. Seeing the boy practicing, Gai had reached the conclusion that while a few Ninjutsu and Genjutsu would make the boy a better-rounded shinobi, he would probably be best suited to be a taijutsu specialist. Gai had already decided that the boy would be earmarked for his own team, and had already cleared the choice with the Hokage. Gai also obtained special permission for Lee to bypass the ninjutsu section of the exam, as long as his other scores would allow him to pass. He had come to the training grounds today, less than three weeks from the academy's graduation exam, to introduce himself to Lee and maybe give him a few pointers on his taijutsu, however unlike every other day at the academy, there was no sign of the hard working student.
Frowning, Gai walked into the academy to see if Lee's chuunin instructor knew his whereabouts. He quickly found the correct room and stepped inside. A young looking chuunin stood up from a large desk covered in paperwork and walked toward him.
"Can I help you, Gai?" he asked. Gai smiled, showing off his unusually white, unusually large teeth. Iruka recoiled just a bit.
"Yes you can, Iruka-kun. I am looking for a student of yours, the hard working and most youthful Rock Lee! Do you perhaps know of his whereabouts?" asked Gai.
"Well, usually I would say he's training, but today he left in quite a hurry, in the company of our new transfer student, Uzumaki Naruto. I don't know where they went, though. May I ask why you are looking for him?" Iruka was curious. Lee wasn't the type to get into trouble, and he also wasn't anything special, barely scraping along in class because of his ninjutsu and genjutsu scores.
"I'm afraid I must keep my reasons to myself, Iruka-kun. However, I thank you for the information! Have a most youthful afternoon!" With that, the large man clad in green spandex disappeared in a flurry of sheer speed. Iruka sighed, and returned to grading papers.
Twenty minutes later Gai found himself a short distance from the home of the new student, Uzumaki Naruto, having searched every other place he could think of. He had almost decided to come back and talk to Lee tomorrow, but he was curious. Lee had never been in the company of other students after school before. He came upon a small sized cottage, outside of which sat the new student, relaxing on the porch stoop. Gai met his gaze, and realized that the boy showed no sign of being startled. It was a little disconcerting to think someone who wasn't yet a genin had been able to track him when he was being somewhat stealthy. He smiled, and walked up to the boy.
Naruto stood as he approached, an inquisitive look on his face. Gai spoke, "Hello, my name is Maito Gai, jounin of Konohagakure no Sato. Uzumaki Naruto, I presume?" he asked.
Naruto nodded. "You would be correct, Maito-san. What brings you to my home today?" The boy's face was mostly blank, the jounin realized. Gai wondered if he was naturally like this, or if he was just taking the older man's measure before revealing emotion.
"I am looking for an academy student called Rock Lee. I wished to speak with him today and I could not locate him at the academy training grounds where he usually is. Iruka-kun said he was last seen in your company, and I could not find him elsewhere, so I was hoping he was here. It doesn't look like he is, since you are out here, but do you know where he went?"
Naruto broke into a slight grin. "He is actually here, inside. I'm not the true Naruto, but a shadow clone. Go inside, and please take a seat in the sitting room. I'll disperse now to let the Boss know someone is here." Gai gaped slightly as the clone disappeared in a burst of smoke. Whoever this Uzumaki kid was, he was good. No genin, let alone an academy student, should be able to use shadow clones. It was a very taxing jutsu, one that even Gai didn't know, despite his elite jounin status. Shaking his head from side to side slowly, the Noble Beast entered Naruto's home, stepping into a small and cozy living room, furnished with cheap, comfortable looking furniture. Gai sat down in an armchair, waiting for his prospective student to appear. It wouldn't do to go tromping through someone else's home looking for him, after all.
"Anything yet, Naruto-kun?" asked lee, who was encased up to his neck in the strange machine his new fried had called a chakra analyzer. For the last hour and a half, Naruto had instructed him to attempt jutsu after jutsu, and he was eager to learn the results.
"I think we have enough information, Lee. You can get out now." Lee smiled, and Naruto flipped a switch, which caused the machine to open up, allowing Lee to exit. The grateful boy stepped down from the now-open platform, stretching his arms and legs wearily.
Naruto sat in front of a computer terminal a few feet away from the chakra analyzer, concentrating on the graphs that had been generated. "I think I understand why you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, Lee." The black-eyed bow looked startled, then excited. Words failing him, he motioned the other boy to continue using his hand. "These are reading I took from myself and my father doing a simple henge, as well as yours. Do you see the differences?" Naruto helpfully pointed to three places on various graphs.
Lee examined the computer screen for a few moments. "I think I see it, Naruto-kun. On the graphs labeled "EEG, MRI, and CKMLD, spikes appear on yours and your fathers, but not mine. Everything else looks similar, though. What does this mean?"
Naruto sighed. "What it means, Lee, that something in your brain that usually happens when people mold chakra, isn't happening when you try to mold it. I watched you very closely, and your hand seals were textbook perfect. You even manage to expel un-molded chakra from the correct tenketsu. I'm not a medic, so I have no clue what is causing this, but I doubt it's something that can be fixed. As you are now, there's no chance that you could ever perform ninjutsu or genjutsu on your own." Naruto was about to continue when he heard a loud sniff. He looked away from his monitor and at Lee, who was now crying, tears running down his cheeks.
"So, I'll never be able to use it… Thank you Naruto-kun, for at least telling me what is wrong." Lee started to turn away.
"Lee, no! That's not what I meant. I have an invention, that I use all the time. I can't say for certain, but you should be able to use it to mold chakra for jutsu." Lee's crying stopped as fast as it had started, the gi-clad boy looking at him in amazement.
"Naruto-san… you can do that? You really have an invention which can allow me to mold chakra, even despite my condition?" Naruto smiled and nodded, his hand scratching the back of his head.
"It should work… though your will have to be different than mine. Unrefined chakra is coming out of your tenketsu, so I will have to add a new fuuin to refine it, before it gets processed by a jutsu matrix, which will add one extra step. That might shave a pico-second or two off the casting time, but that shouldn't matter. You haven't done the tenketsu-specific control exercise I've done either, so it will be impossible for you to use them seal-less at first, but I can incorporate my half-seal translators easily enough. Creating a full armor before the graduation exams would be completely impossible, even with one-thousand shadow clones working on it, but at set of gauntlets or gloves with the proper fuuin embedded would only take me an hour or two at most. They wouldn't be durable, but they would work." Naruto lost himself in his planning, and didn't notice his new friends eyes grow wider and wider with each word. But the time he was finished talking (mostly to himself), lee's eyes were reduced to comical swirls, trying to follow what Naruto was explaining. The blond-haired boy quickly created a dozen shadow clones, with instructions to whip up a quick and dirty set of jointed metal and leather gloves in order to test his ideas. He turned back to Lee, who was still looking at him in bewilderment.
"I'll have a prototype ready in an hour or so. Would to like to stay for dinner, Lee? My clones always cook something tasty." Suddenly, Naruto looked to the top of the stairs, startled. The shadow clone guarding the front of him home had just dispersed, sending him the memories of its conversation with Gai. "Lee, a jounin just arrived upstairs. He wants to talk to you."
Lee looked surprised, "A jounin? How did you know, Naruto-san?" Lee hadn't yet recovered from the surprised before, and this new information startled him even further.
"One of my shadow clones let me know. We should go and see what he wants, I'm sure there's a good reason."
The two walked up the long flight of stairs and through the kitchen into the living room. There they met Gai, who was sitting in one of the easy chairs that had been provided with the house. The green-clad jounin smiled at the two boys, who quickly took seats as the older ninja showed no inclination of getting up.
"Hello, my name is Maito Gai. It's nice to meet you Lee-san, Naruto-san. I'm here to speak to Lee about the upcoming genin tests. It's nothing bad; rather, I would like to offer my assistance and possibly help you prepare for the examination."
Lee smiled, "While I am flattered, may I ask why a high ranking shinobi like yourself would be interested in helping someone like myself?" asked Lee. He needed to be cautious here; once a chuunin instructor had told him he give him private lessons, only to never show up, humiliating the young taijutsu user.
Gai smiled, partially blinding the two students. "Lee! I have observed you training for weeks now, and have been very impressed with your skills. I no that you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu, but I still believe you can become a wonderful ninja. You have impressed me enough that I would like to be your jounin team leader if you can pass the exams!" As he had been speaking, Gai's voice rose in volume until he was nearly yelling, frightening Naruto with his intensity. He finished his speech with another luminescent smile and a thumbs-up.
"Yosh! Gai-sensei, I accept your tutelage. I will definitely pass the genin exams with the help of yourself and my new friend Uzumaki Naruto!" Gai looked at the blond child, studying him intently. It was only one day so far, and he made this much of an impression on Lee? Maybe Naruto was a taijutsu user as well.
"Ah, the flames of youth," he said, by way of a reply to Lee. "Let them burn brightly, my new student." Lee's smile grew even larger. Gai was still curious about Naruto, though. "Naruto-san, seeing as Lee has become my new student, may I ask what you are helping him with, so that we can take care not to duplicate our efforts?"
Naruto looked surprised, then shrugged. It's not like his chakra armor would remain a secret for long, as he planned on opening up a storefront before too long. He knew that soon the elite of Konoha would be clamoring to trade their money, and maybe other concessions, for his armor, so a bit of early advertising wouldn't hurt. "I'm a crafter of chakra armor. I've designed a type of chakra armor that not only enhances chakra techniques, but also allows for automatic ninjutsu and genjutsu casting using fuuinjutsu arrays. I believe that I can modify the fuuinjutsu work to allow Lee to cast ninjutsu and genjutsu, but we are still experimenting. I have some clones building a prototype proof-of-concept device, which should be ready in a little while."
Gai looked shocked. His friend and eternal rival Hatake Kakashi had told him about his run-in with the ninja of Yuki no Kuni who used the fabled chakra armor, and the strength it gave them. To meet someone capable of making that armor… this Naruto was of incalculable worth to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "Naruto-san, that is nothing short of amazing. Are you originally from the Land of Snow, then, to have learned such a skill?"
Naruto smiled, he found himself liking this eccentric ninja. "Up until a few weeks ago, I have never left Yuki no Kuni. It's only my first day here in Konoha, but I've already experienced so much and met so many people. I've even made a new friend. Things truly are faster paced here in the south. Even if Konoha is the place I was born, I'm still finding it a little hard to adjust."
Gai was very impressed with this young man, if he could truly do the things he claimed. Even if he was only an apprentice at crafting chakra armor, he was an asset worth his weight is diamond. Perhaps, if Naruto's style of combat meshed with his and Lee's, he could gain a second member for his genin squad. He would have to learn more about Naruto first, though, to see what his character was like.
"Naruto-kun, if you don't mind, would you like me to tutor you a bit as well tonight? I am a taijutsu specialist, so if you would like any pointers in that art I can help. It might just be for this one session, but it would allow you to get some extra training." Gai of course expected Naruto to instantly agree. A jounin offering to train an academy student was rare, and was a sought-after commodity.
"Sure, that would be great, Maito-san. Since you are training me, would you like to have dinner first? My clones should be almost finished preparing it." Gai agreed immediately, he had been able to smell it cooking since he had arrived, and the food certainly smelled delicious.
Naruto's clone soon let him know that the food was done. The three ninja seated themselves at the dining room table where they were served a feast of Indian food by Naruto's clones, which had decided on their own to henge their clothes into tuxedos, much to the amusement of the three ninjas. Over dinner they had some light conversation. "Since we will be spending time together, why don't you two tell me more about yourselves? What you enjoy doing, your favorite book, or something like that?" asked Gai.
Lee went first, "Well, you both know my name, so there is no point in repeating it. I enjoy training, and I'm currently learning to ride the unicycle. My favorite book is "Where the Red Fern Grows", by Wilson Rawls. I currently live in a single room apartment near the academy due to my status as an orphan. I hope I can become much stronger by working together."
Naruto spoke next, "Uzumaki Naruto. My passion is to discover new things, and to create inventions that work different from anything else, to find out how the universe works. To that end, I have worked very hard to become a master in the field of fuuinjutsu, and a master chakra engineer. The next fields of study I would like to learn about are biology and medicine, but as there was no adequate teacher in Yuki no Kuni I have had to wait to learn these subjects. Outside of science, I enjoy calligraphy, mountain climbing, and spelunking, or exploring caves. My favorite books outside of science and fuuinjutsu texts are "Go Rin no Sho", the book of five rings written by Miyamoto Mushashi, and "The Art of War", by Sun Tzu." Feeling that he had given sufficient information, the golden haired boy returned to his meal.
The three of them finished their meals after a short while, both of them complimenting him on the food his clones had made. It turned out that both of them were big fans of Indian food. Gai led the way to a training area not far from Naruto's property. After finding out that both boys were at least low-chuunin level in speed, they were able to get there in less than five minutes. Gai explained that before they started, he wanted to see where each of them were in their taijutsu skills. Lee stepped forward, eager to prove himself.
The spar lasted less than two minutes, but Naruto could tell that his new friend had been holding back heavily during their spars at the academy earlier that day, just as he himself had been doing. Lee attacked first, knowing that he would have no chance if Gai went on the offensive. The academy student rocketed forward; fist extended in the classis Konoha-academy style taijutsu he had been taught. His execution was flawless, and his speed very impressive. Naruto guessed that Lee would be a match for quite a few chuunin, at least high C ranked. Lee still didn't manage to land a single blow on Gai, but he was able to use his speed to dodge and deflect quite a few of the older man's attacks. Naruto could tell the jounin was holding back a lot, but it was a spar after all. Finally, after he had learned all he needed to know, Gai simply stopped, ending the spar. There was no need to hurt or embarrass his new student, after all.
"Very good, Lee-kun. I can tell that you have been training very hard. In fact, when I was your age my taijutsu wasn't half as good. Naruto-kun, it's your turn now. Please remember, this is a taijutsu only spar, so please don't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu. Show me the full extent of your skills." Naruto nodded his acceptance and stepped forward, throwing his brown cloak to the ground. Both of the other ninjas realized that Naruto's entire body below his chin was covered in a metallic, flexible looking armor that shimmered a light blue. There was a LCD panel and a long thin slot on his right are, and several small tubes ringing his left. Both fists were encased in flexible looking metal gauntlets that merged with his sleeves. There was a large neckpiece ringing the top of his armor, and as they both watched, a black bubble-like helmet rose from it, completely encasing the blond in chakra armor. They could see no longer see any trace of his head or skin.
Gai was a little leery of Naruto's armor. He had heard the stories about how it enhanced every faucet of chakra use, from jutsu to physical movements, damage, and damage-resistance. While he was reflecting, Naruto shot forward, a metallic blue and black blur. Shocked, Gai slid out of the way, lashing out at the boy's chest with a high kick. Naruto dodged to the side at the last moment, moving forward to take advantage of Gai's shift in balance. Gai back flipped, righting himself, and met Naruto's forward charge with a chakra-enhanced fist to his head. Naruto stumbled backward from the force of the blow, and Gai felt like his knuckles were on fire. If he hadn't been reinforcing his bones with chakra they would have shattered from the hardness of the helmet. While he was startled, Naruto took advantage of the older man's lapse in concentration to dive forward onto the ground, sliding into Gai's shins and ankles in an attempt to knock him over. Gai felt the waves of chakra coming off of the blonde, and knew he would fall or be thrown backward if he was hit, and fearing for his toes, he skated backward, preparing to deliver a body slam onto the grounded boy. Before he could, however, the blond was on his feet, crouched low, preparing for what looked like an upper cut. Gai, seeing several flaws in his stance, moved in close for a half-powered gut punch. Gai's fist met the lower ribbing of the boy's armor at the same time as Naruto's fist met Gai's neck. Being a taijutsu, Gai quickly hardened his skin and bone with chakra, avoiding most of the damage from the blow, but it still stung. Such a blow would have crushed most Nin's necks. Next, Gai intentionally left himself open, to see what Naruto would do. Most shinobi would use such an opportunity to pull out one of their bigger damage-dealing moves, and he wanted to see what this boy was capable of. As it was, Gai could tell that he was already at least B ranked in taijutsu, due to his speed, the incredible hardness of his armor, and the unpredictability of his style. Gai doubted he would be able to beat the blond unless he took him seriously, which he was unwilling to do against an academy student, or in a spar. He didn't have to wait long for Naruto's technique. He surged forward, at least twice as fast as before, and leaped into the air. A two-foot sword blade slid from the long horizontal slot on his right arm, glowing with chakra. The blond began to spin in mid air, almost faster than the eye could follow. Gai's eyes widened, as he sent a surge of chakra to the weights on his legs. As Naruto flew through the spot he was occupying less than a second before, Gai disappeared in a blur, appearing behind the blond student, and tapped him on the shoulder. Naruto's sword retracted, and his helmet came down.
"As I suspected, I was no match for you," said the blond with a smile. "At the end, you were at least half as fast as Father." Gai stored this information, not wanting to think about it at the moment. "You did very well, Naruto-kun. Even going all out, I think I would have some trouble with you. May I ask what your style is called? I don't think I have seen it before." Gai was thinking that this boy was seriously impressive. If his ninjutsu and genjutsu were half as good as his taijutsu, he would be at least a B ranked threat. He was extraordinarily powerful for a person of his age.
"Its called fubiki-do, the way of the snow storm. It's the sole original taijutsu style of Yuki no Kuni, created through seven generations of trial and error. Because we have only one taijutsu style and ninja's bodies vary so much, there are over two hundred katas. The user picks twenty or thirty katas that best suit them, and then develops these movements into their own style, using the broad guidelines of the art." He paused, frowning slightly, "Because taijutsu is currently my weak area, I currently spend a lot of time training in it." Explained the boy from Snow Country.
Gai was startled by Naruto's last comment. If taijutsu was truly his weak area, then how strong was he? He decided then and there to have words with the Hokage. He hated to admit it since he believed with all of his soul that a ninja should work their way up the ranks and advance slowly over time, but becoming a genin and doing D ranked missions would be a waste for young Naruto. Promotions were usually done based on merit and performance, not power level, but based on what he'd seen Gai would swear that this boy could mop the floor with any chuunin he knew, and most of the jounin, and that was only when he was using taijutsu, which he admitted was one of his worst skills.
"Naruto... What level would you say your ninjutsu and genjutsu are?" asked Gai, curiosity in his voice. Naruto cocked his head to the side in consideration.
"I don't really know, Gai-sensei. I'm pretty good at genjutsu, though I only know about ninety techniques. I'm also immune to genjutsu when my helmet is up, due to the chakra field that surrounds my body. Of the three main shinobi arts, Ninjutsu is definitely my strong point. I know about six hundred techniques, though I mostly confine myself to using two hundred of my favorites," finished Naruto.
Gai looked flabbergasted. Some part of his mind was beginning to suspect this boy was an enemy spy, but he was so honest and forthcoming that it was unlikely. He still needed to speak with the Hokage, however.
As Gai was ruminating and Naruto and Lee were discussing their spars, a Naruto clone rushed up carrying a package in its hands. Upon arriving it handed the package to Lee, gave him a grin, and then dispersed. As Lee was opening the package, Naruto felt the other clones that worked on the projects disperse as well, giving him the full memories on its creation. Lee pulled out a pair of gauntlets; somewhat similar the ones Naruto wore, but dull silver color rather than a metallic blue.
"Go ahead and put them on, Lee, then try channeling some chakra to your hands." Gai watched with interest as Lee did so. Two seals glowed blue as he did so. The gauntlets, previously somewhat loose, suddenly shrunk to fit his hands perfectly. Gai and Lee both looked impressed as the small mass-energy seal array performed its function.
Lee flexed his hands, moving each finger joint to insure that they worked properly and gave him a full range of motion. The gauntlets almost felt like they were a part of his hands. "These fit very well, Naruto-san. Fuuinjutsu truly is an amazing art."
"Well, that's the least of their abilities. I engraved a chakra refining seal into them, as well as fuuins for henge, kawarimi, and the regular bunshin, including one handed seal translators. If you channel your unrefined chakra to your hands and make the proper seals, the seals should be able to handle the rest. Try the bunshin first, since it requires the least amount of chakra. Make sure to get a good fell for how much energy each technique takes, so you know your limit. One of the main downsides to this method is if you activate a fuuin that is in contact with your skin and you don't have enough chakra to use it, it can drain you until you die," explained the young jinchurikki.
Lee nodded his head in understanding, and then got a look of concentration on his face. He went through the hand-seals for the clone technique at a medium speed, then yelled out "Bunshin no jutsu!" Suddenly, without any smoke to obscure them, were four identical Lees where there had been but one. "I did it! Gai-sensei, Naruto-san! I performed a ninjutsu!" Lee's face was a mask of excitement, stretched into a mile-wide grin. He did a little dance in happiness, which his clones dutifully mimicked. His boisterous excitement slowly tapered off, until he stood before the other two ninja, now reasonably calm again.
Naruto spoke, "Lee, you should try the other two techniques, then I'll show you the one-handed seal that activated the translators I installed. Don't worry if you don't get kawarimi or henge right the first time, both techniques usually require a lot of practice on visualizing their effects. The seals will make them much easier than normal, but you will have to supply the direction for them with your mind."
Gai stepped forward, "While I am not an expert on ninjutsu, you might want to try the kawarimi at first, Lee. It's the first technique taught to any ninja, because it's the most useful, and when battling enemy shinobi, it's often the most used. When you make the seals, try to imagine switching with that log over there; the caretakers in charge of maintaining this training ground usually leave quite a few logs lying around just for this purpose."
"I'll try my best, Gai-sensei!" said the hotheaded youth. Lee quickly ran through the seals for kawarimi, focusing his willpower into a white-hot need to quickly change places with the log Gai had indicated. As soon as the last seal had been completed, Lee and the log were suddenly gone. Exactly 0.79623 seconds later (Naruto had timed it, and it was exactly the same every time), the log appeared where Lee had been, and the black haired boy took the place of the log. Lee whooped in pleasure, running back to his two compatriots. "It worked! Thank you for this amazing gift, Naruto-san!"
Naruto smiled, he was glad that his new friend was happy. "You're welcome Lee. As for the henge… You'll need a mirror and lots of practice for that one. It's not something that you can perform correctly on the first try, as it's entirely dependant on your visualization. I would suggest you pick one form at a time, and concentrate on that, until you get a good grasp on the technique. By the way, how do your chakra levels feel after those two jutsus?"
"I feel perfectly normal, I hardly felt those techniques use any of my chakra reserve. I think I could cast them many, many times with no problem," replied Lee. He had thought ninjutsu would take a lot out of him, but it really wasn't that draining. The three Bunshin he made took about as much chakra as one of his chakra-enhanced punches, of which he could perform thousands, and the kawarimi took about as much chakra as one minute of using chakra to reinforce his skin, which he could keep up for a few hours. "I guess all the practice I have using unrefined chakra to strengthen my taijutsu made my reserves larger," said Lee.
Naruto nodded, it made sense. Sustained fighting while using chakra enhancements was one of the best and easiest ways to grow your reserves, though it did almost nothing for control, as it done using un-molded chakra.
Gai took this time to speak, "Well my youthful students… I must get going. I will diligently work to come up with some training exercises in order to improve both of your taijutsu techniques. If you would like, I will meet you both at this training ground after your classes at the academy, for continued training. I feel there is much I can teach both of you." Gai smiled widely and gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up, then used the shunshin no jutsu to disappear in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto smiled at his friend. "I'm going to start working on a complete set of chakra-armor for you, Lee. I can do a pretty good job of customizing it, seeing as I have all of your readings from my chakra analyzer, and I'll a melee-weapon module and toughness enhancers since you're a taijutsu user. I'll also gear the techniques I etch into toward your specialty. Even if I dedicate a hundred clone to it a day, it will take at least three months, so until them please make due with those gauntlets. I'll etch a few more fuuin into them tomorrow or the next day so you can get some practice. Don't worry about paying me anything, I need more practice anyway. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll find some way to get even with me."
Lee froze up, looking shocked. "You would do that for me?" The young taijutsu user had though his friend would demand some form of payment for the gauntlets alone, and he once the first technique succeeded Lee was willing to give the young scientist all of his savings plus all of his mission earning for the next year by way of payment. In less than a day, the entire course of his life had been changed, drastically for the better in his opinion. "I know that this armor is special, it is so powerful… Surely you could get a fortune for it. Why are you willing to make it for someone like me for free?"
Naruto frowned. "Lee, I am going to open up a shop in the next couple of weeks. The first chakra armor I sell will net me more money than most jounin make in five years of doing A and B rank missions. I don't need money, and I like to do nice things for people. Besides, I want to see what kind of ninja you can become. I expect to see great things from you." Naruto stopped, "Besides, I think that jounin, Gai, wants both of us on his team, and naturally I want to have the strongest team mate possible. Once I know for sure who is on my genin team, I'm going to offer all of them a chakra armor. I came back to Konoha to share my skills, and so that is what I'll do."
Author's Note:
Another chapter released, just a bit of character development, a little plot movement, and some of Naruto's skills revealed. Try not to be harsh on the boy for telling Gai so much… He wouldn't have if he didn't trust him, and this Naruto is an excellent judge of character. Besides, he is more researcher and engineer than ninja, really. His battle prowess is mostly an offshoot of his incredible thirst for knowledge. Sort of like an anti-Orochimaru.
Lee is now able to use the basic academy techniques, though there is still a learning curve involved. He should have a complete chakra armor soon enough to get used to it before the first major story arc, so never fear, though it will take him a long time before he will be able to use all of the jutsus Naruto is going to engrave into it. He'll technically be able to use them as soon as he learns the hand seals, but that doesn't mean he knows their effects, nuances, and how to use them tactically, or even how much of his chakra they eat, which can easily lead to death if he's not careful. Naruto's got a monster made up of trillions of exo-joules of energy sealed in his stomach, which he can tap for power any time he wants, which means he could doesn't even feel it when he uses chakra, unlike any other user of the armor. He doesn't even have to mold the chakra himself, which makes chakra exhaustion impossible for him. He still knows how to do most of his techniques manually, but he never does, as the only time he has his armor off is to quickly shower or service it. He's dependant on the armor, but any way you look at it, its strengths overwhelmingly obliterate its weaknesses.
Look for more of this crazy story sometime next week, or maybe not. I might get a hair up my ass to write, or I might not. For those Tenten lovers out there, fear not. She will feature much more heavily in the next few chapters. I've actually named the next chapter this time, so look for: Rise of the Science-Nin Chapter V: Genin Daze. You can infer from the title the content of the next chapter, I hope.