Hidden Secrets Ch.5

3 WEEKS LATER

3 weeks after the team had met, and gotten to know each other, Lee, Tenten, and Gai still didn't know what Neji hid underneath his forehead protector. All were curious, but respected Neji's privacy.

"Alright! Today we will be working on our agility running through the trees! As a ninja, you will constantly have to leap from tree to tree as a quicker way to reach your destination. Although a simple technique, if you misplace your foot, you can slip and fall. And let me tell you it is a long fall to the ground! As much as 120 meters at the highest! But today we will work at a lower level so that you can get used to it!" Gai said in his usual motivational voice.

"GAI-SENSEI! HOW HIGH WILL THE YOUTHFUL TREES BE?"

"EXCELLENT QUESTION LEE! No higher than 40 feet for today!"

Gai explained the technique as his students sat and watched. "Wow. Really? How hard can it be to leap from a tree?" Tenten asked herself. Neji stared, refusing to say anything, "Hn. Sounds simple enough. After all, it requires nearly no chakra."

"ALRIGHT! NOW THAT YOU, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS KNOW ALL ABOUT IT! LET'S GIVE IT A YOUTHFUL WHIRL!"

The trio stood up and leaped into the trees. They practiced for hours. After taking a break for lunch, Lee rivaled Neji to race him, "Neji! Let us see who can go the fastest!" Neji questioned it for second, not wanting anything to do with Lee, but then decided that he really hadn't pushed himself lately. "Alright…" Tenten stayed far behind them, not wanting to get hit by one of them, "Hey, do you think that's a good idea? I mean you guys are going pretty fast already…" she asked. "Nonsense Tenten! What is a little competition?" Gai said, encouraging the two boys, "We'll turn back here. First one back to the Gates of Konoha will only do 95 laps around Konoha tomorrow! Everyone else will do 100! Ready. Set. GO!" Gai shouted, and the two boys took off towards Konoha. Although the reward sounded tempting, Tenten knew she didn't stand a chance against the boys. "There's no point to waste the energy. I'll just stay back here. Besides… it's only 5 laps… 5 HUGE laps… but still not worth it." She thought.

Lee and Neji were neck and neck for a while; however Neji had taken the lead, but Lee wasn't far behind. "Neji! I will catch up! I am not far behind!" Lee shouted Neji scoffed. He really didn't care about the reward; he simply wanted to beat Lee. "Almost there… I can see the gates from here! All I need to do is focus on the bran-" Neji couldn't complete his thought, for his foot had slipped from the branch. Before he knew it, Neji had fallen, hitting branches on the way down. Lee had stopped once he noticed Neji was no longer ahead of him. "Where did he go?" Suddenly Lee heard a sickening 'THUD' and looked down. "Oh no! Neji fell!"

"Neji!"

No response….

"Neji can you hear me!"

Still no response.

Lee jumped down to the forest floor, hoping to help Neji. Moments later, Gai and Tenten arrived. "What happened?" Tenten asked kneeling down to Neji, who had fallen unconscious. He had cuts and scrapes all over his body. Tenten was about to pick up his head and rest it in her lap, but Gai stopped her. "Tenten, never touch an injured comrade. You never know if touching them will make things worse." Tenten stopped, "Hai, Gai-Sensei. So what do we do then?" Gai looked over the smallest member of his team. "First we check for broken bones, but Neji seems to not have any.… From what I saw, he fell and hit his head on some branches, and probably on the ground. He probably has a concussion."

Tenten looked at him in panic, "Well! What do we do?"

"Tenten, calm down. Gai-Sensei knows what to do!" Lee said with a reassuring smile.

"Good, Lee. Well, to know for sure, we have to remove his forehead protector."

Tenten and Lee both gasped. "But Sensei! He never takes it off!" They said simultaneously.

"I know, but that doesn't matter right now.