Ch. 9 Don's Replacement

Gazu lie awake in his bed, it was late in the morning. "God, I'm so bored. I wonder what Rain and Temari are doing? I've done just about everything I wanted to do if those two just so happened to not be here for some time leaving me alone to myself. Note to self, never raid Rain's bedroom out of curiosity again.

"I wonder what it would be like if someone wrote about me or even was writing about me as I speak right now? Ha, that's a joke, who would write about me?" He got up from his bed and began to walk towards his usual training spot. "Nothing better to do, might as well train."

"Oh, Gazu, just the man I was looking for." A familiar voice said. Gazu picked his head up and saw it was none other than Baki-sensei, who was with a boy around his age. "How are you sensei?" Gazu asked. "I'm quite fine, thank you. And you? Off to train I see?" Gazu nodded happily.

"Oh, how rude of me, I almost forgot. Gazu, I would like to introduce someone to you." Baki-sensei said. "Who is he sensei?" Gazu asked. "That's what I went looking for you for. Since Rain and Temari are off in Konaha, I want to introduce you to your new squad member."

"Wait, what?" Gazu blurted out loud. "It's taken a while, but we found a new member for your squad, it doesn't seem right for your squad to be incomplete with just two people." Baki replied. "It's those elders again, isn't it? They just can't sit with the fact that one of our best shinobi died in battle protecting his friends can they, especially seeing as he wasn't even from here."

"Well, yes, but orders are orders." Baki replied sadly. "Well, your new squad member is fresh out of our academy and some think he has some promise. So why not tell him your name son?" The boy stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hello, Gazu, I am Dan."

Gazu looked at him with demonic eyes which immediately Dan shrunk back behind Baki-sama for safety. "You've got to be kidding me! What kind of joke are you trying to pull on me?" Gazu shouted at the sky. "It's bad enough you are trying to replace Don, but really? His replacement is freaking named Dan! That is a rip off!"

"Gazu, who are you shouting at?" Baki-sama asked. Gazu sighed, "It's nothing. So what do I have to do with this newbie, babysit him?" Baki-sama looked at him humorously, "Heavens no, I want you two to get bonded and such, after all he is a part of your squad now. I have an idea, how about you bring him training with you."

Gazu looked angrily at him, "I prefer to train alone." "Come on, Gazu, don't be so cold hearted. Give him a chance." Baki said. "Why should I? I don't even know what his capabilities are, how can I be so sure that he can uphold the reputation of the squad seven of Suna?"

"Well if you must know, he is a part of an experiment; he is a trained medical ninja." Then Dan stepped forward. "That's ok Baki-sensei; I think Gazu is just afraid of showing me how weak he is." Gazu's eyes turned burning red and turned to Dan. "What did you say you academy fresh meat?" "That's right, I thought your name was familiar, I've heard stories about you, you were, and if I am still correct, still are the weakest member of squad seven, are you sure that you are worthy to even be a part of this squad?"

Gazu charged at him and picked him up by the shirt and Dan grunted. "You think that I'm weak huh? I'll show you how wrong you are, I'll fight you right here, right now!" Gazu said and threw Dan onto the ground.

Dan got up and patted the dirt off his clothes and got in his fighter stance. Gazu summoned his main swordsman puppet. "No wonder you are so weak, you're too much of a coward to fight someone yourself, you have to hide behind your crappy puppets."

Gazu charged with his swordsman at Dan and was about to pull out something when an image of Don shot through his mind. All of a sudden he stopped. He jumped back in the nick of time as it turned out Dan had made a quick swipe with his hand in an attempt to jab him. Gazu realized what he was about to do and what would have happened if he would have gone through with his charge.

"Damn, that jab looked like it would have done some serious damage to me. Better take a deep breath and think this out. After all, I don't have Don here anymore to tell me exactly what to do." He took a deep breath and then withdrew his swordsman. "Time to try one of my newest puppets that I have been breaking in." he said to himself. He then summoned a boxer puppet.

Gazu and his puppet made a full charge at Dan; they each got on one side of him and began a fury or punches. Dan was boxed in; he couldn't do anything but take the multiple blows from Gazu and his boxer puppet who were hitting him from all sides. Finally Gazu and his boxer made a powerful kick and knocked Dan high in the air. When Dan reached his peak, Gazu and his boxer were there to slam him down, hurtling into the ground.

Gazu and his boxer landed. Dan was on the ground, unable to move. Baki looked amazed at the event that just occurred. "I'm going." Gazu said angrily as he withdrew his boxer and walked off to his training spot. Mean while a dark cloaked figure stood atop a building and watched as Gazu walked off.

"Hey Rain, I just got this letter from Gazu. Come over here so we can read it." Temari said. Rain got up, from now became her fortress of books and scrolls and joined Temari as she opened the letter. Rain snatched it from Temari's hands and read it silently. A ghostly expression came over her face; she dropped the letter and walked back to her books. "What's wrong?" Temari asked as she picked up the letter.

Dear Temari and Rain,

I hope things are well. It's been really boring here without someone to train with and none the less, to make Rain feel comfortable with leaving me alone without her supervision, yes I have been training my ass off every day. However, I regret having to write to you two bringing some sad news. The elders have found me and Rain a squad member replacement for Don. I hate him already. He is fresh out the academy. All I know is that he is a medical ninja, a part of an experiment our village has been currently conducting. He is a smart ass and has no respect for the true essence or even the heart of this squad, there is no respect in this fellow. Worst of all he called me weak, the weakest of the squad. However that may be true, even so, I have come a long way this past year and squad seven's standards are pretty high. I don't think he could uphold the reputation of squad seven, more importantly no one could ever replace him, I mean Don. It's disturbing that the elders want no concern over our squad; all that they care about is having a full squad. To me, this was a vein act, a dishonor to Don's death. I'll keep an eye on him, however I won't like it, but whether I and Rain like it or not, he is our new squad member. What makes things worse is this. His name is Dan.

Apologies for the bad news, hope things are well,

Gazu

Temari dropped the letter and went to Don's old room and flopped on his bed. It still smelled like him and soon she fell asleep to the aroma of his scent. Rain remained isolated from the outside world in her fortress of books and fell asleep in there.