Alright, so it's been a while and I have not fixed the problem or gotten my new laptop. I have managed to post several new stories through the fanfic docs but I managed to get my drafts printed (using school credits.. fml running out) so that I can work on this a little bit. I didn't have enough credits for anything besides Seeking Solace so other than the new stories this is the only old one being updated. Sorry guys. Hope you enjoy.
E.S. Posthumus - Unstoppable and it's freaking epic. It seemed to fit Gai training XD
Shinobu POV
"Holy.. crap.." Shinobu panted, desperately trying to keep up with Gai while ignoring the looks people kept giving them. "How does Lee manage to do this?"
"Oh this is only our first warm up don't worry. Once you get better we'll do even more laps!" Gai-sensei grinned, his teeth twinkling as he ran.
Shinobu had shown up that morning, as planned bright and early to find Gai doing several push ups. Before she could get a chance to join him, he pounced. He was acting like a five year old on lots of sugar on christmas morning and to be honest it was sort of scaring her.
He had handed her a giant package and ushering her to unwrap it, giving him an unsure look she did. She wanted to be able to put it down, it was heavier then it looked. Inside, much to her horror, was an outfit resembling Lee's. The only difference was that the one in her hands was neon pink, accompanied by horrifically blinding rainbow leg warmers.
"Do you like it? I was going to give you the same colour as Lee and I but I was talking to Neji and he pointed out that you might prefer something in a colour more suited to your gender." He grinned. "So I had this one specially made."
"I er... thank you? But.. what do you mean my gender..?" Shinobu grinned half-heartedly, trying to stick the horrid material into her back pack before he got any funny ideas, like actually making her wear the thing.
"You're a girl, all of the jonin know that. You need to go put it on! It will be perfect for our training." Gai grinned, giving her a thumbs up. Shinobu sighed contemplating her options and quickly realizing she didn't have many. It was wear this and get trained so she could beat Sasuke.. or don't wear it and self-train. Now I have two goals.. beat Sasuke.. kill Neji.. She sighed once again before waving at Gai with a small smile and running off to change.
"At least with their outfit you can blend in.. this is as bad as Naruto's clothes when it comes to camouflage.. " Shinobu scowled once she was dressed turning several times in the mirror. The damn thing had a tutu like poof around the waste and it was obviously fitted for a girl. Which required her to either look ridiculously stupid.. or train as a girl and look only slightly stupid. "If I can't beat Sasuke after this I'll kill him.." She growled, ignoring her lack of logic as she stomped out of the public bathroom, backpack in tow.
"You look so full of youth!" Gai exclaimed upon seeing her, completely ignorant to the scowl that made her look so much like Sasuke. She had chosen to stay a boy at first until she realized how tight the crotch region was. Had a fangirl seen her like that she'd be screwed. If anyone asked she could simply say Gai made a mistake and had this thing fitted for the wrong size so she was using genjutsu so she could still wear it and not hurt his feelings.
"Now for the last piece." He said, picking up the discarded box and pulling out two thin rectangular sets of plates that clanked together as they moved.
"Urm... what are those?" Shinobu asked warily, as much as she appreciated Gai's help some of the things he thought were "help" were actually things she'd rather avoid.
"Weights!" He grinned, causing Shinobu to deadpan.
"You mean like the ones Lee dropped during his match..?" She asked, eyeing them.
"Yes, but they're not quite as heavy, you'll get there yet, though!" He winked, his smile faltering for a moment. "How are you for arm strength? Lee does one thumbed push ups so I've never thought about it."
"I've never tried a one thumbed push up.. but I do one hundred one armed push ups for each arm a day now.." Shinobu smiled sheepishly.
"That's good for now, we can improve that after we get your weights up. We'll triple the weight by the chunin exams!" Gai exclaimed. Shinobu inwardly groaned before letting a small smile take over. If this would make her stronger, she would do it, she would do anything.
Grinning more to herself than the man in green, she grabbed the weights and hooked them onto her calves underneath the leg warmers.
"Alright.. now what?" Shinobu asked looking up at him with determination.
"50 laps around Konoha before lunch time." Gai grinned.
"I.. uhm.. are you coming with me?" Shinobu asked wincing. Her friends would never let her live this one down.
"Of course my youthful student!" He shouted with a wink before taking off in a sprint leaving Shinobu in the dust. She blinked twice before quickly following, surprised at how much harder it was to run with the weights on.
"You can go faster than that!" Gai exclaimed, running backwards so he go face Shinobu. Had she not been so out of breath and exhausted she would have hung her head in embarrassment. It wasn't the running itself or how out of shape she may have appeared. Everyone in Konoha knew that anyone training with Gai excluding Lee was probably not out of shape.
No, it was the fact that at their 17th lap Ino had for some reason unbeknownst to her decided to go to work and had burst into tears from laughing so hard as they had run past the flower shop. Followed by shocking Shikamaru out of his lazy stupor on their 23rd lap and making Choji actually drop a chip.
If that wasn't bad enough on the 35th lap Sasuke had given her the strangest look when they went past the hospital and Naruto had fallen from his tree mid-training. Neji and Hinata looked both amused and horrified as they ran past the Hyuuga compound and Hiashi just looked bewildered beyond understanding.
Shino's face palm on their 42nd lap made her mentally cringe and Konohamaru had found it so amusing that he had wanted to take a picture. Of course she refused to stop running for long enough for him to get a camera.
Becoming stronger was giving her mental anguish and eternal embarrassment. Not to mention Gai waved at everyone they passed and kept shouting at the top of his lungs and attracting even more attention than their clothing was earning them.
"Good job, Shinobu!" Gai grinned as she collapsed to the ground panting. It wasn't even 11am yet and she was aching beyond literary description.
"T-thanks." She grinned slightly. "What's next?" She asked, struggling to her feet. She knew Gai had a full day planned and she wasn't going to let him cut her off short.
"Such youth!" He beamed. "Well first since that seemed a little too easy for you we're going to add a few weights." He explained, tossing her a few more clip on weights. "Then we're going to use that monkey bar set Kurenai-san gave you and have you go across it one hundred times with only one arm, once for each arm. After that you'll cross it one hundred times using a different limb for each bar with no two limbs used twice in a row or within two bars of each other."
Shinobu quickly attached the weights before letting her expression go from exhausted to horrified. This training was almost as insane as Anko's obstacle courses and this was only day one, not even half way through the day!
Sighing she took a big breath and told herself to suck it up before summoning her next torture. This was going to be a very LONG month.
Kurenai POV
"Why are you not willing to train my student?" Kurenai asked in a low growl, Asuma digging his heel sheepishly into the ground behind her. Since Shikamaru was the only one to pass onto the actual viewed matches he had a little bit of free time. Shikamaru demanded at least a week of naps and cloud gazing claiming it necessary to recuperate.
"I am?" Kakashi asked more than answered as he looked up curiously from his book.
"Don't play coy with me!" She spat out. "You told her to activate it on her own then come to you when you did. I know as well as you do that she won't be able to activate it at all without some form of outside influence or help."
"We don't even know if the girl has it, we could very well be wasting her and my time which in turn wastes Sasuke's. I simply gave her the advice to train her efforts towards another goal while keeping the Sharingan in mind so she could continue to become stronger without wasted efforts." Kakashi stated simply, keeping his eyes(eye) in their usual bored expression.
"Yes, Sasuke. What about Naruto, hm? Have you thought of him during any of this. He needs training as well and as I hope you're aware, he passed on to the next matches as well. You're not only neglecting my student for Sasuke but your own team as well. Sakura and Naruto could both be much stronger by now if you'd just let some of spotlight drift. You should tread careful or you'll find your team falling apart." Kurenai warned in a huff before turning on her heel and stomping off.
Asume looked at the startled man before quickly following, not wanting to stoke the fire that Kurenai already had at the forefront of her mind.
Shinobu POV
"Good job! Now all you have is your homework for the evening and we can start over tomorrow!" Gai grinned a good eight hours later.
"Homework?" Shinobu looked up warily; after hours upon hours of running, flipping and sparring she wasn't sure she could make it home, never mind complete whatever insane homework Gai planned.
"Yes! Your youth is inspiring so I have decided you can do your regular warm ups, stretches and training along with 500 sit ups to work on your core muscles!" Gai grinned, giving her a thumbs up.
"Yes sir.." She sighed with a weak salute before she started inching herself away from the training field before he could assign anything else. Hitami was lucky she hadn't decided to bring her today.
Pausing as she got to the Hyuuga compound she looked around, it was already getting dark out and it would take her at least fifteen more minutes to get home. Hiashi had said she was welcome here whenever.. right? Maybe she could just stop here and finish her training before sleeping. It involved less time of muscle aching torture and possibly more time to sleep in the morning.
"It couldn't hurt." She sighed before entering the compound. It isn't too late so people should be awake for another two hours.. I should be able to finish by then. Shinobu thought to herself, making her way to the main courtyard before stopping in slight shock.
Hiashi and Neji were training, and hard by the looks of it. Neji looked like he too had been at it for hours. Maybe she could sneak out to one of the training rooms without them noticing her? She nodded to herself before trying to creep around the courtyard without getting noticed.
"Shinobu?" Hiashi asked, blocking Neji quickly before they both turned to look at her.
"Uh.. hi.. Hiashi-sama.." She turned slowly, laughing sheepishly.
"What are you doing here so late..? And what are you wearing?" He asked, looking her up and down while Neji covered a snort of laughter.
"I uh.. was just training with Gai sensei and the compound is a little closer than home so I figured I could.. uh.. finish up training here and crash..heh.." She tried to explain. Deer caught in the headlights.
"and.. what are you wearing?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Well you see Gai sensei thought I should get a special.. training uniform.. and Neji here thought I might like something more suited to my gender.. so Gai sensei made this one especially for me." She smiled, though it was obviously twitching.
"Oh really?" Hiashi replied in amusement. "Well this seems to be perfect for me. You can train with Neji for the rest of the evening, he can either follow your usual routine or you could spar." Hiashi smiled before walking away.
"Wait.. you.. train with me?" Shinobu asked, dumbfounded.
"Sure.. why not.." Neji sighed before looking at her expectantly to see what she had decided they would do.
"Uh.. you sure you want to do that?" Shinobu looked at him, while she was more than sure he could keep up with the majority of her training she highly doubted he'd be able to stretch with her.
"Anything you can do I can do.. if not better." Neji smirked, challengingly.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." She smirked back, a new determination flashing in her eyes as she once again summoned the monkey bars. Watching as they filled a quarter of the large space.
"What do we start with?" Neji asked, eyeing the monkey bar curiously.
"500 hanging sit ups." Her smile was purposely innocent. She had figured that she could cut out her usual portion of sit ups and let the homework take their spot. Neji was in for one hell of a training session.
Note: (PLEASE READ) from now on I will NOT be responding to full reviews at the end of my chapters unless they contain questions and I will only be answering the questions. I read them all and appreciate them but they're getting seriously long and it's harder than I thought to go and delete them after. Thank you and sorry.
OrionRedde: Haha, thanks :D I'm glad you liked them XD I plan to!
Yourhoshi: I believe that while Shinobu is stronger, the fact that this was a person special to both Naruto and Sasuke made her falter and hold back her true strength, bringing them to the same level. But ya, Sakura isn't as strong as Shinobu and everyone will get to see Shinobu improve a lot more in the future :) Thanks for the review.
ShadowNinja1011(Chapter 3 & 4): Thank you :D I'm glad you like it so far.
Icedragonshiki (chapter 14): Haha, I'm glad you like it so much! I'm not actually Japanese but I'm learning so I can speak little bits here and there. I'm more focused on my french though. I'll try sometime but it's hard for purely english readers to understand and I know from personal reading how annoying it can be to go down to the thingy at the bottom every time there's a language switch. Shinobu insists on keeping her secret because 1. she doesn't want to be underestimated 2. she wants to prove that she can be as good as any other guy comply because they don't think it's a big deal, it's not like they'll specifically lie for her if asked, but they won't purposely go around telling people either. Thanks for the review :D
girl-of-anime: Nope, she did not XD There isn't much info on kekkei genkai in the library because they're secret.. touche... it could happen.. ow my brain xD Thanks for the review :D
ThorongilAnime: Yes, yes he does XD You seem excited about that fact? :P
Alpenwolf: It's sad really, Kakashi never really trains anyone besides Sasuke, I think it's because he sees some of himself in him. But seriously, in the entire canon ebisu and Jiraiya do Naruto's training and Sakura doesn't get strong until she starts training under Tsunade. Then Sasuke leaves and Kakashi is all lonely :( 's one of the reasons I really like Gai. He'll train anyone! As long as they have a good spirit and will work hard he'll help them succeed. He cares about all his students, it's awesome. Even if he is a bit weird and all XD. Thanks about the chart, haha, it's photo shopped directly from the manga. Aah, it's ok, not everyone cares for school stories. At one point I hated them ^^; Thanks for the review :D
Neko Morie: Well I'm glad you liked it so much :) and happy to deliver and unexpected yet good chunin exam so far. Haha. Thanks for the candy XD and the review :)
XxInuzukaxX: Braindeadness.. classrooms do that but I'm shocked.. it's christmas holidays? So confused. It's alright :) I'm glad you liked my fights and the flashbacks even if they were a little different then how I normally right. I was a little nervous about Kankuro to be honest but I'm glad you liked how I portrayed him. You listened to the song? I'm in love with it right now, is one of my OTP couples I absolutely adore them which is sort of annoying when I have to write a fic where it doesn't make sense for them to be together. I feel sort of bad about Kakashi but part of me feels mean for making Gai train her as well ^^; haha. Thanks for the review.
Remy987: Yup, I finally mentioned it. Haha, I used to update like this before but as school goes on my brain hurts. Unfortunately this is going to get worse because I'm taking two sciences in the next semester one of which is above my grade. Glad you like the story though :) Thanks for the review :)
BigSisterOf8: Thanks, haha. Yes the Kingdom hearts story is going to be in french. I would like to post it twice (once in each language) but I haven't recieved an email back from the support team on fanfiction as to whether or not it's allowed. Part of me hopes some of my english readers might end of reading through google translate but who knows ^^; But I will be posting other kingdom hearts stories in english in a little bit for the review :D
chibichibi98: It is sort of Ironic if you think about it XD I totally agree.. Kakashi has horrible excuses. But in truth I think he just wants to focus on Sasuke because he sees Sasuke as the one with the most potential as well as being the one with the sharingan. Again I agree that she should branch out but at this time, she hasn't been given much of a reason to. In the future I think she will though. Thanks so much for your review :D
ThePhoenixOfTears: YAAY! I was actually worried for a while that you may have dropped my story which would have sucked considering you're one of my best reviewers xD I'm doing ok for songs, I know tons it's just hard to find songs that match the mood of the chapter XD Growing up.. sucks. Lol. I know what you mean with Naruto, but that's the great part about anime, I can just rewind and he's a kid again :DTired and cold, not a good combo, it was weird for me having a green christmas when I live in canada but the snow hit today.. I went outside and my fingers froze to a point I couldn't feel them. I was out there for less than five minutes O.o I love the Shika-Ino-Tema triangle, it's awesome but I can never pick a favourite XD I just love them fights are amusing because for the most part the girls just claw, pull hair and slap. No real punches XD Of course that's not ALWAYS true. Ya, I'm leaning away from Sasori now. From the recent chapters I have a new idea though, depending on how people take their interactions so far :P Neji cracking a joke would make my day :D Yes, you won xD Not sure where I'm fitting you in yet but my guess is it will be after the chunin exams and rescue Sasuke arc. lol. Or maybe inbetween? I'll figure it out. Kabuto's really smart, something tells me (the author.. of course something tells me XD) that he figured out she was an uchiha before being told. maybe. lol. Yes, yes she does XD And Ino wasn't worried about saving Sasuke, it was all about Sakura but she was having a major mental battle between fear and her friendship. Nope, you sadly read that right. Shinobu faltered because Sakura showed strength that she doesn't believe she had yet. O.o why must you notice all my little plotty thingies? Haha. I think it was a little bit of both. She is friends with Shika and Choji lol, she was just more in the moment that she wasn't thinking right and Sasuke and Naruto were her top priorities. She did leave for her team but part of it was because she knew the situation had been handled. wait a three? It should be a "3" as in a heart XD Oops O.o I hurt your reviewing skills, forgive me. lol. It's ok I liked it. Aah, I knew it was rushed and part of that was because it was canon, there wasn't much to change so some of the lines were taken literally from the manga and since manga is mainly pictures that made it seem shorter.. and I lack describing skills XD You don't have to play the games to read it :P I originally found Kingdom hearts through fanfictions THEN i played the games XD haha. Thanks for the review and song XD (Seriously, I'm in love with this song now) P.S it's ok XD I understand life gets busy :D
