Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden.

A/N: Before anyone asks, yes, Team Gai's team number was 3. That explains the title. :)

Chapter 11:

Secrets Revealed: Team 3 + 1

Tonbo was laying back-down in her bed staring up at the ceiling when she heard her alarm clock finally go off. She let it run for several minutes before reaching her arm out and hitting the button without removing her eyes from the ceiling.

She had been restless all night, but at least she stayed in her bed the whole night through for once. She knew that she would have to be well rested to make a good first impression on the team she would be training with. After all, they already had a full team and didn't need her, so it would be vital that they don't see her as a burden.

The last thing she wanted was for them to feel like teaching her how to fight is a chore, as she was going to be so far behind them. But, in reality, all she could do was show up ready to learn from them.

There wasn't going to be some easy way around working hard if she was going to catch up to her peers. If she had to, she would prove herself to them. That's what she had in mind at least.

Having had next to no sleep for the past several days meant that she was sure to have trouble keeping up with the team. With that in mind, she deemed a cold shower was what she would need to wake herself up. The water never stayed more than lukewarm for long anyway with her being the only consumer of water in the entire abandoned Uchiha district after so many years.

She wondered if it was like that for Sasuke while he was living here alone. If so, he had never complained about it to anyone.

She got up and took eight minutes in the shower. Afterwards, she proceed to dry off, get dressed, reheat the food she had prepared the night before, brush her teeth, brush her hair, and wash the dishes.

Unfortunately enough for her, she still felt dead tired and it was bound to show somewhere along the way. She slapped her cheeks and stretched her arms up in a last attempt before leaving.

Now she would at least have a little color in her face. She put her shoes on and slid the door closed behind her. She didn't bother to lock it, she wasn't even sure where the key to the door was. But it wasn't like anyone would try to rob a house that had been abandoned for years.

She knew she was supposed to go to training ground three to meet the team, but she had no idea where that was. Kakashi had agreed to meet her by the district gates before six to show her the way.

She dragged her feet down the main road that cut through all the former Uchiha properties and arrived at the gates to see that Kakashi was late. Tonbo knew that Kakashi was late to most things, but that was because he spent a lot of time talking to her and then Obito and Rin. She was hoping that wouldn't change.

But it seems that now that she was no longer isolated from the rest of the world, she would have to wait for Kakashi to show up just like everyone else. She sighed and sat down, leaning against one of the large posts that framed the gate.

Kakashi walked up about 15 minutes later. It could have been worse, she told herself so that she wouldn't get annoyed.

She stood, "Hey."

"Hey," he gave her a wave.

She decided that it would be best to ignore his late arrival for the time being and asked a more pressing question, "Who is on the team I'll be training with?"

"The sensei's name is Maito Gai. He is a taijutsu master, which is exactly what you need. His students are Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten. I'm sure you've heard me mention all their names before," Kakashi answered.

Tonbo chuckled, "Yes, isn't Gai your 'eternal rival'?"

Kakashi's laid-back smile turned into an awkward one. "Yeah, I guess you could put it that way."

Tonbo laughed again. Kakashi had told her a lot about Gai, and those two couldn't be more different. Their friendship was definitely... unique.

The other three were people she didn't know all that much about. Kakashi didn't know them all that well, so she was never told all that much about them. In some ways, Tonbo felt nervous not knowing hardly anything about them.

She then noticed that Kakashi had been staring at her for a while now. She gave him a look.

"Uh, Tonbo?" Kakashi spoke.

"Yeah?"

"Your shirt's on backwards," he informed her kindly.

She looked down, "Darn it, turn around."

He already had.

Gai brought his team to a halt back at training ground three. He turned around to face them while still jogging in place.

"Nice work team! Your youthfulness has made me proud!" Gai said in his usual overly-enthusiastic tone.

"Thank you Gai-sensei! Anything can be accomplished with the passion of youth!" Lee grabbed the air as he made a fist and beamed his fiery grin.

"Right Lee!" Gai gave him a thumps-up.

"Ugh! It's too early for me to have to listen to you guys blab on about youth," Tenten said groggily.

Although Neji looked indifferent as always, he was thinking along the same lines. "Tenten has a point, you never gave us a reason for getting us up an hour earlier than usual," he pointed out.

Gai stopped jogging in place and gave them all a grin. "Well my dear students, today I wanted you all to have an extra warmup before my eternal rival Kakashi brings over someone extremely interesting for us all to meet."

"Huh? Kakashi-sensei?" Tenten repeated from the ground where she was stretching out her legs. It wasn't often that they saw Kakashi for any reason other than for Gai to challenge him to something ridiculous.

"Who might Kakashi-sensei be bringing over?" Lee asked.

"Excellent question Lee!" Gai pointed upward. "A girl who has just graduated from the Academy and is without a team. She cannot use ninjutsu and genjutsu, and for that reason, we will be training her."

Lee's eyes lit up, "Another person who is also unable to use ninjutsu and genjutsu? I did not know there was another person such as me!" He took a stance with one fist on his hip and the other held below his face. "I will take her under my wing and teach her to be just like me!"

Tenten looked Lee over in all his bowl-cut haired, thick eyebrow-ed, and green spandex onesied glory and then tried to imagine a girl in a similar fashion. She shuddered. Lee already looked like a younger version of Gai, she didn't think she would be able to handle a third one.

"Well actually Lee, she is capable of using both ninjutsu and genjutsu, but for some reason she is not allowed to. I do not know why, but Kakashi says he does not want her to use either of them," Gai held his thumb and forefinger up to cradle his chin.

Neji crossed his arms, "That does seem interesting. And the fact that she doesn't have a team, is there a specific reason for that?"

"I was told that she is 14 and older than the other graduates. All of the other graduates were divided into even teams of three, leaving her without a team. Kakashi also mention that Lady Hokage was not keen on her becoming a ninja to begin with," Gai now gave a contemplative look.

Tenten's head shot up, "Is there something wrong with her? Or did she do something?"

"I was not informed of anything being wrong with her or her having done anything. If you would like, you may ask her when she arrives," Gai offered.

It was obvious that Tenten didn't like that idea as she gave a disgusted look. "I don't think that's a good way to start a conversation with someone you just met."

"I do not see a problem with it!" Gai gave a cheeky grin despite knowing full well that Tenten was probably right.

"If you do not Tenten, then I will!" Lee proclaimed.

"Lee, you can't just walk up and ask a girl something like that!" Tenten scolded him. "Girls are sensitive to things like that, she would probably be offended!"

"And asking Gai-sensei instead makes it okay?" Neji asked rhetorically.

"Well I was curious," Tenten tried to defend, but she knew that was a weak argument after yelling at Lee like that.

"Well you really should figure out what you're going to ask her, she's coming," Neji gestured towards the training ground entrance.

They all looked over to see Tonbo following closely behind Kakashi.

"Well if it wasn't for her forehead protector, I wouldn't have believed that she's a ninja. She doesn't look like she's ran a day in her life," Tenten whispered to Neji.

"I'm not going to disagree with you, she almost looks frail," Neji said back under his breath as they neared.

"Yo," Kakashi waved with a smile.

Gai struck a pose with his fists on his hips and a grin on his face. "Kakashi, is this the interesting and mysterious young woman you have told me about?" he asked watching Tonbo.

"Yep, this is Tonbo," Kakashi let Tonbo catch up to him.

To Team Gai's surprise, Tenten was the first to introduce herself. She step forward and held out her hand. "Hi, my name is Tenten," she gave a cheerful smile.

Tonbo looked at her hand first before realizing that she was meant to shake it. She took Tenten's hand, "Hi Tenten, it's nice to meet you."

Tenten took a step back and motioned to both Neji and Lee. "These are my teammates," she then let them introduce themselves.

"I am Rock Lee!" Lee bowed stiffly at the waist. "It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Tonbo was quite surprised by his intensity and she looked at Kakashi to see his reaction. By the look on his face, she could tell that Lee must always be like that. "It's a pleasure to meet you too," she gave a slight bow.

"Neji Hyuga," Neji stated with his arms crossed.

Tonbo didn't think much of his introduction but it was obvious that Tenten did. She laughed awkwardly, "Sorry about him. He's always like this, so don't worry, it isn't you or anything."

She turned to Neji and looked ready to smack him, but she restrained herself and settled on scolding him. She spoke so fast and in a hushed tone so that Tonbo couldn't make out what she was actually saying to him.

With that going on, Gai decided to introduce himself. "And I am Maito Gai! I will train your body and mind in order to bring out your youthfulness!"

He might have been even more intense than Lee.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Kakashi said as he turned to leave, giving a wave.

Tonbo suddenly felt panicked that he was just going to leave her alone with these lunatics. She knew that if she said anything the team might get the wrong impression. Really she was just nervous, and she wasn't very accustom to having to socialize on her own.

She stared at his back as he left as if in a trance before Tenten pretended to clear her throat to bring Tonbo's attention back to them. Tonbo realized that she had probably been staring for longer than she should have, but she couldn't think of anything to say, so she just waited for one of them to say something.

"Alright!" Gai decided it was time to take charge. "We will carry on as we normally do and you may join in with us!" he grinned toothily at Tonbo.

"Okay, I'll try to keep up," Tonbo said, a little less confidently than she would have liked.

"Splendid! Shall we start off with 500 laps around Konoha?" Gai turned to Lee who looked giddy with anticipation.

"Why not make it 1,000 laps Gai-sensei?" Lee asked ecstatic.

"Glorious Lee! Let us make it 2,000 laps and...!" Tonbo drowned out the rest of their back and forth that would soon manifest itself in the form of her torture.

Neji, noticing Tonbo's wide eyes become glazed over in horror, decided to interrupt them. "I think it would be best if you both take it easy for the day." He added an after thought, "If you want your new pupil to survive long enough to 'bring out her youthfulness'."

They both looked over at Tonbo who appeared to be mortified. They decided they would compromise.

Although Tenten tried to lag behind the others with Tonbo, Tonbo still ended up doing most everything watching everyone else's backs. Tenten kept telling her to do everything at her own pace and to finish at the same time with everyone else.

Tonbo would have responded with more than just a nod if she wasn't too tired to think of anything more and if she wasn't breathless enough to speak.

She ran more laps than she could count but it wasn't even close to half of what the others did. Despite the vast difference in her abilities in comparison with theirs, she still pushed herself through whatever they asked her to do.

They ended up doing push-ups, squats, chin-ups, pull-ups, one-handed push-ups, one-legged squats, laps walking on their hands, preforming numerous drills for different kicks and punches against logs, and finally, they began sparring.

Gai had Tenten help Neji with his byakugan by throwing volley after volley of projectiles at him out of her scrolls. Ideally, Tonbo would spar with Lee.

Lee was still full of energy and could probably keep going for several more days at this rate. He didn't waste any time getting into his fighting stance ready to face his new opponent.

Tonbo, however, was now experiencing troubles with her vision. She was having trouble focusing her eyes on Lee.

She attempted to mirror Lee's stance as best as she could. Once she looked firm in her position, Lee took that as his cue to begin.

Lee began to take off towards her but had to stop himself after seeing her collapse in front of him. With his speed, he wouldn't have been able to stop in time to avoid trampling her, so he drove himself off course and slowed himself several feet after passing her.

He rushed over to her side, "Miss Tonbo? Miss Tonbo, are you okay?"

He noticed that her heavy breathing had suddenly slowed and her eyes were closed.

Tenten and Neji immediately stopped training and Tenten hurried over. "Lee, what did you do? What happened to her?" she asked exasperated.

"I did not touch her, she simply collapsed," Lee really did look concerned, maybe more for himself rather than for Tonbo.

"Would you two calm down? She's only sleeping," Neji told them as he walked up.

"How can you tell?" It wasn't that Tenten wasn't convinced, she was merely curious.

"I don't know if you noticed, but she's been yawning all day, though she has been trying to hide it. She must have been tired before hand. On top of that, her heart rate has been extremely high since this morning when we started. She obviously isn't used to much physical activity. Her breathing and heart are finally starting to slow down," Neji explained to her.

"Don't you guys find it strange that after just having graduated from the Academy, she's this unfit? We did all kinds of physical conditioning in school. It is meant to train children to become ninja after all," Tenten thought out loud.

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," said Lee.

"Considering everything, I'm surprised she lasted as long as she had. I had assumed she would stop after the first time she threw-up," Neji recrossed his arms.

Gai, who was leaning against a tree observing from a distance, finally decided to join his students.

"I must admit, I am a bit surprised myself, it is past four. We should bring her home to rest. I do not know where she lives so we will have to find Kakashi."

"Gai-sensei?" Lee as well as the others were surprised by Gai's sudden change from his usual demeanor. He seemed more serious.

"You should all stay here while I look for him. Make sure she is okay," Gai ordered.

"I'll go with you," Neji stated forcefully.

Gai gave him a glance but didn't object and took off in the direction of Kakashi's apartment. Neji took that as an okay and went after him.

Both Lee and Tenten knew that something must be on everyone's minds, but was it the same thing?

"Lee, we should move her out of the middle of the field. Why don't we move her up against one of the trees?" Tenten asked.

"Very well then, let us move her!" Lee agreed.

As Neji caught up to Gai as they hopped through the trees, Gai finally turned to look at Neji.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" he asked Neji.

"There are many things I don't understand right now concerning her. Tenten made a good point about her not being fit despite having recently graduating from the Academy, and it is even stranger for someone to graduate at her age. But there is something else that I find far more intriguing."

"And what might that be?"

"When I had my byakugan activated, I couldn't help but notice that something is wrong with her chakra flow."

Gai's eyes widened for a moment.

Neji continued, "She has an extremely small amount of chakra still flowing freely throughout her chakra network, which some is necessary for survival. However, the majority of her chakra is stuck flowing in the shape of a ring right over her heart. What's more, it's completely separated from her chakra network."

Gai narrowed his eyes, "I see, intriguing indeed."

"I have to wonder... why was she placed with our team in the first place and how is it even possible for her chakra to stuck like that? I noticed that she was unconsciously using some of her chakra in order to keep going, but when her body drew on her chakra, it only used what was left in her chakra network."

"Neji, I do not understand it yet either. I know for a fact that Kakashi trusts her completely and as his eternal rival, I must respect that. We do not know if even she knows the answers to our questions. So for now, I must trust that we will be told what we need to know. Anything else, we will have to gain her trust to know."

Neji crinkled his nose, "For that to work, she'll have to earn our trust first."

At this Gai grinned. "As expected of you, my youthful Neji!" and his seriousness had vanished.

A/N: I had a bit of trouble coming up with the lines for Team Gai so it took me longer to write this chapter than I had expected. Sorry about that! Please Read and Review!