edited chapter 2 enjoy
Every day at 4:00 AM, The green beast woke to do his morning stretches, ready to show the power of youth.
And today, he will pass that knowledge on to the younger generation in the form of Naruto.
He is unaware of the gift he's about to receive.
By the time he reached his apartment, at 4:10 AM, he would've done his morning workout, but he wanted to do it with his temporary student.
Gai being well, Gai decided to do a grand entrance by busting through Naruto's window.
"WELL HELLO MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT I WILL BE YOUR, TAIJUTSU TEACHER UNTIL KAKASHI GETS BACK!" He shouts, hurling Naruto over his shoulder before bolting toward the training ground.
Moments earlier
Naruto is sleeping peacefully, enjoying a dream about being Hokage and how everyone was bowing down before him, no longer treated as an outcast.
Suddenly without warning, he was woken up from his sleep by a loud noise before hearing a kami awful speech about youth and Kakashi.
He wasn't able to get a single word as he's suddenly hurled over the strange man's shoulder.
They were at the training ground where Kakashi had been training him for the past month in no time flat.
Gai rather forcefully set him on the ground so the boy could admire his greatness.
Naruto could only sweatdrops at the strange man before him, only to realize this must be Might Gai Kakashi told him would be his taijutsu teacher for the week.
"You must be Gai to train me in taijutsu while Kakashi senpai is away on a mission?" he repeated Gai's statement wanting to make sure his sleep-deprived mind understood.
"You are correct. I am Might Gai, the green beast of the leaf!" he said with a smile, his teeth sparkle.
Naruto thought to himself how his teeth sparkle when the sun hasn't resigned yet.
Upon closer inspection, he notices the high amount of green he was sporting "green beast more like caterpillar man with all that green."
"We will start with stretches and with a warm run of...20 laps around the village" he would have done his usual, but since the boy is so young, he better go easy on him for now.
If he's not careful, Kakashi won't be happy if his student cannot continue his ninja training.
A shiver ran down his spine as his mind goes straight to the Hokage as he doesn't want to go through that again like the last time he went overboard on the young ninja.
"20 LAPS! I'm just a kid, and I haven't even had breakfast yet."
"Would you rather do 100 as I do? And will stop for breakfast before our morning run," he said with a grin as his teeth sparkled once again.
"20lapsarefine," he said in haste.
"Let us sprint to the nearest Caffe," he said before bolting with a Naruto not too far behind him.
Surprisingly enough, he was able to keep up with Gai to a certain extent, "so this is why Kakashi wanted me to do strength training so I can keep up with guys like him."
When they finally made it to the Caffe, Naruto felt their hostility, but it quickly died when Gai announced he was with him.
"Hmm, I knew life was hard for the boy but not this bad! No wonder Kakashi took him under his wing," he looks the boy up and down.
The two bought their meals and ate them at a reasonably quick pace before doing the morning run.
2 hour later
As you expect, Naruto looks like he was on the brink of life and death from so much running.
"Come on, Naruto, you're on your final lap. Use the power of youth!"
It didn't take long for Naruto to get sick and tired of the word youth.
"No wonder Teuchi and Ayame said I would need my strength," traitors he thought for not telling him the truth.
At last, he was finally over with his run; he plopped on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
"Way to go, Naruto. Work on your strength training while I finish my laps. Don't slack off unless you want to deal with Kakashi," all he said before bolting around the village.
Naruto laid their mulling over Gai's words; on one hand, he wanted to take a break after what Gai put him through.
On the other hand, he didn't want Kakashi to find out he was slacking off.
After thinking it over for a minute, he didn't want to deal with Kakashi, so he begrudgingly got up and started his necessary strength training exercise while Gai was doing his run.
With Kakashi
Kakashi was jumping from tree to tree to his assignment when a bad feeling washed over him.
"Shit, Naruto training with Gai today. Gai wouldn't make Naruto do something unreasonable, would he? Na Gai's, not that cruel, I hope." he said to himself.
An hour later with Naruto
Naruto had just finished with warmup exercises Kakashi had drilled into him since day one.
By this time, Gai had finished his warmup run and exercised, ready to start training the boy in the ways of taijutsu.
"Ok, show me the taijutsu Kakashi has taught you so far."
For the next hour, Naruto went over everything Kakashi has taught him.
"Not bad, Kakashi. I aspect nothing less from my greatest rival," he looked into the boy's eyes and didn't see any sign of the beast. "Ok, the first thing to start with is muscle memory."
"What now?"
"Right, he's only nine. Muscle memory is when your muscles reproduce movement without thinking beforehand through practice."
"I think I get it, but can you show me?"
Gai did a roundhouse "now follow my lead!"
With the help of Gai, Naruto walked through all the steps of performing a roundhouse kick himself.
"Now that you have done the movements, I want you to practice doing them, and you'll find you'll have to focus less on making sure the movement are correct as time goes on."
For the next two hours, Naruto went through all the positions to pull off a roundhouse kick, and to his surprise, it did get more comfortable to do.
"Hey, this doesn't seem so bad," he thought to himself, unaware of what was to come.
For three days, Naruto woke up, ate breakfast with Gai, and did his morning run and warmup exercises.
He committed to memory various taijutsu moves Kakashi taught him alongside some new one Gai invented.
On the fourth day, things changed in a way that would haunt Naruto for years to come; it was time... to spar.
Usually, this isn't a problem for Naruto. He's spared with Kakashi a ton over the last two weeks of taijutsu training. Gai, however, was a different case.
Naruto swept Gai's legs to knock him off his feet; he was in for a rude awaking.
Gai, not one to hold back, dodge the move effortlessly only to nail Naruto in the gut sending him skidding across the ground into the bushes.
"Come on, Naruto, I know you can do better than that!" His teeth sparkled for the umpteenth time.
"Easy for you to say your not the one getting kicked around like a soccer ball," he said in a rage.
"That is no excuse with the power of youth!"
That damnable word again every time he hears that word, it feels like his ears are bleeding.
To make matters worse, he couldn't land a single hit, so he is wasting all his chakra with every strike, but he has to use it to guard himself against getting beat to a bloody pulp.
Naruto silently vowed to kill Kakashi when he gets back for sticking Gai on him.
Fortunately, he only has to deal with him for three more days.
Naruto managed to get to his feet and carry himself back toward Gai again, getting in his fighting stance once more.
"Come on, Naruto, let your rage toward Gai fester and grow," the nine-tailed fox said with glee as he could feel the seal weakening slightly as his rage intensified.
Somehow someway Naruto was able to dodge Gai move nows, but it didn't last long. Naruto quickly found himself planted face first in the dirt again,
"That's enough for one day, Naruto. Oh, here some money for dinner tonight" he left it in a small pouch next to Naruto's downed form.
He let out a sigh of relief as he willed himself up. He picked up the money and slowly trekked to ichiraku ramen.
Ichiraku Ramen
"Your back Naruto haven't seen you for a few days."
"Gai's training is ALOT harder than I thoughts!" he exasperated.
"Well, he is a jonin after all," Teuchi said, being very careful with his tone. Naruto one of his best customers. The last thing he wants is to piss him off, knowing full well of Gai personality.
"You don't know the half of it. At first, I thought Gai was cool beside waking me up at 4:10 in the morning every day and making me run around the village. Then we started sparing today to cement in the taijutsu moves he taught me that does not include him shouting that word every chance he gets."
"It can't be that bad he is the best taijutsu ninja in the leaf village," Ayame added.
"That is true. I just wished Gai went easy on me. I'm only nine for crying out loud!"
"Hate to rain on your parade Naruto, but age doesn't mean anything in the ninja world," Teuchi informed
"How so?"
"Kakashi, the jonin who started your training became a ninja at six years old and a chunin later that year, three years younger than you."
"Your kidding. Kakashi became a ninja at six!" he said in shock.
"Not lying. Don't believe me ask him yourself when he gets back."
Naruto held his head down in shame, "and here I thought I was special cause I was getting trained personally by a jonin."
"Yo, Naruto, how's it going."
Naruto looks to the side and sees Shikamaru and his dad Shikaku and Choji. The three quickly took their seats.
Shikamaru sat next to Naruto with Choji next to him with Shikaku at the end.
"I'm doing good, just exhausted from taijutsu training with Gai senpai," he said with a smile, glad to see a familiar face.
"Is Gai giving you the awful speech about y-" was all Shikaku could say.
Naruto shot from his seat to the other end of the counter in the blink of an eye.
Shikaku can only sit there while Naruto has his hand firmly on his mouth.
He moved so fast none of them could keep up. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT WORD! It's bad enough. I have to hear it from Gai," he said with a hint of rage before withdrawing his hand from the jonin commander.
"Looks like that time with Kakashi and Gai is paying off. You were never that fast before," Teuchi said with a grin.
Naruto quickly went back to his seat "that sounds like them, alright," Shikaku responded.
It was several minutes before Teuchi's word finally sunk in his four customers.
"That was amazing. Naruto, not even Sasuke that fast, and he's the top of the class," Choji said with amazement.
"I -I did move incredibly fast. I'm getting stronger and that much closer to becoming Hokage!" he said with glee.
"Foods on me tonight," Shikaku said
The four ate like kings or as close you can when it comes to ramen.
In an ally within eyesight stood, a figure was watching the display. He has the most oversized eyebrows in the village.
"That is some incredible speed...just wish he'd use that in our spars," he thought to himself before leaving.
Hokage tower
Hiruzen was watching the whole display from his crystal ball and couldn't help but smile.
It's been a month and a half of personal training, and he improved faster than he thought possible.
"Hmm, seems it was a good idea after all Kakashi… just wish Naruto had a better motivation to show that strength than a word considers by many in the village to be forbidden."
With Naruto and the others
"Well, I'm full. Thanks for the grub, Mr. Nara!" Naruto said before heading home.
"No problem, Naruto will see you around….come on guys, it's time to head home."
As soon as Naruto entered his, he immediately collapses onto his bed from the sheer exhaustion from Gai's training.
The next day
"WAKE MY YOUNG STUDENT SO WE CAN ENJOY THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!"
Naruto takes his pillow holds it around his head in an attempt to block out Gai voice, especially that dreaded word.
"Go away, Gai. I'm still tired from yesterday," he pleaded through his pillow.
"Not today, Naruto, we have sparing to do!" he shouts, hurling Naruto over his shoulder to start their morning routine.
Three hours later, Acadamy.
Iruka was getting everything ready for the day when two students showed up earlier than expected.
"Iruka sensei!" Shikamaru and Choji shout as they enter the class.
"What are you two doing here? Class doesn't start for another hour."
"We need to tell you something Important about Naruto!" Choji shouts.
"You have my attention."
That was their cue before divulging what happened last night at Ichiraku's.
To say Iruka was shocked was an understatement "to move that fast in so little time is unheard of. It looks like things are looking up for you, Naruto."
"That still doesn't explain why Naruto reacted to the word my dad was about to say. Do you know what he's talking about?"
"Can't blame him for Not telling you, your not gonna get it from me, but I will say this it's considered taboo by many high ranking ninjas."
"Must be pretty bad then?"
"You have no idea, and I know you two aren't going to spread this around the school and drop your pursuit of this taboo word if we know Naruto," he said with a grin causing the two boys to pale at what Naruto could do to them.
"You won't hear a peep out of us!" they said in unison.
"Good, since you here so early, you can help clean up the class before everyone gets here."
"Aw, man."
With Naruto and Gai
Naruto was surprised by today instead of sparing Gai wanted to work on his speed.
And what better way to do that than wearing 40 pounds of weights, but he still had to spar with him.
Gai went to sweep his legs only for Naruto to bearly dodge before showing off his attempt at leaf hurricane.
As usual, Gai was able to dodge the attack and countered like always.
Fortunately, stikes are nowhere near as brutal as yesterday. Naruto silently thanked kami for giving him a break.
This went on for the next two days of wearing weights and sparing with Gai.
On the last day, things were different too, still spared but stopped early to see how Naruto's speed improved.
"Ok, Naruto, this is our last day of training!" Gai's a little sad his time training Naruto coming to an end.
"Hopefully forever," Naruto thought to himself.
"To see how fast you are, we are going to race around the village five times. But unlike this morning, where you pace yourself to run longer, we are going to run top speed to see how far you have improved."
Naruto would have asked afterward, but he didn't want to jinx himself, so he took off his waits.
"Hey, what time is it?"
"It's 3:30 Naruto ready set GO!"
Naruto took off like a bullet jumping from tree limb to tree limb, using all his willpower and chakra to accelerate himself as fast as he can.
It took a few seconds to reach the village wall, using it to guide their race around the village.
He was going so fast that everything was a blur to him, but he could make enough out to know when to jump, dive, and slide to keep up with the caterpillar man.
Gai hates the name to the point Naruto uses it, forcing him to lose focus to gain an advantage whenever he can.
In a matter of 10 minutes, Naruto was on his final lap, his leg felt like they were on fire, but he kept pushing as he wants to see the fruits of his labor.
"I-i can see the entrance to the training ground three," he panted as he was less than 100 feet away.
It was over in the blink of an eye, but then he ran into a new problem. He was running so fast he could slow down in time. He was about to collide with a tree.
"Oh man, this is gonna hurt," he chanted to himself, closing his eyes, preparing for the inevitable.
But, it never came. Naruto opened his eyes only to see Gai stopping him only a few feet away from the tree.
"You did good, Naruto. You can take the rest of the day off as a reward. You've earned it."
"Thanks, Gai senpai." he bows to him.
Naruto limped his way home after using so much chakra in his little race. He's now running on fumes.
Kakashi is due back tomorrow and intends to rest as much as possible before the hell he has to go through with him.
"I hope Kakashi senpai doesn't get any idea's when Gai tells him about his week" he shudders at the possibility.
After climbing his way to his apartment, his stomach started rumbling as he stood outside the door.
"Great, I'm hungry and tired. Which do I want to do first" after waiting a minute, "food sounds good."
He opens his door to only for the sound of someone cooking to enter his ears.
"Oh, kami, not again. It took me forever to clean up the last time someone decided to redecorate my apartment with a food bomb!" he thought to himself.
He carefully snuck his Way in to see who had entered his apartment.
The last time this happened, all he saw was the back of the bastard jumping out the window, and a food bomb went off cover his entire kitchen and him.
It took seven hours to clean the place spotless.
He carefully peered his head around the corner only to see a man in red and white standing over the stove.
He was about to call the bastard out before he realized it was the Hokage.
"Jiji, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, Naruto wondering when you'd be back-" he was going to continue was cut off.
"What are you doing here!" he said once more.
"I was about to say before interrupted me!" he said in a severe tone, causing his surrogate grandsons to gulp as he stepped back half a step.
"I'm sorry, please continue," he said with a forced respectful tone.
"Before you cut me off, I was saying I saw your little race around the village before you ask your gonna have to get a lot faster before getting past these eyes," he said with a smirk.
"Ok, why are you cooking?"
"I wanted to congratulate you on your progress so far. I saw you the other night at Ichiraku." he showed an amused smile.
Naruto could only grin at this "you saw that, huh, for a second their I thought you were someone setting off a food bomb in my apartment."
"Ah yes, the food bomb incident well, you don't have to worry about that unless the village wants to know why I got the name professor, hehe."
Naruto's grin only grew at this before setting down, "so what's cooking, Jiji?"
Just as Hiruzen was about to tell him, the pan blew up in smoke, covering both of them in soot.
After clearing their eyes, Naruto was the first to speak, "Ichiraku's sound good?"
"Yes, it does. I'll have someone clean this up."
Naruto gave him a questioning look "relax, its someone I can trust"
"Who?"
Hiruzen put his thumb to his mouth, covering it in blood, "summing Jutsu" a cloud of smoke formed before dispatching spawning a small monkey "bobo I need you to clean this apartment of all the soot as quick as possible."
"I see you tried cooking again, Hiruzen. You know it always ends up in smoke."
"Just get cleaning!" he said in a huff as he and Naruto left the apartment.
With Kakashi
Kakashi was on his way back from the village when Pakkun suddenly appeared.
"I got that information you wanted, Kakashi."
"A thanks, Pakkun, so how's Naruto while I was away?"
"You won't believe it, but his speed has increased dramatically. He circled the village five times in 10 minutes, which for his age is incredible."
"That's unexpected!" his one eye widened.
"That not all apparently when he was at ichiraku ramen with some friends. in the blink of an eye, he jumps from one end to the other to keep Shikaku from saying youth."
"I can see him going that fast if it means not hearing the most taboo word easily in the ninja circles."
"Well their not much else to say as those were the only big things I cared to find."
"Thanks, Pakkun. You can leave now."
"See ya," he said before leaving in a cloud of smoke.
"Hmm, I'll have to up his training when I get back,"
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