Ch.5: Maito Gai's Test
Neji had always considered herself an early bird kind of person. Or so she thought.
The academy's entrance time was at 8:00 am. Neji got up at 5:45, and by 7:00 she was already there. Not only was she the first in academic areas, but also at everything else. The first one to arrive, the first one to wake up, the first one at everything –or well, almost, genjutsu wasn't her forte. Either way, her new jounin in charge, Maito Gai, had told them to meet on training grounds number 3 at 5:00 am. At first, she thought it had been some kind of joke their sensei had considered fun to pull on the new rookies but then she realized he was talking seriously.
The Hyuga woke up at 4:00 am and barely had time to take a shower and munch some fruit before heading towards the grounds, arriving there at 4:57 am.
Her hair was still wet, and the morning coolness didn't help either as she shivered more than once on her way there. She searched around and a small smirk graced her lips. She was the only one there. At least she had been the first one.
Neji sat under a tree and closed her eyes when she heard strange noises coming from above the tree. She opened her eyes and activated her Byakugan which widened at the sight above her. A man which she recognized as Maito Gai was doing push-ups with his arms on one of the highest tree branches. By what she could spot of his chakra network he hadn't just started.
Suddenly his presence disappeared. She hadn't noticed him making any signs of sorts or anything. His chakra network hadn't even been altered as it happened when any ninja performed ninjutsu or genjutsu. Or maybe…it wasn't any of those. But even if it had been taijutsu he couldn't have moved that fast.
She was trying to decipher what kind of technique that one had been when she noticed the presence by her side.
"YOSH! What's your name young flower of this new courageous gennin team?!" he shouted-asked with a blinding smile which shined even in the dark.
"Hyuga Neji." She replied, trying not to cringe and remembered her manners. "A pleasure Maito-sensei." She said, bowing her head.
Suddenly, Neji found herself being pulled into a wind knocking embrace.
"What a respectful student I have! How lucky I am to have such a wonderful student, Neji! And there's no need to call me Maito-sensei! I'm-"
"Ehem." She heard behind them.
There she saw Tenten and Lee.
Lee was staring amazed at their sensei and Tenten had an expression being a mix between amused, frightened and mocking –obviously caused by Neji's situation.
She glared at the boy but found he wasn't looking at them and instead was covering a yawn with his hand. Indeed, it was very early even for her and this man was already bustling with energy.
"Oh, for the Springtime of Youth! My first pupils are already here." he exclaimed, joyful (and manly) tears rolling down his pronounced cheekbones.
Neji cringed since she was still locked in the embrace, Tenten sweat dropped, and Lee…stars practically formed in his eyes and stared in awe at his new 'manly' sensei.
"You all look so youthful!" he exclaimed again. "And those eyebrows are so stylish." He added once he spotted Lee.
"Thank you, sensei. Your haircut is the best one I've ever seen!" Lee replied. And then, both of them proceeded to engage in a conversation about their attire. Then Gai proceeded to give Lee tips on how to look handsome and youthful, much to the other two's dismay.
'Love at first freak.'Was what Tenten and Neji deadpanned.
The chat only lasted a few minutes since, as Gai revealed later, they had a very busy schedule.
"Well, my name is Maito Gai, but I'm better known as-" Gai made a dramatic pause and appeared behind them with a poof of smoke and a strange pose. "THE HANDSOME GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA, MAITO GAI!" he told them practically yelling. "Though you can call me Gai-sensei." He finished. "Now it's your turn to introduce yourselves. Ladies first." Gai-sensei said.
"Hyuga Neji." she introduced herself –again.
"Tenten."
"ROCK LEE! The future Taijutsu specialist!"
It was needless to say that another rant about youth, taijutsu and handsome beasts began though Neji could've sworn she heard the word 'spandex'. That worried her. A lot.
After finishing their rant, Gai-sensei announced the first thing on their schedule.
"Well, first of all, I want to congratulate you for being on time. That was the first test, and you've passed it with flying colors! The training appointments won't be usually scheduled this early, but you can find me here at this hour." He told them with a thumbs-up and a wink. "You have free time from now until 6:40 am. Use it to train or feed yourselves in case you haven't."
Though Neji in the beginning thought he was pretty dumb, upon pondering she realized that she had been wrong. Her new sensei wasn't the brightest bulb at first sight, but he could not have achieved jounin rank if he was a useless idiot.
Tenten strode towards her and laid down the tree's shade. He reclined his head against the trunk and closed his eyes. In less than a minute he was already asleep.
If Neji could, she would've definitely done the same as her new teammate since it was only 5:17 am, but once she was awake, she couldn't go back to sleep so the girl decided to meditate.
The Hyuga settled by Tenten's side and sat down in the lotus position with both her palms leaned on her knees and facing upwards. Before the girl was completely enhanced in her meditation session, she heard Lee was going to watch how Gai-sensei worked out all of his free time.
It was an interesting team, the one she had been placed with. Perhaps fate had something stored for her in the near future were her amused thoughts.
Once their free time was over Gai went over them. Neji had already sensed his presence since he wasn't hiding it, and slowly opened her eyes. The sky was a tad clear though it was still dark.
"There's a joyous day ahead of us. We must not waste it!" Gai shouted waking up a startled Tenten.
"Follow me towards the blazing flame of youth." Her new teacher stated and directed towards Konoha's Hokage Building. Team 3 followed him, and Neji activated her Byakugan letting the other two follow her, but again, she was amazed by her new jounin's incredible speed.
After three minutes they arrived at the Hokage's tower where Gai was already waiting for them.
"You kept up with my pace pretty good for being just one-day gennin." He told them analytically, but the serious moment finished when (manly) tears sprung from his eyes. "How youthful and dedicated students I have!"
Tenten and Neji facepalmed while Lee beamed.
They sat on the balcony's seats and stared up at Gai-sensei.
"From today on, you are all shinobi. I want to take this time to hear your goals." Their sensei said with a small smile.
Tch. As if she had the need to share that with them.
"I don't want to answer to that." Neji stated, her eyes closed.
Gai looked at her questioningly but quickly got distracted when Lee called his attention.
"Sensei! I want to prove that even without mastering ninjutsu or genjutsu, one can become a great shinobi!" Lee exclaimed all pumped-up. "That is what I live for!"
Neji couldn't help but scorn his delusional dream. Lee heard her, and immediately stood up and pointed at her with an indignant expression.
"Hey! What's so funny?!" he reclaimed.
Neji couldn't believe he really was asking that. It was obvious, and she almost pitied him for being so…naïve? Delusional? She erased her smirk and answered him seriously.
"Listen, if you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, you can't be a ninja." She stated. "What are you? Stupid?" The girl cruelly mocked him.
Tenten looked at her, surprised by her bluntness (and rudeness) and then at Lee who looked crestfallen.
"No." A voice intervened. It was Gai's. "That's not necessarily true if one has the passion." He told Lee, his voice full of confidence.
Neji just stared at her sensei. Perhaps he really was dumb like she thought.
Gai chuckled a little and added. "If you spend your youth with a good rival, sparring together and honing your skills, there's no doubt you will become a fine ninja."
Lee looked hopeful and radiant this time while Gai made his 'Good Guy pose'. "But you will need determination."
"Yes!" Lee beamed.
After humming in approval, Gai turned towards Tenten.
"And you?"
"Oh, I want to become an excellent shinobi like Tsunade-sama." The boy answered excitedly jumping out of his seat.
"Tsunade-sama, huh." Gai said thoughtfully. "Her taijutsu was simply amazing. She has a monster-like strength." Then Gai bent a little and told them. "They said she almost killed her teammate Jiraiya-sama who along with her was one of the Legendary Sannin."
"What must I do to become that strong?" Tenten asked, hoping Gai would advise him or encourage him like had done with Lee.
"Sheer determination!" he responded. Tenten looked a little bit disappointed by the answer, but not sad. It was obvious he was expecting some secret type of training or method.
"Well, I've already introduced myself." He said with a smile. "But now, it's your final test."
"What?!" The three newly graduates exclaimed.
"I'll see you back at the training grounds." Gai stated.
"We only came all the way here to talk about our goals?" Tenten asked a little confused.
"You've heard him. He's been analyzing us. This was about how good we could keep up with him, and right now we're wasting time."
Then, without another word, she just jumped out of the balcony and ran down Konoha's streets towards the training grounds. Her two teammates jumped after her and following her.
Once they arrived there, Gai was already waiting for them.
Neji did not know what kind of test to expect with this teacher nor what would be the consequences if it wasn't approved, though she was pretty confident of her abilities.
"Well, this is quite simple. You only have to do one thing." Gai told them. This perked more of his students' attention.
"You only have to land a hit on me. If you don't, you're back at the Academy. Easy, neh?" Gai told them with a cheerful smile before reappearing just in the middle of the training grounds.
"It is now 7:00 am, you have 'till 10:00 am to land me a hit. Begins Now!"
The first one to launch at Gai was Lee with his fist raised. Gai-sensei easily dodged the boy. Then Tenten ran at him with his fist raised just like Lee, but at the last moment, he changed his posture attempting to kick the jounin. Neji watched from afar some of Gai-sensei's movements trying to find an opening. Just when Gai threw Lee at the ground again, she charged with her Juuken.
Gai tried to simply dodge her, but with the other hand, she attempted to hit his side. The girl kept on throwing gentle fists which Gai continued blocking easily. Suddenly she remembered when in one of her spars with Sasuke, the boy had tricked her by pretending to kick her feet, then her side, and he ended appearing behind her with a substitution jutsu.
Neji continued attacking her sensei with gentle fists, proceeding to combine them with kicks. With her peripheral vision, she spotted her two teammates charging at Gai again, and she saw her opportunity. She quickly replaced herself, a log appeared instead, and emerged behind Gai. She was about to Juuken him when Gai jumped like two meters up avoiding the girls attack, and landing neatly away, and with a grin.
They had been like this for an hour at least and were all sweaty and bruised.
Tenten charged running at Gai who just tossed the boy away.
Lee attacked Gai, but when he tried to attack back, Lee moved fast trying to hit the openings though Gai was a lot faster and easily avoided them. Gai began throwing kicks which caused Lee to back away.
Then Neji charged with another set of Juukens, but faster which Gai kept blocking away.
"Keep it up, and you'll end up back at the Academy!" Gai told them just before kicking Neji away.
Lee let out a frustrated yell.
"Agh! I'm in the spring of youth at full power!"
"No wonder he's a jounin." Neji panted. "He dodges my taijutsu with such ease."
"I thought graduating from Academy made us gennin." Tenten commented getting up from the ground. "Failing now is too embarrassing!"
Then, all three of them charged at Gai-sensei at the same time with their attacks.
"Severe…Konoha Senpuu!" Gai shouted, and the next thing they knew was they were flying all across the training grounds. They rolled through the ground bruising every part of their body and yelping.
"Giving up already?" Gai teased them.
"I'm not giving up!" Lee answered trying to get up. "My dream is to become a great shinobi through taijutsu alone!" Lee's face acquired determination. "I cannot…abandon my dream!"
"That's ridiculous." Neji muttered while fully incorporating herself. "But…I'm not giving up either!" she said, setting her fighting stance.
"That's right." Tenten agreed also standing up. "I'm that close to becoming the shinobi I've always admired! No way I'm calling it quits." He said giving a strained step forward.
Slowly, Neji, Tenten, and Lee advanced with heavy strained steps towards Gai.
"Now you're talking, guys!" Guy shouted with a big grin and his arms opened. "That's how Youth should be! Even if you've used every ounce of your energy, suck it and push through it!" They were slowly getting closer. "Hit me with all your might!"
They continued their slow yet determined advance, and once they were just inches apart, they raised their hands, and it happened.
"Here we come!" they shouted. Lee and Tenten closed their fists while Neji gathered the next to nothing chakra she had still left on her palm, and with a final yell, they all struck him in the face. All at the same time.
The grounds stood in silence for a second before Gai's expression intensified and he shouted.
"The three of you…." Next, he picked them all at once from the ground and hugged them tightly. "All pass!" he ended with the biggest of grins.
"Yes, I did it!" Lee exclaimed between relieved sobs. "I did it!"
Neji meanwhile was cringing with an annoyed expression on her face, but also relief washed all over her.
"I-I can't breathe…!" Tenten said, his face happy but struggling to breathe properly.
They stayed like that for what felt like hours to Neji, but in reality, were just seconds. Finally, Gai-sensei pulled apart, tears streaming down his face.
"I am so happy for being able to teach you all the Springtime of Youth!" Gai said sniffing some manly happiness tears. "I assume you all are hungry." He added with a smile.
All of them nodded.
"Well, now you can take your lunch out. Later in the afternoon, after training, I plan on taking you to this delicious restaurant. They serve one of the best curry I've ever tasted!" Gai exclaimed and led them towards a fallen trunk under a tree's shade which would serve them as a bench.
"Many years ago, I accidentally knocked down that tree in a training session." Gai commented sheepishly.
They sat on the trunk and began eating their lunch in silence. Once they were finished, they just sat there waiting for their food to digest.
"I'm so happy we all made it!" Lee commented with a radiant expression. Neji smirked and nodded. Though Lee's attitude was overwhelming it was refreshing in a sense.
"I wasn't about to fail after coming this far." She said, her expression stern again.
"Yet…" Tenten started. "Thank goodness we didn't get the sensei everybody talks about." He commented happily.
"You mean that jounin who sent three before us back to the Academy?" Lee asked.
"Uh-huh." Tenten nodded.
"Luck has nothing to do with real strength." Neji stated. "Those guys just weren't good enough."
"That's not what I've heard." The boy argued. "It was about what's even more important than a shinobi's strength or something…" he said.
"And what's that?" Lee questioned truly curious. "Is it some kind of super-lethal-one-hit technique?" he suggested enthusiastically.
Neji was in utter disbelief. That man graded his students based on his own beliefs. Rules were created because of something; he couldn't just go against how shinobi were graded. He couldn't just go against rules or fate as she couldn't go against the main family.
"Who does he think he is to make up his own criteria?" she commented bitterly.
None of the gennin noticed Gai's concerned expression at the mention of that jounin.