-Naruto-

.

"What are you doing, brat?"

Naruto huffed.

"You'd know if you weren't napping for three days straight! Lazy jerk!"

Fuzzy was not pleased. He immediately began shrieking and giving Naruto an annoying headache for the next hour. Geez, petty much? You'd think he'd try to be an example for the impressionable seven-year-old who has to deal with this psychopath in his head. Although Naruto doesn't bother to say anything about that. Literally anyone could probably guess Fuzzy's answer.

Besides, he's got other stuff to focus on. Mikoto-san finally agreed to let Naruto take Sasuke camping! But he's gotta stay in the village because Itachi's got a mission and can't come with to make sure they don't do anything stupid. Naruto scoffed. Stupid? Who does Mikoto-san think Naruto is? He'll manage to do something stupid inside the village. He does it every day, thank you very much! But Naruto's getting off track. He's got to find a good spot inside the village. He already crossed off most of the forest (too close to the village proper for a good camping trip). Training grounds are also probably mostly a no, because people actually use those. There are a few training grounds that are underused and isolated enough, though. Naruto figures he can use one of those if he finds a good one.

So Naruto's on his way to one of the more isolated training grounds, and has to pass a few less remote ones on the way. He notices a burst of frustration from one of those fields and figures he might as well check it out.

So that's how Naruto met Rock Lee, a kid just a year older than Naruto who was trying (and failing) to make a clone. Naruto's first thought was maybe Lee just didn't have the chakra control for it, but a quick talk proved that chakra control definitely wasn't the problem. Apparently Lee's problem was literally the exact opposite of Naruto's; his chakra coils were so underdeveloped that jutsu in general were just impossible for him.

"That's a new one. I didn't realize there were some humans who are just too pathetic to cast any jutsu at all."

"Hey! He's not pathetic! He's just... chakra challenged!"

"Call it what you want. It's just sad."

"Oh yeah? Well, how would you fix it, Mr. I'm Better Than Everyone?!"

Fuzzy hummed in thought.

"Well, your chakra coils are very well-developed for a human, aren't they? That's probably because of me and all the chakra I'm constantly shoving through you. Just try that."

Naruto paused and pushed all the incredulity he could at Fuzzy.

"You want me to shove your chakra into Lee?"

Fuzzy shrugged.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"We burn him from the inside out? Didn't you kill Danzo by shoving your chakra into him? I don't want to disintegrate a random kid! He seems nice!"

"Details."

Lee, completely unaware of the life-threatening debate going on inside Naruto's head, continued speaking.

"Sometimes, I wonder if I'm taking the wrong path in life. I want to be a good ninja, but can I even become a genin without being able to use any jutsu? Maybe I should just find something else to do... "

Big mistake. Naruto does not tolerate people giving up on their dreams. He immediately grabbed Lee and dragged him away without hesitation. So what if Fuzzy doesn't have any good ideas?! Naruto's got a training session with Kakashi-sensei soon (soon as in two hours ago. Naruto's learned to take advantage of Kakashi-sensei's lateness), and Kakashi-sensei's sort of smart! Maybe he'll know something to help!

Lee screams as Naruto pulls chakra from Fuzzy to launch himself across the woods to his usual training spot. Naruto shoves Lee to the ground so they can sit and wait for Kakashi-sensei. And it only takes a half hour for him to show up! Naruto immediately starts grilling him about ways to help Lee, but freezes when he senses a very distinct feeling that can only be described as "youth" appear on the edge of his radar. Naruto attempts to hide, but Gai is stupid fast and appears before Naruto can do much of anything. Kakashi-sensei sighs disinterestedly.

"Kakashi! My eternal rival! I've heard that you have a new student! Ryosh! I've come to see your adorable little student and see how well you're training him!"

Naruto whimpers as Gai grabs him with no hesitation.

"So this is your little student! How has his training been going?"

Gai's ability to hold on to a Naruto who is trying his absolute best to escape is incredibly impressive. Kakashi is absolutely not paying attention or taking any sort of pleasure in his "cute little student's" suffering. Lee looks supremely uncomfortable and tries to speak up for the confusing, but probably nice, kid who definitely looks like he doesn't want to be here. Big mistake. Again. Gai is more than excited at the prospect of his "eternal rival" having not just one, but two students. And Kakashi (who really doesn't want to be saddled with another student) quickly speaks up to clear up the misunderstanding, which leads to Gai immediately snatching up Lee to be his student and running off into the sunset with him. How did Gai run off into the sunset anyway? It's noon!

Disoriented and more than a little shaken, Naruto ditches Kakashi-sensei and taijutsu practice in favor of stuffing the Nara's pillows full of poison ivy and eating his weight in ramen to work off his stress.

And when Naruto sees Lee again the next week, it is with absolute horror that he realizes exactly what being Gai's student means. Naruto immediately swears off any and all interaction with both Gai and Lee, if only to save his sanity. Fuzzy wholeheartedly agrees, and spends a solid week improving Naruto's already relatively impressive chakra sensing abilities for the sole purpose of knowing the terrifying student/teacher duo's location at all times and avoiding them at all costs.