three
Kakashi flipped a page in his book, walking idly down the village streets. The genin team Hokage-sama had shoved onto him had been disappointing; no teamwork or independent thought to be found. He had sent them straight back to the academy and now he was free of that obligation for another year. Speaking of obligations, he could already hear the familiar footsteps bouncing in his direction. He briefly considered disappearing, unsure if he was up for Gai’s antics today, but ultimately just stayed where he was. He hadn’t actually seen Gai in a few weeks; a rarity when the older jounin was not on a mission away from the village.
“My Eternal Rival!”
Kakashi flipped another page in his book, his eyes scanning the words he’d already read numerous times.
“Sorry, did you say something?”
“You’re so hip, Kakashi!” Tears streamed down Gai’s face as he held up a fist in mock frustration.
Kakashi finally looked up to see Gai pointing at him.
“I challenge you, Kakashi! We must see which of us can do the most one-handed push-ups!”
Kakashi turned that over in his head for a moment. Could he be bothered with that right now? He was physically capable but did he really want to?
“Mah, Gai, can we not just see who can do the most blinks in a minute?”
His friend considered it before he grinned widely, his teeth sparkling.
“Of course, my Eternal Rival! What a unique challenge!”
Kakashi shoved his book into a pocket and turned his full attention to Gai. He stared into dark eyes as they waited.
“Go!”
Kakashi closed his eyes, opened them, and then rapidly repeated the process. As much as he liked to act like he didn’t care about these challenges, he really did. It was just funny to watch Gai’s reaction when he pretended otherwise. He would give each one his all when he did end up roped into them; he wasn’t just going to let the older man win.
“Time! I achieved a hundred and fifty-seven!”
Kakashi scowled beneath his mask; maybe he should have agreed to the one-handed push-ups after all.
“A hundred and fifty two,” he reluctantly admitted.
“That is 27-28 then, Kakashi!” Gai laughed. “One more challenge and we will have tied!”
Kakashi whipped his book back out and put it pointedly in front of his face, resuming his walk. Gai fell in step next to him and began to talk at his usual volume.
“I am glad I was able to catch you, Kakashi! My new apprentice has taken up much of my time but I did not want my fellow jounin to think I had vanished!”
“Trust me, Gai,” Kakashi turned a page. “No one would ever think you vanished; we can hear you coming a mile away.”
Gai let out a booming laugh, heavily patting Kakashi on the back. Kakashi caught himself as the force shoved him forward and he shot Gai an annoyed look that the other jounin did not register. A thought occurred to him.
“Wait, an apprentice?” He lowered his book. “Is that why we haven’t seen you in the past couple of weeks?”
“It is nice to know you missed me!” Gai beamed. “I could not let you tackle mentorship alone! So I put myself forward as a jounin-sensei this year! I did not get a full team but the pupil I have is excellent and in the Springtime of his Youth! How is your team?”
“Oh, I failed them on the first day,” Kakashi waved a hand dismissively.
“Kakashi, was that really necessary?” Gai’s smile dimmed for the first time since they’d met up. “I’m sure they weren’t that bad.”
“They really were that bad,” he shrugged. “The academy isn’t like it used to be. Is yours actually good or are you just being positive about him like you are with everything?”
Gai’s grin returned in full force.
“Naruto-kun is indeed brilliant! His work ethic rivals my own and his taijutsu is going to be the best in the village one day! He has my full and complete faith!”
The name registered and Kakashi stopped in the middle of the street.
“Naruto?”
“Uzumaki Naruto,” Gai confirmed. “He graduated this year and was assigned to me.”
“Huh,” Kakashi frowned. “I didn’t know he was graduating this year.”
Not that he knew anything about Minato-sensei’s son. To his shame, he had avoided the boy; he just didn’t want to be reminded of his loss. He knew he was letting Minato-sensei down but the more time that passed, the easier it was to ignore the dark pit of guilt that grew each year. He had appeased it slightly when the body was a baby by watching over him in ANBU but he hadn’t seen the kid since. A lot could happen in five years.
He glared weakly at Gai’s look of pity.
“You know, Kakashi,” his friend said at a normal volume. “It’s never too late to build a relationship with him. I know you were his ANBU guard when he was a toddler; you do care about him.”
“Just leave it, Gai.” Kakashi brought his book back up, eyes scanning the page but none of it sinking in. “It sounds like he’s doing just fine without me.”
“Kakashi...”
“Oh, who is that calling me?” Kakashi said, walking briskly away. “I’ll see you later, Gai.”
He was grateful when the other jounin did not follow. Thoughts of Minato-sensei’s son circled around his head, long buried regrets surfacing and guilt beginning to slowly choke him. He needed to go to the Memorial Stone.
Naruto gasped for breath as he lay spread-eagled in the grass. It had been almost two weeks since he’d been assigned to Gai and every day, they had a taijutsu spar. He had gotten no closer to even winding the jounin than he had the first day; it always ended the same way. Naruto collapsed on the ground, staring at the sky and struggling to get enough oxygen into his lungs. He healed quickly but he was forming new bruises quicker than they were able to disappear.
One good thing about Gai; the man didn’t know how to hold back. He was more than happy to throw Naruto around like a ragdoll and he was delighted. He wouldn’t get any stronger if the jounin took it easy on him. He was already a bit faster than he’d been when he sat the graduation exam; if he kept going like this, he might actually make chunin in a couple years.
On the other hand, while all the muscle training and taijutsu was great, Gai hadn’t mentioned Naruto’s bloodline limit once. He thought that when he finally got a jounin-sensei, he would be able to make some real progress with it. He had figured some aspects of it out himself through trial and error but he knew there was more to it.
“Gai-sensei,” he sat up slowly. “When are we going to work on my bloodline limit? It’s been two weeks.”
“Like we discussed before, Naruto-kun, we need to get your body up to speed before we can bring out its full potential!” Gai grinned, hands on his hips as he stared down at him. “We’ve barely begun your training; there is much more work to be done!”
“I know I’m not there yet but that could take months,” Naruto frowned. “Surely I should be developing it at the same time. All we’ve done this week is spar and D-ranks.”
“Naruto-kun, you are only nine,” Gai’s smile faded. “Jumping straight into developing everything at once will not help you in the future; we need to develop your skills gradually, starting at the basics to give you a strong foundation. You need solid taijutsu to even begin utilising your bloodline limit to its full potential.”
What Gai was saying did make sense; Naruto understood where the man was coming from. He had seen it in the very first spar. His body was nowhere close to keeping up with the information that his bloodline limit granted him.
He just had this burning desire to improve. He had to get strong as quickly as possible. He'd had such expectations when imagining what kind of training he would be doing with his jounin-sensei; thinking about it had helped pass the time in his history lessons. This had been both everything he'd wanted and nothing at all what he'd expected. He didn’t think he ever could have predicted Gai but even with the early starts and late finishes, there was still that itching feeling that he wasn’t improving quick enough.
He'd never had guidance before, especially with his bloodline limit. He just needed some direction and he could continue with it on his own. He had read up on other dōjutsu when he couldn’t find anything about his own and tried exercises for both the Sharingan and Byakugan to no avail. He knew that the library wouldn’t have any of the good stuff, they were kept within the clan compounds, but it was a start. He couldn’t get very far on his own; that’s why he needed Gai.
“Yeah, but I don’t think we should be ignoring it completely just because of that,” Naruto pointed out. “It’s all well and good working on my power and speed but then I won’t know how to incorporate my bloodline limit into my fighting style.”
Gai’s face sank into a thoughtful expression and he raised his hand to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully.
“You raise an excellent point,” Gai nodded. “I will look into it. It is called the Emperor’s Eye, correct?”
Something uncoiled in Naruto’s gut as he accepted Gai’s words. Gai was already more dependable than any other adult that Naruto had encountered in his life so far. He still held some reservations, he had been let down enough in his life, but Gai hadn’t done anything to prove otherwise. It had only been two weeks though; there was plenty of time for Gai to fuck him over.
“Yeah.” Naruto took a sip of his water. “There isn’t anything about it in the library or the archives, but Jiji knew someone who had the same one. That’s what he called it.”
Gai threw him an odd look and Naruto sighed, more than familiar with it from his former teachers.
“Yes, I do go to the library and no, it does not mean that I like reading or studying or any of that rubbish. I just go when I need pointers on my training or when something doesn’t make sense. I still stand by the fact that the book stuff in the academy is useless out in the field.”
This answer seemed to satisfy Gai as the man threw him thumbs up; he liked doing that way too much.
“Leave it with me, Naruto-kun!” Gai announced, back at full volume. “I shall find the most Youthful training exercises for you!”
Naruto just continued to drink his water. Two weeks in and the whole ‘Youth’ thing made no more sense than it had when Gai had first mentioned it. He’d learned to just roll with it; he was immune to much of Gai eccentricities through sheer exposure.
“Now, Naruto-kun!” Gai clapped his hands together. “Today we are going to work on your chakra control!”
Naruto sank back into the grass and groaned. He knew his chakra control sucked; the leaf exercise in the academy had been his worst enemy. He always ended up shooting the leaf far away from his forehead which he had later figured out was due to him putting too much chakra into it. That knowledge hadn’t helped him; he just couldn’t get the right amount of chakra. It sometimes felt like he was trying to fill a thimble with a bathtub.
“That’s not a very Youthful approach to your training!” Gai hovered over him. “This will help you with your E-rank jutsu; you cannot complete out of village missions without them!”
Naruto blinked and snapped upright, bouncing to his feet. Gai had a point; the sooner he learnt these jutsu, the sooner he could leave the village. He hadn’t managed to get a handle on any of them yet but maybe chakra control would help. He was willing to put himself through anything if it meant escaping this hellhole, even just for a mission.
Gai watched him in amusement; Naruto crossed his arms in response.
“Have you heard of the tree-walking exercise?”
“Nope.”
“Then observe, Naruto-kun!”
Gai led him to the edge of the training ground and stopped in front of one of the trees. Naruto raised an eyebrow as Gai continued walking to the base, as if he was going to walk directly into the trunk. His eyes widened as Gai started to walk up the tree. How was he doing that? He was just walking up the tree as if gravity wasn’t a thing. Gai walked along one of the thick branches and turned to face Naruto, upside down with his hands on his hips as he grinned down at him.
“You have to teach me how to do that,” said Naruto breathlessly. “Right now.”
This is the key to the rooftops. He wouldn’t have to walk in the streets and suffer the ire of the villagers. He could just use the window of his shitty apartment as his new door; he would be able to go weeks without seeing a civilian. The ANBU wouldn’t be able to stop him either. He could just shove his hitai-ate in their stupid masks.
“That is what we are here to do!” Gai bellowed down from his branch.
He watched his teacher walk back down the trunk, a grin forming on his own face. Maybe chakra control wasn’t that bad. Gai landed lightly in front of him.
“So in order to do this, you must channel chakra to the bottom of your feet and keep it at a consistent level with each step. Too little and you will slide off, too much and you will destroy the bark beneath your feet. Do you understand?”
Naruto nodded eagerly. He bounced past Gai and faced the tree, channelling his chakra through his legs. He placed his right foot onto the tree and the wood immediately exploded, throwing him away from the trunk. He stumbled back, swearing loudly as Gai watched him intently from the side. He regained his footing and eyed the trunk, his smile dropping; so he would need even less.
He pushed chakra to his feet, trying to make it the smallest amount he physically could. He placed his foot back on the tree and felt his foot sliding. He tried to gently increase the level of chakra, grinning as his foot stuck. He lifted his other foot, his weight supported off the ground for a brief second. He tried to channel chakra to his suspended foot while maintaining the level of the foot stuck to the tree but he lost control. The wood beneath his foot shattered and he was thrown to the ground, landing on his ass.
“It will take time to master this,” Gai spoke up. “It will be especially hard for you but I have faith in your abilities.”
“Why is it hard for me?” Naruto scowled. “Is it ‘cause I’m dead-last? Or am I less capable than ‘normal kids’?”
The lines on Gai’s face deepened as his brow furrowed.
“Of course not, Naruto-kun,” he said sincerely. “You have more chakra than the average genin. It’s why you struggled with bunshin and the other E-rank jutsu; you just put too much chakra into the technique. This will make you more aware of your chakra supply and how much you are using”
Naruto was taken aback. He hadn’t been expecting that answer; he was so used to people putting him down for the Kyūbi or his grades or his financial situation. The thought that Gai wasn’t trying to be negative hadn’t even crossed his mind. His answer also made a lot of sense. He hadn’t realised that he was using so much chakra; it didn’t feel like too much to him.
“Oh.”
Gai’s face softened.
“It’s okay, Naruto-kun. We can just keep trying until you get it. I will be right here with you.”
Naruto resisted the urge to smile back at the jounin. He turned back to the tree, conflicting thoughts crowding his head. He wanted to believe Gai but deep down, he knew the only person he could really count on was himself.
Gai followed Naruto through the streets, the evening sun casting a warmth over the village and bathing each surface with a soft orange glow. Gai really did love Konoha and he had never doubted anything he did in service; he would live and die for this village.
The more he trained Naruto and got to know his student, the more questions he had. There were so many red flags popping up around the boy and Gai did not like it. That comment he made about ‘being less’. He had automatically jumped to the defensive; had expected to be put down and disregarded. What kind of schooling did he receive to think like that?
There was also the surprise that appeared on his face every time Gai encouraged him to learn and expand on things that were not immediately useful. Naruto could be very intense in his training, pushing himself like his very life depended on it. Other times, like when he mentioned ninjutsu or genjutsu, Naruto rolled his eyes and didn’t even try to pretend he was interested.
It was as if the genin thought that he was alone, thinking Gai was only there temporarily so he had to fit the pieces together by himself.
Gai looked forward to showing his student that he was there for him. He was there to help him reach his potential and flourish in the Springtime of his Youth. There was a burning passion beneath the surface and Gai wanted to help Naruto realise it was okay to embrace it.
He caught a few villagers looking their way and he beamed cheerfully at them in greeting; but they weren’t looking at him. Their eyes were latched onto the small blond boy just in front of him and Gai was surprised at the venom. People who usually smiled when he saw them were twisted up in hatred, their faces almost unrecognisable. He shot a glance at Naruto and found a matching glare as he gave as good as he got.
Gai had always overheard talk of Naruto; it was hard not to in a village like this. He hadn’t really taken it seriously. He didn’t agree with the negative comments and he was not about to think the worst of a boy he had never met. Now he had gotten to know Naruto, he was even less inclined to agree. His student was a hard worker and while he was on the grumpy side, his Youth and passion was clear for anyone to see. He hadn’t stopped to consider what kind of effect those comments would have on the kid himself.
Naruto tore his gaze away from the villagers as he spotted their destination in the distance. A smile almost broke across the genin’s face as he picked up the pace, almost skipping to the ramen stand. Gai followed, taking a seat next to his pupil and smiling at the ramen stand owner.
“Naruto!” The man grinned. “Who do you have with you today?”
Gai hid his surprise as Naruto smiled openly, his blue eyes sparkling.
“This is Gai-sensei!” He easily replied. “He’s treating me to ramen today!”
The ramen chef turned to Gai in mock sympathy.
“I hope you have a deep pocket, Gai-san,” he said. “This kid can really pack it away; I’m pretty sure his blood is part ramen broth at this point.”
Gai beamed at the chef as Naruto threw out an embarrassed ‘Teuchi-jiisan’. This was the most animated Naruto had been in the two weeks they had been training together. It was a nice change to see his student smiling rather than sporting the usual scowl he wore while completing missions.
“What would you like, Gai-san?” Teuchi turned to start cooking. “Naruto always gets miso ramen so I just need your order.”
“Vegetable ramen, please, Teuchi-san!”
Teuchi nodded to them and focused on what he was doing. Gai glanced over at Naruto and decided to ask a question that had been on his mind since he learned that Naruto did not wear his hitai-ate.
“Naruto-kun, why do you want to be a shinobi?”
Naruto’s smile fell and his brow furrowed.
“I owe it to Jiji; he helped me when I was younger and I want to repay him. I want to get to the point where I don’t have to debate whether I can afford an apple. I want to master my bloodline limit; I don’t want it to go to waste.”
Gai listened quietly. There was something else. Naruto kept throwing nervous glances at him so Gai kept his body relaxed, trying to project acceptance and patience. It wasn’t often that he tried to be quiet and tone himself down, but this felt important. He wanted Naruto to know he could trust him.
“I...I want to leave the village,” Naruto admitted quietly. “I want to get to the level where I can just leave and not get hunted down for it. The Sannin can do whatever they want; if I can get strong enough, I can do it too.”
Naruto stared down at his hands, twisting his fingers together. Gai could understand his nervousness; shinobi generally did not have that goal. Gai himself could not imagine ever leaving Konoha except for missions. It was his home; it was where his heart and soul lived. For someone to say they wished to leave without the intent to return, it bordered on treason. He already knew that Naruto held no loyalty towards Konoha, that was obvious within the first hour of meeting him, but he could understand why.
“That’s an admirable goal, Naruto-kun, to aim for that level of strength.” Gai patted his shoulder gently. “I will support you however I can.”
As Naruto snapped round to stare at him, his blue eyes wide in shock, Gai grinned at him. He meant what he said. Gai would help Naruto reach the epitome of his Youth and accomplish all his goals. That was what he was here to do as a jounin-sensei.
He hoped Naruto would change his mind; that by the time he reached the level of the Sannin he would find a reason to stay.