NA - Chapter 52: The Cheerful Master

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

“Dialogue”

‘Thoughts’

-Author notes-

Chapter 52: The Cheerful Master

“L-let me down!” Sasuke demanded.

Naruto put him down but paid no more attention to the Uchiha. Instead, he was looking at the turtle.

‘I didn’t even notice it approaching, much less throwing that needle at the bandages…’ He had seen some animals trained in combat, like Kakashi’s dogs, but this turtle was on a whole other level.

“Lee, what were you thinking?! That technique is forbidden!” the turtle yelled at Rock Lee.

Lee immediately kneeled down and apologized. “I’m sorry, Master! I… wasn’t planning on using the other part…”

“You think you can get away with excuses?!” The turtle continued to yell at him.

“That turtle is getting him good…” Sakura said. But her attention quickly turned to Sasuke. “Are you okay, Sasuke? Should we go to a medic?”

“I’m fine,” the boy brushed off her concerns. He was not in the mood for any of that… he had lost again. His eyes returned to normal, but he kept glancing between Naruto and Lee.

Once the turtle appeared to be done yelling at Lee, they saw a cloud of smoke appear out of nowhere, followed by another voice.

“Here comes Guy Sensei!”

“Ahh! Another weirdo has appeared!, what is going on?.” Sakura pointed at the man who was now standing on top of the turtle.

“That must be their Sensei,” Naruto said. For a moment, he thought it was the turtle. “Then who is the other one?...”

“They look alike…” Sakura made a disgusted expression as she stared at the man who looked like an older copy of Rock Lee. “His eyebrows are even thicker…”

“Lee!” the man spoke loudly.

“Yes?...”

“You fool!” Then he proceeded to punch Lee right in the face with such force that it sent the boy flying away.

The Master hurried to go check on his disciple. “Lee… are you okay?”

“Master…”

“Do you understand why I had to do that?”

“I do, Master. I’m very sorry!”

“Lee!”

“Master!”

“What is this...?” Naruto did not know what to think. He had never seen a Master behave like this with his disciples.

“Why are they crying and hugging now?” Sakura asked.

“Let’s just go…” Sasuke was really not in the mood for this either. “How did I lose to that guy…” He spat the words.

“Yes, that’s what youth is about!” the turtle nodded with approval.

“The turtle is encouraging them…” Naruto felt like he shouldn’t be watching this.

After proposing a punishment of five hundred laps around Konoha after the exams were over...something that would kill any human being...the Sensei turned his attention to the turtle, who whispered something to him.

The Sensei then walked toward Team 7 members. “So you are Kakashi’s new students?”

“You know our Sensei?” Sakura asked.

“Know him?...” He smiled, and then used some type of movement technique to appear behind them in an instant. “People refer to us as Eternal Rivals!”

“How did he?...” Sakura said.

“He is fast!” Sasuke’s eyes became sharp.

“We are currently 50 wins and 49 losses… I am stronger than Kakashi, you know?” he bragged.

‘Is he?...’ Naruto thought. It was hard to tell without seeing him in an actual fight. But he could tell that this man, much like his disciple… was specialized in hand-to-hand martial arts. ‘If only my cultivation was a bit higher… I would love to measure myself against him.’

“My name is Maito Guy, and…” He glanced at Sasuke. “I must apologize on behalf of my disciple; he should never have taken things so far against a fellow Konoha ninja.”

“No… it’s fine.” Sasuke would rather forget about the whole thing.

Guy’s eyes then moved over to Naruto. “Ningame mentioned that you tried to stop Lee’s move… that’s interesting.”

“Interesting?” Sakura said.

“Anyways… I won’t entertain you more. You should hurry to classroom 301 before your time runs out… good luck to you all!” Guy then disappeared without a trace.

“Thank you, Sensei!” Rock Lee bowed at the spot where his Sensei had been. He then looked at the group. “I came here to test my abilities. We may have another chance during the exam.”

He then looked directly at Naruto. “What is your name?”

“It doesn’t matter. I doubt we’ll have a chance to fight anytime soon.” Naruto turned around. “We have like five minutes left, by the way.”

“Ahhh! Let’s hurry!” Sakura began to panic.

“Hmph!” Sasuke gave the strange boy a last glance before leaving. “Next time I won’t lose!” he added without turning around.

Lee remained there and watched them as they left.

Tenten and Neji jumped from the balcony where they had been watching the fight.

“We should hurry too,” Tenten said.

“Neji… what do you think?” Lee asked.

“About the Uchiha?... very disappointing.” Neji Hyuuga had been hearing a lot about the genius Uchiha over the last few years, but seeing him in person had ruined his expectations.

“What about the other one?” Lee added with a serious expression that was unusual for him.

Tenten was surprised. She thought that her teammates would only focus on the Uchiha and that she was the only one who had been paying attention to Naruto.

“He is fast…” Neji simply said.

But for those who knew him, it would be clear how high his standards were. For him to admit that someone was fast meant that they were at least close to his level. Anything below that would not enter his eyes.

“He is more than fast.” Lee lifted his pants to show the weights he always carried around his calves.

“What?!” Neji was rarely surprised, but this took him off guard.

“Is that… a hand?...” Tenten stared at the weights.

The shape of a hand had been indented into the metal and could clearly be seen through the fabric cover, meaning that Naruto’s grip had been strong enough to bend them out of shape.

“If I wasn’t wearing these… he would have shattered my leg,” Lee said.