Team 8

Chapter 2: A Painfully Early Morning

Kurenai squinted as the morning sun glinted off the white-painted exterior of the Hokage's tower. She had a blinding headache fueled by a lack of sleep and the company she'd been keeping. She'd lain awake longer than she wanted, brooding about her genins. Her original hope was that Naruto would help bring the Hyuuga girl out of her shell. Making the disrespected Hyuuga heir a strong shinobi would be indirect revenge on the head of that arrogant clan, but it was the best she could manage for the time being.

But it seemed that Naruto would need help of his own. Once you got past the bluster and the pranks, he was just as insecure as Hinata. He just hid it better. Shino had less psychological baggage than his teammates, but he also seemed to lack some of their fire. He just didn't seem to put as much effort into things. Perhaps it was that detached persona the Aburames cultivated. The ones she'd met seemed to act as unemotional and precise as the insects they partnered with. Shino was definitely going to be a challenge to understand.

Naruto's deficiencies were the most glaring though, and might take the longest to correct. So she awoke with her alarm before five and sought out Maito Gai at his favorite training ground.

Kurenai had a theory about the more skilled jonins developing severe personality quirks to compensate for the stresses of missions. If she ever wanted to make a presentation on this theory for the Konoha Natural Philosophy Society, Maito Gai would be exhibit A. She supposed he might have been dropped on his head as a child. Repeatedly. But that didn't explain how he'd survived to become a genin. It was depressing, but far more likely, that he'd started obsessing about green spandex and the power of youth after he became a jonin.

Yuuhi Kurenai dreaded the day she woke up and realized that she'd become just as eccentric in her own way. She'd have no choice at that point but to do the honorable thing and end her own life.

At least Gai was predictable in his obsessions. Every morning they were not out on missions, he and Rock Lee were up before the dawn, working on ridiculously intricate taijutsu combinations. At least he'd focused some of his obsessions in positive ways. His taijutsu was said to be among the best of his generation, and he'd taken on a student with underdeveloped chakra coils and made him an effective shinobi.

She supposed the extra stress of learning how to complete missions without resorting to ninjutsus or genjutsus was considerable. Something had to explain the accelerated descent of Rock Lee into green spandex-clad madness with his sensei.

On the other hand, it was hard to argue with results. The green-clad genin moved so quickly that without chakra, her eyes had difficulty keeping up with him, and his punches were leaving visible divots in the thick training logs. Naruto could learn a lot here.

Gai looked up from his pupil and flashed what he probably thought was a charming grin. "Kurenai-san, you are up early to see the power of youth!"

Kurenai nodded, though she imagined her smile was a little sickly. She was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. "I knew I could find you here."

Gai's expression became a trifle smug. "It takes a lot of training to become a genius of hard work! But Lee will make it because he is full of the fires of youth!"

"Yosh! Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Kurenai knew she needed to nip this in the bud. Her impending migraine was only a couple of verses away. "I wanted to talk to you about some supplemental training for Tenten, and something else that has come up."

Maito Gai might be self-absorbed, overenthusiastic, and completely lacking in fashion sense, but he wasn't stupid. "Lee! Run five laps around Konoha!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei! And if I cannot do that without stopping, I will climb to the top of the Hokage monument, walking only on my hands!"