Kaze no koibitō

13

Lee tried to run forward, but fell onto his backside and sprawled out on the ground.

"Darn, I knew I shouldn't have opened the gates for a simple race. But I wanted to impress Sakura-chan..."

TenTen glared at her fallen teammate and spuna kunai by its ring.

"We told you not to overexert yourself while you were racing. You knew we were going to try to spar him today, but you had to be hard headed."

"But it was a youthful race..."

"Lee, just lie back and be quiet. TenTen and I will need all our concentration."

Lee sighed and propped himself up against a tree. Sitting out of a fight sucked...

Naruto stretched himself out a little more and readied himself for whatever they threw at him.

"Sanzoku..."

Got it boss.

The members of Team Gai watched with wide eyes as the small red panda grew until he was the size of a horse...and then grinned at them.

Been a long time since I've been in a fight. Be gentle huh?

TenTen and Neji nodded dumbly. They thought it should be the other way around. The claws on the creature were nearly as long as one of TenTen's kunai. Naruto smiled and got into a low crouch. Without warning he shot forward and threw a kick at Neji's gut. The Hyuuga luckily had his Byakugan activated already and blocked the kick with his forearm. Bad idea, he realized, as Naruto's kicks were now on par with Lee's. Even blocking them hurt.

Naruto used the block to pivot off to the side and launch at punch at TenTen. The girl ducked out of the way and chucked a kunai at his chest. Naruto caught it as he backflipped away and came up swinging it on his finger.

"Come on you two, get serious. I've spent over a year training and I want to see what you can do."

"Well, you haven't exactly shown us anything yet that proves you've improved."

TenTen was about to respond but found herself blocking a large claw, courtesy of a red panda.

You're pretty cute you know...I'd much prefer the boss go out with someone who looks like a panda than that insane chick he's dating. But alas...let's see what you got.

TenTen growled and unsealed a sword from one of her scrolls.

"Bring it on furball."

Sanzoku raised his hackles and growled.

Now you remind me of her...

He leapt toward her and they began to fight in a ball of fur and steel, curses and shrieks.

Naruto grinned and formed a Rasengan in his right hand. Neji quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

"So you're able to make it with one hand now huh? That still doesn't prove anything."

"Perhaps...or maybe, as you're about to find out, it proves that I've accomplished a lot."

Naruto dashed forward and thrust the sphere toward Neji, who grimaced and began the preparations for his Kaiten. Naruto's grin was audible from the sky as he leapt into the air.

"I've always wanted to know what would happen if two spheres traveling in opposite directions met!"

Neji's eyes went wide with fear as Naruto plowed the rasengan into the kaiten, laughing like a maniac.

The resulting explosion blew them all in different directions.

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