Naruto: The Next God of Shinobi

Chapter 18: Race to the Capitol, Part 1

It took both teams two days to reach Kiba no Kuni (Land of Fang). They had a meeting with one of the daimyo's men and went over the mission. The man told them that the cartels in the land would not sit by and allow them to get to the fire capitol. They decided to rest and wait until tomorrow before leaving. The daimyo's man placed them in a secure hotel under false names. After getting settled in, the Jonins left to do something.

Naruto and Yakumo found this to be the best time to talk to Lee. Ever since they reunited, they had a swarm of questions to ask their friend. They dragged the spandex wearing teen away from the room so that they can get some privacy. Once alone, the two forced Lee to sit and stared at him. Lee was very confused by how they were acting.

"Okay Lee, what's up with you? What's with the get-up? What's up with hairdo? What's up with the eyebrows? What's up...?" Naruto was cut off by Yakumo.

"What Naruto is trying to say is that we are surprised by your changes? Did your sensei force this onto you?" Yakumo asked.

"Are you under a Genjutsu? Yakumo, check for Genjutsu." Naruto ordered. Yakumo was about to just that when Lee held his hands up.

"You may be at ease my friends. I am not under any Genjutsu. Gai-sensei has just shown me my path in life. He has shown me the path of youthfulness and has made my path ever so clear." Lee explained with excitement.

"Okay," Naruto drawled. "So, this change is of your own doing?"

"Yes, to be a splendid ninja without the use of Genjutsu and Ninjutsu, that is my goal. That is my ninja way." Lee said with fire in his eyes. Naruto and Yakumo were a scared a little. After he calmed down, Yakumo spoke.

"If this is your wish Lee, then we will support you. I would consider a change of clothes though." She said.

"Why, could it be that you two want to further your powers of youth with Gai-sensei 'suit of youth'?" Lee asked excitedly.

"No, no, no, no," They both said and quickly shook their heads. While this may have been cool for Lee, they would never hear the end of it from Jakken and especially Anko.

In the room, the remaining of the two teams was sitting around. Tenten was checking her weapons, Neji was busy meditating and Jakken was lying on his bed. He looked over to Tenten and saw the arsenal of weapons.

"Wow, that's a lot of steel 'Buns'. What are you compensating for?" Jakken joked. Tenten ignored him but you could hear her teeth grinding a little. Jakken just smirked as she ignored him. Jakken knew that she hated the nickname he gave her back in the academy. He only did it to piss her off. He didn't really have a reason other than to annoy his rival in throwing weapons. He decided to see how far he could take it.

"That's kind of cold 'Buns'. We're teammates for the time being, the lest you can do is answer my question." He said with a smirk. Tenten saw his smirk and glared at the older teen. God, she wanted to ram a kunai where the sun doesn't shine. She took a calming breath and went back to her weapons. Jakken had to admit that he was impressed that she didn't attack him yet. Still, he had one more ace up his sleeve.

"Just as well, I'm going to have to cover for the both of our teams. The way you throw your weapons around, I still think the instructors cheated for you." Jakken said.

"What was that? What the hell did you just say?" Tenten snarled.

"You heard me 'Buns'." He said. Tenten looked ready to strangle him. She reached for a kunai but quickly calmed herself. Chanting the mantra 'only three more days', Tenten faced him with a calm expression.

"You know what; I'm not going to fall for it. You can say whatever you want but the fact is that you're just a bitter little boy." She said.

"Excuse me?" Tenten got in his face before talking again.