18 Return To The Grind 9

Daiki blinked slowly.

"Indeed, one must partake in plenty of meat and facilitate their protein intake!" a younger, male voice agreed, "Meat, is indeed youthful!"

"Can't you guys be quiet for one day?" a soft female voice groused in annoyance, "The patron already told us, there's no booths left, let's just go somewhere else, you're disturbing the other customers."

"Nonsense Tenten," the first voice harrumphed, "I'm sure some will be amendable to sharing space with us!"

And as the voice finished, a head full of shiny black, bowl-cut shaped hair peeked over the barrier hiding the booth Daiki was in, and a blinding grin shone towards him, "Why hello there my young youthful friend!" Maito Gai greeted him boisterously, "I see that you are alone in this booth! Might it perhaps be okay for I, and my youthful students to join you and partake in youthful tasty meal together?"

Huh.

Daiki blinked slowly, before shrugging, "Sure, I don't see why not, I've got plenty of space." he gestured to the other side of the booth, enough for four people to sit comfortably, with nary a soul.

He wasn't going to say no to the chance to get to know them.

"How youthful!" Gai flashed him a thumbs up, before turning and saying something to his team and gesturing to them to follow him.

A moment later, he bore witness to a robust, muscular and tall bow haired man in a green leotard, followed by his mini-me, and a long hair, white eyed pretty boy sitting opposite him.

While the seating at his side shifted as the last member of their name sat next to him.

"Sorry about them." Tenten apologised with a sheepish smile, cheeks flushed and rubbing the nape of her neck in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it," he waved her apology off, "I had plenty of space as you can see." looking at her, he had to admit, Tenten was quite the looker. A pretty, creamy skinned face, warm chocolate brown eyes, a cute delicate looking nose, a graceful neck, and a quick glance from the corner of his eyes, seeing the way the front of her sleeveless pink shirt stretched out at the front….told him that she was far more curvaceous than Sakura.

He was actually surprised. He thought Tenten was more the slender type, but she was actually kind of stacked.

"A pleasure to meet you, friend!" Gai's mini-me thrust out a thumbs up at him, drawing him from saying anything else to the pretty bun-haired girl at his side, "I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee!" he flashed a massive grin at him, and for a moment, Daiki was sure he heard an audible 'ping' come from them.

"…Daiki." he introduced himself, rather blankly. Seeing it on a screen was one thing, but it in no way prepared him for the sheer…exuberance of the older boy.

"That's the way Lee, socializing is youth!" Gai cheered, before flashing a thumbs up at Daiki just like his student, "And I am Konoha's Sublime Green Beast, Maito Gai!"

Daiki blinked at him, before looking at the long haired Neji who seemed to be doing his very best to ignore his teammates very existence, "Are you also some kind of beast of Konoha?"

The look Neji gave him in return, one would think he'd insulted his dead parents, ancestry and everything else he took pride in, "…No…no I am not." he replied simply, before grunting out his name and looking away to stare out of the window and probably imagine the other occupants of the booth out of existence.

A groan of dismay came from Tenten, "…This is why no other teams want to hang out with us anymore," she whined. She shook her head and forced a brittle smile on her face, "I'm Tenten." she introduced herself.

"You have it rough, huh?" Daiki pointed out, "Kinda glad I don't have teammates now."

Well, there was no now about it, he'd been thanking his lucky stars since he talked to Sasuke about it.

"…You have no idea." Tenten groaned.

He resisted the urge to pat her on the back sympathetically.

"A part of the Genin Corps I assume then youthful Daiki?" Gai hummed, making him look over to the man, "How is it treating you? You look like a strong lad, I can't imagine you not doing well."

"Pretty well, there's a lot more freedom in it I've figured out recently than having a jonin sensei," he shrugged, "I don't really have anyone to teach me, but, hard work and guts are carrying me along pretty well regardless!"

Silence.

The whole booth went silent for a good five seconds and Daiki felt himself get a bit uncomfortable as Gai…and Lee just kind of stared at him.

And then, they exploded.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Gai wept, great big tears.

"Daiki-kun, you are so youthful!" Lee joined him.

And then they began hugging each other, and crying together.

He turned to Tenten, "…Correction, you have it really rough."

Tenten whimpered.

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Thankfully, after that, Gai and Lee seemed to quiet down, and while Gai ordered food for his team, discussion naturally shifted to the big shiny red koinkedink, or rather coincidence they all had in common.

Being ninja.

Lee asked what sort of Shinobi he was, and at first Daiki wasn't really sure how to answer, before settling on claiming to be a general shinobi, with leanings towards Ninjutsu and Taijutsu.

He got especially hyped about the taijutsu and invited Daiki to come meet him at Training Ground 9 anytime and they could spar. Gai jumped in and happily agreed to even give Daiki some tips if he did.

It was definitely something to keep in mind.

Tenten asked him what kind of jutsu he knew, and he rattled of a few, mentioning the Mystical Palm though, had her giving him an odd look, before changing the subject to ask about missions.

Really, they had a lot of interesting missions to talk about, even completing a B-rank mission together at one point apparently. The most he had to share really, was his last mission.

It did seem to get a bit of attention from Neji though when he revealed he'd killed and claimed the bounty of a Kumo ninja, even got a slight nod of respect out of the frigid Hyuuga prodigy.

Time seemed to fly in, and before he knew it, he had eaten his food, ordered more, and finished that up, and Team nine were right there with him.

He actually didn't even need to pay, Gai happily footed the bill for being kind enough to let them join him in his booth, before rushing off with Lee, both running on their hands through the streets of Konoha.

Neji said nothing as he left, leaving him alone with Tenten.

"…Please don't tell me you're actually going to wear that?" Tenten grimaced beside him, pointing at the gift Gai had left him with the profound tip of, 'Stay youthful!'

A green leotard that he held in his hand, "What, don't think I could pull it off?" he grinned at her.

"…I don't even Tsunade-sama could pull that off." Tenten gagged.

Oh, he begged to differ, especially with how skin tight it was.

"Think so?" Daiki raised an eyebrow at her, "I think you could pull it pretty well actually." after all, now that they were out of the booth, he could get a good look at her, good and proper-like, and he had to admit, he was not wrong. Tenten was pretty tall for a girl, with long, tonged legs, and green baggy pants she wore, were stretched out deliciously at the back.

Tenten had it going on for sure.

Her cheeks flushed a little bit, "Stop." she giggled a bit, punching him lightly on the arm.

Seemed she wasn't all that used to boys flirting with her. Kind of expected, with how much time she spent training and being a tomboy, but still, good to know.

"Alright, alright," he held up his hands in surrender, "So, what's up?" Daiki asked, getting to the root of the issue.

There had to have been a reason she hung around, instead of leaving with her teammates, right?

She winced, "…I don't really like asking this, but I've hit a brick wall," the pretty older girl began, "Can you help me with the Mystical Palm Jutsu?"

Oh, that was all?

"Sure." Daiki agreed. Not only would it get him in good with not only a fellow Konoha ninja, and a pretty older female one at that, but Gai was nice enough to offer him some tips and to come to him for advice if he needed it even, so, he saw no reason why he shouldn't help his student out in turn.

Plus, beyond all that, he kind of liked Tenten, he'd come to see she had quite the sarcastic personality and dry personality to her.

"…That was easy…" Tenten froze, surprised.

"Should it have been though? We hit it off with pretty well, right?" he pointed out, "Anyway, you can generally find me in training ground sixty-nine when i'm not busy with missions or the like."

"Oh, ok-" Tenten began responding before freezing and giving him a deadpan look, "…Why do I feel like you chose that specific number of training ground just for the number alone?"

His lips twitched into a switch, "Because you've got brains to go with that beauty?" he winked.

Her face flushed a deep red, and he laughed, bidding her goodbye and continuing on.

He had more training to do after all.

The grind never ended!

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kakashi looked up from his book to meet the Sandaime Hokage's eyes, "I mean, Sasuke is fine, but Sakura has no filter when she's around him and Naruto's still far too rash. They aren't really a team that's suited for escorting a high class VIP."

"It's a B-rank in name only," Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, "It's only that high even because of who you're escorting. The chance of combat is drastically low, and it's less than a days travel from here. And it will look good for yours teams mission record when the chance comes to be promoted."

"…It's rather silly so, is it not?" Kakashi directed his faze to the mission scroll sitting on the Hokage's deck, displaying the picture of the client, "Who ever heard of the leader of a Hidden Village having to pay another village to escort them?"

"Waterfall sadly has precious few shinobi these days, and young Shibuki lacks the disposition needed," the Hokage shook his head, "Quite a waste really, the boy is incredibly talented, perhaps he could even have been a match for you given a few years if not for being afraid of his shadow."

"Perhaps," Kakashi shrugged lightly, "Though, I have a feeling there's a specific shinobi, or rather kunoichi you want me to check in on while I'm there." he eyed the older man knowingly.

"Well, I wouldn't pick your team for this mission otherwise, the genin act as a good smokescreen for you to sneak in," Hiruzen chortled lightly, he was just making sure young ninja got some props for their part in it. He reached into his robe, and pulled out a scroll, unrolling it across his desk, "Her name is Fu, no last name, an orphan from what we have been able to uncover. She is sixteen years old, general strength below that of your typical chunin, Waterfall has few capable of teaching her, after all, she is the current container of the Nanabi, the seven tailed horn beetle." depicted on the scroll, was a young teenage girl, she had tan skin, with short mint green hair and striking bright orange eyes.

"And you just want me to check on her?" Kakashi asked.

"That's all, just get me a general personality profile and check how she's treated by her village," Hiruzen confirmed with a nod, "Waterfall is not known for their sealing prowess, we have to know if she is liable to lose control and unleash the beast. While not as powerful as the Kyuubi, not even close, it is still the third most powerful of the Tailed Beasts, and with the ability to fly freely through the air, it is a terrible foe to deal with and could devastate the countryside before we can stop it."

Kakashi grimaced, yes, he could understand exactly how big a threat that would be, "Alright, I'll get it done." the copy-ninja promised.

"Splendid," Hiruzen grinned, before pausing for a moment, "Actually, a young Genin has caught my eye lately, part of the Genin Corps, he's training very hard to make up for that. Would you be fine taking him along? A B-rank on his record, will go a long way to allowing him to compete in the Chunin Exams."

"…From the Genin Corps, huh?" Kakashi hummed with interest.