"So, what are you saying?" asked Naruto.
Gai-sensei looked over the various members of his own team, as well as the two members of Team 7. "Two things that I wanted to bring up. Not only would fitting a specific taijutsu style to the individual increase your ability in melee situations, but also with other fighting arts. There IS omething else I want to bring up while we have the number of sparring partners we do now."
Neji looked bored.
"You are all genin now, but all of you plan to increase your skills and ranking," said Gai. "When you get to jonin rank though - you will have to excel in several different fields. Jonin must be able to not only handle but shine in a variety of situations. The exception is a tokebetsu jonin, who are experts in a single field. True jonin must have excellent taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu. They must be able to assess a battlefield in an instant, make and change plans as quickly as conditions on the battlefield change, and have a number of other skills that they can bring to the betterment of our village."
"As you say, we're still genin," said Tenten.
"You haven't gotten the measure of your growth yet," said Gai, "but I want you to keep in mind what weapon specialization you'll eventually go for. Mind you, most shinobi seem to go with the kunai as a multipurpose tool that can be concealed. Not all though, and sometimes having access to a different weapon can be an advantage in the field."
"Sword," said Sasuke without hesitation.
"Eh? That quickly?" asked Gai.
"My family has used swords, I've trained extensively with swords," said Sasuke.
"Two handed, one handed, straight or curved?" followed up Maito Gai.
"Curved sword, one-and-a-half style," said Sasuke.
"Okay, so you already know that much," said Gai, letting it go.
"Why not just beat 'em down with taijutsu?" asked Naruto.
"Because sometimes you're going to need to take out an opponent quickly and quietly?" offered Tenten. "Though I think that sticking with ONE weapon is just silly."
"You excel at a wide variety of weapons skills," agreed Gai. "You are a weapons-mistress in fact. If anything, you excel best at thrown weapons with your accuracy. Which is why I want you to assist with Lee and Naruto's training in finding them a weapon that each of them is best suited for. Neji is a practitioner of the Gentle Fist style - and using a weapon would actually be detrimental for him MOST of the time. I would still prefer you learn a melee specialty weapon though for when your chakra is depleted or you simply can't use it."
"Why would I be unable to use it?" asked Neji.
"For one thing - there's a type of chakra specialist referred to as a 'sensor,'" said Gai. "They can automatically tell when strong chakra is present and the more sensitive ones can detect your chakra from miles away. To actively suppress your chakra so that you could approach such an individual would be difficult normally, completely impossible if you were to fight using the Gentle Fist. There was one such recently spotted by a patrol near our village, which is actually what prompted this discussion."
"Hmph." Neji clearly didn't seem to think it likely.
Tenten got a look in her eye that practically twinkled, her enthusiasm leaking out despite her trying to hold it in. "Find them fitting weapons, eh?"
"Can we make mine fire-resistant?" asked Naruto, edging a little away from the 'weapons mistress' as she was giving off an odd vibe.
"That will be for later," said Gai. "For now, I think it would be best for a different set of sparring. Neji, I think Sasuke would be an interesting match for you."
Neji snorted.
Sasuke concealed the spike of anger. "Dismissing me so quickly?"
"You are not a challenge," said Neji, his voice showing a bit more than a trace of contempt. "If you fight me, you will lose. It is fate."
"Don't underestimate me," indicated Sasuke, not concealing his irritation now.
Neji made another small contemptuous noise.
"Another request from Sasuke Uchiha to trade his team-mate Sakura Haruno?" asked the Third Hokage.
"Let's see," said the chunin, "this makes the fifteenth he's tried to file."
"At least he's down to one-a-day now," noted the Hokage.
"He's branching out," said the chunin, reading the paperwork. "Who's Ayame anyway?"
"A cook and waitress at Ichiraku's," said the Third Hokage after a moment's consideration.
"I really hope Sakura does better when they're actually on missions," said the chunin. "That might stop this."
"On the other hand, if she does as poorly on this as she did on the Bell Test, we might actually have to send her back to the Academy," said the Hokage, shaking his head. "She lasted less than two minutes?"
"Apparently she felt that Naruto slacking off was a personal affront and therefore wanted to demonstrate her ability before Sasuke," said the chunin. "I interviewed all parties involved after the fourth transfer request."
"Was that the one where he was requesting Clucky The Battle Chicken?" asked the Hokage.
"No sir, that was the Log," said the chunin.
"Oh yes, I remember that now," said the Hokage. "So, is Anko still wanting to train the girl?"
"I thought she was joking," said the chunin.
"Well, we'll just consider taking her up on that after they've gotten a few D-Rank missions done," said the Hokage.
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(Posted Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:52)
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