Chapter 545: Neji: Sorry, I Can't Bring Myself to Hit Him
"A challenge? What challenge?"
Tenten curiously leaned over to take a look.
"Kakashi-sensei clearly says here that he has a friend who specializes in taijutsu and wants Guy-sensei to come help develop a new direction for taijutsu. Where's the challenge?"
After reading the front of the letter, Tenten took it into her hands, flipped it over to look at the completely blank back, then looked at Might Guy with a puzzled expression.
She couldn't understand how Guy had reached that conclusion.
"Tenten, you're really forgetful. Did you already forget the movie we watched after finishing our mission a few days ago? They said it in the movie: whenever someone starts a sentence with, 'I have a friend...,' they're actually talking about themselves."
"So the real meaning of this letter is that Kakashi is challenging me and inviting me to our 503rd showdown!"
Guy snatched the letter back, clutched it tightly in his hand, and burst into tears.
"Guy-sensei, do your best! You'll definitely win!"
Lee immediately became excited as well.
The two of them shouted passionately before embracing each other.
"I can't even be bothered explaining that. What I want to know is, even if that's true, it's still Kakashi challenging you, Guy-sensei. What does that have to do with us? Why did you call us here?"
Tenten sighed helplessly.
"Well... um... as far as I know, Kakashi has Naruto and Konohamaru helping him. They're giving him ideas for developing new techniques. They're a team, and we're a team too."
Faced with Tenten's direct question, Guy looked slightly embarrassed.
"Uh..."
Tenten became even more speechless.
'At least Guy-sensei is self-aware', she thought.
'He knows he definitely can't beat Kakashi by himself. Since Kakashi has two assistants, he wants Neji and me to be his assistants too.'
What?
You're asking why Lee doesn't count?
Lee naturally didn't need to be counted.
He and Guy were basically one person anyway.
"Fine, I'll go. I don't have much to do lately anyway. It'll be nice to visit Kirigakure, maybe find some new inspiration for training, and while I'm at it, enjoy a little vacation."
Tenten stretched lazily and nodded.
"I'll go too."
Seeing Guy and Lee both turn to look at him, Neji, who had remained silent until now, quickly agreed, hoping to stop the two of them from doing anything even more embarrassing.
The reason Tenten gave was merely something she said offhand.
Perhaps the part about taking a vacation was genuine.
But finding inspiration for training definitely wasn't.
Because recently, Tenten hadn't been training much at all.
After Kakashi's group left Konoha to travel around the ninja world promoting Sage Mode, Konoha, as the birthplace of the practice, naturally began spreading it throughout the village under Inuzuka Kiba's leadership.
Everyone else had either tried it themselves or at least considered it.
Only Tenten found the whole thing noisy and irritating.
She understood why everyone was willing to put aside their pride in pursuit of greater strength.
She also knew it was something they had to do in order to confront the coming crisis facing the ninja world.
But she simply couldn't bring herself to do it.
So she couldn't oppose it...
Nor could she join in.
All she could do was stay shut inside her house.
She couldn't even go outside.
If she wandered around now, she might run into someone trying to practice Sage Mode at any moment.
As for why Tenten wasn't interested in Kakashi's proposal to develop a new taijutsu despite refusing to train Sage Mode...
She had a feeling that whatever "new taijutsu" Kakashi wanted Guy to help create would probably be combined with senjutsu in some way.
In the end, it would still require using that shortcut.
Neji, on the other hand, agreed almost immediately but didn't explain why.
Because Tenten had already taken his reason.
That's right.
Neji was actually the one who wanted to train, wanted to become stronger, but couldn't find the right path and hoped to visit Kirigakure in search of new inspiration.
With Neji's personality, at least during this early stage, there was no way he could swallow his pride and try cultivating Sage Mode.
But watching everyone else potentially surpass him, the so-called genius, without relying on hard work, instead taking what he considered a crooked shortcut...was something Neji simply couldn't accept.
When you're cornered, you look for change.
If today's opportunity hadn't appeared, perhaps after some time Neji would have eventually caved under the pressure and compromised.
But now that a new opportunity had presented itself...Naturally, Neji chose the new path.
Thus, Guy's four-man team used the Flying Thunder Formation to travel to Kirigakure.
They arrived only a short while after Kakashi's group.
Kakashi had just finished telling Terumi Mei that a few more people would be arriving shortly...When Might Guy showed up with his team.
At present, Kirigakure had very few important figures—or rather, very few shinobi whose names people actually knew.
Just like Sunagakure, aside from elders like Genjiro, who was already so old he could barely walk, everyone whose name carried any weight had come to welcome them.
It was a gesture of considerable respect.
Of course, it was also possible that Kirigakure was the last village to receive the Sage Mode initiative. Terumi Mei already knew what to expect, so she had gathered everyone in advance to assign tasks afterward.
The welcoming ceremony was merely a bonus.
Before mentioning Guy's arrival, Kakashi first conveyed Gaara's greetings and explained everything that had happened in Sunagakure.
Gaara had specifically asked him to do so.
After all, the two villages were in very similar situations.
Both Kage had only recently taken office.
The older generation had almost entirely died out.
Both villages had inherited the mess left behind by their predecessors.
Even their geographical environments were similarly unique.
By sharing information, the two leaders could prepare for problems before they arose.
"So Sunagakure has stubborn old conservatives as well? And you dealt with them?"
"As for Kirigakure, you don't need to worry. A few days ago, I hired Hoshigaki Kisame, one of Kirigakure's former shinobi, to help out."
"Of course, if you happen to run into similar situations while you're staying here and decide to lend me a hand, I certainly won't stop you. I'll remember your kindness."
Terumi Mei explained Kirigakure's current circumstances.
The Land of Water was very similar to the Land of Wind.
One had oases scattered throughout a desert.
The other had islands scattered across the sea.
No one lived in the middle of an empty desert.
Likewise, no one lived directly on the ocean.
The habitable land was broken into separate regions by desert or sea, making it much harder for both Sunagakure and Kirigakure to establish centralized authority than it was for the other hidden villages.
It also made rooting out those hiding in the shadows even more difficult.
It was adding frost to snow.
"Hoshigaki Kisame?"
The moment Kakashi heard that name, he immediately remembered the shark-faced man he'd encountered before.
He still remembered how Kisame had once wanted to "moisturize" the bridge builder's grandson.
Only later had he learned that it had all been part of the script.
Hoshigaki Kisame was actually an honest and straightforward man.
"Hahaha! Kakashi, I'm here!"
Guy's voice rang out from the Flying Thunder Formation teleportation area behind them.
Before Kakashi could react, someone standing behind Terumi Mei reacted much more dramatically.
The person immediately turned and hurried off to one side, clearly trying to avoid him.
(End of this chapter)