Chapter 17

I walked and did not try to hide my presence so Gai easily sensed me approaching. He turned back and both of us exchanged a small smile.

Gai - Aoki my youthful friend !

He was loud as usual after opening his mouth though.

Me - Yo Gai. So it was real news that you have become a jounin sensei. Hmm.. A Hyuga, the young miss from the weapons store and that boy who was diligently practicing basic punches back there. Its seems to a nice combination.

Gai - Hahaha.. yes they have the passion and will definitely get stronger. This is Hyuga Neji and she is Tenten. The boy you saw would be Rock Lee.

I smiled faintly and looked at Neji and Tenten. Neji's stoic face did not change and he just gave me a small bow while Tenten smiled. I then remembered that Neji of right now should be a brat with all his destiny crap. He sure looked like a kid with immense self confidence though.

Me - Well it's nice to meet talented genin of Konoha. My name is Kitamura Aoki and am a former classmate of your Gai sensei.

Tenten - Nice to meet you Aoki sensei.

Well I did not expect her to address me as sensei and it sure felt good though.

My eyes met the package filled with hot yakitori that I was holding. I did not think much and decided to share it with them. My motive was to relax and having some company would not be bad either.

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I did not think that they would agree to eat so quickly but well it was fine anyway. I had a good time chatting with them and Lee also came some time ago.

Neji aside , I liked the other two kids. Especially Lee because straightforward people like him were rare in my old world. The kid did not seem to have much interest in any topic other than training when he talked with them. I liked that though because I admired his personality to focus on a single aspect.

Tenten did not give out any special vibes but she was a cheerful and polite girl which was much appreciated. Neji did not seem much interested in me but I did not mind either.

I dont why but in the end it was decided that I would have a light spar with Gai. It was fine with me but I would prefer to relax instead. It was difficult to refuse when Lee looked at me such enthusiastic expression.

So right now me and Gai were standing some few meters away from each other while the kids were watching from the side.

We should have started already but I was waiting for Gai to make the first move. The reason was simple because I could not find any opening in his simple taijutsu stance. I was sure though that it would be the same for him too because due to my sword talent , I also did not have any openings in my stance.

Precisely I did not use any special stance and was just standing casually with Dragon's breadth unsheathed in my right hand. The main reason there no openings would be that I could easily maneuver my sword and react to attackes from any angle in time. Well it would be difficult if the speed of that attack exceeded my reaction speed but in a light spar , that was impossible. After all both me and Gai had jounin class or higher stats.

At this rate it may become a serious battle so I chose to put my sword away much to Dragon's breadth's dissatisfaction. Gai raised an eyebrow at my actions but did not say anything. That guy would definitely understand my reason. Now the situation was disadvantage for me as Gai was the real master of Taijutsu. But he did not know that I could see his movements with my mind's eye skill.

So his first punch which came from behind my back was easily caught by me. I smiled and threw him over my shoulder but as expected he changed his position in mid air in time and easily deflected my following kick.

Both of us were sent flying back and landed on the ground with ease.

Gai - That was a Youthful exchange Hahaha..

I also laughed a little because I was happy to find that my reaction speed seemed to have increased with my potential. Along with the battle instinct forged in this body from Aoki's experiences , my prowess definitely had risen. Naturally I was happy to become stronger.

I did not have much stamina compared to Gai who mainly focused on training his body but it could not be compared to other jounin either due to high vitality after remodeling my body. So our fight continued for next half an hour and neither of us seemed to be tired. I did not know about Gai but I gained a lot of experience from this fight.

From some point of time , both of us had kicked the tempo up a notch and our attacks became much faster. Gai's attacks were really unpredictable and precise so I could slowly the weaknesses in my taijutsu style.

I also simulated inside my mind and concluded that I could not defeat Gai currently even if I used all the tricks in my sleeves. The difference in our stats and reaction speed would be too much if he activated his gates. Then it would be difficult for me to keep up with his attacks with my sword strikes.

Me - We should stop now Gai. The kids should have sensed the gap by now.

Gai - Your right Aoki. Thanks for such a Youthful time. Hahaha..

I also wanted to laugh after looking at Neji's furrowed eyebrows and clenched fists. The brats should know by now that they were too weak. It would be nice if they started to work more hard and strive for improvement from now on.

After the spar , I did not stay with them anymore and immediately left for my spot near the waterfall. After all Gai was the sensei and it was in his job to answer the questions from the kids and guide them.

All in all I had a fulfilling time and was satisfied. From tomorrow I would start my swordsmanship training and leave the chakra related training to my shadow clones.