Might Guy's First Lessons and Missions

Tomorrow came on quickly, so early in the morning, in the same previous greeny training field from yesterday, the same people met once again. Rock Lee looked more high-spirited than usual, Neji looked indifferent, just like always, while Tenten looked pretty haggard but also a little resolute.

Might Guy had his arms on his waist and looked satisfied after seeing them all, especially a little tired Tenten. He wasn't worried for Lee, but more so for Tenten, he was really worried that seeing that scene, with Neji, from yesterday would damage her self-confidence to the point of no return.

Tenten glanced at Neji at her side and clenched her fists. She couldn't have guessed in a million years that Neji was so strong and so much ahead of her if it were not for seeing it with her own eyes yesterday. That speed, strength, moves, and holding his own against an elite jonin for so long.

It seems that he was not an ordinary genius from the Academy, but already a real ninja strongman.

She now understood why he paid no attention to anyone at the Academy before, while he secretly trained his chakra in some weird ways during their classes, why he was so overlooking toward her.

But, in the end, she decided that she won't give up. Even though he was born into a big family, was a natural genius, and was personally trained by his patriarch, she'll become the strongest kunoichi, even going further than the Lady Tsunade, and finally overtake him, Neji Hyuga, her new teammate.

"Alright! Since you've all come here, it means that you're qualified to become my students!", Might Guy nodded towards them in satisfaction, "The most important thing for a shinobi is their "youth"."

"The so-called youth is in my opinion to have an optimistic outlook, unyielding attitude, high-spirit, rock-solid discipline, determination, and ability to work hard every day to your utmost of abilities!"

"I surpassed even geniuses like Neji here, in the past, through only my "youth"! Kakashi Hatake, my eternal rival, was the youngest ever genius to graduate from the Academy, at only five years old, he became a chunin at only six years old, was a war hero, but in the end, he was still overtaken by me!"

Guy proudly explained to them while making his signature confident pose, and he wasn't lying, today he could really be considered stronger than the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, inside Konoha.

"Having the correct mindset is always the first step in your shinobi journey. You are your biggest enemy, and it could also become your strongest weapon, so that must be established first always. The teamwork and coordination between you three is the second principle after your graduation."

"Next point, back at the Academy, you only learned the basic shinobi knowledge and tactics, but you didn't learn what truly makes us a complete shinobi after graduation, so instead of learning it the hard way, through many life and death missions, I'll try to teach you that myself the easier way."

Might Guy continued his first lecture to the trio, and even Neji listened to him carefully for a while.

"In your shinobi training, you should always first focus on your body. These are things that could be worked on their own at once, like your body strength, speed, stamina, endurance, agility, reflexes."

"But some other things related to your brain can only be mastered through constant battles, like your processing speed, composure, thinking speed, logical thinking in midst of battle and other."

"I'll create personalized body training plans for you two, Tenten and Lee. By the looks of it, Neji has his own training plan, so he doesn't need my help. Also, let me introduce you two to the chakra control and chakra enhancement principles as well, you'll be doing that for the next few days. Neji already knows everything about it so while you're doing those exercises, we'll be sparring between ourselves over there...", Might Guy started introducing various topics to Tenten and Lee, while Neji waited on the side, looking forward to sparring with Guy, especially for his Inner Gates openings.

"We'll start going on our first official missions as soon as you finish my training in this first week."

Subsequently, Guy started explaining tree climbing and water walking, well-known chakra control exercises, to Tenten and Rock Lee, from the ground up, together with some of his personal exercises for chakra enchantment, like catching fish, from the nearby small rivers, with blindfolds worn over their eyes. They would accomplish that by only strengthening their senses of smell and hearing through their noses and ears with chakra.

Usually, at this time, teaching shinobi would test his students' chakra natures, and tell them everything about nature and shape transformations, however, currently, neither of them developed in those directions, as they were precisely two taijutsu experts of two styles and a fuinjutsu expert.

Later he also had a plan for focusing their chakra onto their arms and legs for speed and strength, as well as trying to help them get their Shinobi resolve like Neji, and breaking their limits the same as him, but that would come only later during the week. Might Guy, as one of the strongest, if not the strongest shinobi inside the village, had extraordinary experience and knowledge in all kinds of shinobi matters, and it was a blessing for relatively normal juniors like Tenten and Rock Lee to get a knowledgeable and strong sensei as him as their support during their critical first real shinobi steps.

The state of the mind and body have a significant effect on manipulating chakra. Humans never have a perfectly equal amount of physical and spiritual energy; their bodies and minds can change too easily from moment-to-moment and over time. But when a ninja consciously creates chakra, they seek to use the same amount for each to balance them together and make it as stable as possible so that it is easier to control and transform. And Guy is about to teach them that principle.

A relaxed mind and well-rested body is the ideal state to be in for using chakra, granting them the best sense of their own energies, while stress and fatigue can make their control erratic and difficult to maintain.

Someone with little control will create more chakra than they need, struggle to apply it to their techniques, and waste enough of it that their technique will be ineffective or fail altogether.

Someone who masters chakra control is one who can create exactly as much chakra as they require, direct it to where they need it without wasting any, and applying it all to the chosen task at hand.

***

In the organized society of the hidden villages, ninja are given missions depending on their rank in a system that was only implemented after the hidden villages were created.

Originally a clan would assign their missions to whoever was available, regardless of their age or experience, as the constant state of war from that era prevented them from being able to allocate exactly who they needed in every case. This was actually a major factor in the short-term life expectancy for shinobi as children were forced into conflict with more powerful adults while following their mission parameters.

By controlling how missions were assigned and carefully measuring the risk, it minimized casualties, ensured that the most suitable teams were sent with the correct equipment and supplies, and provided appropriate downtime between missions to recover from injury and fatigue.

Most importantly, it gave the youngest shinobi the opportunity to experience this lifestyle while avoiding situations that they wouldn't have the strength to handle.

Missions are categorized into five ranks, based on the possible danger or level of importance.

Examples of some of the D-ranked missions were painting houses, delivering packages, babysitting children, working on farms, finding lost pets, finding lost pets, and other incredible simple tasks. They were basically risk-free and involved performing manual labor and other simple tasks.

Those were only given to just freshly graduate genin, without much experience or fighting ability. Usually issued by the more wealthy residents inside the village, and were subsidized by the village.

C-rank missions are also low-risk missions that may involve fighting or other mild danger but never combat against other shinobi.

Some examples of them include guarding clients against common highwaymen, capturing or eliminating bandits, background investigation, disaster relief capturing, or suppressing wild animals.

Team Guy did many of these two kinds of missions in the last few months. They gradually got their first shinobi payouts, their resumes, some of them even their first fights, and even their first kills.

In their usual get-together spot, Team Guy currently held another meeting. Tenten and Might Guy watched from the side as Neji once again defeated Rock Lee, knocking him down in one move.

"Give it up Lee, how many times do you have to go through this? You're really weaker than Neji so you should stop hitting your head on a wall!", Tenten sighed tiredly and patiently tried to explain.

"Lee, I told you many times already. You can become ten times stronger than now, surpass anyone else you want, but you won't surpass me.", Neji looked at Lee crouching in pain now and stated in an unquestionable tone, as if he didn't intend to embarrass Lee, but he really thought what he said.

Might Guy on the side also had a little lamentable look in his eyes. After all, he himself said many times to Lee before that he could overcome Neji in the future, but he certainly knows it won't be anytime soon. Just like in his and Kakashi's case, it took him a few decades to master his Eight Gates techniques and shine, and Neji was exactly the type of extraordinary genius of Kakashi's, Three Sannins, and Minato Namikaze's, level. Maybe only Itachi and Shisui Uchiha were bigger monsters.

It was not that he didn't give his utmost maximum in training Lee, he even passed on the Eight Gates to him much earlier than he previously envisioned due to Neji's overwhelming pressure.

Also, incorporating the constant wearing of heavyweights all over Rock Lee's body all the time.

However, the Eight Gates has one of the longest time requirements inside the whole village, and definitely won't be learned overnight. The technique required an abnormally strong and durable body in order for it to be able to withstand all the pressure of breaking your own programmed limits and letting your chakra rage wild inside of it. That's why it took his father all his life to learn it.

He had more luck, as he inherited his father's improved genetics somehow, while Rock Lee has a natural aptitude for learning the technique, so he would surpass even himself, who surpassed his father in turn. But that still wasn't enough if front of Neji, that kind of genius, not in five to ten years.

"Guy-sensei, please allow me to use that technique! I finally mastered it yesterday completely!" Rock Lee suddenly stood up and excitedly shouted toward Might Guy. His spirit still unyielding and fierce.

'He already mastered the First Gate?', Neji turned towards Might Guy curiously. Tenten was also curious. She heard it was her sensei's secret technique that allowed him to become so famous in the first place. But, unfortunately, it can be only learned by "crazy" taijutsu specialists.

Guy sighed inwardly, knowing that it would simply not be enough to defeat Neji right now, but he had to allow him to see it for himself, so he could only nod his head helplessly toward excited Lee.

"Lee, this is the first and the last time I allow you to use that technique against Neji, if you lose right now, you won't be allowed to use this technique in the future until I allow you! Remember, this technique is to be used only when you want to protect something precious to you!", Guy warned.

The Eight Gates exist in order to limit the flow of chakra within an individual's body. Ordinarily, individuals can use no more than twenty of their body's full potential, the brain's way of protecting the individual from harming their body through overexertion.

With training, individuals can learn to remove these limiters, referred to as "opening" the gates. With each opened gate, individuals are given access to more and more of their body's chakra, thus increasing their physical strength and speed.

The First Gate is located in the brain's left hemisphere and removes the user's mental inhibitions. Opening this gate allows the user to perform the Front Lotus, a technique that tires them afterward.

However, Lee still didn't learn the Front Lotus at the time, so he would only use it for a general physical boost against Neji, "Neji, be careful, I'm about to really surprise you!", Lee warned first.

And just in the next second, a powerful wave of air emitted from Lee's body, but it quickly disappeared. It seemed like there was no chakra vapor coming out from opening the First Gate.

Instantly, Rock Lee's body fleshed towards Neji, who already predicted his attack route judging from Lee's preceding muscle contractions, before the attack, so he dodged Lee's quick attack with ease.

Lee also learned how to apply chakra to various parts of his body, like his legs, at this time, but it didn't help him against Neji who could predict all of his movements and started toying with him.

"Damn, damn!", Lee disgruntledly yelled in the middle of their fight, but Neji quickly finished it off, while attacking Lee's inner organs with his Gentle Fist. The result was the same as in all their fights.

If he used ninjutsu instead of taijutsu, for example, then Neji would have no way of easily anticipating his attacks like that. But, it's a pity that Neji's developed Byakugan precognition, allowed him to see the muscle contractions and all the other actions inside them, to the maximum.

Predicting ninjutsu attacks before they happen is Sharingan's area of expertise. It could read the enemy's hand seals to give them an insight into the performed technique's information, regardless of the speed of performance, so long as the enemy's hands are not physically hidden from view.

Neji was, therefore, in fact, the natural nemesis of all taijutsu users, even on Guy's level. That was also why the generally optimistic Guy felt like Lee had no chance in five to ten years against Neji.

Guy sighed hard, while Tenten looked at Neji a little in awe, she felt she had no chance against Lee in that state. Moreover, Neji did it with such ease, without Lee even managing to touch his clothes.

'It's not that the Eight Gates are weak, even the First Gate isn't weak. It is just that Rock Lee's current young body is too weak to adapt to that burst of chakra and changing environment. Might Guy's First Gate is probably many times stronger than his. Even If I could predict his movements, I could have no way to counterattack Guy's superior speed after the Fourth Gate I guess.', Neji analyzed.

'As for why Guy didn't mention teaching me that technique, both now and in the original series, it's probably because I'm a Gentle Fist user, while he and Lee are Strong Fist taijutsu school users."

Gentle Fist relied on precise striking movements focused on sealing enemy internal tenketsu points or targeting their internal chakra pathway system in order to send disruptive chakra flows inside of it, harming their internal organs in extension in that way. And, those kinds of operations required unimaginable levels of focus, level-headedness, and precision, and it simply wasn't possible to do in heightened body tension, stimulancy, pain, and all the hecticness in the state of opened Inner Gates.

That was something that Neji simply had no idea before, both in this and in his past life as a fanfiction writer. He previously always wondered why Guy simply didn't teach Neji that technique, but now he finally understood it here, after seeing the thing in question himself, with his own eyes.

He previously fought Might Guy many times and managed to convince him to use it against him. So, he observed and learned nearly everything of that technique's inner mechanisms at those times.

Nevertheless, Neji in this life wasn't the usual type of person. He hypothesized that he could at least open the Inner Gates up to the Fourth Gate, and still be able to use his Gentle Fist perfectly in fights. It was because of the top-notch chakra control he thankfully had in this life coincidentally thanks to his twin fused soul and also all the other dojutsu and spiritual exercises he always does.

It's not like he needed more than the Fourth Gate, because his body, even with all of his physical training, still had no way to compare to Guy's or Lee's body and withstand more pressure like them.

After all, Hyuga weren't known for their strong bodies, it was at most on the level of ordinary ninja.

'But now, that I finally perfected my own method of opening the Gates, and I verified my conjecture, I should later visit Tenten's shop and get those body weights like Lee and prepare my body for when I activate those gates in the future. But, it probably won't be anytime soon!', Neji thought suddenly.

It was a really crazy method of opening gates that he thought of. He could now do it on his own, from the outside, with his Gentle Fist-style chakra control movements. After all, he could only employ his creativity. He had no way to spy on Guy's words while he was teaching Lee to open it.