Meeting Of The Generation

The following day, I was woken up by a yelling Kurenai. Apparently, she had already signed us for the Chunin Exams and today there was supposed to be a meeting held. As such, I got up from my bed and, lazily, did everything one should do in the morning. Once everything was ready, Guremaru jumped on top of my head and we left with Kurenai.

After walking for a while, we arrived at Training Ground 8, where we always held our meetings. To my surprise though, I could hear the sound of people training while we were getting closer. And I was proven to have heard right when I saw Team Guy training. Lee was doing push-ups, Tenten was messing around with her weapons and Neji was constantly hitting a tree.

It didn't take them long to notice Ryota and Kurenai, with the former being jumped at by the girl of the twin buns.

"Ryo-kun! How've you been? What happened to you? You disappeared for a month!"

"A mission took it's toll on my team and I spent the month training"

"Huh? What happened?"

I just looked at her with amusement evident in my eyes. She was always so excited around me. I flicked her forehead and mouthed "Cofindential" without producing any sounds. When Tenten pouted at my lack of an actual answer, I could swear I received critical damage.

"Anyway, this is my team! The one doing push-ups is Rock Lee, and the one hitting the tree is Neji Hyuga. That one is our sensei, Might Guy"

"A pleasure meeting you all. I'm Ryota Inuzuka"

Neji just looked at me and snorted. I swore at that moment I would make him swallow his pride and shitty destiny if Naruto didn't. Guy and Lee on the other hand...

"Ryota-shounen! I heard a lot about you from Kurenai here! She said you were most YOUTHFUL!"

"Ryota, let's spar to see who is more YOUTHFUL!"

I looked at Tenten with an amused look in my face, while she gave a complicated glance. It would seem like she had given up on both of them.

"Cool, I'll take your offer on sparing"

Saying that, I went to the middle of the training ground, followed by Lee. We both got into our respective stances and, when Guy gave the signal to begin, rushed at each other. I had created a Taijutsu style called Preying Beast, which was based on dodging and blocking until the perfect opening appeared right in front of me. Thanks to my senses I was able to block and dodge Lee's attacks easily, which made him up the level.

"Ok, I'll go seriously now"

His speed increased and now his attacks packed quite a stronger punch than before. Still, it wasn't enough to disturb my pace. When Lee tried to punch me in the back of the head, I moved to the side and grabbed him by the wrist, doing the same Shoulder Throw I had done to Sasuke back at the Academy. But Lee wasn't Sasuke.

Albeit surprised by my counter, he was able to get a foot in the floor before his body impacted. He used said foot to impulse a kick aimed, once again, at my head. Not wanting to take the hit, I let go of his wrist and jump back while performing a backflip.

"We can stop already. Neither of us is giving it their all"

When I said that both Guy and Lee looked at me in surprise, apparently shocked at the realization that I was not only not giving it my all, but that I also knew Lee wasn't either.

"You're a worthy YOUTHFUL one, Ryota! I hereby declare you my rival! YOUTH!"

But I still couldn't get used to their antics. I noticed Neji looking at me with a newfound interest in his face, but after glancing at him, I simply decied to turn back and talk to Tenten. We mostly talked about what we had been doing this past month, what my training entailed, what her missions had been and a few more banal things.

"Yo, Ryota. What'cha been up to?"

While talking to Tenten I heard someone call my name and, to my surprise, it was Shikamaru taking the initiative to strike a conversation. I simply smiled at all of them and gave a short nod to Sasuke who, to my surprise, nodded back.

"Same old, Shika. How have yall been doing?"

When talking to my friends my entire demeanor became extremely lax and informal I felt at ease and in extreme comfort around them, so I could give myself the pelasure to relax my manners. We couldn't continue our chat though, since we were interrupted by Asuma.

"Ok! We're here because the Chunin exams begin the weekend! We know you all already know about this, but you've all been enrolled to participate"

Once Asuma had given his part of the speech, it was Guy's turn to continue.

"We expect you to perform to the utmost of YOUTH! Since we all believe that each of you is more than ready to face this test in your careers as Ninja"

After the Bushier Brows-sensei, Kurenai spoke. She was the gentlest of them all in the way she said things.

"Don't feel too much pressure, we don't expect every single one of you to pass the exam. Just give your best"

Lastly, the best Jonin to ever exist. Kakashi of the Sharingan or Copy Ninja Kakashi. He was the simplest and most direct of all.

"We're doing the exams together Suna, so give your best and support your fellow Shinobi from Konoha"

After that, they gave us the rest of the day to get acquainted with each other. Luckily, most of us already knew one another from our time at the Academy. It was Neji who didn't participate at all. Much like it happened in the series, Lee fell for Sakura at first sign, earning himself and instant rejection. The only unexpected thing that happened was that, while I was sitting beside Tenten and sharing little teasers of my training, Ino came to me looking quite nervous.

"Ryo-kun... can I talk to you?"

I knew what came after those words and, being honest, I didn't want to deal with it.