It was early morning and Kakashi as usual was standing in front of the Memorial stone. Each time he came here it reminded him of his failures. His failure to keep his promise to Obito and his helplessness when the Nine tails attacked.
'Minato sensei. I have a student who reminds me a lot of you. Well in his inherent shinobi talents anyway… It's only been four days and already he's started learning the final step of change in chakra nature training… His work ethic, focus and talent… It reminds me a lot of you sensei… I just hope I can guide him correctly. Just as you did for me.'
"Kakashi! I thought I might find you here."
The silver haired Jonin was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his friend and rival.
"Hey Guy." Kakashi greeted the man in a monotonous tone without looking away from the stone.
The Jonin Might Guy walked and stood near his friend and looked at the sacred stone. His boisterous demeanor calmed down as he read the names of his comrades who had passed away during the last decades. After a minute of silence he decided to drag Kakashi away from here and cheer him up.
"Come on. Let's go for a walk." The man said, placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.
"Maybe another time Guy."
"No excuses. It's been a while since we've challenged each other." Not taking no for an answer Guy dragged his rival away from there.
"Oi Guy, wait a minute." Kakashi protested but the Taijutsu master could tell that the protests were half-hearted and his rival was glad to have him there.
They walked for a few minutes and reached a clearing.
"Don't you have a Genin team to train Guy?" Kakashi asked the Jonin.
"They'll be fine on their own for one afternoon. They will keep training and improve their skill even if I'm not there. Their PASSION, their YOUTHFUL SPIRIT! IT FLOWS DEEP IN THEIR BONES.!" Guy smirked wide and shouted out to the heavens.
Kakashi sweatdropped at his friend's theatrics. "I'll take your word for it."
Guy then turned to Kakashi. "And besides I could ask the same of you. You know you're supposed to be guiding your student. So why aren't you with him right now?"
"He's in the middle of something delicate at the moment. And I'm sure he doesn't need my help." The silver haired Jonin replied.
Guy just smiled hearing that and got excited at the thought of challenging his rival. "Well then I guess you have some time to spare. Since I'm leading with a score of 46 to your 45 this is a good opportunity for you. This will be our 92nd battle. READY!?"
Hearing Guy's declaration of challenge, Kakashi got ready. He slightly slid his right foot back and brought his right arm up and got ready. His challenger also prepared himself and brought his arm up.
The next second the battle between two of the strongest Jonin in the Leaf village began.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
Guy would challenge Kakashi every once in a while. And they would both play Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner of that match gets to set whatever challenge he wants between the two.
Both of them brought their hands down and each chose paper.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
They went again and this time they both had Rock. They brought their hands up for the next bout.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
Each one ended in a draw but soon it ended with a win for Guy.
"YES! MY ROCK BEATS YOUR SCISSORS! FEEL MY YOUTH KAKASHIII!"
The silver haired Jonin just sighed and put his hands in his pocket. "All right, since you won, what's the challenge?"
Might Guy had a wide smile as he took a scroll from his pocket. He placed it on the ground and gave it some chakra. Two puffs of smoke appeared and Kakashi saw two identical machines appear. He recognized them immediately.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kakashi asked Guy.
"Yes. It's the Mole Buster. I specifically commissioned these two just for our battle my dear rival." Guy had a wide smile as he gave a thumbs up to his friend/rival.
What came out of the scroll were two identical Whac-A-Mole machines. They had 8 holes in the play area and Kakashi could make out the top of cartoonish moles hidden in the cabin. Each had two display screens. One of the display screens showed 0000 the score, while the other showed the time 3:00. A large black mallet was hanging at the side of each machine.
"Alright. What's the rules?" Kakashi asked.
"The challenge is to hit as many of the moles as you can. The moles will pop up for only half a second before they disappear back into their holes. For every mole you hit, you get two points. But if you miss your hit, one point will be deducted from your score. These machines are specially designed to read even the fastest movements. I saw to that. And there is a timer." Guy explained.
"Lemme guess 3 minutes. And no Sharingan?" Kakashi said as his eyes went to the time displayed on the screen.
"YES! This is an excellent competition that tests reflexes, speed, judgment and precision. The one with the highest score when the timer reaches zero WINS!" Guy was excited and he knew Kakashi would be as well.
The Jonin of Team 9 was correct. Kakashi was more interested in this game than he let on. 'This is more interesting than some of his other challenges. He actually put a lot of thought into this. I'm kinda getting excited to start the match… '
"Alright. Let's do this."
After Kakashi and Guy took the mallets and got in position, Guy took out a small remote with a red button. He pressed it and the lights turned on in the two machines.
A small red bulb started to blink on both machines.
"When that red turns to green that's when this begins." Guy told his friend and got ready.
Kakashi nodded and raised his hand. His visible eye focused on the red blinking light.
The blinking became faster and faster and after about 5 seconds of wait it suddenly turned green on both machines at the same time.
Both Jonin swiftly struck the first mole that appeared. And thus the 92nd competition between two rivals began.
The moles popped up quickly and disappeared just as fast. There was only half a second window to strike and sometimes the cartoonishly sculpted moles appeared in groups and other times in singles.
Both Jonin tried to get as many points as possible while trying to not lose any. Their arms became a blur as they struck the wooden rodents.
—-
Daichi and his Shadow clones were training the water extraction technique and slowly making progress. He carefully sent his chakra a couple meters away from his body and surrounded the leaf in front of him. He concentrated and slowly extracted the few drops of water from the leaf.
The process took a couple minutes to complete without causing any damage to the leaf.
'The extraction process is becoming faster but I need to get this down to a couple seconds.'
Daichi released his shadow clones once they completed the tasks and their memories and fatigue came to him. As he sat to catch his breath and meditate suddenly he heard two small explosions coming from a distance.
'The hell is that?'
Daichi got up and decided to check it out. He made his way to where he heard the sounds and his senses picked up two scents coming from that direction and immediately recognized them.
'Kakashi and Guy. Wonder what they're up to?'
He quickly came upon a clearing and found the two Jonin standing in front of two wrecked Whac-A-Mole machines. It had the scores 1123 and 1120 flickering across the screen.
He saw Guy sensei sulking on the ground while Kakashi sensei stood with a smug aura. Daichi quickly deduced the situation.
'This must have been one of Guy's challenges. And based on their reaction it looks like sensei won.'
"Ahh you won Kakashi. If I just hadn't missed that last one…" Guy lamented…
"Better luck next time Guy." Kakashi said. At that moment he sensed someone coming from the other side and saw Daichi looking at the two of them. Guy noticed the boy as well…
"Oh young Daichi. You're here." Guy jumped to his feet and gave a nice guy pose to the boy. He placed a hand around Kakashi's shoulder and smiled.
"My rival here tells me that you love to train. Ahh… the passion flowing through you… IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL."
Daichi just stood there and watched the man speechless. 'Wow. Watching this through a T.V and seeing him act like this in real life… Oh man. I get Naruto and the others' reaction now.'
"Er… Thanks… I think."
"Hey! I have a great idea. Why don't we have a team battle? Huh Kakashi?" Guy asked his friend.
"I don't think that's necessary at the moment."
"Nonsense. Kakashi! I challenge you again."
The silver haired Jonin just sighed and got ready. Both of them brought their hands up
"Rock, Paper, Scissors."
and quickly brought them down. It was Guy's win again.
"Haha! Looks like I get to challenge you again. Let's do a team battle. Your Genin vs Mine."
"Fine." Kakashi sighed and agreed with the man.
"Um… Don't I have a say in this?" Daichi asked them.
"Young Daichi, this will be an excellent chance to show your fighting spirit to your peers. Come. Let's go." With that Guy rushed out of the training ground.
"Let's just follow him. Otherwise he is just going to keep persisting." Kakashi told the boy.
The gamer ninja sighed and both of them followed after the Green beast of the Leaf.
Might Guy quickly reached his training ground. He saw Lee completing his exercises and Neji meditating and Tenten sharpening her weapon skills.
Lee saw his sensei arrive and was the first to greet the man. "Guy sensei. You're here."
Neji opened his eyes and along with Tenten greeted their teacher.
"Lee, Neji, Tenten. I have a special surprise for you three today."
It was at that second that Kakashi and Daichi entered the training ground. All four members of Team Guy turned to the new arrivals.
"Daichi! Kakashi sensei." Lee greeted them with a wide happy smile.
Neji looked at Daichi and narrowed his eyes. "What's going on?" He then asked his teacher.
Guy smiled and was silent for a few seconds to build the hype. He spread his arms and grinned. "Today we're going to do… A TEAM BATTLE! TEAM GUY vs TEAM KAKASHI!"
Excitement coursed through Lee when he heard that. The last time he sparred with Daichi was before he left for the capital. And now he was going to get the chance.
Neji was also interested in the upcoming battle. 'Finally. A chance for me to see for myself if he's truly worthy of the title Genius.'
As Lee and Neji were mentally preparing to fight Daichi, Tenten asked a question. "Um sensei. Since their team has only one Genin who's going to fight."
At that Lee and Neji snapped from their thoughts and looked at their sensei.
Guy smiled and looked at Kakashi. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them and Guy made his decision. "Like I said before, this is a team battle. That means all three of you will be battling Daichi."
Daichi was surprised to hear that but he wasn't going to back down.
Lee frowned when he heard that. "Um sensei. Isn't three against one kinda unfair."
Guy gently smiled at his favorite student. "In a true battle with the enemy ninjas, sometimes you might be the one with numbers on your side but that doesn't mean victory is certain. You must fight and see for yourself. The outcome of the battle."
Lee understood what his sensei meant and he got pumped up.
Kakashi realized what his friend was doing. 'Guy isn't someone who fights unfairly. And I'm certain he knows or at least has an idea as to Daichi's strength. I'm sure he knows that even with three of them, their chances of winning this are slim to none…. So then… This must be a test for his students. He wants them to see the difference in strength between them and Daichi. He wants them to set Daichi as their goal and motivate them to grow stronger… Clever.'
"But since this is a three on one battle I'll make things a bit difficult for you three as well. Here are the rules." Guy began explaining the rules and everyone paid attention.