Naruto the Scarecrow

Chapter 17

Might Guy was standing to the side of the training ground, observing Naruto and Lee sparring yet again. Guy knew that Naruto had guessed that Lee was stronger than then he was showing and Naruto was determined to push Lee over the limit and showcase his real skill.

Guy respected Naruto's drive to improve himself; it was his most impressive trait. Talent without determination resulted in arrogance and intelligence without drive laziness but Naruto was surprisingly modest.

The maturity and skill Naruto displayed ever since his return had endeared the majority of jonin in the village and all of the senseis wanted Naruto on their team. Guy knew that he personally couldn't do this since he already had a genin team but Guy enjoyed training Naruto anyway.

Part of it was the aptitude Naruto had for taijutsu but it was largely due to the fact that Kaito had used his last words to encourage his friend to become as strong as possible. A wistful look crossed Guy's face as he remembered the gruff man who had once been his best friend.

Kaito had been there for Guy during the period of mourning that resulted when Guy's father, Might Duy sacrificed himself to protect his son. Although Kakashi was his eternal rival, Kaito was the only person to ever best Guy in a push up competition. Naruto didn't know it but he had earned Guy's ceaseless gratitude for delivering Kaito's final message.

"Naruto still wants' Lee to show his talent huh?"

Turning to face his left, Guy saw Kakashi standing there. "Yes, Naruto won't rest until he gets to see something that Lee is hiding," Making up his mind, Guy raised his voice and called out, "Lee, Take them off! I know what I said earlier but this is an exception; show Naruto the power of your youth!"

An excited smile plastered itself across Lee's face and he hurriedly sat down and pulled up his orange leg warmers. Naruto saw that Lee was wearing leg weights.

'Is this it? How much faster can he be? In terms of physical speed Lee is faster than I am already.'

Lee held both sets of weights in his hands as he stood up and dropped them to the ground. A colossal thump sounded and a large dust cloud formed. Shock tore through Naruto, 'What the hell!? How much weight was he wearing?!'

Kurama didn't even bother trying to answer Naruto. He simply laughed and made sure to broadcast it to Naruto. As the sound of Kurama's amusement echoed throughout Naruto's head, a twitch of Lee's legs was the only warning Naruto got before Lee blurred out of sight. A slight sense of something appeared in his vision but Naruto was unable to react in time and was punched square on his right arm. Naruto managed to stay on his feet but the impact forced his feet to slide along the ground for several metres.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto channelled more chakra into both of his eyes and focused. The fully matured Sharingan was able to follow Lee's movements but Naruto's reflexes weren't fast enough to keep up. Knowing that Lee was would be upon him again, Naruto began his Heavenly Rotation and the swirling chakra kept Lee at bay. As he kept up his defence, Naruto was thinking furiously.

'I can't keep up with his speed even though I can see where he is. How do I fight this? Wait, I'm fighting on his terms. I need to change the pattern. Lee is fast but can't use the Body Flicker. If I constantly use my Flicker, I won't need to react to his strikes but try to predict where he will be next. I have to think two steps ahead. Once my Sharingan tells me Lee's next position, I have to guess where Lee will be next and use a Flicker to catch him off guard.'