100 Team Gai Prompts

74. Are You Challenging Me?

Outside at the ninja academy, the six year olds were learning the basics of throwing a kunai. All lined up in a row, they listened intently as they tried they're best to imitate their instructor's stance and hand positioning on the weapon.

"And once you have your fingers in the right spot, you're ready to aim and fire," the instructor, Reyu concluded.

Each youth found a target on a tree and distanced themselves appropriately.

"You can give it a try when you're ready," the instructor urged on.

Seconds after he gave the OK, all you could hear was metal clashing together and falling to the ground.

THUD!

THUD!

"Well, I didn't expect you all to hit the target on first try. I just wanted you to get the feel of it," Reyu-sensei assured.

Hyuuga Neji, who was one of the thud's that could be faintly heard, smirked to see his kunai actually lodged itself in the tree while his classmates' were all on the ground. His smirk quickly dropped when his peers were crowded around someone to his left.

"Wow, you actually got the target Tenten!" Reyu exclaimed.

Neji scowled at this.

The brunette with her hair in two braids blushed with all the attention.

"Keep it up and you could be at the top of the class when it comes time to graduate."

The Hyuuga boy snapped his head away from the scene and went to yank his kunai out of the tree. It was just luck that this Tenten girl was able to hit the target. There's no way she could do it again. There's no way she would ever be at the top of the class just for throwing a stupid weapon and having it hit a target. Weapons are for cheaters. She's nothing but a cheater.

"Alright, let's try this again," the teacher ordered.

Again, most of the weapons fell to the ground. Neji's kunai was on the target barely. He glanced over to look at Tenten's target to see how her shot went. He almost wished he hadn't looked when he saw she hit the center, not the exact center, but in the small circle. There were even more "oohs" and "ahs" around her. Neji huffed, annoyed that he wasn't getting any attention for actually hitting the tree.

"I bet you can't do it again," the white eyed youth sneered, with his little arms crossed on his chest and his nose in the air.

Everyone turned their attention to Neji, who smirked in satisfaction. Their gazes moved to Tenten to see how she would respond. She cocked an eyebrow and matched his smirk.

"And what if I can?" She retorted confidently.

One could cut the tension with a butter knife. You could see the blue lighting that Kakashi would be proud of flowing between their gazes.

"I'll give you half my lunch for the week," Neji offered.

Tenten let out a snort, "Sounds good to me," she said as she took her stance.

"But there is a catch. You have to use," the Hyuuga boy looked around until his eyes settled on the class loser, "Lee as a target you're avoiding. You have to throw two kunai on both sides of his head, no further than an inch away from his head. If you fail, well you'll have to deal with the consequences of hurting on of our classmates."

"Now, now I do believe that is going a bit far Neji," Reyu spoke up, placing a hand on the said boy's shoulder.

"Ie! Sensei, if Lee-san trusts me, then will you?" Tenten piped up, looking rather serious and determined.

"Lee?" Reyu looked over to the talent-less boy, who nodded his shiny black head of hair enthusiastically and ran over to a tree and stood calmly, but rigidly, against the trunk.

"Alright, but Neji is right, if you miss, you will have to face the consequences," the teacher warned Tenten, who nodded in agreement.

She took her stance and took a deep breath in. She looked at Lee, who was approximately 10 meters away from her against the tree, who smiled at her assuredly. She focused in on a spot right above his right ear. She positioned her hand where it need to be and threw the kunai until a thud was heard. Everyone was amazed to see the weapon lodged in the tree half and inch away from his ear. She smiled, more confident now and threw the last kunai with ease, cutting off the ends of some of the boy's hair and landing so close to Lee's head that he could feel the metal against his scalp.

The class let out a cheer and the teacher praised the talented young girl, who giggled and smiled. Neji growled in disbelief and stared out the two kunai in the tree.

'I'll beat her in everything else.'

"Thank you for that, it helped me a lot training wise. We could practice together, we girls gotta stick together ya'know," Tenten said to him with a friendly smile.

"You think I'm a girl?" He questioned, getting angrier by the second.

"You're not?" She responded with another question.

"UGH!"

"Did I say something wrong?"