Now for the exciting conclusion, the inner workings of Gai's mind, and the fluffiest ending you will ever read. Enjoy!
Iruka woke early the next morning to the sound of a commotion outside. Curious, he went through the motions of getting dressed quickly and ventured out his door. He approached a small, growing crowd of onlookers and tried to peek over their shoulders. "What's going on?"
"Those two are going at it again," someone told him, motioning to Kakashi and Gai.
The two ninja were laying on the ground on their stomachs, chopsticks in hand, digging into the soft earth as rapidly as they could. Bits of dirt and gravel were flying into their hair and faces, but neither seemed deterred by such a thing as they went on digging what seemed a very ineffective hole.
"What...are they doing?" Iruka asked, blinking-- perhaps this was some weird dream he was having?
"Another competition," Naruto spoke up, joining his old teacher's side, grinning. "Seems Kakashi-sensei challenged Gai to a contest: Whoever can dig down in the ground three meters with only a pair of chopsticks first wins."
"That...is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of," Iruka muttered, watching in awe as the mound of dirt next to either Konoha resident began to build up.
"Gai-sensei accepted the challenge with no fear!" None other than Rock Lee backed up his teacher's actions, a proud look on his face. "I'm sure Gai-sensei will win! He has the power of youth on his side!"
"Right..." Iruka shook his head and looked back to the two fools digging in the dirt, much like children. It seemed Lee wasn't so mistaken, as Gai seemed to have the upper hand.
"Ha!" A victorious fist was pumped into the air only a few minutes later as the black-haired shinobi climbed from his hole. "Three meters exactly." He looked over to his opponent, who was only two, perhaps two and a half meters into his work. "Good effort, Kakashi, but it looks like I came out victorious this time."
Grumbling, Kakashi lifted himself out of his hole and brushed the dirt from his clothes. "Alright, Gai, but you won't win again."
Grinning, the leotard-wearing man held up a hand. "Say no more, I know exactly what our next challenge shall be!" He wasn't quite sure why Kakashi had approached him all of a sudden, but Gai was sure it was something to do with suppressed desire to pit himself against his greatest rival. Either way, his list of challenges that he had thought of and meticulously written down over and over again would come in handy now.
A single, blue eye watched as Gai withdrew two decks of cards from his vest, holding one in each hand, bending them nearly in half. "What are you-" The question was answered without a word, but instead with 104 cards being catapulted through the air, fluttering every which way. Some were caught by the wind and carried into tree tops while others landed in puddles and a few even made their way into the pair of man-made holes.
"52 card pickup!" Gai announced, excitedly. Without hesitation, he began collecting the cards nearest to him, counting each one as he acquired them.
"What, are you crazy? That has nothing to do with skill!" Sighing as he was ignored, and quickly being left in Gai's proverbial dust once again, Kakashi resigned himself to a tree where four or five cards had been blown.
"Why are they doing all of this?" Naruto asked, watching from the dwindling crowd, who was losing interest in the events at hand. Iruka didn't answer, but grinned widely to himself as he watched Kakashi jump from one tree to the next, search in bushes, and even check his own clothing for any cards he could find.
The competitions had been going on relentlessly. Gai and Kakashi were in a heated battle of high wits and little skill as they maneuvered through each competition, one right after the other. With each passing game, Kakashi slipped a little further behind, his skills not lying in the mundane and absurd games that Gai had perfected in his downtime. Finding himself at a serious disadvantage, Kakashi became frustrated, trying to rack his tired brain of any way to get ahead. No answers came to him, though, and so he pressed on through jump rope (which he actually did win due to Gai catching his foot on the rope and falling), tree-hopping, bird-catching, and odd number-counting.
The two were now involved in their seventh competition in the past two days. Naruto, Lee, and Iruka were the only three to persevere with the two idiots and they now watched as their friends and mentors attempted to drown themselves in a lake.
"So they're seeing how long they can hold their breath?" Naruto asked, watching the motionless bodies.
"They'll probably drown before they let themselves admit defeat," Iruka commented, still not believing that Kakashi went to such measures.
"You can do it, Gai-sensei!" Lee cheered on, though Gai was far from being able to hear him, his head submerged underwater.
Finally, Kakashi surfaced, panting harshly and spitting out water. He immediately looked to his side, where Gai was pulling his head up, and groaned-- he'd lost again. What did that make this? Five to two? There was no way he'd win at this rate.
"Give up yet, Kakashi?" Gai asked, seeming energized from the ice cold lake water.
The silver-haired ninja gave a small scoff, but didn't reply. Maybe Iruka had been right, maybe he couldn't measure up to Gai; maybe Gai deserved Iruka more than he did?
Lost in his thoughts, Kakashi didn't notice the object of his desperation approaching him. When he looked up, Lee, Gai, and Naruto had disappeared and only Iruka remained. "Where did everyone else g-"
"You didn't have to do all of this," Iruka interrupted, sitting down next to him. He tugged Kakashi down, laying the wet, silver-tressed head in his lap. "Why didn't you just say something?"
Blinking, but too exhausted to fight what he really wanted in the first place, Kakashi closed his good eye and relaxed against the other's body. "I thought maybe Gai was better for-"
"For who?" Again he cut Kakashi off, smiling like he would to a child that was being taught a lesson. "Me? Shouldn't I be the one to decide that?"
Slowly, Kakashi nodded, feeling rather foolish and childish, but too comfortable in Iruka's embrace to really care. "I guess it was that simple, after all," he thought before drifting off. The events of the past two days had exhausted him more than fighting any battle ever had. He had put his entire being into those silly competitions, ignoring that little, reasonable voice in the back of his mind that said it was all moot.
Iruka's smile didn't fade as he combed his fingers through the wet locks of hair. "You really are...very simple, Kakashi Hatake."
(falls over) I put this off for a day or two, then forced my ADD away long enough to finish it. Which is rather impressive for me-- my ADD is strong. Now I'm going to go collapse before I have to work. I hope you enjoyed the little humor/fluff thing here, I actually had a bit of fun writing it.