Well, shit, Kakashi thought, he won. Gai's opponent, rumored to be Hidden Rock Village's ninjutsu genius, toppled to the ground and stayed there, blood from his broken nose slowly puddling in the dusty earth. Above him, Gai himself staggered, looking around the audience as if he were searching for something.
Kakashi shrugged and went back to his book. It had been an interesting fight, true, but now it was over and he wanted to find out how this chapter ended. Even as he skimmed the page for his place, though, another part of his mind analyzed the match. He'd expected Gai to charge head-on and hope for the best, as he had with most of his matches with Kakashi until that point. This time, though, Gai had taunted his opponent into attacking him again and again. It had taken two hours, but the other Genin had finally run out of chakra, and Gai had let loose with everything he had. It was a strategy Kakashi himself had used on Gai once.
Kakashi wondered how much Gai had improved in the year or two since they'd fought last; maybe he'd be able to beat him this time? Then he shrugged again and turned his full attention to the book. Gai would challenge him soon enough.
"Kakashi!" Kakashi looked up at Gai's shout, slightly peeved. Was Gai going to challenge him now? Shouldn't he be more concerned with the burns and bruises he'd received during the fight than with the person he insisted was his eternal rival?
"Kakashi!" Gai repeated, louder this time. "Now, Kakashi, you have to acknowledge me!"
Kakashi groaned. Not this again.
"You have to admit I'm strong!" Gai continued. Kakashi noted with some concern that Gai was heavily favoring his right leg. "And you have to admit I'm fast! And you have to stop calling me a loser! And you have to really fight me when I challenge you, and you have to congratulate me when I win, and you have to come to my birthday party this year!"
"Why should I do all that?" Kakashi called back.
"Because!" Gai continued his speech. "Because now! I am a Chuunin!" He then passed out face-first on the ground.
Kakashi considered all possible responses to that. He could say, "Say that again when you're not about to pass out." Or he could say, "Why congratulate someone you threw the fight to?" Or, "Don't you even know how the Chuunin Exam works?"
Instead, as the medical nins came to cart Gai and his opponent out of the arena, he said only, "OK."
Give feedback to Mucktron, the fanartist?
