Aftermath (A Sequel to A Flash to the Future)

Chapter 3 - Rookies: Group Training

"Alright everyone, that's enough!" Kurenai yelled as the genin finished their final lap around the training ground.

Choji fell to the ground in exhaustion as his body drenched in sweat. Behind him was Sakura, dropping to ground with laboured breaths. Sasuke had his back against the tree as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. His dark eyes traveled to the green wearing ninja who was talking to his teammates about how 'youthful' the exercise was. Neji had his hands on his knees as he rested his head on the tree and looked at the sky with a faint smile on his face. Ten-Ten looked just as exhausted as everyone else was, all of them drench as he result of both the exercise and heat of the sun.

"How troublesome...." Shikamaru said as he tried to control his breathing. He winced a little as he looked up in the sky. Unfortunately, there were no clouds today.

"YOSH! What a wonderful way to start the afternoon!" Lee exclaimed pumping his fist into air. Others groaned at the hyperactive genin while some just ignored him.

"Good job, everyone. You have successfully completed 20 laps within the 30 minutes you were given." Asuma said as he lit his cigarette. Before he could put it in his mouth, the tobacco stick was snatched from his hand and thrown to the ground before being stomped by a foot. He turned to the owner who was no other than Kurenai, giving him a light glare.

"I told you those are bad for you." the genjutsu mistress scolded. "Plus, it not good for them to inhale those toxins during their exercise."

The Sarutobi mumble a couple of incoherent sentences before sighing. He couldn't say that he disagreed with his younger student who always said that women were troublesome. He sweat-dropped a little as Kurenai continued to glare at him. He silently wondered if his daughter would act that way. The bearded jounin was snapped out of his musings when Gai returned to the training grounds with water bottles.

"Great work! Next we shall do 100 push ups and sit-ups without fail!" Gai exclaimed as he handed everyone their bottles.

Ten-Ten and Neji groaned at this. While it was true that they was used to this type of training from her sensei, they could see that the other genin were clearly not used to it. Neji could see that the Uchiha was used to it somewhat, but Team 10 and the girl he learned who's name was Sakura were spent. Team 8 was faring off okay, although he could tell that they were fatigued as well. In other words, they needed a break. Seeing that Neji wasn't going to say anything, Ten-Ten spoke.

"Ano, Gai-sensei?" Ten-Ten called, capturing her sensei's attention. "Shouldn't we take a break? I mean, we have been at this 30 minutes straight."

"I agree, sensei." Neji spoke up. "A break will give our body time to replenish what we lost after running laps. It also give us time to stretch before we begin our next set of drills."

The two genins received looks of gratitude from the others as Gai had a thoughtful expression on his face. After a while, the exuberant jonin nodded before giving his students a grin.

"Indeed, my youthful students. What a great observation!" Gai exclaimed. Several people sweat-dropped as the youthful sensei continued. "Alright! We shall take a break. Then we shall train even more to grow our flames of youth! We shall climb our way to the sunset and enhance the springtime of our youth with 100 pull-ups and sit-ups!"

"HAI, GAI-SENSEI!" the ever so youthful Lee exclaimed. "COME ON, MY FRIENDS! LET US WORK HARD SO THAT OUR FLAMES WILL AS BRIGHT AS THE MIDDAY SUN!" he said with fire in his eyes.

Before Gai could respond, Kakashi spoke up, earning a few sighs of relief from the others. "Actually, Gai...." the copy nin said as he closed his book. "I believe I would like to see them spar after their break." he said. "Their laps around the field were a good enough warm-up."