"The Greatest Idea Ever"

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: "Naruto" and its characters are not mine, ever.

Chapter One: Team Gai's Challenge

It had been little over three months since Maito Gai established his team and they were, quite, youthful. However, there were some idiosyncrasies that lay on the team that had him worried. Neji was extremely arrogant, Tenten, too sure of herself, and Lee with no one to closely identify himself with. All in all, a good team, but it still had its rough edges.

Gai wondered what he could do to change all that. They were already forming into a fine team but there was already room for improvement that might, dare he say it, bring out their most youthful sides.

At times like this he often referred to his self-proclaimed rival, the 'hip' Kakashi Hatake, and what he might do and then to take it further.

Gai then was struck with an idea. His rival always favored on his quote, 'look underneath the underneath' and thought it was always something that all ninja should adhere to. But could Gai take it further...

Brain-storming he came up with a brilliant solution. Just as his eyes looked to the Hokage Monument he saw the tell tale figure of one Uzumaki Naruto who was working away at graffiti-ing the stone faces and had yet to be caught in the act. However 'unyouthful' the act was, it inspired an idea that he could use.

'Brilliant' he thought.

He turned his attention to his team, who were right in the middle of their daily exercises, and brought their attention to him.

"Neji! Tenten! Lee!"

They immediately stopped their routines and came to their most energetic sensei.

Once he was sure he had their attention, he pointed to Naruto's location, "Tell me what you see happening on the Hokage Monument."

While Tenten and Lee squinted to try and make out what was there, Neji activated his doujutsu to see more clearly.

"There's...somebody doing something to the faces, with I guess is paint." Tenten stated, straining her eyes trying to see all that was there.

Rock Lee nodded, "He's wearing orange clothes."

Gai nodded and then looked to his last student who was letting go of his signature bloodline.

"You, Neji?"

The stoic Hyuuga snorted, "I remember him from the academy. He failed to pass the exam with us and is fated to be a loser for the rest of his life. Gai-sensei, what's the point of this? Why are we having to observe this eye-sore?"

Tenten and Lee nodded their heads, curious as well.

Gai frowned at the some of the narrow-minded comments his student said, "Be that as it may, all three of you take a moment to listen."

All three of them did so, Neji scowling and closing his eyes in doing so, soon all three of them turned back to their teacher with a look for him to continue.

"Isn't it interesting, my youthful three, that what the boy's doing isn't causing alarm in the village? He's out in the broad daylight desecrating our beloved Hokage Monument and no one has yet to catch him?"

Lee nodded his head eagerly, Tenten thought for a moment and then nodded, Neji, however, turned his head and scoffed.

"They will eventually."

"They will." Gai agreed, "Now, what I want the three of you to do is follow him. Track him down without being caught and observe how he thwarts his pursuers until he's caught. After that, come back to me and tell me what you see."

Lee saluted his teacher/idol, "Yosh! I will do this, Gai-sensei!"

Tenten shrugged but nodded her head in affirmation.

Neji sighed, despondently, but nodded in acquiescence.

Gai nodded and then gave his "good guy" trademark smile and thumbs up, "Do me proud, you three!"

Gai's students were amazed for individual and various reasons that the boy, Naruto, was getting away with his "creation" and had yet had caught the attention of a village filled with shinobi.

Neji summed it up to be dumb luck, Lee thought it was careful planing, and Tenten, well, didn't know what to think.

Neji was the first to recognize the boy who failed to graduate with their class, Lee couldn't remember him, and Tenten it took awhile until she did.

The weapons enthusiast didn't remember that much of him, other than he got in trouble with the teacher a lot, didn't do well in class, was a constant clown and attention seeker. Watching him now and seeing him paint swirls on the Sandaime's cheeks, she was asking herself why it was he did what he did and why was he doing what he was doing now. For that she didn't have an answer.

"How Un-youthful." Lee said as he wrote down everything that he was seeing in a notepad.

"Once a failure always a failure." Neji said disdainfully. "A fool seeking attention and doing childish pranks."

Tenten agreed, to an extent, what her two teammates were saying. "Looks like he's finished."

At that very moment, a buzz circled around the village and people finally took notice to what Naruto was doing to their beloved landmark.

"It's Naruto!"

"The Uzumaki brat is putting graffiti on the Monument!"

"Why doesn't the Hokage and the Council do away with that insufferable demon!"

Tenen had heard that too, from parents picking up their kids from the academy. "Demon", "Devil-fox", amongst others were whispered about the blond haired boy. Sure he pulled pranks, was loud and obnoxious; but did any of that warrant the kind of treatment they always gave him? Treating him like a leaper or a common criminal?

She had no answers to these but maybe-

"He's moving, let's go." Neji told them and Tenten snapped out of her stupor and followed him and Lee as Naruto came down from the wooden platform he had been standing on, coming hurtling down to the ground.

As soon as he touched down, off-duty Shinobi of various ranks, gave chase to the short boy who bounded off laughing as he was yelled at by his pursuers. Tenten and her group stayed away but kept close enough not to lose sight of him. They, or Tenten, at least; were amazed how he managed to stay ahead of so many trained seasoned ninjas. He ducked, weaved, and jumped around various obstacles keeping out of reach of everything and anyone.

He soon came around a corner where he disappeared from everyone. The crowd either continued or some disbanded out of sheer exhaustion. Neji however, activated his Byakugan and spotted Naruto with some sheet, camouflaging himself with the fence line.

Tenten was amazed, he actually got away from everybody.

However, his victory was short as Iruka, their Sensei from the academy, was standing right next to the boy and was yelling at him. He then grabbed the boy by the back of his jacket and was dragging him back to the academy where he was supposed to be at.

"Well, it's over." Neji stated, "Might as well as get back to Gai-sensei and end this ridiculous assignment."

Rock Lee nodded, raising a fist into the air. "Yosh!"

The two then continued down the street when they stopped, noticing they were a teammate short.

The boys looked to Tenten, who was still looking at Naruto and Iruka's fading images. She soon turned to her teammates.

"You guys go ahead, I'm going to investigate a little more."

Neji raised an eyebrow, "Whats more to look at? Uzumaki got caught, that's where we were supposed to stop."

Lee nodded.

Tenten sighed, "There something more to this. I just want more to report when meeting with Gai-sensei."

Neji scoffed and turned back around, "Suit yourself."

Tenten watched as he and Lee continued back before turning off after Naruto and Iruka.

Gai was practicing his one-handed pushups when Neji and Lee came to report back to him.

Seeing them he got up and put his hands behind his back.

"Well? What did you learn about young Naruto?"

Neji sighed, "He hasn't changed much other than the fact he's craftier in his pranks and that he's able to avoid being caught by large groups. He was caught at the very end by Iruka-sensei."

Gai nodded. Not exactly what he was hoping he would hear from the Byakugan user, who told everyone he could see everything. However, it was to be expected from Neji, unfortunately. Gai turned to Lee, hoping he would have more insight.

"Lee?"

His most youthful student gave pause to think and then looked up with a determined face.

"Naruto-san was able to spend roughly over an hour getting caught, which shows he knows what he's doing every time he does these pranks. His speed is good for someone who isn't even a Genin and only Iruka-sensei seems to know him enough to catch up to him."

Gai nodded, almost what he wanted to hear, but close enough.

"Good job, Lee."

The boy beamed proudly at his sensei/idol.

Gai looked away from Lee and frowned.

"Where's Tenten?"

Neji sighed, "She said she wasn't satisfied by what we saw and said she wanted to know more. We came back without her."

Gai was surprised and immensely happy. Out of all his students it was Tenten who seemed to be most puzzled by who and what their target was and was now digging deeper.

'Good for you Tenten.' He smiled to himself. He then turned to his students who looked perplexed by how their sensei was smiling all of a sudden.

"Good job for today. Think about what you saw. You are dismissed."

Neji nodded thankfully and left to return home while Lee gave a thumbs up and thanked his teacher for a most youthful, eye-opening, look.

Gai nodded but his mind was elsewhere, he was curious to find out what his female student will learn about Konoha's most unpredictable ninja-in-the-making.

Tenten perched on the ledge of one of the windows of the classroom and peered inside to see Naruto tied together with rope, sulking on the floor while the other students in class sat int their seats observing Naruto's reprimand.

Iruka-sensei was three feet away from the pouting blond, scowling at him deeply.

"Naruto, why do you do the things you do? You've failed the last two exams and you're making it very easy to fail it this time!"

Naruto hmmph'd and turned his head away.

Iruka growled and then looked up and saw Tenten outside the window. He lifted an eyebrow in curiosity but soon looked back to Naruto who was fidgeting with the rope. Iruka scowled once more.

"Fine! Class, since Naruto's suggested it, we're all going to review the Henge!"

A series of groans and boos directed at both Naruto and their teacher followed. Naruto, himself, gave an undignified "hey!" at his teacher suggesting he said anything like that.

Tenten watched as Iruka unbound him from the rope and had him stand in line with the other students.

The first he called on was a girl named Sakura. She had bright shoulder length pink hair wearing a red outfit.

Tenten frowned at seeing how much she and a blond girl in the class had so much make-up applied to themselves.

'Standards are falling low for Kunoichi if these are the role models for the younger generation.' She thought to herself.

Sakura performed it effortlessly and beamed at the praise from her teacher and then asked a student named Sasuke what he thought.

Said boy was next to follow.

'He's kinda cute.' She thought to herself.

However the mild infatuation was gone as his look was so dark and bored as he did the jutsu with ease and shuffled darkly back to his spot.

'Then again, maybe not.'

"Naruto! You're up." Iruka called out.

"This is so troublesome, Naruto." Said a boy with his hair made up into a spiky ponytail.

"You're always getting us to do stupid things!" Said an irritated blond, whom Tenten decided she didn't like for various reasons.

"Like I care." Was Naruto's retort as he got into position.

All eyes were on him as he got into position.

"Henge... Oiroke no Jutsu!" He shouted and soon he went into a burst of smoke which soon revealed a naked blond, female, pig-tailed version of himself with the private parts covered by smoke, blowing a kiss at Iruka.

The males in class were blushing and holding their noses while the girls were beet-red and growling.

Tenten herself was twiddling a kunai, itching to throw it at the perverted baka.

Iruka, unfortunately was sent a few feet back with blood coming out of his nose.

Naruto dispelled the transformation laughing his ass off.

"Ha! How'd you like that, Iruka-sensei! I call it the "Ninja Centerfold Technique"! Pretty sweet, huh?"

His reply was a fist on his head, with Iruka yelling at him some more.

Tenten wondered to herself if there was a point in investigating the guy any longer. He was a loud mouth, perverted, idiot!

She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths to release the anger she had from Naruto's little "jutsu". She then reminded herself that the reason she stayed on was that she wanted answers as to why he did the things he did and to not ignore it because of the things he did. Resolved, she continued on as class soon ended and the students left, with the exception of Naruto who was caught and dragged by Iruka and out the class.

Tenten caught up with them at the Hokage Monument where Naruto was scrubbing the paint he had put on. He was about half-way finished but Iruka was grinding on him some more.

Tenten hid behind the bushes at the top, fairly sure she was hid well enough that Iruka wouldn't catch her.

"You aren't leaving here till you clean all this up, Naruto!" Iruka yelled down at the boy.

"Why bother! It's not like anyone is waiting at home for me!" Was his reply.

Tenten, in her hiding place was surprised. He didn't have anyone? Judging by the class, he didn't have any or much friends either. More questions were coming up for her than answers.

"Well," Iruka said, "I'll tell you what. You finish up and I'll buy you some ramen."

'Ramen?' Tenten puzzled.

However it was the right word to use as Naruto was perked up.

"Ramen? Hell yeah, I'll get this all done in no time!"

Iruka chuckled and then looked behind his shoulder to where Tenten was at.

Tenten "eep'd" and cleared away.

She later found the two of them at the Ichiraku Ramen stand. She slid inside and sat on one of the stools and ordered some chicken ramen from the, surprisingly, pretty ramen stand girl. As she waited, she eavesdropped on the conversation Iruka-sensei was having with the boy while he ate.

"So Naruto, why did you do it? Why did you paint on the Hokages' faces. You know who they are, don'tcha?"

Naruto slurping loudly nodded, "Uh huh."

"So why?" He asked again.

"Because some day I'm going to surpass them! Then everybody will stop disrespecting me and treat me for the greatest Shinobi I am! I'll be the greatest Hokage ever! Uzumaki Naruto...the legendary Hokage...Believe it!"

Tenten, who started eating, nearly choked on her noodles by that declaration. She coughed several times and hoped that no body, particularly Naruto and Iruka-sensei; noticed.

She was in the clear as Iruka was seemingly just chuckling at what Naruto said and hadn't noticed Tenten's slip.

They continued on their conversation, with Naruto pleading to try on Iruka's headband, only to be refused; until Iruka told Naruto to go home and sleep and be ready for the Exam tomorrow.

When the two made their goodbye's, and Naruto finally left did Iruka spin around and turn his attention on to the girl who had been around since he brought Naruto back to his class.

"Well now, Tenten, now that Naruto's gone, will you tell me what you were doing spying outside the classroom and sneaking around us?"

Tenten had prepared for this, for when she was caught.

"Well, Gai-sensei had given us a task."

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "Gai-sensei did, huh?" Iruka planned the very next day to ask the eccentric man what he was doing.

Tenten continued, "He had us observe Naruto as he was painting the Hokage monument and follow him until he was caught and then report our observations of him."

Iruka was surprised that the "Green Beast of Konoha" had assigned such a thing.

"Except..."

"Except what, Tenten?" Iruka asked.

Tenten looked to Iruka with a frown. "I wasn't satisfied. Sure it's easy to see his stupid pranks for what they are but not why he did them."

Iruka nodded, understanding fully. He amongst others in his circle had asked the very questions. He was going to ask more when a figure leaped from the top of the ramen stand and landed in front of the two.

"And what did you discover, Tenten?"

Maito Gai stood there looking sharply at his student and ignoring Iruka's, and the ramen stand owners', startled look.

Tenten, getting over her own surprise, took a breath and sorted out her thoughts.

"Well, Sensei, there's still too many questions. I don't understand how someone whose alone go through it all. Sure he does pranks to get attention, but in the end he gets the same thing! More people disliking him, more harsh whispers, and no one noticing who he is! Or the fact that a guy like him, who's bad in class can out maneuver seasoned Shinobi and even the ANBU who chase after him!" Tenten stopped her rant and quickly took in some breaths.

Gai and Iruka were both smiling.

"No one does, Tenten." Iruka said, "It's sad, isn't it? A whole village of people who praise the Shinobi for their abilities and no one will praise his."

Tenten implored, "But why?"

Gai and Iruka looked at each other, then Gai sighed, "I'm unable to say, really."

Tenten huffed and looked away with a scowl.

"But.."

She soon looked back up.

"You should be proud of yourself, Tenten. You alone discovered more about the boy then either of your teammates did. You did well today." Gai said.

Tenten was surprised that she beat out Neji and Lee.

Iruka smiled, "Actually, you did better than the students in Naruto's class. They've been around him a little longer but you managed to see a side of them that they haven't seen."

Tenten blushed from the praise but nodded. She soon turned her head up to Iruka. "How do you think he'll do on his test tomorrow, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka's smile disappeared and he sighed as he shrugged, "I don't know, really. As you remember, part of the Exam is made up of the three jutsus. One of them he has a lot of trouble with and has failed the last two times."

Tenten sighed, "I remember."

Gai patted her on the shoulder, "A job well done today, Tenten. Go home, get some rest but don't forget what you learned today."

Tenten smiled and nodded but before she turned away, she asked Iruka, "I hope he passes tomorrow, tell him to do his best."

Iruksa nodded, "Thank you, Tenten. I will."

She nodded before leaving her Senseis of the past and present behind as one thought came to mind.

'I hope I'll meet him someday.'

To be continued...

A/N: An experiment of mine. Review and let me know what you think. I hope to update soon but I have MANY stories that have been long overdue to be updated, so I can't tell yo u when I'm going to update, but hopefully soon.

Thanks for reading,

Q-n-P