In an instant, Ayato snapped out of his daze and sprinted after Lee.
His physical stamina was solid. Though he hadn't trained systematically for years, he never slacked on basic conditioning.
Even compared to Lee at this stage, Ayato's endurance was slightly better, though he might lack combat experience in taijutsu.
Natural talent couldn't be fully overcome by relentless effort alone, and Ayato wasn't exactly lazy when it came to physical training.
Soon, the three arrived at Team Gai's meeting point.
Gai clearly hadn't gone all out, finishing just a hair ahead of Lee. Ayato, after catching up to Lee, maintained his pace behind him without speeding up.
They exchanged a knowing glance. Gai sneaked a look at Ayato, impressed. He hadn't expected Ayato's stamina to be this good.
An average genin would be gasping for breath after running from the training grounds, but Ayato looked completely at ease.
Clearly, this kid had a strong foundation.
Gai hadn't paid much attention to Ayato's graduating class before. His team was a year ahead, and in Ayato's year, only Naruto and Sasuke stood out—one the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, the other the last Uchiha.
A Senju without the Senju name? Gai's generation barely gave them a second thought.
As Gai and Lee came to a stop, Neji and Tenten appeared out of nowhere, joining them.
They'd probably skipped the morning training to avoid the embarrassment of Gai and Lee's loud, youthful shouting while running.
"Who's this?" Neji asked, eyeing Ayato standing with the pair.
"Starting today, he'll train with me and Lee!" Gai declared, flashing his signature thumbs-up and toothy grin.
Lee mimicked Gai's pose, and both turned to Ayato expectantly.
Ayato gave an awkward smile, pressing his arm to his side and hesitantly sticking out a thumbs-up toward the ground. Just going along with it for now—I can't be too out of place on day one.
"Another hot-blooded idiot?" Neji said, frowning. "Our team's already got enough dead weight with you two. And aren't teams supposed to have three members?"
A four-person team with two idiots and one slacker was already a hassle, even if they were strong. Neji was the only one with brains, and the pressure was on him. Adding someone new—rule-breaking or not—was just another burden.
The team could handle missions with Neji alone. Another person meant more to manage.
Hearing Neji's complaint, Gai hurried over to smooth things out.
"He's not joining our missions, just training with us. He wants to embrace youth too!"
"Fine, as long as he doesn't hold us back," Neji said, waving dismissively.
Neji was almost as off-putting as Sasuke at this point, but in Ayato's eyes, he was slightly better. Neji was mostly expressionless, while Sasuke acted like everyone owed him money.
Neji stepped up to Ayato. "Don't drag us down."
With a cool spin, he led the way toward the village gates.
Lee, Gai, and Tenten followed, making it look like Neji was the team's jonin leader.
Tenten slipped between Lee and Gai, while Ayato stayed on Gai's other side.
"Today's mission is a C-rank: dealing with wild boars…" Tenten briefed them on the location and client details.
As expected, the Leaf Village was never short on missions to catch cats, walk dogs, or hunt boars and bears.
After the briefing, Tenten nudged Lee and whispered, "Is he joining our team? He's a new genin, right? No team leader?"
"Seems like it. This morning, he found Teacher Gai and asked to learn taijutsu, so we came here together," Lee replied.
"Idiot." Tenten sighed. Talking to Lee was useless—he never had the full story.
As one of the team's two "brains," she took it upon herself to gather intel.
While heading to the mission, she subtly shifted closer to Ayato.
"You're a genin from this year's class, right?" she asked directly.
Ayato nodded. "Yeah, but they didn't assign me a team. I still want to learn taijutsu, and Teacher Gai's the best in the Leaf for that."
"That's true," Tenten said, proud of her teacher. Gai's taijutsu was undeniably top-tier in the village.
But she couldn't help thinking: No team assignment? He's probably stuck as a genin for life. Anyone with even a hint of potential for chunin gets at least a chunin team leader. If you don't get a team, you're basically written off.
Was someone like that really worth Gai's time?
"So, are you joining our team?" Tenten pressed.
"Probably not," Ayato said. "I just want to train with Teacher Gai to improve my taijutsu combat experience. I'm not into missions. I don't exactly need the money."
Tenten nodded. She wasn't short on cash either, but missions weren't just about money—they earned points to exchange for jutsu. Her dream was to become a ninja as great as Tsunade.
No talent for ninjutsu, so he's banking on taijutsu? Like Lee and Gai. But skipping missions? That's just giving up since he has no team or leader. He probably knows what no team means.
Tenten's gaze softened with pity. He's like a younger Lee. Lee has no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu but excels in taijutsu. This kid? Taijutsu might be his only shot.
Ayato felt Tenten's stare and shifted uncomfortably.
Tenten wasn't fully grown yet, but her twin buns and Chinese-style outfit gave Ayato a good impression.
In the Naruto world, finding a "normal" named character was tough. Since transmigrating, Ayato struggled to adjust. Blond, red, or black hair? Fine. But pink hair, red eyes, or pupil-less white eyes? Terrifying.
The idea of waking up to someone with blood-red or blank white eyes felt like seeing a ghost.
Anime was one thing—cute on paper. But here, everyone was real, and those traits were just creepy.