When Gai touched down on the island, the ground cracked. Not a little crack, either. We're talking minor-earthquake levels. Birds flew from the trees. A pack of oversized squirrels—because of course Little Garden had those—scrambled like they'd just seen their acorns repossessed. Gai stood tall, fists clenched at his sides, the wind catching his green jumpsuit like a cape made entirely of enthusiasm and power.
Across the clearing, a mountain moved.
That mountain turned out to be a giant.
Not "oh wow, he's tall" kind of giant. No, this was a 23-meter-tall colossus, the kind of guy who probably used tree trunks as toothpicks and could play baseball with a boulder. His long orange beard was braided, his helmet had horns (because of course it did), and he was holding another enormous spear in his hand like he was about to do a javelin toss in the Olympics for Titans.
Gai readied his stance. Muscles tensed. Energy focused. His inner youth was screaming for action.
But the giant didn't charge. He didn't roar or throw the next spear. In fact… he looked kinda sheepish.
"My bad," the giant said in a voice that sounded like thunder with a hint of guilt. "Didn't mean to almost turn your ship into firewood."
Gai blinked. "Pardon?"
The giant scratched his head. "Name's Dorry. I get kinda restless at night. Can't sleep, ya know? So I practice my spear throws. Helps me settle the nerves. Didn't realize folks were passing by."
Gai slowly lowered his fists, nodding. "Ah, restlessness. The sign of a soul burning with youth! I too often find myself unable to sleep. So I train. Push-ups. Sit-ups. Backflips on one finger. Sometimes I scream into the wind to release my internal passion."
Dorry looked at Gai like he'd just found a kindred spirit. "You get it!"
"I do get it!" Gai beamed, striking a dramatic pose with one arm pointed to the sky. "We are warriors of spirit and motion! It is extremely youthful of you to throw spears into the night!"
Dorry chuckled, his laugh shaking a nearby cliff. "Thanks. Most people just call me dangerous."
Gai stepped forward, hands on his hips. "No, my friend. You are a fellow restless soul. But I must offer you a proposal! If you seek to improve your throws… you need a challenger. Someone who can catch your spear. Someone who can dodge it. Someone who can inspire you to push beyond your limits!"
Dorry's eyes lit up like bonfires. "Are you saying—?"
Before he could finish, there was a rumble from behind the trees. Another titan of a man emerged—this one broad-shouldered, with a massive double-axe slung across his back and a frown that could cut steel. He stomped through the forest, each footstep making the ground grumble in complaint.
"Dorry," the new giant grunted. "I saw a spear explode mid-air. What's going on? Did someone attack you?"
Brogy, the second giant, stared down at Gai, who waved up at him like a very energetic leaf.
"No attack!" Dorry quickly said, raising both hands. "This guy's cool. He actually shattered my spear mid-air on purpose."
Brogy blinked. "On purpose?"
Gai stepped forward and gave a sparkling thumbs-up. "Indeed! I sensed the spear and thought, ah, what a youthful challenge! So I leapt! I kicked! I exploded it into a thousand pieces of radiant debris!"
Brogy stared.
Gai sparkled.
"…He's weird," Brogy finally muttered to Dorry.
"But in a good way," Dorry insisted. "He gets the whole 'can't sleep, so I gotta train' vibe."
Brogy raised a brow. "You mean the thing you do that nearly sinks ships?"
"Yes!" Dorry said cheerfully.
Gai clapped his hands together. "Gentlemen! I propose we train together. I will dodge your spears! You will improve your aim! It will be a festival of movement, power, and most importantly—youthfulness!"
The two giants exchanged a glance.
And then they grinned.
"Okay," Brogy said, cracking his knuckles. "But I'm throwing next."
Dorry laughed. "Let's see if this guy can dodge two giants!"
Gai's eyes gleamed. "Bring it on! I will dodge your spears, leap through the skies, and ignite the air with the passion of eternal springtime!"
Back on the ship, Kakashi casually turned a page in his book. "They're bonding," he said without looking up.
Kurenai sighed. "Should we be worried?"
"Nah," Asuma said, puffing his cigarette. "That's just Gai making new friends. Loud, chaotic, mildly catastrophic friends."
"Like attracts like," Kakashi muttered.
---------------------
Gai stood atop a massive boulder on the shoreline of Little Garden, chest out, arms wide, looking every bit like a motivational poster with explosive back-lighting.
"I must share this youthful opportunity!" he declared to the heavens. "The boys deserve a chance to dodge deadly projectiles and bond with giants!"
As if summoned by the phrase "projectile dodging," Lee launched onto the island in a blaze of enthusiasm and green spandex.
"YES, SENSEI!" he cried. "I AM READY TO DODGE FOR HONOR AND FRIENDSHIP!"
Gai wept tears of joy. "My beautiful boy...!"
Back on the Azure Gale, the rest of the boys were...less eager.
"Nope," Kankuro said flatly. "Not doing it. I like having bones."
"Seconded," Kiba added, already halfway into a hammock with Akamaru. "I've had my monster battle quota for the week."
"Yeah," Choji mumbled through a mouthful of leftover sea king ribs. "Not feeling very... spear-dodgy."
Shikamaru lay on his back, cloud-gazing. "So troublesome…"
But then Naruto, in all his captainly wisdom, had an idea. Which was always a dangerous thing.
He leaned over Shikamaru, grinning way too wide. "Hey, think about it. If they go with Gai... the ship gets quieter. You could nap without being interrupted. No loud fighting. No Akamaru barking. No Kankuro testing jet-powered puppets. Just... peace."
Shikamaru squinted up at him. "You're literally the noisiest person on this boat."
"That's why I'm leaving too!" Naruto said, proudly placing a hand on his chest. "I'll go float over the island or something. Wind stuff."
Shikamaru considered this.
"…Fine."
Then, with zero hesitation, he used his Shadow Possession Jutsu and yanked Kiba, Choji, and Kankuro upright like awkward marionettes.
"Wha—HEY—PUT ME DOWN!" Kiba howled, flailing as his legs walked him against his will.
"I WAS EATING—" Choji shouted, still gripping his plate.
"My puppets aren't waterproof yet—!" Kankuro complained as he was dragged forward like a sad kite.
Shikamaru didn't even look up. "Enjoy your bonding."
Gai saw them coming and immediately burst into proud sparkles. "AH! MORE YOUNG WARRIORS! I KNEW YOUR SPIRITS WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO RESIST THIS GLORIOUS TRIAL!"
The three marched straight past him under Shikamaru's jutsu.
Lee pumped a fist. "They are so motivated!"
Meanwhile, Neji, Shino, and Gaara stayed aboard the ship in the most peaceful, silent corner they could find.
Neji quietly sipped tea.
Shino watched a rare insect crawl across the railing.
Gaara opened a book titled How to Pretend You Like People.
Finally, Naruto kicked off the deck, rising into the air with his wind chakra, arms folded, cloak flapping behind him like he was the world's most dramatic weather balloon.
He hovered above the island, surveying the chaos below.
-------------------
On the shoreline of Little Garden, Dorry and Brogy stood like two living mountains with permanent grins and biceps bigger than small countries. Once the introductions were made and Lee's heartfelt "LET US EMBRACE YOUTHFUL DANGER TOGETHER!" speech concluded (complete with Gai crying again), the giants decided to take things up a notch.
"Alright, little dudes," Brogy boomed, already yanking a tree the size of a redwood from the ground. "You wanna play catch with our spears?"
"Catch?" Kiba muttered from his spot on the water. "I was told we'd be dodging."
Choji floated beside him on a flattened piece of driftwood, munching. "You can try to catch it."
Kankuro was fiddling with his puppets like they might transform into shields or jets at any moment. "No one said anything about actual trees!"
Brogy and Dorry, meanwhile, had started their crafting session, which was essentially them grabbing entire trees, stripping them with casual backhands, and shaving the ends to sharp points by dragging them across boulders like giant pencils. The ground trembled with every move. Birds fled. The sky wept.
Lee was vibrating with excitement. "Such size! Such force! Sensei, I must train to catch one mid-air!"
"Ah, Lee," Gai said with a fatherly hand on his shoulder. "You will do more than that! You will DANCE with them!"
And then the first spear came.
Correction: the first tree-missile-from-heck came.
It was Brogy's throw, and it howled through the sky like a demonic banshee missile, flames trailing behind it as it broke Mach 20. The ocean hissed as it carved a sonic path toward the ninja squad.
"INCOMING!" Kiba screamed, diving into the water as Akamaru yeeted himself away like a furry torpedo.
Choji panicked and used Partial Expansion Jutsu to puff up like a beach ball, bouncing the spear away with his stomach—but it still spun him across the water like a skipping stone.
Kankuro leapt backward with his puppet shielding him, only to find the sheer wind pressure ripped its arms off.
Lee... kicked it.
With the force of a thunderclap, his leg met wood, and the spear splintered midair like a piñata full of regret.
Gai gasped, "My boy! You have truly surpassed the laws of woodworking!"
Naruto watched from above, floating casually in the sky, sipping on coconut water like it was a poolside vacation. He raised an eyebrow at the spectacle below.
"Yep. Chaos achieved," he muttered.
Gai, however, looked up at Naruto with a grin too wide to mean anything good.
"Captain Naruto!" he shouted. "May I make a humble request of the esteemed giants?"
Naruto blinked. "...Uhhh. Sure?"
Gai turned dramatically toward the towering Vikings. "Good sirs! May you please also aim for the one floating in the sky! He too must experience youthful growth!"
Brogy looked delighted. "The blonde one?"
Dorry was already winding up. "Aye, mid-air dodge test. Perfect!"
Naruto's eyes went wide. "WAIT—"
WHOOMPH.
A second tree-spear launched like a cannon blast, making the air scream as it headed right for him.
Naruto barely managed to twist in time, using wind manipulation to shove himself sideways—but even then, the spear grazed his cloak and left it looking like someone tried to feed it to a woodchipper.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" Naruto hollered.
"NO!" Gai shouted, grinning. "WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE YOU STRONGER!"
From the ocean, Kiba surfaced, coughing seawater. "This is the worst spa day ever."
Lee was bouncing from wave to wave, dodging the next round of spears like a frog on caffeine.
Choji floated by, dizzy. "Did... did anyone get the number of that... tree?"
Kankuro's puppets were actively hiding behind him.
Back on the shore, Dorry scratched his head. "Should we tone it down?"
Gai struck a pose. "Nonsense! Increase the speed! This is how youth blossoms!"
A spear exploded into the sea a hundred meters behind them. The water evaporated for a second.
Naruto hovered high above the chaos, eyes wide, clothes tattered, hair windswept. "Okay... new plan," he muttered, pulling out a scroll. "Shadow clone decoy formation: Tree-Dodging Edition."
Below him, a dozen Narutos appeared with various levels of panic and regret.
Another spear rocketed upward.
"TREEEEE!" one clone screamed.
And then, chaos resumed.
-----------------------
The boys were screaming again.
That could only mean one of two things: either someone had released a poisonous toad in the bathhouse again (looking at you, Kiba), or Naruto had found another "great idea" that required explosions, yelling, and collateral damage.
This time, it was the second.
Sakura leaned over the polished railing of the ship's deck, her arms crossed, a slight twitch in her eyebrow. "Let me guess. Naruto got involved."
Tenten was beside her, sipping tea like a dignified noblewoman watching gladiators trip over their own sandals. "He was floating in the sky, minding his own business... until Gai asked the giants to aim for him."
Ino narrowed her eyes. "You know, normal people would've said no."
Hinata, ever sweet, ever hopeful, said, "Maybe he thought it would help the others train?"
Below them, on the open ocean, a massive spear shrieked through the air, trailing fire and ash as it missed Naruto by inches and shattered into the sea, sending up a geyser tall enough to give Neji a heart attack.
From behind the mast, Neji muttered, "I already had a heart attack. I'm not risking a second."
"See?" Sakura gestured wildly at the battlefield of chaos and giant tree-missiles. "What even is this training method? Dodge the tree, or die trying?"
"More like 'Naruto makes everything about himself: Tree Edition,'" Ino said with a smirk.
Choji flew past them on a bloated arm, bouncing like a sad, flying dumpling.
Kiba was howling—not in a cool "I'm a ninja dog warrior" way, but more like "Please, Akamaru, stop swimming toward the next spear."
Lee was actually having the time of his life, kicking through another projectile midair and yelling things like, "I CAN FEEL THE POWER OF YOUTH IN MY TOES!"
"I swear, that boy would dodge taxes if you told him it was a form of cardio," Tenten muttered.
Another scream echoed across the waves, this time from Naruto, whose shadow clones were exploding one by one as they tried to redirect a particularly enthusiastic throw from Brogy.
One clone shouted, "I REGRET NOTHING!" before vaporizing.
Hinata winced. "He's really not taking things seriously anymore, is he?"
"No," Sakura said flatly. "He's taking them Naruto-seriously. Which is somehow worse."
They all stood in silence as yet another tree obliterated a wave in the distance and sent Kankuro flying like a particularly ungraceful bird.
Ino exhaled dramatically. "Remember when the craziest thing Naruto did was prank Iruka with paint and noodles?"
Sakura gave her a side-glance. "No. Because even then he blew up a water tower."
Hinata covered her mouth, giggling softly. "I think... this is how he plays."
"You mean 'trains,' right?" Tenten corrected.
But Hinata just smiled, her eyes on the chaos below, the sky filled with flaming spears, shadow clones, and one very determined Gai-sensei yelling about spirit and sweat.
"No. Plays."
And somehow... she wasn't wrong.
-------------------
After several hours of screaming, dodging death-by-spear, and Naruto nearly being turned into a human shish kebab, the chaos finally simmered down.
The sea, which had been a battleground of flying woodchips, chakra blasts, and Gai's laughter echoing like a war horn, was calm again.
And then—thunk.
The ship waddled onto the beach like it had feet. Which, to be fair, it technically did. Sort of.
Thanks to Tenten's bottomless scrolls and Kankuro's terrifying puppet mechanisms, the ninja ship had legs now. Literal mechanical stilts tucked beneath the hull, clanking and hissing with each step like a steampunk crab on a mission.
"Deploying House Mode!" Tenten declared, slapping a scroll on the side of the ship with the flair of someone launching a missile.
Hydraulics hissed. Panels unfolded. Walls retracted and reformed.
In under a minute, their once-sturdy ship was now a sprawling beach house with retractable decks, sun umbrellas, a communal bath, and—was that a hammock garden?
Kankuro, arms crossed, nodded with a proud grin. "Ninja engineering, baby."
The giants clapped in awe.
"THAT SHIP JUST TRANSFORMED!" Dorry gasped.
"IT'S A SHIP-HOUSE!" Brogy added, completely awestruck.
Naruto floated down like some mystical beach bum, sandals singed from hours of dodging sonic-speed trees. He landed on the sand with a sigh and a grin.
"That... was awesome."
Everyone else, however, looked half-dead.
Kiba and Akamaru were collapsed in a heap of fur and drool.
Choji was eating while sleepwalking toward the now-fully-functioning snack pantry.
Kankuro stumbled inside mumbling something about needing "therapy for wood trauma."
Lee tried to declare, "I am not tired!" and then passed out mid-cartwheel.
Even Gai finally slowed down. He stared at the stars with a look of utter serenity. "Truly... a youthful day..."
The girls, who had been watching from the deck the whole time, finally came down.
Sakura rolled her eyes as she helped Hinata with her gear. "Naruto turns everything into an anime opening."
Ino smirked. "Yeah, and somehow he's always the main character."
Tenten just chuckled and stretched. "At least it was fun to watch."
With the moon rising over the jungle and the distant sounds of Brogy and Dorry singing drinking songs in giant-speak, the crew finally called it a night.
No deep talks. No drama. No sudden attacks.
Just the sound of waves, wind, and the occasional snore from Lee that sounded like someone whispering motivational quotes in their sleep.
They would talk tomorrow.
Tonight, they slept like legends who earned it.
-----------------
The morning began with what could only be described as an aural apocalypse.
Naruto woke up mid-snore, sat up, and blinked at the ceiling of the house-ship. At first, he thought maybe a thunderstorm was fighting a whale outside.
Nope.
It was just giant karaoke.
Dorry and Brogy were waist-deep in the ocean, fishing with spears the size of flagpoles and singing. And not just humming or chanting sea shanties—they were belting some sort of ancient warrior ballad at full lung capacity.
"♫ A GIANT ONCE ATE A SEA KING WHO MOCKED HIS BEARD— ♫"
"♫ HE ROARED WITH PRIDE AND BURPED FOR THREE YEARS— ♫"
Naruto's eye twitched.
From the training yard nearby, the situation only got worse.
"YOUTH! YOUTH! THE FLAMES IN OUR HEARTS WILL NEVER DIE!"
"LET'S DO A THOUSAND HANDSTAND PUSHUPS WITH FLAMING DUMBBELLS!"
Lee and Gai were already shirtless, sparkling with morning dew and sweat, executing perfect synchronized kata moves—while singing their infamous Youth Anthem. A song so motivational it could revive a fainted horse... or rupture a few eardrums.
Inside the now-house-ship, chaos rippled through the waking ninja like a pebble tossed into a koi pond.
"Why... is this my life..." Shikamaru groaned, face buried in a pillow.
Choji rolled over, shoving crackers into his mouth like sandbags against the noise.
Kankuro tied a rope around his puppet's mouth like a gag and muttered, "Why didn't I stay in the desert?"
Even Gaara, who had literally survived demonic possession and psychological trauma, cracked open one eye. "...They sing every morning?"
Hinata tiptoed out with a blanket around her shoulders, eyes still half-shut. "They've been at it for an hour. I think they... harmonized at one point."
Sakura was massaging her temples. "At this point, I think Gai might actually be a musical weapon."
Naruto floated into the air, bleary-eyed and slightly unhinged. "If they hit the chorus again, I'm air-jailing Gai."
"♫ A SPIRIT OF YOUTH CAN SLICE THROUGH THE DARK—"
"♫ OUR MUSCLES GROW STRONGER WITH EVERY SPARK—"
"THAT'S IT!" Naruto zipped out the window like a launched kunai.
Outside, the two giants waved as he passed. "GOOD MORNING, LITTLE MAN!"
"GOOD MORNING, BREAKFAST NOISE-MAKERS!" he shouted back.
Meanwhile, Gai and Lee posed with the rising sun behind them, fists raised high.
"Ah, Naruto! You're just in time for the 10,000th kick!"
Naruto paused midair, deadpan. "Why are you like this?"
Gai sparkled. "Because life is too short for bad posture and weak thighs!"
Lee gave a thumbs up with one hand while doing a one-armed handstand with the other. "Sensei and I are going to punch the sunrise next!"
Naruto pointed toward the horizon. "You realize that's a star, right?"
Lee's eyes burned with fervor. "THEN WE SHALL BECOME STARS TOO!"
Behind them, the giants belted their chorus again, sending birds scattering from the trees.
Suffice to say, the island was awake.
And nobody was getting back to sleep now.
-------------------
After Sakura finished healing the collective ear trauma of half the crew—Shikamaru muttering something about filing a "sound pollution report" on Gai—things finally settled down. Birds chirped again. The world breathed.
And Choji got to work.
With a chef's headband tied heroically around his forehead, he stepped into the pop-up kitchen set up under a shade of giant mushrooms near the shore. A battalion of Naruto clones buzzed around like cheerful sous-chefs, chopping, mixing, and dodging flaming oil with impressive coordination.
Hinata, Sakura, and Ino had also stepped in to help—though "help" mostly meant managing the madness.
"You added sugar instead of salt again!" Sakura scolded Clone #7.
"It was a creative choice!" the clone defended before being promptly poofed into nothingness.
Choji, ladle in hand, turned to the girls, his expression thoughtful as he stirred a stew the size of a hot tub. "Hey… you all noticed something weird yet?"
Sakura looked up from slicing vegetables. "You mean besides the part where we're feeding two twenty-three-meter giants who treat log-spears like javelins?"
Choji shook his head. "No, no, not weird like that. I mean something subtle. Physical."
Hinata blinked. "Like… chakra disruption?"
"Muscle tension?" Sakura asked.
"Too many carbs?" Ino offered. "Because I've definitely noticed that."
Choji let out a dramatic sigh, the kind that said I am surrounded by the nutritionally unaware. "No, guys. It's the food. Haven't you noticed your bodies feeling… denser? Stronger? Like your muscles are packing more power than usual?"
Naruto, walking by with a tray of spice bowls, stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait… are you saying eating this food is making us stronger?"
Choji nodded. "Bingo."
Ino frowned. "I mean, everything's huge here. The mushrooms are bigger than sofas. The chickens are the size of buffalo. It makes sense the food's different."
"It's not just big," Choji said, pointing at a sizzling slab of meat that could bench press a car. "It's potent. Vitality-rich. The monsters here are powerful. The plants too. We're absorbing all that energy, slowly enhancing our cells."
Sakura raised a brow. "You're telling me this like it's obvious."
"I did expect you, Gai, or Lee to pick up on it," Choji said. "It's literally how I fight. I use calories to grow. And I can feel it—the food here is evolving us, bit by bit."
Sakura narrowed her eyes, suddenly interested. She summoned a tiny chakra scalpel and carefully made a small incision on her arm.
"Hinata," she said, with the calm of a surgeon and the curiosity of a mad scientist, "Byakugan, please."
Hinata activated her dojutsu, pale eyes flaring to life like moonlight. She leaned closer and gasped softly. "Sakura… she's right. Your cell structure is denser. More active. It's like… it's slowly adapting to something greater."
Naruto's jaw dropped. "Does that mean… if we eat stronger monsters… we get stronger?"
Choji grinned. "That's the theory."
Naruto pumped a fist. "Best. World. Ever."
Ino stared at a giant steak with sudden wariness. "So wait… are we going to mutate or something? Like, 'Congratulations! You've unlocked Elephant Mode.'"
"Only if you keep eating like Naruto," Sakura muttered.
"I heard that!" came a voice from the grill.
"Good!" Sakura called back.
Choji shrugged, still stirring with gusto. "All I'm saying is… maybe think of every meal here as a potential power-up. It's like training, but delicious."
A cheer erupted from the Naruto clones.
"POWER-UP PASTA!"
"STRENGTH SUSHI!"
"DEMON BACON!"
Sakura groaned. "We're going to have to supervise every meal now, aren't we?"
Ino laughed. "Naruto's probably already naming monsters like menu items."
As if on cue, Naruto shouted from the beach, "GUYS, I SEE A LOBSTER THE SIZE OF A COW! WHO'S UP FOR DINNER?!"
Choji smiled contentedly, as if all was right in the world.