Maito Gai | Youth

[Memory taken from chapter 502, pages 3-5, and 503, page 9]

The first thing he saw was the village, the one the Wilderness had made him familiar with. His home. It was a bit of a surprise to suddenly see it, though. There had been no crystal and he hadn’t been in the Theatre. But at the same time Gai pushed that thought back. He wanted to see what he could.

The next thing he noticed was who was right beside him. Bell. There was something comforting about having that added confirmation, knowing they knew each other. But Bell was young, much younger, and in the armor Gai had worn in a previous memory. No mask, though. Gai didn’t know what that meant.

“Hmm? Can’t we just decide by Janken today?” Bell’s voice was lazy and unimpressed.

“Not that again! Can’t we have a more heated battle for once? You call yourself my Rival?” It was always strange to feel and hear himself talking. He could also feel his blood rushing as he likely built up to a Speech. He caught sight of himself in a shop window and wasn’t at all surprised to see how much he looked like Lotus, no, Spring.

“Hey, Gai. Do you feel something weird? The air feels cold...”

Kakashi’s words couldn’t stop Gai, not quite yet. “What is with your attitude? We will never be young like this again!”

But he could feel it. There was cold. Something was wrong. There was an energy in the air that spoke of a lot of chakra. A dome appeared near the mountain with the heads, and a great deal of yelling began. There was something… a giant… fox? Gai didn’t have time to get a better look, his feet were already moving. In a small thicket Gai clustered with Bell and a few others, faces that he hadn’t seen in Edensphere but were familiar despite that.

“What’s going on?” It was from someone in the crowd. He didn’t see who had spoken.

The reply came from a well-armed man in front of them. “Listen to me. You younger ninja are to stay away from the Kyuubi.” So that was the fox. “This isn’t a war with another village. This is our own village’s mess.” …What had they done? What mess had their village made? “There is no reason to risk your lives over it.”

A young woman to Gai’s left didn’t agree. “You can’t tell us what to do!”

Her name was given by the young man behind her. “Calm down, Kurenai!”

Then the scene faded, and Gai stared at the trees of Captain Planet, not really seeing them. Their village had made a mess, involving a giant creature, a Kyuubi. He’d survived, at least, clearly. So more worrying was the fact that he’d suddenly had a memory, seemingly with all of his senses (there had been a scent of ramen in the air, among other things, he realized), with no seeming consequences yet and no apple in sight. It was like the white wilderness all over again, the sick ants. Something was wrong with the Sphere and Gai didn’t know if it was a bad thing or a good thing. He would speak with Bell on this later. He needed to.

He reached up to grab a pair of mugs for tea and stopped when something rattled. Youth turned the mug to look in, reaching to catch whatever it was in case it came out fast. The crystal fell out of the mug and everything went black. On reflex Youth tried to reach out to grab a counter, anything, to stabilize himself without sight, still holding the mugs, hoping not to drop them. Instead his arms didn’t move.

( Open the gate/open the gate/freedom/jump up and down y'all )

Youth’s eyes snapped open as he fell backward, trying to keep the mugs from shattering on the ground while at the same time trying to banish the echoes of sympathy pain running through him from the memory. He managed to save the mugs, landing hard on his back and staying there for a moment, staring upward. Then he decided to stay there a few moments longer, to recover a bit more.

At least now he knew the story behind one of his scars.


[[ooc: Memory is headcanon, derived from pretty popular fanon of him trying to open all of the gates at once and landing in Medical for a year. This is from the crystal from Cops and Robbers, price is Youth losing half of his money.]]

Current as of Jan. 28th

My name is Gai. Upon arriving here I called myself Youth because the spirit of Youth is important to me.

Bell is my forever challenge, my rival, my partner, and my lover. I trust him with everything. That is why he has this letter, in my writing.

I have a son. I do not know his name, but two times he has been here, and both times he has gone by Lotus. I saved him from sand that almost killed him.

There are some that have become like a family to me. Genius, Derrick, Fred, Gene-1, Book. Derrick's daughter who is no longer here - Promise. Stoneface, my boss. Brianna, my coworker. Sailormoon, 00, Krile, Kagerou, Night, Nova, Stellaris. Many of them are my students. Those that are not are still precious.

Sighted may mean something to me. He may be from home. It is the same with Tomoe.

My first friend was Shoanji, but he vanished soon after we came. There is no telling if he will return. Ghost was important, and he is also gone.

I am a ninja. This means that I have killed, and will kill, in service to whomever it is I serve. I do not know whom I serve, but I know they are important.

[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]

Player Name: Jackie
--
Timezone: EST
Personal Journal: nadat
Contact Information:
Instant Messenger: AIM: Tadandader

[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]

Name: Maito Gai
Age: 30, and looks it.
Gender: Male
Fandom: Naruto Manga
Timeline: Chapter 508 – Kisame has just killed himself rather than give up information, and Gai declares that he will not forget Kisame’s name for as long as he lives. I’m taking him from this point in time so he has about a half-hour or so to ambulate and see the world a little before the side-effects from using his technique hit and he collapses in pain.

History: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Maito_Gai

Character Personality: Maito Gai is exuberant and eager, always looking for a way to challenge himself more. He approaches most things in life as if they’re challenges made to be overcome. Gai then happily takes on these challenges and tends to overcome them with great enthusiasm. This is just a part of his passion for life, living, and nearly everything he comes across. It leads to him also being rather overdramatic, posing dramatically, making loud exclamations, and giving a silly thumbs-up post with a tooth sparkle to indicate when he really means a promise.

The way he trains his team shows his compassion and determination. One student, Lee, is incapable of using two-thirds of the normal ninja tactics, and yet Gai proudly takes him in, encourages him, and shows Lee how to find his own way and become a ninja anyway. Another, Neji, is estranged from his family due to clan politics, and is bitter and angry because of this. Gai works with him, training and encouraging, and attempting to show Neji that everyone should be given a chance. Tenten, his third student, while not facing any specific weaknesses, is determined to make a name for herself as a great female ninja, and Gai encourages her and gets her on the path to becoming a weapons master. For Gai, no one is useless, no one is supposed to be ignored. He’s focused on seeing his students do their very best, and has complete faith that they’ll accomplish all they set out to do.

Stubborn is another good word for Gai. Gai declared himself the Eternal Rival of Hatake Kakashi and has continued insisting on this for many years, even though Kakashi ignores him often. He’s developed taijutsu (physical) techniques that can take out powerful ninja, which speaks of a lot of work and patience.

He has a serious side, though he doesn’t bother showing it often. It’s far easier and more fun to be corny when encouraging Lee or overdramatic when talking to Kakashi than it is to step in and become completely serious when an opponent, Gaara, tries to kill his precious student. That is, however, where Gai draws the line. You do not hurt his precious people. Nor do you look down on them.


Character Abilities: Gai is an older ninja in a village that deals with a lot of attacks and conflict, which speaks a lot to his capabilities. He is the only ninja that Uchiha Itachi, one of the series’ antagonists, warns about.

Genjutsu, ninja attacks using illusions, are Gai’s weakest area, but he’s still very skilled. He knows how to avoid one of the more dangerous genjutsu attacks, that of the Sharingan (an eye that, when trained, can capture an opponent in illusion), since he spars regularly with someone who has that eye, Kakashi. While we’ve never seen Gai use a Genjutsu attack, he’s a teacher and therefore has to know the various skills to teach them to his students. Also, Lee is notable as being the only one who cannot use genjutsu or ninjutsu, which means Gai has to be able to use them.

Ninjutsu, ninja attacks using energy (called chakra in Naruto-verse), are something Gai can use, and does use, but it’s not his specialty. These are techniques that cover everything from walking on water and up trees to cloning oneself or sending a lightning bolt at an opponent.

Taijutsu attacks are physical attacks, enhanced by chakra. As a Taijutsu master, this is what Gai uses the most. He knows and uses a secret, forbidden* technique known as the Eight Gates. This technique essentially overclocks his body, one stage at a time, with the eighth gate being known as the Gate of Death. His strength, agility, and energy go up at the cost of damage to his muscles. While he can open the sixth gate with the only side-effect being exhaustion for a short time, opening the seventh causes severe damage to every muscle in his body.

*In Naruto, virtually every technique is taboo, secret, or forbidden, but everyone uses them anyway. He’s even taught at least the first couple of gates to his student, Lee.

At the sixth and seventh gates Gai has special additional techniques he can use, the Morning Peacock and Afternoon Tiger, respectively. These are physical attacks that use extreme speed and cause great damage – he calls the Afternoon Tiger a one-hit kill. The former sets parts of him on fire with the friction from his speed, while the latter even sets the air around him ablaze.

Gai has a great deal of stamina. This is shown in his speedy recovery from the first six gates, but also in his training methods. If he loses a challenge to Kakashi, he will set self-imposed punishments of hundreds of pushups, sit-ups, laps, or other physical tasks.

Character Weaknesses: Gai’s greatest weakness is his overabundance of passion. When his student Lee was facing a surgery that could kill him, Gai pledged that if Lee died, Gai would as well. He has a habit of making dramatic promises, and holds to them, no matter what comes. This could easily put him in overly dangerous situations, especially combined with the fact that he’s overconfident. Everything in life to Gai is a challenge that he can take on. This is an equation for him to wind up in way over his head.

He’s devoted to his village, his students, and his rival. If something required a sacrifice to accomplish, Gai would give his life for any and all of them. In the current manga Gai is on the ground in pain still from how much his latest attack took out of him. Gai knew how important it was to take down Hoshigake Kisame, and sacrificed his well-being for it.

Gai also gets seasick. Very, very seasick, to the point where he has to be helped off of boats.


[ WEAPON ONLY SECTION ]

Why your character should be a Weapon: Maito Gai has faith in others, and is willing to put himself in the hands of those he trusts. Becoming a weapon would be a demonstration of that trust. Also, by being a weapon, some of his tendency to charge in and go and push himself would be tempered; he has to wait for someone else to be at his most effective.

What is your character's Weapon form?: Gai will be a kusarigama, a sickle attached by chain to a heavy ball weight. This is a traditional ninja weapon. It combines a long-range attack (the iron ball, which can wrap around and trap a target) with close (the sickle blade) to deadly effect. This mirrors the fact that Gai has one long-range student, Tenten, and two close-range students, Lee and Neji. He uses nunchucks in canon, two sticks connected by a chain, so there’s a parallel to the chain as well.

I would like Gai to have a partial weapon form, where his right forearm can become a sickle. Every now and then he’s bound to get a little overexcited and charge in, not wanting to wait for a Meister. While he’ll obviously not be all that great, it would be good if he’s able to somewhat defend himself until his Meister catches up.

His abilities would be as follows:

1. With an acceptable resonance, the weighted chain can be spun, forming a very strong shield, equal in size to the arc of the swing. The Meister can attack with the scythe from behind the shield. The shield remains in effect for up to ten seconds after the chain has stopped spinning.

2. With a good resonance, the wielder’s speed is enhanced to the point that when they attack with the sickle blade, the swing is visually blurred and nearly impossible to follow. The blurring winds up leaving the illusion of peacock feathers, blues and greens and purples and golds.

3. With strong resonance, the Meister’s speed, stamina, and strength are all enhanced. Swings of either the weighted chain or the scythe give noises much like the roar of a tiger, and the air is set on fire by the movements. Any blows that land also burn. This means sometimes wounds are cauterized, and sometimes garments/skin/hair of the target are set on fire.

Weapon Ability - Super Speed with wavelength cycling

Due to Gai’s empathy, hyperness, and speed in canon, Gai can cycle soul wavelengths faster than most. Applying this to resonance with a meister lets the meister move at hyperspeeds -- that is, a lot faster than they normally would. The duration of the skill would depend on their strength as a pair, and the extent of how fast they can go will depend on how good their resonance is. Sometimes, he cycles wavelengths so fast that he can take on damage meant for his meister onto his own body, like he's 'stealing' it before it can register on the meister. The meister is free to thwart his attempts, of course, as cycling still involves two people.


[ SOUL INFORMATION ]

Soul Description: Enthusiastic, optimistic, determined, focused, devoted, goofy.

Soul Appearance: Green, with three little tiger stripes on each cheek, and a really big smile.

[ SAMPLES ]

First Person: [As the video comes on, it shows a warm smile. After a moment, the person backs up from the machine, and the whole of Gai’s face is seen. His voice, when he speaks, is loud.]

Greetings [A pause.] people of the network! I am new here, and I am looking to find out more about this place.

[Now the smile can only be called goofy as it grows, and somehow a tooth sparkles in the sunlight.] I am sure that many of you have been here for a time and have information to spare! I cannot yet offer anything to compensate for what you give, but I am sure that in no time I will be better equipped. I will not let people down.

But if anyone does not mind taking time to speak with me, I would be grateful!

[There’s another pause as the smile fades just a small bit.] And to those whom I may have worried when I fell over, do not worry. I am fine. I am always fine!

[The smile goes down to normal warmness, and he glances off to the side. Pages can be heard turning. Now his voice is quieter; he’s talking to himself.]

Off. The off switch… Aha! Green aga-- [His voice is cut off as he turns it off.]

Third Person: The adrenaline was fading from dealing with Hoshigake Kisame. The interrogation had failed, but Gai hadn’t seen anyone die in an honorable fashion in quite a while. Many of the younger ninja he’d seen were cowards. They didn’t understand the value of information or loyalty, and yet here he’d seen something impressive from an enemy.

It had been an honor to fight Hoshigake.

Gai wondered if this was getting through to Naruto. Certainly his Rival had done the best he could to teach the young man, but sometimes Kakashi’s best was overwhelmed by his natural inclination to be lazy. A true ninja was dedicated and focused. They strived for their goals, and if they couldn’t accomplish them, they died trying. That was what it meant to be a ninja.

He opened his mouth to bestow his wisdom upon Naruto, and the other gathered younger ninja, and then the island was gone. For a moment Gai wondered if he was blacking out from the pain already. He’d known it would hit, and would hit with a vengeance, but hallucinations didn’t make much sense. Quickly he analyzed the possibility that he’d been trapped in an illusion. It couldn’t be dismissed completely, but it was rather unlikely. Gai had too much experience dealing with the Sharingan to be caught quite so easily. He noted that his nunchucks were gone, as well as the fact that his vest was lighter. That would have to be checked on later.

Gai considered the chamber. It was dark, rundown. The screens that came down got his attention, though he stayed aware of the rest of the chamber too. They could always be a distraction. The information given was promptly filed away. As much as he could, he memorized it. The missing powers… that got his eyes narrowing. At least Gai was more capable than most, with his focus on keeping himself in shape. But this still wasn’t a good sign.

He allowed himself to be escorted, taking note of everything he saw in case it would help him get home, or get more information. For now, he could play along. With a warm smile, Gai looked to meet the rest of the abductees.


[ NOTES ]
The official translation of Gai’s name is Mighty Guy. At first it was translated as Maito Gai, and I’ve chosen to stick with this since it makes Gai seem more like a person instead of a joke. I realize he’s often used for comic relief, but he’s shown a lot of depth through the series as well.

Just a post to keep track of dreams and memories received for Youth.

( Dreams )

( Crystals )

[[This is an ooc post meant to help me put together my AC replies early]]

<b>Player:</b> <b>HMD post:</b> <a href="">HMD</a> <b>Character:</b> <b>Character journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>Link to post 1:</b> <a href="">Here</a>. <B>Date of post:</b> <b>Link to post 2:</b> <a href="">Here</a>. <B>Date of post:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Character journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>Link to post 1:</b> <a href="">Here</a>. <B>Date of post:</b> <b>Link to post 2:</b> <a href="">Here</a>. <B>Date of post:</b>