Sensei: Maito Guy
Team:
-Hyuga Neji
-Rock Lee
-Ten-ten
Team Guy
Team Guy is named after and led by Might Guy. All of its members, including Guy himself, seem to have been inspired by various Chinese themes. The focus of the team's abilities is in various forms of hand-to-hand combat and weapons usage.
Might Guy
Age: 261-272 in Part I, 29 in Part II
Current rank: Jonin
Seiyu: Masashi Ebara
Voice Actor: Skip Stellrecht
Might Guy (Maito Gai) is the leader of Team Guy, though much of his time with this team is spent with Rock Lee. Because Lee's goal in life is to master taijutsu, Guy's goal has become to help Lee achieve this dream, dedicating his free time to teaching Lee all that he knows about taijutsu. Because of Guy's dedication to Lee, Lee has likewise become dedicated to Guy, and models himself in his sensei's image. In doing so he has reproduced Guy's distinctive green jumpsuit and shiny bowl haircut, having already had Guy's characteristic thick eyebrows. Lee has also acquired many of Guy's personality traits and habits, and the two typically join together in carrying out odd methods of training. Lee has also adopted Guy's "nice guy pose," which consists of giving a thumbs up, winking, and smiling with teeth so white they give the proverbial "ping." This action is often used by both Guy and Lee to indicate commitment to a statement they had just made, their highest form of a promise. Guy, and by extension Lee, lives his life by his own "My Rules" philosophy, which involves setting tougher self-imposed penalties for failure in the belief that the punishment will make him stronger. Guy also values his youth to a great degree, and dislikes the idea that he may not be as young as he once was. To help remedy this problem he spends large amounts of time with his students, hoping to acquire some of their youthful properties.
Guy specializes in using taijutsu, though, unlike Lee, does so as a matter of preference on his part. Instead he simply chooses not to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, even going so far as to use a regular (albeit bad) disguise during one of the anime's filler arcs instead of using the Transformation Technique. In the few instances that he has used ninjutsu, it has always been offscreen, such as when he summoned Ninkame prior to his first appearance. Through his mastery of taijutsu Guy specializes in the Strong Fist style of combat. Likewise, he can also open at least six of the Eight Gates, with each gate giving him more power for short periods of time. As the self-proclaimed rival of Kakashi Hatake, Guy has developed an effective counter against Sharingan users: by focusing on their feet, Guy can both predict the movements of the enemy and negate the hypnotic abilities of the Sharingan that require eye contact.
Neji Hyuga
Profile
Age: 13-14 in Part I
16 in Part II
Date of birth: July 3
Known relatives: Hizashi Hyuga (father, deceased)
Hiashi Hyuga (uncle)
Hinata Hyuga (cousin)
Hanabi Hyuga (cousin)
Information
Current rank: Jonin
Current affiliation: Hyuga clan (Branch), Konohagakure
Current team: Team Guy (Might Guy, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten)
Previous team: Team Shikamaru (Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Neji Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto Uzumaki)
Background
Neji's father, Hizashi Hyuga, was born as the younger brother of his twin, Hiashi Hyuga. Because he was born second, Hizashi was put into the Hyuga clan's branch house, causing Neji to years later be born into the same faction. At a young age Neji was branded with the Hyuga branch family seal so that the main house could punish him for insubordination and protect the secret of the Byakugan should he die. Hizashi, believing Neji to be denied his full potential as a branch house member, began to openly resent the main house, and was punished on some occasions because of it. In one instance, Hizashi's curse mark was activated while Neji watched. Due to the punishments his father received as well as his father's influence, Neji also came to resent the main house.
In time, Hizashi would sacrifice himself to save the life of his brother, Hiashi. Neji believed that Hizashi was forced to give up his life because Hiashi's life as a member of the main house was considered more valuable. Neji blamed the main house for this tragedy for years to come, and his belief would not be corrected until after his defeat by Naruto Uzumaki during the finals of the Chuunin exam. At this point in time, Neji learns that his father willingly gave up his life not to save a member of the main house, but to save the life of his brother and to make a decision about his own destiny. Upon learning this, Neji rejects his belief in fate and does what he can to rectify his mistakes.
Personality
While under the belief that his father died because he was a member of the branch house, Neji concludes that fate is something decided at birth and that no matter what one does, people cannot escape their destiny. Neji often applies this to people he views as weaker than he is, particularly his teammate Lee and his cousin Hinata Hyuga. He dismisses Lee's dream of becoming a great ninja despite his inability to mold chakra as hopeless, and suggests that Lee can never defeat him.
During his match in the Chunin Exams, he tells Hinata that she is unfit to be a ninja due to being too kind and not confident enough. While Hinata is brought to tears by this suggestion, she is eventually able to turn his philosophy against him, telling him that she believes that he is suffering from trying to become worthy of the main house despite his being born into the branch family. Neji is enraged by this and attempts to attack Hinata, but is stopped before he can land a blow that would have almost certainly killed her. While Hinata is left near death after the battle, Neji's only concern is that he could not complete his attack. He disregards Hinata's personal growth in the match, concluding that because she was defeated, "a failure will always be a failure."
Neji displays similar efforts to condescend others during his match with Naruto Uzumaki who, despite being repeatedly struck down, continues to try and fight him. While Neji tries to show Naruto that fate cannot be fought and that someone who is weak will always remain weak, Naruto is unwilling to accept this mindset, arguing that Neji, for all his belief in fate, has not accepted his own destiny. Naruto taps into the power of the demon fox sealed within him and fights Neji, regaining his access to his chakra. Using a shadow clone to feign defeat, Naruto surprises Neji and knocks him to the ground with an uppercut. Neji lectures himself for falling for Naruto's signature jutsu, but Naruto tells him that creating even regular clones was once his worst technique, but he was able to master an even higher level of cloning by practicing. Neji was told by Naruto that if a "failure" like him was able to change his destiny, he could do so as well.
With this example of overcoming "destiny" as well as finding out the truth about his father's death soon afterwards, Neji abandons the concept of inescapable fate. No longer bound by the idea that he is stuck at his current status, Neji resolves to become strong enough to never again lose a battle. To do so he begins putting more emphasis on working well with his team, and starts to value a mission's successful completion and his teammates' safety over his own betterment. In addition, Neji begins trying to remedy the estranged relations between himself and the main house members, most particularly by being kinder to Hinata. His efforts seem to be effective, as he begins training with Hiashi and in Part II even starts to wear traditional Hyuga robes. As another result of his loss against Naruto, Neji no longer thinks of people as failures who can never change, as he suggests that he would not have persevered in Lee's situation, and believes that if Lee works hard enough, he can surpass the gifted. Neji is glad Naruto was able to influence him to change.
Abilities
As a member of the Hyuga clan, Neji possesses the Byakugan, which gives him an almost 360-degree field of vision, save for a small blindspot at the back of the neck. Neji is acutely aware of his blind spot and takes extra caution in keeping it away from opponents as well as paying close attention to it. While the Byakugan naturally has only a 50 meter field of vision, Neji is able to increase the range of its sight several times over by the start of Part II, to around 800 meters. He is noted to have a particularly strong Byakugan in comparison to other members of the clan, perhaps surpassing all of them.
The Byakugan also allows him to specialize in the Gentle Fist fighting style, which enables him to damage an opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with even a slight tap. Neji also uses this technique to attack his opponents heart directly and send them into cardiac arrest resulting in the death of the opponent with but a single strike.
Since his time in the Ninja Academy, Neji has been held to be a natural genius, even becoming the top-ranked rookie in his class. As a member of the Hyuga clan's branch house, Neji is forbidden to learn the clan's secret techniques, but has managed to deduce their workings simply through observation. Since mastering these jutsu, Neji has begun to refine and strengthen them for more specialized needs. In the anime, the fruits of his efforts are first seen during the Sasuke Retrieval arc where he uses Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms (Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō), essentially a doubled version of the Sixty-Four Palms technique, to strike numerous targets at once. In Part II he also develops the Eight Trigrams Empty Palm (Hakke Kūshō), a more focused version of the Heavenly Spin, with which he can expel chakra from his palm to attack opponents out of his physical reach. In the Rescue Gaara arc, Neji also displays his ability when he uses Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher (Hakke Hazangeki) to defeat his enemy. While most of the former Konoha Genin become Chunin over the timeskip, Neji is the only one to become a Jonin.
Rock Lee
Profile
Age: 13-14 in Part I
16 in Part II
Date of birth: November 27
Information
Current rank: Chunin
Current affiliation: Konohagakure
Current team: Team Guy (Might Guy, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten
Background
Lee is unable to use any type of ninjutsu or genjutsu. His fellow students teased him for this handicap while he was in the Academy (calling him a 'hot blooded dropout'), though Lee ignored their words and began specializing in taijutsu, hoping to become a powerful ninja despite his inability to use standard ninja techniques. Upon being assigned to Team Guy, Might Guy took a personal interest in Lee's attempts to prove himself and began to help him in his dream of excelling in taijutsu. With Guy's assistance Lee learned many advanced taijutsu abilities, bringing him ever closer to achieving his goal of becoming a splendid ninja.
Personality
Lee is known for speaking respectfully to others and never using contractions. He also uses formal Japanese, applying proper titles ("-san", "-kun", etc.) to anyone he meets. His relationship with Guy has also caused him to acquire many of Guy's traits. Lee's green jumpsuit and shiny bowl haircut, having already had Guy's distinctive thick eyebrows (leading to the nickname of "Bushy Brow"), are direct results of his modeling himself in his sensei's image. In Part II he even begins wearing a tactical vest like Guy, the only difference being that Guy leaves his unzipped. Guy's influence has also caused the reshaping of Lee's personality, and his dedication to his promises as well as his belief that one cannot dislike food are also characteristics of Guy.
Lee has a number of other odd personality traits, though whether or not they are results of Guy's mentorship is unknown. One such trait is his apparent lack of common sense, believing at times that he can get what he wants by not wanting it. At other times, he takes copious notes, but forgets that he cannot check them during a fight. He also has a keen sense of honor and respects his opponents, refusing to hold grudges against those who have defeated him and returning favors to those that have helped him. Lee feels others should show the same respect, and is disgusted whenever someone is unnecessarily cruel to their opponent.
Lee's attempts to prove and better himself are recurring themes for his actions throughout the series. He is generally optimistic and believes that with hard work and passion, he can surpass natural genius, but can be prone to depression when faced with setbacks. His drive to succeed is initially most evident with his rivalry with Neji Hyuga, having learned from Guy that having a rival will provide incentive to succeed. Neji, a "genius," finds Lee's efforts of bettering himself to be in vain, believing Lee to be stuck as a "failure" for the rest of his life. As such, Lee resolves to prove Neji wrong, and confronts another "genius," Sasuke Uchiha in an attempt to test his worth. While Lee maintains the desire to defeat Neji in a fight throughout the Chunin Exams, after Neji's eventual defeat by Naruto Uzumaki, another "failure", he seems less interested in this goal. Neji's rejection of his previous belief in fate may also have contributed to this, as he now respects Lee, believing that he will surpass the gifted with enough work, and that he would have given up if he were in Lee's situation.
During his battle with Gaara during the Chunin Exams, Lee's attempts to prove himself have terrible consequences for him. Gaara's abilities render Lee's attempts to damage him futile, and Lee's attempts at using his more powerful techniques to defeat Gaara leave his body broken. After Gaara's attacks further damage his body, crushing his left arm and leg, Lee is left injured so badly that he can no longer pursue life as a ninja. Despite this, Lee would often sneak out of his hospital room in attempts to train. When Tsunade offers him an operation that carries a fifty percent chance of returning him to his former state, and a fifty percent chance of killing him, Lee is hesitant to accept the operation. While he can't stand the thought of not living as a ninja, he is scared by the possibility that he will die before he can fully prove himself. Through Guy's encouragement and words of dedication to him, Lee goes through with the operation and survives, causing his resolve to get stronger to only increase.
Shortly after his introduction, Lee reveals that he likes Sakura Haruno, asking her to be his girlfriend and vowing to protect her immediately after they meet. While she does not seem to share these feelings for him and considers him weird, Lee maintains these feelings throughout the Chunin Exams. At one point, he distracts himself from looking for resting Genin groups with a task of catching falling leaves, the success of which would 'prove' Sakura loves him. He purposely abandons this in order to save the life of an endangered squirrel, leading him to find Sakura, also endangered. He comes to her rescue, against three to one odds and uses forbidden techniques in an attempt to protect her, considering her someone dear to him. Sakura becomes more appreciative after this, punching Naruto whenever he insults Lee. Despite this, she does not seem to have any feelings for him, as she refers to him by the more formal "Lee-san", as opposed to "Lee-kun". The only apparent return of his feelings is when she brings him a bouquet of flowers while he is in the hospital to wish him well, catching him when he trips and falls in reaching for them, and in her gentle wishes and telling him that if he ever needs anything all he has to do is ask, which moves him nearly to the point of tears. After the Exams' conclusion, Lee's interest in Sakura goes largely unaddressed. Despite this, when Naruto fights Lee in the Lee's Dojo arc, he transforms into Sakura, causing Lee to forget about the fight long enough for Naruto to attack him, and in Part II, he is especially pleased that Sakura is doing well against Sasori.
Abilities
Guy's leadership has also influenced Lee's training habits, which, coupled with his hard-working resolve, has allowed Lee to rapidly improve. When making a promise, for example, Lee assigns himself arduous tasks to complete in the event that he doesn't provide. For example, he promises himself that if he cannot do a certain number of exercises in a row, he will have to do a larger number of other exercises- as he usually barely fails each goal, he trains for a long period of time. Since Guy began training him, Lee has worn heavy weights on his ankles, increasing his strength at the cost of inhibiting his speed to levels that his peers still consider quite fast. Upon removing the weights, Lee's speed vastly increases, making it almost impossible to see his movements with the unaided eye. As such, the removal of his weights is a huge trump card for Lee, and in most situations doing so can all but guarantee victory. Lee has trained so extensively he can run and even fight while unconscious, using nothing but pure muscle memory. Over the timeskip he becomes a Chunin, indicating his training has paid off well.
Through Guy's teachings, Lee has learned many powerful taijutsu techniques. The most basic of these is his Strong Fist style of combat, a martial art style focusing on external damage. Lee has also learned how to open the first five of eight chakra gates, a feat that is difficult for even the most talented ninja. Because of the danger to his body that gates' power presents, Lee is only permitted to open them in certain circumstances (such as life-or-death situations, protecting someone dear, or defending his way of the ninja). Lee has also learned or developed a number of taijutsu techniques that take advantage of the extreme power and speed he gains from opening chakra gates.
Lee has manifested a natural predisposition towards the Drunken Fist (Suiken), a unique battle style that can't be learned or taught and is reminiscent of the actual Zui Quan martial art. When he drinks as little as one drop of alcohol, he becomes an unpredictable and unstoppable force of destruction and chaos. His actions while drunk are usually a combination of misguided attempts to impress Guy, regardless of whether or not Guy is around, and he drunkenly attacks any friend or foe that is near him. When drunk, his moves have an extra edge of unpredictability to them, which when coupled with his already formidable taijutsu skills makes him a force to be reckoned with. Guy explains that after Lee accidentally drank a small amount of sake, he proceeded to demolish the pub they were in, and it took the combined efforts of Guy and Neji to hold him down without harming him.
Tenten
Age: 131-142 in Part I, 16 in Part II
Current rank: Chunin
Seiyu: Yukari Tamura
Voice actor: Danielle Judovits
Tenten (Tenten) is the least seen member of the primary Konoha ninja. The only battle she has in the first part of the manga is almost entirely skipped, with the anime's rendition of the same battle being slightly more drawn out to fill the gap between the battle's start and her defeat. What is known of Tenten is that she strongly believes that female ninja can be just as skilled as male ninja. As such, her goal in life is to someday be as great as Tsunade. Because neither Tenten nor Neji can train on the same level as Might Guy or Lee (nor do they even want to), the two are usually seen together having more "normal" training sessions. As a result, Tenten has come to hold Neji's abilities in high regard.
Tenten specializes in weaponry, and according to Guy she can hit a bullseye 100 out of 100 times, although strong winds can deflect her attacks. Tenten's accuracy seems to have allowed her extra benefits, as the anime's Konoha 11 arc shows her to be a keen observer that can pick up on facts others overlook. In battle she summons varying types of weapons from the scrolls she carries with her. In Part I she has many scrolls that serve this purpose, but in Part II she has consolidated her arsenal into a single large scroll. The weapons predominately consist of steel projectiles and an assortment of close-combat weapons, though she is seen using a crossbow in the anime and even a spiked bomb in Part II. Tenten's most powerful technique is Twin Rising Dragons (Sōshōryū, English TV "Rising Twin Dragons"), which rapidly summons dozens of weapons that she can throw at opponents in quick succession and then controls them with wire for continued attacks. She frequently uses this ability to help Neji train with his Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. In Part II she begins using Dragon Scattering Destruction (Sōryū Tensakai), which drastically increases the number of weapons thrown.
