Profile Meme
[Player Name] Infinity, Infy
[AIM] Infinity Pikachu
[Timezone/Availability] GMT -6 (Central Time U.S.). But with the hours I keep, which are ridiculous, you can probably get a decent chance of seeing me any time of day.
[Character Name] Maito Gai
[Canon] Naruto (Shippuden/Part II, manga/anime blend)
[Point Taken from Canon] Manga chapter 441
[Age] 30
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] (Blame Kuri for this one ♥)
~*~LOVE IS IN THE AIR~*~!
Anywhere and everywhere!
There's no need to feel ashamed--
When you love the world, noone lays blame!
Love everyone passionately, be loved in return;
When you love all, then noone gets burned!
When you're in love with someone, pure and true,
Then surely they'll start to love you, too!
The more you give, the more you get,
So why aren't you out spreading love yet?
Don't be stinting, don't by shy!
For a good time, come see Gai! ♥
[Eye Color] Black
[Hair Color] Black
[Height] 6'0"
[Other] His magnificently shiny teeth and bowl cut! Also, check out that tan~
[Clothing] The spandex. Oh GOD, the green spandex. Words can not do it justice, therefore: here it is. Also, there are poofy, orange-striped legwarmers that come nearly to his knees, and navy blue sandals.
[Background] Maito Gai was born fourteen years before the Kyuubi (an immense, tremendously powerful fox demon) attacked his home village of Konohagakure, into an era of fierce war: the Third Great Ninja War, which pitted his homeland, the Fire Country, against Earth Country. Though for some reason he considers himself a loser as a child, he was an extremely quick study, entering Academy at the traditional six years of age, and graduating a year later at seven years old. He was promoted to the rank of chuunin at eleven years old, and sometime after this became a jounin, as he accepted the position of being a team sensei at age twenty-five. At some point during all of this, he and Kakashi met and became Eternal Rivals--even if the rivalry seems blatantly one-sided.
This team consisted of Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee--respectively the number one rookie of his class, a kunoichi with a knack for weaponry..... and a no-talent, dead-last, spirited loser, who completely lacked the physical capacity to mold chakra, and thus perform ninjutsu or genjutsu of any sort. How he managed to graduate, nobody was sure, but he had made it his dream to prove that he could become an excellent ninja despite his disability. Recognizing a bit of himself (and not just the eyebrows) and his own "loser" status during his youth in the boy, Gai promised to devote his life to training him and helping him to achieve his goal, sealing the promise with a Nice Guy Pose to elevate it to the status of an unbreakable vow, to be upheld unto even death itself. The team trained together for a good year and a half, growing greatly in teamwork and skill; Lee developed from a no-account, talentless kid into a formidable taijutsu user and worthy opponent, as well as a spitting image of his sensei, Tenten became deadly accurate at ranged combat and proficient in a great variety of weapons, and Neji put his genius to work self-teaching himself the secrets of the Main House that had never been divulged to him. Neji and Lee also developed a fierce and perhaps slightly one-sided rivalry, as their ideologies clashed, something that distressed Gai even though he could do nothing about it.
He followed his team's progress through the Chuunin Exams with pride, alarm, and disappointment--Neji cruelly beat down Hinata's hopes and dreams even as he crushed her body, Tenten was defeated by a callous Temari, and a somewhat crazed Gaara maimed Lee to the point where it was doubtful he could ever work as a shinobi again. Gai rescued Lee before he could be killed outright, bewildering Gaara by his show of love and altruism, even though he was heartbroken for Lee's loss. He rescued Lee from Gaara again a month later in the hospital, and brought the crippled boy to watch the final test of the Chuunin Exams with him; when the Sunagakure and Otogakure forces began their invasion, he helped Kakashi in the effort to drive them back, treating even such dire circumstances as a competition. Not long after the Chuunin Exams, Gai helped rescue Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai from a set of Akatsuki members, Kisame and Itachi. He attempted to follow and dispatch them, only to arrive too late; instead, all he accomplished was kicking the legendary Jiraiya, providing Naruto with a green spandex jumpsuit, and bringing an injured Sasuke back to Konoha.
Tsunade was returned to Konoha and instated as the Godaime Hokage, and examined Lee, declaring that he needed a dangerous surgery that would give him back his capacity to be a shinobi, though the survival rate for such a delicate procedure was only 50% at best. After a tearful heart-to-heart, Gai convinced Lee to take the surgery, assuring him that it was only another obstacle that needed to be overcome by hard work--and that if by some chance it failed, he would commit suicide to die with him, as he had promised nearly two years ago that he would dedicate his life to teaching Lee. Fortunately for them both, the surgery was a success, and both survived the ordeal. Over the next three years and change, Gai and his team recovered, trained, and grew in strength and skill--and rank, as the entire team not only made the leap to chuunin, but Neji became a jounin in his own right.
When the Akatsuki kidnapped Gaara and killed him by extracting the bijuu within him, Gai and his team were sent to serve as back up for Naruto, Sakura, Chiyo, (a retired Sunagakure ninja) and Kakashi. Gai and his team were forced to face off with a body-double of Kisame with 30% of his chakra; Gai was soon forced to fight him alone, as the rest of his team was captured in water prisons, dividing Kisame's body-double's allotted chakra into quarters. It was a tense fight which Gai very nearly lost, but after both using his nunchaku and opening six of his eight Gates, he managed to defeat Kisame with a technique called Morning Peacock, in which he moved so quickly his fist was set ablaze through pure friction, air resistance, and speed. After discovering that this was not the real Kisame, they met up with Kakashi's team, who had to face off against a body-double of Itachi; Gai's team helped open the seal protecting the Akatsuki base, and consequently were forced to fight doubles of themselves while Naruto's team fought the Akatsuki and rescued Gaara's corpse. Gaara was revived by Chiyo sacrificing her life, and the Konoha ninjas were soon ready to go home; thanks to Kakashi being extremely weakened from his battle, Gai pulled him onto his back to carry him to Konoha, a feat which Neji flatly refused to allow Lee to duplicate with him.
Some months later, Gai and his team were returning to Konoha from a mission to discover that Pein had ravaged and destroyed the village, and dealt nearly fatal wounds to Hinata. The team immediately rushed to reach Sakura to allow her to heal Hinata--unfortunately, in his haste to get Hinata to proper medical care, Gai stumbled on a piece of rubble, tripping and hitting his head. He woke up in Somarium only minutes later, sporting a raging headache and moderate concussion for his troubles, with Hinata and his team nowhere in sight.
[Personality] A splash of color. A ray of sunshine. A burst of passion. A cloudless sky.
Gai is the one man that nobody seems to understand, because he tries to explain himself and demonstrate who he is to all he meets. In a series filled with riddles wrapped in mysteries wrapped in enigmas, he is the open book who wears his heart on his sleeve, bewildering all who try and look underneath the underneath, certain that this transparency must hide something more.
There is nothing more than Gai himself. He's a man of pure passions and pure intent, throwing his entire being into every endeavor, holding nothing back, whether it's honesty, emotions, effort, or risk. He doesn't believe in doing things half-heartedly, and failure and giving up are not concepts he seems capable of accepting, or even understanding at times--there is no such thing, only temporary setbacks and obstacles to overcome, opportunities to seize. He doesn't believe in limits or potential, because one would imply the other--there is no such thing as a set amount of potential, only the boundless capacity for growth and change, and the will to do so. Where someone stands in terms of ability is a single point on an infinite scale, ready to be advanced down. This determination, this pure willpower, this unshakable passion to forever strive and move forward is something that defines him. Yes, sometimes he is (very) oblivious, and yes, his memory is not all that it probably should be, because he doesn't want to look back. Pining for what we've lost and living out our regrets is pointless and draining, and so he simply prefers to surge ahead to bigger and better things. He cherishes what he has, he loves to live, and he always wishes, hopes, and dreams for something better--and then moves to make it a reality. There's no excuse to settle for anything but the very best--and since one can never be the very best they can possibly be, one should never settle and stop trying.
It's partially this refusal to hold anything back that makes him so strange. Gai never restrains his emotions or compassion, even going so far as to break down sobbing in front of an entire arena full of people because of how touched he was by his student's diligence. He is honest and open to a fault, pure and innocent in a way that very few can remain for long, even after growing up during the horrors of wartime; he is entirely uncalculating, and thus, often bewilderingly unpredictable, as people following their hearts tend to be. He dreams, he wishes, he hopes, he lives, he loves, and he feels in an extremely vivid way, unshadowed by loss or regret--he refuses to allow himself to regret, by making only choices that he can be proud of, and sees the good, humanity, and capacity for greatness in everyone and everything. Every cloud has a silver lining--and if it doesn't, he will provide one, with his My Rules philosophy. By imposing restrictions and punishments on himself, he inspires himself to even greater heights and breaks through barriers, turning a defeat into a beneficial experience that will allow him to become even better than he already is. This includes promises; Gai values honesty, honor, and being dependable, and so has a high form of promises that he upholds even unto death, signifying their status as an unbreakable vow by making them with a Nice Guy Pose--a wink, thumbs up, and tooth-glinting smile.
This dependability and attentiveness leads to some incredible loyalty; Gai never betrays his precious people, ever. He will punish them, advise them, hurt or discomfort them for their own good, drag them on insane antics, lecture them to try and provoke inspiration and understanding, even harass them on a nigh-daily basis for years on end..... but he never betrays them, nor will he abandon them. He's one of the few adults in his world who always takes time out for his students and friends, showering them with affection and attention, guiding them every step of the way and doing everything in his power to help them become great--because after all, his strength is theirs, and theirs is his, and there is no shame for him in devoting himself utterly to helping someone, or in taking someone as an inspiration to push himself further along. He takes without taking, gives without asking or being asked, and proves that strength and competition don't have to be zero-sum games. He has unwavering confidence and determination, steely resolve, boundless faith. He believes. And he impacts others with that belief, and by trying to get them to believe, as well.
All of this, all of himself, what makes Gai uniquely him, is what he has cultivated over the majority of his life. He has worked hard for everything, including his personality; by no means is he stupid just because he can be oblivious. Gai is an intelligent, philosophical man, who seldom shows these facets of himself in ways that people recognize, because he's too busy expressing them and his morals in their practical forms--which just so happen to end up typically being flamboyant, joyful, carefree actions which tend to provoke either incredulity, facepalming, or lots of humor. Unlike his prized student, who could be considered a young man who became far too mature before he was supposed to, Gai is an adult who has retained, in some ways, the eyes and heart of a child.
After all, if he hadn't hung onto them, how else could he harness THE POWER OF YOUTH?
[Specialties/Abilities] Maito Gai is one of Konohagakure's top jounin, the most elite rank of ninja one can attain, (barring the position of Hokage) and the leading expert in taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) in the entire village. Through grueling self-punishment and relentless training he has become extremely proficient at weaponry and armed combat, and gained nearly unparalleled strength, speed, stamina, and that allow him to utilize Strong Fist (a taijutsu style) to its utmost potential. His speed is such that he seems to vanish completely to the unaided eye, and he is strong enough to slam a fully-grown man through a wall with ease, without needing to enhance the blow with chakra. His favored weapon is nunchaku, though he seldom uses them unless the situation is dire, preferring to fight bare-handed.
This intense training has also allowed him to learn how to not only open at least six of the Eight Inner Gates, a difficult task for even the most talented ninja, but to come through the experience suffering nothing more than extreme exhaustion, which he recovers from fairly quickly. The Eight Inner Gates are a system of internal checks and balances, restraints that one's body imposes on itself to prevent its full potential from being used, to keep the body from becoming too damaged. The gates increase one's abilities exponentially, at the cost of harming those who use them--it's said that opening the eighth gate will temporarily grant power greater than a Hokage's, but cause death afterwards.
Though Gai prefers to only use taijutsu, he is fully capable of using other ninja arts--as a jounin, it can be presumed that he is potentially well-versed in at least two elements. He also has been shown to be capable of summoning tortoises--or at least, one massive red ninja tortoise, who watches over his student, Lee, when Gai isn't around. He is also an extremely intelligent and analytical fighter, easily able to adapt to difficult situations and counter even seemingly unbeatable techniques, showcased by the fact that he is the only character in the series to have an even somewhat reliable counter-system to fight the sharingan with. He is adept at studying the movements of people's feet and legs, and from this predicting their attacks, to keep himself from being able to accidentally get caught in eye contact with a sharingan user.
[Affection] Just about anything is allowed--and, in fact, might very well be reciprocated! He is particularly prone to things like bear hugs, shoulder/back pats, hair ruffling for younger people, and speaking glowingly with affection towards other people. He's got no problem at all with more intimate stuff--though he does prefer to at least know someone, first. Don't spring it on him with no warning, though surprise tackle-hugs and the like are perfectly acceptable.
[Fighting] Yes to it all! Just discuss it with me first, so we can plot OOCly. ♥ He isn't prone to picking serious fights, though he does have a tendency to sometimes ask for sparring, or issue absurd challenges, so be forewarned--they can be as varied as sumo wrestling, armed combat, eating competitions, foot races, and paper-scissors-rock matches. He does happen to be really good at fighting though, especially hand-to-hand combat.
[Other Facts]
- Gai has no fashion sense. AT ALL. (As you can see.)
- Gai's teeth sparkle, audibly so. (Like so.)
- Causality and general environmental features tend to shift, or even warp entirely, for brief periods around Gai--generally only in times of emotional expression and when being motivational. (Around 3:30 to 4:10, and 4:30 to 4:50 or so.)
[AIM] Infinity Pikachu
[Timezone/Availability] GMT -6 (Central Time U.S.). But with the hours I keep, which are ridiculous, you can probably get a decent chance of seeing me any time of day.
[Character Name] Maito Gai
[Canon] Naruto (Shippuden/Part II, manga/anime blend)
[Point Taken from Canon] Manga chapter 441
[Age] 30
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] (Blame Kuri for this one ♥)
~*~LOVE IS IN THE AIR~*~!
Anywhere and everywhere!
There's no need to feel ashamed--
When you love the world, noone lays blame!
Love everyone passionately, be loved in return;
When you love all, then noone gets burned!
When you're in love with someone, pure and true,
Then surely they'll start to love you, too!
The more you give, the more you get,
So why aren't you out spreading love yet?
Don't be stinting, don't by shy!
For a good time, come see Gai! ♥
[Eye Color] Black
[Hair Color] Black
[Height] 6'0"
[Other] His magnificently shiny teeth and bowl cut! Also, check out that tan~
[Clothing] The spandex. Oh GOD, the green spandex. Words can not do it justice, therefore: here it is. Also, there are poofy, orange-striped legwarmers that come nearly to his knees, and navy blue sandals.
[Background] Maito Gai was born fourteen years before the Kyuubi (an immense, tremendously powerful fox demon) attacked his home village of Konohagakure, into an era of fierce war: the Third Great Ninja War, which pitted his homeland, the Fire Country, against Earth Country. Though for some reason he considers himself a loser as a child, he was an extremely quick study, entering Academy at the traditional six years of age, and graduating a year later at seven years old. He was promoted to the rank of chuunin at eleven years old, and sometime after this became a jounin, as he accepted the position of being a team sensei at age twenty-five. At some point during all of this, he and Kakashi met and became Eternal Rivals--even if the rivalry seems blatantly one-sided.
This team consisted of Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee--respectively the number one rookie of his class, a kunoichi with a knack for weaponry..... and a no-talent, dead-last, spirited loser, who completely lacked the physical capacity to mold chakra, and thus perform ninjutsu or genjutsu of any sort. How he managed to graduate, nobody was sure, but he had made it his dream to prove that he could become an excellent ninja despite his disability. Recognizing a bit of himself (and not just the eyebrows) and his own "loser" status during his youth in the boy, Gai promised to devote his life to training him and helping him to achieve his goal, sealing the promise with a Nice Guy Pose to elevate it to the status of an unbreakable vow, to be upheld unto even death itself. The team trained together for a good year and a half, growing greatly in teamwork and skill; Lee developed from a no-account, talentless kid into a formidable taijutsu user and worthy opponent, as well as a spitting image of his sensei, Tenten became deadly accurate at ranged combat and proficient in a great variety of weapons, and Neji put his genius to work self-teaching himself the secrets of the Main House that had never been divulged to him. Neji and Lee also developed a fierce and perhaps slightly one-sided rivalry, as their ideologies clashed, something that distressed Gai even though he could do nothing about it.
He followed his team's progress through the Chuunin Exams with pride, alarm, and disappointment--Neji cruelly beat down Hinata's hopes and dreams even as he crushed her body, Tenten was defeated by a callous Temari, and a somewhat crazed Gaara maimed Lee to the point where it was doubtful he could ever work as a shinobi again. Gai rescued Lee before he could be killed outright, bewildering Gaara by his show of love and altruism, even though he was heartbroken for Lee's loss. He rescued Lee from Gaara again a month later in the hospital, and brought the crippled boy to watch the final test of the Chuunin Exams with him; when the Sunagakure and Otogakure forces began their invasion, he helped Kakashi in the effort to drive them back, treating even such dire circumstances as a competition. Not long after the Chuunin Exams, Gai helped rescue Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai from a set of Akatsuki members, Kisame and Itachi. He attempted to follow and dispatch them, only to arrive too late; instead, all he accomplished was kicking the legendary Jiraiya, providing Naruto with a green spandex jumpsuit, and bringing an injured Sasuke back to Konoha.
Tsunade was returned to Konoha and instated as the Godaime Hokage, and examined Lee, declaring that he needed a dangerous surgery that would give him back his capacity to be a shinobi, though the survival rate for such a delicate procedure was only 50% at best. After a tearful heart-to-heart, Gai convinced Lee to take the surgery, assuring him that it was only another obstacle that needed to be overcome by hard work--and that if by some chance it failed, he would commit suicide to die with him, as he had promised nearly two years ago that he would dedicate his life to teaching Lee. Fortunately for them both, the surgery was a success, and both survived the ordeal. Over the next three years and change, Gai and his team recovered, trained, and grew in strength and skill--and rank, as the entire team not only made the leap to chuunin, but Neji became a jounin in his own right.
When the Akatsuki kidnapped Gaara and killed him by extracting the bijuu within him, Gai and his team were sent to serve as back up for Naruto, Sakura, Chiyo, (a retired Sunagakure ninja) and Kakashi. Gai and his team were forced to face off with a body-double of Kisame with 30% of his chakra; Gai was soon forced to fight him alone, as the rest of his team was captured in water prisons, dividing Kisame's body-double's allotted chakra into quarters. It was a tense fight which Gai very nearly lost, but after both using his nunchaku and opening six of his eight Gates, he managed to defeat Kisame with a technique called Morning Peacock, in which he moved so quickly his fist was set ablaze through pure friction, air resistance, and speed. After discovering that this was not the real Kisame, they met up with Kakashi's team, who had to face off against a body-double of Itachi; Gai's team helped open the seal protecting the Akatsuki base, and consequently were forced to fight doubles of themselves while Naruto's team fought the Akatsuki and rescued Gaara's corpse. Gaara was revived by Chiyo sacrificing her life, and the Konoha ninjas were soon ready to go home; thanks to Kakashi being extremely weakened from his battle, Gai pulled him onto his back to carry him to Konoha, a feat which Neji flatly refused to allow Lee to duplicate with him.
Some months later, Gai and his team were returning to Konoha from a mission to discover that Pein had ravaged and destroyed the village, and dealt nearly fatal wounds to Hinata. The team immediately rushed to reach Sakura to allow her to heal Hinata--unfortunately, in his haste to get Hinata to proper medical care, Gai stumbled on a piece of rubble, tripping and hitting his head. He woke up in Somarium only minutes later, sporting a raging headache and moderate concussion for his troubles, with Hinata and his team nowhere in sight.
[Personality] A splash of color. A ray of sunshine. A burst of passion. A cloudless sky.
Gai is the one man that nobody seems to understand, because he tries to explain himself and demonstrate who he is to all he meets. In a series filled with riddles wrapped in mysteries wrapped in enigmas, he is the open book who wears his heart on his sleeve, bewildering all who try and look underneath the underneath, certain that this transparency must hide something more.
There is nothing more than Gai himself. He's a man of pure passions and pure intent, throwing his entire being into every endeavor, holding nothing back, whether it's honesty, emotions, effort, or risk. He doesn't believe in doing things half-heartedly, and failure and giving up are not concepts he seems capable of accepting, or even understanding at times--there is no such thing, only temporary setbacks and obstacles to overcome, opportunities to seize. He doesn't believe in limits or potential, because one would imply the other--there is no such thing as a set amount of potential, only the boundless capacity for growth and change, and the will to do so. Where someone stands in terms of ability is a single point on an infinite scale, ready to be advanced down. This determination, this pure willpower, this unshakable passion to forever strive and move forward is something that defines him. Yes, sometimes he is (very) oblivious, and yes, his memory is not all that it probably should be, because he doesn't want to look back. Pining for what we've lost and living out our regrets is pointless and draining, and so he simply prefers to surge ahead to bigger and better things. He cherishes what he has, he loves to live, and he always wishes, hopes, and dreams for something better--and then moves to make it a reality. There's no excuse to settle for anything but the very best--and since one can never be the very best they can possibly be, one should never settle and stop trying.
It's partially this refusal to hold anything back that makes him so strange. Gai never restrains his emotions or compassion, even going so far as to break down sobbing in front of an entire arena full of people because of how touched he was by his student's diligence. He is honest and open to a fault, pure and innocent in a way that very few can remain for long, even after growing up during the horrors of wartime; he is entirely uncalculating, and thus, often bewilderingly unpredictable, as people following their hearts tend to be. He dreams, he wishes, he hopes, he lives, he loves, and he feels in an extremely vivid way, unshadowed by loss or regret--he refuses to allow himself to regret, by making only choices that he can be proud of, and sees the good, humanity, and capacity for greatness in everyone and everything. Every cloud has a silver lining--and if it doesn't, he will provide one, with his My Rules philosophy. By imposing restrictions and punishments on himself, he inspires himself to even greater heights and breaks through barriers, turning a defeat into a beneficial experience that will allow him to become even better than he already is. This includes promises; Gai values honesty, honor, and being dependable, and so has a high form of promises that he upholds even unto death, signifying their status as an unbreakable vow by making them with a Nice Guy Pose--a wink, thumbs up, and tooth-glinting smile.
This dependability and attentiveness leads to some incredible loyalty; Gai never betrays his precious people, ever. He will punish them, advise them, hurt or discomfort them for their own good, drag them on insane antics, lecture them to try and provoke inspiration and understanding, even harass them on a nigh-daily basis for years on end..... but he never betrays them, nor will he abandon them. He's one of the few adults in his world who always takes time out for his students and friends, showering them with affection and attention, guiding them every step of the way and doing everything in his power to help them become great--because after all, his strength is theirs, and theirs is his, and there is no shame for him in devoting himself utterly to helping someone, or in taking someone as an inspiration to push himself further along. He takes without taking, gives without asking or being asked, and proves that strength and competition don't have to be zero-sum games. He has unwavering confidence and determination, steely resolve, boundless faith. He believes. And he impacts others with that belief, and by trying to get them to believe, as well.
All of this, all of himself, what makes Gai uniquely him, is what he has cultivated over the majority of his life. He has worked hard for everything, including his personality; by no means is he stupid just because he can be oblivious. Gai is an intelligent, philosophical man, who seldom shows these facets of himself in ways that people recognize, because he's too busy expressing them and his morals in their practical forms--which just so happen to end up typically being flamboyant, joyful, carefree actions which tend to provoke either incredulity, facepalming, or lots of humor. Unlike his prized student, who could be considered a young man who became far too mature before he was supposed to, Gai is an adult who has retained, in some ways, the eyes and heart of a child.
After all, if he hadn't hung onto them, how else could he harness THE POWER OF YOUTH?
[Specialties/Abilities] Maito Gai is one of Konohagakure's top jounin, the most elite rank of ninja one can attain, (barring the position of Hokage) and the leading expert in taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) in the entire village. Through grueling self-punishment and relentless training he has become extremely proficient at weaponry and armed combat, and gained nearly unparalleled strength, speed, stamina, and that allow him to utilize Strong Fist (a taijutsu style) to its utmost potential. His speed is such that he seems to vanish completely to the unaided eye, and he is strong enough to slam a fully-grown man through a wall with ease, without needing to enhance the blow with chakra. His favored weapon is nunchaku, though he seldom uses them unless the situation is dire, preferring to fight bare-handed.
This intense training has also allowed him to learn how to not only open at least six of the Eight Inner Gates, a difficult task for even the most talented ninja, but to come through the experience suffering nothing more than extreme exhaustion, which he recovers from fairly quickly. The Eight Inner Gates are a system of internal checks and balances, restraints that one's body imposes on itself to prevent its full potential from being used, to keep the body from becoming too damaged. The gates increase one's abilities exponentially, at the cost of harming those who use them--it's said that opening the eighth gate will temporarily grant power greater than a Hokage's, but cause death afterwards.
Though Gai prefers to only use taijutsu, he is fully capable of using other ninja arts--as a jounin, it can be presumed that he is potentially well-versed in at least two elements. He also has been shown to be capable of summoning tortoises--or at least, one massive red ninja tortoise, who watches over his student, Lee, when Gai isn't around. He is also an extremely intelligent and analytical fighter, easily able to adapt to difficult situations and counter even seemingly unbeatable techniques, showcased by the fact that he is the only character in the series to have an even somewhat reliable counter-system to fight the sharingan with. He is adept at studying the movements of people's feet and legs, and from this predicting their attacks, to keep himself from being able to accidentally get caught in eye contact with a sharingan user.
[Affection] Just about anything is allowed--and, in fact, might very well be reciprocated! He is particularly prone to things like bear hugs, shoulder/back pats, hair ruffling for younger people, and speaking glowingly with affection towards other people. He's got no problem at all with more intimate stuff--though he does prefer to at least know someone, first. Don't spring it on him with no warning, though surprise tackle-hugs and the like are perfectly acceptable.
[Fighting] Yes to it all! Just discuss it with me first, so we can plot OOCly. ♥ He isn't prone to picking serious fights, though he does have a tendency to sometimes ask for sparring, or issue absurd challenges, so be forewarned--they can be as varied as sumo wrestling, armed combat, eating competitions, foot races, and paper-scissors-rock matches. He does happen to be really good at fighting though, especially hand-to-hand combat.
[Other Facts]
- Gai has no fashion sense. AT ALL. (As you can see.)
- Gai's teeth sparkle, audibly so. (Like so.)
- Causality and general environmental features tend to shift, or even warp entirely, for brief periods around Gai--generally only in times of emotional expression and when being motivational. (Around 3:30 to 4:10, and 4:30 to 4:50 or so.)