"What," Sasuke said again, flatly, because it was apparent that Lee had bulldozed directly over the logical explanation and gone straight for the -- something. He wasn't sure what. The only thing he was sure of was that he was, for the first time, grateful that Gai had the advantage of age to know when he was being completely illogical.

"I'm not trying to ... what?" He replayed some of the words in his head, tried to make sense of them, and decided it was giving him a headache. "I'm not trying to woo Hinata; I'm just bringing her a gift because I wasn't here for her birthday."

A beat, and then with as much enunciation as he could muster, he clarified: "Because I'm her friend and teammate. Not because of romance. There is no romance between Hinata and me."