Maito Gai, as a child, felt the weight of his father's shame as the " eternal genin". He wanted people to stop mocking his papa, so he trained to become the strongest.
The one thing that depressed me about this- is the anime and manga consistently portray a very young Gai as frowning or scowling. He's rarely shown smiling, honestly only when interacting with Kakashi. He's bitter. He's trying to protect his Papa from shame. That one post I reblogged earlier showing Gai cheering and "happy blush" smiling when Kakashi graduates from the academy is one of the few times we see baby Gai smiling.
That scene where he is in the hospital after getting beat up...he looks so old. He's barely 5, and he has this "middle age man" look to him.
Gai was training his body to its limit at just 5. That scene Where Obito, Rin, Kakashi, etc are playing ( the one where Sakumo comes to walk Kakashi home after), Gai is missing. He wasn't playing like most 5 year olds. He was training.
Young!Gai is shown with a strangely thin, gaunt face. While Genma and Kurenei have soft faces to signify that they are kids ( Genma is actually 2-3 years older than Gai) ,Gai looks like he was carved out of flint. He was training his body so hard, he couldn't hold onto body fat ( he's clearly well fed, so that can't be the issue.)
When we see him get his first briefing with Akimichi Choza, Gai has this hard, determined look on his face. He looks older than Genma and Ebisu, who both have soft, childish faces and more laid back demeanors.
Gai lost the softness of childhood so early. Kakashi had 7 or so years of Being Sakumo's golden Boy, Gai came from the bottom. He was never happy as a child.
And the worst part is, Dai didn't WANT Gai to carry this burden. He wanted his boy to just be his boy, and not try to defend Dai's honor. But Gai loved his Papa, and burdened himself with defending him anyway. Proving the Maito family are not losers. His dad didn't want to burden his beloved little boy. But he was burdened anyway.