Host: Rock Lee
Age: 14
Rank: Experienced Genin
Skills: Taijutsu B (38,500/100,000), Ninjutsu F (0.290/10), Genjutsu F (0.290/10), Shurikenjutsu C (4,200/10,000), Chakra Control B (22,000/100,000), Nunchaku Mastery B (12,500/100,000), Teaching C (369/10,000), Muscle Mimicry C (7,013/10,000), Bojutsu C (5,123/10,000), Chain Mastery C (3,999/10,000), Drunken Fist C (849/10,000), Eight Gates C (5,738/10,000)
Unique Skills: Body Supremacy Jutsu, Chakra Enhanced Strength
Equipment: Customized Weights, Might Suit, Shinobi Tools (Kunai, Shuriken, Flash Bomb, Smoke Bomb, Explosive Tags)
"Hey! Hey, did you hear?" Lee's enthusiastic voice carried across the training grounds. Tenten was casually tossing a kunai up and down while it spun, catching it on just one finger and then restarting. The weapon rotated quickly. Neji had his arms crossed, looking into the distance.
"For the first time in five years, there are going to be rookies in this chunin exam!" Lee shared the information he'd gathered that morning with barely contained excitement. His eyes were bright as he leaned against a tree.
"No way!" Tenten's response was skeptical, her tone suggesting she thought Lee had either misheard or was being pranked. The kunai continued its lazy rotation on her finger, the motion so practiced she didn't need to look at it. "It's probably just some stubborn jonin trying to boost their egos."
There was logic to her skepticism. The Chunin Exams were notoriously brutal, with mortality rates that made even experienced genin think twice about participating. Recommending rookies, fresh graduates with less than a year of field experience, was considered irresponsible by most instructors. The conventional wisdom was to let genin mature through missions, to season them with at least a year or two of real-world experience before throwing them into the exams' meat grinder.
"No, there is more to the story than that. Three of them are the students of Kakashi Hatake!" Lee's follow-up carried significant weight. He delivered the information with the air of someone revealing a crucial piece of intelligence, his voice dropping slightly as if sharing a secret. "Our sensei's eternal rival!"
That detail changed everything. Kakashi Hatake wasn't just any jonin instructor. He was a legend in his own right, renowned throughout the village and beyond. The Copy Ninja, wielder of the Sharingan despite not being born into the Uchiha Clan, a man whose reputation was built on thousands of copied techniques and countless successful missions. If Kakashi was recommending rookies for the exams, that suggested these weren't ordinary fresh graduates or his reputation was more exaggerated than it should be.
"That sounds interesting." Neji spoke up for the first time in the conversation.
"But not very." Tenten tossed a kunai, perfectly splitting a hung doll in half.
Neji's pale eyes showed a flicker of genuine interest. "But in the end, you have to feel sorry for them."
Rookies, no matter how talented or well-trained, would be facing them. The gap between Academy graduates and their squad wasn't even quantifiable, large enough that even talent couldn't bridge it.
...
Sometime later on the day of the Chunin Exams, Team Guy made their way to the appropriate building to participate. The hallways were more crowded than usual, filled with genin from Konoha and visiting shinobi from allied villages. Teams clustered together, some reviewing last-minute strategies in hushed tones, others sizing up potential opponents with pointed stares.
When Team 3 arrived at what should have been the entrance to room 301, the designated registration point for exam participants, they found themselves stopped by two chunin standing guard at the door. The chunin were older than most of the genin present, probably in their early twenties.
"Hello! We are here to turn our papers in to participate in the Chunin Exams!" Rock Lee greeted the two guards with his characteristic bright enthusiasm, his smile genuine and welcoming. He held out his registration papers, ready to complete this administrative step and move forward to the actual exam. In Lee's worldview, these were fellow Konoha shinobi, there was no reason not to be friendly and courteous.
"Go kick rocks, kid." One of the two chunin replied with casual dismissiveness, looking down at Lee with an expression that mixed contempt and boredom.
Lee's smile faltered slightly, confusion replacing his initial enthusiasm. He glanced up at the number displayed above the door, then back at the chunin, his mind trying to reconcile the disconnect between what he'd expected and what was happening.
"Is this not room 301?" The question was genuine, tinged with self-doubt. Lee turned to his teammates, particularly to Tenten, his expression earnest and slightly panicked. "Tenten! I can read, right?!" The desperate appeal carried a vulnerability that Lee rarely showed. His inability to use ninjutsu had made him self-conscious about other potential deficiencies, always second-guessing himself when things didn't make sense. What if his reading comprehension was somehow flawed? What if he'd misread the registration instructions and brought them to the wrong place?
Tenten didn't immediately respond to Lee's question. Instead, she tilted her head back to look up at the number displayed above the door, her eyes narrowing as she studied it carefully. Her gaze traced the edges of the numbers, examined the paint, looked for inconsistencies in the visual presentation. Then she squinted, her expression shifting as realization dawned. The number looked correct, the paint was clean, the positioning appropriate, everything about it screamed 'third floor, room 301.' But something was subtly wrong with the perspective, with how the hallway felt. A genjutsu. Not a particularly sophisticated one, but effective enough to fool casual observation.
Neji, standing slightly apart from his teammates, actually scoffed audibly. The sound was quiet but dripping with derision and disappointment. He hadn't even needed to activate his Byakugan to see through the illusion. The genjutsu should've been obvious to anyone with even basic genjutsu awareness. The fact that both Tenten and Lee had initially fallen for it, even momentarily, was embarrassing.
And these were supposed to be his teammates for the Chunin Exams? The people he'd be relying on to become a chunin? Was it possible to pass on his own, Neji wondered with genuine concern. He certainly hoped so, because if the exam required significant coordination with Lee and Tenten, their chances seemed considerably worse than he'd initially calculated.
"Hmph, you should quit now, little kid." One of the chunin guards pressed him.
"Yeah, yeah." The second chunin chimed in with casual agreement.
When Lee turned back to look up at the door marked 301, taking in the continued silence of his teammates, realization finally crashed over him like a bucket of ice water. Something was definitely off here. If this truly was the correct room, Tenten and Neji would have said something, would have confirmed his reading or explained what was happening. Their silence, combined with the particularly scathing way Neji was looking at him, suggested Lee was probably doing something remarkably foolish.
Which meant this was not actually room 301, and he was completely wrong in his assessment. But the number wasn't physically painted over or covered with anything obvious, Lee could see that clearly. This looked exactly like an entrance to room 301 in every visible way. The answer clicked into place with embarrassing obviousness: genjutsu. An illusion placed on the surrounding area to make this look like the correct destination. It was actually a pretty clever screening method, Lee had to admit even as he mentally kicked himself for falling for it. Anyone who couldn't see through or at least identify a basic genjutsu probably wasn't ready for the challenges the exams would present.
"Fine! I'll quit!" Lee declared with sudden conviction, his voice carrying clearly across the hallway. Words he would never say regarding anything unless it involved utilizing ninjutsu and genjutsu.
But Lee's smile had returned, bright and genuine. He'd figured out the trick, understood that the correct response to this particular test was recognizing it was a test. Declaring he'd quit while clearly not meaning it was his way of acknowledging the genjutsu without directly challenging the chunin or making a scene.
"Listen, this is our kindness." One of the chunin guards spoke up. He addressed not just Lee but the entire crowd of aspiring genin who'd gathered in the hallway, some still convinced this was the correct room, others beginning to suspect the truth.
"The Chunin Exams isn't easy. Even we have failed it three straight times." The admission was delivered without shame, presented as a simple fact. Three attempts before succeeding wasn't uncommon for chunin candidates. The exams were designed to be brutally difficult, to push participants beyond what normal mission work required. Many genin failed multiple times before either succeeding or giving up entirely.
"Those that take this exam and end up quitting as shinobi entirely, those that die during the exam itself, those that end up crippled. We've seen it all." The words hung heavy in the air, a stark reminder of what was actually at stake. This wasn't a friendly competition or a graduation exercise. People died in the Chunin Exams. Not frequently enough to make them actively suicidal, but often enough that every participant needed to understand the risks. This was just reality.
"And chunin often become captains of shinobi cells." The other chunin picked up the explanation.
"The failure of a mission, the death of a comrade. That is all the captain's responsibility. The weight of command, the burden of making life-or-death decisions for your team, of living with the consequences when things go wrong. Yet kids like you think you can pass these exams and face that type of responsibility?" He let the question hang for a moment before continuing, his expression hardening slightly.
"We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?" The logic was sound from a certain perspective. If the genjutsu and psychological pressure could convince genin to quit before the exams proper began, those were probably genin who would have failed under the actual exam stress anyway. Better they quit now, in safety, than discover their limitations in situations where hesitation could cost lives.
"That sounds good in theory." A new voice cut through the tension, young but carrying absolute confidence. A black-haired genin emerged from the crowd, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp and calculating. "But you'd better let me through." It wasn't a request.
"And also remove this surrounding created with genjutsu. I have business on the third floor." He revealed the truth casually, confirming what the more observant genin had already suspected. This wasn't room 301. The genjutsu was creating a false designation, making the second floor appear to be the third, the wrong room seeming like the right destination.
"What's that guy talking about?"
"I don't know..."
Confused murmurs rippled through the crowd of genin still convinced they were in the right place. The revelation was disorienting, if this wasn't room 301, where was the actual registration point? How many of them had been fooled by such a basic illusion?
"Sakura, you must have noticed first, right?" The Uchiha turned to address a beautiful pink-haired girl standing nearby, his tone carrying a subtle challenge wrapped in apparent praise.
"Huh?" The girl, Sakura, apparently, seemed confused by the sudden attention, her expression suggesting she had no idea what he was talking about. But the Uchiha continued.
"You must have spotted the illusion early."
"Of course I noticed a while ago." Sakura picked up the cue smoothly, her voice gaining confidence as she played along. Whether she'd actually noticed independently or was simply accepting the credit offered didn't really matter.
"Obviously we're still on the second floor." She stated the truth plainly, and as the words left her mouth, the genjutsu shattered. The illusion maintaining the false room number dissolved like morning mist under sunlight, revealing the actual designation: room 201.
"Yup!" A yellow-haired genin standing with the Uchiha and Sakura nodded enthusiastically, his smile bright and genuine. He seemed pleased by the revelation, happy to have been part of a team that saw through the trick even if he probably hadn't personally noticed the genjutsu.
"Hmm... not bad... but all you did was see through it!" One of the chunin guards suddenly exploded into motion, his body spinning through the air. His leg whipped out in a powerful kick aimed directly at the Uchiha's head.
The Uchiha tracked the incoming strike, his body beginning to move in response. Before he could counter the chunin's kick with his own, someone else intervened.
Lee stepped between them with speed that made it seem like he'd teleported. One moment he was standing with his team several feet away, the next he was positioned perfectly to intercept both fighters. His hands came up, catching both the chunin's incoming kick and the Uchiha's kick with his palms. The impacts made solid thumping sounds, but Lee's arms didn't budge even slightly.
"Hey." Neji's voice cut across the sudden silence that had followed Lee's intervention. His tone was flat, annoyed, carrying an edge of genuine frustration. "What happened to the plan? Didn't Tenten suggest that we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves?"
Their pre-exam strategy had explicitly emphasized staying under the radar, not making waves or attracting notice before the actual tests began. The logic was sound: let other teams reveal their capabilities while Team Guy remained an unknown quantity. But Lee had just thrown that entire approach out the window by demonstrating speed and strength that marked him as someone to watch.
"Well..." Lee's response was hesitant, almost sheepish. A faint blush colored his cheeks as his eyes involuntarily glanced toward the pink-haired girl. Sakura. The pretty pink-haired girl who probably had no idea he existed until this moment.
"Oh no..." Tenten shook her head with a loud sigh, her expression mixing exasperation with resignation. She recognized that look on Lee's face, understood exactly what had motivated his intervention. He hadn't been thinking strategically or tactically, he'd been trying to impress a girl again. All their careful planning, all of Tenten's reasonable arguments for staying low-key, undone because Lee had spotted a cute kunoichi and his brain had stopped working properly.
Lee, having committed to this course of action despite its strategic foolishness, decided he might as well follow through completely. He released the two fighters he'd been restraining and walked politely and respectfully toward Sakura. He walked like he imagined how a suave, sophisticated shinobi would look like when approaching a beautiful kunoichi.
"Hi. My name is Rock Lee." He introduced himself with his brightest smile, the one that showed all his teeth and made his eyes crinkle at the corners. "I heard that guy call you Sakura..." Before he could continue his introduction, before he could deploy whatever charm offensive he'd been planning, Sakura turned away. Not just a polite dismissal or a subtle indication of disinterest, she literally turned her back on him, grabbed her teammates, and physically dragged them away from the interaction.
Lee's smile didn't fade externally, years of maintaining his enthusiastic demeanor through disappointment and rejection had given him excellent emotional control. But inside, his heart cracked slightly. Was it better to be ignored or cruelly rejected outright? Lee honestly couldn't tell. At least with explicit rejection, there was acknowledgment, a recognition that you existed even if your interest wasn't returned. Being ignored suggested you weren't even worth the effort of a polite refusal. The question occupied his thoughts for a moment before he pushed it aside, there were more important things to focus on than his failed romantic overture.
"Come on, Lee. What are you doing?" Tenten materialized at his side, her voice carrying gentle exasperation rather than genuine anger. She understood Lee's tendency toward impulsive decisions when cute girls were involved, had watched him fumble through similar situations before. Her role as teammate apparently included damage control for Lee's romantic disasters.
"You guys go ahead." Lee told his teammates with sudden conviction, his expression shifting from disappointed to determined. A mischievous smile played at the corners of his mouth, the kind of smile that suggested he was about to do something that might be brilliant or might be incredibly stupid. "There's something I'd like to test."
Neji didn't care what Lee was planning. His only concern was ensuring that whatever foolishness his teammate was about to engage in didn't somehow ruin Neji's chances of becoming a chunin. His expression made his opinion clear: do whatever you want, but don't drag me down with you.
"Make sure you show up when we need you." That was all Neji told him. It was simultaneously permission and warning: Lee was free to pursue whatever nonsense he had in mind, but he'd better not be late or absent when Team Guy needed to function as a unit.
"Don't be late doing whatever!" Tenten added her own farewell, waving goodbye with slightly more warmth than Neji had shown. She was concerned about what Lee might do, but she also trusted him enough to handle himself. Probably. Maybe. She'd worry about it if he didn't show up on time.
Once his teammates had departed for the actual third floor and room 301, Lee turned his attention fully to the departing trio of rookies. Specifically to the black-haired Uchiha. A target had presented itself, an opportunity Lee couldn't pass up.
"Hey, guy with the dark eyes." Lee called out, his voice carrying clearly across the hallway. The Uchiha stopped and turned, his expression curious rather than annoyed.
"What is it?" He responded.
"Will you fight me right here?" Lee's request was delivered with straightforward honesty.
"A fight right now?" The Uchiha seemed put off by the request, though not offended. His tone suggested genuine confusion about the timing rather than refusal based on principle. Why would someone want to fight now, before the exam started, when there was nothing to gain from it?
"Yes." Lee confirmed with a simple word, then demonstrated his commitment by hopping up off the railing to the floor below. He stood there in his green jumpsuit, looking at the Uchiha with a smile on his face.
"Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name." The dark-haired boy's response carried a hint of arrogance, the kind of supreme confidence that came from belonging to a legendary clan.
"Frankly, you're a fool. You're about to learn what this name means, Thick Brows."
"Please." Lee's simple response carried genuine excitement rather than any offense at the nickname. His smile grew wider, more genuine. The prospect of facing someone with the Sharingan, of testing himself against another wielder of a legendary kekkei genkai, was genuinely thrilling. This was exactly the kind of challenge he lived for.
"Wait." The yellow-haired boy spoke up before the confrontation could properly begin, stepping forward with unexpected confidence. His voice was clear and determined, carrying none of the hesitation you might expect from someone intervening in another person's fight.
"I'll take care of Bushy-Brows." He declared this with absolute certainty, as if the outcome was already decided in his favor. "Just give me five minutes."
His expression was thoughtful rather than dismissive as he regarded the blonde genin. If this boy was teammates with an Uchiha, was part of Kakashi Hatake's personally selected team, then he probably possessed some level of skill despite his brash attitude.
"I wanted to fight the Uchiha, but I guess I should have enough time to fight with you as well." Lee's tone was matter-of-fact rather than arrogant, just stating what he considered obvious reality. "As his teammate, you shouldn't be too far off from him, right?"
"Damn it!!!" The orange jacket-wearing boy's response was explosive, his face flushing with anger and frustration. "I'm sick of hearing about Sasuke!" The outburst revealed more than the boy probably intended, ongoing resentment about being compared to his teammate, about living in someone else's shadow. The boy rushed at him with clear fighting intent.
The blonde genin threw a straight punch that was painfully obvious in its trajectory and intention. Lee could see the attack coming from a mile away. The wind-up was telegraphed, the angle predictable, the speed nothing special. Lee effortlessly deflected the punch with his palm, redirecting the force downward rather than meeting it head-on. The blonde boy's own momentum nearly caused him to faceplant into the ground as his fist was guided past Lee and toward the floor.
The boy caught himself at the last moment, preventing the embarrassing fall, then immediately raised his leg in a follow-up kick. The technique was not something anyone who had proper taijutsu foundation would use, but Lee wouldn't judge a book by its cover.
"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee's counter was a low spinning kick. But where the blonde's attacks had been wild and unrefined, Lee's execution was flawless. His body rotated smoothly, his leg sweeping out at precisely the right height and angle to catch his opponent's supporting leg. The blonde genin's feet were knocked out from under him, his balance completely destroyed. He tumbled away, rolling across the floor before crashing into the wall.
Lee breathed smoothly as he stood back up.
"I'll say this." Lee's voice returned back to the Uchiha. "You guys cannot defeat me. Because right now, I am the strongest Leaf genin." The claim was delivered with Lee's characteristic smile, genuine and bright rather than mocking or cruel. He stated it as simple fact, the kind of truth that didn't require arrogance or posturing because it was self-evident. Of course, Lee was only comfortable making such a boastful declaration because Neji wasn't around to hear it and call him on the exaggeration. He had his own secret for him.
"So he is strong..." Sakura muttered under her breath, her eyes wide as she reassessed the strange boy in the green jumpsuit. She'd dismissed him as a weirdo when he'd tried to introduce himself, but the ease with which he'd handled Naruto suggested there was more to him behind his strange appearance.
"Sounds fun. I'll do it." Sasuke spoke up with a smile that suggested genuine interest.
"Oh! Sasuke, don't! We only have thirty minutes until the registration deadline!" Sakura pointed out the practical concern, her voice carrying urgency. They were still on the wrong floor, still needed to actually find the real room 301 and submit their paperwork. Getting involved in a pre-exam fight could easily make them late.
"I'll be done in five minutes." Sasuke dismissed her concern with utmost confidence as he rushed toward Lee.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's cry of concern went unheeded as the Uchiha committed to his attack.
In a manner similar to how he'd handled Naruto, Lee deflected Sasuke's punch with his palm. But where the blonde had been sent sprawling from the redirection, Sasuke maintained his balance and composure. The deflection sent Sasuke's punch harmlessly to the side, but more importantly, it gave Lee complete open access to his opponent's torso.
Lee's counter-strike was a straight kick delivered directly to Sasuke's midsection. The impact lifted the Uchiha slightly off his feet, sent him flying backward to slide against the floor. It was a solid hit, the kind that would leave bruises and knock the wind from your lungs.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled in genuine concern, moving toward her downed teammate. When Sasuke pushed himself back to his feet, Lee noticed immediately that his eyes had changed. The Sharingan was now fully active, the legendary eyes spinning with increased intensity. The red eyes fixed on Lee with predatory interest.
So that's the legendary Sharingan... Lee's internal observation was accompanied by his smile growing even wider, if that was possible. The prospect of fighting an active Sharingan user was genuinely exciting in a way few things were. This was one of the most famous kekkei genkai in the shinobi world, the copying eye that had made the Uchiha Clan feared and respected throughout the nations.
If it was possible, Lee would genuinely love to fight an opponent like Sasuke every day. The tactical value was obvious, if the Sharingan could copy techniques, then facing Lee's ever-evolving taijutsu would force both fighters to constantly improve. Lee would push past his limits trying to defeat someone who could predict his movements, and Sasuke would be forced to adapt to techniques that couldn't be copied through visual analysis alone.
Unfortunately, Sasuke was the last of the Uchiha. The clan had been wiped out in a single night by that psychopathic criminal, Itachi Uchiha. If only the Uchiha hadn't been destroyed, if the clan still thrived in Konoha, Lee would have had dozens of potential Sharingan-equipped sparring partners! The thought was simultaneously exciting and melancholy.
Sasuke rushed toward Lee once more, but this time with his Sharingan fully active and a confident smile on his face. Just as Sasuke was closing the distance between them, moving in for what was probably a combination attack, Lee did it first.
Lee suddenly appeared beneath Sasuke, his speed so extreme it looked like teleportation to anyone without enhanced perception. His rising kick caught the Uchiha directly under the chin. Blood erupted from Sasuke's mouth as the strike connected, his head snapping back from the impact. The Sharingan had seen Lee move, the enhanced visual acuity captured every detail of the technique, but seeing and being able to physically react were two entirely different things.
The Uchiha's body was launched into the air, floating for a moment in straight upward rise. Lee didn't waste the opportunity. He leaped upward, his powerful legs propelling him into the air just above his airborne opponent. From this superior position, looking down at Sasuke floating helplessly below him, Lee felt compelled to explain something important.
"Yes... If you haven't noticed, my techniques are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu." Lee's voice was clear despite the height and motion, carrying to everyone watching below. This was the perfect teaching moment.
"Huh? Sasuke?!" The blonde boy, Naruto, had finally recovered from his earlier tumble, and his eyes went wide as he registered the predicament his teammate was in. Sasuke, the genius, the prodigy, the one everyone praised and compared him unfavorably to, was floating in the air completely vulnerable.
"Do you know this?" Lee continued his explanation, his tone taking on an almost lecturing quality. This wasn't mockery, it was genuine instruction, sharing knowledge that he thought would benefit his opponent. "Among strong people, there exist genius types and hardworking types. If your Sharingan represents a genius type born from Uchiha blood, I am simply a hardworking type who has mastered only taijutsu."
The distinction was crucial to Lee's entire philosophy, the foundation of everything he believed and worked toward. Genius versus hard work. Natural talent versus earned skill. Bloodline limits versus pure physical conditioning.
"You could say that my ultimate taijutsu is the worst possible matchup for your Sharingan."
It was true in a fundamental way. The Sharingan could copy ninjutsu and genjutsu by analyzing the chakra flow and hand signs. But taijutsu had no hand signs to observe, no complex chakra manipulation to replicate. Pure physical technique could be seen but not copied, you still needed the conditioning, the muscle memory, the countless hours of practice to actually execute what the Sharingan showed you.
"And you'll be the second to help me prove that hard work surpasses genius."
The declaration carried the weight of Lee's entire life philosophy, years of effort and determination condensed into a single statement. This wasn't just a spar, it was a demonstration, proof of concept for everything Lee believed.
Lee's leg whipped out in a powerful spinning kick that caught Sasuke across the face. The Uchiha's body became a spiraling top, rotating through the air from the force of the impact before crashing into the ground with a heavy thud that echoed through the hallway. Lee landed with perfect grace, his feet touching down lightly as if he'd simply stepped off a low platform rather than executing a devastating aerial technique.
"That's enough, Lee!" A familiar voice boomed through the hallway.
"Understood!" Lee snapped to attention immediately. He bowed in front of the new arrival.
[Taijutsu Proficiency +185 points!]
[Muscle Mimicry Proficiency +41 points!]
[Teaching Proficiency +18 points!]
"Hey! Hey!" The blonde genin's voice carried genuine confusion and disbelief.
"What?!" Sakura responded, still focused on checking on Sasuke.
"That's a turtle, right? Right?!" Naruto pointed at the source of the voice with increasing urgency, his expression suggesting he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Because yes, there was indeed a massive tortoise easily the size of a large dog there. His shell was red with a yellow underside and swirls on the top with markings around his eyes which are also yellow. He wore a standard Konoha forehead protector around his neck, and an orange bandage on his right front leg.
"Y-You saw...?" Lee muttered, slightly embarrassed.
"You fool! Of course I saw! You're the only one missing from your cell! What kind of shinobi goes around telling everyone their secrets! Don't you always go around saying shinobi secret whenever anyone asks about that?!" Ningame lectured him.
"Yes sir..." Lee hung his head with shame.
"I hope you are properly prepared." Ningame told him.
"Yes, sir..." Lee repeated.
"Well, then. He's all yours, Guy!"
Then a man dressed in an identical green jumpsuit to Lee's appeared on top of the talking tortoise in a puff of smoke with a strange pose. His thumb was extended upward, his smile was impossibly bright, and his eyebrows were even thicker than Lee's, a feature that seemed physically impossible until you saw it with your own eyes.
"Geez! You guys are the epitome of youth, ain't cha!?" Guy announced with genuine joy.
"EWWWWW!!! He's got even thicker eyebrows!" Sakura's exclamation was loud and utterly lacking in tact, her face contorting into an expression of genuine horror at the sight of Guy-sensei.
"Super thick..." Sasuke coughed out between bloody lips, his agreement delivered with all the dignity he could muster while lying on the ground.
"Super huge." Sakura continued her assessment, apparently unable to stop herself from commenting on Guy's most prominent facial feature.
"Those are incredible eyebrows. I've never seen that before." Even Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Please do not insult my teacher!" Lee's request was delivered firmly. These people were mocking someone he respected deeply, someone who'd given him hope and purpose when everyone else had written him off as a failure.
"Shut up! All these freaks keep appearing! How the hell are we supposed to react?!" The blonde genin shouted with characteristic lack of filter, his frustration boiling over into verbal explosion.
"What did you..." Lee's fist clenched involuntarily, genuine anger flashing across his face for the first time in the encounter. Calling him names was one thing, calling Guy-sensei a freak was crossing a line.
"Lee!" Guy's voice cut through Lee's rising anger immediately.
"Oh, yes?" Lee turned to face his teacher, his expression shifting from angry to attentive.
"You fool!" Guy's fist connected with Lee's face in a punch. The impact was solid enough to knock Lee to the ground.
"UGH!!" Lee hit the floor with an undignified thump, his hand coming up to his face where Guy had struck him.
"You are... You are..." Guy's voice cracked with emotion, tears actually beginning to stream down his face. His expression was simultaneously proud and disappointed, loving and frustrated. He understood exactly why Lee had done this, what had motivated the pre-exam fight.
"Sensei..." Lee couldn't help but shed tears of his own, overwhelmed by the combination of shame at disappointing his teacher and gratitude that Guy understood his motivations even when disapproving of his actions. "Sensei... I... I..."
"That's enough, Lee. You don't need to say it." Guy stepped forward and embraced Lee in a tight hug, the kind of gesture that spoke louder than any words. He knew. Of course he knew. Guy understood the need to prove yourself, to demonstrate that hard work mattered, to show the world that the so-called talentless could stand among geniuses. He'd lived that same story himself.
"Sensei!!!" Lee cried out, his voice muffled against Guy's shoulder as he returned the embrace with equal intensity.
"I lost to that freak...?" Sasuke's grumbled admission was quiet but audible, the words carrying the weight of genuine shock. He'd lost. Cleanly, decisively, without any real contest. His Sharingan had been useless, his techniques ineffective, his confidence shattered in the space of minutes.
"Yes! This is what youth is all about!" Guy exclaimed with renewed enthusiasm, his tears of disappointment transforming into tears of joy.
"Sensei!"
"It's alright, Lee. Youth and mistakes go together." Guy patted Lee on the back as he broke the hug, his expression warm despite the disciplinary action he'd just administered.
"You are too nice, sensei..." Lee wiped his tears with the back of his hand, his smile returning despite the residual shame.
"But you did start a fight and almost broke my rules. Your punishment will take place after the Chunin Exams." Guy's tone became more serious, establishing that while he understood and even approved of Lee's motivations, there were still consequences for breaking rules.
"Yes, sensei!" Lee acknowledged his mistake without hesitation, accepting responsibility completely.
"Five hundred laps around the practice range!" Guy shot his fist into the air dramatically, announcing the punishment with the same enthusiasm he brought to everything.
"Yes sir!" Lee nodded enthusiastically, already mentally preparing for the brutal training session that awaited him after the exams concluded.
"Hey, you guys. How's Kakashi-sensei doing?" Guy suddenly called out to Team 7, his tone shifting to something more casual and friendly.
"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked from his position on the ground, genuine curiosity cutting through his pain.
"Know him? Hehe..." Guy's smile took on a slightly mischievous quality. Then he vanished, his speed so extreme that he seemed to simply cease existing in one location and begin existing in another. He reappeared directly behind Team 7 almost instantly, his arrival so sudden that none of them had time to react.
"People refer to us as Eternal Rivals."
"This guy..." Sasuke turned slowly, his Sharingan eyes wide with shock. He hadn't seen the movement at all, Guy had been too fast even for the enhanced perception of the Sharingan to track.
"When did he..." Naruto's mouth hung open in disbelief, his mind struggling to process what had just happened.
"Fifty wins, forty-nine losses." Guy grinned with absolute confidence, his thumb pointing at himself. "I'm stronger than Kakashi."
"See! Guy-sensei is incredible!" Lee didn't hesitate to praise his teacher, his voice carrying genuine pride and admiration.
"Sorry about Lee. I swear to this handsome face it won't happen again." Guy shifted his thumb's angle from his chest to his face.
"You guys and Lee should head over to the others. Best of luck, Lee! Later!!!" With that advice delivered, Guy prepared to depart, his role as referee and disciplinarian complete.
"Yes sir!" Lee waved goodbye to his teacher, watching as Guy-sensei vanished once more with that impossible speed.
But Lee wasn't quite done with this encounter. He turned back to face Sasuke, who was being helped to his feet by his teammates.
"Sasuke-kun, I'll say one more thing." Lee's voice was serious now, carrying weight that demanded attention. "The truth is, I came here to test my abilities against you specifically. I somewhat lied before about being the strongest Leaf genin." The admission was delivered with characteristic honesty. Lee had never been particularly good at deception or maintaining false pretenses. "There's a chance, a significant chance actually, that the strongest Leaf genin is on my own team. I've entered these exams to defeat him and also become a chunin."
"You were one of my targets before this encounter, Sasuke-kun. But as you are now, you are not ready to become one of my rivals." The statement could have been cruel, but Lee delivered it matter-of-factly, without mockery or superiority. Just an honest assessment based on what he'd observed during their brief fight.
"Do your best to become stronger!" With that final encouragement delivered in Lee's characteristically enthusiastic tone, he vanished.
Team 7 stood in silence for a moment, processing everything that had just happened. Sasuke touched his jaw where Lee's kick had connected, determined despite the pain. Sakura looked between her teammates with concern. Naruto was still trying to fully comprehend how someone without ninjutsu or genjutsu had kicked their butts so bad.