Lee nodded as he saw the attack. Behind him was Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. He could easily move out of the way in time. But then there would be no way to stop the all-out jutsu from reaching them. And Lee couldn't get a flawless victory if he allowed Sakura or the ones she cared about to get hurt after he arrived.
So, he prevented the attack from heading their way. Just as Zaku was about to blast his ultimate jutsu toward them, Lee appeared in front of him. Zaku's wide maniacal grin still present on his face, overjoyed at seeing Lee in front of him. Sadly, Lee wasn't in this position to sacrifice himself, blocking the attack to protect Sakura and the others.
His hand chopped down twice on each of Zaku's wrists. Lee could still see the bulges in his arm making its way toward the holes in his palms. With his chops, Zaku's palms were now facing toward the ground. And at the apex of his technique, Lee and everyone else watching saw as Zaku blasted off into the air. Far far into the sky, pass the treetops while screaming angrily.
Lee turned to Sakura with a smile on his face. Then he gave a thumbs up. Even as a scream was making itself known above them. Sakura couldn't respond to his gesture as she looked up along with everyone else.
"AHHHH!!!" Zaku was screaming while also trying to save his own life.
Lee could hear him using air to slow the descent of his fall. He wondered if he had enough chakra to spare. So, he waited patiently, still not looking up, just hearing the sounds of air being blasted at weaker and longer intervals. Until…
"Great Leaf Flash!" Lee struck out with a side kick at the perfect time.
Zaku couldn't even cry out as Lee's foot sunk into his face, sending him flying directly toward his teammate. Blood shot out of his nose as the female sound ninja screamed in a panic. She caught him, sliding back, her sandals digging into the dirt. When she looked up to see Lee walking towards her, slowly, she panicked.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Here, take our scroll! Just let us go! Please!" Kin pleaded as she tossed their earth scroll toward Lee.
Lee caught it and nearly groaned. His team already had an earth scroll. Then it hit him. Sakura-chan's team might need this. And giving it to her would make him look incredibly cool.
"Very well, you may leave." Lee told her.
As Kin struggled to carry both of her teammates away, Sakura suddenly cried out. "WAIT! You've got to tell me! Who is Orochimaru?! What did he do to Sasuke?! And why was Sasuke the one he chose!?" She asked.
Lee was surprised Sakura didn't know one of the three legendary Sannin. But wait, what did she mean by her words? One of the legendary sannin were in the chunin exams? Guy-sensei said they don't really stay in the village anymore though. And Orochimaru was a rogue ninja! He'd better make sure to let Tenten and Neji know to be careful. There might be someone far out of their league in the Forest of Death! Even with his forbidden jutsu, he wasn't confident in facing someone of that status yet…
"I don't know! We were just following orders!" Kin shouted back.
Lee made his way over to Sakura, leaving the sound kunoichi to disappear past the trees. Upon her leaving, several other figures came out that he heard earlier. Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Neji, Tenten, and eventually even Sasuke and Naruto woke up too.
"Wow, you're pretty strong Bushy-Brows!" Choji waved as he and his team exited from a nearby bush.
"You look pretty weird, but you definitely can back it up." Ino added.
"I'm just glad we didn't have to step in." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head.
"Sakura… What happened while I was out? Why is that… person here?" Sasuke looked at Lee, almost saying something else.
"Sasuke Uchiha! I heard you ran into Orochimaru, so I won't fault you on being unable to protect Sakura-chan. Even I'm not confident in being able to survive against a shinobi of that caliber. But anyway, Sakura-chan needed help and I stepped in." Lee explained.
"You know that snake freak?" Sasuke asked.
"You don't know him either?" Lee was shocked.
"Orochimaru? Who's that? That guy knocked out my Sasuke-kun?" Ino stepped over.
"Isn't that a famous ninja? I think I heard of him from my dad before." Shikamaru added.
"I think I heard your dad mention him too." Choji nodded.
"Did we go to the same academy…?" Lee was flabbergasted.
"Enough fooling around, Lee. We still got a Heaven scroll we need to snatch. We can't waste all our team messing around with these…" Neji didn't finish it, but they certainly heard it.
"Hey! You're a genin just like us! What makes you-" Ino's words froze in her throat as Neji's Byakugan flared.
"We could use that Heaven scroll of yours. You sure you wanna keep talking?" Neji crossed his arms.
"We're all fellow leaf ninjas here. There's no need to do any needless fighting… Hehe…" Ino played with her hair, knowing if he was that green freak's teammate, he had to be pretty strong too.
"Sakura-chan. Catch." Lee tossed the sound ninjas earth scroll at her.
"Oh, hey! Bushy-Brows! You're pretty nice!" Naruto called out.
"How lucky…" Ino muttered.
"If you were as pretty as Sakura, maybe he'd have given us that scroll too..." Shikamaru muttered, quiet enough that he thought nobody heard.
"Shut up, Shikamaru! I am way prettier than Billboard Brow!" Ino nearly decked him, if he didn't manage to dodge in time like he did.
"What was that, Ino-pig?!" Sakura shot up.
"Lee!" Tenten shouted.
"Sorry guys! But we really gotta go get another scroll. It was fun!" Lee vanished, appearing on the tree branch next to his teammates.
"Lee!" Sakura called out. "Thank you. Thank you for saving us." She told him. 'Thanks to you I feel like I can become an even better kunoichi now.' Her taijutsu really needed some work…
"Until we meet again, Sakura-chan." Lee flashed a perfect smile and a thumbs up before he and his team disappeared.
[Achievement Unlocked: Defeated a full squad of foreign genin solo! Reward obtained: Strengthened Chakra Network.]
[Taijutsu Proficiency increased by +200 points.]
"I hope you're happy, Lee." Tenten said with an accusatory tone.
"We still have plenty of time!" Lee defended himself.
"We'd have even more time if you didn't waste it trying to impress kunoichi." Neji pointed out.
"Now listen, what if she became my wife and the mother of my children in the future? It wouldn't be a waste then by putting in effort now. Because without this effort, she may never become my wife!" Lee articulated.
"I still don't think that kind of girl would go for you, Lee." Tenten tried to tell him gently.
"It's all a matter of effort! Once she sees my efforts of love, eventually, she'll see the light!" Lee believed wholeheartedly.
"If you say so…" Tenten didn't believe a superficial girl like Sakura would fall for someone like Lee. Lee deserved better anyway. Someone who actually appreciated him for who he was, not what he could do.
Neji didn't bother with this nonsensical conversation.
Team 3 moved through the upper branches of the Forest of Death. The massive trees groaned softly above and below them.
"Oh, right! Be on the lookout guys. Apparently Orochimaru is roaming the Forest of Death. Sakura's team ran into him and nearly killed them." Lee remembered.
"The legendary Sannin?" Tenten questioned.
"Yep." Lee nodded, flipping over a tree branch like a monkey.
"The international criminal?" Neji glanced his way.
"That's right! Sasuke even described him as snakey. Guy-sensei said snakes was his thing too." Lee pointed out.
"Wouldn't they send in all the jonin and ANBU to help escort us out then? None of us can survive against someone of that level. Are we just supposed to die if we encounter him?" Tenten asked.
"A student of the Hokage…" Neji couldn't even fathom Orochimaru's strength.
"Don't worry guys. If worse comes to worse, I'll protect you." Lee promised.
"Hmph. A weakling like you protecting anyone is laughable." Neji mocked.
"I just did it though?" Lee was confused.
Neji didn't respond. Arguing with Lee was a waste of time and a test of his nerves. "Fifty meters northeast." Neji murmured, the veins around his pale eyes bulging with the telltale activation of his Byakugan. His vision pierced through the layers of bark, foliage, and shadow easily, rendering the forest's concealment utterly meaningless. "Three-man cell. Rain headbands. They're resting in a hollow beneath a fallen trunk. One is standing watch."
Lee's ears worked to confirm what Neji's eyes had found. Even from this distance, he could hear the faint murmur of conversation, the rustle of a body shifting against bark, the rhythm of three sets of lungs breathing at different rates.
"Scrolls?" Tenten whispered from her position three branches back, one hand resting casually on the oversized scroll strapped across her back.
"Heaven scroll."
Lee felt his heart rate spike with excitement. That was exactly what they needed. Their Earth scroll sat safely on Neji's waist, and a Heaven scroll would complete the set. They could head straight to the tower after this.
"Run in and drop them." Neji decided without hesitation. "I don't see any genjutsu or traps."
"On it!" Lee whispered back.
The attack, when it came, lasted less than twenty seconds.
Lee dropped from the branches above like a green meteor. The Amegakure sentry didn't even hear anything before Lee's fist connected with the side of his jaw.
Lee had long since learned that in real combat, hesitation and half-measures got people hurt or worse. The punch snapped the Rain genin's head sideways with enough force to lift him off his feet, his body spinning once in the air before crashing into the undergrowth with a muffled thud. He did not get up.
The noise woke the other two instantly. They were trained shinobi, after all, conditioned to sleep light and react fast. One of them had already completed a hand seal before a volley of kunai, shuriken, and senbon needles pinned into his body. He fell over dead, the ninja tools burying deeper inside him.
The third Rain genin managed to get to his feet and ready for battle before Neji appeared directly in front of him. The Hyuga prodigy only once with a palm to the core of his chakra network. He collapsed to his knees, mouth open in a silent scream of pain, before falling over with his eyes still open.
"Trash." Neji announced, already moving to retrieve the scroll from the unconscious sentry's pouch. He held it up, the Heaven kanji visible even in the dim forest light.
"We have both scrolls."
Lee pumped his fist in the air. "Excellent! To the tower!"
"Keep your voice down, you idiot." Tenten hissed, though the grin pulling at the corners of her mouth betrayed her own satisfaction. She was already collecting her scattered weapons, wires pulling them back into her scroll with barely a whisper of sound.
Neji tucked the Heaven scroll into his pocket. "The tower is roughly six kilometers southwest of our current position. If we maintain our current pace, we should arrive within the hour."
"Within the hour? We could make it in ten minutes!" Lee declared.
The three of them fell into their standard travel formation and set off through the pre-dawn forest. Neji had his Byakugan occasionally activating here and there. Lee could hear most threats, but even hearing couldn't detect traps of genjutsu. Tenten brought up the rear, her hands never straying far from her weapons, ready to fill anything full of metal that came their way.
The Forest of Death did not make their journey easy. It never did.
Within the first kilometer, they encountered a spider the size of a house, its bloated abdomen glistening with moisture in the dim light, its web stretched between two massive trunks in a net wide enough to catch a carriage. The silk threads were nearly invisible and strong enough to hold a full-grown man. Neji warned them before he cut through it with his gentle fist. Lee coated his hand in chakra and slashed, making an opening for himself. Tenten summoned a sword and made her way through. When the spider leaped off a tree to get them, Tenten turned back and summoned a spiked club to whack it back where it belonged. Goosebumps crawled up her arm as she tried to avoid getting spider fluid on her.
Half a kilometer later, the ground beneath them erupted as a centipede the length of a river barge burst from its burrow, its mandibles snapping at the air where Tenten had been standing a heartbeat before. Lee's foot connected with the creature's armored head in a thunderous stomp that cratered the earth beneath its body and smashed its head with a shriek that echoed through the forest.
"I really hate this place." Tenten said, brushing dirt and splinters of bug goo from her shoulders.
"It's the perfect place for training, I think!" Lee offered helpfully.
"I think I train enough, Lee. Thank you."
[Taijutsu Proficiency increased by +15 points.]
The tower appeared through the trees like a like in the dark.
A heavy iron door marked the entrance, closed with a note attached to the door that said open. Tenten pushed open the door, the note ripping in half, allowing them to walk inside.
"Finally." Neji said.
They stepped through the doorway together, leaving the Forest of Death behind and entering the cool, echoing interior of the tower. They arrived at a large, open room on the ground floor. It was wide and tall-ceilinged, with enough room to comfortably hold dozens of people.
"This must be where we open the scrolls." Tenten figured. "Remember, Anko said not to open them until we reached the tower."
"And we're in the tower now." Lee pointed out with a grin.
Neji withdrew both scrolls from his vest. The Heaven and Earth scrolls sat in his hands like a pair of mismatched promises then he opened them.
The reaction was immediate. The scrolls began to smoke, not with fire but with a thick, rapidly expanding cloud of white smoke.
"It's a summoning formula!" Tenten shouted, recognizing the pattern. "Drop them! Now!"
Neji tossed the scrolls and they all leaped backward as the summoning technique activated. A massive plume of smoke erupted from the scrolls. Obscuring the figure momentarily.
When the smoke cleared, a figure stood in the center of the room where the scrolls had been. He was a Konoha chunin. His flak jacket was clean and pressed, his hitai-ate polished to a shine, and he smiled as he took in the three genin standing before him in combat stances.
"At ease, at ease." The chunin said, raising both hands in a placating gesture. He pulled out a notebook. He consulted it briefly before looking back up with a broad smile. "Team Guy. Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten."
"Second team to arrive. I have to say, I'm not surprised at all. Your sensei has been bragging about you three to anyone who'll listen for the past year. The way he tells it, you'd think he was training the next generation of Sannin."
Neji had his arms folded across his chest, his pale eyes fixed on the chunin with an intensity that bordered on hostile.
"Second." He repeated, the single word carrying enough displeasure to freeze water. "Who was first?"
"A team from Sunagakure. They arrived within the first two hours of the exam." The chunin answered, checking his clipboard again with a casual flip of pages. "Pretty remarkable, honestly. But you three aren't far behind, all things considered. Finishing in about a day and a half is well within the top percentile of any Chunin Exam on record."
"How annoying." Neji glanced at Lee.
"Hey, you can't blame me, Neji! We still wouldn't have beat that even if I didn't get caught up with the other leaf genin." Lee pointed out.
"Is there any advantage to arriving first?" She asked "Some kind of prize, or a head start in the next round, or bonus points, or..."
"Nope." The chunin said cheerfully. "Nothing like that. You pass or you don't. Order of arrival doesn't factor into it."
Tenten was relieved. Neji was still annoyed but when wasn't he? Lee was secretly grateful there wasn't a prize for first even if it wouldn't have been his fault they didn't get first.
The chunin cleared his throat.
"Well, since you're all here and in one piece, let me explain what happens next." He gestured toward the large inscription on the wall. "But first, take a look at that."
The three of them turned their attention to the framed text.
The chunin read it aloud for them, his voice taking on a more serious tone.
"If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths become safe ones."
He paused, letting the words settle.
"This is the motto of the Chunin written by the Hokage himself. The missing character in the inscription is the character for person." He pointed to the blank space in the text. "And it refers to the chunin themselves."
The meaning wasn't difficult to understand if you thought about it. Heaven represented the mind, knowledge, strategy, the ability to think and plan. Earth represented the body, physical strength, stamina, the willingness to train until your hands bled and your legs gave out.
A chunin needed both. The mind to understand and the body to act. If you lacked one, you worked to develop it. If you had both in balance, you could face any mission, no matter how dangerous, with confidence.
It was, Lee realized, essentially what Lee had been learning and doing since his academy days. Did that mean he was already chunin in heart?
"That is what it means to be a chunin. Not just strong. Not just smart. Both. In balance."
Neji said nothing, as if he already knew this. Tenten was nodding slowly.
"That's the gist of it." The chunin said, his serious demeanor melting back into professional friendliness. "You three are free to rest and use the tower's facilities until the second exam officially ends. There's water, basic food, and sleeping quarters on the upper floors. I'd recommend getting some rest while you can. Whatever comes next won't be easy."
"Thank you!" Lee bowed deeply, his enthusiasm fully restored. "We will use this time wisely!"
The chunin returned the bow with a more casual nod, then disappeared in a puff of smoke as the summoning jutsu reversed itself. The scrolls lay on the floor where he'd been standing, now blank and inert.
…
Some time later
"All teams that have successfully completed the second examination, please assemble in the main arena on the ground floor. Repeat, all teams to the main arena immediately."
Lee was on his feet before the announcement finished. He had been ready for this moment since they'd arrived.
He met Neji and Tenten in the corridor.
"Let's go." Neji said simply.