Legend of a Splendid Ninja: Prologue
Disclaimer- Do not own. Author's Note at the bottom. Hello, fanfiction world!
The Shichidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato opened the main door to the Ninja Academy, the old hinges squeaking as he strolled into the main lobby. With a pleasant nod to the front desk Chuunin, he turned for the flight of stairs to his right and briskly began the walk to the top floor of the Academy.
"Room 401, I believe…" He smiled calmly as he ascended the stairs slowly, nodding to the occasional teacher or student passing him on the stairs. His loyal shinobi all reacted to his presence warmly, their salutes and smiles as they murmured "Hokage-sama" a testament to the loyalty and affection his subordinates felt towards their leader.
He loved these academy visits. Every semester, he continued the tradition followed even during his own academy days, visiting the graduating class of Genin-hopefuls and spending a day with them, answering questions and dispensing advice to the next generation of ninja. The Hokage's visit was easily the best day of the semester for the young students, and he couldn't help but grin cheekily as he remembered the Sandaime's visit to his own class, almost twenty years ago.
He was much sillier then, of course. A hopelessly poor excuse for a ninja, obsessed with attention and taking the broad white hat that now sat on his own head. He wished he had taken better advantage of the endless supply of wisdom and knowledge that old Sarutobi had been able to offer him… but that was all in the past. He'd grown up quickly after his own Genin exams, and eight years ago accomplished his childhood dream- although his reasons for wanting the hat then and now are drastically different.
He started as he realized he'd been standing in front of his destination for a minute already, lost to his nostalgia. Uzumaki Naruto shook his head to clear it of spiderwebs before opening the door and striding through it, trademarked sunny smile lighting his face.
He was greeted with the sight of several dozen rambunctious 12-year-olds making an absolute cacophony of noise in the small, auditorium style room. The sensei, a uniformed Chuunin instructor, was sitting back in his chair, feet on his desk with a rather bored expression on his face as he calmly observed the many conversations, games, paper airplanes, and occasional fights fly around the room like a tornado of adolescent destruction. A Nara, judging by his dark hair and absolute apathy towards reining in the chaos in his classroom.
An instant later, he noticed his Hokage enter the room, and sheepishly leapt to his feet, inhaling deeply before he bellowed, "SIT DOWN AND SHUUUUUT UP!"
Shocked out of their playtime, the children immediately zoomed to their assigned seats, wondering what would cause their normally laid-back sensei to shout. That's when one of them noticed Naruto, cheering "Hokage-sama's here!"
The sensei raised his hands, palms outwards, in a 'stop right there' motion. "Yes, Nami-chan, Hokage-sama is here to carry out one of our Academy's traditions. We won't be having normal classes today," The young man winced at the cheers that swept unstoppably through his students' ranks. "Instead, Hokage-sama will be answering your questions, telling stories, and maybe even teaching a lesson or two of his own. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior today, and listen carefully to everything he has to say. Naruto-sama is the strongest shinobi in the village, and you can learn a lot from him."
Seeing the class calm down somewhat, he nodded to Naruto and stepped back, regaining his seat at his desk. Until then, the Hokage had been standing off to the side, watching the Nara reign in his class with an amused smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Now he strode to the middle of the chalkboard, directly in front of the students as they all stared at him curiously, hungrily. Everyone in Konoha had seen the Hokage on many an occasion- he enjoyed walks through the village, and made it a point of honor to know the names and some details about every single one of his ninja. As Hokage, Naruto was as much politician and celebrity as the head of the greatest military power in the Elemental Nations, so much of his time was spent amongst his own people. Still, such a close-up view of arguably the most famous man in the world, as well as a chance to speak to him, had many of these children in awe. The Hokage's visit was extremely popular in the Academy, and many younger ninja in training looked forwards to their last year just to get a chance to speak to him.
Noting the curiosity, tempered by apprehension and awe at his celebrity status, Naruto smiled gently and removed the large, rhomboid had that covered his sunny blond hair. He'd grown it out after the war, emulating his father's hairstyle, and his unruly golden spikes sprang forth in all directions without their covering. "Well, class, today is probably my favorite day of the year. As I'm sure you all know, I'm here to speak to you before you take your Genin exams in a few weeks, and since the founding of the village the Hokage has made himself available to the newest generation of ninja. I'll be taking questions, or if you don't have any, I can even explain things from your classes, tell stories of our village, or we can maybe even teach you all something new." He smiled. "I like to mix things up, and so far every year these visits have all been very different and always very fun, for both myself and you young ones."
The first few questions were, as usual, silly or childish. Several of them he heard on almost every visit- "Hokage-sama, can you really summon giant toads as big as a house?" "Ne, Hokage-sama, whats your strongest jutsu?" "Hokage-sama, can you show us a technique?"
After a half hour or so of this, including a showcase of his infamous Kage Bunshin no jutsu to the glassy-eyed admiration of many of the students, a young, dark-haired boy in the back raised his hand slowly, unsteadily, as if nervous to be in the presence of the Hokage. The boy hadn't spoken up yet, and despite several other waving hands(the students were really getting into the swing of things, now, and abusing their opportunity to ask any and all questions they could think of), Naruto pointed at him, smiling encouragingly. "You, in the back, Shinra-kun wasn't it?"
Shinra's pale face was even more contorted with nervousness than before, seemingly struck dumb by the Hokage knowing the names of even the Academy students. He slowly lowered his hands, looking down at his desk for a bit before he managed to blurt his question out in one quick rush.
"H-H-Hokage-sama. What's the most important lesson you've learned as a ninja?"
Naruto's grin slipped off his face as he gained a contemplative look. He glanced outside the window at the village, seeing past the green trees in the Academy schoolyard, gazing past the bustling streets and tall, earth-toned buildings of Konoha, past the fields and trees covered in their thick spring foliage, and past his own Hokage Tower. He scanned the massive cliff that enclosed one side of his village, scanning the faces of his predecessors as he considered the question. Eventually, his eyes came to rest on the massive stone likeness that directly preceded his, and there they lingered.
He stood that way for several seconds, the children waiting with baited breath as Naruto thought. Eventually, he seemed to snap out of it, and with a broad, close-lipped smile Naruto turned his attention back to his students.
"Tell me, what do you all know about my predecessor, the Rokudaime?"
The girl in the front center seat, pale blonde hair and teal eyes marking her as a Yamanaka clan member, immediately raised her hand. "Rokudaime Hokage Rock Lee was unique among all the Kage of all the ninja villages. He is the only Kage to receive the title posthumously, and the only one to possess no ninjutsu or genjutsu skills. He was considered the greatest Taijutsu fighter in the world, and received his title for his efforts in the Fourth War." Her answer was very proper and measured, indicating a good memory of her textbook. Naruto gave her a thumbs up, delighted.
"Very good. What the books won't tell you, though, is that Rock Lee was also my best friend." Several students gasped at this, all of them knowing what 'posthumous' meant. Naruto continued, "He was a great man, and an even greater ninja. When we were very young, both Genin, Lee said something that has stuck with me ever since then. His words got me through a lot of tough times, and were a major reason we won the Fourth Shinobi World War." He paused, making eye contact where he could. "Lee couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, because he was born unable to control chakra outside of his body. When someone asked him why he wanted to become a ninja with such a handicap, he responded, "With hard work I will overcome any obstacle, and if I fail, I'll just work harder." Lee was the hardest working ninja I've ever known, and he constantly inspired me to keep working, keep improving, and to succeed at all costs." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Eventually, he was proven right. Lee became one of the strongest ninja Konoha ever produced, and during the Fourth World War, he even defeated the strongest enemy we faced, someone even I couldn't beat."
The class was dumbstruck. An enemy Naruto couldn't defeat? Naruto considered the Rokudaime stronger than himself, even though the name Uzumaki Naruto carried with it a flee-on-sight order in the field? Naruto was the most famous ninja in the world, and could scare an army away single-handedly. Just who was Rock Lee?
After a few seconds of silence, the same Yamanaka girl raised her hand. "Hokage-sama, why don't we know more about him then? The books barely focus on Rokudaime-sama, only mentioning his taijutsu and his posthumous award."
Naruto smiled. "I guess because he was technically only Hokage for a few hours, Lee didn't make as many contributions to our village's jutsu, security, or culture as the other Hokage. The other six of us had years as Hokage to spend in the village and make an impact on Konoha, where Lee protected us all in a battle far away from here. Even though he couldn't serve as Hokage here, we all still owe our lives to Lee today, and so he definitely deserved his title."
Looking up at the clock, Naruto realized he still had a few hours until lunchtime, when he normally departed on his visit days. He made an offer, "If you like, class, I can tell you more about Lee. He was a great man with a great story, and usually I try to tell one good story or teach one long lesson when I come here." Noting the approving nods and curiosity in their young faces, the Seventh Hokage smiled as he pulled an extra chair up, sitting backwards on it and facing them with his arms crossed on the back of the chair. "Well, this'll be a long one. Let's see, this is the story of Rock Lee, Rokudaime Hokage, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, and my best friend. He graduated a year before me, and his sensei was an interesting man named Maito Gai…"
End
A/N: Just an idea I've had knocking around the ole noggin. I know it's a short chap but it's a prologue and I wrote it in like an hour, just so I could set up the rest of the story. The next one will be considerably longer.
Rock Lee is hands down my favorite character in the series. Ever since the Chuunin Exam arc I've loved him. I was somewhat disappointed with his characterization after that arc, because he had such a phenomenal story and seemed so powerful it was ridiculous(he kicked Gaara's ass, WITHOUT NINJUTSU. At the time, Sasuke, Naruto, hell even most Chuunin and Jonin wouldn't be able to do that). Afterwards he seemed much weaker, compared to the other main protagonists.
So here I am to fix that! This will be similar to canon, teams will probably remain the same, but I'll be much more focused on Lee's story as he ages, trains, and makes a name for himself. Naruto and Lee will eventually become good friends, and Lee will play a much greater role in the events of canon. Lee's trials and fights will be the focus, and even I'm curious to see what his involvement will cause in the canon universe.
Next chapter- Chapter 1: Graduation! Our protagonist appears!