Lee had faced many obstacles in his life, and one way or another surpassed them all. There were now three things to train for, three things that made Lee push himself harder and harder each day: Gai-sensei's recognition, defeating Neji, and the Chunnin exams.

Both Tenten and Neji passed on their second try, while Lee had failed three times now. He promised himself he would not let that number get to four. He would pass, and he would defeat Neji, and if he couldn't, he would do five million laps around...no. If he would defeat his eternal rival if it cost him his life.

That goal only got farther away the day Neji was made Jounin. Any normal person would have given up that day, but Rock Lee wasn't any normal person. When it was Lee's turn to congratulate him at the little party the team had thrown, he didn't wrap Neji in a big bear hug like their sensei had; he didn't say a word, he simply looked Neji in the eye, smiled, and stuck out his hand for him to shake. Neji blinked and looked at the hand for several seconds. There had to be some trick, this wasn't like Lee at all. Gai and Tenten stared at the bandaged palm as well.

To anyone else on the planet, this would have seemed normal. To Tenten and Neji, this seemed like Lee was finally growing up. To Gai, something was horribly, horribly wrong.

Neji shook the Genin's hand. "Congratulations," Lee said. He was still beaming but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'll beat you one day, I promise."

And that was it; no fighting, no challenges, nothing.

At the end of the day, Gai stopped Lee before as he was getting ready to go home.
"Is everything alright, Lee?"
"Everything's fine, Gai-sensei."

And he walked off without a good-bye. That was the last anyone in Konoha saw of Lee for six months. The first day, Gai got worried. The second day, he was starting to panic, and his worry was spreading to the rest of the team. The third day was spent searching every crack in the woods, calling until their voices were sore. The fourth and fifth days were spent the same. Neji had never used his Byakugan so much in his life, and in those few days he was able to increase his range to over a mile, something he could never have done had be not been desperately looking for his lost friend. But, of course, he would never admit that.

After a week, a formal search party was organized. The team returned empty-handed seven days later. The search was called off, and Lee was officially considered missing. After two months, even Gai gave up hope of ever seeing his youthful student again.

It was Tenten who found him again. Well, she found his name anyway. He was, off all places, entered in third part of the Chunnin exams. At first, Tenten had to blink and rub her eyes a few times to before she could really believe what she saw. Then she had to rub her eyes again to get the tears out. Gai found her sitting in the dirt in front of the sign, giggling as tears ran down her face. In just under an hour, everyone in Konoha knew that Lee was back. Team Gai couldn't remember being this happy in a long time. Even Neji was releaved, but of course, he would never admit that.

And so everyone waited. The Chunnin exam was in two weeks, and Lee hadn't shown up yet. The Chunnin exam was in one week, and Lee hadn't shown up yet. The Chunnin exam was tomorrow, and Lee hadn't shown up yet. But none the less, his teammates went see the fights anyway; by entering, Lee had made a promise to be there, and Lee never broke a promise. Sure enough, he didn't.

As far as appearances go, he hadn't changed at all, his hair was even cut to the same length it had been six months ago. But to three people in the audience, there was a glow of determination about him that could only be achieved the Green Beast of Konoha. And so, the matches began.

Lee's first fight was with a sword user from the Hidden Mist that swore he would join the Seven Swordsmen someday. Lee kicked that sword out of his hand in two minutes flat. Less then a minute later he bent the weapon into a nice little loop around his opponent, binding his arms to his body. Tenten made a mental note to keep her weapons away from Lee from now on.

His second match was against a young girl from the Hidden Rock, whose Kekkei Genkai involved throwing large stones she would rip out of the ground by just stamping her foot. Not long into the match, Lee discovered that she was blind, and used the vibrations from the ground to "see." Of course, seeing like this becomes hard when your opponent opens their fifth gate and starts moving faster than the speed of sound. During the fight, Gai had managed to chew off all his fingernails, having suffered multiple flashbacks from the first time Lee had participated in the exams.

Lee's third fight was against a Genjutsu user. It was clear Lee had lost when he started attacking a tree less than a minute into the match. Neji smirked. Deep down, he was intimidated by how much Lee had progressed in such a short time, but of course, he would never admit that.

Lee made Chunnin that year, and sported the vest proudly. No one ever asked where he had gone or what he had done, they were just too glad to have his eccentric personality back. Lee was now a Chunnin, and could not make his sensei prouder. There was one promise left to keep, one that he'd made six months ago. Neji truly believed he would keep that promise one day, but of course, he wouldn't admit anything until that day came.

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