"What?" Lee couldn't believe what he'd heard. No, with his crushed arm and leg, he knew what Lady Tsunade said was the hard truth, but he could not accept it.

"I'm sorry Lee, but I can't help you," Lady Tsunade repeated with a sigh. She hated this part of the job, delivering the bad news. She usually had Shizune do this in her stead. "Your days as a ninja are done with. There are too many bone fragments lodged within vital parts of your neural framework for me to remove. Furthermore, your chakra circulatory system has been irreparably damaged from the eight gates coupled with the sand attack."

"Don't listen to her, Lee! This must be an imposter! Damn you, you must've used the Transformation Technique. Who are—" Guy's impassioned speech ended as he noticed Lee's soulless eyes staring into nothing. It hurt to see his energetic young protégé so stiff and lifeless. "Is there anything that can be done at all?" Guy asked in a meek voice.

Tsunade glanced again at the chart in her hand. "No, there's nothing I can do, but…" she paused and glanced up, "there might be something someone else can do." Hearing this, Lee snapped out of his daze and looked up. "I'll tell you now. Whether they can help you or not, your days as a ninja are still over. This is simply a choice between staying in the village as a cripple, and leaving this world behind for a chance of recovery," Tsunade said as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "I'll give you a few days to decide."

As Tsunade took her leave, Guy looked back at Lee, seeing his scrunched up face and shaking form. "Lee…" Guy softly called out, not sure what to say.


The rest of the day passed by all too quickly for Lee as he mulled over the things Tsunade said. He hated staying at the hospital. It was fine when he only had to drop by to have minor injuries dealt with. To stay at the hospital for days on end was an entirely different affair. The nurses treated him well enough, sounding optimistic and encouraging, but whenever they thought he couldn't see, their smiles would falter and their eyes would fill with pity. It was a look he knew well, having seen it all the time during his academy days when the class would be practicing ninjutsu.

He rolled over, thoughts of the last few years as a ninja filling his head. His dream, to be a great and powerful ninja using only taijutsu. He had failed at it, and worse, he failed the one person who'd believed in him and supported him.

"Guy-sensei, I'm sorry." Tears flowed from his eyes across his face.

He couldn't stand the thought of giving up on his dream, to stop being a ninja, to watch as everyone steadily grew stronger while he would have to sit and watch. They would still be his friends, for a few years at least. But it would not last, as it never did for every other ninja that had to retire early, for those who could not even get a job as an academy instructor. With no ties to the ninja world, they-no, HE was a civilian, and there was simply nothing in common between a ninja and a civilian, nothing at all.

He made his decision. It was time to say good bye.


"So you decided to leave," Tsunade said as she opened the door to Lee's room. "May I ask why, or is it private?"

Lee, sitting on his bed, looked up at Tsunade as she entered, before staring out the window. "I cannot stand it. It's a nice day out. On any other day, I would have been at the fifth training ground for six hours now, training my body and practicing taijutsu." Lee looked back at Tsunade. "Instead, I'm here, unable to do anything but look out the window and watch as everyone steadily grows in strength, passing me by. If I stay, this will be my life. I can't do it, I-" he paused, swallowing. "I just can't."

Tsunade stayed silent, watching Lee for a bit before smiling slightly. "Well, I have some good news since you plan to leave," said Tsunade as she walked up to the bed. "I contacted the one I mentioned the other day, the one who might be able to help you. She works as the doctor of a school in the outer world. I-" Tsunade stopped as she was interrupted my Lee.

"Th-The outside world?! But how? Any ninja that passes through the gateway suffers a painful death!"

"Yes. Any ninja in the otherworld will have their body destroy itself within a few hours, but it's not the gate that kills the ninja. Instead, it's some unique energy present in the outside world called magic that reacts strongly against chakra, quickly causing the deaths of ninja, whose bodies are filled with chakra. You however," Tsunade quickly pointed point in a rather literal manner, poking Lee in the chest, "have rarely ever used chakra, and now that your chakra system's been destroyed, you won't have to worry about it. In point of fact," she continued, ignoring Lee's flinch at her casual mention of his failures, "you probably have more to fear from the gate itself than the land through it. The trip through the gate is extremely rough on the body, and will squash a normal person like a bug."

"The world beyond the gates, huh?" Lee said in a solemn voice, before an idea hit him. "Wait! If I can survive a trip through the gates, can I not simply get healed before I go back through the gates?" For the first time in days, Lee's eyes held a spark of hope.

Tsunade shook her head. "No, the second you go through the gates, your body will be permeated with magical energy. Besides which, as I said before, you can never become a ninja again. The woman I'm sending you to will not be able to heal you chakra system." The fire burning in Lee's eyes were once again snuffed out as his hopes were dashed away. "Anyway," Tsunade said, "before you interrupted me, I was going to tell you that I managed to secure for you a position within the school as a student."

"I am going to the otherworld to get healed and to go back to school?" Lee asked, slightly dejected at the thought of classes once more.

"Yes, it's a school that utilizes the energy present in their world, magic, to perform various techniques similar to our ninjutsu, though generally much less destructive from the little I've seen. Call it a civilian's technique, if you will. I'm only telling you all of this because you happen to have an inactive magical core. I expect it to be activated once you're surrounded by magic. Perhaps you'll finally be able to use ninjutsu, even if it isn't exactly the same," Tsunade finished, with a smile.


Like the previous day, today also seemed to fly right by for Lee. With the decision to leave finalized, Tsunade quickly explained everything that was going to happen. He was to leave the village by horse-drawn wagon, taking nothing but what he could carry with him. As the otherworld used a different form of currency and an exchange rate was nonexistent, Tsunade, acting as the new Hokage, converted all his savings with his retirement package into their equivalent value in gold and precious gems. Quite frankly, Lee did not feel safe travelling with 1,500,000 ryo's worth in items in his pack, former ninja or not.

Lee hobbled down the streets of Konoha toward the village gate, where he would meet with the wagon and finally leave. He continued looking around at the buildings, the people, streets, the birds flying by and the clouds overhead, the ever-present faces of the Hokages carved into the distant cliffside, forever overlooking Konoha. He looked at each of them, studying their every contour before looking away, their stony stares a jury condemning him for his weakness.

He looked back toward the gate he was heading toward, no longer looking back, afraid his resolve would waver. He could see the wagon in the distance, by the gate.

Just a hundred more steps.

This was it. He was leaving Konoha behind.

Ninety steps.

He hadn't told anyone he was leaving.

Eighty steps.

It was better this way, a cleaner break.

Seventy.

His promises…

Sixty.

Negi…

Fifty.

Sasuke…

Forty.

Naruto…

Thirty.

And…

Twenty.

And…

Ten.

"Guy-sensei… I failed," Lee softly said, eyes downcast.

"Failed? I don't see how you've failed, Lee!" Guy said as he appeared in a whirlwind of leaves.

"Guy-sensei! What are you doing here?" Lee asked as he quickly looked up in shock.

"I heard about your decision from the Lady Hokage, Lee."

"I-I am sorry, Guy-sensei," Lee said, eyes once more downcast.

Guy walked up to Lee. "What's there to be sorry for?" he stated as he placed a hand on Lee's shoulder.

"I failed! My dream of being a powerful ninja with only taijutsu! I'm sorry Guy-sensei, I've let you down, even after all the help you gave me," Lee said, his teeth clenched.

"What are you saying, Lee?" Guy said with a slight smile on his face. "You didn't let me down. I think you're a splendid ninja. I should be the one apologizing instead. If I'd only been a better teacher to you, if I'd paid more attention to your physical training and pain tolerance…" Guy trailed off with regret plain on his face, before perking back up. "But that's all past now. I heard you would get the chance to learn something new! That's wonderful Lee!" Guy burst out, his toothy smile lighting up his face as he gave his favorite student a thumbs up.

Lee however, didn't join in, still lingering on his shattered dream.

Guy breathed out in an audible sigh. "Lee, perhaps you don't think you can ever fulfill your dream, but the wonderful thing about dreams is that they can change. You're heading to a completely new world filled with possibilities. Find a new dream there. So long as you continue chasing after your goals, then ninja or not, I'll always be proud of you."

"Guy-sensei…" Lee managed to get out, tears streaming down his face.

"Lee!" Guy sensei called back, face likewise wet with tears. "Go Lee! Show the world the determination of the ninja known as Rock Lee!"


A/N

Well, this is my first story ever. I decided to write it when I thought of the idea and couldn't find any stories that already did this (If there are any, it would be much appreciated if you'd let me know). Let's see now, it took me roughly 2 weeks to write this under 2,000 word chapter while doing other things (including doing nothing at all). Honestly, I expected it to be easier, so this is quite the eye opener, and props to all authors with good and long stories. Assuming I update this, and I do plan on doing so for at least one more chapter, hopefully it'll be a bit faster/longer. Things may be changed over time, such as writing style, point-of-view, and so on. Let me know what you think, even if you think its shit (though if you do, it'd be great to know what's shitty about it). I'm probably forgetting stuff, but if you have any questions as to the story, or what's happened so far, or any explanations, just ask. I may or may not reply (if I do, it'll be in the next notes).