Disclaimer: Naruto characters and city names are owned by Misashi Kishimoto and I gain no profit at all from my use of them in this story.
16 year-old Rock Lee jumped out of bed at 5 a.m. and started his day off with 200 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, 150 squats, and a 30 minute jog like he did every morning before school at 9. Then he headed to the bathroom to wash up. He grabbed his toothbrush, squirted it with toothpaste, and was just about to hop into the shower when the phone rang down the hall. He turned off the water and went to go answer it. He was surprised to hear the voice of his friend and rival, Neji Hyuga, on the other end of the line.
"Lee," began Neji in his naturally cocky voice, "have you heard about the new citywide martial arts competition? I hear that all the high schools in Konoha are going to be competing."
"Of course!" said Lee, barely containing his excitement. "But only two candidates from each school can compete though, right?"
"Yes, that seems to be the case" Neji says, unfazed. "However, it's pretty obvious that we'll be the chosen candidates. Don't you agree?"
"You're as cocky as ever, aren't you?" Lee responds with a laugh. "But of course I will be there. It is my goal to defeat you and show you that genius ability can be overcome with hard work and dedication!
"Whatever" said Neji coolly. "There'll be strong people here since it will be made up of two of the best competitors from each of the nine city schools. If you really want to face me, then you'll have to win your way up the ranks and get me. With this, we'll see just how strong you've become since we last fought."
"You don't have to worry about me, Neji. You just get ready for when we meet up in the finals" says Lee with fierce determination.
Lee and Neji were two of the top competitors in martial arts at their school, Tanzaku High. They'd been taking martial arts for years. Neji was a prodigy in a style of fighting that had been passed down in his family for years, called Hyuga-style Taijutsu. This was a style of fighting that was used to attempt to paralyze the limbs of the opponent (for a few seconds) by aiming at certain pressure points on the body. Because this fighting style required you to be precise with all of your hits, the Hyugas' eyes are trained to great extents which allow them to see better than most people. Neji became very proficient in this style of fighting at a young age and had beaten Lee with it on several occasions. Lee's style of fighting was less strategic than Neji's and mainly focused on taking down the opponent by weakening them with external blows instead of working on pressure points. So he mainly only worked on his speed and power so that he could deliver powerful blows quickly.
Heated up from his conversation with Neji, Lee decides to do a few more exercises before taking his shower. When he's finally done, he grabs a bottle of water and a peach from the fridge and heads out the door. He jogs the 2 miles to school and gets to homeroom just as the teacher calls his name for roll. "Present!" he says, sitting down next to his best friend, Tenten, near the back of the class. "You always seem to cut it so close" she laughs, nudging him in the arm. "Maybe you should invest in a car."
"No way!" says Lee. "How would I get any running done that way?"
"Good grief! You're always so focused of your training. When do you even get any rest?" asks Tenten.
"Well I have to be or I'll never catch up to Neji, you know? That new competition is coming up and I'm determined to beat him this time-
"Quiet down back there" interrupts the teacher.
"Sorry, Ms. Yuhi" answer Lee and Tenten at the same time.
"So, do you think you're ready?" whispers Tenten.
"Of course I am. I've been training harder than ever. I'm going to give it my best effort so no matter what happens, I won't have any regrets" Lee whispers back.
"I've always admired your determination, haha! I know you can do it, Lee" whispers a smiling Tenten.
"Thanks Tenten" Lee smiles back.
Just then, the bell rings dismissing them to first period classes. Out in the hallway, Lee and Tenten promise to meet after school so that Tenten can help him train, then part ways to their own classes. On his way to class, Lee is distracted by thoughts of the upcoming tough opponents and isn't paying much attention to where he's walking. He bumps into his long-time crush, Sakura Haruno, and blushes hard. "Oh, h-hello Sakura! S-sorry about that" he stutters.
"Oh, it's alright Lee," she says kindly. "I hear you're going to try and compete in the new martial arts competition that's coming up."
"Ah-um, yeah!" Lee stammers. Then he catches his bearings, "Me and Neji are planning on being the candidates from this school! We're going to win all the way to the top and face each other in the finals. He's the person I want to fight the most, so I can't lose to anyone."
"I like your confidence, haha!" says Sakura, giggling. "You sound pretty sure of yourself. I hope you can do it. Neji's pretty strong from what I hear."
"Yes, he is the strongest person that I have ever fought, and my greatest rival, but I will beat him!" declares Lee. Then, "Could you-um-maybe come watch me fight? You know, if you're not too busy?" He blurts this out with his eyes closed because he's afraid to see her reaction.
"Sure, I'll come. I've never been to a martial arts tournament before. I think it'd be cool to see you fight. But only on one condition."
"Huh? What's that?" Lee asks.
"You know I'm part of the FCCLJ (Family, Career and Community Leaders of Japan), right?" asks Sakura. Then she goes on after Lee nods, "Well, we're having a bake sale to raise funds for the school's new lunch program and I'm in charge of baking cookies. Trouble is, I'm really bad at baking and I only agreed to do it because it was the only thing left to do. I asked some of my friends to help me, but they're all too busy. Do you know anyone-"
"-Of course I'll help you!" Lee interrupted, jumping at the chance to spend time with his crush.
"No way! You can bake? That's so awesome! Thank you!" exclaims Sakura, hugging Lee and causing him to turn a deep shade of red.
"N-no problem, haha!" says Lee, quickly composing himself. "When's a good time for me to help you?"
"Oh, you can come over this weekend if you're free."
"Over? To your house?" asks Lee, blushing again, but quickly hiding it.
"Yeah, I'll text you the address. Here's my number."
"Y-your number? Wait, I don't have a cell phone" says Lee, embarrassed.
"That's okay. I'll just right it down then. Just call before you come over to make sure that I'm not busy or anything, okay?"
"Okay" says Lee. Then to himself, "Wow! I can't believe I just got Sakura's number! And I get to go to her house! This must be a dream, right?"
"I'll see you on Saturday, then?" asks Sakura.
"Of course!" says Lee with excitement. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
"Okay then! Bye Lee" says Sakura, smiling and leaving Lee with a stupid dazed look on his face, still wondering if all this was real.
Suddenly, he was snapped out of his happy daze by a familiar voice, "You know, if you're going to let things like that distract you from your training then you don't have a chance of beating me at all, Lee."
Lee turned around to see Neji grinning at him. "I-I wasn't distracted!" stammers Lee.
"Oh? Could've fooled me, haha! I saw the whole thing. You've never stuttered so much in your life. I'm surprised she didn't think you had a speech problem.
"Aw man, was it that bad?" asks Lee, embarrassed all over again.
"Oh, it was 'that bad,'" laughs Neji mockingly, "And the blushing? Don't even get me started."
"Whatever," laughs Lee, "It was the first real conversation we've ever had! On top of that, I she gave me her number AND invited me to her house! You know how I feel about her."
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't let all this affect your performance in the competition. I couldn't care less about all this, otherwise" says Neji, steering away from the sensitive subject.
"Of course not!" says reassuringly Lee and they both laugh as they head to class.
This is my first fanfiction ever, so reviews and ideas are totally welcome! I hope you all liked this chapter and I should be making more soon! Thanks for reading :D