Chapter 10: Springtime Of Youth

(A self report by everyone's favorite thickbrowed taijutsu expert on his life thus far)

My name is Rock Lee.

I am a Jounin of Konoha & technically the 1st shinobi to reach this rank for solely my taijutsu skills alone.

Gai sensei would've been the 1st to reach that distinction if not for the fact that he was at least capable of performing ninjutsu skills. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no talent or skills whatsoever in it. I only have my hard work, speed & fighting skills.

I know what you're thinking. You're asking yourself how someone as untalented at ninjutsu as me could've possibly reached my rank.

The answer is, it hadn't been easy.

When I first entered the shinobi academy, many kids used to tease me a lot for my inability in performing even the simplest ninjutsu. For some strange reason, my system was built in such a way that i could not properly manipulate chakra outside of my own body.

But I was stronger & faster then anyone else is in my class. That fact got me through most of the time in the academy.

And then I met Gai-Sensei.

The 1st time I saw him having a match with Kakashi-San (It was a game of rock-paper-scissors if I'm not mistaken), he had lost & as a result, had to do 500 laps around Konoha using his hands. Like so many others, during that time, I also thought that he looked absolutely ridiculous walking around Konoha that way & was secretly ashamed that he was even my teacher.

I had confronted him in the forest that day & suggested that he 'cheat' a little since nobody was around to see him. It was also during that time that he gave me the 1st important lesson that would shape me into the shinobi that i am today. And that was, hard work always pays off in the end.

Gai-Sensei's way was to impose an almost impossible task upon himself to push him even harder so that even though he may have lost in a contest between Kakashi-San & himself, the training he got as a penalty was a victory in the sense that he got some hard training in to improve his skills so that he may one day beat Kakashi-San.

Naturally, as any loyal student would have done, I tried to follow his example. Perhaps not as extreme as Gai-Sensei's way, but close enough. I had chosen my own teammate, Hyuga Neiji as a rival since his family's Jyuken taijutsu style was the best form of hand to hand combat in the fire country & Neiji was well known at that time as a budding genius in the art.

And so began my quest to beat the man who, these days, is soon to become the next head of the Hyuga clan.

I can't exactly remember the number of times I've had my behind handed to me by Neiji. I never seemed to be able to get the best of him since his Byakugan affords him nearly 360 degree field of vision. The fact that I was severely injured by the present Kazekage, Gaara-San during the Chunin had set me back even further while Neiji continued to improve.

But I had bounced back stronger then ever thanks to a revolutionary yet dangerous new procedure which only the Godaime Hokage & legendary medical Sannin Tsunade-Sama could pull off safely. And after the failed mission to save Sasuke, I was back into hard training.

When i did finally manage to get a win over Neiji, Tenten did not speak to me for a week. Why? I don't really know if it was just pure luck or Neiji's mind was simply to preoccupied but i had connected with a Konoha Senpu which practically knocked Neiji out. I've never seen Tenten so angry & scared in my entire life. If it weren't for Neiji, she'd still be angry at me.

And then the Leaf-Sound war came.

Now this may sound strange coming from a guy who has made fighting his entire life, but the bloodshed of wars does not really appeal to me. So when the opportunity to end it quickly via an assasination mission deep into the the Sound country came, I was among the first to volunteer. Not only did we get the chance to end the war without further bloodshed, but we also had a decent shot of literally & figuratively cutting off the head of the snake in the traitorous Sannin Orochimaru.

The mission was a success & Konohagure was now forever safe from Orochimaru's threat.

The succeeding years became the golden age of our generation of shinobis. The former rookie nine, the sand siblings & our team became trusted jounins of our respective villages.

The day that I made jounin was probably one of the happiest days in my life. What more could a man ask for then to celebrate the fruits of his hard labor beside his closest friends & family?

And speaking of family, many of us in the Rookie 9 got together including the Roukudaime Hokage Naruto & Hinata, Neiji & Tenten, Shikamaru & Ino and Sasuke & my former crush Sakura. The rest like Shino, Kiba, Chouji & the Sand Siblings had also started families of their own.

As for myself? I found my own beloved in a quiet & unassuming kunoichi from my village. She may not be a Tsunade or Sakura in terms of skills & beauty but I love her dearly.

My name is Rock Lee. I am a jounin of Konohagure & I am in the springtime of youth.

Author's Note: Hmmmm…. That update took a while didn't it guys? Sorry for making you wait. Enjoy 