Rock Lee; 2 Years Later

Age 15

-Most Anticipated Fighter-

"LEE!!! LISTEN UP!!!"

"YES GAI!!"

We were standing outside the tournament stadium, Gai and I. He was giving me a pep talk in order to hype me up for the exam. I had made it to the chuunin exam tournament and I was excited to prove myself. I got to fight Naruto in the first fight and, if I was successful all the way through the tournament, I had a chance of fighting Sasuke if HE was successful!

"Listen carefully now…" Gai said dramatically.

I hung on his words.

"Yes Gai?" I led when he didn't say anything for a moment.

"Whether you become a chuunin or not, remember this and only this;" Gai began.

It was something important so I whipped out a notepad to take a memo.

"There's always NEXT TIME!!!" Gai said, giving me the thumbs ups as his teeth sparkled in the sun.

I quickly scribed down his words of wisdom.

"Gai, you are so wise!!" I said after I had written it and let it process.

"In addition," he continued. "We all know in our hearts that you are wonderful ninja so whether you become a chuunin in this exam or the next exam or the next exam or the next exam… we will still share the same heart of true youthfulness!!"

"YES!!!" I yelled, not even able to contain my excitement. "GAI, I WILL LIVE BY YOUR WORDS!!!"

"Um—" I heard.

We both turned around to see Tenten and Sakura there.

"Hi Tenten!" I greeted her. "Hi Sakura!"

"Hi!" said Tenten. "We just came by to wish you luck!"

"We'll be watching from the stands the whole time!" Sakura added.

Ahhh!! Sakura was going to be watching ME!!

"Do you know where Sasuke is?" Sakura asked.

My heart fell. "No." I replied.

"Oh that's okay!" said Sakura. "Come on, Tenten! Let's get good seats!"

"Wait, wait!" I called. "Tenten, is Neji coming to watch?"

"Oh no, Neji's away on a mission." Tenten answered. "I thought you knew!"

That's right. I DID know that. "That's right!" I said, trying not to be upset. Even though Neji obviously didn't like me all that much, I still wanted him to see how much I had progressed in the year he had neglected to show up once for training. Maybe, if he saw how good I had gotten, he might reevaluate his declaration to never fight me again. But I'd just show him my chuunin vest when he returned. There was no way he'd be able to turn me down. For a fight, that is.

Tenten and Sakura then ran off. Neither of them had done too well in the preliminaries. In fact, I had been the one who knocked Tenten out. Oh, what a dilemma that was!

"Lee, point your youthful heart in the direction of the sun!" Gai said suddenly. "March into that exam with full confidence for you will most certainly rise triumphant!"

"I am not worthy!!!" I exclaimed, bowing at Gai's feet. I looked up and saw that he was no longer there. Gai works in such mysterious ways!!

I ran into the stadium where all the chuunin hopefuls were already waiting. I looked the tournament schedule over and over again and was very anxious to fight. How unlucky I was to be scheduled in the last bracket!

Sasuke and a kid from the Mist Village fought first. I don't think Sasuke had any trouble fighting the kid because he didn't even activate his Sharingan.

I knew Sasuke would be fine and make it to the finals. Part of my motivation to reach the finals was to get the opportunity to fight Sasuke in an arranged match!!

"Hey Lee!!" I heard Naruto yell.

"Naruto!!" I exclaimed. "We are to fight each other in the first round!! I can't wait to begin!!"

"Yeah right, Lee!" said Naruto. "I bet you're shaking in your boots because you know I'll beat you!"

I was, at first, offended. But then I remembered Naruto's overactive imagination and that he tended to say things that he didn't mean.

"Oh, all right Naruto." I said, shaking it off.

He was clearly upset about something else and was merely taking it out on me.

Sasuke finished his round as the winner. NO ONE was surprised. I watched as Neji's cousin, Hinata, got up to go out for the next fight. I was glad she was in the tournament this year because she didn't have Neji to keep her from it like the past two times. Her opponent was some blond kid that I don't think I'd ever seen before, but he was wearing a Leaf bandana. Perhaps I had been too absorbed in my training lately that I neglected to socialize anymore!

Naruto looked like he was ready to explode again at any minute and then he caught Sasuke sitting by himself in the other side of the room. He decided that he was going to stop over and scream at Sasuke as if he had even done anything to him. Recently.

Sasuke, of course, only waved Naruto off like I had.

I decided to inform Sasuke that he would be fighting me in the finals so he should start thinking about how he would go about defeating me. What can I say? I'm a nice guy!!

"Sasuke!!" I said, running over. "Promise you'll save the finals for your fight with ME!!"

"I'M fighting Sasuke in the finals!!" said Naruto.

"I thought we all mutually decided that I was going to fight Sasuke in the finals." Kiba said randomly.

"You're ALL wrong because I will fight Sasuke!" said a girl I didn't know. I had accidentally started an argument! So, as they all continued to fight over who would fight Sasuke, I decided to step back and stay out of it.

I looked over to see that the kid I didn't know had defeated Hinata.

"Nice job!" said the girl I didn't know to the boy I didn't know.

"Thanks!" said the boy I didn't know.

"I hope I can fight you later on!" the girl I didn't know continued.

"Hey!" said Kiba. "You're fighting ME next and I'm going to beat you!"

Kiba and the girl I didn't know went into the arena.

"Sasuke, I am really excited to fight against you." The boy I didn't know said to Sasuke. "I think it'll be enthralling!"

How amazingly feminine and familiar the boy I didn't know sounded!

I didn't care much about the fight between the girl I didn't know and Kiba, so I picked up the program for the day.

"The finals are predicted to pitch fifteen-year-old Rock Lee and fourteen-year-old Uchiha Sasuke against each other." I read to myself. "Both are veterans of the Chuunin Exam and performed excellently in their previous attempts. The two gifted young ninjas are both expected to be promoted immediately following the tournament's end but it's anybody's game! People are expected to come from behind all the time. Another widely anticipated match is located, surprisingly enough, in the first round with, once again, Rock Lee and fourteen-year-old Uzumaki Naruto. You may remember Uzumaki Naruto's incredible win over fifteen-year-old Hyuuga Neji, now a chuunin, two years ago. The battle is anticipated to be extremely exciting; truly a clash between two incredible titans!"

An incredible titan, I was called! And I was expected to be promoted!! I was so happy that I was in both the most anticipated matches of the day. So happy, that when I looked up and saw that the match between Kiba and the girl I didn't know had just ended in a tie so there was no winner, I yelled out in joy, "ALL RIGHT!! NOW I AUTOMATICALLY GET TO FIGHT SASUKE!!!"

I looked over to see that Naruto had shouted the same thing. We both frowned at each other and made our way out to the fighting arena.

The crowd was suddenly completely silent as we made our way out.

I have to admit I was bouncing happily on the inside.

"You two better not disappoint the crowd." Said the examiner.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto. Obviously Naruto had not read the article.

"You ready?" the examiner said. "Go."

I always liked to strike first.

Strike!

Hm…Naruto has been working on his speed.

Strike!

Hm…Naruto has been working on his strength.

Strike!

Hm…Naruto has been working on his stamina.

It was time to think up a new course of action.

While I stood there thinking, Naruto did his famous Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's times like these that I wish I knew ninjutsu and genjutsu. It's also times like these that I wish I had a Sharingan or a Byakugan or something just because it would rule so much and give me an unfair advantage over other people who don't have that sort of special ability.

Our fight was eventful, yet repetitive. The whole concept of the Chuunin Exam was the impress the higher powers to make them promote you. So what did I have to do? I had to win. How was I going to win?

I had to take off my weights.

Naruto stopped to gather strength. During his period of rest, I bent down and removed the weights.

"I'd like to see you keep up with my speed now!" I announced, throwing them up into the air behind me, something that took a lot more UMPH than I had expected it to. The crowd oohed and ahhed, but I wasn't looking to impress the crowd. Only the Hokage.

I felt weightless, almost as if I was going to suddenly float up off my feet and fly away.

"Yeah right, Lee!" said Naruto. "Like you can beat me just by taking off a little weight!"

"A LITTLE weight, Naruto?!" I demanded, a little angry that he was trying to look down on my intense training. No one understands my methods to compensate for the fact that I can't use ninjutsu and genjutsu; something that everyone takes for granted!!

I had beaten Naruto before, so I could most certainly do it again.

As he continued to jeer at me, I moved in for the attack. He was completely unprepared as I hit him as hard as I could. I continued to pummel him with constant and consistent attacks. He was unable to defend or respond to any of my attacks.

I knew one more hit would do it. As Naruto tried to steady himself and regain his composer, I hit him so hard that he tumbled across the arena and hit the wall on the other side.

When the dust and smoke cleared, Naruto was motionless.

He wasn't going to get up again. I knew I had won.

"Winner; Rock Lee." Said the examiner.

I couldn't contain my happiness. "YES!!!" I cheered as I scanned the crowd for someone… ANYONE who could be proud of me. Ah! Sakura!! Oh, there's Gai!! And the Hokage!! WAS SHE IMPRESSED?! I DON'T KNOW!!!

I tried to act all cool as I passed by Sasuke on his way out with the boy I didn't know. They were going to have their fight and, while they did, I wanted to read more in that article.

I flipped through the pages to find where my picture and 'bio' was located. I was shocked to discover a horrible mistake in the program. "I'm not five foot TEN!!" I yelled in an appalled fashion so that everyone around would be able to fully understand the extent of my anguish. "I'm five foot ELEVEN!!! AND A HALF!!!"

I looked around the room to see that no one else was there. Maybe that was a GOOD thing…

I continued to read the program.

However, I was far too interested in checking on the fight.

Sasuke and the boy I didn't know seemed to just be throwing the same three shuriken back and forth at each other.

What an interesting battle.

I really was excited to fight Sasuke and study his techniques, but I had already religiously observed the way he fought and everything about him that I didn't think watching him play catch with a boy I didn't know was really going to help me anymore.

So I let my eyes wander to the crowd to where I had seen my beloved Sakura.

She was completely captivated by the fight. Though, I have to admit that most of the crowd was, but I got the impression that Sakura was only ever so captivated because her Sasuke was fighting. Yes, I have come to grips with reality and realized that Sakura deeply cares for Sasuke, but I would still like to be there as an option for her! I know Sasuke will NEVER accept her so when she gets rejected, I would be there.

Though I don't know WHY anyone would ever reject Sakura for she is like an angel!

No, she IS an angel!

Sasuke was the victor of the fight, eventually, but I entirely missed how it happened. The examiner stated that it would be ten minutes until the next fight began, and I eagerly awaited it.

Only a few minutes passed before Sasuke was back in the room with me. Now it was only the two of us. Because no one from the other bracket in my fight had progressed forward, the next fight would be the last fight. The last fight between ME and SASUKE!

"I can hardly wait for another eight and a half minutes!" I said as I started warming up my punches.

I was very excited. I didn't know how Sasuke managed to contain his excitement by only sitting there, thinking. I thought about the fact that maybe Sasuke resented me because I only had to fight once to get in the finals while he had to fight twice. I wonder how I would have done against that girl that I didn't know.

I looked at the program quickly.

Yatara…from the Sand Village.

"Hey Sasuke," I said, hoping to create small talk to help the time go by more quickly.

"What?" he said, looking annoyed.

"What did you think of that Yatara from the Sand Village?" I asked.

"I don't think of her."

Sasuke was so funny! I didn't know whether he was trying to be tough or serious or whatever, but he had certainly come off as funny to me.

"She was pretty." I said with a laugh. "But not like Sakura!"

"Whatever you say, Lee." Sasuke said.

Sasuke most definitely did not like Sakura. After all, there were plenty of other girls in the village that liked him. Like Ino. Speaking of Ino, it had been a long time since I had seen her last.

"So I can have her?!" I asked.

"Sure, I don't care. I don't want her."

"You like Ino better anyway, don't you?"

"What makes you think something like that?" he said after a long pause.

"It's just a guess." I said, realizing that I had said something that he did not want to hear.

"Did you hear that from someone?" he said, sounding more and more agitated by the second. "Did Ino tell you that? Because it's not true."

"She didn't say anything." I answered. I knew he wouldn't accept that so I had to quickly think up an excuse as to why I randomly said that. "It just kinda LOOKED like you kind of liked her."

I gave it a shrug and turned away from him, continuing to punch.

I think I had confused him.

I kept thinking of my wonderful, wonderful Sakura. I knew Sasuke would never oppose me trying to court her, but Sakura would oppose it. As much as I would like to believe that Sakura was madly in love with me and loved only me, I knew the truth. And the truth was that it was not true.

But I had to think about the CHUUNIN EXAM! Not LOVE!!

And it's a good thing I got myself into that mentality when I did because I suddenly heard the examiner call, "The Final Round will now commence! Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke!"

Wow!! It had been ten minutes already?!

Sasuke and I walked out into the arena. We were the predicted finalists and we had followed through with the predictions. The only thing that was left was to determine the winner. I would not lose to Sasuke. I would impress everyone and show them that hard work can conquer a genius.

"Ready?" said the examiner as the crowd fell silent and I locked eyes with Sasuke. "Go."