Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any animes, and I probably never will.
Author's Notes: Like I always say, I hope this one will please what little readers I have.
The weather was still as sunny as ever, the warm sunshine pouring across the giant stadium roaring with cheers for their favorite fighters. It's been about eight days since the tournament has commenced and Lee has protected his three points successfully in all five of his fights. He was currently in his sixth fight, which would mark the last battle for the second week of tournament for him. The thick brow ninja stood on a regular arena this time, laid with concrete blocks on top of a bare field of dirt. Lee eyed his strange opponent who was hopping around the stage as he tossed his mink coat around fashionably. The man appeared to be wearing a long brunette wig, a bright red lipstick, a new pair of fish net stockings, and a white one piece sundress with frills which were apparent on every corner.
"So...You're a guy?" asked Lee for the third time.
"Yes! I'm what you would call a 'man who's beauty transcends that of women'," Okami answered. Lee scratched the back of his head, still unsure of what to make of it all.
"So...Okami-san is a girl?" Lee asked, still troubled by the anonymity of his opponent's gender.
"I wish I could be," the cross dresser admitted with a dreamy sigh.
"What are you doing Lee? Finish him already!" came the voice from his ear piece. Hozaku couldn't stand having to watch Lee converse with a transgender having never seen one before in his life. The naivety of the boy has reached a boiling point for the old worn out fight promoter. Startled by his command, Lee stuck out a fist and got ready to pound his opponent until he couldn't taken it anymore.
"Well whatever you are, I'm not going to let you win!" Lee hollered. Okami cringed from the volume and enthusiasm of his voice and let out an annoying shirk, trying to imitate the response of a woman at this particular situation. Lee easily became confused again. He turned around to face Hozaku.
"Is that a guy or a girl?" he asked him.
Right when he showed his back to his opponent, Okami took that chance to punch Lee across the back of his head. The young ninja recovered from the sneak attack and rolled away from the gender challenged fighter and countered with a kick to the crotch. Once his feet connected with the southern region of Okami, all hell broke lose.
"Never mind, Hozaku-san!" Lee shouted as he found his answer. Okami dropped to his knees and shook uncontrollably, batting his eyelashes in disbelief.
"How...What...How can you?" the cross dresser muttered. He turned his head around sharply and glared at the young boy behind him.
"Die!" he shouted, as he got back up from the concrete pavement. He dashed across the stage and swiped at the thick brow ninja with his long, perfectly polished nails that he colored magenta just before the battle. Lee easily avoided his deadly nails and took hold of his left arm firmly. Then he used Okami's momentum and swung his arms around over his head. His gender confused opponent landed on the surface of the stage with a thud and his consciousness slipped away from him completely, leaving him to swim in his own drools.
"Winner, Rock Lee and Hozaku Tomahara!" the loud stadium speakers screamed. The two partners stood in the middle of the arena to be congratulated by the crowd. As they waved to the audience, Hozaku leaned closer to his fighter.
"If you stall like that again, I'm not going to help you out, Lee," he warned him. Lee gulped and opened his mouth to speak.
"I'm sorry. It's just...I've never seen anything like that before," he admittedly shyly.
"A woman with manly attributes...I'm gonna have to send a letter to Gai-sensei about this."
Chapter 10: One Monkey, Two Monkey
Out on the prairie, Rock Lee was finishing up his ab work out to harden his stomach so he can take more hits. Hozaku sat five feet away from him while reading a magazine silently to himself. Lee eyed him quietly as he cleansed his face of sweat with a tiny towel supplied by the hotel.
"You don't have to watch me train," Leetold him. Without looking up, the older man shook his head in disagreement, flipping the page to read another article.
"Last time I left you to train by yourself, you nearly crushed your fist. This is all just a precaution, so don't mind me at all," he answered. Lee pouted at the notion of him being not responsible, but he knew it to be true. He got on all fours and began to do fifty reps of hundred push ups for each hands.
"So when's my next match?" Lee asked, slightly grunting as he switched his hands around on the dirt.
"Next Tuesday," Hozaku briefly replied, looking up new appliances and break through technologies in washing clothes.
"Who am I going against?" he asked again, not being able to wait to get back on the arena.
"Hisoka Masaki. Some ninja guy from the Hidden Rock, I hear," he recalled. Lee's eyes brightened and twinkled upon hearing this news. So far in the competition, he has battled against tough opponents, but none of them were ninjas. This would be the first time he actually battled a ninja in the entire tournament.
"What's his record?" Lee asked, suddenly being unable to contain his excitement, switching his hands again to continue his exercise.
"Clean three. He's gotten through seven battles and won six of them by KO. One of them by ring out," he answered, suddenly remembering something.
"Oh yeah, I hear he's a weirdo. But then again, compared to you, I guess he's not so bad..." he commented. Lee was too busy day dreaming and training to come up with a snappy remark for Hozaku to chew on. Not that he was good at it anyways.
"Lee," the promoter called out. The young Genin looked over and saw a piece of rock being thrown his way. He leaned back and threw his fist up and crushed the projectile, but only a part of it turned into a grain of sand.
"Not quite there yet," teased Hozaku. Lee snapped his finger in disappointment.
"But I got the form down. Folding your fist half way when you make an impact, then clenching it together for the final blow," the young ninja explained, making a wide motion with his fist as a visual aid. The older man nodded.
"I'm the one who taught you the technique. You don't need to tell me how it's done, idiot," Hozaku snapped. Lee blushed and combed his hair over to straighten his bowl cut.
"Anyways, let's go get something to eat," the older man suggested.
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The narrow passage way of the market place in Maple Village was choked with street venders trying to sell some Maple Village Tournament related merchandise and greasy snack foods. The majority of the people gathered in this part of the village were spectators from other regions of the world, who were looking for some good restaurants serving some of the finest native dishes. On the other hand, there were people like Hozaku who were too cheap to buy anything, but bland instant ramen cups from old vending machines. He purchased two bowls for him and Lee and looked around for some hot water to pour over their dinner.
"I don't know how much longer I can go on with just eating this, Hozaku san..." Lee complained as he trailed behind him in their search for hot water. Hozaku ignored him and looked around for tea pots at random stalls and booths. Hopelessly Lee followed him until he heard someone calling out his name. Not expecting much, he turned around and saw Asuma walk towards him, the rubbery fighter from his first battle in Maple Village. He was wearing a white tank top this time around so Lee didn't recognize him right away, being that he usually socialized with people who wore the same stuff everyday.
"Asuma-san?" Lee asked. Asuma stretched out his right arm and waved at him, as he casually walked over.
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten about me? That would suck since I remember you being the only one to defeat me so far," he remarked. Lee looked at his bulging biceps that stretched out to an unknown length on command.
"Of course I remember you, Asuma-san! How are you doing so far?" Lee greeted. Asuma looked at him doubtfully, but brightened up in an instant.
"Five wins and one loss. If I keep it up, I guess I'll have another chance to fight you and finally have my revenge!" he exclaimed ecstatically. Lee scratched the back of his head shyly, as he faked a chuckle. Asuma gazed at him with a friendly smile, placing his arms at his sides.
"Of course, you won't lose until then, will you?" he asked. Lee showed him a confident face and pumped his arm before him.
"Of course not!" he shouted. Then he remembered something.
"Ah, Asuma-san. Do you know about a person named Hisoka Masaki? He's supposed to be my next opponent, and I was just wondering..."
Asuma squinted, implying that he was thinking hard about Lee's question.
"I could've sworn I heard something about him...Something about him being not quite right in the head..." he explained.
"But compared to you, he probably won't seem like such a nut job!" Asuma replied, laughing maniacally afterwards.
Rock Lee shivered at the strange sense of deja vu.
"Lee, I found some hot water!" shouted Hozaku from an unknown distance. Lee cringed upon hearing his name and turned around immediately to catch up to his promoter. But before he can, he waved back at Asuma.
"I'll see you later, Asuma-san!" he yelled. The young ninja dashed across the street, leaving Asuma behind to continue to laugh on his own.
But he wasn't looking at where he was going and eventually bumped into another person, causing both of them to fall on the busy dirt path and kick up a cloud of dust around them. They both coughed violently and fanned their arms around wildly to clear their vision.
Lee dusted his clothes and offered a helping hand to the person next to him before realizing who it was.
"Ah, Okami...san?"
The feminine fighter nursed his clean shaven chin before glaring at Lee.
"Even when we're outta the ring you piss me off, you ugly boy!" Okami hollered. Lee narrowed his sea weed like eye brows.
"What a thing to say! Well, Gai sensei tells me that I'm a beautiful person!" he shouted back, stomping the ground underneath him to show him that he means business.
"Hmph, then I guess this Gai sensei must have a low standard of beauty," he commented, pursing his lips and checking out his bruised face through a pocket mirror. Anger seethed through Lee once he heard the man insult his role model before him.
"Gai sensei has high standards for everything!" Lee corrected, flailing his arms around to make his point clear.
Hozaku came out of nowhere and began to drag Lee away forcibly.
"Don't make a scene and have your damn ramen," his promoter advised. Lee pouted and crossed his arms, allowing himself to be dragged around the town.
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The weekend had passed by quickly, and Tuesday finally crept its way into everyone's lives. Lee steadied himself for his upcoming battle in the locker room while Hozaku was in the process of prepping his fighter for his seventh fight.
"I wasn't able to gather much information on Hisoka, other than the fact that he seems to use strange ninjutsu techniques involving...something. I forget, but in my age, it's pretty damn impressive that I even retained that much information. So have faith in me while you're up there, got it?" Hozaku cheered. His prepping did Lee no good, and they both knew that it was a waste of time. But Hozaku pretended to have given him some valuable insights.
"Let's make it all the way to the top!" shouted the old man. Lee gripped his fist and pumped it high in the air to acknowledge him.
"To the top!" he repeated.
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The stage set for the two fighters in this particular fight was a plain pool of water with two platforms floating on top of it. The two fighters took refuge on the floating pieces of rubber and eyed the other while they waited for their match to begin.
Lee observed that his opponent was sporting a black short sleeve turtle neck shirt, with both his arms wrapped tightly in bandages. His beige shorts came down to his knees, and his left leg was bandaged tightly as well. Nothing about his features seemed out of the ordinary, including his sunglasses, similar to that of Ebisu and Shino.
Except for the spider monkey resting on top of his right shoulder.
This bothered Lee a lot, not because of its presence, but because it was humping the side of its owner's head like there was no tomorrow. And Hisoka just stood there, seemingly oblivious to its pet deflowering his head.
'Maybe this is what Hozaku and Asuma san meant by the guy being weird...But how come they both think I'm much weirder than him!' Lee quietly thought to himself.
"Are you prepared to die?" came a voice from the opposite side. Lee was about to answer him with a witty remark, but...
" Cuz I am," Hisoka shouted again. Lee face faulted on the platform.
"What is up with this guy..." came a voice from Lee's ear piece. Hisoka's mannerism has apparently intrigued his promoter as well.
"Definitely not as weird as you though..." Hozaku observed. Lee turned around abruptly to face his promoter on the dry surface behind him.
"What are you talking about!" the young Genin cried out.
"You want some pocky?" Hisoka asked. Lee turned around and saw the strange ninja offering him a piece of pocky from far away, while munching on an empty box. And his monkey was now slumped on top of his head with a cigarette pinched between its fingers, looking as exhausted as ever. Lee looked beyond his opponent to see who his promoter was and saw an old man sleeping peacefully on the floor.
"What the hell..." Lee muttered.
"Commence the fight!" the stadium speakers roared. Lee didn't let himself be swept by Hisoka's antics and dashed across the surface of the water, causing waves to rise and crash behind him. He flung himself over Hisoka's form and landed behind him. He then immediately swept his leg over to knock his opponent down, but the strange ninja avoided his attack quite swiftly.
"Oh, I need to recycle this," Hisoka muttered. Not knowing what he was talking about Lee tried to face him but something hit his face and blocked his vision. He cleared away the tiny pocky box that landed on his face and saw that there was something stuck to its surface.
"An...explosive tag?"
As soon as he found out what it was, the pocky box exploded and Lee was sent flying into the pool. He found his grip in mid flight and kneeled over the water, leaving himself open for attacks.
"Take this, too," came the monotone voice of Hisoka. Lee watched a barrage of kunais being thrown his way. He dodged the countless projectiles, but lost sight of his opponent.
"Where is he?" he whispered.
"Behind you!" warned Hozaku.
"Behind me?" the boy repeated for his sake. He looked over his shoulder and saw the same projectiles he dodged coming back towards him.
"What!" he gasped. He rolled away and ducked underneath the flying kunais, avoiding them just in the knack of time.
"I call this my Flying Takoball Combo," Hisoka commented, orchestrating the movements of his weapons with the flick of his fingers.
"It's the Flying Octopus Combo, and it's mine!" Lee screamed as he ran away from the sharp objects seemingly following him wherever he went. Lee was actually quite surprised at the fact that his opponent had researched him beforehand, while he knew little to nothing about Hisoka. However, it was not the time to be impressed.
"And only I know its weakness!"
The young azure beast took out a shuriken and threw it towards the strange ninja. Hisoka controlled his kunais and targetted the shuriken, while still pursuing Lee with his left set of kunais.
Suddenly, the shuriken curved inwards and broke through his kunai defense. This caught the strange ninja off guard.
"That's right, now you'll have no choice, but to concentrate on the shuriken instead of on me," Lee murmured.
"Oh dear," the Hidden Rock Genin sulked.
"King Ghidora, take care of this please."
Lee saw the spider monkey leap from behind his opponent and latch the flying shuriken with its jaws, leaving its master unharmed. He didn't count on for that to happen, which frustrated him even further.
But nonetheless, Hisoka stopped his onslaught of kunais.
"King Ghidora, mad ape transformation technique."
Hisoka performed a simple set of hand seals and it transformed his pet into a giant rampaging gorilla. It roared as it towered over Lee, dragging its knuckles over the body of water and causing the entire pool to ripple.
"I did not see that coming," Hozaku commented. Lee felt the same way.
Not a moment too soon, the gorilla began to pummel the pool and chase after Lee.
"Why can he walk over water as well!" he asked as he went on to continue running away from his opponent. Lee turned around and performed a drop kick to the gorilla's massive stomach, and sprung himself even further away from the monster.
"Damn it, normal attacks don't work on that thing," he figured as he sprinted for his life.
"Of course. That's King Ghidorah for you."
Lee looked to his side and saw Hisoka running along side him.
'When did he get so close to me...' Lee wondered, suddenly alarmed by his presence. He then began to trade fists with him until they came to the edge of the pool, from where they made a sharp turn and continued their exchange. Lee grazed his opponent's cheek with his outstretched leg and felt himself being lifted into the air with an uppercut.
The young Genin dropped like a rag doll into the water. From what he can see from the depth of the pool, the gorilla stopped chasing after him and the boy sat cross legged on the surface.
"Aquatic ape transformation!" Lee heard being shouted from the top. Then he saw the giant monster transform into a mermaid like creature with the body of a monkey and a shark. The monkey swam through the water with ease and chased after its target. Lee remained still, and released a compact fish net from his pack, capturing the monkey successfully. He swam up towards the surface and threw his catch towards Hisoka, which knocked him off his position.
"Try again, Hisoka-kun!" challenged Lee.
Three minutes later, Lee found himself being chased around by the gigantic gorilla form of King Ghidora again.
"I am getting sick of running away!" he complained.
"There's really not much you can do right now," Hozaku sympathized. Something snapped in Lee's mind upon hearing that.
"Maybe there's one thing left that I can still try!" he shouted with confidence.
Lee jumped into the air and pulled his fist back as far as he can.
"Futari no Kiwami!" he screamed, swinging as hard as he can towards King Ghidora's face. As soon as his fist connected with the monster's chin, the gorilla felt itself being lifted at least five feet into the air. Blood fumed from its mouth and it collapsed into the water. When the body resurfaced again, it turned back into the small spider monkey it originally was.
The crowd went silent after that blow.
"A half assed punch like that actually worked, huh," Hozaku thought out loud.
"As long as it worked..." Lee whispered, breathing heavily as he landed back on the water.
He watched Hisoka walk over to his pet and inspect its condition. He then placed his palm on its forehead, his hand being engulfed by the bluish glow of chakra.
"Chakra transfer jutsu," the hidden rock ninja uttered, reviving his pet with the technique. Lee's eyes became wide when he saw the monkey rub its eyes as if it's been asleep briefly and climb back on top of its master's shoulder.
"Looks like it's not over for the monkey," said Hozaku. Lee gripped his fists tightly as he waited for the counter measure.
Hisoka crouched over and performed another set of hand seals.
"Beast human transfusion jutsu!" he shouted. Then suddenly, the monkey's form began to meld in with Hisoka's form. Suddenly, the rock ninja sprouted brown fur all over his body, and a long coiling tail grew out from behind him. His fangs grew longer until they hung over his lips, and his nails grew sharper as well.
"They fused together!" exclaimed Lee. He saw Hisoka growl and stand on all fours, glaring down its prey with its jaws clattering menacingly. He crept to the left and moved quickly back to his right and vanished from the leaf ninja's sight.
Lee looked around his perimeter, but before he knew it, Hisoka pounced him from behind and tried to bite his face off. Lee struggled with him and eventually kicked him over his head and got back up on his feet. The feral ninja got back up quickly as well and swiped at Lee's body, but our hero side stepped and brought his hand over to jab his opponent's side. Then the leaf Genin closed gaps on him and gathered his hands into a ball and brought it up to connect it with the chin of the beast form of Hisoka. But his opponent took that chance to grab his hands and use his tail to wrap it around Lee's neck in order to suffocate him.
"Damn..." the young Genin barely muttered as he tried his best to get out of his bondage.
Lee finally pulled his fist away from him and tried to pry Hisoka's tail away from his throat, but the beasty ninja spun around him with his long coiling body part still hanging around his neck and flipped him over using his tail as a leverage.
Lee fell into the water, having lost his chakra grip, and found himself in a situation where it was even harder for him to breath. Bubbles escaped from his mouth, as he felt himself losing his consciousness. With the last bit of strength left in him, he tugged at the tail and bit it as hard as he possibly can. From the surface of the water, Hisoka yelled out in pain and let go of Lee.
The young ninja climbed back out of the water, coughing feverishly as he found his chakra grip back. He stood back on top of the pool and watched Hisoka jumping around as he tried to ease his pain.
Lee steadied himself and dashed across the pool towards his target. He cartwheeled once over the water and lifted himself into the air, high above his opponent. While he wasn't looking, Lee wrapped his legs around his neck and tossed him away by arcing his back and using his momentum to whip the rock village ninja away with his legs. Hisoka bounced over the water and got back on all fours.
The ferocious looking ninja searched for Lee, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just then, a figure erupted before Hisoka and performed a clean uppercut on him that knocked around his brain inside his skull. While the ninja was airborne, Lee linked his hands around Hisoka's waist and they both flew into the air. On their descent, Lee along with Hisoka in his arms began to somersault their way back towards the water. Lee let go of Hisoka and let gravity and inertia take its toll on the rock ninja.
Hisoka landed hard over the water and shook his head around to rid himself of his headache, but before long, he saw Lee flying down towards him.
"Futari no Kiwami!" Lee yelled, pulling his fist back as far as he can.
Hisoka stared on, even after Lee made his contact with his forehead. The rock village ninja's body became limp immediately afterwards and it began to float over the pool. The master and his monkey became separate forms again, and they both had swirls for eyes as they drifted across the water peacefully.
"Winner, Rock Lee and Hozaku Tomahara," the speakers announced. Lee kneeled over the water from exhaustion and took a deep sigh of relief.
"Achhoo!"
Lee sniffled a bit and wiped his nose.
"Achoo!"
Hozaku stared at him quizzically from the dry surface. Lee continued to sneeze afterwards, which raised eyebrows in the crowd.
"Ah crap," Lee muttered before sneezing again.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: This is where I would normally say something to justify my quality of writing or something, but I'm too tired.