Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one
Chapter 2: - Chūnin Challenge
We continued on to the third floor after the incident from only a few minutes earlier. The three we had encountered had stared at us as we left the vicinity, we climbed down some steps and stepped into an area which was open and had two rows of pillars standing at the end of it, which lead to the outside.
"Hey you, with the attitude. Hold on!" A voice called out form behind us. We stopped walking and turned around to see the boy in the green jumpsuit from before. I knew his question was directed at Sasuke and so waited for the young Uchiha to speak.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked. I was also curious as to why the boy had followed us, especially with the exam deadline not so far off.
"I want to fight. Right here and right now," The boy declared, purpose and determination wove through his voice like a thread.
"You want o fight me here and now huh?" Sasuke questioned, as if he didn't quite believe what the boy had said.
"Yes," The boy confirmed. He then proceeded to jump down from the balcony he stood upon, he landed with a crouch before standing up and pointing at himself. "My name is Rock Lee. You said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give their own name first right, Sasuke Uchiha," The boy introduced himself.
"So you know my name," Sasuke retorted. Rock Lee then assumed a fighting stance, his arms stretched out and fingers curved.
"I challenge you. Everyone is always talking about Uchiha clan and how great they are, I want to see if it is true, you will be a good test for me. And also…," Rock Lee began to speak before his eyes averted to Sakura who froze in terror.
"Oh Sakura. I love you," Lee declared. I blinked at his proclamation, wondering how he could fall for her so fast, Sakura screamed in fear at this and I was deeply confused as once again… sometimes I didn't understand my own gender.
"Those eyebrows can't be real. NO!" She screamed. I stepped away from the pinkette, and closer to Sasuke in the process, to get away from the screaming. "Your hairstyle is horrible to and those eyebrows are so bushy. You're such a weirdo," Sakura continued on her rant as her entire body began to shake as she huddled into herself.
"You are an angel, sent from heaven," Lee compliment. He then began to wink at her which I think produced flying hearts, Sakura proceeded to dodge the attacking hearts and ending up banging her head against the floor to dodge the final one.
"Hey! Keep your creepy little valentines to yourself. I was dodging for my life there," Sakura exclaimed. I sighed at her over reaction to a simple gesture, Lee seemed heart broken.
"You do not have to be so negative Sakura-chan," Lee said a dishearten tone in his voice.
"You've heard of the Uchiha clan, yet you're challenging me? You just be even more psycho than you look, if that's possible. You want to know more about my clan, then I'll teach you. The hard way," Sasuke informed the young man, getting the subject of this conversation back on track.
"Bring it on," Lee replied. I was uneasy about this whole thing, it could end up with any of us being hurt because of stupid male ego.
"Sasuke-san, reconsider," I advised the ravenette. He looked at me, his eyes focused and unwavering.
"Back on Ami," Sasuke snapped. I glared at the boy and he held my gaze for a short time before the silence was broken.
"Hold it!" Naruto cried out. Everyone looked at the blonde wondering hat he was going to say or do. "I get him first. This weirdo is mine," Naruto commented. I looked at the boy wondering what on earth he was thinking.
"Go for it," Sasuke replied, his tone showed that he was uncaring about this whole ordeal.
"Naruto," Sakura said in her warning tone. I gritted my teeth and the stupidity of this situation.
"What? It'll take me two minutes to have this guy begging for mercy," Naruto boasted.
"You must respect all your opponents, Naruto-san. Do not doubt his abilities," I warned the blonde.
"No thank you. Right now the only one I want to fight is Uchiha-san," Lee protested to the new challenge. This rejection did not sit well with Naruto.
"Well I've got news for you. Sasuke can't compare to me, believe it!" Naruto declared as he rushed towards the other boy. However Naruto couldn't even land a blow as Rock Lee simply diverted the attack with a light push of his fingers.
Naruto landed on his hands and, using the momentum, he twisted around to hit Lee's face but Lee dodged out of the way and spun out with his leg, striking Naruto's balancing hand.
"Leaf Whirlwind," Lee declared. Naruto lost his balance and began to spin around on his back and he ended up slammed into the wall behind them.
"Impressive," I compliment. Everyone diverted their attention to me, I remained silent but I couldn't help but remained focus on Lee, waiting to see his fighting style, to see if my assumption was right.
"Just accept it. You have no chance against me, your skills are inferior," Lee declared. Naruto was still stunned from Lee's attack, and thus unable to reply. "You see Sasuke, out of all the top Leaf Genin I am the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you," Lee added on to his proclamation.
"This'll be fun, lets do it," Sasuke declared as he dropped into a fighting stance. I sighed and threw my arms in the air and the men's stupidity.
"There's no time Sasuke. We've got to register by 3 o'clock that's less than half an hour," Sakura warned. I looked at the clock than hung on the wall, only to see we had less than 25 minutes to register.
"Sakura-san is right Sasuke-san. Leave this battle for another day," I advised once again. Although I did want to see Lee's fighting style, I highly doubted that this would be the last we saw of Lee.
"Relax, this'll all be over in five seconds," Sasuke boasted. He then charged towards Lee, however when he went to strike, Lee disappeared.
"Leaf Hurricane," Lee declared as he reappeared in mid-air and went to strike a Sasuke. He managed to dodge but Lee spun around again and went to strike his body, Sasuke raised his arms to block the attack but it managed to get through when the guard weakened for just a moment.
Sasuke was sent flying back as a result of the attack, he landed on his back and went skidding across the floor ending up beside us. Sakura was shocked at what happened, whilst I was confused, I knew that the guard was up so how was Lee able to get through.
"What's going on?" Sasuke questioned, as he struggled to get up. When he finally rose to his feet, I knew that he would prepare to assault the young man once again.
"I've been waiting to try this out," Sasuke boasted. When Sasuke raised his head, I saw that his irises had become red with a black ring inside each iris with tomoe laced upon each, both of the eye contained two tomoe.
'Sharingan.' I thought identifying the Dōjutsu that Sasuke held. But if I was correct the eye would be useless against Lee. I saw that Sakura looked over-joyed it was obvious that she knew about the eye's powers but she didn't really know the powers.
Sasuke charged forward once again but Lee managed to slam his leg into the Uchiha's chin sending the boy up into the air. I smirked knowing I was right.
"You see my technique is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Lee stated, before running towards Sasuke. I pulled Sakura out of the way so that she wouldn't get hurt, the two boys continued to fight each other in close quarters, Lee continually managed to land blows but Sasuke couldn't even perform a counterattack. Sasuke stumbled back, his breathing ragged and he clutched his stomach in pain.
"You get now? I am using Taijutsu that means no tricks," Lee explained. He then disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. "It is just straight martial arts, nothing more," Lee finished his statement.
"Why you!" Sasuke cried out as he flung his arm back but Lee dodged it using his superior speed.
"I know your technique. Forget it will not work, not on me. I know you can see through your opponent's jutsu, that Sharingan gives you the ability to read their chakra and decipher his hand signs and movements, you can guess what he's going to do almost before he knows himself. The problem is that Taijutsu is a little bit different," Lee began to explain. I was impressed by his reservoir of Sharingan knowledge.
"Right so, what's your point?" Sasuke questioned, the other boy. I sighed and looked at the clock, seeing that many minutes had passed already.
"I do not try to hide of disguise my moves. I do not have to, even if you can read them, you still cannot stop them, you are too slow. Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me but if your body cannot keep up what good does it do you," Lee finished explaining. This fact annoyed Sasuke greatly.
"You know what I believe, there are two different kind of ninja. Those like you who are born with talent and do not have to work at it," Lee said. I looked at the boy, his belief was strange but in a way true, Sasuke didn't care to hear the rest as he charged for Lee again. "And there are those like me, the ones who have to train every day of our lives," Lee finished his belief. Sasuke swung for him but Lee dodge the attack. "Fact is your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme Taijutsu. Here is what I mean!" Lee declared.
He slammed his leg into Sasuke, sending the boy into the air, he then used his speed to get into the air and appear behind Sasuke, who was shocked.
"Dancing Leaf Shadow," Sasuke stated, obviously recognising the technique.
"Good eye. Now I will prove me point," Lee informed as his hands began to twitch. The bandage that was wrapped around his right hand seemed to take a life of it own as it began to unravel by itself. "That hard work beat natural talent," Lee finished.
Me and Sakura watched from below waiting for Lee's next move, when all of a sudden something flew out and it struck Lee's bandage pinning it to the wall, the object turn out to be… a paper windmill?
'Ok now I'm lost. Who the hell threw it and why a windmill?' I wondered in my mind as I looked for the source of the attack.
"Alright that's enough Lee," A voice called out. I looked over only to see… a tortoise. Both of the floating boy bega to descend, I could tell Lee was going to be fine but Sasuke was another story.
"Sasuke," Sakura called out. I rushed over and grabbed a hold of the Uchiha setting him down, Sakura settled down on the other side of Sasuke, whilst I looked at the strange boy. "Are you ok? Sasuke!" Sakura called out to the boy.
"You, you were watching us the whole time?" Lee asked the tortoise. He was knelt down in front of it.
"Of course! That last technique is forbidden you know that," The tortoise reprimanded. I looked at the unusual scene before, wondering what to do.
"I am so sorry. I did not mean to," Lee apologised, suddenly he leapt back with a slight scream. "I was not planning to use the forbidden jutsu it is just I was in the middle of the fight and I mean, you understand," Lee rambled on to the tortoise.
"Hey you guys!" Naruto called out. I looked over to see that the blonde had finally woken up.
"What Naruto?" Sakura asked the hyperactive boy as he rushed over to us.
"That weird thing he's talking to is a turtle right?" Naruto asked. I clammed a hand over Sakura's mouth to prevent her from yelling at him before shaking my head.
"Technically Naruto it's a tortoise but go on," I prompted the blonde who looked confused for a moment.
"Ok so maybe it means turtles can be sensei to," Naruto stated. I was confused by this and my hand dropped from Sakura's mouth allowing the girl to yell at the boy.
"How would I know if they can be sensei to?" Sakura yelled at the boy. I stepped back from those to and looked at the strange scene.
"You're a disgrace!" The tortoise yelled at Lee. My clenched my fist at this, Lee had proven to be strong and a powerful opponent, in my eyes he was not a disgrace. "You think you'll get away with pathetic excuses like that? A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary. It's such a basic rule you should know it by now" The tortoise informed the boy. My fist unclenched as I realised what the tortoise meant, he was right, a shinobi must keep their techniques hidden until the opportune moment.
"Forgive me sir," Lee begged. I glanced down and saw that Sasuke was furious at the fact of losing to Lee.
"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?" The tortoise asked.
"I… Yes sir," Lee answered despite protesting before hand.
"Alright please come out, Guy-sensei," The tortoise asked an unknown man before a puff of smoke appeared on the tortoise's back. The smoke clear only to see a man that looked like a grown up version of Lee.
"Hey! What's shaking? How you doing everybody, life treating you good?" The man asked. I think we all jumped back in shock at this even stranger man appear before us.
"He's got the biggest eyebrows yet. They're almost alive!" Naruto cried out. Even I was disturbed by this man and it was hard for that to happen.
"Hey Lee," The man, who I assumed was Guy-sensei, greeted the young boy.
"Too weird," Sakura stated.
"So that's were Lee gets it from. Same soup bowl haircut and even bushier eyebrows," Naruto stated. However Lee got this as an insult to his sensei and whipped around to face us.
"Hey! Do not insult Guy-sensei. He is one of the greatest men in the entire world," Lee yelled at Naruto.
"Well excuse me for not noticing his greatness. I was too busy watching him crawl out from underneath a turtle," Naruto yelled back. I sighed and stepped away from the group.
"He did not crawl out," Lee protested. I had to agree, he had, technically, teleported onto the tortoise.
"Give it a rest Lee," Guy advised. Lee conceded and turned back around to face his teacher.
"Yes sir," Lee answered. Then Guy raised his hand and it began to twitch.
"Now for your punishment," Guy said. Before he punched Lee in the face sending him flying backwards. "You little fool!" Guy yelled as Lee went flying backwards. Then Guy walked up to the crumpled Lee and knelt down in front of him.
"I'm sorry Lee. It's for your own good," Guy apologised. However this lead to an extremely awkward between the two… well awkward for the spectators.
"Who vote we run now?" I asked as I raised my hand. Immediately the others also raised their hands in agreement. However Naruto said something which caused Sakura to yell at him. I then heard Guy order Lee to run, glancing at the clock I realised we only have a few minutes left for registration.
"Wait! There not enough time if you want Lee to register for the exams," I called out to the two they both looked at me.
"Oh right I forgot about that," Guy stated. I stared at the man wondering how he had been able to become a sensei. He then proceeded to order Lee to run even more times than before. All of us stared at the two people with a variety of expressions as to how weird they are.
"Oh no he's looking at us!" Sakura exclaimed in panic. I looked up to see that she was right.
"Tell me how is Kakashi-sensei?" Guy asked. I raised my eyebrow in surprise that he knew Kakashi-sensei.
"Do you know him?" Sasuke replied with a question.
"Do I know Kakashi. Well people say… he and I are arch rivals for all eternity," Guy said and he chuckled. Naruto and Sakura didn't believe him then all of a sudden Guy disappeared and he reappeared behind us.
"My record is 50 wins and 49 loses. Which is one better than his," Guy stated. I turned to face him, my body tense. The others didn't believe him but Guy bragged about being better then Kakashi.
"Word to the wise. Don't do that again unless you want to die," I warned. Guy blinked in surprise but regained his calm composure.
"I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused. Look into my eyes and accept my sincere apology, also notice my handsome manly features," Guy apologised. "Lee you should accompany these fine young ninjas to the class room," Guy told his pupil. He then threw a kunai at the windmill which freed Lee's bandage.
I turned around and watched as Lee re-wrapped his bandages, I noticed that his hand was badly bruised and scarred, also above his first two knuckles was a stitch.
'Proof that he has defiantly trained harder than anyone here, probably even me.' I thought. Guy gave words of encouragement before he and the tortoise disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"Hey Sasuke. Actually I have not been totally honest with you, I said I wanted to test my skills and that is true enough, but you are not the one I really wanted to test them against," Lee told us. Sasuke looked really angry about this fact.
"I lied to you when we were fighting before, I told you I am the best Genin here but there is another top ninja, someone on my own team. I cam here to defeat him, you were just practice, now you are a target. I will crush you, there you have it consider yourself warned," Lee declared. He then jumped up on to the balcony and took off.
Silence hung in the air for a moment before Naruto insulted the Uchiha clan, Sasuke became angry as his fists began to shake.
"Just shut up! Next time I'll drive him to his knees," Sasuke declared. I shook my head as the fighting began to start up again.
"ENOUGH!" I shouted. Everyone looked at me shocked by my cry, I glared at all three of them. "I have not been a member of this team long but I am already sick and tired of the arguing. We must learn to work together otherwise we will fail these exams," I told the three. They fell silent and looked down before Naruto raised his head and looked at Sasuke.
"You saw his hands when he took off the tape didn't you?" Naruto questioned, his face was passive as if he was contemplating things. "I bet ole' bushy brows has been training until he drops, day in, day out. He trains harder than you that's for sure," Naruto stated.
"Agreed. A piece of advice Sasuke," I said, causing the ravenette to turn to me. "You must respect your opponent's capabilities otherwise they'll crush you," I told him. Everyone looked at me surprised before Sasuke actually smirked.
"Fine. This thing's starting to get interesting. The Chūnin exams I can wait to see what happens next," Sasuke said. I nodded and the others voiced their agreements as well.
"Let's get started, Naruto, Sakura, Ami," Sasuke said. We agreed and headed off to our destination.