Legend of the Iron Monkey

by Odama Rasendori

A dying wish to save a life for the price of his own, brought Lee to the arms of death. An angel saves him and grants him the strength to protect his loved ones. What would you do with the power of a god? Lee-centered. LeexTen. Ch 15 Update!

8. Chapter 8

Legend of the Iron Monkey

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own a single shred of Naruto.

Chapter 8: Blooming Flowers in a Battlefield

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When the sun was able to burn to its fullest form, the local clock of the hidden leaf village read 8:00 am. At said time, every genin who passed the first phase of the chunin exam, started arriving at the location of the second phase. The rookies were actually one of the first groups to arrive. They started mingling, talking about what type of test it would be this time. The test was supposed to start in an hour so everyone had a bit of time to get their last minute bits of relaxation. When Tenten arrived to the place, she noticed a few teams there already, chatting with each other to burn a little time. She wondered where Lee and Neji were. Those two would usually arrive at the training grounds earlier than when Gai-sensei told them to arrive. She had her chat with Kurenai-sensei yesterday, and it lasted for a very long time. She honestly wanted real tips from someone who probably had a lot of experience with boys and who better to choose than someone as attractive yet strong, than Kurenai Yuhi? Kurenai wasn't really able to give her any tips, save a couple. She mainly calmed her down as she really figured out most of her feelings on her own. When Tenten recollected all of those times where she was in trouble and Lee was there to aid her, it sort of acted as the final touches.

She knew her feelings for her teammate now, but she didn't want it to get in the way of the chunin exam. He would probably want the same thing too. She didn't really know of his feelings, but she knew enough. He gave her a kiss to the cheek yesterday, but even Kurenai-sensei said that it was more than a kiss for simple friendship. The older kunoichi was able to assure her that Lee thought of her as more than just a friend, but even that wasn't good enough. She wanted to hear it from him, from his own mouth. But she knew that it wouldn't be happening anytime soon. If Kurenai-sensei is right about his feelings for her, then there must be a good reason as to why he hasn't said anything yet. Of course there are other things in his mind. She learned, while training in the cave, that Lee is more than what he appears to be. From the man who saved him, his father, Lee was granted an ancient power that started from the deity who started his clan. Lee is now a god, or a demi-god, something like that. The day that she attained greater power from training in the cave was the moment she told herself that she would follow him and help him protect everyone. One man, no matter how great his power, can't protect everyone.

And Lee told her that he had a mission to do in the chunin exams. He spoke to the prisoners, who were responsible for his disappearance, prior to spending that year in the cave to train her. He said that he needed to find a snake man and demand to know why he wanted him to be brought to the village hidden in the clouds. It's a shame that he didn't know the name of this snake man, but it's probably better that way, at least for Tenten. She simply enjoyed being around him. He didn't scold her for not knowing how to do something, like what Neji often did when she trained with him. He was patient and compassionate through that year of training and she was grateful for it. It was sometime during the training where she sort of developed her crush for him but often told herself that it was a very childish crush that just needed to go away, for her sake. But having the talk with Kurenai-sensei helped to solidify her feelings. She would wait for him and tell him when the time is right. But for now, he is a man on a mission, and she was going to help him. If anyone deserves the truth for any reason at all, it's Lee. After another couple of minutes, Lee could be seen from a distance. Tenten smiled at him. She wanted to tell him how she felt, so badly, but not now.

"Good morning, Tenten," he said when he reached proper distance to talk.

"Good morning to you too, Lee," she replied, still smiling at him. He really is nice to look at.

"Did you manage to take care of whatever it was that you needed to do?" he asked. Tenten nodded but said nothing in reply. Lee took her silence graciously and didn't push through it. He would have arrived earlier but he was actually having a chat with Gai, catching up on old times again while doing some morning exercises. He really missed his sensei. Training at some magical cave with his father for 10 years was nice, but having Gai-sensei around was nice to have as well, but that wasn't the only reason why he was late. He also had a chat with the Hokage, who finally told him of the name of the snake man. His name is Orochimaru, but the Hokage requested that Lee kept it to himself, and to stay away from him, which defeated Lee's purpose of getting answers from the man. Lee didn't want to break his word from the old Hokage, but he had to get some answers and aside from that, if Orochimaru were to bring the village to its knees, Lee would do whatever he could to keep that from happening. Orochimaru is supposed to be a master of ninjutsu, so that would be a rather interesting battle then. A master of ninjutsu against a master of taijutsu... it was enough to make Lee squirm.

The two talked for a while until Neji and the other teams arrived. It turns out Neji's uncle, Hiashi Hyuuga, kept him and Hinata a little occupied for some last minute training. Neji also explained to them that his uncle taught him a new technique that regarded another level of the jyuuken stance that could cripple anyone. But Neji knew better than to try anything on Lee, remembering the last time that it happened. How it happened was still a mystery to him but he counted it as a mistake on his part, one that he learned from. There had to be something that worked against Lee, but unfortunately, the Hyuuga clan is a family of taijutsu experts. There isn't much ninjutsu that their scrolls could teach for any of the Hyuuga members, even those of the main branch. But there has to be a way to bring the spiky haired shinobi to his knees. It wasn't really Neji's style to think badly of his comrade but he didn't want to lose to him again... not after that last time. When the clock hit 9:00 am, every squad had arrived to the location. Anko appeared in a puff of white gray smoke, just in time. She scanned the crowd for any unfamiliar face who shouldn't be around.

"Great, you all made it. This here is the 44th battle ground used for training purposes for advanced shinobi. But we call it the forest of death, and for a good reason," she said, successfully scaring one or two squads, but the rest stood firm. From the corner of Lee's eye, noticed Naruto mocking Anko, repeating what she just said in a rather annoying tone while adding a little dance into it. Anko smirked at him and threw a kunai to the blond at such accuracy that it merely grazed his cheek, creating a scratch that blood oozed from, and landed on some grassy area, several paces behind him. Anko disappeared and instantly reappeared from behind Naruto, muttering something that only the blond could hear. Then something really caught Lee's attention. A grass kunoichi picked up the kunai with her tongue and gave it back to the test proctor. Having metal on your mouth probably isn't the best tasting delicacy in the world, but that wasn't the reason. The grass kunoichi's tongue was stretching really far and slithering like... almost like a... Lee's eyes widened. Could it be?

Anko walked back to the front of the crowd after the grass kunoichi returned the kunai to her. She started explaining the rules to the second part of the exam, but Lee's attention wasn't with her at the moment. His eye was still on the grass kunoichi with the snake-like tongue. It had to be her, but how? The third Hokage said that Orochimaru is a man, albeit a very weird one, a man nonetheless. If this girl isn't Orochimaru, then she must be one of his closest followers. Forget Kabuto, this girl was his new target. But he didn't want to endanger his squad, and by the sound of the rules, it's going to be bit difficult to get to this girl. He couldn't care less about the exam right now. If even one of Orochimaru's followers were this close, then it meant trouble. Trouble that had to be stopped if it the leaf village was to survive. His thoughts were snapped back to reality when Neji passed him a sheet of paper. He read through it. It was pretty much a consent form for them to sign so that if they died in the forest of death, no one would be held responsible. He didn't have to be given a consent form. He wasn't planning on dying yet anyway. He had to see to it that Orochimaru was stopped.

"Lee, are you alright?" asked Neji, shaking his companion back to reality. Lee inwardly cursed at himself for spacing out again. If this is something that is worrying his friends, then he should only think when he was on his own. But according to the bits and pieces of rules that he understood from Anko while he was thinking about Orochimaru, suggested that this test was about team work again. That's not going to work. He needed to fight Orochimaru on his own to ensure that no one else would get hurt... especially...

"Yeah, I'm good. Just thinking about... er... strategies for our upcoming battle to take the scrolls that we need from the other squads," he answered. Neji nodded, thinking that it was a good idea. But Tenten wasn't so dull, mainly because Lee had already informed her what his main objective was for entering the chunin exam. She knew what he was thinking about, and she would ask him about it later when she had the chance. But for now, she pretended to buy into his excuse. The squads separated for a few minutes, each member being given their own amount of time to think about whether they wanted to sign the consent form or not. Unsurprising to anyone, everyone signed the consent form and traded their forms for a scroll. Team Gai was escorted to gate number six, where they waited for the gates to be opened. Most of the teams were a bit nervous, but a few didn't have the time to be afraid. Lee, even without telling his squad, was actually counting on them to search for the required scrolls on their own. He had to find those grass ninja and fast, before anyone else is hurt. When the gates were unlocked, Lee, Neji, and Tenten, sprinted into the forest of death. As they ran deeper into the forest, Lee closed in on Tenten.

"Hey, I need you to do a favor for me," he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I need you to aid Neji in looking for the earth scroll that we need to pass this exam. As for me, there's something that I need to attend to," he explained. Tenten narrowed her eyes at him. She hated it when he didn't fully explain his intentions. He should understand by now that she vowed to stand by his side and help him with what he needed to do. And plus, she already knew what he was going to do, which agitated her even more. She isn't as weak as she used to be. She stopped sprinting on the spot and pulled Lee by the back of his shirt. Neji stopped running as well, wanting to know what was going on. Tenten pulled Lee to face her.

"Lee, I'm not stupid and I wish you'd stop treating me like I am," she said, surprising Lee. "I know that you're going after the snake man or someone who is in league with him and happens to be in this portion of the exam. I promised to help you and stand by you, not anyone else."

"Please Tenten, this is something that I have to do alone. You don't understand how dangerous he is," he said, trying to negotiate with the apparently angered kunoichi.

"And you don't seem to understand how dangerous it is for me to break my promise!" she exclaimed. Neji turned to face the quarreling couple. Oh, their first fight, it's rather cute in a not so sadistic way. He knew that they had a thing for each other, but just wasn't saying anything about it. Why? He didn't know, but he decided to play along just for the sake of pure entertainment. This forest of death place was really creepy and he needed something to get his mind off of it.

"Do you two need time to yourselves? I can go ahead. I mean, I can take care of myself, you know," he said.

"No, Neji. We don't need time to ourselves. I just wish Lee would understand what I'm saying!"

"I do understand what you're saying! It's you who doesn't understand what I'm saying!"

"Liar! You don't get a single word of what I'm telling you. I promised to stand by you and help you through your mission and you're telling me to break that promise?!"

"I'm not lying to you, I never have and I never will. I'm telling you this for your own good, so just do it for me, will you?!"

"No, and I absolutely refuse! Nothing you do or say will make me break my promise!"

"Can you two lovebirds be any louder? I don't think the other squads can hear you," Neji added.

"SHUT UP, NEJI!" They both shouted, looking to him. They turned back to face each other and continued their seemingly nonstop shouting. Lee couldn't believe that Tenten wouldn't do him one single favor. It's so simple, just tag along with Neji for a while until they found both scrolls. Lee would find them eventually, after he located Orochimaru's henchman and got the answers that he needed. On the other hand, Tenten was angered with Lee because he knew of the promise that she made to him, while they were training in the cave. He heard it come right from her mouth and he was still asking her to break it? How could he not know how far she would go for him? Was he so thick headed to not realize how she felt about him? Perhaps it was because such feelings only arose recently, but they were there. Why are boys so oblivious to the feelings that a girl has for him? How can he not see what she was willing to do for him, how far she was willing to go just for him?

"Tenten, will you think with logic for once in your life? I can't have you around me when I face off against him!"

"Do you think I care? I want to be there with you. Why can't you see that?!"

"I do see that, but I can't permit it. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Why? You know I can recover from it!"

"It's because..." Lee stopped himself as he was about to say it. He had been completely aware of his feelings for her for a very long time, but just never said it because of two reasons. He didn't think she would feel the same way, and because there were far more important things to deal with. He never expected her to even like someone such as him. He always thought of himself as just the "good friend" to people, and that's how she treated him until they he helped her to train in the cave. He knew that he would probably regret it now if he told her his true reasons, but she wasn't really leaving him with much of a choice. "You really want to know why I won't allow you to come with me? Do you really want to hear it from my mouth and won't decipher it for yourself?!"

"You know what, give it to me, give me your best excuse!"

"Grraaahhh! It's because... I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU!!!" He shouted to the top of his lungs. He panted hard, taking in as much air as he could. There it was, finally out in the open. Tenten was at a loss for words. She wanted him to say it, but when he did, she couldn't say anything in return. It didn't go the way she wanted it to, like the romantic setting that she was hoping for, but there it was. She knew she would still feel shocked at his answer, despite the setting, but that wasn't the point. Her crush just admitted to her that he was in love with her. In love. Technically, her mind and body are actually 15 years of age, one year older than Lee, but 10 years younger in terms of mentality. Would it be a strange relationship if they started dating? Lee may be 14 years old, but because he trained in the cave of the Iron Monkey for 10 years, plus an extra year, he would be about 25 years old now, mentally anyway. Her mother got her first boyfriend when she was about 15 as well, and that boy eventually became her husband, in the future. She couldn't say anything, she didn't know what to say. Lee hoped to the heavens that she took this answer properly. Even if she only thought of him as a good friend or just a brother, he didn't want her to act weird around him.

"Neji... can you give us some time alone?" asked Tenten, not taking her eyes off of Lee. Neji scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah right. I already asked you both that earlier, and you both shouted no in my face. If I'm going to owe Gai-sensei 2000 yen because Lee admitted his feelings first, I might as well make it worth my money. So hell no, I'm staying right here to see how this ends," said Neji as he leaned on a tree, watching for Tenten's reaction.

She had never felt anything like this before. It was just as Kurenai sensei told him. Someone confessed to her when she was younger too, and she liked that boy as well. She said that the feeling was too deep for mere words to describe and she was right. Tenten couldn't even begin to describe how she felt at the moment. All she knew was that it felt good to know that the boy she had feelings for, admitted that he felt the same way. All that was left now was to give him her answer. She clenched the torso area of his hard leather garment and pulled him closer, pressing her lips onto him. Lee instantly melted to the kiss. It felt like everything Asuma-sensei said it would. Unknown to anyone, Lee spoke to Asuma about girl problems. He didn't talk to Gai about it because he knew that it wouldn't feel right, especially since the girl in question was in his same team. He had to ask someone who didn't know her enough to give a biased opinion. He wanted a fair opinion. His... her... their first kiss felt good. When they pulled away, both were blushing deeply. All of their anger just vanished, like it never existed.

"So... Lee... you uh... had something to take care of... right?" she asked, stuttering her brains out.

"Y-yeah... um..."

"Alright, I'll let you go alone but only if you do a favor for me too," she said. "I don't want our first kiss to be our last kiss. You have to come back to me."

"Dead or alive?"

"Whatever floats your boat, sweetheart. But if I hear that you died and I find your corpse, I swear to the heavens that I'll find a way to bring you back to life and murder you myself. Got it?" she asked, making her conditions clear to him. It was kind of scary because she was really giving off that evil, yet nice, look. Lee didn't really know how to react to such a thing, but he knew that he would definitely come back alive.

"That's not a very nice thing to say..."

"Who said I was a very nice girl?"

"I thought it was implied."

"Then you're in for one hell of a ride, mister," she said, poking his chest with her index finger. Lee smiled and nodded as he took to the trees and sped away. Tenten watched him until she couldn't see him anymore. It finally happened, he confessed to her. They had their first kiss, and it really felt just as good as Kurenai-sensei said. She knew that he would come back alive, the guy heals faster than she does and she thought she healed pretty fast. Neji wasn't all that surprised at the outcome and was rather happy for them. They deserve each other but something else bothered him now. What if he started becoming the third wheel, or the one who was left out of the loop just because his two friends were now boyfriend and girlfriend? Well, not officially, but it was implied. It was a given. He nodded to himself and remembered their task. They still had to search for the heaven scroll, and Lee was counting on them both. Neji hoped that Lee would return, for his sake. He didn't want to have to drag Tenten around while she waited for her lover.

"Well, come on Tenten, we better get going. We still have to get that heaven scroll and pass this exam," he said he leaped to the trees, the opposite side of where Lee went. Tenten nodded and followed suit, not really completely recovering from the fact that she was no longer single.

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Lee ran for at least a good four to five hours, going at a moderately fast pace so as to conserve energy for Orochimaru. He knew that his healing ability supplied him with a constant stream of stamina so he wouldn't get tired so easily, but he couldn't take any chances. The Hokage was pretty adamant when he told him to stay away from Orochimaru, most likely warning him of the snake man's power. At the moment, Lee didn't care about the power of his opponent. He was confident in his skills in combat and he knew that his training would serve him well. He held the spirit of the Iron Monkey, the sole protector of his clan, and the watchful guardian. Although the body of the original Iron Monkey was dead, his spirit lives on in Lee, the last son of the Hanazawa clan... minus his father of course. Speaking of whom, he wondered how his father was doing, and what he was up to at the moment. He hadn't seen him since they separated, after his 10 years of training in the cave. Lee hoped he was doing well. His father told him of how he was able to retain his healing ability, but it was degraded a lot upon departing with the spirit of the Iron Monkey and probably couldn't be relied upon except with small bruises and minor scratches.

In the hour that he had been running for, Lee met up with a couple of very unfortunate groups. One of the groups held an earth scroll, which is what his group had. They demanded for him to give them his scroll, but he insisted that he didn't have it. In truth, he really didn't. Tenten has the earth scroll that was given to their squad by Anko. When they didn't believe him and attacked, Lee was forced to defend themselves and ended up taking their earth scroll. He didn't need it but chose to hang on to it so that team wouldn't be a danger to other teams. The second group that he met up with actually had a heaven scroll, but was defeated by Lee as well. The Iron Monkey secured both scrolls in his holster, where he held his extra kunai and shuriken. He was confident in Tenten and Neji's skill in finding a heaven scroll, so they could pass the test, but it's better to play it safe. When he halted to take a look at his surroundings, he heard a shout... someone saying dragon flame jutsu. Now, anyone is can use just about any jutsu, but the only one who came to mind that would use a fire based technique is the Sasuke, as his clan was famous for their mastery of fire element jutsus. The distance gap was pretty far, but it made Lee curious as to who it was that Sasuke was battling with, and what condition he was in to cast such a powerful jutsu.

After a few minutes later and arriving to the scene, he saw a large burnt mark on a huge tree, but no one in the vicinity. He could have sworn that he heard the voice here. He landed on the tree with the burnt mark and examined it. The fire was still warm, so that meant that whoever was here, he couldn't have gone far. It wasn't just a burned tree that he noticed. Several barks and other trees seemed to be destroyed. And to top it all off, there was a giant snake corpse on the ground with blood oozing from its mouth. Orochimaru was definitely here. So what the shinobi and the kunoichi said in the prison wasn't exaggerated then. This guy literally is a snake man, especially with his use of snakes for summoning jutsus. It was at that moment when Lee wondered if the grass ninja earlier was Orochimaru in a disguise using a transformation jutsu. But even such a jutsu can't possibly copy that weird tongue thing that the grass nin did to return the kunai back to Anko. That was just plain creepy.

Lee closed his eyes in an attempt to sense any shinobi who were still close by. He picked up several signals, most of which belonged to other squads that he didn't recognize or weren't from the village. Sakura's signal was pretty strong, as she was probably near his current location, but there were two others near her with very weak signals. It was probably Sasuke and Naruto and if Lee could give an educated guess, they must have done battle with Orochimaru. He was about to go to them and see if they were alright, when he picked up another signal. Although having only seen her twice, Lee was familiar with her energy signal. It belonged to the test proctor, Anko Mitarashi. But what is she doing here? He noted that Sasuke and Naruto were going to be alright, as long as Sakura was with them. He chose to follow Anko's energy signal instead. Right as he decided to movel, he felt another energy signal, one more power than Anko's. It was vile, sinisiter, and pure evil. It has to be him, it has to be Orochimaru. Lee growled a bit and hurried to Anko, hoping that she wouldn't have to fight him.

When he arrived, just a minute later, he saw Anko injured and leaning against a tree for support. She had her hand on a spot near her left shoulder, and she was grasping it like it was the source of a huge amount of pain. When he arrived to aid her, he saw the other guy, and was definitely sure of who it was. Pale face, long black hair, and snake-like eyes. It's him, there's no doubt about it. It's Orochimaru. Said shinobi looked to the new arrival who had come to aid Anko. He looked to be a professional assassin, what with his very stylish outfit, but he wasn't aware of any leaf shinobi who emanated the kind of power that this black-clad shinobi was. Orochimaru smiled a bit and licked his lips with his slithering tongue. Anko saw the new arrival as well. It was one of those genin from before. No, this is bad... what horrible timing!

"Well, who might you be?" asked Orochimaru. Lee turned to face him after he was certain that Anko was going to be alright.

"My name is Rock Lee," he said, glaring at the long haired man. "I've been looking for you for a while now. I received word from the two cloud ninja that you hired, three months ago, to bring me back to you, dead or alive. They told me about you... Orochimaru."

"You know my name? Interesting... I never told them my name, but I guess it saves me from a very boring introduction," he replied.

"Now spill it. I want to know why you hired them to kidnap me. And while you're at it, you might as well tell me what dangers you're about to bring to the village hidden in the leaves!" Lee exclaimed. Anko couldn't believe what she was hearing. How is it possible that a mere genin knew so much about Orochimaru and wasn't quivering in his boots? This guy is one of the most dangerous men in the world and this genin was shouting at him like he was just another one of those lowlife bandits that one meets during a C rank mission.

"Spunky... you've definitely got courage, my little friend," Orochimaru remarked.

"Lee... get away from him now, while you still can!" Anko managed to say, even with the aching pain on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, test proctor. I intend to get you out of here after I beat this guy down," he said, voice full of confidence.

"Ahh... bold and spunky. I like your style, kid," said Orochimaru. "I'll make you a deal then. I'll play with you for a bit to test the limits of your strength and to see what it was that got me interested in you in the first place. I'm going to admit that I no longer remember such information. It has been three months, you know. I'm not going to ask you to defeat me, no, I don't think even someone of the Hanazawa clan can defeat me."

"How do you know about my clan?" asked Lee.

"All I request is that you survive against me for five minutes. After that, I'll spill my guts," he said.

"You'll spill more than just your guts, when I'm through with you," Lee replied, slipping into his fighting stance. What in the world could this guy be thinking? He just agreed to fight one of the most powerful shinobi in all of history, and he wasn't afraid? This genin, if memory serves, is a student of Gai. Gai is a great shinobi, no doubt there, but he isn't nearly as strong as Orochimaru. There's too much of a gap between Gai and her old teacher. So why would his own student dare to challenge this traitor, especially if he knew him? Anko wanted to stop Gai's student from making a mistake that would surely cost him his life, but she wasn't in the position to do so. She couldn't even stand, let alone move. She hoped to the stars that this kid knew what he was getting himself into.

"Well then, shall we begin?" he asked as he zipped * (A/N: #1 - see below for description.) * from where he stood. Lee was able to see him coming, being trained for high speed combat by Gai-sensei. Lee jumped forward and grabbed the snake man's shoulder. He flipped forward and threw Orochimaru the tree that was opposite of where Anko was. Orochimaru was thrown at such a force that he went straight through the tree and two others before slamming into the third one, hard. Lee rushed to his opponent, not wanting him to be gone from sight. Anko couldn't believe what she had just seen. Not only did Lee anticipate where Orochimaru was going, but it even looked like he was able to see where the traitor was going. Orochimaru moved at a speed that was impossible for her to see, yet the genin before her saw him. He's definitely not just an ordinary genin, of that she was sure. She reminded herself to ask Gai what he did to train the boy, but that would come later. She struggled through the pain and stood on her feet, having the urge to follow the two but remain at safe distance.

When Orochimaru stood, he wondered how the boy was able to see and anticipate his movements, much less create an interesting counter attack, right on the spot. The sound shinobi could swear that he was moving in a speed that only the most skilled of jonin could see even a glimmer of, yet this Rock Lee saw him like he was walking. Lee jumped and landed on the same tree where Orochimaru was at. There was no way he would allow this guy to threaten the village. It was as if his own concerns, about the reason why Orochimaru requested the cloud ninjas to retrieve him, didn't matter to him right now. Possessing the spirit and might of the Iron Monkey granted him with power, but he promised his father that he would use it for peace and justice, and that's what he intended to do. Orochimaru looked to his opponent.

"Impressive, very impressive. You saw through my speed and formed a counter attack. You caught me off guard, boy. It won't happen again," he said as he formed a few hand seals. When he finished, several snakes appeared from his arm. He launched them at him. Lee readied himself to kick them away, but they did something that he didn't expect. The snakes spat some poisonous venom from their mouths. Lee moved away to dodge them, at the last minute, but didn't avoid all of them. Some of the acid landed on his face and hands, which successfully burned through his clothing and his face. Orochimaru was very confident in the power of his snakes' poison, but he was, for the second time, surprised. Right in front of him, The wound on Lee's face closed rather quickly, leaving not a single scratch on his face. Orochimaru's eyes widened.

"A self healing ability? I wasn't aware that those of the Hanazawa clan are capable of that," he said, trying to mask his shock.

"I guess you don't know me as well as you thought, now do you?" he asked as he vanished and quickly reappeared beside Orochimaru. Without having the time to block or evade, Orochimaru felt a fist hit his face and a knee, drilling through side. He grimaced in pain, swearing that it felt like he was hit by an elephant, but Lee wasn't through with him. He grabbed the sound ninja by his arm and continuously jabbed his fist on his prey's ribs. Unable to take anymore of the pain, Orochimaru bent to the side and kicked him in an attempt to free himself from Lee's hold. He was successful in freeing himself but unsuccessful in causing any damage to the leaf shinobi. Lee raised his arm over his chest and blocked the kick. As Orochimaru was pushed back from his own kick, Lee grabbed the man's foot and slammed him on the tree bark, where they stood, and destroyed it. As Orochimaru fell down, Lee pushed from the air and landed a very powerful kick on the man's chest, propelling him to the ground below. Lee allowed himself to fall and leaped a few feet from his opponent.

That kick was strong, but it wasn't enough to knock him out. Orochimaru pulled himself from the crater that his body created from the fall and looked around him. Lee was no where to be found. Thanking his senses, the sound ninja sensed a soft vibration in the, to the right. Orochimaru moved his arm to the right side and blocked a punch from his opponent and engaged him in hand to hand combat. This leaf genin was definitely remarkable, even more amazing than the young Uchiha whom he met up with, not too long ago. In addition to the Hanazawa clan's kekkei genkai to get stronger for every time they healed from a fatal injury, this guy was also capable of regeneration. Every punch and kick that landed on the boy, his healing ability would take care of. Who is this kid? Is he a monster? A god? Whatever he was, Orochimaru knew that he had to have him. He was aware of the fact that the Hanazawa clan is incapable of using ninjutsu or genjutsu, but with such a healing ability, perhaps he could find a way to fix the inability to use jutsus. If the healing ability that Lee has could heal his injuries, then perhaps it could also slow down or even completely stop his aging process. With that power, one of his dreams would be granted.

Combined with the ability to heal and the Hanazawa clan's ability to continuously get stronger, limitless strength can be achieved. This boy... he is definitely skilled and very powerful. Now Orochimaru remembered why he wanted Lee by his side. He wanted such a powerful weapon to aid him in conquering the leaf village and making the Hokage bow on his knees. With an unstoppable juggernaut like Lee, ultimate power would be within his grasp. If he was correct about Lee's immortality, he would no longer have to jump from body to body to preserve his own life. Lee's potential is limitless, due to the incredible combination of his kekkei genkai and his second ability. Now that he thought about it, Lee can be so much faster and so much stronger than he was right now. If given enough time to place his passive kekkei genkai to work, Lee's power could be infinite. Perhaps this boy would join him and see his ways. Temptation always was one of Orochimaru's strong points. Orochimaru blocked another of Lee's kicks and leaped away.

"Very good, very impressive for a genin," he said. "I could use someone of your skill. You should join me. Together, you and I can have every single one of the five of the strongest shinobi nations, kneeling on our feet. We can have each one of their kages bow before us before we take their lives."

"If I wanted them to kneel to my feet or kill them, I'd have done that already. I don't need your help for world domination. I'm sure I can do that on my own. But unfortunately for you, I fight for peace, I fight to rid the world of scumbags like you who do nothing but to plague the world with your darkness. I was granted this power to keep the world safe and that's what I'm going to do. And I'm going start with you," he said.

"Your resolve is strong, I admire that, but I can break anyone, even you," he said as he started melting into mud. Lee's eyes widened as he ran to stop him from escaping, but he failed. By the time he reached Orochimaru, he had already melted into the earth. Although gone, Lee was still able to hear one last phrase from him. "You are a very interesting subject, Lee. We'll meet again when the conditions are right."

Lee cursed at himself, unable to believe that he actually allowed Orochimaru to escape without getting the answers that he wanted. It wasn't a total loss though. At least he was able to learn of Orochimaru's intentions for the village. He figured that since Orochimaru was in the leaf village, he would be starting his global conquest here. That was something that Lee knew he had to prevent. He also knew that Orochimaru didn't seem to show is full power. He would probably see it when they met in battle again. The Iron Monkey sighed to himself and arched his back, cracking a few bones that Orochimaru managed to bend a little, with the attacks that couldn't be dodged or blocked. When his muscles and bones were placed in the right area, he smiled to himself, feeling a little better. He noticed then that someone was behind him, a few paces away. He turned around to face Anko, who was panting heavily. The special jonin saw it all. Lee handled himself a lot better than she thought possible for anyone, save an equally skilled shinobi of Orochimaru's calibur. Lee approached the injured test proctor.

"I'm not sure what Orochimaru did to get you in this condition, but I have to get you out of here," he said as he lifted her up. He wasn't as tall as she was, but was easily able to help her to stand. Anko leaned her body on him, no longer surprised that he was able to carry someone that was probably twice his size. She tried to walk but found the pain on her shoulder still rather agonizing. Lee sighed once more.

"Oh man, you're in worse condition than I thought. I guess I'll have to carry you myself," he said as he raised her body and lifted her so she was right above him. Lee secured her arms around his neck, but made sure it wasn't too tight so as to allow him to breathe. Lee fastened his arms around her legs and ran to a single direction, hoping to find a safe place to put her down on and return to Neji and Tenten.

"Why are you helping me? Don't you have a test to complete?" she asked.

"I placed my two other teammates in charge of retrieving the scroll needed to pass this exam, while I searched for Orochimaru. And in the unlikely case that they fail, I retrieved an earth scroll and a heaven scroll from two squads on my way here, so my squad is pretty secure. They're very skilled in the shinobi art, so I'm not too worried about their safety," he said as he sniffed her breath. "You smell like dumplings, by the way."

"Shut up and just drop me somewhere. I don't like being carried around," she said.

"And leave you to get your ass raped by some of the students or animals in this village? Yeah right. If I did that, it would be on my guilty conscience if anything were to happen to you. Unlike me, who signed a consent form, you didn't. If you were to die, it would be on my hands, and I'd prefer to avoid that if at all possible," he replied.

"Fine then. If you want to leave me at a safe place, continue running at this direction until you see a red tower. You already have an earth and heaven scroll, so after you drop me off over there, go ahead and search for your squad. The forest of death is pretty large and you only have five days to return to the tower, with your scrolls, and your teammates, if you don't want to be disqualified. And if you were to be disqualified from this exam, it would be on my guilty conscience," she said.

"And why is that?"

"Because I owe you my life for saving me from Orochimaru and maybe some predators or some perverted genin squads who may have spotted me and have taken advantage of my weak form. I don't like owing life debts to anyone and even if you're one of those people with a misguided sense of self-righteousness, a life debt is a life debt, no matter what you say," she said.

"Well, since you put it that way, you pretty much owe me a favor, don't you?" he asked. Anko rolled her eyes but nodded. "Okay. I don't have anything that I'd like for you to do at the moment, but when I think of something, I'll let you know."

"I wonder... you're not 18 are you?" she asked slyly.

"Well, technically I'm... wait, why would you ask me that?" he inquired, a bit curious as to why she would ask for his age. Anko giggled slightly. He may not look it, but this guy acts as if he's much older than he appears. He isn't like any of the other uninteresting genin in the exam. He didn't take advantage of her while she was weakened, like what most other young men would do when they see a helpless woman.

"Never mind. Just keep running," she said.

"Yes ma'am," he said as he increased his speed.

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* (A/N: #1) - What I mean by zip is... take a stroll down memory lane and think back to the days when you watched Dragon Ball Z. If you've never seen that anime, you just missed a couple years of your life that you might never get back unless you purchase the dvd for it. In this story, to zip is comparable to how the characters in DBZ would vanish and create that little sonic sound. They don't really disappear, they just move really fast.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Sorry, I just had to add in that last part with Anko. Even if Lee were to say that's actually 25 years old, well that's only if you add the additional 10 years that he spent in the cave, training with his father and the additional one year that he spent in the cave again, training Tenten. Anko isn't 25, right? She looks to be a little older to me, when I last saw her in the anime. Although Lee's mind may be 25 years old, his body is still really that of a 14 year old kid. But that reminds me of something else, does that mean Lee can be considered as a pedophile for dating Tenten? Tenten has the body of a 15 year old, because the effects of the cave is different for her as it is with Lee, but is actually also just 14 years old. So I'm wondering, does it mean that I've paired up a 25 year old man with a 15 year old girl?

...

....

.....

Just kidding. Their ages are about the same. If anything, Tenten is actually older than Lee. Lee has the mind of a 25 year old man, but the body of a 14 year old kid. Tenten has the body of a 15 year old girl and the mind of a 15 year old girl as well. Oh and as for what Orochimaru was thinking about in this chapter, regarding Lee's immortality, I've said it in chapter three, but I'll say it again here. Lee can't die unless his head is severed from his body, or by age. Now that I think about it, gods are true immortals and can't die, right? So I guess you can think of Lee as a demi-god because he can actually die, unlike a real god who can't die. As for Tenten's mortality or immortality, due to her healing ability, I'll leave that a secret for now.

Ja ne!