Chapter 7 Team Prepares – Noble Blue Beast
Lee quickly began packing a few of his belongings in his pack. His choices of outfits involved his traditional green spandex, along with two spares, a summer spandex with short sleeves for his arms and cut offs at his knees. And finally a winter spandex which used thicker materials in case it was cold. Gai-sensei always told him it was good to carry more just in case.
As for weapons, Lee prepared the normal set of kunai, however instead of carrying an extra holster, he replaced it with his nun-chucks, which he had trained extensively with. Tenten and Gai trained him with using them in combination with his strong taijutsu before he re-entered the Chuunin exams.
Then Lee brought his gaze down to his other tool on his bed. During the preparing period for the third exam, Tenten insisted Lee add an additional weapon to his inventory to master. This is when Tenten presented him with a double edged spear. The spear itself was more common for a samurai to use instead of a ninja, however Tenten lectured Lee that the weapon was similar in a way with the nun-chucks. Meaning they required a great understanding of martial arts to be effective in battle. Using the weapon only for impaling your opponent by far wasn't the only thing it was effective for, especially for somebody of Lee's calibre. The most unique feature about the weapon was that the spear posed the ability to retract to a mere fifth of its original size, hiding the edged blades on its sides, making it safe to hold while retracted. The mechanism to extend the spear was by pressing two buttons in the centre simultaneously. Once done, the spear would extend to its true size, being 6feet in length within a second.
This meant if the wielder was not careful he could potentially cut, or worse, impale themselves if they extended it while holding it at a wrong angle. Lee almost impaled himself in the chest before Tenten stopped him. That had Lee earn Tenten giving him a severe scolding, and also what surprised him and to an extent, Tenten as well, was a solid punch in the head from none other than Neji, for his near fatal mistake.
Attaching the spear to his utility belt, he then finished packing any food supplies he needed. Lee figured that since they were staying in wave during most, if not all of the mission, he packed enough to last him the day journey, and placed his water canteen next to the supplies.
Finally Lee attached his traditional weights to his legs and arms. It was then that he remembered the conversation he had earlier with Sakura, and her interest and beginning using a set. Lee walked into the living room turned to training room of his apartment, where he had all of his training equipment including old weights. As a congratulations gift for making his recovery from the chuunin exam incident with Gaara, the rest of team Gai chipped in and brought him a special set of weights for the arms, that had the ability to change how much they weighed on the fly. All it required was a single sheep seal, making contact with the weight you wanted to adjust with your palm, and then channelling chakra to increase or decrease the weight. This is where team Gai forgot the fact that Lee cannot use seals.
Lee didn't mind at all for the hiccup, and in fact was eternally grateful for the gift, even though he couldn't use it. However these weights were beyond valuable for someone with what many shinobi describe as 'perfect chakra control', the very thing Sakura is known for. With these she could change them to anything from a mere pound up to 150 pounds, at no extra expense… that's not to say the cost of these weights alone were equal to roughly 5-6 sets of different weights.
Picking up the weights, he eyed them closer. The weights were very similar in appearance of a traditional bracelet, coloured a golden yellow tone, making the untrained eye simply write them off as worthless, which very much was opposite from the truth. The only other eye catching feature was the small white, squared decoration in the centre of the weight, where they would display the kanji for the amount they were set to. Placing the contents at the top of his pack, Lee took one last look around his apartment, sparing an extra second on a framed photo of team Gai on the wall of his bedroom. The picture was taken after their first C rank mission together. The picture had Gai standing tall in the back giving his nearly impossible shining grin, with Lee in the middle giving a nice guy pose. Neji had his arms crossed and had a neutral expression on his face to Lees left. Tenten had a wide grin, and posed with a kunai being balanced on the tip of her finger on her right hand.
'Everyone, wish me luck, and I will make you all proud for believing in me and helping me get to where I am now.' Lee thought as he made his way out the door of his apartment.