Chapter 6: New Teams

Iruka got done calling out teams one, two, three, four, five, six, and nine, in no particular order.

Everyone was still in the room though since just because Iruka called their names didn't mean that they had to leave the room.

So now, only nine kids remained, and of those nine kids were Naruto, Shino, and Hinata, who were really hoping to be in the same team together.

"Team eight will be, Hinata Hyuga" Iruka called out.

'Okay, this it' Naruto and Hinata thought together.

Shino didn't show it as much as those two did, but he also was really hoping to be in the same team as Naruto and Hinata.

"Shino Aburame" Iruka added.

Shino, Hinata, and Naruto widened their eyes immediately at this.

'Just one more' they all thought before Iruka called the final member.

"And Kiba Inuzuka" Iruka finished.

"Damn it!" Naruto and Hinata shouted in response to what Iruka said.

Shino was just as upset about the news as Naruto and Hinata, but he didn't show it as much, in fact all he could do was mutter

"Damn" very quietly in disappointment.

It's not that Shino was shy, it's just he didn't really trust anyone besides Naruto and Hinata, and wanted to avoid bringing as much attention to himself as possible, hell if you were to ask him, he'd probably say he's a little bit misanthropic. Naruto and Hinata were the only two that he'd openly talk to and express his emotions with because they were the only two people besides his parents that he trusted, but everyone else, he couldn't care less about.

"Hey, no whining" Iruka said.

"But Iruka-Sensei, why is Kiba in a team with these two and not me!?" Naruto angrily claimed.

"Yeah!" Hinata added.

Iruka just sighed and said

"Look, I'm not in charge of the team composition okay, the Hokage is, if you wanna complain then complain to him" Iruka told them. "But sit down for now."

Naruto and Hinata crossed their arms but sat down on their chairs either way.

"Alright, now let's continue" Iruka said. "Team Seven will be Naruto Uzumaki."

'Please don't say Sasuke, please don't say Sasuke' Naruto was inwardly begging with his fingers crossed.

"Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka added.

'Damn it' Naruto thought before slamming his face into the table he was sitting behind.

"And lastly, Ino Yamanaka" Iruka finished.

'Well I can at least tolerate her' Naruto thought before lifting his head up and looking at his teammates.

Sasuke just turned his head to look at Iruka after noticing Naruto was looking at him, and yelled out

"Why do I have to be in a team with a loser like him!" While pointing at Naruto.

Naruto just smirked and loudly shouted

"You're just salty cuz you never beat me before!"

"You should feel honored to have just barely beaten an Uchiha like me so many times!" Sasuke angrily claimed.

"Barely?" Naruto scoffed with a confused look on his face. "I wasn't even trying with you!"

"Yes you were, don't lie, you know as well as I do that I was and always have been your toughest opponent!" Sasuke claimed.

"In your dreams!" Naruto shouted. "The toughest opponent I always had was always Shino, always!"

"Oh please, the bug boy? You're only saying that because he's your friend!"

"Yet this bug boy friend of mine kicked your sorry ass every single time you fought didn't he?!"

"Enough!" Iruka shouted "You're both in the same team and that's final!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke just scoffed and turned their heads away from each other.

Iruka just rolled his eyes and finished the list with the final team.

"Lastly, Team Ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Sakura Haruno" he finished.

Shikamaru and Choji were fast asleep in the middle of the class, Sakura however, wasn't, and boy oh boy was she pissed.

"How come I'm with those two and not Sasuke-Kun!?" She yelled.

"I don't have time for this" Iruka whispered to himself after face-palming. "Just get ready to meet your senseis, they'll all be here shortly, so just wait."

And wait they all did.

After an entire hour passed, almost every single team had left the room with their sensei already, except for Naruto's team.

They were still waiting for their sensei to even show up, but disappointingly enough for Ino, she had to hear Naruto and Sasuke argue the entire hour.

"I'm stronger than you, get over it red eyes!" Naruto yelled.

"Oh shut the hell up blondie, you know I'm stronger!" Sasuke retorted.

"Oh yeah, that's why you always win our fights right?" Naruto sarcastically asked.

Both then got closer, pressed their heads against each other, and started to angrily growl at one another.

"Grr" Sasuke growled.

"Grr" Naruto growled.

"Enough!" Ino shouted, causing them both to separate themselves from each other. "I've been listening to you two bitching about who's stronger than the other for one hour straight! Either shut the hell up or get out!"

The two just looked at each other one more time, scoffed, then turned their heads.

Ino just rolled her eyes.

After she rolled her eyes, Naruto got an idea and grinned evilly because of it.

It only took him one minute but what he did was put a dirty chalkboard eraser on the top of the door, which he opened just slightly, so that when their sensei went through the door it would fall on him.

Naruto was giggling and just waiting for their Sensei to come through that door.

"It'll never work you idiot" Sasuke said.

"Yes it will, just shut up weakling" Naruto retorted.

This pissed Sasuke off but right as he was about to do something about it, they all heard the door to the room creak open, and saw the dirty chalkboard eraser fall right on top of a grown-masked man's head.

"See, see!" Naruto shouted while pointing at the ninja and looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and turned his head.

After seeing the black-haired boy turn his head, the grown man looked at the team of three Genin and said

"I am Kakashi Hatake, your sensei."

"It's about time!" All three Genin shouted.

"We've been waiting for so long" Naruto commented.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show up" Ino added.

"Well then you're about to be even more disappointed, because my first order is for us all to meet up in the roof, so I'll meet you there" Kakashi said before vanishing.

'Son of a bitch' both Ino and Naruto thought in unison before they and Sasuke made their way to the roof.

(The Rooftops)

They finally arrived on the rooftops and when they did they each just took a seat on the stairs.

"After all the time he already made us wait, he better not make us wait even longer" Naruto commented.

"I agree" Ino responded.

"Don't worry, I'm not" Kakashi said before appearing in front of them all in a swirl of leaves.

"Thank Kami" both Naruto and Ino said in relief.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's begin with our introductions" Kakashi said.

"Introductions?" Both Naruto and Ino said cluelessly.

"Yeah, you will step up and introduce yourself. Mention your name, hobbies, stuff you, stuff you hate, and goals you have for the future" Kakashi explained.

"Well could you demonstrate?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders and said

"I'm Kakashi Hatake, things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that."

'Well then what's the point of even mentioning them then!?' Naruto inwardly shouted.

"My dreams for the future, never really thought about it."

'Are you serious?' Ino thought in boredom.

'As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies" Kakashi finished.

'He didn't even say anything but his name!' Naruto and Ino thought in frustration.

"Now it's your turn whiskers" Kakashi said with an eye smile.

While Naruto was frustrated about this boring introduction, he introduced himself anyways.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki" he started. "I like my friends Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga, I like instant ramen, and I love training with my Jiji. Things I don't like are not being able to play with my friends, having to wait for the instant ramen, and not being able to train with my Jiji. I have one goal in my life, and that's to become Hokage, that way everyone in the village will finally acknowledge me!"

'Quite the hyperactive one I'd say' Kakashi thought before turning his attention to the other blonde sitting on the stairs. "How about you?"

"My name is Ino Yamanaka" she started. "I like flowers, I like selling flowers, I like my parents, I like looking my best, and most of all, I love gossip. I dislike terrible people, bad food, and false gossip. I have only one goal, and that is to become the strongest Yamanaka in the history of my clan." 'That way neither myself or anybody else I care about will ever have to go through what I almost went through.'

"Okay" Kakashi said before turning his attention to the Uchiha. "Now, how about you?"

The Uchiha just rolled his eyes and scoffed, but did speak up.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I am going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

'He has a long way to go before he's ready to kill anyone' Naruto thought while looking at him.

"Okay, and like that, we're done for the day" Kakashi said.

"That's it?" Ino and Naruto asked together.

"Yep, we meet again tomorrow at Training Grounds 7 though, don't eat anything before then" Kakashi said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Ino and Sasuke just got up from where they were sitting and began heading off, as they were heading off though, Naruto, who was still sitting down thought

'I know exactly what he has planned' before getting up and walking away.

(Ichiraku Ramen)

One hour has passed since team seven split for the day and currently Naruto, Hinata, and Shino were at Ichiraku Ramen.

"I'm still pissed that I'm not with you guys" Naruto said while stirring his bowl of ramen with his chopsticks.

"I know" Hinata replied while blowing on her ramen.

Shino, who had taken his sweater and sunglasses off prior to even sitting down on his chair spoke up.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it now" Shino said nonchalantly before slurping on some ramen. After swallowing a good portion of his ramen, Shino asked Naruto "So what is your sensei having you do Naruto-Kun?"

"He told me, Ino, and Sasuke not eat anything and to meet him in the Training Grounds tomorrow" Naruto explained.

"I wonder what he's planning" Hinata said in curiosity.

"I know what he's planning" Naruto responded.

"Huh?" Both Shino and Hinata said in confusion.

"I know what he's planning and I know because my Jiji used to and still does this all the time."

"So are you gonna tell them?" Hinata asked

"Nope" Naruto replied. "I'll just let them find out the hard way."

"That's... kinda petty" Shino responded.

"I hate Sasuke and while I don't hate Ino, I personally think it'd be the best wake-up call for her, to see if she actually has the heart and drive it takes to become a ninja" Naruto explained.

"Sounds just like you Naruto-Kun" Shino commented before slurping up some more noodles.

It didn't take long before all three Genin were done with their ramen and when they were, Shino offered to pay for it.

"I'll cover it" Shino said before going through his pants pocket and bringing out his wallet.

Naruto just laughed and said

"Very funny Shino-Kun, I wanted to come here, I'll cover it."

"You sure?" Shino asked.

"One hundred percent" Naruto replied. "Thanks anyways though."

"No problem" Shino replied before putting his wallet away.

With that being said, Shino just put both his sweater and sunglasses back on, Hinata stretched her back a little, and Naruto paid for the bill.

After everything was done, the three friends left the stand and were just walking and chatting together.

"So what're your guys' plans for the future?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know" both Hinata and Shino said in unison. "Never really thought about it."

"Well think" Naruto said. "What is at least one thing that you want or wanna do most in the world?"

The two thought long and hard about it for a bit before eventually figuring it out.

Hinata was the first to speak.

"I dream to make my father and my clan proud, and also to get rid of that curse mark my clan has" she said.

Shino spoke next.

"I dream to step up for my father when he needs me to, as well as collect every last insect in the world so I can produce more and use them for battle" he said.

"How about you, Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto didn't even have to think about it.

"Of course I want to become Hokage and make people acknowledge me, but the one thing I want more than that is a family" he started. "As long as I have a loving and caring family, I don't care if the village accepts me or not. I would make sure my kids and wife are well fed and supported, never forget how much I love them, and I would protect them to the day I die."

It warmed both Hinata and Shino's hearts to hear such a genuine, nice, and serious answer from their usually silly friend.

"Anyways though, we should probably split paths now" Naruto said, realizing they were about to enter a crossroad.

"Agreed" Shino said.

"Goodbye Naruto-Kun, Shino-Kun" Hinata said before going one way.

"See ya guys tomorrow" Shino said before he went another way.

Naruto just smiled at his friends and said

"I know exactly where to go" before running off in another direction.

(The Hokage Stone Heads)

Naruto was currently just laying down on top of the stone head of the Third Hokage.

As he was laying down on it, he looked up at the sky and thought

'Tou-Chan, whoever you may be, I wonder, did you used to do this when you were my age?'

As he was thinking this though he heard footsteps from behind him. He sat up, turned his head around, and asked

"Can I help you?"

"Yes" the intruder responded. "Are you Naruto Uzumaki, the pupil of the Third Hokage?"

"I am" Naruto replied.

"Good" the voice said before finally making himself visible. "My name is Rock Lee and I've been looking all over for you."

"Rock Lee?" Naruto asked.

"Yes" the boy, now revealed to be Rock Lee replied with.

"My Jiji told me about you" Naruto started. "You can't use Genjustu or Ninjutsu, so you stick to bettering your Taijutsu."

"That is right" Rock Lee replied before assuming his fighting stance. "I have been looking for you for the longest time."

"Why?"

"You see, my goal is to be the best Taijutsu specialist in the world and in order to do that I'll have to beat as many strong foes as possible, the pupil of the Third Hokage must be strong, so fight me!"

"If that's what you want" Naruto said before getting up to his feet and cracking both sides of his neck. "Then you've got it.

The two just stared each other down for a bit and after getting one more good look at each other, they ran at each other.

Naruto Vs Rock Lee

As they were running, Naruto made his famous hand signs and called out

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly summoning fifty other Narutos there to help him.

Lee saw these Narutos but still didn't back down.

The Narutos all made different hand signs and then in unison, ten of each called out their move at the exact same time.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!"

"Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu!"

"Futon: Gyorai no Jutsu!"

"Raiton: Jiten Rakou Dangan!"

"Doton: Ishi no Yari!"

Ten dragons made of fire, ten sharks made of water, ten torpedos made of wind, ten lightning bolts, and ten spears made of earth were all sent directly at Lee's direction.

Lee still wouldn't give in and still ran straight at them with a look of determination on his face.

'It does not matter if he summons fifty, one hundred, or even one thousand, I will win no matter what!' He thought with determination while still running at the clones.

He evaded every single attack so quickly, gracefully, and uniquely that if the regular human were to have seen it, all it'd take is one blink to miss everything.

He evaded one of the dragons by front flipping behind it, evaded one of the sharks by twisting his body to the left side, one of the torpedoes by twisting his body to the right side, one of the lightning bolts with a straddle jump, and lastly, he kicked one of the spears in half.

As soon as he kicked that spear in half, four loud -booms- could be heard from behind Lee, no doubt from the attacks that he evaded, but Lee didn't have the time to turn around and check.

That was just five though, there were still forty-five more to go.

He dodged another dragon by side flipping, avoided an incoming shark by squatting, then with extra power from the squat he leapt high to avoid another one of the torpedoes, landed back on the ground and then moved to the right side to avoid another lightning strike, and finally punched the spear made of earth in half.

Now there were forty attacks left.

Lee managed to take out six of each attack by kicking six spears made of earth forward and having the other attacks all go off on those spears leaving only ten more attacks total.

The second to last attacks he dealt with simply by curling up into a ball and rolling under all of them, again resulting in five big explosions afterwards.

When the last couple of attacks came at him though, he stopped and kip upped to avoid them, and while he was in the sky, he set his sights on one of the clones, and with one more front flip he brought his left foot out, crashing the heel of that foot on the top of the clone's head, instantly making it disperse.

After making that clone vanish, he proceeded to do the same thing with nine others.

He made the second clone disperse by wheel kicking him across the stomach, the third one was taken down with a knee to the chest, the fourth was taken out with a straight punch, the fifth was beaten with an elbow across the face, he made the sixth vanish with a backfist to the face, the seventh was grabbed by Lee who then tossed it at three others, making all four of them disperse and successfully getting rid of ten total clones.

After losing ten Narutos, the remaining Narutos all attempted to jump Lee.

They circled him and began throwing every punch and kick they could.

One Naruto went for a left hook and another went for a right.

Lee caught both hooks and did a split kick to make both of them disperse.

Upon landing back on the ground, Lee saw one of the Naruto's going for a roundhouse kick, but he counter attacked and hit him first with a front kick, making it disperse.

Lee then then brought his foot back and hit one of the other Narutos with a knee to the gut, taking another one out of commission.

After the knee Lee felt the air of two fists about to crash into his back, but before they could he turned around and tripped the two clones with a sweep kick before finishing them both off with a stomp each.

Two other Narutos then ran at Lee but he dealt with both of them by wrapping an arm around each of their necks and with only one movement for each, he snapped them.

One other Naruto attempted to run punch Lee, but Lee grabbed him by the arm and then shoulder tossed him to another nearby one.

Now with only thirty Narutos remaining, Lee smirked.

'Only thirty more to go' he thought before looking around. 'Unless I find the original.'

The Narutos all looked at him once and decided to step back and use Ninjutsu.

Five specifically made some hand signs, called out,

"Katon: En'yari!" Before sending five spears made of fire at Lee.

Lee easily evaded all five with a single side-flip, ended up right in front of them all, and took them all out with one big right hook.

Once the five clones disappeared, Lee set his sights on five more, and easily made them all disappear with one quick yet deadly 360 turning kick.

With twenty clones left, they started getting desperate, and started using every jutsu they could think of.

"Futon: Furyuu no Jutsu!" One called before sending a dragon made of air at Lee.

Lee ran at at him, front flipped over the attack, and then hit him with a flying knee, instantly turning him to smoke.

However while the knee did land, it also caused Lee to fall on his back, allowing four of the other Narutos to come in and start stomping him to peaces.

However, Lee was fast, agile, and flexible enough to avoid every incoming stomp and double up kicked two of the Narutos in the jaw, causing them both to disperse before rolling back to his feet and backfisting the last two.

Left with fifteen other Narutos, he felt two others approach him from behind and brought both his elbows back before crashing them into the faces of the clones and making them disperse.

Afterwards he made two more disappear with a double hammer fist to the top of their heads and one more was taken out with a simple front punch.

There were now only ten clones left and all of them again tried to gang up on Lee, but of course, they still failed.

The remaining ten clones were all taken out with the same move, one big spin kick (Sanji Style).

After halting the spin kick and jumping back to his feet, Lee looked around but couldn't see Naruto.

"Over here!" Lee heard from his right side which made him turn over to see Naruto throwing a right hook at him, only for Lee to catch it before it could make contact.

Right as he was ready to retaliate though, the Naruto he caught by the hand dispersed.

"What?" He said in confusion before hearing

"Gotcha!" Then turning his head around to see Naruto, the original one, with his fist cocked back, ready to crash it into the middle of Lee's back.

Unfortunately, Lee wasn't fast enough to evade the strike and the feeling of a big painful punch from behind sent him flying far away.

"Ahh!" Lee shouted in pain as he was sent flying a long way, before eventually falling facedown to the ground. "Oomph!" He wheezed in pain from the fall.

Naruto appeared right behind him and got ready to stomp on Lee's back, but was shocked when he saw Lee pick himself back up in a handstand, and then used that same handstand to bounce himself back up to his feet.

Once Lee was back on his feet he asked Naruto

"Is that all you have?"

Naruto just smirked, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and said

"I'm just getting started" before making hand signs, calling out "Futon: Daitoppa" and releasing a big gust of wind at Lee.

The winds hit Lee and were pushing him off his feet.

"Grrr!" He grunted as he covered his face with his arms and tried fighting past the winds.

One big step forward, followed by another, then another, then another, till finally, fire lit in Lee's eyes and allowed him to run through those winds.

Lee just ran at Naruto, powering through the attack, and then decked him across the jaw with a swift punch.

"Toh!" Naruto groaned from the pain of being punched across the jaw and lifted off his feet. As Naruto laid on the ground, he looked up at the sky, smiled, thought 'If he works harder, I won't have to hold back as much as I am right now against him.' and then got back up to his feet.

Once he got back up to his feet, he dusted himself off and then said

"Alright, let's have some more fun" before bringing his hands together, making some other hand signs, and then calling "Doton: Tamaishi Danmaku!" Which made numerous large rocks get thrown at Lee.

Lee used his flexibility, grace, and speed in order to dodge every incoming rock, and once they were all gone and he was back on the ground, Naruto struck him across the jaw.

"Ahh!" He shouted before getting launched many feet away and crashing into a nearby tree.

As Lee's back crashed against the tree, Naruto made some more hand signs, called

"Suiton: Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu!" Before multiple small shuriken made of water were launched at Lee.

Lee was able to pull himself out of the tree in time before the shurikens struck, which was good, because the shurikens ended up slicing the tree in half, as well as the one right behind that one.

'That was close' he thought in relief of not having gotten struck by those shuriken before getting back up to his feet.

Once he got back up to his feet, he just took in a deep breath, let it out, and then rushed at Naruto again.

Naruto just smirked, made some hand signs, called out

"Raiton: Raikou Boruto no Jutsu!" Sending a relatively small lightning bolt at Lee.

Lee just twisted his body to the right side before running again.

Shortly after dodging the lightning bolt, he ended up right in front of Naruto and started unloading a flurry of punches and kicks to the boy.

Fifteen front punches all over the body, fifteen left and right hooks to the ribs of the body, and seventeen wheel kicks to the face before eventually bringing him to the ground with a single sweep kick.

Once Naruto was down on the ground, Lee attempted to stomp on his body, but Naruto just rolled out of the way before eventually ending up against the railings of the mountain.

As soon as Naruto felt the cold metal touch his skin, he saw Lee attempt to soccer kick him in the face, but before he could, Naruto made some hand signs, called

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Before sending a relatively small fireball at Lee.

"Ahh!" He shouted in pain from the inferno that knocked him off his feet and into the ground.

Naruto didn't even get back up to his feet and just kept making hand signs and calling jutsu.

After making a very specific combination of hand signs, he called

"Doton: Rikujou Douyou no jutsu!" Making the ground beneath Lee begin to shake, quite weakly, but enough to keep Lee from getting back up, and enough to let Naruto get back up. Once he rose back up to his feet, he made some more signs before calling "Kaze no Yaiba!" Summoning a sword made of wind, and then launching said sword made of wind at Lee.

With both the ground beneath him shaking, him being slightly burned, and him being tired, it looked as though the sword was gonna pierce right through Lee's left shoulder, which is where it was aimed for, but out of raw determination, Lee managed to bring his arms behind his body, and then kip up. He could feel the sharp winds of the sword slightly grazing the back of his green full-body suit but paid it no mind and just landed on his feet.

Lee managed to avoid the sword and Naruto wasn't shocked in the least bit.

"Very impressive" he said before forming another set of hand seals, saying "Not enough though," calling out "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu" before sending a giant dragon made of fire at Lee.

Lee just ran at the dragon, evaded it with a front flip, and then while still in the air he brought out his left foot and began falling straight down, eventually crashing the heel of his left foot on the top of Naruto's head.

"Tohh!" Naruto gasped out as the kick brought him down to the ground and allowed for Lee to land safely back on the ground.

After Lee landed back on the ground, he thought

'Oh no, I'm tried and I'm running out of options. At this rate I won't stand a chance. I need to keep fighting and somehow make a long enough distraction so I can activate my trump cards though.'

After these thoughts left Lee's mind though, Naruto spoke up.

"I know you have more tricks up your sleeve Lee" he said. "So I'll stop attacking and let you bring them out."

"Really?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, it won't be any fun if you can't go all out after all" Naruto reasoned.

"Thank you" Lee said with a bow before dropping to the ground, pulling his orange leg warmers up, revealing his leg weights, pulling them off, getting back up to his feet, and dropping them on the ground, resulting in two extremely loud "BOOM(s)"As a result.

With the weights now gone, Lee decided that now was as good a time as ever.

So assuming the horse stance, he called

"Hachimon Seimon!" Which turned his skin red and made his veins visible to his opponent.

'So he can access some of the eight gates' Naruto thought.

Naruto didn't waver in the slightest though.

The two proceeded to walk closer and closer to each other till they were right in front of one another.

Now literally just one foot away from each other, the two stared at each other one more time before grinning and then engaging in a battle of pure Taijutsu.

Naruto started it off by throwing a left hook, but Lee blocked it and went for a knee, which Naruto pushed to the side by tapping the kneecap to the side.

Once both Lee's feet were back on the ground he went for a straight punch, which Naruto parried, then for a 6-9 elbow, which Naruto avoided, then a roundhouse kick, but Naruto fell back, landed on his hands, then kip upped to avoid an incoming low kick.

Once Naruto was back on his feet, the two went full on offense together.

Lee and Naruto both went for a left hook to the right ribs of their opponent, but ended up crashing their cubital fossas together instead, which resulted in them retracting their arms and doing the same exact thing but this time they did it with the opposite hand, and it had the same outcome.

After retracting their arms, Naruto went for a right hook which Lee took and then replied to with a jump kick which landed directly on Naruto's chin.

The kick to the chin made Naruto stumble back a few steps but he was able to shake off the pain and retaliate.

He retaliated with a crescent kick, but Lee parried it and went for crescent kick of his own.

Naruto parried Lee's kick and then went for a straight punch, but of course Lee parried the punch and then went for an elbow.

Naruto moved his head outta the way of the elbow and went for a jab, then a cross, and then lastly a hook.

All three punches managed to make contact, the jab made contact with Lee's chest, the cross made contact with Lee's chin, and the hook made contact with Lee's ribs.

After getting punched three times in a row, Lee took a couple steps back, then faster than normal civilians could see, he began circling Naruto, causing the sand beneath him to start forming some sort of mini tornado, and out of nowhere, Lee delivered an upwards kick to Naruto's chin which lifted him off his feet and into the air.

Lee didn't just stop there though, he continued kicking the blonde over and over and over again till finally, after his fifteenth kick, they were high in the sky and the bandages on both of Lee's arms began wrapping around Naruto.

Once the bandages covered everything from the neck-down, Lee flipped both himself and Naruto upside-down and began spinning to the ground.

"Omote Renge!" Lee shouted before crashing Naruto, head-first into the ground.

There was a loud "BOOM" that followed after the crash as well as a large cloud of dust, but after the dust settled and Lee got back to his feet, Lee couldn't see Naruto anywhere.

He wasn't where they crashed or anywhere he could see really, he was gone, and he didn't know where.

'Where did he go?' Lee inwardly asked himself before feeling two arms wrap around his waist. "What the-!" He began to shouted before being picked up and suplexed right behind where he was initially standing. "Oomph!"

"Not done" said the voice of the blonde boy that Rock Lee was currently fighting before he got back up and slammed Lee again.

After the slam, Naruto jumped behind Lee to inspect the damage but was shocked to see he wasn't there anymore.

Now Naruto didn't know where he was, but it was at that moment that he heard

"Gōken!" Before getting punched across the face by Rock Lee.

"Oomph!" Naruto gasped out from the punch that sent him flying sideways through the air.

Before he could touch the ground though, Lee appeared right beside him again, shouted

"Konoha Senpu" before spinning and then kicking him in the mid-section as hard as he could.

"Toh!" Naruto spat out in pain from the kick that sent him flying forward now.

Lee didn't stop there though, he followed the kick up with twenty two more punches and ten more kicks.

The first eleven punches were straight punches, four in the chin, five all over the chest, and two in the stomach.

The other eleven were all hook punches, two to each of the ribs, two to each of the kidneys, two to the left side of his face, and one to the right side of his face.

After finishing all his punches, he moved on to kicks.

The first four kicks were all wheel kicks to the left and right side of his body and the last six were all tornado kicks to both sides of his body.

After landing all those punches and kicks, Lee just jumped up as high as he could, wrapped some more of his bandages around Naruto's body, pulled him closer as hard as he could, and once he got close enough he called

"Ura Renge!" Before striking him with both an open palm and flying side kick, sending Naruto back down to the ground, resulting in another loud "boom" and another cloud of dust to appear.

Lee landed back on his feet and started taking deep breaths, never leaving his fourth gate, and never taking his eyes away from where the blonde crashed, as he knew that the fight wasn't over yet.

Once the dust settled and Lee couldn't see Naruto anymore, he thought

'Where is he?' Before looking checking every direction for him.

"Right here" Naruto announced right behind Lee.

Lee turned around and saw the blonde in a very confusing state.

His orange jumpsuit was now ripped up, so were his leggings, his hair was a mess, and he had dirt all over his body, but still no cuts or bruises.

'Darn' Lee thought in disappointment as he looked at Naruto's complicated state. 'Nothing I'm doing is working, if I don't do anything quickly, I'll lose faster than-' Lee began to think before Naruto cracked the left and right side of his neck by just turning his neck left and right.

"That kinda stung Lee" Naruto claimed. "This is actually getting fun.'

"How are you so strong!?" Lee asked.

"You already know" Naruto responded.

'There is no denying it now, this kid really is the protégé of the Third Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki' Lee realized before loudly claiming "That is true, but no matter, I will win no matter what!'

"Then prove it" Naruto said before glaring at Lee.

Lee glared back and after very swiftly assuming a fighting stance, they both rushed at each other once again.

Naruto started it off with a straight punch but Lee blocked it and went for a front kick, Naruto parried the front kick and went for a knee, but Lee caught the knee and brought Naruto down by sweeping the remaining leg with one of his.

Lee fell to the ground and Naruto was about to stomp on him, but Lee landed a beautiful double up kick to the chin of Naruto, forcing him to back off.

He backed off enough for Lee to turn around. put his hands on the ground, and push himself back up to his feet.

Once he was back on his feet, he threw a question mark kick which landed right on Naruto's neck and resulted in him stumbling back while using his left hand to hold onto that side of his neck.

"Damn" he grumbled out, before inwardly adding 'Not bad' with a fake look of pain in his face. He let go of the hold he had on his neck, looked at Lee, said "Fun' before going for a running punch on him.

Lee changed his footing, entering into a southpaw like stance, and used that stance to deliver a sharp right hook right into Naruto's jaw.

The hook connected and caused Naruto to violently turn his head to the left side.

After the hook connected, Lee followed it up with a shoulder throw and had Naruto crash down to the ground, resulting in yet another loud "boom" that shook the area around them.

'I didn't expect for so much damage to be caused from our fight' Naruto thought as he noticed the shockwaves they were letting out from their clashes and slams were getting closer and closer to the stone heads of the Hokages. He then looked up at the sky and thought 'I'm going to have to clean this up when we're done aren't I?' Naruto then rolled his eyes and whispered "Yeah."

"Get up, Naruto Uzumaki, you're not even close to done yet" Lee loudly claimed, still glowing red.

Naruto began to get back up to his feet slowly and as he was, he thought of whether or not to end the fight already.

'Nah' he figured after getting back up to his feet. 'I haven't had enough fun yet.'

As he was thinking this though, Lee ran up to him, shouted

"Take this!" And front punched him as hard as he could in the chin.

"Toh!" Naruto gasped out in pain from the punch that legitimately actually did launch him off his feet and into a nearby tree. As soon as he crashed into the tree, he began rubbing his chin in pain. 'Damn, I let my guard down, that actually hurt.'

After he thought this though, Lee appeared right in front of Naruto again, grabbed him by the arm, pulled him off the tree, and then got him into a rear-naked choke.

'Definitely didn't expect this' Naruto thought as Lee continued to try and choke him.

'I am entering the near end of this form, I can't sustain it for much longer, so if he breaks out of this attack I'll have to hit him with absolutely everything I have left in my next attack' Lee inwardly admitted.

'This kid is good' Naruto inwardly confessed while still getting choked by Lee. 'Not just that, but four of the eight gates shouldn't last this long, I heard it from my Jiji himself. Lee must be pushing himself past his limits in order to win.' Naruto then got a serious look on his face and thought 'Then I won't let him do that for nothing' before beginning to power out of the hold.

From an outsiders perspective, it looked like Lee was the stronger of the two.

Lee was 5'3, Naruto was 4'11, Lee was 115 lbs, Naruto was 98 lbs.

It looked like in a battle of brute strength Lee would have the upper hand, but this was not the case at all.

Naruto had zero difficulty with prying Lee's arms away from him. He grabbed the wrist of the one wrapped around his throat with his right hand, then he grabbed the other one behind his head by the wrist with his left hand, and began pulling them off of him.

It shocked Lee to no end how easy this kid was making it look to bypass the brute strength of four of the eight gates, but by the time he had finally processed what was happening, it was too late and Naruto had finally powered out of the hold.

With both of Lee's arms held down, Naruto let one go to deliver a swift backward elbow to the chin of Lee, which connected and sent him stumbling back a bit, separating the two.

When Lee finally stopped stumbling back, he shook his head briefly, stared at Naruto, and thought

'Darn.'

'I can see it in his eyes, he's nearing his limit' Naruto inwardly pointed out to himself. 'Better finish this off in one more attack before he does any severe damage to his body.'

As Naruto thought this, Lee thought

"Well it looks like it's now or never" before getting ready to deliver his final attack.

Lee took a step back, brought his fist all the way back, yelled

"Gōken!" Before bringing his fist out for one final punch.

Naruto did the same thing, but with a lot less power.

The two hands clashed and both were struggling for power.

"Grr!" Both growled in response to the struggle.

After about three more minutes, Lee's gates dissipated.

"Oh n-!" Lee began to shout but couldn't finish before a big fist hit him in the face and brought him down to the ground.

There was one final "boom" that resulted from the impact of Lee's body crashing into the ground and it of course resulted in yet another crater that got far too close to the stone heads of the past Hokages than Naruto was comfortable with.

In the center of the huge crater was of course Rock Lee, or rather, the beaten up, exhausted, and out version of Rock Lee.

Upon seeing this form of Lee, Naruto knew that the fight was over.

Winner, Naruto

After seeing how clearly over their fight was, Naruto walked up to Lee, picked him up, walked over to a flat surface, and then laid him down. Afterwards he made a couple of hand signs, put his hands on the ground, called

"Doton: Iwane Wooru" and began to use all the chakra he needed in order to restore the ground to the way it was initially.

Once he managed to bring it all back to the way it was before, Naruto just walked up to Lee, and waited for him to open his eyes.

Sure enough, mere seconds after approaching Lee, he began opening his eyes.

"W-what happened?" He stammered, out of breath.

"Fight's over" Naruto said.

"You won huh?" Lee asked with a playful smile.

Naruto nodded and then offered Lee a hand.

Lee took the hand and Naruto helped him get back up.

Once he was back up to his feet, the two shook hands.

After losing to Naruto and shaking hands, Lee asked Naruto one simple question.

"Why did you hold back against me?"

Naruto just looked at Lee with a confused look and asked him

"How'd you know?"

"There is now way the pupil of the Third Hokage could be so weak!" He retorted. "How much have you been trying?"

"Five percent" he replied.

This shocked Lee beyond belief.

"Really?"

Naruto just nodded.

"I knew you were strong and I knew you had to have been holding back, but I didn't know you were holding back that much" Lee commented.

"I was just trying to make the fight as fun as possible" Naruto responded. "It worked."

"It was good for me too, because now I know that I have to keep training" Lee added.

Naruto just smiled at Lee and after he did, Lee asked him

"So what are you going to do now?"

Naruto just let out a deep breath and replied with

"What I always do whenever I'm lost and looking for answers, lay down on the stone heads of the past Hokage and just clear my mind by asking them questions."

"May I join you?" Lee asked.

"Sure" Naruto responded.

Naruto then walked up to the railing, jumped over the railing, landed on top of the stone head of the Third Hokage, and Lee just followed behind him.

Once the two were right next to each other, they sat down on the stone, and stared at the village.

As the two were sitting down, Lee thought

'He seemed so childish during our fight' then he turned to look at Naruto and continued by thinking 'But now he seems more serious, confident, and overall like a down-to-earth guy.' This is when one question kept clouding Lee's mind. 'I wonder if he'll answer my question if I ask him.' He looked at the sky and thought 'Well it can't hurt to ask' before turning to look back at Naruto and asking him "So where are your parents?"

"Oh I don't have any" Naruto replied.

"What?"

"Yeah, my parents abandoned me days after I was born, I live alone and my Jiji has essentially been looking after me like he was my actual grandfather, not just my mentor."

"Really?" Lee asked.

"I don't know, my Jiji told me another story but I think he's just trying to protect me from the truth."

"What story did he tell you?"

"He told me that both my parents died immediately after I was born, due to some random rogue ninja. I think he's just trying to protect me and make me feel better about the fact that my parents abandoned me though."

"Why do you think this?" Lee asked.

"I can't really tell you that" Naruto responded.

"Why?"

"My Jiji doesn't want me telling anyone about something and that something happens to be why I think my parents abandoned me."

"It's okay Naruto-Kun, I won't tell anyone" Lee responded.

"You sure?" Naruto asked.

Lee just nodded.

"Very well" Naruto began. "You know about the Kyuubi that attacked the village eleven years ago right?"

"Yes."

"You know of the story that was told?"

"Yes."

"Can you explain it to me?"

"Sure" Lee started. "It was said that many years ago, The Nine Tailed Fox attacked the village and all the shinobi in the village worked hard to stop it. Eventually though, the Fourth Hokage managed to defeat and seal the Kyuubi somewhere far away."

"It's not true" Naruto responded.

"What?"

"Actually, it's partly true."

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"The Kyuubi was defeated and sealed away, but inside of a newborn baby. You see, only a newborn baby could handle the strength of something that powerful, since their chakra coils haven't fully developed yet. They found the closest newborn baby and sealed the Kyuubi inside of it."

Lee started processing everything and when he did, it hit him.

"You mean?"

"Yeah, the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me" Naruto confessed.

"Why is it so bad to keep that secret?" Lee asked. "The people should view you as a hero if anything since you're the reason why they're all still alive anyways."

"You'd think" Naruto replied. "It actually had the exact opposite affect. The villagers hated and still hate me."

Lee widened his eyes at this.

"But you-" He began to say before Naruto cut him off.

"I saved the village, but in the eyes of the villagers, I attacked it. They didn't and still don't see it the way you described it, instead they actually see me as the very beast that threatened the village. They see me as the Kyuubi, and they're so afraid of me that they would always belittle me whenever they had the chance. They didn't care what age I was, if I was alive, they targeted me."

This honestly hurt Lee quite a lot, to hear that a boy was being targeted by an entire village for something that was completely out of his control was hard to stomach for him.

'Wow' he thought in disappointment, not at Naruto, but at the village.

"This is why I more so think my parents abandoned me, rather than died like my Jiji tells me" Naruto finished. "So anyways how about you, where are your parents?"

Lee was caught off-guard by the question as he was still taking in everything he heard from Naruto, but after processing everything, he responded.

"My parents are dropouts. They originally attended the academy but dropped out because it was too hard. Like me they did not have chakra, unlike me though, they gave up after just a little while and went on to search for other careers outside of being ninjas."

"What did they settle for?" Naruto asked.

"Construction workers" Lee replied. "It doesn't require chakra and they still get to help out the village in their own way."

"I see."

"Yes, but anyways, they are very supportive of me and wanna see me grow to be the strong ninja that I always said I'd be, and thanks to my Sensei, I know that it's actually possible."

"How nice" Naruto said with a smile.

Naruto then turned to look and saw that the sun was beginning to set, and as it was he turned to Lee and asked him another question.

"What drives you to train so much Lee?" Naruto asked.

Lee looked at Naruto, said

"You already know why."

"Yeah but why do you feel you have to prove it to the world, there has to be another reason other than just that" Naruto explained.

"It's a bit of a long story."

"I have time and we're all alone Lee-Kun, nobody but me will hear it."

Lee just looked at the sunset and began explaining.

"Ever since the day I entered the academy, everyone around me thought that I would not amount to anything. They always said I would be a terrible ninja because I do not possess Ninjutsu or Genjutsu and that I should just give up and drop out already. Kids would beat me up, tease me, and even the teachers would look down on me, all just because I am not able to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. That is why I wanna prove to the world that I can be a great ninja without Genjutsu or Ninjutsu."

Naruto could see where Lee was coming from, that's the exact same way all his classmates aside for Shino and Hinata viewed him, even some of his teachers also saw him the same way. Only difference is he had chakra and his Jiji to help him grow stronger than ever before.

"Okay, I know why now, but what was it that made you wanna start training to become better than everyone else?"

Lee looked up at the sky and said

"At first it was all just because I wanted to prove everyone wrong by training as hard as I could. I did not really have any idea what I was doing though, since I was just six years old, so I just punched the air and did as many exercises as I could untill I got tired and went home. I still grew stronger and stronger though, I could feel it after every training session alone, and eventually it got to the point to where I would skip days at the academy to just train all alone. That went on for quite some time till eventually I met my sensei. At first I thought I was the only person in the Sensei who wanted to be a ninja but suffered from this disadvantage, but when my Sensei revealed that he too was unable to use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu, he showed me that I really can be an amazing ninja with or without Genjutsu or Ninjutsu. The fact that he also suffered from this same disadvantage gave me confidence, confidence that I could grow to be a strong ninja like him, and so I started training really hard even outside the academy. My Sensei taught me to train harder than I could, to break way past my limits to grow as much as I can. So in short, I guess you can say that the reason why I started training was to prove everyone who said I would amount to nothing wrong, what made me wanna start training harder than ever before though was my Sensei, someone who already accomplished the exact goal I wanted. As you can see, it's worked pretty well for me, but not well enough if I couldn't even match five percent of your power though."

Naruto just looked him in the eyes and said

"Come on, don't count yourself out, if it makes you feel any better, you're one of the strongest people I ever faced."

Lee simply smiled, looked at Naruto, and said

"Thanks, that does help."

"No problem" Naruto responded.

"Just out of curiosity though, who is the strongest person you ever faced?" Lee asked.

"One of my friends, Shino Aburame."

"You mean the heir to the Aburame Clan?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"We've been training and sparring with each other ever since we were both eight years old."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, even outside of the academy, me and him would meet up, train, and spar together, so of course it only makes sense that the stronger I grew, Shino grew stronger as well."

After saying this, Naruto turned his attention back to the beautiful sunset in front of him and just basked in its beauty.

As Naruto was basking in the beauty of the sunset, Lee had to ask Naruto the same question Naruto asked him.

"Why and what makes you train so much Naruto-Kun?" Lee asked.

Naruto didn't even tear his gaze away from the sunset and just explained that

"The reason why is for two reasons. The first reason is because I want to be able to protect the people I care about most in the world from anything that can hurt them. I couldn't stand the thought of anyone who accepted me for who I am getting hurt or possibly even dying just because I was too weak to save them" Naruto clenched his fists at the mere thought of it.

"Naruto" Lee whispered as he noticed Naruto clench his fist.

Naruto eventually unclenched his fists and continued on.

"The second reason is because I hope that if I'm strong enough, I will be able to reunite with my parents."

This made Lee cock his head back in confusion.

"You would really take your parents back after they had abandoned you for so long?"

"I don't fully know if they did or didn't abandon me and even if they did, I don't fully know if they had a good or bad reason behind it. I just don't know, but either way, I just want my family back" Naruto explained with a voice crack at the end.

The voice crack was easily noticed by Lee, who simply thought

'Naruto' before the blonde continued explaining in a very shaky voice what he meant.

"I figured that maybe if I'm strong enough, my parents will see me, realize the mistake they made, and take me back" he said the last part with a tear drop. "Is that so much to ask for?" He added before beginning to start crying uncontrollably.

'He seemed so childish when we were fighting, so serious when we were talking, and so happy when he was talking initially. I didn't think he could cry like this' Lee thought before beginning to pat him on the back. "It's okay Naruto-Kun, just let it all out, no need to contain it.'

Naruto just let it all out till eventually after two minutes, the crying died down. Once it did, Naruto cleared his throat, wiped the tears off his face, and said

"But yeah, that's the reason why."

It was clear to Lee that Naruto was trying to change the topic away from its rather sorrowful turn of events and was trying to bring some light to it, or at the very least, he was trying to make it sound less depressing.

Lee didn't wanna make Naruto feel any worse, so he just changed the topic by asking him the next question he had in mind.

"So what is it that made you wanna start training so much Naruto-Kun?" Lee asked.

Naruto, no longer upset or feeling like hell, smiled genuinely at the sky and answered Lee's question.

"It was my Jiji" Naruto answered simply. "Or more specifically, it was the way the village treated him. Every single day, just by going outside, I would see how much the village admired and respected my Jiji. It was the complete opposite of how they all treated me, which is what made me wanna become strong, to become Hokage so that way the people of the village will finally acknowledge me, not as the Nine Tailed Fox, but as Naruto Uzumaki, one of the many heroes and or Hokage of the Leaf. So I guess you can say that the reason why I train is for my friends and hopefully family, but what made me wanna train so much is my Jiji and the influence my Jiji has on me."

The two continued talking and laughing for a while more before eventually, Lee asked Naruto another question that he really wanted to know.

"So exactly how long have you been training with the Third Hokage?" Lee asked

"I've been training with Jiji ever since I was five years old. He always made time train me for at least six hours five days of the week, and he never once held back in his training methods."

"Then I will have to up my training even more if I wanna match you in the future" Lee replied. "Don't you count me out Naruto, I will beat you in the future."

Naruto just smiled at Lee and genuinely said

"I know you will."

Lee simply bowed and then ran off to go train.

Naruto simply cracked his back, said

"I better get going" and then took off back to his apartment.

To Be Continued...