Chapter 15: The Pill

The unfolding conversation after Neji Hyuga left...

"Do you think we'll really become a good, united team?" Tenten asked as she sighed deeply, barely keeping her lips sealed to hold back a long, mournful breath.

"Well... I want to get all the bad out of him, make him apologize, and respect us. I'm sorry, but with someone like Neji Hyuga, we can't just rely on words. He behaves too selfishly and arrogantly. We have an obligation to fight each other as men!" Lee firmly stated, his burning eyes making it clear that he expected no compromises.

"Fight each other as men? Essentially, you mean like barbarians and savages, right? Typical for you... men," sarcastically remarked Tenten, rolling her pretty hazel eyes and poking fun at the stereotypical behavior of the male gender.

"Huh?" Lee raised a thick eyebrow expressively.

...

Walking and wandering through the corridors of the academy, adorned in warm colors, Rock and Tenten maneuvered during the fifteen-minute break between kids of different ages. Rock kept smiling as he reminisced about his previous life's schooling at the orphanage, where things could be tough and severe but also fun at times. In summary, it was bearable enough that he ended up dying ingloriously, more like foolishly, and found himself in a new world, in a new body, in a new environment, with new abilities. A lot of new things, sadly, not all for the better.

Ninjutsu. Genjutsu. Crossed out.

Chakra. Taijutsu. Underlined.

"Hey, Naruto!"

Upon seeing the entrance to the class of the hyperactive blond, what did Lee do next? Take a guess.

He burst in with both feet and greeted his fox-like friend, of course.

"Lee, you..." Tenten was left speechless, unable to find the right words for the behavior of their newly acquired teammate, who was acting rather audaciously and attracting too much attention for an official Genin, a true Shinobi with a duty, who should ideally be discreet in nature!

Despite Lee's colorful appearance, becoming inconspicuous was next to impossible. It was almost like a tall tale or a fairy tale.

"Oh! Rock! Tenten! Hi!" a joyful Uzumaki Naruto jumped up from his lonely seat when he spotted his acquaintances in the classroom doorway. Then, turning to his classmates, Naruto continued with pride and amusement in his voice, "Haha! What did I tell you guys? But you didn't believe me, idiots! There's your proof!"

Understandably, Lee and Tenten both displayed surprise on their faces. They were left completely puzzled. Furthermore, as Rock noted, many pairs of eyes turned toward him with various emotions, often with reverence and respect.

"Huh? Is there something on my face? Probably. Is it attractiveness? Or maybe courage? Bravery? Strength? Youth, perhaps?" With a charismatic grin, Lee asked, not knowing where this sudden popularity had come from but clearly taking full advantage of it. He gazed openly at the young girls, who, though still children, showed promise of growing into beautiful young women in the future, including the pink-haired Sakura, the light-haired Ino, and the brunette Hinata.

"Nevertheless, you're quite the chatterbox, Lee. And to think, Neji Hyuga scolded you for arrogance. Well, whose cow moos louder..." Tenten mumbled to herself with a sullen face, not knowing what to do in such a situation, and so she continued to stand awkwardly by her teammate's side.

...

However, in the end, Lee and Tenten did receive an explanation from Naruto, who had escaped from his classroom and the supervision of their teacher, Iruka Umino.

In his familiar, brightly colored orange jumpsuit, Naruto explained that there was a reason why Rock had suddenly become famous among his classmates and not just out of thin air.

It turned out that the previous day, when Lee had taken the practical part of the Genin exam, during which he had showcased the Ranryaku in front of Hokage, Might Guy, and other Chunin, the students practicing nearby from Naruto's class had witnessed it all. Naruto himself had also been there. He took this opportunity to brag that they knew each other and were friends.

However, who would believe Naruto, the outcast without parents or close relatives, who wasn't even well-liked and hardly anyone wanted to interact with? That was the real issue.

"Magnificent reputation is a pleasant thing, I agree, but..." Lee leaned against the cool corridor wall and scratched his cheek in a characteristic pause before calmly smiling and saying, "I don't want a crowd of fans and fangirls. They'll only distract me from my training and exercises. Seriously, playing to the crowd is nice and all, but not more than that. In other cases, unwanted people nearby would only hinder and embarrass me. It's worth understanding and realizing that a few seconds of joy aren't worth the free time that can be spent on becoming stronger and working on oneself. After all, there's still a system."

...

"All right! Tomorrow, there's a test with Might Guy! He banned me from using the Ranryaku in sparring, and besides that, I don't have any special unique techniques for a successful victory. Maybe just my right hand, right leg, and right stance. But that's more like an addition to my Taijutsu, nothing else. Hmm, it seems that it's finally time, hahaha... Hysterical laughter, right? Fine. I've been delaying this moment for a very long time, but I doubt I can continue like this much longer..." Lee was unusually serious, standing alone on the training ground, unless, of course, someone was hiding covertly in the bushes.

While someone might come across Lee as he stood there in his kimono, barely visible in the fading evening breeze, there was nothing suspicious about a young man deep in thought, with leaves gently caressing his skin. After all, the system's interface was only visible to Lee himself.

[Name: Rock Lee]

[Shinobi Rank: Genin]

[Health: 100%]

[Stamina: 100%]

[Chakra: 100%]

[Taijutsu Rank: C+]

[Ninjutsu Rank: —]

[Genjutsu Rank: —]

[Inventory]

[Achievements]

[List of Hellish Exercises: 2]

"Nothing seems to have changed significantly," Lee mused to himself, delving deeper into the system and its digital tiles.

[List of Hellish Exercises]

[Do twenty squats with a stone on your back]

[Reward: Bronze crate]

[Do thirty pull-ups]

[Reward: Bronze crate]

"Haha, where should I start?" he said aloud, knowing well that his choice would likely be arbitrary and illusory, as the rewards were random, and the exercises were, in any case, challenging, or rather hellish. Wouldn't it be better just to pick one at random?

"Ah, well, I did come here with a plan," Lee said, shrugging his shoulders. He then turned his mental attention back to the system, or rather, to his inventory. He retrieved a pristine white pill and a gleaming kunai with a barely noticeable engraving of a snake. The kunai was the reward he had received for becoming a Genin.

"Not bad in terms of sharpness! The system didn't lie," Lee thought to himself. He then focused his attention on the small, round white pill in his palm. It was unusual, not black like the one he had received after his encounter with the holographic clone.

[Hyōrgan. White. A special-class combat pill that increases the user's strength and chakra reserves temporarily without the severe side effects of its black counterpart, which leaves the user extremely fatigued after a single use.]

In essence, it was a real treasure, allowing him to tackle two different exercises from the system in one go...

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