18 Hokage For a Reason/ A Month of Preparation

…..

Standing with a look of pride, I took my foot off of an unconscious Gaara and began to walk away while shaking my slightly sore hand. While I can handle the third gate and stage 3 together, Divine Slash took a bit out of me. Taking a look at the sunshine though, I smiled.

"Escanor would be proud." I muttered before immediately finding myself embedded inside the wall of the arena. A little shocked, I registered that a massive arm of sand was pinning me to the wall.

'I'm an idiot.' I thought as I just NOW remembered the consequences of knocking Gaara out. Staring at me from behind the hand and extended arm of sand was Gaara staring into my soul with completely white eyes. 'I need an exorcist.'

Eyeing me with anger, Gaara overtaken by Shukaku began to tighten the grip of sand around me as I instinctively used tekkai to kill time. My call was right as a flash of lightning flew through the arm cutting it off. Kakashi without his headband revealed his sharingan as he held a chidori eyeing Gaara with full seriousness.

Shukaku having overtaken Gaara's body was slowly having sand encompass it. But before the transformation could fully complete itself, the Third Hokage calmly appeared and drove the things head into the group.

While above it, he let go and weaved handsigns at unimaginable speeds before slamming his hands on the beasts backs. Lines of sealing then encompassed Gaara's body as a voice of rage came out of Gaara's mouth.

"NOT AGAIN YOU BASTARDS! LET ME OUT OF THIS PRISON YOU INSUFFERABLE HUMANS." Shukaku yelled as Lord Third casually stood over him and watched the process of the sand receded into its natural shape of a gourd. Shukaku's cries became weakened before coming to a complete silence.

All the sand now in the shape of a gourd revealed a now unconscious Gaara. Dusting some sand off my chest, I casually made my way back to TenTen and Neji who were both shocked. 'First time for them to see a jinchurki lose control…. Well, same for me but I'm more focused on my next training plan.'

…..

Gaara was casually handled by the Hokage properly and given back to Temari and her puppet friend. While the village now knew who the One tails bearer was, the Hokage didn't take action to steal it. As we originated by giving them out and it's the chunin exams, it's a matter of assurance that we don't act.

The chunnin exams keeps a promise to surrounding villages as well as ours not to interfere and change results. Basically it's a peace truce until it's over of course. TenTen and Neji both got some lackies for their opponents and made it safely through.

Reunitting with them, TenTen gave me a scolding for dropping my weights so suddenly. Neji being his usual closeted self only eye'd my weight with a deep frown before kicking some rocks. Guy being the absolute beacon of Youth he is gave me as well as the others his congratulations and took us all for barbeque.

Once finished, an anbu arrived and told us to meet at the Chunnin exams main arena. It was preliminaries after all. Now it came to the real nitty gritty finals.

.....

"Man, it's bright today." I said with a big toothy grin as many contestants made noticeable room from me. All lined up, we stared at the "Kazekage and a smiling Hokage.

"As you all know, you have passed the preliminaries and are at the finals." The hokage told us as a scroll was handed to him by his advisor who noticeably had messy hair and a flush on her face.

"Damn pervert." I would mutter to which the Hokage chuckled while staring at me sending a chill up my spine. 'Hes old right? How does he do that?'

Noticing his eyes scan the line of ninja. He looked over the Houki girl, the puppet dude, the last nara, and some injured ninja. "Now, on to the first bit of information." He said before coughing and bringing the scroll in front of his eyes. "The Matches for the finals will be like this."

"Neji Hyuga vs. Kankuro." He said as Kankuro stared daggers into him. Neji on the other hand scratched an itch on his back unphased.

"Rock Lee vs. Sasuke Uchiha." He announced causing an eyebrow raise from me. Sasuke being his wholesome self smiled while eyeing me with pure contempt.... What a kind soul....

"TenTen vs. Temari." He announced as Temari flicked her hair and sighed in disappointment. TenTen who saw her abilities in the preliminaries had a serious expression.

"Naruto vs. Choji." This was quite an interesting matchup in my opinion and certainly made me raise an eyebrow in interesting. Wonder who would win that one.

"Shino Aburame vs. Shikimaru Nara." He announced as the Nara just bowed his head and groaned. Shino was just sitting to himself silently as he usually does... Like all the time....

Sighing, the Hokage closed his scroll. Collecting his voice with another cough, he began speaking once more. "Now, you'll all have a month to prepare to fight the other person. This is for those who need to recuperate any injuries and come up with plans to counter an enemy ninja." As the contestants looked at their opponents he smiled.

"Imagine them to be an assassination target and you are the one chosen to prepare for the mission." He ended as he waved his hand. "Your time starts now, do whatever training you deem suitable and meet here in a months time."

....

Returning home, I went to unlock the apartment door out of habit to realize it was already unlocked. I had long put my weights in their usual spot to tease at any potentials thieves. Opening the door, I walked in to see my aunt with her head down clearly asleep on the kitchen table.

In front of her sleeping figure was a cake, on it had the words 'Congrats Lee!'. Touched, I went to find some covers before draping them over her shoulders. Ever since I arrived in this world through the gods help, she has truly been my greatest support.

Sure, we may bicker and fight. But she has shown nothing but the love my mother of my past life have never shown me before. Looking at the cake, thoughts of my diet appeared and the memories of the barbeque me and my team enjoyed had appeared.

Back in my sick bed, I would have never imagined having a life like this.... Looking down I flexed my arms and could just feel my emotional frown.... "A body like this." I muttered with profound sadness. Flashes of people I've killed in the chunin exams flashed through my eyes. 'I never expected myself to commit murder. Even if they are sound ninja, they are misguided.... Village propaganda and Orochimaru rotting their brains.'

I have the strength I so wished for in my past life. But with that strength, my worries grew. My eyes then called on my aunt. "My responsibilities grew as well." I muttered with images of my close friends in this life flashing up.

'Remember Lee, we have no room for doubts and sadness. Our entire existence must consist of love for others and ourself. And the drive to grow stronger to protect them is our only way to move forward. That's the philosophy of YOUTH! Never forget it!' I remembered as a past conversation with Might Guy came to mind.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded my head as a smile once again appeared on my face. Cutting a slice of cake, I enjoyed both its taste and sentimental value. Then.... I went to sleep.... Ready for the next day to come.

...

Somewhere in a dark room under Konoha, Orochimaru could be seen knitting his brow in thought. Gaara, a catalyst to begin his invasion had been eliminated from the Chunnin exams. All of his sound ninja were eliminated and even killed. By who? "That Lee brat of course" He would mutter before running his hand through his long hair.

"I have a month as well." Orocimaru smirked as Kabuto, his assistant, walked into the room and kneeled. "Lord Orochimaru, the sound 7 have all come back from their mission. They have asked what they should do now?"

Thinking for a bit, he began to smile widely before looking towards Kabuto. "I'm so glad you asked. I happen to have some ideas of how to spend this month of ours now."

.....

At the training grounds, I Rock Lee the legend himself was going through my warmup stretches. Ever since I was a kid I was keeping my flexibility high and it was an absolute blessing to do so. Not many ninja are as flexible as me, even some female Jounin show jealousy….. I would say if I spoke to female Jounin…..

TenTen and Neji were seated as we waited for our Sensei. Guy seemed to be running a bit late….

"Guy, why did you bring us here?" A unfamiliar feminine voice sounded out in confusion before being filled with slight nervousness. "You don't want to do some training again right? I still remember how sore I was last time!"

Appearing out of the bushes was a female ninja in Anbu attire. On her sides were two twin blades and her very aura seemed sharp. Feeling her gaze land upon us, she scanned us about before landing on TenTen.

"Oh, that's what's you want." She muttered in realization before sighing. Might Guy hearing her laughed a bit before smacking her on the back. "Don't give me that Omari! She's a genius in weapons! I'm sure you could pass some type of knowledge to her."

Omari hearing him just stared at him in the eyes. "What would a muscle brain like you consider genius? You use taijutsu dimwit." She questioned causing Guy to retreat a bit. "Now I don't know about the club. But I've seen her use all types of weapons with relative ease, so I can vouche her youthful abilities."

Staring at him a bit and realizing he won't back down, she sighed a bit before walking up to TenTen. "Hey short-stuff, come with me." She said rudely causing TenTen to take a very thug like expression. "The hell you say?" TenTen began before suddenly finding a pair of blades near her neck.

"Short-stuff." The lady said morbidly as TenTen just stared at her with seriousness. Omari seeing no fear chuckled before lowering her blades. "Well you seem to have some grit. Now we'll see if you have talent to back it up."

Seething her sword she took off her mask to reveal a beautiful woman. Her beauty however had a long jagged scar running down her forehead to chin. "The names Omari kid. I'll be filling in any gaps you got in whatever style you're using."

TenTen seeing her scar and resolute features was taken aback for a bit as she lightly touched the place the blades were held before. And as if accepting her situation, she bowed.

"I'll be in your care teacher." She said before the two of them went off. With only me and Neji left, Guy showed a sad smile as he stared at me. "Lee I can't teach you anything. You've already went above and beyond everything I've taught you." But with that sad smile, it slowly morphed into a hopeful toothy grin. "But I do know of one man who could probably help you out right now."

"That'd be me eh?" An old voice questioned as he walked out of the bushes causing Might Guy to scream in surprise. "Chen, my friend! When did you get here?" Might Guy said in surprise before beginning to laugh. "I didn't think you'd show up!"

Chen hearing him went silent for a bit before muttering to himself. "I didn't think I'd show up up here either." The old man collecting himself stretched a bit as his old bones crackled and popped. "Ahhhh, that hits the spot." He sighed in pleasure before landing his eyes on me. "I just wanted to see Lee here."

"As you know I haven't had a student in a while." Chen said to Guy who grew a remorseful look. "I know, but I can't teach him anything anymore. He's long surpassed me in technique." Chen hearing him hummed in surprise before leaning in towards me. "This little brat?" He questioned as he watched me finally compete my stretches. "Wow, you got some pretty good flexibility."

"Well I've been training since 5." I told him honestly with a smile. "I haven't ignored flexibility training as I deem it extremely necessary towards our style choice."

Chen observing my expression behind his shades seemed to hum before raising his finger at me. "Mind if I check your muscular structure? I need to check something." Nodding, I allowed him to do just that.

"Hoh? You certainly didn't miss that golden period for growth." He said with a smile before dusting off his hands. Looking at me with a reluctant smile, he sighed before turning to Guy. "Seeing his body, I'm surprised he's been training in your style. His body seems honestly more suitable for more 'flexible' taijutus."

Guy hearing that went into shock for a bit and stared at me with a look of despair. "So I've been holding him back?" He asked with a a sense of despair and sadness as streams of tears seemed to flow from his eyes.

"No, you idiot." Chen said with a resolute expression. "Your style hasn't ruined him at all and has actually built a lot of strength in his body. But by some miracle, he's kept his flexibility." Chen explained as he began to laugh. "The kids talent and foresight actually somehow managed to keep his body as flexible as a child's. So he's gotten your bone breaking styles strength and impressive flexibility."

Smiling, Chen took off his glasses and looked Guy in the eyes. "Guy, I want to pass my teachings to this kid. I feel he could merge our styles into something special. He could have the best of both worlds." Guy hearing this fell to his knees and began to cry tears of happiness.

"Thank you." Guy said to no one but Chen. "I was so worried I was incompetent in teaching him. This is all I know and didn't want to bring him down the wrong path."

Seeing my Sensei like this, I went over and began to rub my hand on his back. "Guy Sensei, you never failed me. We walk the same path just as you said those many years ago, how could I ever belittle your teachings?"

Smiling, l began to pull him up. "And besides, we can't afford to be negative. Our drive to protect those we love is our fuel… it's our youth." Might guy hearing me remembered our talk back then and collected himself.

"Hahaha!" He began to laugh as a rainbow appeared behind him. "What a fool I am! For this I will run until all my insecurities are clear!"

And with that, Guy ran and scooped up Neji. "Come Neji! Let us run until our hearts stop beating!"

"Why me." Neji would mutter helplessly.

And with that done, I walked towards Chen and bowed. "My Sensei and I use our emotions to drive us forward. I apologize if you find that unsightly."

"Kid…. No, Rock Lee is your name no?" Chen asked causing me to look up. To my surprise, he was wiping away a tear from his eye. "I take no offense, if anything it reminds me of what I had in the past." Growing serious, he grabbed me by my shoulders and looked me into the eyes.

"Rock Lee, I want to share my knowledge with you. Do you accept?" He said with extreme seriousness.

"Of course!" I replied with a scream of youthful glory.

...