Start of the Third Round

It was the day of the tournament, and right now, Mei, Tsunade, and Gaara were sitting side by side in their personal VIP box to spectate the matches. Behind each of them stood two people who could be considered their guards.

Behind Tsunade stood Hinata and Yuna, which definitely didn't involve any bribery from Yuna's side. Both of them had a casual smile on their faces while their gazes wandered through the arena.

Mei had chosen Ao and a young man with blue hair and a big sword strapped to his back as her guards. The young boy was nervously looking around and, considering the meek aura around him, didn't have much self-confidence.

Meanwhile, Ao was staring at Yuna like she was his worst enemy, which Yuna found somewhat unreasonable.

'I only kidnapped him once, had Tsunade pressure him over the Zabuza matter, put a tracking and teleportation seal on him, knocked him out when he was about to interrupt my and Mei's makeout session... Okay, maybe it wasn't that unreasonable.'

[Honestly, I'm surprised you accepted that so willingly.]

'Well, I listed up quite a few things, so it must be true, right?'

[Wait a minute, you are not sure?]

'Hahaha...*cough*, Of course, I'm sure!'

[Sure, whatever, I believe you.]

The people guarding Gaara were his two siblings, Temari and Kankurou. Just like Ao, Temari was giving Yuna a death glare, which Yuna assumed was because of the dick she drew on Gaara's face couldn't be removed easily, so Gaara had to cover it with sand constantly.

'I'm sure that is the reason for her glaring at me.'

[Seriously? You broke her little brother's mind, made him dead drunk, and tossed him into the desert, and you think she is mad at you for drawing a dick on his face?]

'Well, first of all, Tsunade was the one who made him drink, and I only tossed him into the desert for his own good, so only the dick drawing part is left.'

[So you're just going to ignore the "breaking his mind" part, huh?]

'Sanity is overrated; he should be thankful I did that.'

Meanwhile, Kankurou looked at Yuna with a weird mix of anger, jealousy, and awe on his face. The anger was relatively easy to explain since it had the same cause as Temari's. He was jealous because he saw Yuna kissing not only Hinata but also Mei, which was, funnily enough, the reason for him feeling in awe of Yuna as well.

A few more minutes passed, and it was finally time for the finals of the chunin exam to start. From one side of the arena, a young man with a bowl cut, massive eyebrows in a green spandex suit stepped forward, while a huge man with bulging muscles and a needle-like sword came from the other side.

The first match of the chunin exams: Rock Lee from Konoha vs Fuji from Kiri.

Mei couldn't help but chuckle a little when she saw Lee's weird appearance but suppressed it rather quickly. She eyed the two participants a bit longer before her gaze landed on Tsunade.

"Well, Tsunade, who do you think will win the first match? Konoha or Kiri?"

After their night of drinking together, the three Kage stopped speaking politely which each other and kept a rather casual tone instead. Although the whole affair ended in chaos, it certainly brought some positive changes as well.

Tsunade pondered Mei's question for a moment before she redirected her gaze to Yuna and asked her a question.

"Are Lee's restriction seals activated?"

"No, I managed to convince Lee to turn them off during the exam."

Tsunade nodded her head in understanding as her gaze returned to Mei.

"Lee will win. As in, he will win this whole tournament."

Mei was taken aback by Tsunade's declaration but couldn't help but wonder why Tsunade was so confident that Lee would win.

"Why do you think so? Is there something special about him? I mean, besides the outfit."

Tsunade chuckled in amusement and nodded her head to confirm Mei's guess.

"There is indeed something special about him."

"Oh? What is it? Does he have some kind of new Kekkei Genkai?"

Tsunade almost laughed out loud when she heard Mei's guess.

"Hehe, I wouldn't exactly call it a Kekkei Genkai, but he certainly is special. He can't use ninjutsu, nor genjutsu."

Mei nodded her head as she got even more curious about what was so special about Lee. Not being able to use Ninjutsu and Genjutsu was a massive disadvantage, so she was sure that he could do something equally ridiculous to compensate for that shortcoming.

However, no matter how long Mei waited, Tsunade didn't continue speaking, resulting in Mei looking at her weirdly.

"That's it? He can't use them? That's all there is to it? Although I agree that that makes him special, it isn't precisely something you would boast about."

Tsunade chuckled in amusement when she saw Mei's bewildered face, before nodding her head in agreement.

"Indeed, that is nothing to boast about, which makes Lee's current strength even more impressive. Rock Lee is insane. I am considered the world's best medical-nin, and even I don't know why his body hasn't collapsed due to the ridiculous training he's putting himself through."

Before Mei could say anything about what Tsunade just said, Tsunade made a hushing motion and pointed at the battlefield below.

"The fight is about to start. Just take a look and judge his strength yourself."

Although Mei still felt like Tsunade's confidence in Lee was somewhat misplaced, she still did as Tsunade told her and looked at the arena, where the fight was to begin any second now.

Both participants got into a combat stance, and moments later, the fight started. Lee vanished from where he stood, and before his opponent could react, Lee's foot smashed into his stomach and sent him flying into a wall, knocking him out instantly and ending the fight.

Meanwhile, Mei could only look at Lee in total bewilderment.

'That was not the speed a genin should have. In fact, even chunin and quite a few jonin aren't that fast.'

Before Mei could continue her thoughts, Tsunade started speaking again.

"Lee is a taijutsu specialist. He knows a particular technique that makes him quite dangerous, but in the last few years, a certain madwoman has constantly been sparring with him, allowing his strength to reach a whole other level. Right now, if he were to go all out, there are only a few people inside Konoha who can match his speed."

As soon as Tsunade stopped speaking, there was only one thought in Mei's mind.

'Then why the hell is he participating in a chunin exam !?'