Chapter 11: The Wall

"Is this you, Rock Lee, the special young man with talent in Taijutsu?" a kind, elderly voice echoed nearby. Its owner was a short, wrinkled old man wearing a red and white robe and a wide, important-looking hat on his head. He held a smoking pipe in his mouth, emitting the pungent scent of thick tobacco.

He exuded a noble and amiable aura, unmistakably identifying him as a strong leader – the very Hokage about whom the peaceful citizens of the Land of Fire spoke with admiration and the enemies regarded with dread and awe. As a result, the smoke slowly but confidently dissipated in Lee's classroom, allowing him to fully experience the powerful gaze and friendly, serene smile of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

It was all pomp and circumstance in the style of a chapter, but Rock was silently questioning where his teacher was, the one who was supposed to accompany him to the Hokage's presence. Surprisingly, the Hokage himself had come alone, which was rather strange and unclear to Rock.

Furthermore, being alone in the field wasn't wise, as the saying goes.

However, the events that followed finally allowed Lee to explain everything, paradoxically without really explaining anything but pushing it to absurdity.

"Hokage-sama, did you really need to use ninjutsu to enter? I'm sorry, but I don't understand your enlightened sense of humor. I'm used to using my feet for walking..." said a burly man in a green jumpsuit with a bowl-cut haircut, leading Rock's sensei and several other shinobi in combat vests behind him, probably Chunin.

"Ahem, Gai, I'm the Hokage, after all. I can't just make a mess of myself in front of my people, especially someone who will undoubtedly protect our village from future troubles, right?" Hiruzen grinned, looking at the bewildered Lee, who never expected that the most important part of his Genin exam, the practical part, would turn into such a comical affair.

"Welcome, Hokage-sama!" Nevertheless, Rock composed himself and bowed to the elderly man in front of him. He then repeated the gesture for the others who had arrived, including Might Guy and the Chunin, who were likely here to observe Rock's supposedly "invented" technique, Rankyaku.

It made sense for Hiruzen to bring some extra witnesses, especially because Lee had told his teacher that Rankyaku was more about taijutsu than ninjutsu. Hence, the Hokage invited Might Guy, a true master of this ninja art where it's not about magic, but about fists and feet shattering rocks and seas. However, Lee couldn't say much about the Chunin, except that one of them seemed to be picking his nose out of boredom when no one was looking.

"Ho-ho-ho! You have manners, that's wonderful. It turns out you can't use ninjutsu and genjutsu, but instead, you've dedicated yourself to training and excelling in the art of taijutsu, not succumbing to the pressures of life when you were unwanted or unnoticed. Know this, young man, such uniqueness and deviations from the norm are not new to my eyes. Unconventional and exceptional shinobi have always existed and always will," Hokage Hiruzen said with a smile, looking at Rock, who had chosen a path less traveled, with a special aura that set him apart, despite his appearance, character, and speech. Hiruzen also couldn't help but notice Rock's calloused, rough hands, as if he had been using them to rub the ground and asphalt to a pulp.

Just like Guy's.

It seemed that the legacy of Fire continued, with this crazy masochistic training by one's own hands!

"Alright. Here, in this cramped office, you're unlikely to be able to demonstrate your technique to its fullest, right, Lee? So, let's head to the back yard of the academy. There's plenty of space there, a whole training area, even considering the practical exercises of the other classes," Hokage said calmly, puffing on his pipe and then nodding to Guy, Rock's teacher, and the Chunin.

Following that, the old man approached Lee, placing his bony hand on the young man's shoulder. In the next moment, Lee felt a sudden dizziness and nausea. The world before his eyes blurred, but after a second, the crazy kaleidoscope of colors ended. Lee closed his eyes, wiped his vision with his sleeve, and realized that he was now standing in the fresh air next to a smiling Hiruzen.

"Could it be... Body Flicker Technique, which works like teleportation!" Lee exclaimed in amazement and delight, finally grasping what ninjutsu felt like. He had shaken off his disorientation after such rapid movement.

Turning his head and looking around, Lee noticed that a little further from him and Hiruzen, another academy sensei was giving necessary instructions before the practical training. It was a man with dark brown hair tied up in a topknot and a scar running across his nose. Lee recognized him almost immediately. How could he not?

Iruka Umino, with his usual strict kindness, was explaining to his students, including the troublemaker Naruto, how to avoid getting hurt by sharp tools like kunai and shuriken and how to throw them accurately. Among the students were other significant individuals, such as the brooding and impassive brunette, Sasuke Uchiha, who had a queue of smitten girls, including Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, who appeared to be both friends and competitors in the game of love.

"So many central characters, but they're still small and not particularly skilled yet. However, they all have the potential to become strong, especially the future team led by Jonin Kakashi. Whether it's Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura, they all have such a commendable destiny. I'll have to work really hard, even with the system, to surpass the omnipotent luck of the main characters," Rock mused to himself before taking a few steps away from Hokage. The Hokage's gaze was directed toward Iruka's students, as he finally intended to focus on his own exam.

A moment later, accompanied by a small whirlwind of leaves, Guy, Lee's "school" teacher from the academy, appeared in good spirits. Along with him came the Chunin, who only seemed to create the appearance of usefulness.

"Hokage-sama, I need a target for the demonstration, whether big or small, doesn't matter; any will do!" Lee spoke with determination, sounding like a soldier following orders. Hokage nodded and exhaled a puff of smoke, then turned his gaze to the shinobi nearby.

"Kato, Hiroshi, did you hear him? Do you understand what he's asking for? Don't sleep on the job, now, raise a massive earthen wall as requested, quickly!" the old man addressed the Chunin in a firm tone, injecting steel into his words. This instantly jolted at least two of them out of their boredom-induced stupor and into action.

The so-called Kato and Hiroshi stepped forward, quickly forming several hand seals and placing their open palms on the ground. They had to expend about a quarter, or perhaps even half, of their chakra, collectively, to fulfill the requests of the determined young man and the Hokage himself.

However, the two Chunin did not disappoint the Hokage; on the contrary, they intentionally or unintentionally increased the overall strength of the future Jutsu. The ground near Lee experienced a noticeable tremor and shaking, and a high rocky wall began to emerge from the earth, rough and typically serving as protection for Shinobi with an affinity for Doton-style jutsu.

Therefore, Lee found himself facing what felt like an insurmountable mountain, as if straight out of the dreams of ambitious but mortal individuals. Nevertheless, he was no longer in a place where people were mere cogs in the machine but in reality, with overwhelming chakra and the ability to move at inhuman speeds like a true Shinobi.

Yes, now he would show the experienced Shinobi watching him what could be achieved in a month of intense masochistic training challenges, as long as you had a strong will, an adaptable body, and an incredibly challenging system that showed no mercy to its user, sending a special greeting to those reincarnators who got genes from major or extinct clans right off the bat.

"Daijoubo, Lee!" echoed the piercing, elderly voice in his ears, driving away the unnecessary thoughts that had previously raced through his mind at the speed of light or faster.

But nothing mattered. Lee only briefly closed his dark eyes and then opened them, revealing the fire of restrained rage and mighty determination. He took a step forward towards the wall, filling the atmosphere with an overwhelming physical pressure, as if preparing to unleash deadly fury. He then infused his grace, posture, and speed with a mirage, swiftly spun with an advantage, and released from his leg a sharp, compressed blade of wind and chakra, which was destined to collide mercilessly with the rocky and earthy surface of the recently created wall, splitting it cleanly in two, leaving Hokage in deep shock.

"What?!" exclaimed Kato and Hiroshi with trembling voices.

"Ha-ha-ha! This is what the Power of Youth, the power of Taijutsu, can do!" laughed Might Guy.

"At least a B-rank..." whispered Hokage in genuine admiration, setting a rather high level for a technique "created" by an academy student for the Genin exam...

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