Those Who Work Hard.....

"Rock Lee?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, He was the one who introduced me to the weight training method,It has been quite a few days since I have met him, So maybe we can meet him tomorrow…." Naruto said.

…

…

…

The following morning,

"He's late again!" Naruto said looking at the stream flowing under the bridge.

"If anything, its always those lame excuses" Sakura commented.

"Say! Say! Say!"

"Why is that he's the only one who, calls us out, and then makes us wait?!" Sakura complained.

"Well…..We are his subordinates Sakura…." Naruto said

"Naruto is right Sakura….." Sasuke also supported.

"What is he going to do about the feelings of a maiden who accidentally overslept and resigned herself to no blow drying?!"

("Sakura-chan, I don't think you could be classified as a maiden though you would be one in the future, as of now I can only think of you as a Pink Demon") Naruto thought

("Why are these guys so hyper, first thing in the morning") Sasuke thought.

..

"Good morning guys,"

"I came across a white cat, so I played along with it, until a black cat came across so…..I had to walk the long way around and..."

"Yeah Right! That's a lie" Naruto and Sakura glared at Kakashi.

"Ahem!" Kakashi coughed after he landed on the bridge.

"This is sudden, but I recommenced you guys for the chuunin Exam, so…." Kakashi takes out three papers from his pocket

"Here, These are your applications"

"That being said, the recommendations are not compulsory."

"You guys are free to decide whether you take the Exam or not."

The trio looked at the papers.

"Only Those who want to take the Exam, sign that application and come to room 301 of the Academy at 3:00pm. Five days from now…."

"That's it…."

"Chuunin Exam..." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke turned towards Naruto and said "Naruto, I want to meet this Lee guy right now….."

"Huh! Who is Lee?" Sakura asked.

Naruto scratched his head and said "He is a Genin like us, and a very good fighter."

"Oh…."

..

..

..

The trio walked for a while till the forest besides the field. But Lee wasn't there.

They then walked towards the training field.

"hah!" Neji launched a palm strike while Lee parried

Tenten jumped up into the air

"Here I go…." She said as she sent her scroll flying into the sky,

The scroll flew upwards as it spread around in a spiral shape

"Summon!" Tenten called

(poof)

(poof)

(poof)

(poof)

(poof)

About a hundred weapons of different sorts appeared.

"Dodge!" Neji shouted.

Both Neji and Lee jumped back a few steps as the weapons landed one by one onto the grounds with some of them exploding.

"Hah!" Tenten called her weapons back using strings while Neji and Lee assumed their fighting pose.

"Hmm...…Ah Naruto-kun it's been a long time, would you like to join us for training?" Lee asked as he saw Naruto with his group.

"Hi thick brows! , it's been a long time" Naruto greeted as his group started walking.

("So that's Naruto the number one rookie...") Neji looked towards Naruto and his group

"Naruto-kun, this is….."

"Ah! Let me introduce you my teammates, Haruno Sakura"

"EH!" ("What is with the super thick brows he has?")

"and Uchiha Sasuke..."

"Hmph!"

Lee walked towards Sakura

"My name is Rock Lee, Your name's Sakura right…?"…"Please go out with me!"

"I'll protect you till I die!" Lee asked as he showed his 32 (sparkling white teeth).

"Absolutely….not!"

"Huh?"

"You're... too intense" Sakura replied upon which Lee hung his head almost driven out all his fighting spirit.

"Let's go Tenten". Neji said as he left along with Tenten from the field.

("That guy seems to be strong too….") Sasuke thought as he saw Neji leaving.

"Why don't you fight with me here now?" Lee asked as he turned towards Sasuke.

"I was waiting for you to ask that…." Sasuke said as he got into a fighting stance.

"Thick brows!" Naruto called.

"Yes, Naruto-kun"

"I have faced Sasuke, with my weight removed, so I think its best if you do the same as well."

"Okay" Lee said as he started taking off his weights.

"Sasuke-kun" Lee turned towards Sasuke as he took his weights off.

"I want to test how effective my techniques will be against the descendant of the clan reputed for genius ninjas."

"Also." Lee turned towards Sakura at this moment

"Love…." He murmured which almost threw Sakura off.

Lee got up as he started launching strange heart like things using his cheeks which were a mirror image of his eye brows like a lower brow.

"WWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Sakura started screaming as she started to dance around like a paper acting to the wind around it, dodging the flying hearts as they came her way.

The last heart forced Sakura to bang her head on the ground as it passed by the region where her upper body was at...

Sakura stood up once again like a human that had escaped from apocalypse

("Really…That was super close.")

"YOU!.....Don't throw strange stuff at people you just meet!"

"I was dodging for my life back there."

Sakura started screaming.

"You don't have to resent me too much" Lee said feeling wronged.

..

"To be honest, I am the one who came to challenge you. But I must commend your thoughts knowing the name of the Uchiha and trying to challenge it….."

Sasuke got arrogant, feeling proud of his Uchiha name.

"I insist…" Lee said as he went into a fighting pose as well.

"However…..I must declare. You are absolutely no match for me. Amongst the leaf village Genin Naruto-kun and I are amongst the top."

"I'll do it." Sasuke smirked.

"Sasuke, let me warn you now…." Naruto interrupted.

"Even though I fought you after taking my weights off, I never fought you with my full physical strength…"

"What?" Sasuke turned towards Naruto.

"This is because I wanted you to get used to the regular speed….." …. "considering that you have adopted to my movements, I had no choice but to hold back so that I could bring you to Thick Brows here for further training..." Naruto said.

"Don't worry" Sasuke said.

"I have been waiting to fight different people anyways..."

"All right then, I'll countdown to the start of the match." Naruto said as he stepped between Lee and Sasuke.

"Three"

"Two"

Lee and Sasuke became even more concentrated at this moment.

"One"

Naruto looked toward Lee and Sasuke.

While Sauke closed his eyes

"FIGHT!"

Naruto said as he jumped away from the center.

<Sharingan> Sasuke activated as his pupils turned red

"Haaaaaa" Lee started to run around Sasuke.

"Wow!" Sakura stared at Lee running in his top speed.

".." Sasuke kept turning around trying to see from which direction Lee would attack.

"That's the famous Sharingan…." Lee commented as he kept running

"Hmph" Sasuke smiled

At this moment Lee disappeared.

"Shit!" Sasuke folded his arms in to block.

Lee appeared below Sasuke as he sent Sasuke flying into the air with a powerful right kick.

Sasuke smirked.

<Serpent><ram><monkey><boar><horse><tiger>

<Fire style - Grand Fireball jutsu>

Sasuke took a deep breath as he aimed the fire to the ground.

"Not Good..." Naruto grabbed Sakura and jumped away as the fireball hit the ground.

Meanwhile Lee appeared behind Sasuke.

("Damn it.") Sasuke thought back to how lee could have avoided the technique.

Sasuke turned around in mid-mid-air and tried blocking Lee's punch, only to end up back in the ground again.

Lee stared at Sasuke who was breathing heavily.

"I envy those who have chakra….." Lee said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Though I have chakra, I am unable to use any ninjutsu techniques."

"So the most I could do is hope to surpass others with my taijutsu….." Lee said.

("No ninja ability, how did he become a ninja in the first place…..?") Sasuke thought.

"Uchiha Sasuke, not only can you perform ninjutsu but you also have the sharingan….."

("What is the point of having it if I can't use it to defeat you") Sasuke thought as he started to hate himself.

Lee relaxed his body posture as he continued.

"People like me can only hope to match with your talents through sheer hard work….." Lee said as he saw Sasuke getting up once again.

"We'll postpone this battle until five days later..." … "I want to train with you." Sasuke said as he shut off his Sharingan.

Lee looks towards Naruto.

"Mm" Naruto nodded back.

"All right then, it is a promise." Lee said as he shook hands with Sasuke.

….

Later that evening, the preliminary exams had begun,

And as expected all the squads had passed the exam securing their spot to enter the chuunin exam.

…

On the last day of training Naruto watched Lee and Sasuke clash each other again and again.

Sasuke had refrained from using his ninjutsu ever since he found out about Rock Lee.

The duo breathed heavily after they had stopped the battle.

"You win Sasuke-kun..." Lee said.

"Barely... I can only consider this match as a draw..." Sasuke said as he tried to regain his breath.

"Sasuke-kun….That day when I told you both me and Naruto were amongst the top, I withheld an information for you...."

Sasuke "….."

"The thing is, there is a man on my team, whom I cannot defeat. He also possess an eye bloodline similar to yours…."

Sasuke thought back to Neji who had left with TenTen the other day.

"His name is Hyuuga Neji…"

"Hyuuga…..!!" Sasuke stood up.