Training

Minutes passed by as they continued to train. They trained the whole morning until lunch came.

Neji and Lee walked down the road as they approached the Ichiraku Ramen. Neji suggested that they come eat here, naturally, Lee agreed as Neji insisted that he will pay for their lunch.

The Rock Lee now was still not the student of Guy, the Fanatic of Youth, so he looked quite different different. He still has the shiny black hair, round eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, and very thick eyebrows. His hair was quite long and fastened in a braid, he wore a white, short-sleeved kimono-shirt with a martial arts belt and dark pants, giving him a more traditional Chinese appearance.

'They really are perfect with each other. Tenten and Rock Lee.' Neji smiled as he thought about what will happen in the future. As for the ship between him and Tenten, not going to happen. The incident earlier was just really a complete accident and he only looked at her like a cute little sister. He would certainly feel very bad if his heart would fluctuate because of a little kid, dream on, suckers!

"Neji-kun I really admire you! How did you become so strong?!" asked Lee.

"Lee, you already asked that three times. It is because I am a genius and you are not! But you are also a genius in your own way, you are a genius in hard working! Many times more than I am! So don't look down on yourself, we are still young and we have way more to go." Neji explained. He totally forgot that Neji was still so young and was easily affected by what others say about him. I really wonder how he could persevere like that, if it was me, I would probably not be able to do it, thought Neji.

"Really?"

"Yeah, so stop listening to the scorn of others towards you, just believe in yourself and train very hard, harder than anyone, harder than you can think of! And besides, the guys in our class are trash themselves, what could those kids know, if their parents see how hard you work, they would be embarrassed to death. You are a hundred times, no, a thousand times better than them!"

He then continued, "You can't do ninjutsu? Then train a hundred times more in taijutsu so you can beat them with it! You can't resist genjutsu? Then find me, and I'll help you beat them! There are more to this world than you can imagine, Rock Lee! You can't get stronger without being confident!"

Neji declared, startling Lee. How could someone believe in a piece of trash like me, he believes in me, how could I not believe in myself, Lee thought. What Neji did not that his words would always be in Rock Lee's heart and would remember it when he will lose confidence in himself.

Lee suddenly halted his steps and looked at Neji's back, it suddenly looked huge and very reliable.

"What's wrong, Lee?" asked Neji.

As soon as he asked, Neji did not expect Lee to do that. With a straight back, feet together, hands clenched that was parallel on his waist, Lee bowed 90 degrees towards Neji and shouted with great determination and courage:

"I am sorry, Neji-kun! You believed in me, but I never believed in myself! From now on, I promise that I will work hard, harder than anyone that no one can beat me! And I swear that one day, one day, I will be able to surpass you!" Lee also declared attracting the attention of the people around.

But they did not mind it, they only took it as some kids rambling. But a certain man in a completely tight skin clothes and in a Jonin outfit, who just happened to pass by the two, heard them. In his eyes, flames of passion could be seen being ignited. But he did not do anything, he just topped and looked at kids faces and continued jogging towards the academy, where the Hokage's office was located.

"As long as you're okay." Neji was surprised, but he liked the straightforwardness of Lee. It was a refreshing attitude that was very rare in his previous world.

This marked the day when a great friendship was born.

Finally they reached an unassuming restaurant with a Ramen Ichiraku written on the cloth as a sign.

"Konochiwa!" Neji and Lee both said lightly as they entered and sat on the counter.

"Welcome!" answered Teuchi, the founder of this small but popular restaurant for ramen. He was an old man that always had a smile on his face.

"I would like to order the most complete ramen since I don't know anything about it. You can also recommend me one... Lee, have you eaten here before?" asked Neji.

"No. I could never afford such a luxury." answered Lee, a little embarrassed.

"Then, Boss, make it two. Thank you." Neji said to Teuchi politely.

"Okay. Coming!" since they were the only costumers, he went directly to the kitchen and prepared.

Minutes later, a young lady came out carrying a huge bowl and Teuchi also followed.

"Dig in!" said Ayame, the beautiful young daughter of Teuchi with a smile.

With chopsticks in hand, Lee and Neji immediately dug in after shouting, "Itadakimasu!"

...

"Kuh! That was the most delicious food I have ever eaten in my life!"

"Yeah, me too!"

"We will come again! Thanks for the food!" they said to the owner and then left for the academy.

"Thanks, come again!" the boss also said loudly.

...

"Neji-kun, I have been meaning to ask you this, but what is that green X mark on your forehead,?" asked Lee.

"Haha, this is nothing. It is just a clan tradition. Oh, if you meat anyone who have a mark like this, don't ever asked them again, okay?" aid Neji, a little serious.

"Okay." Lee also noticed it is very important so he did not ask anymore.

The Afternoon class were just some basic training with a different teacher. It was also perfect chance for Neji to level up his kunai training since he did not get a chance this morning.

They talked and laughed with each other until they reached the academy.

...

Woosh! Whoosh! Two kunai was embedded on the target at the same time, the system notificationa also echoed in Neji's head.

'Congratulations, your Kunai Throwing technique has reached 20% mastery. Hit your intended target 50 times to increase mastery by 5%'

"My shuriken mastery has already reached 25% and my success rate in hitting the target reached 75 percent. I will first train all of my Gentle Fist and Proficiency Skills to fifty percent, and maybe master Chakra Control before I learn any Ninjutsu. My body is a genius and I have the system, learning ninjutsu shouldn't be too hard." said Neji to himself.

Hours passed as the were finally dismissed off the academy. As planned, he met with Lee and they went directly inside a small forest where kids hangout if there are no classes. It had Lush vegetation and extremely thick and tall trees, nearly reaching 50 meters.

...

"So what do we do now, Neji-kun?" asked the clueless Lee.

"Of course, we are here to train. I am going to teach you on how to control your chakra. Although you have no talent in molding the chakra to create ninjutsu, iit can still help you heal your wounds faster. So if you train your chakra control, you won't have to worry in injuring your body if you train until you exceed your limits." explained Neji. He had the system, it already calculated everything.

"We will come here every weekend to train. I will also teach you on how to train your body." said Neji. He already realized that he won't get stronger faster if he only trained in the academy.

"But Neji-kun, do you really know what to do?" Lee asked.

"Of course, trust me, you can only get stronger faster like this." Neji replied.

"Okay, I believe you." Lee relented. He did not want to get bullied anymore anyway.

"Okay, let us start immediately. To train on how to control your chakra, there are several methods, Leaf Concentration Practice that Iruka-sensei taught us, the second is Tree Climbing, and Water Surface Walking exercises.

"The Leaf Concentration Practice is better used to train concentration, so we are going to train with the Tree Climbing First, after we master Tree Climbing, Water Surface Walking would be next. I still don't know how to do these, so we are going to have to experiment." Neji patiently explained.

"From what I know, you have to focus your chakra on your feet and stick it to the tree trunk... It should be like this... concentrate it on the feet and then... Step.. step... Oh this is surprisingly easy..." Neji mumbled to himself as he started walking on the tree trunk slowly.

"WOW! Neji-kun, You are amazing!" This shout startled Neji that he fell to the ground. It was only because he managed to do a back flip in the air that he managed to balance himself.

"Oi, Lee! Don't interrupt others when they are focusing!" shouted Neji angrily, he nearly hit his head to the ground, and that was already 10 meters high!

"Ahehe, Sorry.. hehe!" Lee said while scratching the back of his head.

"Mah.. That's about it. I know that you don't have a talent in chakra molding, but it should be easy concentrating it on your feet. Don't rush, and practice in your own pace." Neji commanded. His big brother air came out without him knowing.

"Ok, I'll try."

That night, the forest was filled with cries of pain as well as laughter.