25 Chapter 25: New Rivals Appear!

After separating Naruto and Sakura both went to their homes. Naruto had promised Konohamaru that after he got some free time, he'd train him. But until then, he'd have to wait and let Naruto focus on the chunin exams. The next morning, Naruto woke up early and went to the training fields. Shortly after, Sasuke and Sakura arrived.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's see who's going to participate." Naruto said as he pulled out his filled out application form.

Sasuke pulled out his application that was filled out as well. Then the two of them turned to look at Sakura. She pulled out her application showing that is was filled out with a smile.

Naruto grinned while Sasuke smirked.

"Well, looks like we all are going, so let's head out!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

He turned and began walking followed by Sasuke and Sakura. The trio made there way back to the academy building and walked inside. They walked up the staircase and saw a large crowd of people gathered around. Suddenly someone was thrown toward the ground by another person. Naruto looked up and saw that the figure thrown was wearing a green jumpsuit. That's Lee, he thought, he looked up at the person who threw him, those most be some of the chunin who are weeding out the ones who can't see through the genjutsu.

The three of them continued walking up to check out what was happening.

"Hey! We're just trying to take the exam! What are you doing?!" Someone shouted.

Naruto looked over and saw that the one who shouted was Tenten and standing next to her was Neji.

"Haha, we're doing you a favor, do you know how many people fail the chunin exams?" One of the men blocking the door laughed.

"That's right, so why don't you just go home so you don't embarrass yourself." The other mocked.

Tenten grit her teeth in frustration as she stood up.

"Stop it, we're trying to get to the third floor, and you're making a scene." Naruto said as he walked up.

"Eh?"

"Third floor?

"What is he talking about?"

The crowd talked to each other as they tried to make sense of Naruto's words.

One of the two men looked at Naruto with a curious glance, so one of them finally managed to see through the genjutsu huh? He thought.

"Seriously, this genjutsu barrier isn't fooling anyone, right Sasuke? Sakura?" Naruto asked as he looked back.

The two of them nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's right, we're still on the second floor, so there's no reason for us to stick around here." Sakura said.

Suddenly, the sign above the door that read 301 changed to read 201.

"Hehe, you may have seen through the genjutsu, but do you think it's that simple?" The man said as he went to kick Naruto.

Sasuke stared at Lee with wide eyes as well, what's up with that speed? He wondered, his injuries are already disappearing, was he faking it? Sasuke questioned. The man lowered his leg, while Lee let go, and Naruto's clone disappeared.

"Lee! What are you doing? I thought we agreed to lay low so we don't bring attention to ourselves!" Tenten shouted.

Neji walked up as well behind her. Lee brought his hands down and bowed in apology.

"I'm sorry, but...." Lee turned to face Sakura.

Tenten sighed to herself as she knew what was about to happen.

Lee walked right up to Sakura and smiled while holding a thumbs up. "My name is Rock Lee, I promise to protect you with my life! Please go out with me!"

Sakura stared at Lee in shock before immediately replying. "Absolutely not!"

"Huh?" Lee uttered in surprise.

"You're gross!" Sakura finished.

Lee felt like he'd been punched in the gut as he fell to the floor in defeat.

Naruto felt kind of bad for Lee, so he placed his hand on Lee's shoulder. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Lee looked up and saw Naruto looking at him.

"Hang in there!" Naruto said while grinning.

Lee stared at Naruto as tears filled his eyes.

"What's your name?" Lee asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto answered.

Lee wiped the tears from his eyes as he stood up straight and stretched out his hand for Naruto to shake.

"Nice to meet you Naruto!"

Naruto grinned as he shook Lee's hand. "Likewise!"

Neji walked over and was looking at Naruto and Sasuke. "You two, what are your names?"

Naruto looked over at Neji, but before he could answer, Sasuke spoke up.

"When asking for someone's name, you should give your own first."

"You must be rookies, how old are you?" Neji asked, ignoring Sasuke.

"I have no obligation to tell you that." Sasuke replied.

"Why you!" Neji said as he got irritated.

Tenten smirked to herself as she watched Neji have a hard time dealing with another person. However, before things could escalate further, Naruto stepped in.

"Now, now, let's try and be friendly here." Naruto said while smiling.

The two of them harrumphed and looked away from each other. Naruto could only smile at the situation as he felt a little awkward.

"Hey, Sasuke, Naruto, why don't we head to where the exam will start." Sakura suggested.

"That's a good idea, let's go Sasuke!" Naruto said, quickly agreeing with Sakura.

He looked at her and silently thanked her for getting him out of that awkward situation. Sakura smiled back toward him. The trio then made their way toward where the exams would be held. While Neji, Lee, and Tenten watched the trio. Forgotten by everyone else, the two men that had blocked the door released their transformation jutsu.

"Looks like Kakashi's and Guy's brats passed our little test." One of them said.

The other nodded. 'Yeah, looks like this year will be pretty interesting for us proctors as well."

The two of them grinned as they silently watched the kids leave.

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...

Lee stared at Sasuke's back as they left. Neji did as well for a second before starting to walk away. Tenten followed behind him but turned around when she noticed Lee wasn't following.

"Lee, come on!" She called out.

"You guys go on ahead, I need to do something first." Lee said as he turned around and left.

"What's with him?" Tenten asked.

"How should I know? For now, let's just go." Neji replied.

The two of them continued on while Lee went off on his own.

...

...

...

While walking, Naruto and the others heard someone call out to them from behind and above them. When they looked, they saw that it was Lee. Naruto thought for a second before he remembered that Lee had challenged Sasuke back then.

"Geh, why is he here?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Oi, what do you want?" Sasuke asked.

Lee stared at them for a second before opening his mouth. "You're Uchiha Sasuke right? Why don't we fight?"

"Fight?" Sasuke repeated.

Sakura looked at Sasuke in worry before looking back at Lee.

"Why should I fight you?" Sasuke asked.

Lee jumped down and landed in front of them. "Sasuke, I challenge you to a duel!"

"Hoh, is that so?" Sasuke replied.

"My name is Rock Lee, you said when asking for a name, I should give my own. Isn't that right? Uchiha Sasuke!"

"So you're aware of who I am." Sasuke concluded.

"That is right, and I wish to test my skills against the clan reputed for their genius!" Lee exclaimed.

"Also..." Lee turned his head to look at Sakura.

As soon as she saw his gaze, she felt a shiver run up her spine.

"LOVE!" Lee winked at Sakura.

"Geh, he's just too gross!" Sakura shouted as she took a step back.

"You don't need to be that dramatic..." Lee said disheartened.

Naruto was thinking to himself, he remembered that last time, after Lee challenged Sasuke, he had said he would take care of it. But, in the end, he had been defeated, so he wondered if there would be a big difference that occurred if he won this time around.

"Hey, how about you guys let me handle this." Naruto suggested.

Sakura and Sasuke both looked at Naruto in surprise.

"Why do you want to handle him, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Because people are looking at you and ignoring me, even though we both know that I'm stronger." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke felt irritated at Naruto's words, and as much as he wanted to deny them, he couldn't. Naruto had already proven by beating him on multiple occasions that he was stronger. So all he could do was silently grit his teeth in frustration.

Hearing Naruto's words, Lee's attention shifted to Naruto.

"The person I want to fight isn't you though... It's the Uchiha!" Lee declared.

"Well, I've already beaten Sasuke, so if you beat me, then it means you're stronger than Sasuke!" Naruto replied as he took a step forward.

Lee stared in surprise at Naruto, he looked over at Sasuke to see if he would refute Naruto's claim, but seeing that he didn't only solidified Naruto's words. Lee looked back at Naruto with a more serious expression.

"Then, please fight me!" Lee spoke.

Naruto nodded and took a step forward, causing Lee to tense up a bit. Naruto continued to walk toward Lee in a casual manner until they were face to face.

"I'll give you the first move." Naruto grinned.

Lee looked at Naruto's eyes, but couldn't find any mocking in them. It wasn't that Naruto was looking down on him, but more like he had that much confidence in his own abilities. Lee couldn't help but grin as he spoke.

"Thank you very much!"

He then took a step forward and threw a punch at Naruto. Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes and focused. He stretched out his senses, he breathed in slowly, and for a second, time seemed to slow down. As he exhaled, he brought his hand up and deflected Lee's punch, then he took a step forward bringing his other arm close to his chest. He twisted his leg followed by his torso as he extended his arm out with his palm open. His palm connected with Lee's chest and sent him flying backwards.

Sasuke stared at Naruto in shock as he remembered the same movements from before back in the Land of Waves. The last time the two of them spoke together, Naruto had said he was still trying to grasp those movements. But this time, it looked as if Naruto had finally gotten a hold of it. Lee gasped out for air as the wind had been knocked out of him by Naruto's palm thrust. He rotated in mid air and landed on the ground. He looked up and stared at Naruto in shock. What just happened? He wondered, he threw a punch to test Naruto's abilities, but in the next second he was thrown backward.

Naruto breathed in again and exhaled slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at his arm. It was shaking slightly, which made him frowned, looks like my body isn't quite there yet for it, he thought. After spending some time thinking about it, Naruto had realized something about the movements Hateshi had used. Not only did they rely only on instinct and instantaneous movements, but the movements themselves forced the body to use it's full strength. It was similar to when he opened the first gate. It was probably why his body was injured when Hateshi moved, his body simply couldn't handle the strain of using it. Even now, after training more, his body just barely reached the required level.

Then Naruto thought about what would happen if he were to fight like that while opening the gates. The repercussions of it would probably be pretty severe, but he wondered about his accelerated healing abilities due to Kurama's chakra as well as his own bloodline. Would the two forces cancel each other out, or would his body break down due to the repeated destruction and repairing cycle of fighting like that. But then he wondered about how the bodies muscle was built up in the first place. It was a cycle of tearing apart the muscle fibers and then waiting for them to repair themselves and coming back stronger. So if he continued to fight like that, would it possibly prove to strengthen him instead? He couldn't help but to consider the possibility of it.

He looked back at Lee dragging himself away from his thoughts to focus back on the match. Lee had finally stood up after catching his breath again.

"Would you like to continue?" Naruto asked.

"Yes!" Lee said as he crouched down onto the ground.

He sprinted to where Naruto was. Naruto thought about dodging, but then he remembered how Sasuke learned some of Lee's movements. So he chose not to dodge.

"Sasuke! Pay close attention!" Naruto yelled.

Lee rushed in and kicked Naruto up into the air. Naruto grunted in pain as he took the hit, damn.... it really does hurt... He thought. Then Lee appeared behind Naruto in mid air. Sasuke strained himself in order to pay attention to all the details.

"Prepare yourself!" Lee said.

Then he flexed his arm and caused the bandages wrapped around it to unravel. Suddenly, a pinwheel flew out and pierced the bandages into the nearby wall. Naruto flipped and landed on his feet while Lee fell to the ground. Naruto looked over to see a tortoise, right.... this happened last time as well, he thought.

"Lee! You fool!" The tortoise said.

Lee saw the tortoise and immediately became obedient. He stood at attention in front of the tortoise and apologized over and over again.

Sakura and Sasuke stared in shock at Lee and the tortoise while Naruto sighed to himself. Then, a cloud of smoke appeared above the tortoise and a figure was seen standing in a pose on top of it. The figure was a more intense version of Lee, and both Sasuke and Sakura were both grossed out by the man. However, Naruto had already met him when he first began training with Kakashi. The man was none other than Might Guy.

"Lee! Are you prepared!" Guy shouted.

"Yes Guy-sense!!" Lee replied.

He had tears streaming down his face as he looked up at Guy.

"You Idiot!!" Guy shouted as he punched Lee straight in the face, and sending him flying through the air.

Lee landed onto the ground with a thud while Sasuke and Sakura stared at the scene dumbfounded. Then, Guy ran over and hugged Lee. Naruto sighed as he stood up and walked over to Sasuke and Sakura.

"We should go, we don't want to get dragged into this." Naruto suggested.

The two nodded their heads as they silently agreed with Naruto. However, before they could get very far, Guy called out to them.

"Wait!"

Naruto turned around and saw Guy staring at him.

"Why did you let Lee hit you? I saw the whole thing and I've also trained with you and Kakashi, so I know full well that you're capable of defeating Lee without him being able to hit you." Guy spoke.

As soon as everyone heard his words they stared at Naruto, especially Lee. Naruto scratched his head as he thought before speaking.

"Well, I wanted Sasuke to see something." Naruto answered.

Guy stared at Naruto for a second before nodding his head. "I see, well thank you for not being too rough with my precious student."

"No problem!" Naruto grinned.

He then turned to face Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I want you to take a look at Lee's hand right now." Naruto said.

Sasuke looked and saw that Lee's hand was covered in injuries. His eyes widened in surprise before he looked back at Naruto.

"That's the hand of someone who works themselves to the bone, if we don't keep up with training, one day, he'll catch up to us and surpass us." Naruto explained.

Sasuke nodded his head as he looked back at Lee who was busy re-wrapping the bandages around his hand and arm. After looking for a little while, Sasuke turned back to Naruto and Sakura.

"Interesting.... looks like there are a lot of interesting guys entering the chunin exams!" Sasuke declared.

Naruto grinned while Sakura just smiled, and the three of them made their way up to room 301. Once they arrived, they walked inside to see all kinds of different people in the room.

"This is where everything begins..." Naruto mumbled to himself.