 Ninja Way 

The wind blew strongly, causing the long grass of the field to sway and leaves to blow between the two men. Each was the ideal of two different ways of thought, the tall, pale man being one who was gifted above all others. The other, just as tall but with a darker complexion, stood opposite him as the paragon of what it meant to achieve greatness by hard work.

Hard work. Two words that can mean so much to some, and so little to others. To those who it means something, it translates as hours up hours work, sleepless nights, and more pain than is sometimes considered wise. To those who don't understand it, it seems as only a foolish course of action, why work when the world can be given to you. Those who work hard are those who don't have something and know that to get it requires effort. Those who don't are those who have everything given to them because they have something that people admire or want.

For ninjas, just like almost every other demographic, there are two kinds of people; Geniuses and non geniuses. Geniuses were lauded and praised, doing no wrong, always the most powerful, always winners. Those who weren't, had to work exponentially harder just to get the slightest recognition. Rock Lee knew all about geniuses and hard work, because he was one of those who wasn't a genius.

As a child he was considered worthless. A no talent dropout who couldn't even use chakra, the biological and spiritual energy that was fundamental to even the most basic of the ninja arts, and far from good looking with his thick black eyebrows and wide, fishlike eyes. The other kids made fun of him and his teachers didn't really act one way or the other, but he knew even then that they didn't expect much from a kid who couldn't use the smallest ninjustu.

The first true genius he'd had to deal with on a daily basis was Neji Hyuga, a boy his age from one of the most power clans in all of Konoha, with pale eyes and the dark brooding look that drove girls wild. He was the exact opposite of Lee in every way. Where Neji was strong, Lee was weak. Where girls tended to run screaming from Lee, who believed he could truly offer was important in the beginning, they fell at Neji's feet no matter how many times he ignored them. Where Neji was a genius, Lee was anything but.

Every time they went on a mission, Neji was the best ninja, the one who never failed, who always did what he was supposed to. Lee was lucky if he didn't screw up everything, his only skill being martial arts and even at that he was far from great. He would throw himself into training, forcing his body to greater and greater extents, until he couldn't even walk home, falling asleep were he trained until he woke up and did it all again. Yet, no matter how much he trained, no matter how much he fought, he could never even match Neji.

He swore that he would prove that even a person who couldn't use ninjustu or genjustu, but rather only taijustu, could still be an excellent ninja. That was his dream, his nindo, his ninja way, but after years of failure he wondered if such a thing were even possible. He was about to give up, his self doubt eating away at his resolve until almost nothing was left of him. Sometimes when he collapsed after training, and it didn't matter if he made it home or not with his parents being long gone, he would just lay there and cry, the pain from his body turning numb as the cold night air washed over him.

It didn't matter that he worked hard to master techniques that other ninja considered obsolete, things that had been pushed aside in favor of the chakra based justu, skills that were taught as a last resort to be used only if a ninja ran out of chakra. How to create traps, breath underwater through a reed, scale a wall using only the dark of the moon and a rope, things that anyone else could do by molding their chakra and doing things that blew the mind. Lee used all these things, trying to keep up and prove that he was just as good as everyone else. His heart wondered if he could really prove his dream.

He would have given up then, had not the man who came to mean the most in his life acted at just the right time. Guy Might, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, a man filled with the Springtime of Youth, whose eyebrows were as legendary as Lee's and viewed as something of an oddball in a village who's residents were known for their quirks, mostly because of his bowl cut black hair and green bodysuit, Lee's sensei and team leader, had found him training. When Lee fell, the pain rushing through his worn and battered body causing his doubt to rush back in on him, had confronted Lee about his fears and helped him realize that his doubts about his abilities were holding him back. His sensei had told him that he was a different kind of genius, a genius of had work, the kind of genius that people like Neji could never understand.

From that day on Lee had trained harder, doing everything Guy sensei told him to do in order to improve the one thing Lee had any hope of becoming good at. Spending hours doing training that most people could never dream of doing, push ups in the hundreds, jumping rope in the thousands, kicking and punching and running and jumping and training every single minute until his body bled and his bones broke, only to heal and do it all again. Through pain and suffering and cold and agony so strong that the only keeping him going was his will, wearing weights every minute of the day on his limbs that were several times his own body weight. Changing his haircut and clothes to match the man who was like a father to him, the only person who cared about his life or dreams. Yet still people called Neji the genius, and Lee the freak with the caterpillar like eyebrows.

When the Chunin Exams came, it was a dream come true for Lee, a chance to become one of the next rank of ninjas, someone whose strength was recognized by everyone. There he met a young man who change his entire life, Sasuke Uchiha, one of two survivors of the Uchiha massacre, another someone who was flaunted as the genius of his class and also another brooding pretty boy who had girls throwing themselves at him. Lee had challenged him, wanting to see how he faired against the Uchiha bloodline trait of the Sharingan, an ability that allowed its user to see and remember every small detail of what they saw. Lee had proven that he was the stronger of the two, earning him the enmity of the Uchiha survivor.

He'd made it to the third stage, where those who would go one to the main event of the exams was decided by preliminary fights. It was his luck to be paired up against Gaara of the Desert, a person more monster than human, who had never been harmed, no matter how hard his mission had been. With Guy sensei's permission Lee had gone all out, being not just the first person to ever wound Gaara, but delivering a beating so powerful that all who saw it couldn't believe what had happened.

However, all his training, all his suffering, all his will, wasn't enough. Gaara had been able to use the sands of the desert he came from to crush Lee's limbs, destroying them to the point where Lee, in addition to the injuries he'd inflicted on himself while fighting, could no longer live as a ninja. He couldn't remember then end of the fight, but Gai sensei had told him he'd gotten back up and tried to keep on fighting, even though he was unconscious.

He watched as those he knew fought and felt the pain of knowing he could never match them. Sasuke took his style and used it, not to the extent that Lee could, but enough that he would win, and was once again lauded as a genius. Lee cried, knowing that his dream was gone, there was nothing left, no one except for Guy sensei and maybe one or two others would never truly know his potential or what he'd tried to prove.

Fate's hand was cruel, but after some time, much pain, and an operation that had had equal chances of restoring his body or killing him, he was once again able to be a ninja. So he trained, time came and went, he was promoted to Chunin, then Jounin, the highest rank a ninja could obtain except for being leader of their village, and watched as those he knew grew strong, had families, or died. Each day he would get up and try to prove his nindo, even he was the only one who understood.

Life was full of irony and Lee knew this as he stood across an empty field full of long grass blown by and east wind and stared at the man who was trying to kill him. Sasuke Uchiha had left Konoha shortly after the first Chunin exams they'd participated in, seeking the power needed to avenge his clan and kill his older brother. Now he stood, not twenty feet away from Lee, his Sharingan activated to its highest power, watching Lee's every move.

Lee never looked into Sasuke's eyes as he considered the irony of the situation. Guy's greatest rival had been Kakashi Hatake, another master of the sharingan, and thus Guy knew how to combat it. He'd passed that knowledge on to Lee. Kakashi had been Sasuke's teacher in the beginning, helping him to gather some of the basics of mastering the Sharingan's abilities. Once again it was a genius against someone who had to prove himself. Lee held no doubts that if Sasuke were to return to their village he would be welcomed, no matter the kinds of crimes he'd committed against that same village, where as if it had been Lee there would never have been any hope of return.

"It is fascinating that we should meet like this Sasuke Uchiha, now we shall truly see who is the strongest! I vow to defeat you and prove that a genius can be surpassed by hard work alone, because that is my ninja way!" Lee shouted, his voice having grown deep as the years passed, shifting so that he took his classic fighting pose, left foot back at a right angle to his right, left hand held behind his back as the right moved in front of his angled body to beckon his foe. He still wore the green spandex bodysuit that had caused so many people to laugh at him and his sensei, his eyes were the same as when he was younger, his thick black hair in a bowl cut, and his eyebrows were just as thick and crazy, but he'd grown even stronger than before, ready to prove his ninja way.

"I can see everything with my sharingan and I don't believe that there is any hope for your victory." Sasuke purred, the crimson eyes of his sharingan staring at Lee. Sasuke had changed as well, growing even more handsome and powerful over the years, his loose clothing showing of the fruits of his quest for power, the sword worn on his rope belt was carried with the easy grace of someone who knew how to use it.

A leaf blew between them and settle on the ground as the wind died. They moved at the same instant, one a flash of green, the other a blur of tan and navy. Sasuke drew his sword, ready to split Lee in two, only to have it fly from his hand as Lee back fisted the flat of the blade. "Konoha Whirlwind!" Lee shouted as he spun through the air, kicking out with his legs. Sasuke dodged the attack and leapt backwards, moving towards his fallen sword. Lee shouted, pressing his attack, his body nothing more than a blur as he punched and kicked his way against the Uchiha's defense.

Each was incredibly fast, Sasuke only managing to block Lee's attacks because of his sharingan, the Uchiha snatching up his sword and striking in a desperate attempt to force the taijustu master back. Then Sasuke was on the attack, his blade seeking to end Lee's life, only to be blocked and turned aside at ever angle. Lee watched as Sasuke focused and began unleashing the power he'd gained over the years, his body transforming as that power flowed through him.

Then Lee was truly on the defensive, falling back before the might of Sasuke's attacks, a flurry of arms and legs, until that instant when he leapt thirty feet away from his opponent and they both paused. Lee was breathing heavily, each exchange of air coming in a rush, kneeling on one knee yet ready to fight again in a split second. Sasuke was also ruffled, the sleeves of his shirt fluttering in tattered strips from where Lee's attacks had landed.

"You are truly a worthy opponent Sasuke, I did not think I would be pressed this hard! However, you are no match for the Power of the Springtime of Youth, nor shall you beat me this day!" Lee said firmly, pulling down the orange legwarmers he was wearing and reached down to unfasten the clasps that held the weights to his legs. "I do not believe that removing a few weights will change anything, you are still the weaker of us two." Sasuke scoffed, his posture filled with the confidence of someone who knew they were superior to everyone else .

Lee kept the weights in his grasp as he pulled the legwarmers back up and carefully undid the set he wore on his forearms. "You can believe what you want Sasuke Uchiha, but I have heard that line before and everyone who said it was in awe of my Youthful Strength!" the taijustu master shouted as he straightened up and tossed the weights high into the air.

"Very well, since you seem so confident in yourself I shall stop holding back." Sasuke growled, unleashing the full power of his curse seal, transforming his body even more, his skin growing darker as his hair lightened. Lee's hand moved with incredible speed, drawing a small bottle of sake from his pouch and drinking the entire thing in one gulp. The alcohol worked quickly, letting him tap into his abilities at Drunken Fist Taijustu, his body turning slightly limp as he stared blearily at the transformed Sasuke.

Then the weights fell from the sky, slamming into the ground with enough force to cause both fighters to stumble the earth to rise into the air. It was then that Sasuke attacked, a flurry of stabbing sword and flying limbs. Vaguely, through the haze of alcohol, Lee wondered why the Uchiha genius hadn't used any ninjust or genjustu hinder him physically or mentally yet, but put such thoughts out of his blurry mind as he twisted and struck Sasuke in manners that defied what a normal human body could do. Sasuke snarled as he was repeatedly hit with bone shattering force.

Slowly, however, Sasuke started pushing back, forcing Lee to give way to his sword, causing blood to fly from tiny cut along the taijustu master's body. Lee leapt away, the effects of his Drunken Fist fading as pain brought him back. They both paused, each watching the other warily.

Suddenly, Lee gasped, as pain spread from each cut life wild fire. "I see you have lost what little honor you had Uchiha, to place poison on you sword like that." Lee hissed, collapsing to one knee. Sasuke walked over, sword outstretched, ready to remove Lee's head with a small smirk. "Perhaps, but I knew I would be fighting you today and decided that victory was more important than you concept of honor." Sasuke purred as he stopped next to the frozen Lee.

Lee could feel the power of the man standing next to him, how it grew with each passing second until even Lee was no longer a match for it. "What are you planning on doing after you kill me, Uchiha? Destroy Konoha like you master had planned, or is there something else?" Lee asked, his teeth gritted in pain as he prepared one last attack. Sasuke had never seen his fight with Gaara, and while he was sure the Uchiha had been told all about it, there were somethings that one had to see to comprehend.

"My plan is to rebuild the Uchiha clan, and for that I'm going to need a woman. However, I've decided that it would be better if I had several women instead of just one, that way my clan can be reborn much faster. I'm sure you can guess where I was going to take them from." Sasuke purred, raising the sword over his head, ready to remove Lee's head.

Lee closed his eyes, pausing to think of his wife and child that he'd left behind. She would most likely be one of those Sasuke would take and that was something Lee could never allow. "Uchiha, I am about to show you the true power of the Springtime of Youth. My sensei made me swear never to use this technique unless it was to protect the lives of those where precious to me. When you pass into the afterlife remember these words, the Lotus of Konoha blooms twice." Lee said softly as he clenched his fists.

In his fight with Gaara, Lee had opened five of the eight gates that controlled the flow of chakra in the human body. While Lee couldn't manipulate that chakra, he still had it, and by unlocking those gates he removed the limits his mind place on his body. Those who opened all the gate would inevitably die, but Lee knew that wasn't change his fate from what the Uchiha was about to do.

Sasuke brought his sword down, seemingly in slow motion, as Lee opened the first and second gates, the exhaustion fading from his body as the pain was forced back. Slowly, Lee's skin grew red and chakra leaked from his body as the third gate was opened. The power exploded from his body as the forth gate slammed open, Lee now standing in a crouch as he prepared to attack his opponent. Sasuke leapt back, tossing his sword aside as he ran through the hand signs needed to unleash the only original justu of his teacher Kakashi, the Chidori. The chakra became visible in the Uchiha's right hand with the sound of thousands of chirping birds and Sasuke charged even as Lee unlocked the fifth gate and exploded into movement, the ground shattering like glass with each step.

Each let out a cry as they rushed at each other, Lee's fist coming back to strike his foe even as Sasuke dragged the Chidori along the ground. Then they slammed into each other and Lee felt the burning pain slash through his belly and up towards his chest as the lightning based blade of the Chidori started cutting its way through his body, the reek of burning flesh filling his nose even as his fist drove into the Uchiha's chest with a sickening crunch. His fist passed through flesh and bone, straight through Sasuke's heart and out his back.

The Chidori vanished as Sasuke fell to the ground, Lee's fist pulling free with a terrible and sickening squelch. Lee looked down at himself as the gates returned to normal, watching the blood gush from his torn body as he fell down next to the fallen Uchiha. A smile found its place on Lee's face as he closed his eyes, knowing that he'd surpassed a genius with hard work and protected those precious to him, even though he was never going to see them again. The wind picked up again as Rock Lee fell to the ground, dead from the wound in his chest.