"Wow, what a surprise, Gai. What brings you here?" Asuma asked with his characteristic kindness. "I've heard that you and your team are the earliest risers in the entire village. I didn't imagine you doing anything other than training at this hour."
"Well, you're right," said the strange man dressed in a very, very tight green one-piece suit... tighter than anyone would have wished to see. "The problem is that our training ground is under maintenance, and we can't use it for now. We've been looking for a space ever since, but we haven't found one. We came here because I heard you were on a mission with your team, but I see you've already returned..."
When he finished, the frowning jonin looked Asuma's group up and down, which didn't make the slightest impression on him. Two of them seemed like a simple pair of genin, quite small and scrawny for his liking.
Shikamaru's face was pale, and he wore an expression that was, to say the least, starved. Ino was extremely thin, and unlike Tenten, she seemed all eyes and no head. And as for the other boy... really, could a genin so overweight have graduated from the academy?
If he didn't have the proper respect for Asuma, he would have laughed on the spot, but when his gaze fell on Trunks, he changed his mind. Yes, it was true, the first thing that crossed his mind was how the hell Asuma had four boys on his team.
Could it be that the ninja academy had lowered its standards, and the number of genin graduating that year was too high? But when he looked more closely at the Saiyan's appearance, he forgot that first thought.
The boy had a penetrating, almost aggressive gaze, although his physique was undoubtedly the most striking thing about him. He must have been the same age as his students, since he was at least the same size as Lee, and his arms were perfectly defined, almost as if they were carved from marble.
The harmony of his body was perfect, as was his posture and balance, so it wasn't difficult to assume that the rest of him must be just as strong.
Without a doubt, a taijutsu user… and an extreme one at that. He had never seen a young man of that age with such a physique. He was a prodigious athlete. An amused expression crossed his face as an idea crossed his mind.
After his analysis as an experienced taijutsu ninja, he concluded he wanted a challenge.
"So this is your group, Asuma! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting them. I must say you have some pretty... special kids..." He mumbled with a smile, looking at Trunks, who couldn't help but feel nervous with those huge eyebrows fixed on him.
"Same here. I've heard many stories about how excellent your students are, but I've never had the pleasure of meeting them in person." He replied with a smile as well, focusing his attention on Neji. Seeing his appearance and his eyes, he easily knew the boy was a member of the prestigious and honored Hyuga clan.
"It's a shame we don't have anywhere to train. However, I was thinking of something that might interest you…" The brow-haired jonin continued with a mischievous smile. "How about a little challenge between two of our students? The winner gets to keep the training grounds for the rest of the day. What do you say?"
"A little challenge?" Asuma asked, quite bewildered, unsure of how to respond. The rivalry between Gai and Kakashi was almost legendary, so if he had proposed the challenge to the copy ninja, no one would have been impressed. But for the first time, he was proposing a challenge to him.
Suddenly, he knew what he was getting at when he saw the scrutinizing gaze he had on Trunks. "Well, I find it interesting." And he was telling the truth, even though he had planned to evaluate Trunks's skills against the Ino-Shika-Cho formation of his students, but this new challenge was proving to be even better. "And which of my students do you propose for your confrontation?"
His words made the genin of Team 10 nervous. They were very used to working as a team in perfect harmony, but individually, they weren't strong yet, and the other two boys' appearance was more imposing, apart from the fact that they looked older.
Neji had such a stern look, it almost gave them chills. On the other hand, there was Tenten, who, despite being thin, had a quite athletic body and was even taller than Shikamaru and Chōji.
But were they only two genin?
"I want to be the chosen one, Gai sensei!" a mysterious voice shouted from behind the jonin. When it jumped to the side and appeared, the boys almost fell backward in shock. Ino even had to cover her mouth with both hands to keep from screaming, thinking for a moment she'd gone crazy.
"Don't worry, Lee! This challenge will be all yours!" said his sensei... Or was it his father? Or an adult clone? Anyway, he said with a broad smile and a thumbs-up, while winking at him.
"Th-that boy has huge ey-ey-eyebrows," Ino stammered as she pointed at him. "And his hair looks just like that guy's. Did they put a bowl of ramen on his head and cut his hair?"
She wasn't the only one. The rest of her classmates thought the same thing. The boy was even wearing the same super-tight green one-piece mesh suit, which left very little to the imagination.
"Thank you, Gai Sensei. I promise I won't let you down! I swear on the flame of youth that burns passionately within my heart!" the strange boy shouted, his fist in the air and fire emanating from his eyes.
"And if I fail, I promise I'll do a thousand squats, and if I fail to complete a thousand squats, I'll punish myself with a thousand push-ups. But if I fail to complete them, then I'll walk around Konoha 100 times on my hands without stopping!"
"Oh, Lee! I have no words to describe you! If I compare you now with the child you were before... I don't know... It's too much to express so easily!" the Sublime Green Beast of Konoha exclaimed with a trembling voice and tears in his eyes.
"Oh, Sensei! You are the greatest person in this world, the one I admire the most! You don't know how much your words move me!" Lee continued, moved to tears of joy and delight.
Without warning, the two embraced in a warm, brotherly embrace, while the orange rays of the sunset bathed them like a scene from a romantic movie, not to mention the enormous ocean wave that crashed against the rocks and gave the scene an almost epic effect.
But far from epic, it was actually a disturbing scene.
The faces of Team 10 were blue, and a slight nervous twitch appeared on their lower left eyelids. They were so strange. Even Asuma had to hide it as best he could so as not to convey with his expression how pathetic and strange the situation was.
"Here we go again," Tenten muttered, covering her face with one hand. She was more than used to such ridiculousness by now, but when the two of them did it in front of an audience, it was even more embarrassing. She felt even worse watching the boy in the green dogi stare at them.
She figured he must be the attractive and talented newly graduated genin so many kunoichi were whispering about, so her embarrassment couldn't be greater. There was just one thing: she'd heard the boy had black hair and eyes, so maybe she was wrong. But either way, she still thought he was cute.
"Uh... Gai! Sorry to interrupt," Asuma chimed in, clearly struggling to find the right words. "You still haven't told me which of my students you're interested in. Though I think it might be Trunks you had in mind."
"Have you noticed?" the jonin asked, stepping away from his faithful pupil and giving Asuma a pleased smile. "If you're referring to the boy in the green dogi, then you're correct. Lee, show them what you're capable of."
His words were enough for the boy to leap energetically forward, his gaze determined and resolute. He adopted a strange fighting stance with one arm behind his back, one Trunks had never seen before.
With that, it was enough for Team Gai to step back and give the pair of genin space to begin the fight. Team 10 did the same, so Trunks didn't even need to step forward. Instead of being excited about the fight, he was still nervously watching the boy, puzzled by that pair of whip-like eyebrows.
Shaking his head from side to side, young Brief began with some simple stretches. He simply stretched his arms and legs, as well as his wrists, to release some tension. Finally, he stood on his head and began doing a few push-ups on his index finger.
There, Maito Gai was pleased to find out that he hadn't been mistaken in his opinion. The boy's physical condition was exceptional, as was his balance and strength, so the fight promised to be interesting.
Ino and the boys from Team 10 watched in amazement as Trunks did more than a hundred push-ups in less than a minute, repeating the same process with his other finger and without breaking a single drop of sweat.
"I see Kakashi wasn't exaggerating about your physical condition, Trunks. But I still want you to prove to me if you really have the power to defeat an experienced jonin so easily," Asuma thought, sitting on a log with his students, calmly lighting a cigarette so the nicotine would take care of calming his harmful addiction.
Once he finished, Trunks launched himself into the air with his finger and performed a few flips before landing gracefully on the ground. He assumed his neat fighting stance, and Gai and Lee dispelled any possible doubts.
He was a taijutsu expert.
That morning, on Team 10's training field, the tension and silence that precedes a battle filled the air, forming a kind of disembodied entity, invisible but almost perceptible through some sixth sense that none of the others possessed.
Well, the Saiyan did have that sort of sixth sense. He sensed the energy of everyone present fluttering, perhaps due to nervousness or the anticipation generated by the duel. At that moment, Trunks realized that Asuma expected something from him. He wanted to test it.
Since he'd met him, he hadn't felt his energy so accelerated and altered; on the contrary, it was calm, pleasant, almost imperceptible.
Would he give him the pleasure? No. Now, the spoiled Saiyan would do whatever he wanted. He didn't like being used for the purpose of watching him fight out of curiosity, as a test. The suspicious boy thought his sensei had arranged the duel with the other browed guy so their students could face each other. It was just a coincidence, a circumstantial thing.
But now, Trunks was too keen to make Sarutobi look bad.
He didn't dislike fighting or giving some kind of demonstration of his power. The problem is that instead of telling him so upfront, the pair of jonins fabricated a "chance" encounter and pretended they knew nothing, just to watch him fight.
It was undoubtedly a defect inherited from his mother, who, on more than one occasion, was quick to judge people and situations.
Rock Lee remained motionless, in that strange fighting stance with one arm in front of him and the other tucked behind his back. He stared at Trunks intensely, his brow furrowed, further emphasizing the enormous size of his bushy eyebrows.
"This boy must be the talented genin who graduated with the highest grades, and everyone says he'll be a great shinobi promise... But I'll take it upon myself to show him that hard work trumps natural talent! Although I wasn't born with special abilities or any Kekkei Genkai, I don't need any of that. I've always fought to achieve my goals, and that makes me stronger!"
Under no circumstances would the young genin, a taijutsu expert, waste the opportunity his sensei had given him. He had little to lose and much to prove. Now, he would see if his years of arduous and brutal training had been of any use. That made him look down for a brief moment, surreptitiously observing the hand in front of him and reminding him of the deplorable state of his knuckles, almost broken after hitting tree trunks so many times. The makiwara was already a stupid practice, something he had left behind since he was a child.
"Why aren't either of you doing anything?" Ino asked angrily, arms crossed, after two minutes of waiting. "Are you planning on standing there all day?"
Asuma silently shook his head as he slowly exhaled white smoke. "They're just waiting for the right moment to strike. The first one to let their guard down, even for a moment, will be-"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING THERE, TRUNKS?! Move it, do something!" the euphoric kunoichi shouted, interrupting her sensei and completely ignoring how detrimental her recklessness would be to her new teammate.
Indeed, the girl's scream completely distracted Trunks, who closed his ears, because his Saiyan ears, a little more sensitive than those of an average human, were stunned by the scandal of the impetuous young woman.
It was then, even with his eyes closed, that he felt Lee's chakra moving towards him at inhuman speed. He could have dodged the blow, but he didn't. He opened his eyes, only to find a bandaged fist slamming into his forehead.
BAAAMMMMM!
The blow thundered so loudly that Ino opened her blue eyes wide in surprise, half scared and half remorseful. Now she understood what her action had caused. But to everyone's surprise, Trunks didn't move an inch. He was standing perfectly still, in his fighting stance, as if nothing had happened. This caught the attention of Asuma and Guy, who witnessed the Saiyan's enormous resilience.
"Leaf Swirl!" Lee shouted without delay, ducking and sending a swinging kick to Trunks's lower limbs to knock him off his feet, but the trip didn't work. Far from it, Lee felt as if he had struck an immovable rock, rather than his opponent's muscular legs.
Continuing his signature series of blows, Lee launched a powerful uppercut kick from the ground, strong enough to break anyone's jaw, and the blow thundered again.
The fight was so fast, the genin of Team 10 could barely see what happened. However, they were left speechless when they saw Trunks's calm grip on Lee's foot with one hand.
"My turn." Trunks grabbed the foot of Lee, who was too surprised to respond with his other hand. Like a rag doll, the Saiyan lifted him by one leg over his head and slammed him roughly into the ground.
¡BOOOOMM!
Poor Lee was left face down on the hard ground, now shattered beneath him. When he felt Trunks tighten his grip on his ankle, he knew he was in trouble, and that far from letting go, his opponent was planning to slam him back down onto the training grounds.
Hanging upside down, Lee pulled out a kunai and threw it with his great physical power at blinding speed. Yes, the knife vanished into thin air, a product of its whistling speed that sliced through the air.
¡ZAAAS!
Trunks, unfazed, dodged the kunai, which he believed was moving in slow motion. The knife was lodged in the tree trunk where the members of Team 10 were sitting, stunned for not even noticing what had happened.
Asuma dropped his cigarette in surprise, as the distance at which his new student avoided the attack was less than a meter. He could see that the Saiyan, apart from being tough, was also incredibly fast.
Gai was also extremely impressed. In just a couple of seconds, the young man had demonstrated how impressive three of his attributes were: endurance, strength, and speed, all in that order.
But the big-eyebrowed one wasn't done yet. This time, Lee pulled out another kunai and, still hanging upside down, prepared to bury it in his opponent's abdomen. Trunks finally let go, leaping swiftly backward, putting him out of reach of the sharp weapon.
Lee caught himself on his hands, somersaulted, and was back on his feet with ease. He was breathing heavily, and his face was battered: the punishment he'd received against the ground was too much, although a smile soon lit up his face.
That was Lee; he never gave up, no matter how difficult the situation, and as far as he was concerned, this was just getting started.
He lunged at Trunks at such a speed that none of the inexperienced genins of Team 10 could keep up.
¡CLAAAANG!
What happened next left everyone perplexed. When Lee's overwhelming speed brought him face-to-face with his opponent, he attacked with a horizontal slash of his kunai, but it was stopped by Trunks' index finger. The two struggled without giving way, but the grimace on Lee's face expressed the tremendous effort he was making to push the boy in the green dogi back even a little, without any success.
Clenched teeth, a furrowed brow, pearly sweat on his forehead, and a large vein in his neck were the objective expression of the impotence that ran through the body of the genin, a specialist in hand-to-hand combat. The waste of power was such that the ground gave way beneath them. His feet sank several inches, as the earth couldn't withstand such force.
Lee was pushing his kunai forward with both hands, leaning his entire body forward for extra leverage. When he looked up, he gasped.
Trunks was giving him a small, cocky smirk, accompanied by a sharp, piercing blue gaze that would remind anyone of Vegeta.
"W-Why is this kid so strong? What kind of training has he received? The talented genin I heard about recently isn't a taijutsu expert... Which means my opponent is someone else!" Lee thought with a disfigured face, disturbed just imagining that there was another genin even stronger than this one.
"A-Asuma sensei, what the heck is going on? How can Trunks stop the kunai without getting hurt?" Shikamaru asked, bewildered, leaving aside all traces of his characteristic laziness and monotony.
Sarutobi read about it in Kakashi's report, where, according to the copy-nin, the young man was able to stop Zabuza's gigantic sword with his bare hand without being hurt. That being true, a measly kunai was nothing.
Trunks' body must have been as strong as steel, though perhaps the mysterious ki mentioned in the report had something to do with it.
"Hey, Asuma Sensei! Didn't you hear Shikamaru? Why aren't you saying anything?" Ino woke him from his trance, demanding an answer that she too longed to know. Chōji remained silent, also looking at his sensei, expectant, holding his bag of chips without offering them a single bite.
"I don't know..." the jonin muttered to get things out of the way, staring straight ahead and completely ignoring the astonished looks he was receiving from his students.
"You'd better stop asking so many questions and see what's going on. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two from all this."
On the other side, just a few meters away, stood Tenten and Neji, equally stunned. They were used to Lee's incredible agility, but they quickly realized that Trunks was much faster, to the point of anticipating every move without difficulty.
Gai went even further, noticing that the strange boy was playing with his student. He wanted to stop the fight, but curiosity got the better of him, and he let it continue.
Neji decided to activate his Byakugan. A grave mistake. What he saw chilled his blood. The boy didn't have a chakra circulatory system, but something entirely different. It wasn't just the distribution of his vessels, but the fact that they carried a strange golden energy, so resplendent that it managed to blind him completely, so intense that it threatened to burst and leave his body at any moment like an explosion.
Hyuga was shaken. He was breathing heavily, as if he had seen something too monstrous and terrifying.
That was precisely what Trunks saw. He had so much hidden power that he realized he could destroy them all in a breath. It wasn't like the blue chakra, which flowed pleasantly and peacefully like a river, but something extremely violent, concentrated, and compressed into immense and unimaginable quantities, keeping it hidden from others or else destroying everything around it with just a single step, with the ferocity of a merciless hurricane. His perception was incomplete; only his sight gave him that impression. He wasn't able to perceive ki in any way other than through his eyes, but at least it gave him an idea of what they were dealing with.
In the shinobi world, it was Neji, the Hyuga Genius, who was the first living being to witness a thousandth of what a Saiyan was truly capable of. It wasn't the repulsive, abominable sensation that the demonic chakra of other beings might generate. In one way or another, it was a clean and pure energy, but it overflowed with a crushing sensation over his being, so enormous that it was difficult to breathe just being in its presence. It was the intrinsic immensity of Trunks's energy that generated that overwhelming and awe-inspiring effect.
The genin began to feel dizzy. He deactivated his Byakugan and, unable to stop himself, bent over and vomited his entire breakfast. He threatened to faint, if Tenten hadn't held him firmly in her arms at the last moment.
"Neji! What's wrong with you?" the brunette exclaimed worriedly, looking up and down at her collapsed friend in her arms.
"What did you see?" Gai asked bluntly. He knew immediately that Hyuga had visualized something shocking with the Byakugan.
"W-we have to s-stop the fight..." He stammered, still a little dizzy. "That boy isn't human; he could kill Lee!"
The shocked jonin looked up, straight to where his prized student was still deep in the fight. Neji's words had stunned him… but he didn't intervene; he didn't see anything dangerous.
He wanted to see what was happening, and if necessary, he would intervene without a second's hesitation. It was a friendly match, after all.
Still thrusting with his kunai, Lee freed one of his hands to land a powerful punch to Trunks's face. Again, he merely jerked his head to the side. That's when Lee broke away from the futile struggle and began attacking with a series of skillful and powerful kicks, punches, and kunai slashes.
The Saiyan blocked each thrust with his forearms, except for the kunai strikes, which he continued to block with his index finger.
After blocking an incredible number of attacks in just an instant, Trunks prepared to respond, but in a peculiar way. Every time Lee threw a punch, he responded with the same one, so much so that he even mimicked Lee's gestures and technique.
Trunks' superiority was such that the Saiyan had time to see Lee's movements and imitate them as if they were actually doing them at the same time. He collided with each punch, kick, elbow, and knee as if he were performing a choreography in front of a mirror.
"Stop... copying me!" the exasperated, frowning boy shouted, unable to hide his helplessness. His rival responded by smiling at him.
Little by little, the Saiyan began to land each blow with more force, slowly making Lee retreat, since both had fought the entire time on a tile.
He continued to mimic his opponent's every move, but each time he applied more power, causing Lee's limbs to begin to numb with pain at each harsh contact. The young genin was no fool. He noticed that his opponent had far more power than he was letting on, as each blow hurt a little more than the last.
As their fists collided in a final blow, Lee felt a painful shockwave run up his arm and explode through his shoulder. His pained grimace made it impossible for him to see Trunks's open palm gently land on his chest.
Ironically, it was the fastest blow of the fight, but everyone experienced the moment in slow motion, able to see it with complete clarity for some inexplicable reason. It was just an illusion. Perhaps Gai would have been the only one able to barely avoid it.
¡CRAAAASSHH!
As Trunks completed the blow, a nearby tree split in two. Lee's swift flight, however, was entirely imperceptible, as he smashed the thick trunk into two perfect halves with his body. It seemed as if the tree was programmed to break as soon as the Saiyan placed his hand on his opponent's chest.
"D-did you see that? Trunks threw it like it was nothing!" Ino exclaimed, extremely alarmed, looking in the direction of the two shattered halves of the tree in amazement. "How is it possible that, even though he's not a ninja, he's so powerful? Where did he learn to fight like that?"
The blonde's questions fell on deaf ears: no one could give her a definite answer. This time, instead of being bothered by the lack of an explanation, she remained silent, mesmerized by the cloud of dust that hovered over the site of the violent impact. Trunks' voice was responsible for bringing her out of her stupor.
"Come on, get out of there! You still have a lot of energy left!" He knew that Lee was hiding great power within him, and that a technique of such magnitude wasn't enough to defeat him.
Indeed, the genin appeared, walking slowly out of the thick cloud of dust, visibly shaken and holding his aching shoulder. Two small trickles of blood ran down his face, one from the corner of his lips and another from outside one of his large eyebrows. However, his gaze remained as serious and determined as it had been before the fight began, and he began to unwind the bandages that wrapped his hands.
"Lee is going to use…" Tenten didn't finish the sentence; it was obvious to both Neji and her sensei.
Neji had long since regained his composure, but he was breathing heavily and sweating as if he'd been through exhaustive training. His intense, pearly-white gaze never left the Saiyan's small but imposing figure. "What the hell are you supposed to be? And what is that strange energy you possess?"
"Lee, there's no need to continue," Tenten said, worried for her friend's physical safety. "It's a friendly fight, you shouldn't take it too seriously."
"I'm perfectly capable of continuing. Retiring now is something I can't afford," he replied firmly, without even looking at her.
"Idiot, you can't win! Surrender now!" Neji shouted, unusually agitated. But all it did was earn him a reproving look from his companion. Lee was sick of hearing that nonsense about destiny and how an individual can't pretend to be more than what they were born to be.
All that rubbish about moving pieces that don't belong together was something he didn't want to hear again.
"I know Gai sensei told me to use this jutsu only under a very specific condition… but I can't allow this boy to defeat me without giving my best effort."
"Take off your weights." The Saiyan suddenly brought him out of his thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
Lee was stunned. He didn't know how, but the boy somehow knew he was wearing training weights on his legs. Gai's eyes widened, not understanding how Asuma's student had come to such a conclusion.
Had someone told him? But that was a secret very few knew! In fact, hardly anyone outside of his team knew about it...
"I said take off your weights," Trunks repeated, pointing at Lee's feet. "It's easy to tell you're only carrying weights on your legs. Even though you move easily with them, it's noticeable that your kicks are somewhat slower and clumsier than your punches and torso movements."
A thick bead of sweat ran down the back of Gai's neck. It's true, Lee's legs moved a little slower than the rest of his body, but the genin handled the weights so naturally that it was an almost imperceptible detail, even for an experienced shinobi.
This meant that Trunks wasn't just focused on reflexes and speed; he actually saw Lee perfectly, almost in slow motion, to the point where he noticed every tiny, minute detail of his body's movements.
It confirmed that the Saiyan was playing along the entire time.
"I'm sorry, but…"
"Listen carefully, Lee! Take them off!" interrupted his sensei, arms crossed and with a serious look on his face.
"R-Really? Thank you very much, Gai Sensei!" he shouted happily, pumping his fists in the air. With impetus, the boy sat in the lotus position and began removing a pair of weights attached to his legs from under his strange orange legwarmers.
The boys of Team 10 watched the scene with curiosity, unable to understand how a pair of small weights could make such a difference. They found it ridiculous, but not Asuma, who was rather shocked. The jonin was fully aware of Gai's brutal training regime, which included the occasional use of ultra-heavy equipment. From their point of view, Gai had overdone it with that kid's training.
Trunks knew that size didn't matter. After all, how many people would dare to think that the two small wristbands he was wearing weighed that much?
"Much better! Now I'll be able to move more freely!" The boy held the weights in each of his hands as if they were made of plastic. And suddenly, he dropped them.
¡BRROOOOMMM!
It rumbled loudly as the pair of objects crashed violently into the training ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust and dirt, shaking even the leaves of the nearest trees.
The weight was simply overwhelming.
"It can't be!" Ino exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock. "Was that strange child using those weights the whole time? He was moving so fast! How is something like that even possible?"
Shikamaru turned his head to look at the kunoichi. If it weren't for the incredible nature of the situation, it would have been laughable, as they both stared at each other with the same stunned and out-of-place expression.
The crackling sound of Chōji's bag of chips falling to the floor broke the deathly silence generated by the commotion of the weights.
Taking small but determined steps toward Trunks, Lee stopped a few meters away, his bandages now loose enough to continue his monstrous technique. The green-clad genin charged forward at tremendous speed, cracking the ground that, until a few moments ago, had remained untouched beneath his feet.
Trunks widened his gaze in surprise at his opponent's abrupt change in speed. The result was radical. The boy was now running in circles around him at an incredible speed, forming a small but violent whirlpool that made it impossible to see the genin's figure during his frantic run.
Putting aside his first impressions, the Saiyan began to smile. To him, he'd only gotten a little faster, yet he still followed his movements perfectly.
"Don't hold back, show me everything you've got!" he said with a confident attitude, not even assuming a fighting stance.
"TRUNKS, GET OUT OF THERE, IT'S VERY DANGEROUS!" Ino shouted again…
And again, the girl screwed up. When the Saiyan turned around to look at her like the enormous fool he was, he received a brutal upward kick to his chin, so hard that it made his feet leave the ground, even in the training clothes weighing more than a ton he was wearing.
Lee didn't miss it. The incredible kick he delivered should have sent him flying dozens of meters through the air, not a few measly inches off the ground. But he couldn't dwell on that detail. He had to continue. He had already opened the Gate of Aperture and had to fully utilize the strength of his muscles.
Therefore, the genin stood on his hands and delivered another kick, this time a double kick, to the Saiyan's muscular chest. This time, he managed to send him flying a greater distance, although it was still insufficient for his technique. He had to continue. A few firm words left him completely stunned, as they had Gai and Asuma.
"What's up, that's all? I thought you'd hit me harder!" He said from the air... of course, who else but the Saiyan!
"NO, THAT'S NOT ALL!" a furious Lee shouted, propelling himself with both arms into the air and launching a series of ferocious kicks all over Trunks' body, one after another, right, left, right, left.
Face, chest, stomach, and even shoulders were mercilessly punished by the agitated little Green Beast of Konoha, who felt as if he were hitting a heavy, sturdy steel plate. Trunks could sense the dizzying increase in his opponent's power from the sudden surge in his chakra.
Until recently, his blows had been at least five times weaker. Now everything was getting more interesting.
The Saiyan continued to ascend higher and higher, propelled by each kick Rock Lee delivered. Suddenly, he noticed the green-clad genin grimace in pain, so he imagined the tension within his muscles must be killing him from the pain.
One final kick to the face was just what Lee needed to send Trunks high enough. The training ground was now almost 100 meters below them, where the astonished gazes of all the spectators lingered, focused on the aerial battle.
The green-clad genin appeared out of nowhere behind the Saiyan, wrapping him completely in his bandages like a mummy, leaving only his head uncovered. And so, he hugged him tightly, ready to unleash his finishing move.
−¡PRIMARY LOTUS!
Both men descended headfirst into a violent whirlwind that swirled furiously at breathtaking speed. In the blink of an eye, Lee slammed his opponent down from that great height with tremendous force.
¡BRRROOOOMMM!
The impact was deafening. The shock wave was so violent that others could feel it on their bodies. Pieces of rock flew in all directions, splintering as they hit trees located meters away. The cloud of dust and dirt rose at least 20 meters high, making it impossible to visualize what had happened.
From it, Lee emerged extremely agitated, breathing heavily, and in a lot of pain. His muscles were under a lot of strain. Tenten watched the scene with a serious expression, arms crossed. She already knew the technique, but she was eager to see the result. Hyuga remained almost trembling with helplessness, since after what he saw, he sensed that the impact would be like a scratch for the monstrous boy.
He only hoped he was wrong.
The other side of the coin: Team 10. The genins were stunned and agape, truly terrified by the display of brute strength from that strange genin with bushy eyebrows and disturbingly tight clothing.
They didn't know if a human being could survive something like that. Their shock was even greater when they clearly saw the large crater in the shattered ground of the training camp, as if a small meteorite had hit. Even so, it wasn't even half as big as the one Trunks made on Zabuza's body.
"Trunks!" the kunoichi exclaimed without much force. She was too scared to walk to meet the Saiyan, who was buried head to his waist in the rocks.
Asuma did nothing to stop her, seeing that his student had no intention of approaching either. But the surprises weren't over yet. Everything became even more shocking when, without warning, the boy's legs began to kick incessantly, trying to dig themselves out.
¡Zaaaass!
In a flash, he managed to free his body from the rock prison in which it was buried. And there it was, completely unharmed at the foot of the crater, shaking off the dust and dirt from the keikogi as if he had merely tripped and fallen face-first onto the ground.
Not a scratch, a trickle of blood, bruise, or bruise could be seen on the young warrior's body, all of them hidden and afraid to appear and provoke his dangerous fury. It wasn't something that was going to happen anyway. This wasn't Vegeta seeing his royal blood flowing out of his body, driving him mad and pushing him to turn the entire Earth into dust with his Galick Gun.
"Wow, that's an incredible technique! If you don't mind, I'll borrow it to try on Goten," he said with a mischievous smile, imagining the astonishment on little Son's face when he buried him the same way. With that, he cracked his neck to the side, releasing the tension caused by the immense impact. "I'll admit it hurt a little, although you do look terrible."
He was right. Lee was exhausted; he would need to rest a little to regain his strength and be able to continue. For now, he was at a significant disadvantage.
But none of that mattered to him.
He was shocked to see Trunks's condition after fully and perfectly receiving the Primary Lotus. It was just a demonstration, a friendly encounter, so... would it be right for him to try to open the Fifth Gate...?
"Now it's my turn." Trunks said, smirking.