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[— Manga Scene —]
"Lee, it's true that you're different from Neji. You can't use ninjutsu, and you're not a genius at taijutsu."
"But you, Lee… are a genius who has the strength and determination to surpass Neji."
At that moment, Lee was recalling certain memories in the middle of his exhausting battle against Gaara.
"If you're trying to comfort me so I'll feel better, then please stop."
"I'm not saying this to comfort you at all, because you're a genius of hard work," Gai said with a smile.
"...…"
"Is that… true?"
"I've come this far believing that…"
"If I train two or three times harder than Neji, I can become stronger."
"But lately, I started to think that it's impossible for me to face a true genius…"
"I kept wondering whether hard work could really be of any use."
"I wanted to know, so I challenged Neji to fight many times, but the result was always the same. I'm never a match for him!"
"Even during missions… my legs still tremble."
"I think that no matter how hard I try, I'll never become stronger…"
"I'm afraid of that…"
At that moment, Rock Lee was crying with his head resting against the tree.
"What should I do…?"
His question sounded instinctive, like someone who was on the verge of losing the will to keep going.
"...…"
Hearing that, Gai closed his eyes, then opened them again, his expression turning stern before he said:
"There is no point in hard work if you are not confident in yourself."
Back in the arena, Lee wiped the tears from his eyes while thanking his teacher inwardly, 'Thank you, Gai-sensei.'
"Lee, you're a lot like me. I was an outcast when I was young too. But now, I'm one of Kakashi's foremost genius rivals."
Gai and Lee sat on a rock, and Gai began boasting about his achievements.
"!"
"Even if you can't use ninja techniques, you want to prove that you can still become an excellent ninja, right?"
"That is your ninja way. It's a wonderful goal to work toward."
"All you have to do is believe in your path and reject your fear."
"You have to become a strong man so I can smile proudly when I watch you."
"...…"
"Do you understand, Lee?" Gai patted Lee on the head.
"Yes!!"
Back in the present, Gai smiled as he looked at Lee, who was still standing even after taking all that brutal punishment from Gaara.
"No, Lee-san! If you fight any more than this, you'll die!" But Sakura was even more worried about Lee.
The sand surged violently across the arena, sending Lee flying and smashing into the ground, and shock spread across the spectators' faces when he stood up again after that.
'Sensei is watching me and smiling at me… That makes me stronger… and stronger!!'
"Lee-san is smiling, even though he's in such a bad spot…" Sakura said in confusion.
"No. We're going to cheer him on now…"
"Huh?"
"The Front Lotus…"
"He can use it twice.."
[— End Scene —]
Silence filled the place after the scene ended.
It was not the silence of relief, but a heavy silence.
Everyone saw the blow, and everyone saw the pain.
But what remained stuck in their minds was not just the Reverse Lotus.
It was that sentence that had carved its way from an old memory into the exam arena.
There is no point in hard work if you are not confident in yourself.
In Konoha, Hiruzen sat for a long while without taking his eyes off the scene.
In his life, he had seen gifted children shine quickly.
And he had seen others collapse because talent alone had not been enough.
But what was before him now was something else entirely.
"Hm…" The sound came slowly from his throat, and then he said:
"The boy did not get back up because his body recovered."
He paused for a brief moment, as if giving the meaning time to settle.
"He got back up because his heart stopped retreating."
The expression on his face seemed older than the moment itself.
More understanding.
And sadder too.
"This is the most dangerous kind of ninja," the Third Hokage finally added.
"When will is given a clear direction, the body begins to ignore its own logic."
Nearby, Danzo was less interested in the lesson and more interested in the result.
His eyes remained fixed on Lee.
Not on Gaara.
And not on the audience either, but on Rock Lee alone.
"Words," one of his men behind him said in a low voice. "Can they really make that much of a difference?"
Danzo did not answer at once.
He stayed silent for several moments.
Then he said:
"Words do not break stone."
The fingers of his hand bent slightly over his cane.
"But they may make the tool keep striking until it is the one that breaks first."
The man behind him fell silent.
Danzo, meanwhile, continued with even colder calm:
"That boy in green is no longer fighting just to win. He has begun fighting to prove that he exists. And that type does not retreat easily."
Then he added, in a voice that sounded more like a verdict than a comment:
"He is useful… if someone knows how to direct him."
In complete contrast to all of that, Dai did not even try to hide how moved he was.
His eyes were shining clearly.
And his smile had widened until it nearly split his face.
"Haha!" He gave his usual laugh, then quickly wiped the corner of his eye.
"This is the power of youth! This is youth indeed!"
He looked at his son with unmistakable pride. Who could have expected that this son would become so wise in the future, able to guide his student with such skill!!
Then he said in a voice full of warmth:
"Well done, Gai. You passed it on to him exactly as you should have."
He did not mean the technique.
He meant the creed.
That faith he had lived by for years while almost everyone mocked him for it.
And now, through the manga, or rather, through his son and his son's studen, that creed was resonating with everyone! The readers were moved by the very conviction they had been mocking only yesterday!
'Isn't this wonderful!?' Dai thought, unable to hold back the tears that had completely soaked his face at that moment.
"Lee isn't just kicking now," Dai continued as he wiped his tears. "He's fighting with a heart that knows why it stands!"
Gai could hear him.
But he did not turn.
His tears were even heavier than his father's.
Yet if anyone looked closely enough, they would notice that the smile behind that tearful face was unbelievable.
'Lee…' Gai whispered inwardly.
'You finally understood.'
And yet, that understanding did not reassure him.
Because once Lee understood, he became ready to throw himself beyond every limit.
Or rather, he himself, at that young age, was in the process of understanding what his counterpart was explaining to his future student.
Not far from the pair, Kakashi was watching in silence.
His usual silence.
But Sakumo could tell from his son's eyes that his mind was working quickly.
"What do you think?" the father asked calmly.
Kakashi answered after a moment:
"Gai didn't give him new strength."
He lifted his gaze slightly.
"He removed the thing that was holding him back."
Sakumo smiled faintly.
He understood the meaning at once.
"Fear," Sakumo said.
"And hesitation," Kakashi added.
"That's why he's more dangerous now than ever before."
The father looked at Lee's image as he rose once more.
Then he said in a calm voice, though it was heavier than it sounded:
"The gifted may win easy battles. But someone who settles his heart in the middle of collapse… drags the battle to a place that exhausts everyone."
Kakashi did not respond immediately.
But he did not disagree.
…
In another part of the Art Store, the effect of the scene was not comfortable within the Uchiha clan's seating area.
The idea that someone like Lee could be described as a genius was not easy on ears accustomed to tying genius to blood and inborn talent.
"A genius of hard work?" one of the young men said with light sarcasm. "That sounds like a contradiction."
But the older man did not share his dismissiveness.
He kept his eyes on the screen, then said:
"It's not a contradiction."
The Uchiha boy fell silent, because the speaker was his father.
"It's another kind of genius."
Several faces tightened.
So the man continued in a slower tone:
"The boy wasn't born with special eyes. Nor with terrifying natural talent. But he turned his weakness into a path. And that alone makes underestimating him a mistake."
Another Uchiha, less convinced, cut in:
"And yet, Gaara will crush him."
The response came directly:
"Perhaps."
Then the man added, his eyes still on Lee:
"But you are not looking only at the result. Look at what he forced his opponent to reveal."
Silence fell after that.
And that silence was more of an admission than any words.
…
Elsewhere, Nara Shikaku was reading the scene the way he would read a complicated strategy.
He did not linger much on the tears.
Nor on the obvious passion.
But on the turning point.
"Now the problem is clear," he said, resting his chin on his hand.
His father, Nara Hiketsu, sat beside him, waiting for his explanation.
"What Lee lacked was not training, nor even courage," Shikaku continued.
Then he raised his eyes slightly.
"What he lacked was steady confidence in himself."
Hiketsu slowly nodded.
"And Gai fixed that with a word."
"Not with one word," Shikaku corrected calmly. "With years that made him believe his path was equal to the paths of others."
His father admired that analysis.
So he remained silent, and Shikaku continued:
"That's why this chapter shouldn't be seen as just a flashback. The flashback itself is the fuel. If Lee hadn't returned to that moment now, he would have fallen before the second wave of sand struck him."
Then he let out a short breath.
"The problem is that confidence doesn't repair the body."
Hiketsu smiled faintly.
"But it can push the body beyond its limits."
"And that's what I'm waiting to see," Shikaku replied.
"Because the boy is no longer thinking: Can I do this? He has started thinking: I must keep going."
"I think he only wanted to hear that from the right person… words of encouragement from his teacher."
"And he gave him exactly that."
…
In Sunagakure, the atmosphere was colder. Heavier. Sharper.
The Third Kazekage watched the scene through half-lidded eyes.
He was not moved by Lee's tears.
And he had no interest in Gai's smile from an emotional angle.
But he caught the true shift in the battle quickly.
"I see," he finally said.
No one commented.
So he continued with the same coldness:
"The boy did not become physically tougher. He became psychologically clearer."
His gaze stayed on Lee for a moment.
Then it shifted to Gaara.
"And when a fighter settles himself… his reactions become harder to measure."
That was the observation of an experienced leader. Not praise. And not sympathy.
"And yet," he added after a short silence. "If he keeps going with that body, it is obvious that his end will come faster than his victory."
That was not a contradiction.
It was simply the truth of the battle as it was.
Beside him, Chiyo and Ebizo exchanged glances.
Chiyo was watching with eyes too old to be deceived by appearances.
And when she spoke, her voice was low, but piercing.
"That teacher is dangerous."
Ebizo raised a brow.
"Because he trained the boy well?"
She shook her head.
"No. Because the boy was on the verge of betraying his own path… and he stopped him."
Ebizo thought about that for a moment.
Then he looked at Lee as he rose again despite the punishment.
"Hm."
A short sound.
But its meaning was clear.
"So that's why it looks like he's fighting from somewhere else."
"Exactly," Chiyo said.
"The body is screaming for retreat, but his heart no longer listens."
She fell silent.
Then she added in a lower tone:
"And that is the thing that disturbs me in this comparison."
"What comparison?"
She looked at Gaara for a long moment before answering.
"That boy in green rose because there was someone who taught him how to look at himself."
Ebizo said nothing.
The meaning had reached him.
And it had reached him harshly.
As for Rasa, he remained more rigid than everyone else.
His face did not move.
But that excessive stillness was, in itself, an acknowledgment that he was paying closer attention than he liked to show.
"Gaara has not been defeated."
He said that first, as though cutting off any hasty conclusion.
Then, after a moment, he added:
"But his opponent is no longer the same opponent from the opening minutes."
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 193: The Eight Inner Gates!
Chapter 194: Sand Coffin!
Chapter 195: Lee, You Are Truly a Splendid Ninja.
Chapter 196: The End of Lee's Journey as a Ninja?
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